Shit & Shine - Jream Baby Jream (Riot Season)
This time I am record reviewing the new Shit and Shine record from the Riot Season record label - I have reviewed a Riot Season record before when I reviewed Hey Colossus which I enjoyed very much and I am very pleased to be reviewing this record because it is not even out yet and I get to hear it before anyone else. Shit & Shine are an extremely noisy and extremely different rock group led by Texan Craig Clouse and in the videos that i've seen on Youtube they were dressed up as rabbits with loads of drummers and guitars and look like they put on a very good, very noisy show; I hope one day that I get to see them myself because they look like a lot of fun.
This record then starts off with a short introduction of some robots talking before the first proper song Dinner With My Girlfriend starts. This song reminded me of the 1812 Overture because it sounds like music made with cannons and guns instead of drums but it is even noisier than the 1812 Overture and sounds a bit like a war fought in the future because it has robot voices in it and loads of air raid sirens. It is a very noisy song but it's very nice to listen to and I liked it very much.
Next up is a song called Mermuda Triangle which starts of with a noise like wild animals chattering in the jungle and drumming like African tom toms then there are lots of other noises like a person breathing really loud and maybe some monkeys and someone welding something - it is a bit of a strange one that is quite hard to describe but it is very good.
After Mermuda Triangle is Jream Baby Jream which starts off with a drumbeat a bit like the drumbeat that begins Apache by The Shadows but the rest of the song is not like Apache at all. This one is not as loud as the others and sounds a bit like a slow blues song. It is a very soft song and has vocals which sound like someone who can't sing very well making it up as they go along - I think the singer might have been a bit pissed when he recorded it and I think this is a good thing.
Pete testing his Rodeo Girls theory.
Next song is Woodpecker which is another very noisy song with very big drums in it and guitars that sound like road drills and screaming like somebody getting murdered. In the middle the song goes softer and there is speaking that you can't make out properly but then it all kicks off again and it all gets a bit weird; Shit & Shine must be very strange people but it's good to be strange and not normal all the time.
Rodeo Girls is next and is another very noisy electric guitar and drum track which made me think of a big group of elephants stampeding and going wild and making noise with their trunks. There are lots of other odd noises in this one and I reckon this is one you have to turn up really loud and let it get in head till your ears and head go all funny.
The last track on this album is called Youth Led Worship and this is another quieter track which is quite relaxing compared to some of the other stuff on this record. I think it's good that the record ends on a softer tune because it gives you a chance to calm down after all the noise.
Overall I would say that this was a brilliant record that I really enjoyed listening to and I think if people listened to it they would think this too. I would give this record 10 out of 10.
UIK - Owls (Snowstar Records) This CD that I am doing this week is by the band LUIK who are from the Netherlands. I was sent the music by Snowstar Records who got in touch with me after they read my reviews. It's good to be sent stuff from new people from different countries especially when it's as interesting as this music is. LUIK are a band who make slow, soft guitar music which is very lovely indeed and a nice change from a lot of noisy music that you hear - I like noisy music too but sometimes it's nice to have a change.
All of My World is the first song on the album and It reminded me of some of the slower, folkier sixties records that the hippies used to listen to like ones by Donovon or Cat Stevens only even slower. It is interesting to hear music played this slowly and would be good to relax to after you've come home from work or whatever else you do during the day and you've had something to eat and can put your feet up and listen to it - I think it is very much evening music.
The next song is called Brown Feathers and it's maybe a bit faster than All of My World but it's still very slow. I think that this song might be about sleeping because it mentions sleep a lot and blankets but it is hard to make out all the words as they are quite low down. What is interesting is that the songs are in English and not Dutch and I think this might be so that more people understand them and that way they might sell more records.
After Brown Feathers is We're Both Extermined and Snowstar records have said I can post a download of this song for you to download to so here it is: We're Both Extermined. On this one you can hear the words a bit better and in it the singer sings about his sister and how proud he is of her. I have a sister called Dorothy but I don't see her much as we've lost touch. I think it's a shame I don't see her any more as we used to get on very well but I guess that's just the way things are, hopefully I'll see her again in the years to come. This is a very sad sounding but loving song and I liked it a lot.
