July 29, 2010

Piano Rock Anthems to remember

Crash Kings by Crash Kings (Custard/Universal Motown 2009)

I decided to stop listening to Mama’s Gun continuously on end for a little while, partially because I realized there are only 8 songs on their only album so far and partially because, unfortunately, I was a little tired of so much Funk. Casually browsing through some Semisonic songs, I saw someone comment about a band called Crash Kings. Sounded interesting and non-Mainstream, so I Googled them and realized, through their Wikipedia Article that they have one album. Finding a band with one album is a gold mine of music for hunters such as myself, because if I find a good band with too many albums it’s hard to decide which one’s the best, and it’s a pain to download all of them. So I just downloaded their album just for the sake of having more music in my library. My motivation, hence, for listening to Crash Kings was, unfortunately, very insubstantial. Fortunately, their music was quite good.

If Crash Kings’ songs were released by, say, Train, they would have definitely topped every single chart possible. Crash Kings have, in a way, revolutionized Adult Contemporary by making otherwise commonplace, monotonous, depressing soft rock songs edgier, louder and more upbeat. Instead of using barely audible guitars, they’ve cranked up the distortion up a notch and introduced powerful power chords into the songs, coupled with emphatic piano riffs and crisp drum beats.

Moreover, their songs are catchy and unlike most obscure bands whose albums I download for no apparent reason, I actually remember each and every one of the Crash Kings’ songs I downloaded. The highlight of the album is definitely “It’s Only Wednesday” which starts out with a Bluesy, defining Piano riff and drum beat leading into soulful vocals by Tony Beliveau and a deep, melodious chorus as well as a fuzzy guitar solo towards the end. The guitar solo isn’t the best I’ve heard, but everything else about the song pretty much outshines it.

“Mountain Man” was the only single released from the album. Like “It’s Only Wednesday”, it’s one of the more louder, aggressive songs from the album. Beginning with a fast paced Drum beat and a loud pick bass riff, eventually giving way for a hard-hitting piano riff and highly distorted guitar chops and vocals that progress into screaming at times. Not the usual soft rock, for sure.

Other great songs from the album include “Come Away”, which is one of the softer songs from the album, consisting of a more intricate piano riff and softer guitars, along with deeply concordant vocals, as well as “My Love”, another softer song from the album. Another louder song from the album is “Saving Grace”, which is laden with complex drum fills, even more aggressive piano, and almost harmony-filled vocals.

It’s because of these bands that Soft Rock can still survive in an industry full of RnB and Hip Hop moguls. We should all do a favor for ourselves and try and listen to bands like these who really make good music and never get rewarded for it.

1 Comment

Filed under Blues, Pop, Rock

Tagged as , , , , , , , ,

July 24, 2010

Unmistakable Soul, New Age Funk

Routes To Riches by Mama’s Gun (Candelion 2008)

Verdict: 10/10

It was about 3 months ago when I first heard “Finger On It”, a song from the album Routes To Riches by the brilliant British Soul Funk band Mama’s Gun. There is just something about these funk songs which makes you want to listen it completely, unlike most Indie or Rock which can get extremely boring. It’s optimism, cheeriness and the ability to get anyone grooving makes it the best music genre ever, and this album right here is the epitome of everything funk is. They may have not received a lot of the international attention they deserve, but anyone with a decent taste in music (Sadly, not a lot of the world today) would realize the talent in this band.

Combining elements of authentic soul, which includes keyboards and high pitched harmonies well-managed by lead Singer Andy Platts, as well as elements of Funk, including dry guitars, both edgy slap bass and pick bass and crisp drum beats, and a little bit of psychedelia, including obscure keyboard effects and often electronic beats, the band has not only revived that funk sound we all love, but has made it contemporary enough for more of today’s listeners such as myself.

Within the album itself, the band experiments with different types of funk rock and soul. For example, “Supa Sneakers”, a fast paced disco-esque track which  uses muted bass and a chorus which resembles an anthem of sorts, is vastly different from “Bitch” which uses a very loud, funky slap bass riff accompanied by an off-tune piano riff while Platts sings “Ain’t your life, a bitch screaming”. Another radically different type of song is “Pots Of Gold” which was the album’s first single. Using mostly falsetto vocals throughout the song, the song is formed around a very jazzy slow-paced guitar riff and relaxed bass and drums. It’s a very beautiful song, to say the least, and again shows their diversity on this album.

