hAND: Breathing (2011)

Progressive Metal music has been around fore quite some time now. Quite often I find this genre of music too technical - missing feeling. hAND is on the contrary: it has been certainly one of my best discoveries in the metal genre for quite some time. According to their bio hAND are a 4 piece progressive, alternative metal band from Sussex, England and it has been founded by Kat Ward and Kieren Johnstone in 2004.

They produce a musical fusion that is simply breathtaking: The music consists of very elaborate sound structures with female vocals adding a Gothic element. Where other bands are getting sidetracked in their technicality of their sound compositions, hAND finds the perfect balance between progressiveness and melody. The music constantly wanders between calmer passages and more technical passages which maintain a certain level of tension in the music.

The albums musical quality is so high that it is difficult to name individual tracks that stand out but if I had to pick one "The pier" is certainly excellent. The band is currently in the preparations of their new album. While waiting for the new album I am sure the band could use all your support at bandcamp. Preview after the break.

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Etwas Unders: Etwas Unders (2007)

Ukraine again... I got quite stuck in music from the Ukraine and Russia recently. This time it is extremely energetic alternative music with female vocals from Kiev. The band name derives from German "Etwas anders" meaning something different. Thought having an English name lyrics are entirely in Ukrainian language. 

"Etwas Unders" was the first and only self-titled album, which was recorded in 2007. The album included most of the songs performed by the group in concerts between 2004 and 2007. The band is no longer active but from guessing from youtube their live performance must have been really awesome and full of energy. Convince yourself with the soundcloud set below!

Download | Web | Youtube | Myspace † | discogs

My charts for 2012

2012 is already long gone history - so it is once again time for a wrap up of the year. Musically, this year was extremely interesting and I could easily have picked more favourites each month.

This year I added 171 albums, which is slightly more compared to last year (160 in 2011).  Evaluating what I added I can identify two trends: World music was quite strong last year with surprisingly high number of excellent releases from the Ukraine / Russia (5 times). This time, the oldest top addition is just from 2007.

So here are the winners:

January	Dazkarieh - Ruído do Silêncio (2011)	World Music, Alternative , Portugal
February	Sonceklyosh (Сонцекльош) - Герої (Geroi) (2011)	World Music, Ukraine
March	Jacek Kleyff - Znaki (2009)	World Music, Poland
April	r.roo - There Is No Yesterday And No Tomorrow (2012)	Electronic, Ukraine
May	Romengo - Kétháné (2011)	World Music, Hungary
June	A Moving Sound - A Moving Sound (2011)	World Music, Taiwan
July	МЕЛЬНИЦА (Melnitsa) - The Best (2012)	Alternative, Russia
August	Tha Blue Herb - Total (2012)	Hip-Hop, Japan
September	Etwas Unders - Etwas Unders (2007)	Alternative, Ukraine
October	Ghosthill - Flying Through Imagination (2012)	Metal, Russia
November	Youn Sun Nah - Same Girl (2010)	Jazz, South Korea
December	La Cherga - Revolve (2011)	Raggea / Dub, World Music, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia

What can I say once more a year of amazing discoveries - just hit the play button on the youtube play list below and enjoy!

Good Music Is Good Music World Music Compilation (2012)

With Christmas approaching I wrapped up a very nice World Music compilation. It contains favorites that I discovered in the last three years with songs from all over the planet! There would have been at least six more hours but I will skip those for the next compilation ;) If you like any of these songs I recommend you to dig into the full albums as well! For the credits please check the full post. The youtube playlist contains most of the songs if you want to access all just hit the download button.

Happy Christmas and a happy new year!

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МЕЛЬНИЦА (Melnitsa): THE BEST (2012 - my version)

Melnitsa (the Russian word for windmill - Мельница) - is a Russian folk rock band from Moscow. Founded in 1999 by lead singer and primary songwriter Natalia O'Shea the band is famous for its powerful singer songwriter songs featuring a very rich instrumentation and intensive hook lines.

Natalia being an academic and a specialist in medieval European languages and cultures by day creates complex fantasy-laden Russian lyrics and also masters harp.

Within Russia the bands seems to hold a pretty big fan base but there seems to be a fair amount of fans  abroad as well. This compilation is a modified version of the official "The best" album released in 2008 as selected by me. With the last two albums the band took a different route stylistically by heading more into a rock direction and thus "The best" does not feature any songs from this period. On her solo project Natalia still performs folk rock under the moniker "Хелависа" (Helavisa) and the 2009 release "Леопард в городе" (Leopard in the city) is an equally outstanding record as well.

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N.O.H.A.: N.O.H.A. (2012)

Usually, I don't get a lot of inspiration from the radio: this is one of the few exemptions: N.O.H.A. from the Czech Republic. They utilize a pretty wide range of styles with drum n bass being the most prominent one. N.O.H.A. received a lot of airplay for the 2007 song "Tu Café" with its extremely sense making lyrics ;)

The project was founded by Philip Noha with different singers and MCs and they started with a self titled album back in 1997. The band itself is extremely diverse with members from Prague, New York and Sao Paulo.

N.O.H.A.'s releases cover a pretty wide range of styles from trip hop to drum n bass and this is a self compiled selections of their best songs distilled out of their regular releases. On this compilation my favourites are the extremely funky "No Slack" and the pop track "Nasty".