Next song is called Owls and is about looking out of the window and contemplating which means thinking about the things around you - when I look out of my window I look at the houses and all the different kinds of people going by; I like just relaxing and watching people going about their business and this song makes me think of this.
Up next is a song called A Fool which is a bit darker sounding than the other songs. In the chorus the singer sings "a fool, a fool, a mad fool" over and over again - I think the singer must have had troubles with somebody and is a bit pissed off so has written a song to get back at him but I don't know for sure. Maybe he is talking about me because i was born a bit of a mad fool but I like it that way and wouldn't want to be any different, I am very happy being a mad fool.
In the next song the singer sings about the windows in his room and how you can see the wonder of the world from them so I suppose it is a bit like the Owls song. There is a long bit in the song which is just instrumental and is very lovely to listen to just like the rest of this album.
A horrible looking spleen.
Next is a long instrumental song called Spleen which is quite strange and atmospheric (atmospheric means moody) and has sounds in it which I think are meant to sound like the insides of a body where your spleen is - A spleen is an organ which helps keeps you alive by doing something to your blood. It is a horrible looking thing that looks a bit like a weird shoe but it is very important and you can't live without it. I'm not too sure why LUIK have done a song about a spleen as it is a strange thing to do a song about and it made me feel a bit sick reading and thinking about the spleen; it's a good song though.
These Men May Grow is after Spleen and it says that men grow by getting wiser everyday. I think that people do grow because that's how nature works and you do get wiser every day because you are learning all the time. I think it's important to learn new stuff and that's one of the reason that I do this record reviewing; so that I can learn about different kinds of music from different nationalities.
The last song on this album is called By & By so I suppose it's about how things go By & By and keep moving. This song ends with a very beautiful long guitar solo that is very nice to listen to and is a very good way to end this lovely, relaxing record.
I think that everybody who reads this review should go out and buy this record right away because it is a very good record from a very good band - if you would like to buy this record then you can listen to it first on this thing below to hear how nice it is. I would give this record 10 out of 10.
This time I am doing 2 CD's of very strange and different music put out by a label called Spectrum Spools a label that puts out some very strange music indeed. The Cd's were sent to me by Ed from Dense.de who sends me lots of Cd's to review that I wouldn't have heard if he didn't send them so I am very glad that he does. The first CD I am going to review is from Chris Madak who goes by the name Bee Mask and makes electronic music that sounds like it's from 2050 or sometime in the future when we will all be old or dead and the people left will be living in space. This CD was released on August 30th of last year but I am reviewing it now because I have only just got it.
The first song on the Elegy For Beach Friday is called Deducted from Your Share in Paradise is one big, moving electronic noise that sounds like it was made on a musical Hoover. It is quite different from the music I usually listen to which is sixties and seventies music but I think it good to sit down and listen to all types of music because all music usually has something good in it that will be interesting to listen to.
Inside the London Planetarium - A good day out.
The second song Fallen Tree Thursday and the Half-Crushed Arc of the Sky Taking Tea in the Pastoral Index sounds like music that you might hear at the London Planetarium which is a museum in Baker Street, London that has all space things in it like models of rockets. I like going to the planetarium a lot because it is very interesting and they have educational films on there that tell you all about the planets and the constellations and the sun and the moon. The song reminded me of the Planetarium because it has strange extra-terrestrial sounds on it.
Track three is called Causes and Cures and sounds like an organ or a synthesiser getting louder and louder and noises like dripping water and maybe the sound of a fairground ride from the future. This is followed straight away by …So That We Each Wander Through A True Elysium which has the same sort of organ noise but is noisier with banging in the background like you might hear in a factory and jittery noises like you'd get in a weird film about creatures from space.
After these two is a song called Askion Kataskion Lix Tetrax Damnameneus Aision which can be heard here:
The sound in this song reminded me of tanks moving towards a war with helicopters and planes flying overhead. I have never been in a war except when I was a baby and wouldn't like to because I would be frightened of dying and dying in war must be horrible, I don't like war at all.
