Albums you've been listening to lately

[zuludelta]

Just thought I'd link to this live performance by Death From Above 1979, proving that a guy on drums and a guy playing a seriously over-driven bass can more than make up for the lack of a guitarist and still play some pretty heavy music:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaF6ctNEgw0&feature=related

[zuludelta]

Boards of Canada - In A Beautiful Place Out In The Country: I'm not a big Boards of Canada fan... I've always felt that they're a bit too (1970s German electronic music collective) Tangerine Dream for my taste. The EP In A Beautiful Place Out In The Country stands out from their discography though, both for its brevity and directed sense of focus. The four-song set thematically revolves loosely around the Waco, Texas-based Branch Davidian church of David Koresh... whether the band supports or disapproves of the way the Davidians were dealt with by the federal government is open to interpretation, but the references to the Waco religious group are littered throughout the record: a small picture of David Koresh adorns the album sleeve, and even the EP's title is taken from a quote by notable Branch Davidian Amo Paul Bishop Roden (and a slight reference to the location of the cult's compound).

It is a little unsettling listening to the songs knowing the historical events that inspired the music, and I think it's that palpable and visceral connection that makes this record stand out from BOC's somewhat unremarkable dream-pop/ambient output.

Media Links:
In A Beautiful Place Out In The Country
Amo Bishop Roden
Kid For Today
Zoetrope

[zuludelta]

Michael Kamen & Queen - Highlander: Music from the Motion Picture: Interesting story behind this CD. My dad used to live next door to a guy who worked for the Vancouver Police Department, and he'd occasionally bring home items seized on raids and busts, usually inconsequential stuff like "novelty" pipes, CDs, and cassettes and whatnot. Anyway, he gave this CD to my dad, who in turn gave it to me this one time I was visiting. Being something of a music fan, I knew that no "official" movie soundtrack for the 1986 Highlander film was ever released (the closest things being Queen's A Kind of Magic album and the Highlander score collection featuring the scores from the 3 Highlander films) so I just assumed that the CD was a well-made bootleg. I'd seen some pretty well-made Queen bootlegs before (mostly from the Middle East, China/Taiwan, and Eastern Europe) so I didn't really give it much thought.

Well, after a chance visit to this site, I've learned that the CD isn't a bootleg at all, but a promotional CD released around the time of the film's release. 

In terms of the contents, it's not really much of a rare find. All the Queen songs on the album can be found on the 1986 Queen album A Kind of Magic and the late Michael Kamen's orchestral pieces can be found on the Highlander: Original Scores CD. It's still a pretty good, if disjointed, collection of music from the film, though.

Media Links
Princes Of The Universe
Who Wants To Live Forever
Training Montage
Highlander Theme

[zuludelta]

The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds: Pet Sounds is probably the only Beach Boys album I've listened to all the way through. Their pre-1966, fast cars, surfing, and girls themed music never really struck a chord with me, and what I've heard of their post-Pet Sounds output just never lived up to the standards set by the landmark LP.

Despite being somewhat uninterested in the Beach Boys' larger discography, I love Pet Sounds. It's arguably one of the most influential pop albums of all time and served to inspire a whole new generation of songwriters (The Beatles have consistently said that Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was an attempt to create their own version of Pet Sounds). Every track on the record adds something to the whole, but works as a stand-alone song as well. Brian Wilson's extensive use of sonic layering, sound effects, orchestration, and unusual (for the time) instrumentation pretty much defined the art of modern music production. Such a shame that Wilson would fall victim to a debilitating mental illness (exacerbated by copious drug use) soon after the album's release.

Definitely required listening for anybody interested in the history of popular music and the development of studio recording techniques.

Media Links:
Wouldn't It Be Nice
God Only Knows
Here Today   

[zuludelta]

Heart - Dog & Butterfly: These days, Seattle/Vancouver band Heart is probably better remembered for their radio-friendly 1980s power-pop (such as lyrically hilarious single "All I Wanna Do Is Make Love To You"). Back in the 1970s though, they were regarded as "the female Led Zeppelin." Beyond the novelty of a rock band being fronted by two sisters, they churned out some pretty heavy yet melodic records. Their early sound was something like Joni Mitchell-meets-Uriah Heep, a catchy mix of folk, blues, and hard rock. Dog & Butterfly was one of my favourite records as a kid... I remember playing the LP over and over again on my parents' record player and never getting tired of it.