The best song the album is by far “Finger On It”, for the simple reason that the first time I heard it on TV, I rushed to find a piece of paper and pen to write it down before I forgot. The moment I got my hands on a laptop, I heard it 20 times. In half an hour, I knew most of the words and couldn’t stop thinking about it. The bluesy vocals, almost hilariously cheesy lyrics atypical of any funk/blues laden with stories of women using men and clichéd sexual innuendo, the unforgettable whistle riff, the random “Ow!”s and the continuous “Lemme put my finger on it” at the very end of the song make it one hell of a song.

In short, music today is, let’s admit, quite sucky, and I seriously don’t know what I would do if I hadn’t found this.

Leave a Comment

Filed under Blues, Funk, Rock

Tagged as , , , , , ,

June 5, 2010

The King of Melancholy abdicates, finally

To The Sea by Jack Johnson (Brushfire Records 2010)

Verdict: 9.5/10

Jack Johnson’s music was probably the most mellow and melancholy set of tunes the world had ever come across. Recording almost 3/4 of his songs using nothing but an acoustic guitar and his plain voice, a lot of his music was getting awfully repetitive over the past few years. In his new album, To The Sea, he’s experimented with all sorts of instruments, introduced choppier riffs, louder drums and even electric guitar solos (something he personally despised doing before) and unlike many many other artists who experiment and fail miserably- it’s turned out to be the smartest move he ever made, creating what I think is his best album yet.

Unlike playing the same four/five chords on an acoustic guitar and belting out songs that will reduce you to tears by the very end, and making the perfect background music for that quintessential image of a crying man/woman sitting near a window looking out into the rain, his songs have gotten catchier, faster and even bluesy at places. Seriously, by the end of hearing the whole of his last album, Sleep Through The Static, anyone would want to just crawl into a hole and die. Thankfully, To The Sea hasn’t had the same effect.

What I really liked was that he didn’t emphasize the acoustic guitar to a very large extent in most of the songs. Some songs were based around one extraordinarily catchy electric guitar riff, while some used unorthodox percussion. The drums, hardly audible in most of his past songs, were paid attention to, and a continuous drum beat, accompanied with clear, crisp bass has made many tracks especially good. Take, for example, the track “From The Clouds”. After starting with a easy going but infectious riff, the song brings in a loud drum beat, and a bass line that can be heard (given that his past songs hardly had any of it). His voice, as obvious, remains as smooth as ever, something I never doubted, but it sounds even better in this album because of the way everything else is arranged. The guitar solo towards the end was a very welcome change.

“You and Your Heart”, the very likable first single from the album, uses a lot of acoustic guitar, but has some elements of piano, drums as well as a guitar hook that is impossible to forget. The chorus is like many other Jack Johnson songs, but, nevertheless, stands a very good song.

“Red Wine, Mistakes, Mythology”, the strangely named track, holds a couple of surprises. First is the bluesy harmonica, then the blues piano, leading into a very staccato drum beat, and the whole thing somehow leads into what was a blues shuffle based song and an acoustic guitar solo as well. It seemed a bit confusing at first, but then I realized exactly why I love Jack Johnson so much. Nobody can match his talent when it comes to creating such genius stuff.

Other good songs include “The Upsetter”, a percussion driven song with minimalistic guitar usage, “At Or With Me”, a powerful, fast-paced and loud song driven by an edgy guitar riff. In fact, “At Or With Me” again uses some harmonica and brings back the same blues-oriented style seen in “Red Wine…”.

So we have a former soft rock God who’s gone hard. And, surprisingly, not failed. Should you get the album? The answer’s best left to you.

Leave a Comment

Filed under Blues, Pop, Rock

Tagged as , , , , , , ,

May 25, 2010

Feels Good

Feels Good 2B Live by Something Relevant (Relevant Records 2010)

Verdict: 9/10

I just found out that that one of my favorite bands from Mumbai have released their debut album- “Feels Good 2 Be Live”.

wOOOOOOt!!

Rarely does one see a band that breaks free of the same hackneyed metal genre (seriously getting on my nerves now) and try and come up with something new in Mumbai. Everywhere you go, Demonic Resurrection or Bhayanak Maut or Kryptos or Scribe is the answer to the question “What are some good bands in India?”. I’m glad that a band that plays music somewhere between jazz, fusion, world and rock and goes nuts in almost all of their live shows so far finally came out with a record- it’s a relief for the music scene in Mumbai.

The basic gist of the band is that all of them are exceptionally talented and almost 75% of their music is improv. That being said, there is obviously a wide range of instruments used in their songs, ranging from the saxophone, to miscellaneous percussion. Like I said before, their genre can’t really be determined, and I’m happy that it is that way. Once in a while bands should be a little ambiguous.