The next song is less noisy and sounds a bit like violins and funny bells about to start a concert. It is quite a relaxing, mellow song and a nice break from the other, noisier songs on this CD. This song mixes with the next one and things get much noisier again with sounds like old ships making noises with their funnels but then it softens down again and sounds a bit like a child's music box, I liked these two songs very much.
In the Karst Interior is the next song and this one has lots of interesting noises in it like the sound of electronic birds whistling and more machine noises. Most of the music I listen to is guitar music so it is very interesting to hear how different music can be made with different instruments.
Next up is a ten minute track called Stop the Night which begins with sounds like police cars or fire engines. These sounds mix up gradually with other noises that all keep going at once and by the end they all mix in one sound. It is very hard to describe this music because it is so different but I hope you all understand what I mean - sometimes I have trouble with finding the words for what I want to say but I think I do okay.
How To Live In A Smashed State is next and this is different from the other songs so far because it stops and starts a lot and doesn't stretch the sounds out so much. There are lots of noises in this one like bells and scratched records and heart monitors and stuff, it's very good.
The last song on this CD is Scarlet Thread, Golden Cord which is another one that sounds like space music, there are sounds in it like chattering aliens. I think this is what we might hear if aliens tried to get in touch with us - I don't think we'd understand them too well. This was a very interesting song and a very good way to end the record.
Overall I would say that this was a very good, very interesting CD of very strange music but I think people would like it if they listened to it. I would give this CD 10 out of 10.
Mist - House(Spectrum Spools)
The second CD I am reviewing from the Spectrum Spools label is the CD House by the band Mist. Mist are Sam Goldberg and John Ellliott from Cleveland, Ohio which is in the mid-west of the United States of America. This band use electronic instruments but their music is much faster than Bee Mask's music (see review above) which is very slow.
The first track on the House CD is called Twin Lanes so I suppose it is about roads and traffic and cars going fast. The music sort of sounds like electronic xylophones being played very fast with slower church organ music in the background, it is very happy sounding music and I like it very much.
Next is I Can Still Hear Your Voice which made me think of old-fashioned smoky trains leaving the station and heading out from Kings Cross station up north to Scotland. I think it reminds me of trains because of the beat of it being the same as a train's beat. I think this would make very good music for a train film but I don't think they make films about trains any more. I quite like old steam trains and used to enjoy train journeys to Brighton when I was younger, I quite like the new trains too but they're not as good as the old ones. Here is a very good and interesting train film for you to watch that we watched here at The Gate while writing this review. It is an interesting film because it is from 1936 before I was even born and shows the old Royal Mail trains and explains how they worked:
After I Can Still Hear Your Voice is a song called Mist House which again reminds me of xylophone music. Last year I went to a performance of classical music played on xylophones at the ICA and, on this song, Mist sound very similar to what I heard then. It was a very good performance that I liked very much and I was meant to review it but never got round to it. As well as the xylophone sounds there are lots of other electronic sounds all mixing up which gives you a lot to listen to, there are noises like church organs and rain drops and lots of other lovely noises, it is a very nice track.
Next up is Daydream which is a lot slower than the other songs and really does sound like music to make you daydream - you could even fall asleep to it, not because it is boring but because it is very sleepy sounding and relaxing and it goes to your head and makes you sleepy.
Dead Occasion is the next song and this one is much less happy sounding than the other songs have been, It made me think about a load of flowers withering and dying. At the end of the song it gets very loud and noisy and sounds like a ship yard but then suddenly stops dead.
The next song is called Ovary Stunts so I guess it must be about a woman's womb but I don't know much about women's wombs so I don't know for sure. The music on this one sounds like metal being clanked together and water dripping and other strange noises that mix up well to make quite a danceable tune.
The last track is called P.M. and is a long song that lasts thirteen minutes and sounds like a big electronic orchestra because there is so much going on in it. I liked this one very much because there is a lot in it and it changes lots so even though it is very long it never gets boring.
