Discoogle.com Blog

HIM - Scared To Death

admin — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 10:27:34 +0000

Finnish goths His Infernal Majesty’s seventh studio album, “Screamworks: Love In Theory And Practice, Chapters 1-13″, was built on one of pop music’s most ubiquitous themes: heartache. HIM’s penchant for melodramatic, late-’80s/early-’90s melodic alt-rock in the vein of New Model Army, Dream Theater, and The Mission serves as an efficient vehicle to deliver the primal scream that is their heartbreak, and songs like “In Venere Veritas”, “Heartkiller”, and “Scared To Death” deliver the goods with solid hooks and appropriate gravitas. Listeners looking for some kind of middle ground between Evanescence, late-period Queensrÿche and Fall Out Boy will more than likely find a few wicked gems to hang their heads to.

by Mark Emge

JLS - One Shot

admin — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 10:22:23 +0000

Even before finishing runners-up on 2008’s “X Factor”, it was clear that boyband JLS had something special. So winning was their combination of smooth harmonies and toned torsos that police were forced to break up a stampede of hysterical girls at their first gig–the kind of scene not seen since the late-’90s crush-pop heyday. Fast-forward 15 months and Aston, Marvin, JB, and Oritsé have established themselves as the UK’s favorite new pop group, with two No. 1 singles and a pair of MOBO gongs. Jack The Lad Swing another surefire hit with “One Shot”, also from the “JLS” disc.

by Mark Emge

KELIS - Acapella

admin — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 10:20:13 +0000

Harlem-bred vocalist Kelis left home at 16 and landed a deal with Virgin four years later. In mid-1999, she was singing alongside rap troublemaker Ol’ Dirty Bastard, and her signature Technicolor afro sparked critics’ interests. Kelis captured feminist desires on her debut, “Kaleidoscope”, released in December ‘99. Her Neptunes-helmed sophomore effort “Wanderland” was only released in Europe, but 2003’s “Tasty” yielded the Top 10 “Milkshake”, another ‘Tunes production. Kelis makes a direct appeal to the dance market on the new “FleshTones”: “Acapella” was produced by David Guetta.

by Mark Emge

JOAN ARMATRADING - This Charming Life

admin — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 10:11:22 +0000

Joan Armatrading dives headfirst into rock & roll on “This Charming Life”, which finds the venerable singer/songwriter picking up an electric guitar and letting it howl. Armatrading produced the disc and played all the instruments save drums, and it represents the toughest and most aggressive music she’s recorded since the early ’80s. At 59, Armatrading is more than up to the challenge of sharing space with the noisy guitars, and the force of the music is fully the equal of the passion of its songs. Nearly 40 years after the release of her first album, “This Charming Life” leaves no doubt that the St. Kitts native has few peers in songcraft.

by Mark Emge

RAMMSTEIN - Ich Tu Dir Weh

admin — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 10:05:44 +0000

Formed in 1993 by an assembly of factory-weary proletarians raised in East Germany, Rammstein took their name (adding an “m”) from the city where an American Air Force flight show resulted in tragedy. Word of the quasi-fascist outfit’s horror/romanticist blend of theater and music–one-time Olympic swimmer Till Lindemann would sing entire songs engulfed in flame–spread quickly. Although the uninitiated would be hard-pressed to tell the difference, sixth album “Liebe Ist Liebe Ist Für Alle Da” is a grand achievement, skillfully dividing its time between razor-sharp metal and nostalgic cabaret pieces that conjure Weil and Brecht at a goth club. The song “Ich Tu Dir Weh” caused the album to be added to the index of Germany’s Bundesprüfstelle Für Jugendgefährdende Medien, immediately guaranteeing that every minor in the Deutscher Sprachraum found a way to get their hands on a copy. “We like being on the fringes of bad taste,” admits guitarist Paul Landers.

