Sunday, April 25, 2004

<Psycho> 

German Novelty Music

Heino is pretty funny. His platinum-blonde hair, seriously outdated polyester leisure suits, combined with Klaus Kinsky facial features and trademark dark raybans, make him a kind of anachronistic freak. But the music was fun and goofy - always songs about drinking, seducing young women, and traveling to Mexico (where lots of drinking and seduction go on). So I started entering "Heino" into music searches on the peer-to-peer networks. While looking for Heino music, I found some German music wrongly attributed to him. I found some songs actually sung by Bill Ramsey, an American-born Jazz singer who stayed in Germany after the war and made German versions of popular American Jazz sings. Bill Ramsey has a very gravelly voice, but it's perfect for the genre which he sings -- comedy jazz tunes. I found a version of the Big Bopper's "Flying Purple People Eater" sung by Ramsey, cleverly adapted into German. See, "One-eyed, One-horned, flying Purple People Eater" translated into German reads "Einauge, Eingehoernter, fliegender purpurroter Leuteesser", which has way too many syllables to maintain the rhythm of the tune. So Ramsey changed it to "Wumba, Tumba, Schokoladeneisverkaeufer" (roley-poley chocolate ice-cream salesman), which has the right amount of syllables, and kinda has a nice ring to it. Try saying that ten times in a row. Catchy, isn't it? Ramsey also did an interesting version of Mule Skinner Blues, retitled "Missouri Cowboy". Yodeling is a trait of German, Swiss, and Austrian culture, which made it's way into American culture via German immigrants, so American western yodeling music is actually quite popular in Germany.

Speaking of how much Germans love American western music, I found out that American Country-Western Music is extremely popular in Germany right now, so much so, that German Country-western bands are making original German language country-western music for German consumption. One of the most popular (and subsequently bizare) bands is Truck stop. Truck stop does German-language country-western music with all the traits that we're used to in America -- Mandolins, slide-guitars, cowboy hats and boots, and a texas accent -- yes, they sing German with a twangy Texas drawl, which not only makes it sound authentic, but can temporarily confuse American country-western fans.

From Rill Ramsey, I found a whole bunch of other German versions of popular 1950's and 1960's American novelty tunes. Interestingly enough, even Johnny Horton (of "Battle Of New Orleans" fame) was emulated by a German named Gus Backus. Backus mostly sang western-themed tunes like "Brown Bear Loves Little White Dove". He sounds almost exactly like Horton, too, so when you hear these tunes for the fist time, you think it's Horton singing it himself. After a few more connections, I found a band called EAV (short for "Erste Allgemeine Verunsicherung", which means "First general disconcertion") which does all original comedy tunes. Not only are their lyrics funny, but their sound is really fabulous -- deep voices, lots of synths, and always lots of rhythm. Their style varies from euro techno to pre-Kraftwerk synthpop. All in all, though, their sound is unique and interesting.

I found a whole lot of 1980's New Wave German music. Unknown to most Americans, New Wave music was actually a world-wide phenomenon, much like Hiphop is today. We only got to hear a few German New Wave artists, like Nena (99 red baloons) and Falco (Rock Me Amadeus), but the vast amount of German New Wave music produced during the early 80's was never heard here in the USA, because it wasn't translated into English. It was discovering this music that led me into a new genre that hasn't even caught on here yet -- Modernized medieval Rock. Bands like In Extremo, Schandmaul, and Subway To Sally, use a combination of Heavy Metal drums and guitars, and genuine medieval instruments like bagpipes, shawms, dulcimers, lutes, and rauschpfifes. It seems to work very well, as many goth-style metal bands land themselves easily to medieval musical styles. The old instruments are harsh and loud, and seem to compliment electric guitars rather well. Bagpipes and Electric guitars are a surprizingly compatible combination.

I've kept searching, finding more gems in these genres, mostly Swedish bands like Garmarna, Hedningarna, and Gjallarhorn. I've also found modern medieval music in the form of Basq musicians, whose folk music is traditionally played on a bunch of instruments all dating back to medieval times. Allan Stivell, and Kepa Junkera are the best examples of modernized Basq folk music.

So keep searching the peer-to-peer networks. Your ears will thank you. best of all, most of this music is not available in the USA or owned by American companies, so the RIAA might not bother noticing you! </Psycho> <!--8:44 AM-->

Tuesday, May 27, 2003

<Psycho> Astral Projection

In Tucson, Arizona, there used to be a hole in the wall music store called SubVox. It used to sell all the music that you could never find at the chain stores. They specialized in electronica, techno, trance, industrial, and other types of high-tech, non-mainstream music. On top of that, they let you listen to any CD in the store before you bought it, which even the large chain stores still haven't really done yet. SubVox was the best place to shop for music, because when you finally dished out your $16+ for a CD, you knew that it was a CD that you wanted to buy, and you had the chance to listen to it and know that you liked it.