Overall I thought this was a very good CD of music that you don't get much of anywhere else. It is happy, exciting music that would probably be nice to listen to if you had just come home from work and were a bit tired because it would perk you up and make you happy. I would give this record 10 out of 10 too.
Matt Finucane - This Mucky Age (Light Grade)
This time I am reviewing This Mucky Age, an album by Matt Finucane who sent me a copy of his CD to review after he read my review of Ersatz GB by The Fall - I think it's very nice of people to send me things and I appreciate it very much.
Matt is a singer from Brighton which is a very nice place that I have visited quite a bit and is where one of my favourite films Brighton Rock was filmed. Brighton Rock is a great film about gangsters from 1947 which stars Richard Attenborough. I first watched this film on television with my mother and father and this would have been some time before 1968 because that was when I moved into Leavesden Hospital. I've always liked this film and play it (and the modern one too) very often. My favourite thing to do in Brighton is to go to a cheap fish and chip shop on the sea front that I forget the name of and then to go to the pier - It's good on the pier because there are loads of rides to go on and a nice pub. It's been a while since I've been to Brighton but I wouldn't mind going again, I think Matt is very lucky to live there and I wish I could live by the sea.
Matt Finucane in his
jeans and black shirt.
I am reviewing this CD back at the Gate because I am feeling much better now and am walking alright though the doctor told me I can only be on my feet for ten minutes at a time so I still need to use the wheelchair to get places. It's good to be back at the Gate doing things again and seeing all my friends. First song on Matt's CD then is Harder To Care and this is a song played on acoustic guitar with a tabourine backing. I think this song is about a women that Matt has got fed up with being with and so doesn't care about her anymore. Matt's singing voice sounds to me a bit like David Bowie or another one of those glam-rock singers from the early/mid-seventies. I used to like these kinds of singers because they did some very good songs and wore very flashy and quite silly clothes and make up and stuff which used to make me laugh - some people think that men shouldn't wear make-up but I think people should be able to look how they want even if they do look a bit silly. Matt Finucane doesn't look silly though; I've seen some photos on the internet and he was just wearing a normal pair of jeans and a black shirt and looked just like an ordinary bloke.
Hands Up is next and is a keyboard and electric guitar song a bit like the songs you used to hear on the radio in the eighties. It is a fast song about putting your Hands Up and in it he talks about lots of things like erotica (I think), locks of a woman's hair, trophy shack. He also says "You're just another animal" and i'm not sure what this means but i think it might mean that we come from animals originally so we are still like them a bit especially the apes because man comes from the apes. It is a very good song that i liked very much.
Next up is Grimm which starts off with a noise like the whistling wind before an acoustic guitar starts and Matt starts singing. I think it is called Grimm because the song is a bit like a fairy tale so it is probably named after the Brothers Grimm. The Brothers Grimm were German brothers from the 1800's who were world famous for telling fairy tales like Cinderella, Snow White and Rapunzel. The song is like a fairy tale because it talks about going to the trees and being haunted by somebody, I liked this song very much.
After this is a song called Wet Dream Disaster which is a funny thing to call a song because wet dreams are dreams about sex. I think this is probably the first time I have ever heard a song about wet dreams and I think this is because usually people are embarrassed about them. I reckon it's alright to sing about them though. I liked this song a lot a lot especially where Matt sings "Show me your sex face" over and over, which is a peculiar thing to sing and so made me laugh.
Degenerate Son is the name of the next song and it begins with a noise like a extra-terrestrial spaceship flying about and then the guitar starts and Matt starts singing. This is a very good, fast song about a son who asks too many questions and is a bit of a bad lad. I think it's alright really for young lads to be a bit degenerate and if I had a son I'd let him do as he liked as long as he didn't get in too much trouble - If he did get in trouble I'd go to court to see him and I would still love him even if he'd done something really horrible because he would be my son, I don't have a son though.