Media Links:
Nada One
Mistral Wind
Dog & Butterfly
Cook With Fire (the actual song starts at around the 2:00 mark)

[House Quake]

Andrew Lloyd Webber (composer) and Tim Rice (lyricist) - Jesus Christ Superstar: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Album:

I have loved this film and soundtrack for since... forever.

[House Quake]

I'm on a 'best of...' kick as of late.

Curently vibing to:
The Best of David Bowie


The Best of The Doors


Queen's Greatest Hits: Platinum Collection

[zuludelta]

Andrew Lloyd Webber (composer) and Tim Rice (lyricist) - Jesus Christ Superstar: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Album:

I have loved this film and soundtrack for since... forever.

If you're in the mood to look for similar material, you should give a listen to Les Miserables (the original London cast). It's not a rock musical like Jesus Christ Superstar was, but it has a lot of the musical flourishes guys like Webber like to use.

recent listens:

Bonobo - Dial "M" For Monkey: Simon "Bonobo" Green is the premier representative of the Brighton downtempo scene. He's strongly influenced by the Manchester sound (particularly by the Future Sound of London, IMHO) although he tends to be more low-key and organic-sounding. Dial "M" For Monkey (named after a Dexter's Laboratory episode) was his first album on major electronica label Ninja Tune and it does have that distinct Ninja Tune production sound to it (think Kid Koala), although it retains enough of his personal sound that it stands up on its own. Not an essential downtempo record, but a good album if you can find it.

Media Links:
The Noctuary
Wayward Bob
Something For Windy   

[detourne_me]

hey zulu, bit off-topic but did you know that a bonobo was a species of monkey too? could've played into his n aming of the album

[zuludelta]

hey zulu, bit off-topic but did you know that a bonobo was a species of monkey too?

Yup. IIRC from my endocrinology classes, they've got some odd sexual habits ("bonobo" was a big part of a running joke between me and my friends... yes we're nerds of the highest order).

[zuludelta]

Black Sabbath - Vol.4: There comes a time in most every kid's life where they start to express their rebellion through the music they listen to. Back in the 1950s, that would have meant listening to Elvis Presley and "race music" like the blues. In later years, music as adolescent rebellion would take the form of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, and of course, Black Sabbath.

I was drawn to Black Sabbath as a pre-teen because of the imagery and the superficial danger they represented (the irony of "rebelling" by listening to my dad's favourite records was surely lost on the juvenile version of myself), and it would be a couple more years (along with a wider appreciation of music via my learning to play guitar) before I would come to an understanding of how important Tony Iommi, Ozzy Osbourne, Geezer Butler, and Bill Ward were to modern popular music, not just as an iconic and eminently youth-marketable band, but as musicians and songwriters in their own right.

Their fourth album (aptly titled Vol.4), I think, represents Sabbath at their creative peak. They cut down on the crunching doom-and-gloom of their previous records (effective to be sure, but becoming increasingly rote) and started experimenting with more bluesy, and even baroque stylings. Highlights of the record include the 8-minute epic "Wheels of Confusion" (which betrayed a somewhat belated psychedelic influence), the eminently danceable "Supernaut" (the catchy opening riff is allegedly Frank Zappa's favourite lick), the blues ballad/torch song "Changes," and the atmospheric instrumental "Laguna Sunrise."     

Media Links:
Supernaut
Laguna Sunrise
Wheels of Confusion 
Changes

[Spam]

Stuff I got from the library, that I will most more then likely end up listening to over the course of the semester...

Death Cab for Cutie - "We Have the Facts, and We're Voting Yes"

The Decemberists - "The Crane Wife"

Blur - "The Best Of..."

Boards of Canada - "The Campfire Headphase"

Sun Kil Moon - "Tiny Cities"

FORIAMSPAM!

[Ephemeris]

I've been listening to UFO's Phenomenon lately.  I was blown away by Rock Bottom the first time I heard it.

