Be prepared to be amazed and excited. Brendan Perry’s album “Ark” is completed and ready and due to be released early 2010. Brendan has kindly put together a fantastic video showing behind the scenes footage and beautiful landscape cinematography along with a narrative.
Brendan reveals there are eight tracks, including Crescent and Saffron and you can hear samples of them all. HPM are so excited for this release already, just from the samples we feel right at home with it already.
October saw HPM have three distinct leaders in the race for top spot and despite only being a listen-to-the-samples post, Lisa Gerrard topped the bill for October while we all wait in anticipation for “The Black Opal”. Christoper Tin and Winifred Phillips followed closely behind with their interviews and reviews while Anonymous 4 was quickly catching all three at the end of the month. The top 10 are listed below:
01) Lisa Gerrard (^)
02) Christopher Tin (v)
03) Winifred Phillips (RE)
04) Anonymous 4 (NE)
05) Brendan Perry (-)
06) Imogen Heap (v)
07) Tori Amos (RE)
08) Hiroki Kikuta (v)
09) OverClocked Remix (v)
10) Yasunori Mitsuda (RE)
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Game Reviews
01) Battle Tanks (PS3)
02) Shatter (PS3)
03) .detuned (PS3)
04) Trash Panic (PS3)
05) Numblast (PS3)
Well due to my holiday and getting back into the routine, September was a very quiet month for HPM in general but towards the end we had a massive influx of visitors for one man – Christopher Tin! He grabs this months most viewed award with the review of his debut album and his interview afterwards. Lisa Gerrard also popped up the order with audio samples from forthcoming album Black Opal. Here’s the top 10 artists:
01) Christopher Tin (NE)
02) Lisa Gerrard (^)
03) Imogen Heap (v)
04) Lisa Germano (^)
05) Brendan Perry (v)
06) Hikoki Kikuta (^)
07) Module (v)
08) OverClocked ReMix (v)
09) Utada (v)
10) Vienna Teng (RE)
In the gaming front, Battl Tanks was the top read review this month and actually the second highest hit post this month too! We will be going really into game reviews from all old consoles from October and they will feature more prominantly, as the site will now be taking a much more active approach due to a change in circumstances of myself!
01) Battle Tanks (NE)
02) Shatter (v)
03) Numblast (v)
Well was there really any doubt? OverClocked Remix absolutely smashed the charts with almost more views on OCR posts than the rest of the site put together! Only Imogen Heap’s track listing for her latest album Ellipse was able to pull in big numbers too. Interesting we had almost exactly the same number of visitors as June (14 difference) and it was our third most viewed month of the sites history. We did break one new record, our first day with more than 200 hits! August should be a great month too. Let’s enjoy the summer!
01) OverClocked Remix (RE)
02) Imogen Heap (v)
03) Brendan Perry (^)
04) Utada (^)
05) Vienna Teng (v)
06) Hiroki Kikuta (RE)
07) Akira Yamaoka (v)
08) Natalie Imbruglia (NE)
09) Patrick Wolf (v)
10) Dead Can Dance (v)
Top 3 Games Reviews
01) Numblast
02) Trash Panic
03) Magic Ball
June missed being our most busiest month by just 21 hits so March 09 still holds the crown of busiest month – however for the first time ever one artist completely outrun everyone else by such a margin, their top post (our most viewed post this month) had more hits than the second, third and fourth busiest posts combined! Well done the Imogen Heap – everyone’s gone mad over the tracklist for Ellipse and we’ll be buying the album on release day so expect a sharp review on the day (provided its in shops – we couldn’t get a copy for Speak For Yourself in a store and had to buy online and wait). Patrick Wolf, Dead Can Dance & Vienna Teng’s album reviews all followed behind. Here’s the top 10 artists followed by the only two game reviews on site (we will be doing a top 5 game hits too). Congrats to Lisa Germano for making a new entry and Tori Amos, number 1 last month, dropped straight back out the charts again! June should be a busy month with lots of reviews not just here, but over on new site I Love Disaster Movies, which is another personal indulgence to another hobby of mine! Enjoy the summer!