The next song is called Undertow, it's a slow song played on ordinary (not electric) guitar with lots of strange keyboard and percussion noises in the background and after this is a song called Clumsy about being clumsy. I suppose i'm a bit clumsy especially with my hands because I was born with hands which don't work too well so I drop stuff quite a lot - I never let this bother me though, it's just the way I am and I get by anyway, I liked this song a lot.
Brown Envelope Man is the next one and it talks about how Matt is being followed by a brown envelope man - I'm not too sure what a brown envelope man but whenever I get a letter in a brown envelope it's usually about my pension or from social services so maybe it's a song about them but I don't really know. The music on this is very good and sounds like a whole band but there are only two people playing on this CD so it is very impressive that there are so many instruments on it. The other musician on the CD, other than Matt, is called Marco Nardini but I don't know anything else about him.
The next song sounds a bit like a disco song from the eighties because it has keyboards and electronic drums on it, It is a good song and interesting to listen to and after this is a song called Race the Skyline which is another song that sounds like a whole band is playing but a different band from the last one because the instruments are different. I think one of the best things about this CD is there are lots of different songs with different styles of music and instruments - I think Matt must be very talented to be able to play so many instruments; I can't even play a single instrument but I can sing quite well and somebody wrote on another website that I was "The best journalist in the country" so I guess i must be pretty talented too.
The last song on this CD is called The Trouble with Vampires which reminded me of a song about vampires that Clare, one of my friends from the Gate, did at one of our charity concerts. Here is the video of the song for you to watch:
Matt's vampire song is different from Clare's though because Clare sings about how cool vampires are but Matt thinks vampires are boring but they are probably singing about different kinds of vampires. I think vampires are ok really and I wouldn't mind being one or at least trying it out for a bit and see how it goes. The song is good if a bit strange and I think it is a very good way to end the record.
Overall i thought this CD was excellent from a very good singer and I was very grateful to get it to review. I would give this CD 10 out of 10.
This time I am reviewing artist Matt Elliott's new release The Broken Man. Matt Elliott is from Bristol and has released loads of records and CDs under both his own name and as Third Eye Foundation and as a member of other bands but this is the first time I have ever heard him and he is very good. I am reviewing this record at home again because of my accident but I am getting better so hope to get back to The Gate soon; my legs still ache but I can walk a few steps now. I've had lots of visitors too because it was my birthday so that has been nice - I'm 68 now which is alright but I am starting to feel a bit old.
But back to the music which starts of with a song called Oh, How We Fell which is very interesting and a good song to listen to. The song starts off with acoustic guitar which sounds very like spanish flamenco guitar to me - It is very soft music and this is a bit of a change from the records I have reviewed recently because they have been very noisy and this record is more quiet and peaceful. After quite a while (it's a long song) of this lovely guitar Matt starts to sing and he has a very nice voice which goes with the guitar very well and reminds me a bit of american country and western and folk music - I like his way of singing very much though it is a bit hard to make out the words at times but that's okay and I think if I listen over a few times I'll be able to make out what he's singing There are some violins which come in whilst Matt is singing and a bit later a choir starts singing and sounds a bit like a choir would if somebody had died. I suppose it is quite a sad sounding song and so are all of the songs on this record but they are still very nice to listen to because they make me feel peaceful.
The next song is called Please Please Please and starts off with more of the lovely guitar and then lots of voices start up groaning a bit like Zombies in a horror film. It is a very short song with no words in it but I like that it's just a short groany song.
Dust, Flesh and Bones is the next up and is about what it feels like to be alone so it is another sad song because sometimes it isn't very nice being on your own. I don't mind being on my own that much though because I just get on with listening to my music and watching my DVDs and videos and when I'm on my own I can do as I like. I like to have my friends around me too though especially Geoff, Ray, Ashley and Nick who are my best friends though I have loads of others and I wouldn't want to be without them.