Links:
Oh My
Doctor Doctor
Rock Bottom

[zuludelta]

I've been listening to UFO's Phenomenon lately.  I was blown away by Rock Bottom the first time I heard it.

Links:
Oh My
Doctor Doctor
Rock Bottom

Wow, somebody who knows about UFO! I was a big Michael Schenker (UFO guitarist) fan when I was a kid... my brother and I would jump on the bed while listening to "Enter the Arena"... now I gotta go and dig out my dad's old cassettes from storage... 

[Kommando]

For some reason my mind is really connecting with the title track of Tool's Ænima.

[zuludelta]

King's X - Gretchen Goes To Nebraska: Over the years, King's X's music has come to be labeled (somewhat unfairly) as "gospel grunge." This is probably because the first thing that people notice when reading about the band's bio are their overt religious backgrounds. I hasten to say that their music isn't "Christian rock" (which I think is a largely vapid genre and a commercial creation meant to capitalize on clueless parents wanting to give their kids "safe" rock music). Instead, I like to think of their music as late 1980s/early1990s progressive rock/metal infused with positive and progressive Judeo-Christian ideas. To their credit, the lyrics never come off as preachy, preferring to use CS Lewis-type metaphor and broad themes to keep the songs accessible to those who aren't of the Christian inclination (such as myself).

The highlights of this 1989 album include "Out of the Silent Planet" (the opening track), "Over My Head" (which showcases guitarist Ty Tabor's florid fretwork), "Summerland" (my favourite track on the album, a moody number that features some interesting tempo changes), and "Pleiades" (a belated apology for the Church's treatment of Galileo).

Media Links:

Summerland
Pleiades
Over My Head
An odd video of a Japanese garage band (poorly) covering King X's "Send A Message" Who would have thought that Japanese bands cover King's X!)

[zuludelta]

Loudness - Soldier of Fortune: Loudness is a Japanese glam metal group... they peaked in popularity during the late 1980s, and even gained some measure of fame in the States, when they toured with Mötley Crüe and AC/DC. Loudness' claim to fame is guitarist Akira Takasaki's blisteringly-fast solos. In terms of notes-per-second speed, he's right up there with Yngwie Malmsteen and Steve Vai. While they had previously released an English-language album (1985's Thunder in the East), 1989's Soldier of Fortune was the band's attempt at breaking through to the mainstream American rock market, replacing vocalist Minoru Nihara with ex-Obsession screamer Mike Vescera. For some reason or another, though, they didn't really gain much more than a niche following in the West and after one more English-language album (1991's pedestrian On The Prowl), Loudness decided to focus on their Japanese audience once more (Vescera departed soon after recording On The Prowl, replacing Joe Lynn Turner as Yngwie Malmsteen's vocalist). Loudness continues to produce records in Japan and they still tour (mostly in Asia).

Soldier of Fortune still stands out as one of the band's best albums. A lot of Western Japan-ophiles dismiss it as one of their weaker records because of Vescera's involvement and the English-only lyrics, but in my opinion, Takasaki's guitar-playing has never been as good as it was on this album (although to be fair, I haven't heard any of their newer, post-2001 albums).

Media Links:
Running For Cover
Soldier of Fortune

[danhagen]

Bernard Hermann's score to the 1959 Alfred Hitchcock film "North by Northwest." A classic thriller with powerful music, and a haunting, semi-sad love theme. As somebody said, it was Cary Grant at his Cary Grantiest.

[zuludelta]

Jason Becker - Perspective: Back in the late 1980s, Jason Becker was one of the fastest-rising stars in the shredding community. Barely out of his teens, he'd amassed a rabid following because of his prodigiously advanced guitar technique. He burst onto the scene with fellow young guitar-slinger Marty Friedman in the metal duo Cacophony, releasing two albums (Speed Metal Symphony and Go Off!) that were at once praised for their sheer technical brilliance and criticized for the masturbatory excess of the extended guitar solos.

