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13 Jul 2007
CD mini reviews - part 1
13 Jul 2007 04:21 pmI bought €250 worth of CDs, they'll take a while to get through...
Rotersand - 1023 [10/10]
Rotersand have done it again. While the last album had floor fillers like Exterminate, Annihilate, Destroy, it also had acoustic ballads and other songs away from the four-on-the-floor concept. 1023 keeps to this concept a bit further. The music is still mainly electronic but there are more guitars and "real" drums on more tracks.
I've tried not being a fanboy and find faults here and there and can't really. This is just very good music indeed. It's varied, there's still EBM and it's dancy but it's really something that has a lot of unique elements. My favourite of the dancy tracks is "Don't Know" and off the whole album "The Gods have gone Insane".
I just wished more bands would work on their music and actually try to do something a little different each time they make an album.
"Lost" is No. 1 in the DAC singles charts and the album (released this week) is already at 5.
Tonal Y Nagual - The Unseen Deserts [9/10]
There's no pigeon hole you can shove this band into, it's somewhere between Industrial, Minimal Electronics, Noise, (Neo)folk with ethnic elements and Dark Ambient and all of those at the same time, quite a bit off the beaten path and probably only really accessible to people like![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sublevel3, jonny_eol and von_geisterhand. If you like Coil, Haus Arafna, Der Blutharsch and similar, you'll like this, too.
You need to get your head around the weirdness and force yourself to listen, then it's beautiful. I took off one point from the top score only because I think the production values could be better. However, this is a tiny indie production so it's all forgiven.
I'm really looking forward to the new material withmadmoses as a full-time member.
TYN on myspace and despite them being on a very small indie label, you can buy their CD at musicnonstop which has a good review, too!
Down Below - Sinfony23 [6/10]
Brand new gothic rock from Germany. Pretty much the exact opposite of TYN, simple, accessible, happy gothic rock with lots of synths and lala vocals. A bit weak for my liking but it definitely should rock the dancefloors and live music venues. My biggest criticism is the lack of variety, after a while all the songs sound the same. However, production values are very good and they'll have room for improvement and varying their output.
http://www.downbelow.de
Deine Lakaien - 20 Years of Electronic Avantgarde (2 CDs) [10/10]
What might sound like a Best-of album is far from it. This is not just a collection of 22 old songs but Ernst Horn teamed up with the Frankfurt Philharmonic Orchestra and rearranged them. Recorded live, it's reminiscent of the Acoustic album but with a full orchestra.
Awesome stuff.
Dunkelschön - Irfind [7/10]
Medieval/Folky stuff similar to early Faun (review of their current album to come) before they went the crossover way. Nice, lovely to listen to on a balmy summer night sitting under trees but maybe not if you want to dance your socks off. There's nothing wrong with it, but it's nothing special, either. Nice background music.
http://www.dunkelschoen-musik.de
and now two albums I've been meaning to get for a while
Dope Stars Inc. - Gigahearts [8/10]
Fun, bouncy, energetic Industrial/Rock/Electroclash from Italy. A cool blend of guitars and electronic elements in a series of powerful tracks that make you want to dance around like mad.
MySpace
Eisbrecher - Antikörper [7/10]
The second album of the band who on their first single sounded like another Rammstein clone but with their first album did very much their own thing.
It's good, solid, industrial rock with heavy guitars, soft synths and sonorous vocals. Every song on its own is brilliant but on the whole album, it does get a bit samey after a while and rather Rammstein-like, too. I miss a track like Fanatica from the first album, for example.
http://www.eis-brecher.com
Rotersand - 1023 [10/10]
Rotersand have done it again. While the last album had floor fillers like Exterminate, Annihilate, Destroy, it also had acoustic ballads and other songs away from the four-on-the-floor concept. 1023 keeps to this concept a bit further. The music is still mainly electronic but there are more guitars and "real" drums on more tracks.
I've tried not being a fanboy and find faults here and there and can't really. This is just very good music indeed. It's varied, there's still EBM and it's dancy but it's really something that has a lot of unique elements. My favourite of the dancy tracks is "Don't Know" and off the whole album "The Gods have gone Insane".
I just wished more bands would work on their music and actually try to do something a little different each time they make an album.
"Lost" is No. 1 in the DAC singles charts and the album (released this week) is already at 5.
Tonal Y Nagual - The Unseen Deserts [9/10]
There's no pigeon hole you can shove this band into, it's somewhere between Industrial, Minimal Electronics, Noise, (Neo)folk with ethnic elements and Dark Ambient and all of those at the same time, quite a bit off the beaten path and probably only really accessible to people like
sublevel3, jonny_eol and von_geisterhand. If you like Coil, Haus Arafna, Der Blutharsch and similar, you'll like this, too.You need to get your head around the weirdness and force yourself to listen, then it's beautiful. I took off one point from the top score only because I think the production values could be better. However, this is a tiny indie production so it's all forgiven.
I'm really looking forward to the new material with
madmoses as a full-time member.TYN on myspace and despite them being on a very small indie label, you can buy their CD at musicnonstop which has a good review, too!
Down Below - Sinfony23 [6/10]
Brand new gothic rock from Germany. Pretty much the exact opposite of TYN, simple, accessible, happy gothic rock with lots of synths and lala vocals. A bit weak for my liking but it definitely should rock the dancefloors and live music venues. My biggest criticism is the lack of variety, after a while all the songs sound the same. However, production values are very good and they'll have room for improvement and varying their output.
http://www.downbelow.de
Deine Lakaien - 20 Years of Electronic Avantgarde (2 CDs) [10/10]
What might sound like a Best-of album is far from it. This is not just a collection of 22 old songs but Ernst Horn teamed up with the Frankfurt Philharmonic Orchestra and rearranged them. Recorded live, it's reminiscent of the Acoustic album but with a full orchestra.
Awesome stuff.
Dunkelschön - Irfind [7/10]
Medieval/Folky stuff similar to early Faun (review of their current album to come) before they went the crossover way. Nice, lovely to listen to on a balmy summer night sitting under trees but maybe not if you want to dance your socks off. There's nothing wrong with it, but it's nothing special, either. Nice background music.
http://www.dunkelschoen-musik.de
and now two albums I've been meaning to get for a while
Dope Stars Inc. - Gigahearts [8/10]
Fun, bouncy, energetic Industrial/Rock/Electroclash from Italy. A cool blend of guitars and electronic elements in a series of powerful tracks that make you want to dance around like mad.
MySpace
Eisbrecher - Antikörper [7/10]
The second album of the band who on their first single sounded like another Rammstein clone but with their first album did very much their own thing.
It's good, solid, industrial rock with heavy guitars, soft synths and sonorous vocals. Every song on its own is brilliant but on the whole album, it does get a bit samey after a while and rather Rammstein-like, too. I miss a track like Fanatica from the first album, for example.
http://www.eis-brecher.com
Cinema catchup
13 Jul 2007 04:44 pmI need to see Die Hard 4.0, Ocean's 13 and Shrek the Third. The first and the last will be on for a while but O13 might disappear soon so I'd like to see this one first, Tuesday, 6:30, VUE. Anyone fancy coming along?