The best part about their music is that it’s mostly composed of instrumental breaks- including orgasmic guitar solos, old school keyboard funk lines as well as saxophone solos so good that they hurt. The singer’s pretty iconic by now- Aazin. Either he’s shouting and holding notes like there’s no tomorrow (in fact they all occasionally join in on the shouting and screaming), or standing laid back; lax, looking out at the crowd. His expression at that point of time is hard to interpret- it’s either disapproval or smug happiness. Get an idea of their live acts here- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2EQqOmyGnQ&feature=related

Songs? They’re too many that are good. If I just had to pick some they would include the following. “Tomorrow”, a straight-up jazz rock piece starting with a typical-of-this-band guitar riff, leading into a typical funk line on the keyboard and making way for Aazin’s voice. Everything’s been put together right, and there’s also a guitar solo in there, not to be missed. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jGfIy9iEfA

Another great track from the album is “Aha”. It’s unlike “Tomorrow”, because it takes on a traditional power-pop sort of rhythm and tune, incorporates a more edgy Rock guitar riff that almost makes it sound like country, and consists of the now famous “I’m So High!”, now a crowd and fan favourite. There’s a sudden break in the tempo and the song suddenly takes on a more spanish-samba-ish rhythm and a painfully good saxophone solo.

Other good songs are “City In a Situation”, which uses a very old-RHCP styled guitar riff and a saxophone tune that makes the whole song sounds somewhat mysterious and like a soundtrack for a detective movie, and “Horn OK Please” which uses the irritatingly ever-famous truck horn. A good song, nevertheless.

I would recommend not to download their songs, but buy their album from iTunes or Myspace. Such good bands should seriously not be ignored and made subject to internet downloads like any other good band eventually becomes. Support STR, save music in India.

Something Relevant – Aha – www.Songs.PK .mp3
Found at bee mp3 search engine

Leave a Comment

Filed under Blues, Jazz, Rock

Tagged as , , , , ,

May 7, 2010

Stoned

The Virgins by The Virgins (October 2008)

Verdict: 9/10

Sorry, I couldn’t find any bad music this week. It’s fairly simple, given today’s most popular stuff, but it’s not stuff that I would particularly take any interest in listening to, much less review. But, I digress. I discovered an Indie Rock band while flipping through a really old Rolling Stone issue called the Virgins.

They aren’t exactly current, but I found their music to be so good, I just had to write about it. The formidable foursome play what I felt was a mixture of Dance Rock, Disco, Pop and Alternative. So yeah, Indie.

Fronted by vocalist Donald Cumming (whose vibrant life includes him running away from home at the age of 14, dropping out of high school and partying pretty much every day), the band’s self titled debut came out in late 2008. Go through some of their Lollapalooza interviews, you’ll see three highly dubious men puffing right into the camera lens, rambling on about how beautiful music is and the joy of making it. Stoned Mofos.

One can’t say that their music is path breaking and phenomenal, but one thing for sure is that The Virgins’ music is exorbitantly catchy. Their funk bass lines are somewhat similar to Old School RHCP, singing style to a young Mick Jagger (Donald bears a striking resemblance to Mick Jagger anyway) and the guitars are perfectly placed to accompany drum beats similar to 80′s dance hits. Their lyrics tackle the pressing issues of today such as teenage love, blowing up money, cocaine brunches and sleeping on park benches.

But seriously speaking, “Rich Girls”, their infectious single, which accompanied many movies and TV shows, is one of the most memorable songs I’ve heard in a long time. “Teen Lovers” uses a more power-pop sort of melody, and uses synthesizers, with a cleverly made video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQ2U16pIIbY). Another really good song from the album is “She’s Expensive” which again bounces back to their original disco-rock genre.

The music is great, the members of the band are notably crazy and they aren’t mainstream. So, yeah, it’s something we should listen to.

Leave a Comment

Filed under Blues, Indie, Pop, Rock

Tagged as

May 3, 2010

To The Rescue.

Chickenfoot by Chickenfoot (Redline/EU 2009)

From left: Chad Smith, Joe Satriani, Sammy Hagar, Michael Anthony.

Verdict: 9/10

As Rock and Roll falls deep into the dark realms of Tartarus screaming “HEEELLLP!!”, an endless number of bands try to pull it back out, but only one gives the hardest tug. It’s undoubtedly Chickenfoot. It’s what you get when you add a Crazy Funk/Metal Improvisationalist drummer playing for more than two decades, The best and most noticeable guitarist in general of all time, a legendary hardened rock vocalist with serious chances of getting Bronchitis and one of the fastest and most experienced bassists ever to have played on a stage.

And as Joe Satriani belts out some riffs off the top of his head sitting coolly in his house going “We aren’t a supergroup!!” you know he’s lying. I was grossly mistaken about TCV, because THIS is the most Super any Supergroup can ever get.

