In Concert Arcade Fire Rock in Rio 2014 Essential

                                       
 Arcade Fire headlined the Rock in Rio Festival in Lisbon . The set consisted of 21 songs .During the show, Lorde joined Arcade Fire  during "Normal Person" with a snippet of "Royals" and then danced with a giant bobblehead during“Here Comes the Nighttime.”  There was also pieces of the Black Eyed Peas "I've got a Feelin" in Rococo, New Order's  "Temptation" in "Afterlife" and Blondie's "Heart of Glass" in "Sprawl II".This concert series tries to appeal  to everyone and in doing so kinda becomes wimpy ( i.e. Coachella, Bonaroo) Nevertheless, there has been many a great performances at Rock in Rio. This being one of them. The Arcade Fire is one of the best bands of the past 10 to 15 years. They were on of my wife's (R.I.P.) favorites as well. Truly an awesome band. 

A combination of indie rock muscle and theatrical, unapologetic bombast turned Arcade Fire into indie royalty in the early 2000s. Originally comprised of Régine Chassagne, Richard Parry, Tim Kingsbury, and brothers William and Win Butler, the group formed during the summer of 2003, after Win spottedChassagne singing jazz standards at a Montreal art exhibit. The grandson of famed swing-era bandleader Alvino Rey, Win was quickly charmed by Chassagne's performance, leading the two to launch a songwriting partnership. Romance followed shortly thereafter, and the duo expanded its sound by gathering Parry on organ, Kingsbury on bass, and Win Butler's younger brother, William, on synthesizer and percussion. Drawing from the bandmates' varied influences, Arcade Fire began mining an eclectic mix of bossa nova, punk, French chanson, and classically tinged pop music, referencing everything from U2's passion to David Bowie's eclecticism in the process.

Arcade Fire issued a self-titled EP in 2003, having briefly retreated to Maine for the recording sessions. Propelled byWin Butler's quavering vocals and his bandmates' symphonic swells, the disc helped earn the band an official offer from Merge Records. The bandmates' luck faltered later that year, however, when Chassagne's grandmother passed away. The Butler brothers' grandfather followed suit in March 2004, and Parry's aunt died one month later. Seeking catharsis in the studio, the members of Arcade Fire funneled their energies into the creation of Funeral. Released in September 2004, the debut album was met with unanimous acclaim -- both commercially and critically -- and Arcade Fire found themselves maintaining a nearly constant presence on the road, playing such high-profile festivals as Lollapalooza and Coachella between a slew of smaller club dates. They also appeared on the cover of Time magazine's Canadian edition, garnered a Grammy nomination for Best Alternative Music Album, rubbed shoulders with superfan David Bowie, and toured alongside U2.

Following an exhausting year, Arcade Fire decamped to a church outside of Montreal to work on a second release. The ambitious Neon Bible arrived in March 2007, featuring such grand ornamentations as a pipe organ, a military choir, and a full orchestra. The album peaked at number two and sparked another tour, which found the band playing more than 120 shows over the course of a year. When touring wrapped up in early 2008, Arcade Fire played several shows in support of presidential candidate Barack Obama before beginning work on a third album. The resulting Suburbs, an eclectic 16-track ode to childhood, suburban sprawl, and middle-class dreams both won and lost, arrived on August 2, 2010. The record was universally acclaimed and reached number one in both the U.S. and U.K. album charts. The following year they won a host of awards, including prestigious accolades such as a Grammy for Album of the Year, the Polaris Prize, and BRIT awards for both Best International Album and Group, among other honors and nominations.

Their success followed them on the road as they sold out shows across the globe, and in 2011 they released a deluxe version of Suburbs that included a short film -- titled Scenes from the Suburbs -- directed by Spike Jonze. They began work on their fourth release in 2012 and enlisted LCD Soundsystem frontman James Murphy for production duties. The album, entitled Reflektor, was released in October 2013. (All Music Guide)

Set List

0:35 Reflektor
7:30 Flashbulb Eyes
10:28 Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)
17:00 Rebellion (Lies)
22:50 Joan of Arc
28:00 Rococo
32:25 The Suburbs
39:05 Ready to Start
44:00 Month of May
45:50 My Body Is A Cage (almost a capella)
47:55 Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)
53:20 No Cars Go
58:57 Haïti
1:03:40 We Exist
1:09:30 Afterlife
1:15:25 It's Never Over (Oh Orpheus)
1:22:10 Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)
1:28:12 A Felicidade - Batucada
1:29:15 Normal Person
1:34:15 Here Comes the Night Time
1:41:10 Wake Up