by Mark Emge

FUN LOVIN’ CRIMINALS - Classic Fantastic

admin — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 19:38:08 +0000

Much like G. Love & Special Sauce, the New York trio known as Fun Lovin’ Criminals hit the airwaves with a blend of hip-hop beats, alternative style, and bluesy rhythms. Formed in ‘93 by bassist Fast and drummer Steve, the pair was a techno group before hooking up with vocalist/guitarist Huey. FLC released their self-titled debut album in ‘95 and scored an alternative radio hit the next year with “Scooby Snacks”, leading to a slot as U2’s opening act on their Popmart Tour. Eighteen months later they dropped “100% Colombian”, and singles “Love Unlimited” and “Korean Bodega” were red-hot across Europe, although ignored back home. “Classic Fantastic” is the title track from the group’s first album in five years.

by Mark Emge

BILLY TALENT - Saint Veronika

admin — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 19:30:45 +0000

Adding swampy blues-rock and down-home muscle riffs to the punk-pop template, “Billy Talent III” owes as much to Zeppelin-esque stomps as it does to latter-Green Day. If it sounds like the Ontario quartet has dyed over their Buzzcocks-influenced art-punk roots, it’s because they have. It’s a questionable move, but Billy Talent’s venture into biting arena-rock shows promise. Strangely enough, when they stretch farthest away from their origins, their sound takes a turn for the best: “Saint Veronika” is based on the novel “Veronika Decides To Die” by Brazilian psych-author Paulo Coelho. According to guitarist Ian D’Sa, another of Coelho’s books, “The Alchemist”, is the band’s “bible”.

by Mark Emge

MINISTERS DE-LA-FUNK FEAT. JOCELYN BROWN - Believe

admin — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 19:27:08 +0000

Classic-rock radio and dance club house-music playlists may not seem to share a lot in common, but both genres have a tendency to continue living in the past by latching onto certain tracks for dear life and, in doing so, making them timeless for an entire demographic of aging fans stuck in the past. Erick Morillo (born 1971) is a Colombian-American DJ “famous” for his international work for the label Strictly Rhythm, namely the 1993 hit “I Like To Move It”, which he produced under the pseudonym Reel 2 Real. Morillo has also produced under a number of other names, including The Dronez, RAW, Smooth Touch, Li’l Mo Ying Yang, and Ministers De-La-Funk. As the latter he scored the 11-year-old club hit “Believe”, which is surely the “Smoke On The Water” of its market.

by Mark Emge

TRAIN - Hey, Soul Sister

admin — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 19:22:27 +0000

In 1993 Patrick Monahan met up with the Los Angeles band The Apostles, who was about to split up and whose lead singer/guitarist Rob Hotchkiss extended an invitation. What began as two guys with strong voices and one guitar developed into the San Francisco band Train by ‘94. Their sound is a similarly ineffable Americana as that of fellow sourdough-boys Counting Crows, and although critics have savaged their albums, it’s made little difference to radio or consumers since “Drops Of Jupiter” kicked off Train’s gold rush. “Hey, Soul Sister” is from the new “Save Me San Francisco”.

by Mark Emge

JIMI HENDRIX - Valleys Of Neptune

admin — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 11:00:48 +0000

Twelve tracks of unreleased Jimi Hendrix!?! That would make “Valleys Of Neptune” a welcome edition to…the dozen previous LPs released since Hendrix ODed under mysterious circumstances in 1970! Despite what the Hendrix estate would have fans believe, unreleased Jimi hit stores almost immediately after his death. Hendrix had been working on a new album and he even left a tracklisting behind, songs from which were scattered across “The Cry Of Love”, “Rainbow Bridge”, and “War Heroes” in 1971-72. Producer Eddie Kramer and Experience drummer Mitch Mitchell were finally able to cut through the licensing red tape and compile the closest thing to the intended “First Rays Of The New Rising Sun” in ‘97, and that remains the best of the rest of Hendrix’s unreleased studio recordings. But the new collection’s title track succeeds in eliciting chills.

by Mark Emge