Week two of video vault and really about the second month I’ve learnt of Ladytron. A prelude to a review of their new album next week, we have the music video to “Destroy Everything You Touch” which has a unique vision concept and its great that bands whom are slowly coming out of cult status are still pulling off these excellent videos. You could go into all the hidden meanings but lets just enjoy the concept and artistic fun of the video instead 
Archive for August, 2008
Video Vault – Ladytron
Live Vault – Charlotte Martin
Charlotte Martin is back on the live vault this week with an unreleased song called “Tough”. It’s great when artists pull various bits of their catalogue out for their own reasons and you discover another beautiful song you never knew existed. So here it is: “Tough”
Naoshi Mizuta – “Final Fantasy XI Piano Collections” Review
For a while I’ve waited for a Final Fantasy XI Piano Collections and finally I have it in my hands. I was not prepared to buy the deluxe set for a collection thrown in and it seems Square agreed with me – releasing a whole new cd set separate to the FFXI boxet edition. Enlisted with the playing duties are Kasumi Oga and Ayumi Iga.
The CD opens with “A New Horizon ~ Tavnazian Archipelag” which is a curious number. Its slightly grand, slightly dubious and all parts tinted with sadness. It has a swirling beauty that holds it together but the chords just give it a bittered edge. Lovely but downbeat at the same time.
“Ronfaure” is every bit as rousing as its origins. Starting off simple yet gradually evolving into a stomping anthem. The only thing letting it down a touch is the bassless production. This track could have really let the bass notes ring out but it doesn’t happen.
“The Grand Duchy of Jeuno” is transformed into a pretty waltz tune which is the most deviated track from the original so far. The result is a pleasing chirpy tune that can be popped on repeat (although I still prefer the Star Onions version). “Whisper of the Gods” is almost nondescript. It comes across quite dreary and weary. Its a very classical composition and maybe that means it takes a few listens to appreciate.
“Stargazing” is interesting in its performance and concept on being a one key bass playing bounce and is a welcome return to form, as is “Fated Strife -Besieged-” which features for the first time in the FF Piano series duelling pianos. Its a lovely sound and the arrangement is excellent too. The production could have made it sound bigger but there’s definite excellent here.
Its outdone however by “Mercenaries Delight” which features both Iga and Oga going at it with hammers and tongs. The sublime sharp arrangement sets the albums standard with drama, precision and atmosphere. If you hear only one song from this collection let it be this one. Superb.
“The Sanctuary of Zi’tah” returns to the more slinky silk sounds of the rest of the collection. This is a very faithful conversion but comes across like it was written for piano. “The Cosmic Wheel” is very similar in feel and sound. The piano playing if faultless here and the general desperation of a world in tatters really comes across in this piece and as a result its a favourite of mine from the CD. “Griffons Never Die” is another atmospheric track but goes on for perhaps too long.
The album finishes with “Wings of a Goddess” which is a quirky upbeat ditty that finishes the album on a more pleasant note and sends you on your way in a happy mood than the overall album should do.
Final Fantasy XI Piano Collections is not immediate. There’s very little you can just jump into and that’s why the more faster paced tracks stand out at me at the moment. The solid but low volume production means none of the songs boom and the track selection is a bit of a weird one in places too. The arrangements are too faithful as well, especially when we’ve been spoiled by recent collections with their daring approach – this harks back to the basic straight to piano arrangements of FFIV’s piano collection however things are more filled out.
Am I disappointed? A little. Its by no means a bad album at all but when you hear “Mercenaries Delight”, “The Grand Duchy of Jeuno” and “The Cosmic Wheel”, not only will you adore them but you’ll then wonder why every track wasn’t up to their very high standard.
Emiliana Torrini – 3 New Songs on Myspace + mini reviews
Emiliana is finally back. Three songs from “Me and Armini” are on her myspace page entitled “Gun”, “Big Jumps” and “Me and Armini”.
“Gun” reminds me of her oldest work and bit like the Sugarcubes only Torrinied! It’s mainly vocal and bass guitar with select percussive noises and is quite a random song to release as a taster track. It’s got a under current of rage and anger with a backstabbing twist to it we’ve not seen seen “Telepathy”. It’s not got much progression but keeps you hooked on the one bass line for nearly 6 minutes which is an achievement.