Becker and Friedman parted amicably in 1989 to pursue solo musical careers, Friedman eventually becoming Megadeth's lead guitarist and the 20-year old Becker being tapped by David Lee Roth to replace guitar legend Steve Vai as the touring and studio guitarist for his A Little Ain't Enough album. It was during the recording of Roth's album that Becker started developing pronounced weakness in his legs and his left hand. A few months after the recording had started, Becker was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS, commonly referred to as Lou Gehrig's disease), a progressive neurological disorder that ultimately leads to paralysis and death. Despite his condition, Becker managed to finish recording the guitar parts for Roth's album, but could no longer join the band for the tour (he was unable to walk by then, and he barely had the stamina to play through one song, even when he switched to lighter gauge strings). It was during this period that Becker started frantically recording his musical ideas and snippets of his guitar-playing, in an effort to assemble enough material for one more album (which would later become Perspective). By the time Becker started work on producing Perspective however, he no longer had the strength to play guitar and his vocal cords were slowly becoming paralyzed (Becker would eventually resort to using an eye-guided system developed by his father to communicate), and it wouldn't be until 2001 that the record would be completed, with help from musicians such as Michael Lee Firkins, Steve Perry, and Bobby McFerrin.

Perspective is a great record, especially considering the circumstances in which it was written and recorded. I almost feel dick-ish for critiquing the music for having too many overt nods to Mozart's work (a couple of songs in particular seem to be guitar harmonies simply played over Mozart sequences). But the album's importance, to me at least, goes beyond that of being a musical artifact. Its a testament to one man's dedication to his craft and unwillingness to let illness and disability stifle his creativity.

Media Links:
End of the Beginning
Primal
Serrana (one of the last songs Becker actually physically played... by the time it was recorded, he no longer had enough strength in his hands to play guitar so he played the piece on a custom keyboard, hence the lack of any guitar-playing... his finger-speed is still evident though... here's a video of a younger and healthier Becker demonstrating the sweeping arpeggios used in the song on guitar).

[ow_tiobe_sb]

Myrath - Hope (2007) - The international debut album by Tunisian progressive metal artists Myrath proves not only satisfying in its true-to-prog complex rhythms, eclectic instrumentation, genre-bending, etc., but also for its subtle use of traditional Middle Eastern musical motifs (whereas most Western prog bands make rather ostentatious use of these motifs).  Myrath tends to add layer upon layer of musical lines--which may be jazz-inflected, heavy metallic, baroque or classical, etc.--until, gradually, the listener recognises the familiar oriental (to use the historically reductive, controversial term) textures.  I find this style refreshing because, instead of providing another example of a European or American prog band mining the (Middle) East for non-standard rock rhythms and riffs, Myrath's music provides an example of the (Middle) Eastern bricoleur using Western musical styles to create a distinctive (Middle) Eastern form of progressive metal (however, the Dream Theater influences should be clear to fans of that artist).  Lead vocalist Zaher Zagati's versatility covers the gamut from clear, sweet, tenor vibrato to raw shrieks to the occasional baritone growls (which, normally, I would detest, but, somehow, Zagati makes it work with Myrath's frequently aggressive sound).  The tracks available on the band's Myspace page (including "Confession") are definitely worth a listen (or three).

ow_tiobe_sb
Phantom Bunburyist and Fop o' th' Morning

[zuludelta]

Been ill with a particularly nasty respiratory infection which pretty much had me in bed for most of the past week. Horrible, but at least it allowed the time to go through some of my older CDs in between fever-dreams.

Some representatives of the week's album rotation:

Goldfrapp - Felt Mountain: Goldfrapp never really had much of a following outside of the UK, although 2000's Felt Mountain was a minor regional hit. Think of Felt Mountain's sound as 1960s James Bond-meets-downtempo electronica, with vocalist/keyboardist Alison Goldfrapp acting as a dour, digital Shirley Bassey. It's what the lounge music in the Bladerunner future-world would probably sound like. Haven't really listened to the group's follow-up records, although I've read that they shifted creative gears because of Felt Mountain's lack of commercial success and focused on more club-friendly tracks. A shame, since I really enjoyed their original sound.
Media Links:
Lovely Head
Horse Tears
Utopia