Next is How to Kill a Rose which is another short instrumental with groaning in it but not as much as on the last one and after this is a song called If Anyone Tells Me "It's Better to Have Loved and Lost Than to Never Have Loved at All" I Will Stab Them in the Face which is a very long song title and a bit funny. I've never been in love with anyone so I don't know what it's like but I wish I had of had a girlfriend even if i did split up with her because I'm sure I would've got over it quick enough. It's a bit of a shame that i've never had a girlfriend as that would've been nice, i'd have liked to have gone out with Jayne Mansfield or Diana Dors or someone like that but I don't think I'd find someone like that now I'm 68. On this song the music is a bit different because rather than guitar the main instrument is piano though there is quite a bit of violin in it and the odd church bell as well. After about five minutes of this music (this is another long song) Matt starts singing for a bit but there is not much singing on this one and it is mainly just an instrumental track. I liked this one as it reminded me a bit of the classical music they played in the Royal Albert Hall when I went there once for a Christmas concert a couple of years back.
After this very long piano song it goes back to a short song played on guitar called This is For... There is a very nice bit of fast guitar playing with more groany singing on this one which reminded me of those russian dancers that spin on their feet - I like this type of dancing very much and would love to be able to do it.
The last song is called The Pain That is Yet to Come and it sounds a bit like a love song because it sounds like he is singing to a girl. I guess though because it's called The Pain That is Yet to Come that it might be about worrying about a relationship breaking up. I think a lot of the songs on this record might be about break-ups so maybe Matt Elliot is worried about his own relationship or has just broken up with someone. If this is true then I feel sorry for him and wish him the best of luck.
Overall I thought this record to be very sad but very good to listen to because the music on it was very well played and nice and relaxing so it will be nice to listen to late at night when I'm winding down a bit. I would give this record 10 out of 10.
Note from The Gate: Thanks to Ed from Dense.de for providing us with the CD to review.
This time I am reviewing a Syrian record - I am doing it in my bedroom at home rather than The Gate because I fell over and had to go to hospital where they x-rayed me and said I had a fractured pelvis. I fell over on the stage during rehearsals for the show I spoke about last time so I never got to sing my songs which is a shame. I was in the hospital for nine days and then they sent me home but I am stuck in a wheelchair so can't get out. I was lucky really because I got out of the hospital in time for Christmas - I had a lovely Christmas; I got a token off Alfie who I live with and a dressing gown off Wayne who is another of my housemates. It was okay in the hospital and the nurses were nice to me but I am glad to be home and doing my reviews.
This record I am reviewing this time is called Leh Jani and is by Syrian singer Omar Souleyman who started off by playing wedding parties in Syria but now plays concerts all over the world and has recently done some remix stuff with Icelandic singer Björk who I like very much and have reviewed before. Here is a video somebody has made for the song they did together:
This Leh Jani record though doesn't have Björk on it and is just Omar Souleyman and his band playing the songs that they would play at wedding parties, the songs are very long (two are 15 minutes each and the third lasts half an hour) and on this double LP record there is just one song on each side on the first record and the third song is split over both sides of the second record. The first of these songs is called Introduction and it starts off with a few minutes of fast music played on Syrian instruments but this slows down and Omar starts talking in Arabic (or maybe Kurdish which Omar also sings his songs in). I don't understand any Arabic (or Kurdish) but if this was recorded for a wedding then maybe he is making a speech about the bride and groom and telling a few jokes. It is very popular in Syria to hire a band and have a big party, this is quite different from english weddings where you normally just have a disc jockey playing records. If I had of got married i'd have preferred a band to a DJ, maybe The Rolling Stones, I never got married though and I don't suppose I will now I'm 67. After Omar makes his speech the music starts to speed up again and the singing starts properly. The music is made by very talented musicians that Omar always works with called Rizan Sa’ id who plays keyboards and Hamid Souleyman who is a saz and bazouk player and it is quite different music to the music i am used to but in this song it sometimes reminded me a bit of the psychedelic music from the sixties that the hippies used to listen to when they were taking drugs and meditating.