Newest Review Polar Bear -Same as You 2015 Experimental Jazz Fusion

                                     

Not to be confused with the American alt rock group, the British experimental post jazz 5 piece is fantastic.The 2015 release of "Same as You" by Polar Bear is great album taking inspiration from a multitude of sources such as funk, hip-hop, improvisation, EDM, rock, world, dub ,etc. It originally was to be a single piece of music but eventually made its way to become six tracks. With only a few exceptions, this is a mostly instrumental project.The only track that is iffy is the first track. It still is great but a liitle sappy and corny with its "armchair philosophy"  from Jamaican/ Englander Asar Mikael . Still, I like the track, just not near as much as the rest of the tracks on the album. Throughout the album there is plenty of intertwined saxophone solos, electonic sounds, upright double bass and world drums. There is defintly carribean and other world music vibes throughout the album. For the most part, it is very mellow and entrancing. Since this is a drumming led outfit, the album is rooted in drumming, even though much of it is subtle..There is great minimalistic stuff  all throughout the album.

Sebastian Rochford leads the band and also was a member of "BabyShambles" of Pete Doherty fame. Other members include saxophonists -Pete Wareham and Mark Lockheart, double bassist -Tom Herbert, and electronic musician and guitarist - Leafcutter John.  There is a special guest which is Shabaka Hutchings from Sons of Kemet (which also includes Seb Rochford) and Melt Yourself Down ( which also includes Pete Wareham and Leafcutter John). Tom Herbert has played with  Lana Del Rey, Adele, and others. Mark Lockheart has played with Radiohead, Prefab Sprout, Loose Tubes, Jah Wobble, High Llamas, Stereolab, Vibraphonic and others. Polar Bear is part of a music collective known as the F-ire Collective, which is a jazz music community and a record label

Musically evident, this is art, so Polar Bear has made sure to include  great artwork by the artist Sanchita Islam.  They have taken great lengths to get a desired feel for the album.The album took six weeks to mix in the mojave desert by Seb Rochford and producer Ken Barientos which I'm sure influenced some of the sound. Overall, it has a great ebb and flow musically and from the engineering aspect.  For anyone who loves experimental music and jazz, this one comes highly recommended. Organic.

The above live footage I believe is from 2010. It is not from "Same as You" but is never the less a great example of Polar Bear as well as great in general.  The album "Same as You" has more "world music" influences than this piece.This piece has someone playing a ballon. Enough said.

"The First Steps" from "Same as You " 2015

Roy Buchanan King of the Electric Guitar Blues- Documentary and Live- Essential

                                     


Roy Buchanan was  one of the best guitar players who ever lived. Probably the best electric blues rock player ever.

Roy Buchanan (September 23, 1939 – August 14, 1988) was an American guitarist and blues musician. A pioneer of the Telecaster sound,^[1] Buchanan worked as both a sideman and solo artist, with two gold albums early in his career,^[2] and two later solo albums that made it on to the Billboard chart. Despite never having achieved stardom, he is still considered a highly influential guitar player.^[3] Guitar Player praised him as having one of the "50 Greatest Tones of all Time."^[1]

Leroy Buchanan was born in Ozark, Arkansas and was raised there and in Pixley, California, a farming area near Bakersfield. His father was a sharecropper in Arkansas and a farm laborer in California.^[4] Buchanan told interviewers that his father was also a Pentecostal preacher, a note repeated in Guitar Player magazine but refuted by his older brother J.D.^[4][5] Buchanan told how his first musical memories were of racially mixed revival meetings he attended with his mother Minnie. "Gospel," he recalled, "that's how I first got into black music." He in fact drew upon many disparate influences while learning to play his instrument (though he later claimed his aptitude derived from being "half-wolf"). He initially showed talent on steel guitar before switching to guitar in the early 50s, and started his professional career at age 15, in Johnny Otis's rhythm and blues revue.^[3]