“Big Jump” is more like her most recent album. Acoustic guitar, quirkly lyrics but with a happy high chorus. Think “Sunny Road” getting it together with “Unemployed At Summertime” and you’re 90% of the way there. This kind of song really suits Emi’s voice with its playful yet meaningful ways. No wonder this is to be the single!
Finally “Me and Armini” has a ska beat and sound to it and definitely aims at the summer crowd. With a laid back approach and swirling chords this is definitely single material.
Definitely returning to the pop roots although much more acoustic, this looks set to be a great album. Emiliana is also holding two UK dates shown below and the albums out 8th September:
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Bristol UK | Trinity Hall | ||
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London UK | St Giles Church |
Gary Lucas – “Half My Life In Headphones” Review
Uk Based Gary Lucas, knows about putting things together on a string budget but he’s finally out with his first release. “Half My Life In Headphones” is the first single release from upcoming album “Demarcation” and its pre-release version was given to HPM to review.
Combining acoustic guitar, electric piano and twinned vocals, the piece is accomplished and harks back to a glamorous 1970′s light rock feel with new millennium lyrics. Aimed squarely at the mainstream of alt-pop/rock it bops through with a happy go lucky streak in the same kind of vein as a lighter Alanis gone back for some 70′s boogie rock.
Although the rest of the album is tooted to be a bit more on the darker side this is no puff piece and a quaint introduction to a man with hidden depths. Gary Lucas will be featured in an interview later this month.
Video Vault – Y Kant Tori Read
The first in a new series each week to join live vault is to show a music video of our favourite artists. This week is “The Big Picture“, the only music video made by Y Kant Tori Read, the band Tori Amos was in before going solo. Watch out for Tori playing the ivories even at this stage. The albums not bad either!
Live Vault – Utada Hikaru
Utada Hikaru gets a lot of stick for singing live everywhere and maybe not being note perfect but I’d rather take an emotive live performance over dubbed performances anyday! Here’s a lovely version fo “Colours”
There’s some excellent acoustic versions of some of the songs of Ultra Blue laying around Sit back and enjoy!
Akira Yamaoka – Silent Hill 3 OST Review
Silent Hill’s soundtracks have with each turn become more and more involving. Silent Hill 3′s OST continued the trend with the franchise becoming more melodic and less ambient. This time it’s all about layering loops of sounds on top of each other. In between them are ambient rushes and some incredible vocal works.
“Lost Carol” is a vocal piece that is very sparse and haunting. This suddenly bursts into “You’re Not Here”, a full on rock anthem song. The vocalist (Mary Elizabeth McGlynn) is a superb choice and the guitar work is very intricate but gritty as it builds up the tension and stress. It’s a perfect blend of sex and rage and we love it.
“Float Up From Dream” is an ambient keyboard background with a whispery speech over the top with provides a haunting start to the soundtrack itself.
“End Of Small Sanctuary” is where the “average” Silent Hill 3 song comes into play. The layers of guitars continue to build up over an almost trip-hop beat to provide an ethereal but rocky ambient texture. “Breeze – in Monochrome Night” then takes us into an empty ambient place that feels cold and desolate. After a small time the keyboards and clunks are joined but the beats and guitars again to keep that almost never-ending journey feel going. The piano parts in this song are exceptional in this dramatic track.
“Sickness Unto Foolish Death” starts off with evil and haunting sounds and then begins to enwrap itself in a mean bass line and heavily distorted drums. That combined with the soft but haunting sound of an electric piano makes it for a sickly sweet but evil song. The added strings and swirling distorted vocals finish off this piece perfectly.
“Clockwork Little Happiness” begins with daunting church organ music before using various monstrous noises to give a percussion beat in a track that’s very cleverly put together. “Please Love Me…Once More” is a sombre guitar orientated track that is peppered with nifty drums loops inside drums loops. The result, which is seen through the soundtrack, makes the music sound much fuller.
“A Stray Child” gives us the return of those tormenting sirens that plagued us during the first two games with fear before empty sweeping pads of sound fill up the speakers to give us a down tempo song to make sure we stay depressed, but its dramatic and great music, so we don’t mind!