St. Germain - Tourist: The one acid-jazz record that everyone should have. France's Ludovic "St. Germain" Navarre combines modern dub, house, and drum 'n' bass beats with classic jazz and blues sensibilities in 2000's Tourist. One of my favourite albums of the past 10 years. Excellent music to just lounge or cruise to, but has enough pop that it can serve as a dance record as well. Melds jazzy instrumental improvisation with the relatively rigid structure of contemporary beats and comes out with something entirely different than just the sum of its parts.
Media Links:
So Flute
Montego Bay Spleen   
Rose Rouge

A Girl Called Eddy - self-titled: I know I've mentioned A Girl Called Eddy (a.k.a. Erin Moran) earlier in this thread, but I don't think I talked about her music much. The music on her 2004 eponymous album is mostly good old, broken-hearted torch music. Music people listen to while drinking themselves blind, attempting to recover from their latest break-ups while contemplating something horribly melodramatic and attention-getting, like slitting one's wrists  :lol: Moran does an exceptional job of bringing that emotive, mournful, I-just-can't-go-on tone to life, all without sounding over-wrought (she actually sounds like Karen Carpenter on some songs). I read somewhere that Moran wrote the album partially as a means to get over the death of her mother, and I suppose it's that connection with true loss that gives the lyrics their sincerity.
Media Links:
Tears All Over Town
Somebody Hurt You
People Used To Dream About the Future (give it some time, the player takes a minute or two to load... personally I think it's her best song)

[zuludelta]

Musikang Bayan - Rosas ng Digma: Mga Awit ng Pag-ibig at Pakikibaka (Rose of War: Songs of Love and Struggle): Musikang Bayan (literally translated: National Music) is a Philippine folk-pop group with roots in the Neo-Marxist/Neo-Maoist revolutionary movement. The concept of Rose of War is a novel one, it's basically a collection of traditional Filipino love serenades (traditionally known as kundiman) written with an underlying Communist bent. The music and lyrics, I have to admit, are a bit of an odd fit. One minute, Levy Abad and Lei Garcia are cooing sweet nothings, the next, they're singing about continuing the armed struggle against the capitalist elite. I can imagine the songs being met with mixed reviews by Communist Party cadres... my brief dalliance with Philippine neo-Marxism/neo-Maoism in college (I was active for a few years in community health-based initiatives with ideological links to the Communist Party of the Philippines and related organizations) leads me to believe that romantic relationships are discouraged within the revolutionary movement, at least whilst the revolutionary is active in the struggle. Rose of War seems to suggest that there is a place for romantic love within the revolutionary ranks. It's an interesting attempt to bridge the differences between traditional Filipino culture and the stringent demands of a Marxist revolutionary movement.

Media Links:
Iisa (One)
Kundiman at Rebolusyon (Serenade and Revolution)
Rosas ng Digma (Rose of War)   

[zuludelta]

Telefon Tel Aviv - Fahrenheit Fair Enough: Chicago's Telefon Tel Aviv is the ambient/IDM duo of Joshua Eustis and Charlie Cooper. The most distinguishing feature of the group's sound is their use of combined light breakbeats and "computer blips" (best exemplified on "TTV") to achieve a unique percussive signature. Great music for lounging or coming down from a party.
Media Links:
Fahrenheit Fair Enough
TTV
Lotus Above Water

Ba'giw - self-titled: The folk-pop group Ba'giw is from my home town of Baguio City in the Philippines (a summer resort/university town nestled in the Northern mountains). I actually jammed with them a couple of times in high school, since they'd often hold open practices at the town's barely used convention center (incidentally, the Baguio Convention Center is the same place where the infamous Anatoly Karpov vs. Viktor Korchnoi "Battle of Baguio" chess match took place back in the 1970s... Karpov hired a noted Russian psychic to disrupt Korchnoi's game and Korchnoi hired a couple of local thugs to intimidate Karpov... but I digress).