In 1958, Buchanan made his recording debut with Dale Hawkins, including playing the solo on "My Babe" for Chicago's Chess Records.^[4] Two years later, during a tour through Toronto, Buchanan left Dale Hawkins to play for his cousin Ronnie Hawkins and tutor Ronnie's guitar player, Robbie Robertson. Buchanan plays bass on the Ronnie Hawkins single, "Who Do You Love?"^{[citation needed]}. Buchanan soon returned to the U.S. and Ronnie Hawkins' group later gained fame as The Band.^[6]

In the early '60s, Buchanan performed numerous gigs as a sideman with various rock bands, and played guitar in a number of sessions with Freddy Cannon, Merle Kilgore, and others. At the end of the 1960s, with a growing family, Buchanan left the music industry for a while to learn a trade, and trained as a hairdresser.^[4] In the early '70s, Roy Buchanan performed extensively in the Washington D.C.-Maryland-Virginia area with the Danny Denver Band, which had a large following in the area.^{[citation needed]}He was widely appreciated as a solo act in the DC area at this time.

In 1961 he released 'Mule Train Stomp', his first single for Swan, featuring rich guitar tones years ahead of their time. Buchanan's 1962 recording with drummer Bobby Gregg, nicknamed "Potato Peeler," first introduced the trademark Buchanan "pinch" harmonic. An effort to cash in on the British Invasion caught Buchanan with the British Walkers. In the mid-'60s, Buchanan settled down in the Washington, D.C., area, playing for Danny Denver's band for many years while acquiring a reputation as "...one of the very finest rock guitarists around. Jimi Hendrix would not take up the challenge of a 'pick-off' with Roy."^[7] The facts behind that claim are that in March 1968 a photographer friend, John Gossage gave Buchanan tickets to a concert by the Jimi Hendrix Experience at the Washington Hilton. "Buchanan was dismayed to find his own trademark sounds, like the wah-wah that he'd painstakingly produced with his hands and his Telecaster, created by electronic pedals. He could never attempt Hendrix's stage show, and this realization refocused him on his own quintessentially American roots-style guitar picking."^[8]

Gossage recalls how Roy was very impressed by the Hendrix 1967 debut album Are You Experienced?, which was why he made sure to give Roy a ticket to the early show at the Hilton. Gossage went backstage to take photos and tried to convince Jimi to go and see Roy at the Silver Dollar that night after the show, but Jimi seemed more interested in hanging out with the young lady who was backstage with him. Gossage confirms Hendrix never showed up at the Silver Dollar, but he did talk to Roy about seeing the Hilton show. That same night (as the Hilton show) Roy did several Hendrix numbers and "from that point on, had nothing but good things to say about Hendrix".^[9] He later released recordings of the Hendrix composition "If 6 Was 9" and the Hendrix hit "Hey Joe" (written byBilly Roberts).

Buchanan's life changed in 1971, when he gained national notice as the result of an hour-long PBS television documentary. Entitled Introducing Roy Buchanan, and sometimes mistakenly called The Best Unknown Guitarist in the World, it earned a record deal withPolydor Records and praise from John Lennon and Merle Haggard, besides an alleged invitation to join the Rolling Stones (which he turned down and which gave him the nickname "the man who tumbled the stones down").^[10] He recorded five albums for Polydor, one of which, Second Album, went gold,^[11] and after that another three for Atlantic Records, one of which, 1977's Loading Zone, also went gold.^[2][12] Buchanan quit recording in 1981, vowing never to enter a studio again unless he could record his own music his own way.^[10] Four years later, Alligator Records coaxed Buchanan back into the studio.^[10] His first album for Alligator, When a Guitar Plays the Blues, was released in the spring of 1985. It was the first time he had total artistic freedom in the studio.^[13] His second Alligator LP, Dancing on the Edge (with vocals on three tracks by Delbert McClinton), was released in the fall of 1986. He released the twelfth and last album of his career, Hot Wires, in 1987.

According to his agent and others, Buchanan was doing well, having gained control of his drinking habit and playing again, when he was arrested for public intoxication after a domestic dispute.^[2][5] He was found hanged from his own shirt in a jail cell on August 14, 1988 in the Fairfax County, Virginia, Jail. According to Jerry Hentman, who was in a cell nearby Buchanan's, the Deputy Sheriff opened the door early in the morning and found Buchanan with the shirt around his neck.^[6][12] Buchanan's last show was on August 7, 1988 in Guilford, CT. His cause of death was officially recorded as suicide, a finding disputed by Buchanan's friends and family. One of his friends, Marc Fisher, reported seeing Roy's body with bruises on the head.^[6]

After his death, compilation and other albums continue to be released, including in 2004 the never-released first album he recorded for Polydor, The Prophet.