“Innocent Moon” begins with what sounds like an underwater radar system going wild before a piano takes up the tune is a subdued tone before leading into “Maternal Heart” which revolves around various distorted sounds held together by the now familiar drum beats and an operatic male voice giving this song its distinction.
“Letter – From The Lost Days” is the next vocal track, which is less riff rock and more alternative pop rock. This sound is more haunting and scary. The nearly whispery vocals of the chorus are angelic but you know they are more spiteful than they let on. The closing part of the song is perfect whispering, “We were put here on this Earth, put here to feel joy”. Not scary in their own, but in the context of the eerie background, its chilling.
“Dance With Night Wind” has an almost tribal percussion to it, with a solemn violin and piano playing in tandem which has a perfect ebb and flow to it. “Never Forgive me, Never Forget Me” is a cold as ice keyboard piece with a piano embellishment that is something that you’d expect from “Ico” but is an excellent variance for ambient. “Prayer” is pure evil, with screams, moans, awkward noises and a demon chanting. This is what we expect from Silent Hill! Excellently unnerving.
“Wait On Vanity Ruins” is a dramatic piano and drum piece with a distorted speech that delivers a sense of real urgency that leads fittingly into “I Want Love” which is a good vocal theme and a short and far more sparse and depressing version of the actual song that appears at the end of the album. This version is not as good as the real version as it lacks any kind of hit to it, but the superior song writing skills of Akira Yamaoka still shine through.
“Heads No.2″ follows with ambient rumbles and thuds before “Memory Of The Waters” picks up the pace with what sounds like a heartbeat and various machinery interconnected by a keyboard synthesiser to make a random ambient track. “Rain Of Brass Petals” brings the part full circle with a disturbing chord arrangement that suggests pure darkness. The rocky ambient textures and creepy undertones keep this track alive until its last chord.
“Flower Crown Of Poppy” uses some evil chilling ambient noises to create the background for what is a very bass fused song with excellent use of some of the classic Silent Hill sounds. “Sin” begins with the best monologue on the album (there are many throughout) about God. Note that they call God female! “Uneternal Sleep” is a bitter peace of ambient waves and sirens, which leads into “Hometown” that is actually a vocal revamp of “She”, the opening theme of Silent Hill! This surprise song is done in the Silent Hill 3 fashion (looped drums, organs and little guitar until the end). The male vocalist is a taste that’s a little hard to acquire at first listen, but the more you listen to more the whole B-Movie feel he has. I can see many fans disliking the revamp but it definitely has its own legs to stand on.
“I Want Love (Studio Mix)” is the superior version of the song, in full rock mode and some superb vocal and guitar work that makes it a stunning track.
The closing track is a bonus one called “Rain Of Brass Petals – Three Voices Mix” which takes the meanest chord-involved song on the album, pumps it full of guitars and gives it death metal vocals! The lyrics are evil, the voice too and it’s a dark and devilishly wicked way to end an epic album.
Silent Hill 3 OST is an incredible piece of art. Many will feel that the ambient roots have been largely ignored, but they have merely taken a more backseat approach while the songs take on a more accessible root. The rock songs are nothing but pure class and the way in which it feels like a whole new journey again is inspired. Also take note that a chunk of the music from the film began here so if you liked the atmosphere of the film, then times it by 10 and you’ve got this soundtrack. Put simply: it ends the trilogy of music with another piece of perfection (and there’s more excellence to come still).
Imogen Heap – “Shine” EP Review
Well with all the anticipation of Imogen’s 3rd solo album starting to snowball up we take time to review one of Immi’s first singles “Shine” taken from iMegaphone.
Shocking though it may be today, there’s four tracks and three are non album ones! “Shine” is a fabulous alternative rock/noise piece with weird heart beating percussion, reversed keyboard samples and Imogen’s soaring vocals really giving it some welly! It was arguably the most single-esque track on the album and deserves any acclaim it has garnered.
However “Airplane” is actually possibly the most commercial and instantly catchy song from the iMegaphone era and it surprises me it didn’t make the album. Its breezy chorus was the first real showing of the now staple ad libbing scat that Heap’s become known for making a genre all of her own. The music itself a colourful blend of dark bass and fluffy synths and piano.