N.O.H.A. appears to be also an excellent live band and you can convince yourself with the live tracks at the end of the youtube list. Unfortunately it appears that they are only performing in the Czech Republic this year.

The cover of this compilation is "stolen" from a Reed Danziger painting which I found through the amazing inspiring blog Basic Sounds.

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Krepuskule: Krepuskule (2006)

This is the self named demo of the French band Krepuskule released back in 2006. Krepuskule (“crépuscule” being the French for “dusk”) crafts music which is best described as gothic or dark metal with a dense atmospheric touch. This is emphasized by female vocals and the use of a violin.

 

This great demo consists of three tracks and in my opinion they are all equally brilliant. Checking their myspace site I can only guess that the band did not release more since 2006 due to line-up issues.

The band is still touring occasionally (in France) so let's hope that they can add something to this hidden gem in the future.

Preview | Buy! | Myspace | Facebook | discogs | Web | Metal Archives

Göksel: The Best Of Göksel (2009) (my version)

Yes, Turkish pop music! Göksel Demirpençe born in 1971 is a pop music artist from Turkey.  I've got aware of Göksel through a Putumayo compilation "Turkish Groove" which was interesting enougth to let me dig deeper. She sings and performs the guitar and her songs feature typical pop instruments but also typical Turkish elements such as violins etc.

What makes her songs special is the timbre and the presence of her voice. This "Best Of" compilation was released by Sony after she changed the record label back in 2008 and it was released possibly without her consent. After listening to some songs from her releases I wasn't particularly fond of the ballads and I felt that other songs were missing so I modified the song selection and kicked out some songs and replaced them with songs that should have been on this compilation.

My favourites of this compilation are Depresyondayım ("I am depressed") a song over a lost love, the uplifting Karar Verdim ("I decided") and the pushing hip hop duet Taş Bebek ("Stone Baby") a collaboration with Dursun Zaman from the Turkish New Metal band maNga. Nowadays, with her last two releases her style of music changed towards more classical Turkish folk music which is not my cup of tea but it'll be very interesting to see how her career continues in the future. Enjoy this excellent compilation!

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My charts for 2011

As 2011 is history now it is time to look back. In total, less music entered my personal library compared to last year. An evaluation within foobar2000 showed me that I added this year 160 albums, only which is considerably less than last year (583 in 2010). Musically, this year is equally interesting but I think I have been far more selective with new additions.
Interestingly, there is only one album which made it on the list which is from an artist that I followed for a longer time (Leaves' Eyes - Meredead). All the other ones were artists to which I did not listen to previously. I also got more critical towards discographies: Quite often one album of an artist is outstanding while others are simply mediocre. With the increased influx of new artists and releases on the Interwebs the necessity to bound to an artist (as a brand) for a longer time does not exist any more. So here is the list:

January	Dazkarieh - Hemisférios (2009)	Alternative, World Music, Portugal
February	Rotting Christ - Aealo (2010)	Metal, Greece
March	Zengineers - The 5th Realm (2010)	Electronic Music, Germany
April	UnSun - Clinic For Dolls (2010)	Metal, Poland
May	Suhov - Heartbox (2011)	Electronic Music, Hungary
June	Leaves' Eyes - Meredead (2011)	Metal, Germany, Norway
July	Gipsy.cz - Romano Hip Hop (2006)	World Music, Czech Republic
August	Longed for Fusion - Salvation (2009)	Metal, Germany
September	Haydamaky - Ukraine Calling (2006)	Alternative, World Music, Ukraine
October	Göksel - The Best Of Göksel (2009)	World Music, Turkey
November	Circo Vulkano - La Vida es... (2011)	Alternative, World Music, Venezuela
December	Elina Duni - Lume, Lume (2010)	Jazz, World Music, Switzerland

So, once again a year full of amazing discoveries - just hit the play button on the youtube playlist below and enjoy!

Circo Vulkano: La Vida Es... (2011)

This is true madness: Circo Vulkano is a crazy combo from Venezuela. I discovered La vida es.. recently at the great balkana.ru blog and it got me immediately infected. The band itself defines its music as Gipsy Cumbia Balkan Punk and when I listened to the record for the first time I thought that this is the how I wanted to have Manu Chao's music sounded all the years (though lyrics are in Spanish, only). It is so full of energy that it makes dance on the spot! One of the great strengths of Circo Volkano is the ability to slow down songs and then to catch up again. 

The first song "Mambo (Italiana)" gets the party already started. From there on till the instrumentals there is no breather to come. My favorite is "La Cachumba" a funny song with great none sense lyrics about a skull. A special thing about Circo Volkano is the usage of the melodica. I don't know how common this is in Latin American music and it definitely adds a very distinctive lo-fi note to the music.

Covers never have been that much fun as on La vida es...: in the middle of the song "Aire Jiri / A Caballo" the theme from pulp fiction pops up and sounds so right here. The king of covers though is the song nirvana: This is an amazing adaption of Nirvana's Love Buzz.

When I saw the live videos on youtube I wished I could have get into an airplane and fly over to Venezuela and join the party! I hope to see this amazing blend of music in Europe one day :)

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