There’s obviously no question of talent in this band, and though I expected it, no nuances amongst the members of the band as well. However, Chad Smith and Satch have pretty much bringing most of the marble that was sculpted to make this album. The music has undoubtedly Joe-Satriani-ish guitar riffs, and the labyrinthine drum beats can only be the work of Smith, who most probably made them up while recording the song. I noticed, however, the music may be mostly Satriani and Smith influenced, even then Sammy Hagar’s voice provided that extra kick that was needed to make this one of the best hard rock albums I have ever heard.

“Oh Yeah”, their much-anticipated single was incredible, but moreover, the talents of each musician could be heard separately, and it all blended in amazingly. First singles of most rock bands aren’t that good, and it was about time an exception came along. “Soap On A Rope” is probably the only perfect hard rock song I’ve heard till date; it even uses the classic “Stop-all-instruments-while-singing-in-the-verse” technique, typical of Sammy Hagar.

“Sexy Little Thing”, another single from the album, starts out with an exotic little guitar riff, but thankfully goes back to what this album is about. Sammy Hagar has a lot of fun in all of the tracks; especially in this one, where he gives a little “Woo!” here, and a little “Yeah!” there, Michael Jackson style. Not as high-pitched, but the idea’s the same.

Well, another hard rock album, not a disappointment for sure. The band’s getting back together after RHCP finishes their new album (can’t wait, as obvious) and I eagerly await their further work.

I need to look for some bad albums now…

Leave a Comment

Filed under Rock

Tagged as

April 15, 2010

The biggest BAMF in Rock is back.

Horehound by The Dead Weather (Third Man 2009)

Verdict: 9/10

It’s great.

A shadowy figure stands at the entrance of a large recording studio. He’s wearing a jet black leather jacket, which would seem cliche’d anywhere else, but not on him. He lifts his hand to his mouth and takes a puff from the small brown cigar, quintessential of him. He turns around, and the light almost blasts at you, reflecting from his vintage aviators. His long curly hair falls in front of his face, which he coolly moved with a quick shrug of the head. His expression is disgruntled as he looks around, waiting for a car to arrive. The corners of his mouth turn as a hyperventilating man from the studio bursts out of the door. “Jack, Your album’s gone platinum.”

When it comes to experience, versatility, an unmistakable and inexplicable persona and painfully good taste, Jack White probably stands alone. After being part of three huge bands and such a long solo career, anyone would. But Jack White isn’t anyone- that’s the thing about him.

In The Dead Weather (my new favourite, by the way) he’s joined by Alison Mosshart of the Discount and Kills, and Dean Fertita and Jack Lawrence from the Raconteurs. All of them are skilled and highly experienced, so, yeah, this is a supergroup. Again. Next week, Chickenfoot.

Like I keep saying, Hard Rock is dead. Rock, is still alive, with the numerous bands that all sound the same (Nickelback, Creed, Staind, Hinder) and the slightly girlish Hoobastank, Lifehouse and Five For Fighting. Bands that say they play rock play scream-filled delights, examples include BFMV, Breaking Benjamin, Three Days Grace etc. The only bands that have somehow managed to keep it alive are these supergroups and Foo Fighters (who have pretty much stopped right now). It was more than delight, it was a relief when this album came out.

As far as the musicianship is concerned, this album exceeded my expectations. I always knew Jack White was great, but after collaborating he’s turned out to be even better. There’s a mixture of spunky distortion guitar, intricate drumming from White, Pissed off singing from Alison Mosshart and good deal of effects and bass. The music that White’s created on this album matches PERFECTLY with Mosshart. It was real gutsy of them to have recruited a female singer, but, thankfully, it’s worked out quite well.

The best track is probably “Treat Me Like Your Mother” which has lyrics typical of a hard rock song, and a video I can simply watch over and over again. As Mosshart shouts “You better learn to shake hands/ And Treat me like your mother” Fertita uses some quirky guitar effects and the sudden changes on tempo within the song make it sound even better. “I Cut Like A Buffalo”, a little strange, but a good track nonetheless. I mean, who uses Tabla percussion in a hard rock song, and belly dancers in a video except Akon?

The figure gets into a black car that pulls up in front of him. With all the black everywhere, you must think he’s fucking eccentric.

He is.

He reaches a large mansion, and enters the living room without a word. A young woman lowers her aviators, and raises her eyebrows. “We got it?”

He plunks down next to her. He doesn’t say anything. He takes a puff from the cigar again.

She puts on her glasses again, smiling. All in a day’s work, Jack.

Leave a Comment

Filed under Grunge, Rock

Tagged as