That’s then followed up by the epic “Wireless” which probably just eeks out “Miel” (taken from the “Getting Scared” single) for the winning epic song. “Wireless” comes in at 8 minutes of looped drums, vocal snippets and keyboard samples. It gradually evolves from something hypnotic into something quiet harrowingly cut-throat in the middle segment where all the noise is turned to distorted jabs. However all is restored again after for the ending.
Finally “Leave Me Here to Love” is a personal all time fav from Imogen Heap. It’s just her and the piano however her voice has been fused with an electric guitar which I assume is match the sharp tongue as she dishes out all kinds of fantastical lyrics in this angst ridden song of hate and bile. A work of art.
I wish people would still release b-sides like these. Imogen and a few other artists still do thankfully. These gems are worth more than a lot of albums I’ve bought and any fan would be wise to start collecting this gem now.
Norihiko Hibino Gets Piano Collection
Norihiko Hibino will have a piano collections arrange album released from his “Sekaiju no Meikyu” albums. Songs will be taken from both volumes. As a bonus feature it will come with .pdf’s of the sheet music of the arrangements on the disc. Release date is set for 8th October 08.
Final Fantasy Remix Trailer
Final Fantasy Remix nears the horizon and here’s a video trailer for it here
It has to be said that I’m not too optimistic for this release and I’ve not ordered yet…maybe it’ll grow on me.
Hannah Fury – “Through the Gash” Review
Hannah Fury returns with her second full length album (after several EPs) with her trademark vocal layering and haunting presence very much intact, adding synths and drum loops to her piano lullaby’s.
“Defenestration” opens the album showcasing how far Hannah has come. Organs and swaying string marches bleed over plodding drums with Hannah’s whispering death tolling voice sweetly tugging at your arm leading you towards oblivion.
My favourite track “No Man Alive” begins like a psycho circus looking for a kill before rolling piano riffs and breathy vocals that are heavily layered come to life, grow and grow to a screaming middle section that really satisfies your blood thirst. This song is easily in my top 50 all time songs and I cannot recommend it highly enough.
After the manic “No Man Alive” comes the eerily subdued “Don’t Be Scared” with ingenious use of stereo on the speakers. The electric piano and the fragile thin vocals of Hannah’s set up an emotive piece. Followed up by the warmer “You Don’t Leave A Trace” which twinkles and shines away like a lullaby for Lucifer, these two songs remind me more of the previous albums more piano based work but much more evolved. No where is the cross over made more apparent that with “Where the Wounds Are” which is classic Fury with rolling piano chords and high pitched witherings.
“You Had Me” is more organ and drum based and is almost as single-like as Fury has ever been. Its a welcome change to hear a well constructed single styled song from such an alternative artist and this could be used as a good starting point for first timers.
“Beware the Touch” is like a waltz gone wrong. The backward drum samples and chorus are the hooks to the song and again a killer middle 8 really pushes this song out into the open as a powerhouse. “Status” however is all about the grizzly bass and a certain quirky “Get Up” vocal that really sends shivers up your spine. In a similar vein “The Apple” has the same kind of song structure but replaces the bass with organ sounds and sends war waging shrieks at you in stereo swishes.
“Carousel” is a return to keyboard loops for a lonely and lost sounding song that comes across empty and hollow which is rounded off with “Never Look Back”, a scary and eerie music box/vocal piece. A bonus track where the carnival comes back for a last hurrah can be found too.
Hannah Fury is a complete individual. I’ve yet to stumble across anyone else like her. Take a piano, a keyboard and about ten thousand vocal layers and put them in a room with the grim reaper of love and that’s what Fury’s music is. It may be an acquired taste for some but it presses all my buttons and “Through the Gash” is a complete triumph.
Motoi Sakuraba Heads “Tales of…” Piano Collection
Motoi Sakuraba will be performing many of his own songs from the “Tales Of..” series in a piano collection. Whether other instruments will be included is unknown but this will be a highly anticipated release since most piano collection releases are of a very high standard and Sakuraba’s last piano release “Forest of Glass” was a beautiful album. This will be released on the 29th of September.