The second track Salamat Galbi Bidek is quite a bit faster than the last one and would be very good to dance to especially at a wedding. I imagine Syrian weddings must be loads of fun. There are loads of keyboards on this one and sometimes they sound like fanfares of trumpets and sometimes like bagpipes, there is also an electronic noise made by the keyboard which pops up occasionally that sounds like a group of women squealing with joy, it is a very funny noise but Arlo (who helps me with these reviews) tells me that Middle Eastern party music often has this noise in it. When Omar sings on this one it sounds like he is chanting the title of the song over and over again - In English the title means My Heart is in your Hands so maybe he is singing it to his wife or girlfriend. I liked this song very much because there are loads of different things to listen to in it and it is very fast and exciting.
The next song is the very long Leh Jani and before I knew the title of it I thought Omar was singing about Laurel and Hardy but he wasn't he was just singing "Leh Jani", this made us all laugh and it was nice to be reminded of Laurel and Hardy because they were very funny and I liked them a lot. This song is the song that is half an hour long and split across both sides of the second record and I think it might be the longest song I have ever heard. When I was listening to this song to review it Mary and Clare my friends from The Gate came to visit me and Wayne came into my room too and we all listened to it together - Clare and Mary both liked the song and I think Wayne did too; he doesn't speak much so we couldn't ask him but he was dancing along by bobbing up and down on the bed. This song is another very fast song and I think the musicians must be very talented to play this fast and for this long, I think Omar must be very pleased to have musicians this good working with him. I enjoyed this song very much and didn't mind that it was half an hour long because I think that if you have a good song it makes sense to play it for as long as possible.
Overall I would say that I like this record very much - it makes me wish I could go to a Syrian wedding or to one of Omar Souleyman's concerts one day and have a dance because I think it would be a lot of fun, that would have to wait I suppose though till my pelvis gets better and I can get out of this wheelchair. I liked the songs a lot because they are so different to what I'm used to hearing and even though the songs are very long they never get boring because they have some many different things going on in them. I would give this brilliant record 10 out of 10.
A very nice picture of Pharoah Chromium meditating.
Pharoah Chromium - Electric Cremation (Grautag Records) Electric Cremation is a double album by a Berlin musician whose real name is Ghazi Barakat but he calls himself Pharoah Chromium after a song by the very good Chicago band Chrome which you can listen to here. This record is split into four themes, one for each side of the records, and the first theme is "A musical reflection on the nuclear disaster of Fukushima." - I think this means he is playing music about when the disaster happened at the Japanese nuclear power plant after the earthquake there on 11th March. It was a terrible tragedy what happened in Fukushima because it just happened without warning and nuclear power kills people - I don't think we should use nuclear power stations to make electricity because they are too dangerous. When the disaster happened everybody here had a benefit concert which went alright because we raised £1000 for a Japanese charity - This week we are doing another concert, this time for Somalia, where I will sing a song i've written called Soho, here are the words to my song:
Soho by Peter Kemp
I got up in the morning and i was yawning,
I put my clothes on and had my breakfast,
And left the house quiet as a mouse,
I went to Soho.
I caught the bus, the 94, to piccadilly like i'd done before,
then i walked to Soho square, I always have a good time there,
I went to Soho.
I went past the strip clubs and all the sex shops,
I walk past some prostitutes, but i don't stop,
I went to Soho.
I go to a coffee shop and i get a coffee,
They charge £2 and it is very frothy,
I say hello to the people there,
At the coffee shop in Soho square,
I sit outside and have a smoke,
I am a most contented bloke,
I went to Soho
Then I go home, the way I came,
And next week i'll do it all again.
The music on this Side one of the record then starts of with a sound like planes flying overhead and then a church organ comes in and it all sounds very eerie and spooky. This is a short track and is followed by a sad sounding song in french, the music on this one sounds like music you would hear by the sea-side except it isn't very happy sounding like sea-side music. I think the music is sad because it is about the Japanese disaster so it has to be sad because it was a very terrible thing that happened. The next track is strange electronic noises like bubbling and birds squawking which is very interesting. After this is a tune that starts off with sounds that remind me of air raid sirens so maybe it is the sound of the alarms in the power station after the earthquake, then there are strange electronic noises that sound like a violin played badly, it sounds a bit like the music from a horror film and I like it a lot. The last track on this side is a piece of music that starts quite quiet but gradually gets louder and louder with noises joining in like a bugle or elephants crying - it is very sad sounding like all the rest of this music about the disaster in Japan. I think it is a good thing to write music about things that happen like this so that people think more about stuff and try and make things better so there will be no more tragedies in power stations.
