Monthly Archives juni 2012

Posted in Cd Reviews

Gadi Caplan is an Israeli guitarist and composer based in Boston USA. He originally trained as a classical pianist from a young age, before switching to guitar where he devloped a love of Blues and Rock. He’s also studied the Sitar and Indian music, Jazz, fusion and funk, so has a very diverse musical background.

This album is an almost completely instrumental album with only one track (Nocturnal adventure) having any vocals. Instrumental albums often fall into the trap of being quite dull and uninsteresting – nice to have on in the background but not something you listen to by choice. Given this, I approached the album with some caution, but I’m happy to say that it has exceeded my expectations.

All the tracks have their own character and stand out from each other which makes this an ...

Posted in Gig/Festival Reviews

Upp på scen kliver ett gäng grabbar som ser ut att vara plockade direkt från Woodstock 69’. Det blir nästan lite komiskt mycket 60-70 tal över deras utseende för ett tag. Men när de sedan börjar spela sin psykedeliska, tempoväxlande, till största del instrumentala musik känns de inte riktigt lika komiska längre. De känns faktiskt på riktigt.

Jag brukar allt som oftast tycka att instrumental musik blir ganska långtråkig och enformig efter en eller två låtar. Men Abrakadabra lyckas hålla mitt intresse vid liv. Ur den originella sättningen av instrument som består av gitarr, trummor, bas, tvärflöjt, kongas och hammondorgel ljuder urflippade, galna men ack så vackra melodier blandat med råa rockkomp. Det hela känns så genomtänkt och detaljrikt...

Posted in Gig/Festival Reviews

The Scams var ett av de få banden jag kände till på Fest I logen sedan tidigare. Därav fanns det ju även en del förväntningar. Jag hoppades på lite riktig ”testosteron-rock” med förstummande gitarrsolon och tunga riff. Jag hoppades på att få en käftsmäll av den höga ljudnivån. Jag hoppades helt enkelt på lite riktig, gubbig, svänging 70-talshårdrock.

Med två stycken explorergitarrer och en thunderbirdbas på scen kan man ju inte annat än att spela hårt. Scams spelar, precis som förväntat, väldigt bra. Det svänger i ett alldeles lagom tempo med vrålande körer som är lätta att skrika med i. När låten Gimme your love sätter igång är hårdrockarnas dansgolv ett faktum. Hela publiken dansar. Känns det som iallafall. Det gjorde iallafall jag...

Posted in Cd Reviews

It’s ten years since Maroon 5 released their debut album, the Multi-Platinum selling ”Songs about Jane”, which yielded five hit singles – ‘Harder to Breathe’, ‘This Love’, ‘She Will Be Loved’, ‘Sunday Morning’ and ‘Must Get Out’. To celebrate the 10th anniversary, this deluxe edition is being released.
It’s been a busy year for singer Adam Levine, who joined The Voice US for the first two seasons, and Maroon 5, who are also set to release their fourth studio album, ‘Overexposed’, on June 25th via A&M/Octone.

This deluxe edition is a 2 CD set containing the original album plus demo versions of the songs and previously unreleased tracks ‘Take What You Want,’ ‘Woman’ and ‘Chilly Winter’ as well as ‘Rag Doll’ (a non-album B-side) and an alternative mix of ‘The Sun’...

Posted in Cd Reviews

Lesbian Bed Death are a UK band who combine punk and hard rock influences that have been around since 2004. Since then they’ve been through various lineup changes. Their debut album (I use my powers for evil) was released in 2006. Their second album (Designed By The Devil, Powered By The Dead) was released on Halloween 2010, and after touring in support of that album, the band raised funds through Plesge music and used the money raised to record their latest album – Riot of the living dead.

Brief comments on a couple of songs…

Opening with wailing electric guitars backed by some chunky riffs ”Darkness falls” gets the album off to a very promising start. It’s a good fast paced song with a nice guitar solo halfway through. The vocals are great too...

Posted in Gig/Festival Reviews

När vi vandrar fridfullt ner mot sjön förbi logen börjar skränande gitarrer och smällande trummor plötsligt höras från just det, scenen. Vi stannar upp och lyssnar någon minut. Utan att någon säger något har alla förstått att det är någonting man inte vill missa och vi byter riktning och går sakta men säkert bort mot logen. Ljudet blir starkare och starkare och det känns aldrig som om den ökande ljudvolymen slutar. Väl inne får man i princip hålla för öronen för att inte bli döv. Men med bandets tydliga Ramones och punkinfluenser blir höga ljudvolymen bara en del av själva konserten.

Ett sannerligen välklätt band med gitarrerna på magen står på scenen och spelar skränig garagepunk precis som det skall låta...

Posted in Press Releases

Texican rock and rollers Los Lonely Boys bring Rockpango, their first self produced long player to the UK this July for a not to be missed gig at London’s O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire.

”We’ve only been a few times, but every time is always a good time. The people seem to really enjoy what we do, and I hope it will continue to grow. We hope to see y’all soon and bring some Texican Rock n Roll to Great Britain!”

They debuted in 2003 with a multi-chart gold single, selling millions of albums, winning a Grammy, racking up reams of critical acclaim, opening for The Rolling Stones, and many more accomplishments for the trio of brothers. Plus playing and recording with such legends as Willie Nelson and Carlos Santana, associations that give a strong hint at what’s at work here on Rockpango.

Posted in Press Releases

ROB ZOMBIE’S MONDO SEX HEAD – Featuring Rob Zombie Favorites Remixed By Some Of Today’s Groundbreaking DJS

On August 6, 2012, Universal Music will release Rob Zombie’s Mondo Sex Head, featuring new and unique remixes of Rob Zombie classics by some of today’s top DJs, including KoRn’s Jonathan “JDevil” Davis, Photek, the Bloody Beetroots, Drumcorps and Ki:Theory. Mondo Sex Head was curated and executive produced by Jason Bentley, Music Director at L.A.’s influential KCRW and Electronic Dance Music expert. Richard Bishop, co-executive producer of RE:GENERATION music project and documentary film, supervised the project. Each track was hand selected by Rob Zombie who road-tested many of the songs in his car, driving the L.A. streets.

Throughout his career, iconic music ar...

Posted in Cd Reviews

Playback is a collection that was originally released in 1995, but which has been unavailable outside North America since 2005. It’s a compilation covering the band’s time with MCA records and spans 20 years of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ career, from 1973 to 1993.

What a collection this is! A six CD compilation containing 84 tracks and lasting over four and a half hours. It’s impressive – there’s no other word for it. Not only do you get several discs packed full of their greatest hits, you also get three discs of B sides and rarities including outtakes, material recorded by Mudcrutch (the band that would later become the Heartbreakers)

To review this in detail would involve writing far more than anyone reading this is likely to want to endure – the only people interested in the ...

Posted in Cd Reviews

Polish band ”At the lake” are back with this new album – Maya. It’s one of those albums that straddles multiple genres – symphonic metal and gothic metal primarily, but with folk and classical influences too.

The use of the violin helps differentiate the band from many of the other bands in these genres as it adds a different feel to the music. Add to that the lovely vocals of singer Natalia and the great songwriting and you’re on to a winner

”Tomorrow I will fly” opens with some lovely violin work before the drums join in with a deep pounding rhythm, and the background vocals add a beautiful sound – it’s more an instrumental track than a proper song as the vocals are not singing lyrics but are instead being used more as instruments and very effectively too.

As good as that first track i...