Ba'giw's sound is characterized by their use of the gang'sa (Northern Philippine brass gong) as their primary percussive instrument. Due to the instrument's unique tonal range, a lot of their songs are written around the "Chinese pentatonic" and the slendro scale, which, when combined with the band's Western arena rock influences, results in a somewhat odd/exotic pop sound. It's been almost a decade since I last visited the Philippines, so I have no idea if they're still together.
Media Links:
Laging Ikaw (Always You)
Salamat Kaibigan (Thank You, Friend)
Hindi Kita Sasaktan (I Won't Hurt You)

Buena Vista Social Club - self-titled: This 1996 album was created by American guitarist Ry Cooder in association with a number of traditional Cuban musicians (including legendary Cuban vocalists Compay Segundo and Ibrahim Ferrer). The group takes its name from a social club that used to hold dances in Havana during the 1950s. Most of the music on the album is of the Son Cubano style, a subgenre of Afro-Caribbean music that combines Spanish guitar and vocal/lyrical stylings with West African rhythms. A documentary of the same title, focusing on the aged members of the group was released to much critical and commercial success soon after the album was launched.

The album serves as an excellent chronicle of talented musicians and a unique musical style that have managed to remain virtually hidden from most of the world for the past half-century (owing largely due to Cuba's insular nature and the longstanding American embargo against the nation).
Media Links:
Chan Chan
El Cuarto De Tula
Dos Gardenias   

[Ephemeris]

I'm back to listening to Iced Earth's The Glorious Burden.  One of my favorite albums.  This album is a series of songs about various wars, warriors and battles.  The album includes songs about Attila, Waterloo, 9/11, Red Baron, Valley Forge and the Declaration of Independence (among others).  The album culminates in an approximately 30 minute, 3 part epic about the Battle of Gettysburg.  Each individual part is a day of the battle.

When The Eagle Cries (warning - 9/11 tribute, some of the comments made on Youtube may be offensive)
Valley Forge (ignore the final fantasy video :P)

A fan created video with scenes from the movie Waterloo:
Waterloo

Fan created videos with scenes from the movie Gettysburg:
Gettysburg (1863) - The Devil To Pay (Song was Editted from 12+ minutes to 10 minutes...)
Gettysburg (1863) - Hold At All Costs
Gettysburg (1863) - High Water Mark (Song was Editted from 12+ minutes to 10 minutes...)

[zuludelta]

Santana - Abraxas: One of my favourite albums and definitely one of the most influential guitar records of all time. 1971's Abraxas finds the young Carlos Santana building on the Afro-Cuban/jam rock hybrid music style he introduced on his 1969 debut. It's really no surprise that Santana (the band and the solo artist) were never able to replicate their success on this album. Did they peak too early? Probably. But when the music is this good, it doesn't really matter that they haven't been able to create later music that lives up to the standards they themselves set on their sophomore outing.
Media Links:
Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen
Samba Pa Ti (the best make-out song ever!)
Oye Como Va 

The Fugees - The Score: Another group that peaked on their sophomore album. Breakthrough hip-hop trio The Fugees was comprised of Pras Michel, Lauryn Hill, and Wyclef Jean. Their melodic, soul and Caribbean influenced brand of hip-hop was a welcome respite from the glut of "me too" gangsta rap that filled the airwaves during the mid-1990s. Their incisive and intelligent lyrics helped set them further apart from the increasingly dumbed down popular hip-hop that was the order of the day. Too bad they never really created a worthy follow-up, what with Wyclef leaving the group to focus on his production/sound engineering work and humanitarian interests, Pras trying his hand at acting, and Lauryn Hill starting a solo career (and later, suffering from some unspecified mental illness).
Media Links:
Ready or Not
How Many Mics
Fugee-La

The Chemical Brothers - Dig Your Own Hole: 1997's Dig Your Own Hole is an hour and change of pure electronic energy. This record was almost overplayed to death in clubs back in the 1990s, but listening to it again recently, I find that it's aged well, somewhat surprising for a big beat record (if you don't know what "big beat" music is, just think of Jin Kazama's stage music in Tekken 3). Still a great record to jumpstart an evening at the club, or to keep a venue's energy up.
Media Links:
Block Rockin' Beats
Elektrobank
It Doesn't Matter

[The Hitman]

Peter Frampton- Fingerprints

I went to one of his concerts about a month ago, and decided to pick up his newest album afterward. All instrumental, very good. There are some Spanish influences in a couple of the songs, and his cover of Soundgarden's Black Hole Sun just plain rocks.

[udasu]

Been listening to a lot of live Metallica in anticipation of their new album.