It was at SubVox that I picked up a pinkish, purplish CD with some nondescript computer graphic on the cover, and popped it into the CD player. My ears have loved me ever since. What I heard was a soundscape of whooshing noises and audio clips from the opening prologue of David Lynch's Dune. The Spice extends life... The Spice expands consciousness... The spice is vital to space travel... Travel without moving..." Kinda neat, but in a minute, the beats and bass started, and I was tapping my feet and bobbing my head to something extraordinary. I had heard Astral Projection for the first time, and I was glad I did. Astral Projection took the futuristic and oftentimes monotonous, insipid genre of Trance to a new level. For the first time in trance, I was hearing development of harmonies, multiple themes, and really awesome special effects. Avi Nissim and Lior Perlmutter, the two artists who created the band, invented a style all their own, and one which combines science fiction themes, super soundscapes, and something that is unusual in trance music -- uplifting themes, instead of the dark, mechanical ones that the genre is full of. Nearly every album they have put out as Astral Projection has been awesome, and really visionary.

Trance music was born in Goa, India. Goa sort of turned into the party capital of the world because a lot of famous rock musicians from around the world went there for the beaches and culture, and ended up jamming at night. The product of endless jam sessions between various vacationing musicians was Trance music, named because it's theory was to take a single melody, keep repeating it over and over again like a mantra, creating a hypnotic sound that you can dance to or meditate to. It's sort of New Age music combined with a dance beat. Astral Projection conjures up visions of UFOs, space travel, Star Wars, and other science fiction themes. Their music is all about the future. Instead of the menacing, mechanical, scary themes of most Trance, Nissim and Perlmutter make uplifting, mysterious melodies, which keep the ears busy, and refrain from monotony.

Axis is an older tune of theirs, but one which exemplifies the majority of their music. The tune starts off with a distant melody, then the rhythm and bass starts up, as the melody comes closer and closer. As they build up layer upon layer of sound, usually more bass and more rhythms, they'll have a kind of crescendo where the beat stops, then what started as a crescendo builds and develops, as though we are traveling at high speed through space. After that, another theme is introduced, then the original lonely voice is reintroduced, along with the other themes, which all fit together in perfect harmony (this is exemplary of Trance Music, since it is harmonic, as opposed to melodic) , then they develop the song using various combinations of the themes introduced.

My favorite tune of theirs (among the many favorites I have) is Burning Up, which is more the kind of tune you'd expect at a rave than anything. The sounds of the rising synth strings, combined with the uplifting staccato of the synth-bass part makes this tune a crowd pleaser. The tune is at times, angelic, and at others, exhuberant. It's the perfect tune to top off a long mix with, as they do on their album called In the Mix, which creates a virtual concert by them, minus the light show.

They've also done some covers of other people's tunes, such as "God is a DJ" by Faithless and "Closer" by Nine Inch Nails. Each of their covers is uniquely Astral Projection, utilizing their unique style to make the song recognizable as theirs, yet familiar to fans of the original.

If you've got Winamp, Astral Projection is the perfect music for the visualization studio's many colorful displays. Just cue up a bunch of Astral Projection tunes, go full screen with the visualization studio on, and the music will go perfectly with whatever's on the screen. It's sort of like a drug trip without the drugs. If they could make a corkscrew roller-coaster that went through tunnels where winamp visualizations were played, and the coaster had an intercom system that blasted Astral Projection music into your ears as you traveled at 60 Mph, it would make the perfect sensory experience! You won't find any Astral Projection CDs for sale in the USA. This really pisses me off, because I can find plenty of crap that even Americans don't like to hear. You can purchase Astral Projection only over the net. Phonokol, the Israel-based distributor of Trance music and anything by Astral Projection. If you prefer another source, Transient is a british distributor of really good stuff, besides Astral Projection. </Psycho> <!--1:16 PM-->

Monday, May 12, 2003

<Psycho> Good & Geeky Industrial

Most of the industrial music I've heard falls into two categories -- Those which are like Kraftwerk, (meaning a minimalist form which sounds like the computers and technology that were used to make it) and those which are like Nine Inch Nails (dissonant, scary & alien, sounding very much like monstrous machines having sex). S.P.O.C.K. is a group that's sort of like Kraftwerk. There was a time when Kraftwerk was strictly for listening by nerds and computer geeks who attended M.I.T. (or dreamed of it). But those geeks all grew up and had families, and Kraftwerk matured and became hip.