01) Imogen Heap (1 Month)
02) Patrick Wolf (RE)
03) Dead Can Dance (RE)
04) Vienna Teng (-)
05) Akira Yamaoka (^)
06) Utada (v)
07) Brendan Perry (-)
08) Sarah Slean (v)
09) Lisa Germano (NE)
10) Yasunori Mitsuda (RE)
Brendan Perry has just released the first studio recording of Dead Can Dance from 1982. The songs “A Means of Escape” is available to download from Brendan Perry’s website. It keeps true to the début albums more rockier sound with Brendan on vocals. It’s pretty good too with the strange percussive bells rounding off the song.
For the first time in HPM’s history there hasn’t been a clear-cut winner with two artists almost drawing for first place on the most viewed list. Tori Amos however nudged it just from Utada to take top honours for the first time. It was our third most busiest month with visitors yet it was our equal second quietest in posts. This will change in June with an action packed month ahead! Here’s the top 10:
01) Tori Amos (^) 1 Month
02) Utada (v)
03) Sarah Slean (^)
04) Vienna Teng (v)
05) Reiko Nomura (NE)
06) Akira Yamaoka (^)
07) Brendan Perry (v)
08) Seiji Honda (NE)
09) Hiroki Kikuta (^)
10) OCRemix (v)
Slightly delayed it may be, but here are the top ten artists that have been viewed for April 2009 which saw a bit of a change at the top with Utada taking top step from Tori Amos, Vienna Teng & Sarah Slean! Congrats to everyone on the list and here’s to another great month which will be full of new content (and a bit more prolific than last month!). However, it was our second busiest month of the sites history despite it being one of the quietest in terms of new content. May will be a busy one!
01) Utada (RE)
02) Tori Amos (^)
03) Vienna Teng (^)
04) Sarah Slean (v)
05) Brendan Perry (v)
06) Dead Can Dance (NE)
07) OverClocked Remix (v)
08) PJ Harvey (RE)
09) Akira Yamaoka (v)
10) Hiroki Kikuta (RE)
It’s been a long time coming but Brendan Perry’s eagerly awaited new album “Ark” will be available for digital download in August this year. Those of us wanting CD’s will have to wait until October but considering the 11 year wait so far, another two months is fine!
To support “Ark” Brendan will be touring with a a full band too and although specific dates aren’t yet known, they will be in August and October. Let the excitement begin!
Well March was a big month! HPM hit a new high for hits and we should pass the 20,000 mark at some point in April – not too shabby for a site that’s dedicated to music that’s half about alternative, largely unknown artists, and half about video game music. This month was all about two artists who went blow to blow all the way until the final days however OverClocked Remix became the most viewed artist of the month and should become the most viewed artist of our site completely if things continue! The release of Summoning of Spirits and the interview with the project managers combined beat of the review of Utada’s anticipated second English album. Tori Amos’ latest album announcement slipped her into third while Vienna Teng slides down to fourth. Here’s the complete top 10:
01) OverClocked Remix (NE)
02) Utada (NE)
03) Tori Amos (^)
04) Vienna Teng (v)
05) Akira Yamaoka (v)
06) PJ Harvey & John Parish (NE)
07) Sarah Slean (<>)
08) Brendan Perry (v)
09) Hiroki Kikuta (v)
10) Yasunori Mitsuda (RE)
Not since we reviewed Sarah Slean’s “The Baroness” have we had such a clear winner. Vienna Teng has by far and away our most viewed artist this month with previews of her fourth album plastered everywhere. Her top two related posts contain more hits than half the next artist’s post hits combined. So without hesitation – well done to Vienna (2 months now!) and here’s the top 10!
01) Vienna Teng (2 Months)
02) Akira Yamaoka (^)
03) Hiroki Kikuta (^)
04) Brendan Perry (^)
05) Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra (=)
06) Lisa Miskovsky (NE)
07) Sarah Slean (^)
08) Tori Amos (RE)
09) Ayumi Hamasaki (v)
10) Sitorimon (NE)
While we wait for the new album from Brendan Perry (and my goodness doesn’t the song Utopia sound good!) I thought it’d be a great time to revisit Brendan’s first solo outing “Eye of the Hunter” which is an understated beauty that grows more comfortable with you upon each listen with its wistful ways and subtle taut underline of tension.