[Verfall]

Protest the Hero - Fortress

Decent Canadian "metal" band. A buddy of mine is crazy for them, I'm indifferent, but I figured I'd share the one song of theres that really stood out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcNWXDfKMnM

[zuludelta]

Recent spins:

Pizzicato Five - Happy End Of The World: This 1997 release is the first Pizzicato Five album that really hit it big internationally. For many listeners outside of Japan, this was their first real exposure to shibuya-kei (the unique musical genre that fuses elements of French/Quebec yé-yé music, bossa nova, electropop, and house music that came out of Tokyo's Shibuya district during the 1980s). Vocalist Maki Nomiya is in fine form here, infusing the lyrics with just the right mix of wide-eyed yé-yé naivete and modern dance club sophistication. Of course, the signature "terminally happy" Pizzicato Five sound is present, upbeat enough to send a death row convict skipping jauntily to the electric chair.
Media Links:     
It's A Beatiful Day
Mon Amour Tokyo
30 second samples of all the album's tracks

Astrud Gilberto: Coffee & Bossa - The Chillout Sound of Astrud Gilberto: This modern retrospective collection of 1960's bossa nova/jazz icon Astrud Gilberto work collects her best chillout room-ready music, although it functions real well as a greatest hits collection too. All her major hits are in this two-CD set, including her versions of "The Girl From Ipanema," and "Agua de Beber," as well as less popular songs like "Berimbau" (which probably contains the first popular culture reference to the indigenous Brazilian martial art of capoeira) and a modern remix of "Here's That Rainy Day." While the album seems to be directed towards specialty listeners such as lounge DJs and people who are more familiar with bossa nova and Gilberto's work, I think it could be also serve as an excellent introductory album for those just getting into bossa nova.
Media Links:
Agua de Beber
Berimbau
One Note Samba

Pupil - Wildlife: 2007's Wildlife is Pupil's second full-length album and the first release by renowned Philippine singer/songwriter/producer Ely Buendia after suffering a heart attack earlier that year. Although he's most recognized for his work with fan-favourite group the Eraserheads, Buendia's output with his new band Pupil is beginning to develop its own unique characteristics. Unfortunately, it seems like his current work is being lost in the shuffle of the on-going post-punk revival movement. A shame, really, since Buendia was doing the post-punk thing across the Philippines and the rest of Asia with the Eraserheads 20 years ago, pre-dating current post-punk darlings such as Interpol, Bloc Party, and The Killers by about a decade. It'll be hard for Buendia to come close to matching his groundbreaking work with the Eraserheads, much less top it, but I'm just glad he's still alive and healthy enough to continue making music.
Media Links:
Monobloc
Sala (Sin)
Animal Lover (live)

[zuludelta]

Various Artists - Les Misérables 10th Anniversary Concert: This double-CD is a recording of the 1995 "dream cast" concert at London's Royal Albert Hall. It features cast members from different productions: Colm Wilkinson (Jean Valjean), Alun Armstrong (Thénardier), and Michael Ball (Marius) from the original London cast, Ruthie Henshall (Fantine) and Jenny Galloway (Madame Thénardier) from the replacement London Cast, Philip Quast (Javert) from the Australian production, Michael Maguire (Enjolras), Judy Kuhn (Cosette), and Anthony Crivello (Grantaire) from the Broadway cast, and Lea Salonga (Eponine) from the replacement Broadway cast.

The concert isn't meant to be a recreation of the musical. Instead, it presents a stripped-down version of Cameron Mackintosh's famous production, focusing largely on the singing and removing most of the dialogue and acting, although anyone with a vague familiarity with Victor Hugo's novel can easily follow the story's events based on the song lyrics alone.

All in all, a good album, Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg's original score is translated very well by the orchestra. I loved the book though, and I worked as a stage hand and prop technician for a local production of Les Misérables in high school, though (also, I watched the unintentionally hilarious Jean Valjean Monogatari at a very impressionable age), so that's probably colouring my appreciation a bit.

High points of the recording are Henshall's "I Dreamed A Dream," Salonga's "On My Own," Wilkinson and Quast's "The Confrontation," and most any song with Alun Armstrong's participation.
Media Links
I Dreamed A Dream
The Confrontation
Master of the House
On My Own
A Little Fall of Rain