Buchanan used a number of guitars in his career, although he was most often associated with a 1953 Fender Telecaster, serial number 2324, nicknamed "Nancy."^[14] There are two very different stories explaining how Buchanan got the guitar. He himself said that, while enrolled in 1969 in a school to learn to be a hairdresser, he ran after a guy walking down the street with that guitar, and bought him a purple Telecaster to trade. A friend of Buchanan's, however, said that Buchanan was playing a Gibson Les Paul at the time, and traded it for the '53 Tele.^[4] One of Buchanan's Telecasters was later owned by Danny Gatton and Mike Stern, who lost it in a robbery.^[15]

Buchanan achieved his sound through minimum means. He played the Telecaster through a Fender Vibrolux amplifier with the volume and tone "full out," and used the guitar's volume and tone controls to control volume and sound^[16] (he achieved a wah wah effect using the tone control).^[5][14] To achieve his desired distorted sounds, Buchanan at one point used a razor blade to slit the paper cones of the speakers in his amp, an approach also employed by the Kinks' Dave Davies; additionally, he was even reputed to have poured water over the tubes in his amplifiers.^[17] Buchanan rarely used effects pedals, though he started using an Echoplex on A Street Called Straight (1976),.^[5] In his later career he played with a Boss DD-2 delay.^[14]

Buchanan taught himself various playing techniques, including "chicken picking". He sometimes used his thumb nail rather than a plectrum, and also employed it to augment his index finger and pick. Holding the pick between his thumb and forefinger, Buchanan also plucked the string and simultaneously touched it lightly with the lower edge of his thumb at one of the harmonic nodes, thus suppressing lower overtones and emphasising the harmonic, sometimes referred to as pinch harmonics,^[14] though Buchanan called it an "overtone."^[5] Buchanan could play harmonics at will, and could mute individual strings with free right-hand fingers while picking or pinching others. He was famous as well for his oblique bends.^[18]

Having first played lap steel guitar, Buchanan often imitated its effect and bent strings to the required pitch, rather than starting on the desired note.^[5][14] This was particularly notable in his approach to using double and triple stop

Buchanan has influenced many guitarists, including Gary Moore,^[19] Danny Gatton, and Jeff Beck;^[20] Beck dedicated his version of "Cause We've Ended As Lovers" from Blow by Blow to him.^[21] His work is said to "stretch the limits of the electric guitar,"^[11] and he is praised for "his subtlety of tone and the breadth of his knowledge, from the blackest of blues to moaning R&B and clean, concise, bone-deep rock 'n' roll."^[22] In 2004, Guitar Player listed his version of "Sweet Dreams," from his debut album on Polydor, Roy Buchanan, as having one of the "50 Greatest Tones of All Time."^[1] In the same year, the readers of Guitar Player voted Buchanan #46 in a top 50 readers' poll.^[23] Roy is the subject of Freddy Blohm's song "King of a Small Room."

Roy Buchanan is interred at Columbia Gardens Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia (Wikipedia)

Part 1 and 2 A PBS Documentary and Concert from 1971. Interviews from Jerry Garcia, Merle Haggard, Bill Graham, Johnny Otis, etc Roy Buchanan - Greatest Unknown Guitarist in the World ...

Part of Roy Buchanan set at Carnegie hall with Lonnie Mack and Albert Collins (1985)

Newest Review I Don't Like ..... I Don't Go Outside- Earl Sweatshirt (2015) Rap

                                    

First off, I hardly ever care about lyrics. I am always music first. Rap is no exception. I usually listen to rap as the vocals are  type of instrument. I rarely pay attention to what they are saying. When I do pay attention to lyrics, hardly ever are they at any level of real genius. I don't see much point in over the top cussing and saying extreme stuff (comedy stuff being the exception) It is almost always for shock value. Some heavy metal and punk is the same. If the music is great, then I'll like it. On this album the music is great and I could care less about the lyrics. No disrespect to what he saying, I'm just  rarely ever honed in on the lyrics. I'm sure this  might offend people who are obsessed with lyrics . Of what I did listen to of the lyrics, it is quite stark and depressing.  From what I've read , he is known for dark and twisted raps, but again none of that really matters to me. He does have a great way of rhyming and using his voice to work with the music.Earl produces every track on the album except Left Brain's "Off Top. If you like Rap and love instrumental hip hop, you should really like this album. Born Thebe Neruda Kgositsile  he is also a member of the Los Angeles-based hip hop collective Odd Future ". I ended up really like this album. Musically, I liked every track on the album. Rhett Taylor
                     

