Music Blog Romania

Taking music personally

16.Jan

There is this person that I get along with pretty well. In fact TOO WELL but those aspects are debated on a different blog altogether… I think the only times we ever came close to a fight were those when we exchanged music files and shared impressions.

He likes a wide variety of genres BUT they are kinda old flavoured. Not all, there are exceptions, but the arsenal consists mainly of vintage guns. He sent me stuff that I enjoyed listening to, some I knew, some didn’t ring a bell, but I liked them all. Then again I’m an eclectic listener. I like everything from dixieland to power metal. I love gothic, but I’m not a big fan of doom. I listen to speed and thrash but I don’t like death metal. Where the lyrics are just an accessory, I can’t follow. I love some ambiental bands and I am just crazy for some instrumental music. There are some guitarists that I worship and there are some under-rated bands that caught my attention. I also enjoy dancing on RNB, and most of the times I hum to the mainstream tunes I hear on the radio even though I know they’re crap. If there’s something I don’t like, it must be something terribly wrong with it…

I never had any objection to the tracks I received from him, but on several occasions he dismissed absolutely every damn song from my side. He also served me some theories of how a song can inspire a certain sorrow and sadness by just playing a certain succession of musical notes. (It made sense to one extent, but for f@*k’s sake, why can’t he just listen and enjoy a song without so much useless analysis?! In my humble opinion he’s so much like a gyn-ob who doesn’t get excited by sex anymore because he’s seen the “apparatus” inside and out too many times…)

He strengthened his sayings with opinions from “other people who knew more about music”. On one occasion he totally dismissed the importance of the lyrics, saying that he listens to the melody first, without giving so much consideration to the message. We argued and we presented arguments to support our sayings. His conclusion was that I was listening to “simple” music and that I don’t even care to listen to his arguments; my conclusion was that he valued other people’s opinions on the matter too much, instead of just listening to his gut and keeping an open mind on the matter. We went away mad.

Conclusion? People can forgive you for saying harsh truths about them. They’ll forgive you for saying bad things about their family members. They’ll even forgive you for calling them mediocre. But you will almost certain start a world war and people will most likely never forgive you for attacking their musical taste.

Audioslave

13.Jan

Another example for “the lead singer makes the band” is Audioslave. Their music sounds to me too soft, too Soundgarden after the “leave” of De la Rocha from Rage Against the Machine. Well, it was not really a leave, it ws him quiting RATM after with the remaining guys formed Audioslave together with the lead singer of Soundgarden.

I actually don’t believe in that first quote above and I hate it when it comes true. Don’t you ?

Ten Thousand Fists

13.Jan

This is the name of the latest (2005) album of Disturbed, a not-so-well-known American “nu metal” band.

Now, what the hell is this “nu metal” music? It’s sort of a combination between rap metal and alternative, quite weird, but very interesting for some purposes. Which brings me back to when first hearing about Disturbed, when their music was featured on a long-length video staring some motorcycle (speed) stunts performed by some crazy guys in the States. And the soundtrack was made by Disturbed, and it sounded excellent with those images.

Actually, some of the best versions of their songs are the ones I recorded from that movie, with tires and engine sounds in the back of the song :))

So, Disturbed released their 3rd album, which, even though it’s not very impressive, it’s consistent and it follows the same style they experimented during Believe and The Sickness.

Yeah, if you could listen to music while on a high-speed ride on a bike, Disturbed should be the choice :)

Heavy Metal Documentary

13.Jan

VH1 has announced the premiere of “Heavy: The Story of Metal”, a four-part documentary tracing the evolution of heavy metal music and culture, from its beginnings in Birmingham to its current status nowadays.

In a series of four themed hours premiering May 1st to May 4th, “Heavy: The Story of Metal” (title seems not to be the final one) explores four decades of music:
- episode one is dedicated to the roots of heavy metal (60s and 70s)
- episode 2 is dedicated to the beginning and the early stages of what has been known as “The New Wave of British Heavy Metal.”
- episode 3 concentrates more on the American side, in California, on bands like Van Halen, Poison and Motley Crue.
- episode four takes a walk on the dark side: Guns N’ Roses, Metallica, thrash, grunge, and how the music and images of Marilyn Manson became associated with the Columbine massacre.

It is said that the interviews include guests such as: Bruce Dickinson, Fred Durst, Rob Halford, Scott Ian, Tommy Lee, Dave Mustaine, Vinnie Paul, Mark Putnam, Riki Rachtman, Nikki Sixx, Slash, Rob Zombie and more.

Sounds great to me :) !!

Soulfly in Romania … again

11.Jan

Soulfly comes to Romania again…next month.

On the 20th of February, in Timisoara, in club The Note, starting with 20:00.

I am soooo disappointed they are not coming to Bucharest. I had the chance to see Max live once and…He’s amazing.

Definitely a must-go-to. If you’re from Timisoara, don’t miss it !

Soulfly in Timisoara, Romania

This week’s obsessions

10.Jan

This week I have an obsession for 3 songs. These are:

1. September – Satellites
2. Cypress Hill – Ganja Bus
3. Carla Bruni – Raphael
(thanks to Irina)

3 completely different genres, 3 completely different moods inspired, 3 great tracks. There’s something magic about this number…

Dissapointed by Scooter

10.Jan

I am a great fan of the German techno band called Scooter. I specially love their early albums, their style and them being constant in their approach towards their original (and simple) rhythms. Also, they perform great on live stages.

But their last album, the 2005 “Who’s got the last laugh now” really disappointed me. I couldn’t find one song which to like, not to mention a great hit.

Songs like “RAMP! The Logical Song”, “Fire”, “Weekend” and even experiments like “She’s the sun” or “Summer wine” used to impress me (and still do), but the latest album proves to be a total disappointment.

Even though they used some old tricks like the “childish voice” or the famous “dub dub dub…”, all the songs lack power, lack consistency and the old Scooter spirit.

I hope they will come up with something better soon, or else I’ll keep listening to the old tracks.

In summary…
Best thing: none on this album
Worst thing: the “Privilege to witness” track.
Overall: they get a 3 for this album and an overall 8 for their career so far.

Why the Music Blog

10.Jan

This blog started out of passion. A deep passion for music, which I had since…since the beginning (since that Led Zeppelin 18 years ago).

This blog does not have as aim to gather traffic, high fidelity visitors or even attention. It is just a blog about music, where all the contributors (yes, there are more of them) are free to express their opinions as straightforward, as passionate and as less argumentative as they want to. Because it’s about passion, and passion can only be this way.

The Music subject, (even for individuals like ourselves, the contributors), is much to large to be presented and detailed in a comprehensive manner. But we will try to bring your our latest (or not-so-latest) thoughts about music, about bands which make us smile, make us angry, make us happy or just make us passionate.

About myself: In the music field, I started (as far as I can remember) with bands like Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Pink Floyd (the famous 3 bands…), Queen, Bob Marley and so on. I moved then to rock, heavy metal and various metal variations for about 5-6 years. I also went through rap, raggae, blues and more. And I continuously experiment and discover new things. Some of all this are to be shared here.