Black Era: The Tunnel EP (2006) / Third Eye Guerrilla EP (2009)

Time for favorites again this time with netaudio act from Naples, Italy: Black Era. I don't know much about the band's history but they are around since 2004 with a couple of EPs and full releases. Essentially, Black Era is trip-hop with fine female vocals (Dy Darshan) and smooth electronic sounds (Blob) and guitars (Allfuzz).

The band's sound is a strong reminiscence to the British Trip-Hop sound from the 1990's though the band clearly sets its own distinctive style. The first EP I picked for this review is The Tunnel EP published in 2006. The four songs feature brilliant songwriting with my personal highlight being "Trilateral - Realize U Are".

Thought this is an electronic act the band is very outspoken about politics with references e.g. to Noam Chomsky. The second EP Third Eye Guerrilla brings along 5 fine songs with my favorite being The Gift (Tongueless).

Black Era is also a very active live act so if you're happen to be in Naples you should check them out.

All Black Era releases are under CC which means they are free to distribute. If you like to support the artists you can also buy selected releases directly at the label aquietbump.

Black Era: Myspace | Facebook | Web

The Tunnel EP (2006)
Download | discogs

Third Eye Guerrilla EP (2009)
Download | discogs

Anima: Spasenje (2010)

Now that 2010 is slowly closing, I'd like to present another highlight of this year: Anima is a young band from Serbia from the Vojvodina province and Spasenje (en.: Salvation) is their first official release after two demos. In my oppionion the music is described best as Modern Metal with lyrics in Serbian which makes the record particularly interesting to me. According to the band website this record was already finished in 2008, but distribution problems resulted in not releasing it until Spring 2010 when it was made available for free.

Musically, this is a very exiting melange of different Metal styles with lots of progressive ideas and amazing melodies fading one catchy tune into another. The fine vocals (again, in Serbian only) are changing between the male singer Marko Anđelić and female singer Marta Petrović managing to transport the feeling and atmosphere very well even though I don't understand the language. Most of the time, I prefer vocalists singing in their native language (rather then in bad English ;) - Anima deserves credit for doing so.

The record's production is absolutely spotless and the release comes with a full pdf booklet including lyrics. Currently, there seems to be less band activity and I really hope that this band is going to continue and that I can see them live one day - they really deserve all the best! Again, this type of release is made possible by the Internet and by the Internet only! Beautiful!

Download | Web | Not for sale! (unfortunately) | Myspace | discogs

Badi Assad - Solo (1994)

There is a ton of great guitarists that are genius in their particular genres and styles:

Brazilian Badi Assad, the younger sister of Sergio and Odair Assad - partners in a world-famous classical guitar duo, is standing out of that group. Classically trained, she combines an astonishing one-woman-band technique, adding gorgeous singing, hand percussion and a startling menagerie of percussive vocal effects to her stellar fretwork.

As a member of this musically talented family, Badi emerges with the makings of a musical personality which, like those of all great artists, cuts across the boundaries of our musical microcosm, standing them all on their heads in the process. Badi's Solo is simply fantastic! This record is already 16 years old and it shows the timeless character of this unique blend of music.

If you like this release of Badi Assad you should also check out her other releases which range from classical to her own unique Brazilian style and as well this interesting interview.

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