S.P.O.C.K. caters to the generation of geeks who grew up watching Star Trek, and who never got bored with it. S.P.O.C.K.'s music is more humorous than serious. Starting with a solid industrial sound, great rhythm and basslines, S.P.O.C.K. adds lyrics that are usually about Star Trek, a sense of humor, and plenty to dance to. It's the kind of music that will make a Scifi fanboy go wild, but which a scifi-phobe can enjoy by ignoring the lyrics. Many might write them off as a gimmick band, since their whole routine is based around Star Trek and Science Fiction themes, but they've actually been around for quite a while, pumping out at least 8 albums, traveling the world, and creating their own label that caters to European Industrial bands. Most of their music is very well produced, with the same great sound quality and attention to details.

The first song of theirs I ever heard was "Dr. McCoy", which is a tribute to the old Star Trek character. The sound of this tune is incredible, with a solid 60 BPM, lots of effects, and a catchy tune. Yeah, the lyrics are funny, too. After I downloaded a few of their tunes, all of which were really excellent, I had to buy their CDs. Since it's a European label, I had to order it online, from Subspace Communications directly, as they never seemed to have gotten their US distributorship up and running. You may want to actually listen to some of the other groups they offer at Subspace. If you enjoy S.P.O.C.K. at all, the other groups of Subspace are the same calibur of quality. </Psycho> <!--6:17 PM-->

Thursday, May 08, 2003

<Psycho> A Wind from the North

I was watching Worldlink on my satellite TV about a year ago, and I saw a very interesting video during their numerous music video segments. A white girl in a dress surrounded by fiddlers and electric guitars, sang what was obviously a medieval tune, but the music was distinctly techno. It was something old made into something new. Even the fiddlers were interesting, utilizing medieval-style chords, which gave the tune an other-worldly quality. I was hooked on whoever this group was. When the video stared to wind down, I read the captions, and it said Gamen by Garmarna. I imediately started searching Kazaa and Gnotella for this song, but to no avail. Garmarna was either too new or too obscure to find.

A few weeks later I was browsing the music at Borders, and found some CDs by Garmarna in the Scandanavian section of the world music. I immediately bought them, and went home to listen. Garmarna, much to my immediate disappointment, was not a techno band. They were a traditional music ensemble. They mostly did modern versions of medieval music, and occaisionally jazzed up the score with electronica and electric bass. Sadly, neither album had anything like their Gamen song, which I was hooked on. But the music did have something that made me enjoy it, despite not being 100% techno. It had Emma Härdelin's angelic voice, and medieval chords, which are so different from modern chords that it almost sounds alien.

Garmarna is true to the medieval roots of the music they select, while at the same time being modern. They are highly skilled musicians, and not some garage band that just learned how to play a few chords. They play classical styles and instruments, but are flexible enough to adapt old material to modern style. Possibly the most memorable feat of Garmarna has to be Hildegard Von Bingen. This album is a collection of songs written in the 10th century by a mystic nun whose name the album bears. Von Bingen was a phenomenal person in her own right. She was a doctor, a alchemist, a musician, a poet -- a real rennaisance woman, before the rennaisance officially arrived. It was appropriate that Garmarna chose to introduce her to the world again. The album is mostly full of chants, some with electronic rhythms and dance beats, and some with simple violin accompaniment. The result is something that you can play for goths and metalheads, techno and industrial people, or your friends who enjoy the classics. Garmarna crosses lots of musical borders, and merges lots of things into a finely tuned symetry of the ancient and the modern.


</Psycho> <!--6:29 PM-->

Wednesday, May 07, 2003

<Psycho> Let's face it, everyone is downloading music from the peer-to-peer networks. The problem is that often times, we pass by lots of great music because we don't know what it is from the title. This Weblog will be all about the music that I've discovered, much of it by accident, from services like Kazaa and Gnutella.

I have to convert some audio samples to 8-bit format, so that I don't violate copyrights, because this kind of log would not make sense unless you can actually hear the music I am trying to review. How else are you going to know if you'd actually like my musical tastes enough to take my recommendations seriously?

I'm flattered that at least 2 of my friends tell me that they trust my taste in music "implicitly". I often make sample CD of the music I've discovered, and they keep asking for more. I know that other people out there have similar tastes to my own, and this Web Log will be for people who either are exploring music that they previously never heard before, or people who, like me, are bored with the homogeny of the American music scene, and want to just hear something new for a change.

