From now on you can follow me on Twitter. My screen name there is:
MusicKOBlog
I will post about forthcoming reviews and features, as well as chatting with everybody about likes, dislikes and new additions to my collection.
See you on the Twitterverse!
Their Final Studio Album With Natalie Merchant
Do you remember what Elton John sang at the end of the “Captain Fantastic” album, in the song named “Curtains” – “Just like us/you must have had/ a once upon a time”. If you don’t, there is not an album that will bring that to mind better (and worse, I am afraid) than “Our Time In Eden”. The Maniacs’ final studio album with Natalie is one of the most poignant farewells you can listen to.
Broken feelings litter the album. Lost friendships abound: “Noah’s Dove” is a final portrayal of lost innocence, and the same applies to “How You’ve Grown” and “Stockton Gala Days”, albeit from different vantage points. The former laments the way we often take innocence for granted in the younger ones, and the latter deals with the shame of hiding innocence lost to someone the singer still deems as pure. Continue reading
This is Part 2 of the interview with Rex Benson of Rex Benson Music Group. Part 1 (about his company) was published yesterday. And Part 3 (about songwriting) can be read here.
PART II
MUSIC & YOU
When did you become interested in music? What was the first album or single you ever purchased?
Grew up in a household where my mom played Big Band Music constantly…Later listened to late 50’s and early 60’s music that my older brother had, but I was still quite young…became more keenly aware when the Beach Boys hit and then when the Beatles arrived, I was mesmerized although I still didn’t really understand how all those sounds were made…I knew there were guitars and drums etc. but had no prior musical training and wasn’t sure what I was hearing…just knew I liked it…
Then at age 16 I heard a new group playing at church…they were comprised of former rock musicians and I was able to sit and watch them play over and over…got further interested and started to understand the process, picked up a guitar and learned to play on their songs and Beatles songs… they were called LOVE SONG…and then I started to write songs… Continue reading
Quite a surprise, MusicKO was featured on Killer Startups today. The review was a very favorable one, the guy who wrote it obviously loves music as much as we do around here.
This is the link:
http://www.killerstartups.com/Video-Music-Photo/musicko-com-worldwide-music-reviews-coverage
The reviewer also makes some valid points, I am very grateful for that.
There is also a box for you to vote for MusicKO, don’t forget to do that after reading the review!
Catch you later,
Emilio
There is something about Joy Division that is impossible to apprehend or even hope to comprehend. Is that because they beget a caterwaul of emotions when you listen to them, and these emotions turn to be the ones we want to keep our distance from yet at the same time the ones we want to have as a permanent fixture within our lives?
The band formed in Manchester in the year 1977. Its members were singer and occasional guitar player Ian Curtis, drummer Steven Morris, guitarist Bernard Albrecht and bass player Peter Hook. They were going to release one EP and two full albums, as their career was to be truncated by Curtis’ suicide in late 1979. He suffered from epileptic seizures, but his lyrics made it clear there was so much more going on, that his frail health was the tip a devastating inner conflict. And the real tragedy is that maybe what happened could have been avoided – the band members readily admitted they never paid his lyrics any heed, and after that fateful day whenever they listened to the old songs something always clicked. Continue reading
A category which I am very keen on is introduced today. It goes by the name of “Interviews”, and it premieres in the best possible way with a conversation with Mr. Rex Benson from Rex Benson Music Group. The interview will be split in three parts, and it will be published over the course of the week. Continue reading
Today I have been lucky enough to interview Mr. Rex Benson from Rex Benson Music Group. Rex kindly answered the questions I sent him about music and songwriting, as well as letting us all know more about his company. He also provided his priceless advice on how to start making inroads into the industry at the end of the interview.
This is Part 1 of the interview (“Corporate Information”).
Part 2 is entitled “Music & You”.
Part 3 is named “Songwriting”.
Enjoy! Continue reading
The Front Cover
If you have read the general introduction you already know I regard this album as The Smith’s crowning achievement. In a certain sense, it does what was done in the previous albums. But the difference is that what was previously done either good or very good now is done in an excellent fashion. With the sole exception of “Vicar In A Tutu” (a rockabilly number that is best left alone) and the acceptable “Never Had No One Ever”, all the songs hit hard. Generally speaking, they make a solid point out of solid disappointment: “I Know It’s Over” and “There Is A Light That Never Goes Out” deal with the anxiety of a love that ends and takes life away with it, and a love that ends without ever having started respectively. For its part, the bouncy “Frankly, Mr. Shankly” takes the form of a resignation letter from a disgruntled employer to his boss, in which (as much as he tries to refrain from doings so) he must finally “speak frankly, Mr. Shankly” and call a spade a spade. Continue reading
Name: WhoSampled
URL: http://www.whosampled.com
Music that is based on other music has always been a hot issue. There is a thin, almost invisible line separating inspiration from imitation. I think it all originated in the literary world – there are titles like “Wide Sargasso Sea” in which the novelist (Jean Rhys) based her whole book on a character or incident from another author’s book – in this case, Charlotte Bronte’s “Jane Eyre”. On “Wide Sargasso Sea” Rhys did an amazing job, and explained what went into the creation of the “Madwoman in the attic” from her own vantage point. Continue reading
This Is The Original CD Cover. A Re-release Saw The Light In The Year 2000, And It Features A More Informative Booklet. The White Lettering Is Different.
As you know by now, I am very attached to country music. It is probably my favorite American genre. It was only natural that I would start exploring Southern rock in due time, and that is exactly what has happened. Over the last week I purchased both a ZZ Top “best of” album and an Allman Brothers’ compilation, as well as locating a Lynyrd Skynyrd anthology that I will get my hands on soon.
While I enjoyed the ZZ Top album (and far more than I would have expected, to be frank), the one I came back to the most often this week was the Allman Brothers’ compilation. As its title implies, it collects their salient recordings during a whole decade, (1969 – 1979). Four studio albums and one live recording are covered here. Continue reading