"Grief"-

Assorted videos and clips from the Russian surf horror rock band Messer Chups

                                                                                                                    
                                            
This is a collection of videos and concert footage from Messer Chups. I love this band. They are so animated , talented and just the right amount of spooky . They are a mixture of surf rock, old b horror film music, electronic music, etc- Rhett Taylor

Messer Chups is the low-brow musical concoction of Russian-born artist and musician Oleg Gitarkin, employing audio collage methods to create thick layers of sampling from trash horror films, cartoons, and other diverse sources. Surf rock drums, big-band influences, and cinema clips show the presence of Gitarkin's western influences, but the band also incorporates antique synthesizers and animations samples identifiable with his Soviet childhood. Adhering stylistically to a number of genres including rockabilly, horror punk, lounge, and surf rock, Messer Chups was founded in 1998 after the breakup of German-Russian psychobilly ensemble Messer für Frau Müller.

When Messer für Frau Müller splintered, guitarist, bassist, and keyboardist Oleg Gitarkin stood firm, recruiting Oleg Kostrow of Phantom for a new-and-improved Messer für Frau Müller. But like most long-distance relationships (Gitarkin lived in Hamburg, Kostrow in Moscow), the pair soon split.Kostrow released his solo work under his own name, but Gitarkin, ever faithful, created the spin-off project Messer Chups (Messer meaning knife, Chups like Chupa Chups, the lollipop).

With Gitarkin in the driver's seat, Messer Chups was a frenzied musical tornado drawing in more and more dialogue and score snippets, surf rock riffs, historical recordings, and antique synthesizers, produced only in the Soviet Union. In 1998, he was joined by German promoter and musician Annette Schneider, who played synthesizer for Messer Chups, then a duo. By then, Gitarkin had relocated to St. Petersburg, where he used audio samples of Schneider's voice to create their first 1999 cassette tape, Chudovishe i Chudovishe ("Monster and Monster"). Schneider left after completion of that album, but St. Petersburg producer Oleg Tarassov was taken with what he heard, and set out to re-release the album on his label, Solnze Records. With new material, reworkings of old tracks, and the musical stylings of Igor Vdovin (keyboard; formerly of the group Leningrad), and others, the product was a whole new album, 2000's Miss Libido. The album drew heavily from Soviet animation, reminiscent of earlier efforts with Messer für Frau Müller. Their next release was 2000's Bride of Atom and showcased even more Messer Chups insanity, this time with samples of vocal ejaculations, and bits and pieces of scary movies and surf rock. 2001's Vamp Babes was a monstrous tribute to B-movies with track names like "Mobile Coffin" and "Cannibal Twist."

The 2002 addition of legacy theremin player Lydia Kavina steered the band toward new musical improbability. Kavina's grand-uncle was Russian theremin inventor Leon Theremin, whose instrument had become a fixture in the same early horror films that Gitarkin so admired. The otherworldly reverberation of the theremin was a natural addition to Messer Chups' 2002 release, Black Black Magic. A fifth album, The Best of Messer Chups: Cocktail Draculina, included new tracks as well as revamped hits. In addition to their committed studio presence, the band had begun to tour extensively in Russia, Western Europe, and the United States. Not surprisingly, live shows breached the multimedia, treating audiences to hectic montages of the group's most cherished works of cinema by directors like Ed Wood and Russ Meyer.

2005's album, Crazy Price supplements their already wraith-like lineup with harp. The same year they also releasedHyena Safari, and in 2007, Zombie Shopping. In the interval between the two albums, Messer für Frau Müllerreappeared on Russian and German stages, and also in the recording studio. In 2008, Messer Chups comprised Gitarkin(guitar, samples, video), Zombie Girl (bass), and Oleg Peskov (drums). (All Music Guide)