The Barbican - Horrible.
Side two of the records is called Feral and the letter I got with the record says it is "five vignettes that deal with Neo-brutalist idea's, science-fiction, after-life and the occult." - I didn't know what some of these things meant so we looked them up and a vignette means "a small piece" and neo-brutilism is a style of building made of concrete like The Barbican in London; some people don't like these types of building and I think they are horrible too. I do know what science fiction, the after-life and the occult are; science-fiction is stuff like H.G. Wells's world famous War of the Worlds, the after-life is when you come back to life after you die like Jesus did and the occult is stuff like devil worship.
The music on this side starts off with electric guitar and strange talking which sounds a bit like a robots voice repeating the words "Pharoah Chromium" over and over. After that is a track which sounds like the music for a film where the world is ending, maybe because of the sun crashing down or blowing up, which would be terrible because everybody would be dead and that would be the end of us. After this is track which made me think of monsters coming to attack people after an atom bomb has been dropped, it is quite spooky music and I suppose some people might not like it because it might scare them but I liked it a lot. The next piece of music sounds a bit like digeridoo music except it is electronic; it sounds like music that would make you go mad if you listened to it too much because the electric noises makes your ears feel funny but I still liked it. The last song on this side sounds to me like the world waking up again after it has died, I think after the world dies everything should come back again and be happy and laugh and dance like after the war but I don't think that can happen really.
The Third side of the two records is called Ghost and is "Pharoah Chromium's interpretation of new age and world music with strong Kraut influences." We did some research about these things and new age music is music for hippies, world music is music from around the world and Kraut is a rude word for a German but here means a type of music called Krautrock made by German people in the sixties and seventies - we listened to some Krautrock on youtube and here is a video of Faust performing a song called Krautrock for you to listen to:
The music on this side starts off with lots of space-age electronic noises like the noises you might hear on a extraterrestrial's flying saucer so perhaps this is music made for aliens to listen to, it is very strange music. The next track on this side has noises on it that sound like a spade hitting something and more noises like an air raid and noises like wind blowing and lots of other noises all mixed up and after that is another track that sounds very synthetic but reminds me of a ship coming into land because there are lots of overlapping sounds like a ships funnel…at this point we got a bit muddled up with which track was which because the CD of the record I've got is divided into the sides of the record and not into the separate songs but the rest of this side is very good if a bit peculiar and would be good to relax and sit down and listen to at home or at a concert - it is very slow droney music and that is why i think it would be good to relax to. The last of the record is called Arabic and the letter says it is about "The stereotypical fears of Islamophobia" - Islamophobia is prejudice against Muslims and I don't like prejudice at all because I have a learning disability and some people with learning disability have a hard time because people stare at us and don't like us and are not very nice. Some people don't like Muslims because people think they are all terrorists but this isn't true and most Muslims are just getting on with life like the rest of us. The music on this side is based around Arabic music and features an Instrument called a Saz which is a lovely Arabic Instrument a bit like a guitar. Here is a video clip of somebody playing a Saz in a barbershop:
The side starts off then with the Saz music and electronic whooping and fizzing noises in the background and it reminds me of a busy market place; Shepherds Bush where I live has a very good market that I like very much, you can get Cd's and DVD's and falafel and fish and clothes there and it seems like a very happy place. After this fast song things slow down a bit and the next track starts of with mainly just Saz music which is very nice to listen to and then there is the sound of a man shouting, I don't know what he is saying because it's in Arabic but it sounds like he is very angry about something. The last track on this side starts of sounding a bit like a band rehearsing for something and then it starts sounding less like a rehearsal and you can hear somebody singing in the background it is a very interesting track and a good way to end the record.
Overall I would say this record was a very good record to listen to and I learnt a lot while I was listening to it, I am glad my friend Ed sent it to me. I would give this record 10 out of 10.