“Saturday’s Child” opens the album in mellow fashion. The acoustic guitars are soft and the plucking gentle. The underscoring keyboards add a subtle stargazing quality to it but its the vocals that really shine through. Perry’s range is let loose and has a great speaker presence.
“Voyage of Bran” feels like a real trudge but in a good sense. There’s a desolation to the song that really makes it stand out and the extra instrumentation really gives it an ethereal quirk. A personal highlight.
“Medusa” couples with the previous track in its slightly otherworldly quality but this is a beautiful waltz that is both downbeat yet sway-able – the kind of song that would have the undead following the piper to their deaths. The strings really add that extra point to the song.
“Sloth” is a more country styled acoustic piece which breezes by like a summer day, similar to “I Must Have Been Blind” which uses the guitar strumming to gain a nice beat in the chorus, the first time a beat of sorts is actually used on the album. The chorus’ vocals are particular strong here and the end passage is lovely.
“The Captive Heart” is the first song to use drums and reminds me of old western movies with its “cowboy guitar”. The song is probably the most commercial of the album but even then its nowhere near a mainstream sound. It stands out above all for its music quality – it’s a great song.
“Death Will Be My Bride” continues the band blues with an eerie taut song that’s full of atmosphere and unusual arrangements and guitar noises. It’s a nice change of sound as largely the album is mellow with a pinch of downbeat and this one adds the mystery.
“Archangel” closes the album however in style. Backwards guitar noises and Perry’s choir-esque vocals open the song for the first few minutes in what is a beautiful sounding piece but one that is also quite eerily empty and deserted too. Then Brendan breaks out with the closing half of the track with a controlled anger that isn’t really present on the rest of the album. It’s such a great contrast, “Archangel” quickly became a favourite at HPM.
Despite being only 8 tracks long, “Eye of the Hunter” isn’t a short album and doesn’t feel under done. The mellow overtones is a completely different sound from Dead Can Dance and is only really hinted in the “American Dreaming” and “I Can See Now”. Think of an album of that material and you’re half way there. Now sit back and enjoy it and lets look forward to the new album some 10 years later, due out this year.
This month was the most busiest month to date with HPM hitting over 2,000 hits for the first time! Vienna Teng & Ayumi Hamasaki’s new releases news were top of the agenda with Winifred Phillips’ latest release and inteview coming in quickly behind. Here’s this months top 10 viewed artists.
01) Vienna Teng
02) Ayumi Hamasaki
03) Winifred Phillips
04) Charlotte Martin
05) Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra
06) Hiroki Kikuta
07) Akira Yamaoka
08) Sarah Slean
09) Emiliana Torrini
10) Brendan Perry
Although it was a relatively quiet month for releases, it was the third biggest month in page views for HPM and with a review blow out of all the 2008 albums we’ve (well just I’ve) bought, December looks like being the biggest month for the website to date. Here’s the top 10 most read artists for December and congrats to Charlotte Martin who topped out with her excellent Orphans EP for being the most viewed post. In the brackets is their position relative to last month and the amount of months they’ve been on the chart.
01) Charlotte Martin (- / 1)
02) Sarah Slean (8 / 2)
03) Utada Hikaru (5 / 2)
04) Lou Cowell (- / 1)
05) Brendan Perry (- / 1)
06) Hiroki Kikuta (7 / 2)
07) Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra (- / 1)
08) Sarah McLachlan (- / 1)
09) Lisa Gerrard (9 / 2)
10) Akira Yamaoka (2 / 2)
Other stats:
~Last months most viewed artist Emiliana Torrini was just outside the top 10.
~More artists were viewed this month than last despite overall traffic being 120 page views lower.
Far, far too long has passed since Brendan Perry’s first solo album since the abandonment of Dead Can Dance. Although we all pray that they will unite and record again, a fate looking a bit more realistic after the excellent reunion tour of 2005, it’s fantastic to hear Brendan intends to release his second album late 2008. Not much is known but a new song has arrived at his myspace page entitled “Utopia” and its everything I’d hoped a Perry song would sound like. I enjoyed “Eye of the Hunter” but I secretly longed for a song that’s more world music orientated and it looks like me may well have it. Listen to “Utopia” here