My current favorite music groups include:

• Astral Projection (Trance) -- Astral Projection, a band from Israel, is on the cutting edge of electronica. The best piece to start out with is "Dancing Galaxy", which comes from the album by the same name. It has lots of audio clips from the David Lynch version of Dune, and is a tour de force in hypnotic, psychedelic trance. The rhythms created are mesmerizing, and the tune actually develops nicely (unlike most trance, which is too repetetive), sounding like the trip through space and time that it is trying to invoke in your head.
  
  
• Juno Reactor (Trance) -- Juno Reactor is heard in plenty of American media, and it is probably the most exposed trance band that Americans recognize. Their musc has appeared in many movies, like Mortal Kombat, and in many movie trailors. Unlike most trance music, theirs has a really unique structure and development to it. A perfect example of their music is found on the album "Bible Of Dreams". Each one of their albums is unique, but all are a mixture of enigmatic tunes in different styles. To call them a trance band is only partially correct. They do many electronic styles, and much of their music is experimental in nature. At least some of the tracks on their albums are Trance, and those are usually the more memorable tracks.
  
  
• Covenant (Industrial) -- While most Industrial music is harsh, scratchy, discordant, and sounding very much like musicians at war with ther audiences eardrums, Covenant bridges the gap between ordinary industrial music, and the old industrial music (now called electro) from bands like Kraftwerk. Covenant is modern, mysterious, danceable, and free of the typically scratchy, distorted voices that accompanies most Industrial music. Their rhythms are made of machine noises, in true industrial fashion, and though droning, the tunes are very compelling, especially to people who like cyberpunk. They sound like the music to a good scifi movie, and the lyrics are understandable, although it's tough to figure out any messages. Nonetheless, Covenant is great industrial music that should be one of the standards by which all other music of this type is judged. A good intro to their work is "Theremin", which is one of ther more famous works. You may want to avoid "Dreams From a Cryotank" unless you're trying to complete a collection.
  
  
• Birmingham 6(Indstrial) -- Jean-Luc De Meyer is well known in the Industrial Music scene. He's worked with bands like Front 242, and is considered one of the more influential voices in the genre. Birmingham 6, which is now defunct, is one of the best Industrial bands of all time. I like them better than Covenant. They mix hard-hitting aggressive rhythms, guitars, and very timely and political lyrics which are usually about political struggles, racism, and police states. This is the music of the next revolution, if it ever comes. All of their music is critical and angry, dystopic and determined. Their best work is found on the album "Error Of Judgement", which has the song "You Cannot Walk Here" -- a song which summarizes ethnic cleansing and hatred worldwide, and which has great sound and outraged anger.
  
  
• Afro-Celt Sound System (World Beat) -- This is what you get when you combine North African rhythms, mainly from Senegal and Morocco, and combine them with Techno music and Celtic flue and bagpipe music. It's a unique sound, a great mixture of electronica and ethnic music that stirs the soul, while letting you dance. it's very techno, while having a lot of accoustic instruments. If you like Tangerine Dream and Enya, but wish they'd do more dance numbers, this is the music for you.
  
  
• Lautsprecher (Trance) -- Lautsprecher (which means "Loudspeaker" in German) is a techno-dance-trance group that does a good job of taking minimalist dance music, and making it mysterious and delightful. One word of caution -- Lautsprecher likes to use children's voices, and to some people, it may make the music sound silly. Look for a tune called "Omnibus", which is Lautsprecher's first big hit. Sure, it's got a kid saying "Ich fahr Omnibus" ("I ride the Omnibus"), but the rhythms and electronic sounds make up for that. It's really neat music, nonetheless.
  
  
• P.P.K. (Dance/House/Trance) Just look for "Resurrection" by this Russian electronica band. You will not be disappointed. It's possibly their best piece, and I surely want more like it. What it sounds like is a cross between the early space-rock that Tangerine Dream did back in the early 70s, and modern psychedelic Trance. It starts out with a spacey solo by a high-pitched tone (somewhere between a square wave and the upper octave of a rhodes piano) playing a lonely tune, soundng very much like a sputnik or sattelite broadcasting a message to a far-away planet. it's joined by beat, bass, and rhythm, and then becomes more mesmerizng as new themes are introduced and merged with the original tune. Electronic rhythms and spacey "hoovers" and synth-strings make it a really trippy tune -- and you can dance to it. Most of the other music I've found by them is more house-oriented, but they have a few realyl excellent trance tunes, like "Resurrection" is.
  

/archives

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