Mamas Gun - Routes To Riches

Mama's Gun - Routes To Riches

Every now and then, I'll find a band that just stops me in my tracks, makes me listen with all of my attention and focus, and makes me just instantly love what they do, many of these bands and artists I've shared with all of you here, and today, I share another with you, the UK band called Mama's Gun, taking their name from a recent album by the brilliant Eryka Badu, its hard to really garner where they fit in the world of music, but I do know that i love them and this album is just amazing, I've yet to find anyone thats not listened to it afew times through, which to me is a sign that a band or artist is amazing at what they do. What they do is a sort of retro style pop, where bands like The Magic Numbers, who i love immensely are all about the retro british pop style, Mama's Gun is all about the 1970s soul, funk, and general mid 1960s pop from both the world over, I hear alot of The Jackson Five and The Beatles in them, which though not a fan of the beatles so much, i find when others take their style and expand on it, is a lovely trip through the nuances of music's past that many for whatever reason see as hallowed ground. Taking risks and reworking what we see as classic, thats brave and so very made of win, most artists should do that.

The album itself, Routes To Riches opens with the song I find myself listening to more then anything else on the disc, the brilliant "House On A Hill" which is just a brilliant upbeat Jackson Five style pop love song that just blows me away whenever I hear it, I wanna just get up and party like its 1972 all over again and everyone's trying to be 10 year old Micheal Jackson, the party continues with "Rico" which is a brilliant fusion of Stevie Wonder and early Eagles music, its got enough rock for the rockers to like and enough funk that you could pop and lock like nobody's business to, its a great groove with a great flow and a great hook which a funk song must have, followed by an even better bridge thats just brilliant. From there our trip through the music spectrum takes us to "You Are The Music", which starts with a beautiful string arrangement and then drops you a very soulful Earth, Wind and Fire or maybe Ohio Players style uptempo ballad of love, you could really hear this on the soundtrack of any blaxploitation movie ever made and you wouldn't know its a group of British white guys, it switches tempo and feel at the bridge, and becomes gritty dirty funk for a verse, then back to original, its brilliant really. From there our next stop is, "Finger On It", an upbeat dance heavy funk track that you can almost hear George Clinton's influence in it with lines like "hotter then a hot potater hotter then sex in an elevator, shake your funky junk, shake your funky junk for me" its almost guaranteed to get you up out of your seat and moving around and singing around to it, brilliant dance track really. Next up in this party is "Pots Of Gold" a slowed down ballad that seems to almost smack of the influence of mostly forgotten but still a favorite of mine neo-soul singer Maxwell, which delighted me, Maxwell doesn't get enough love these days, it also drips of Marvin Gaye, which is just all sorts of win for a guy like me, who grew up to old Marvin Gaye records, its a beautifully romantic and meaningful song, one of my favorites on the disc really. Its followed by "Chasing Down Shadows" which is a great sweeping ballad that has a great retro late 1960s style british pop feel to it, which is great because though am eating up the retro funk and soul vibe with a spork, I was craving a change in style just to see what they'd do with other ideas, incredibly pleased by the result. Next stop on our tour is, "Phycho Territory" a great fast paced upbeat funk track you can totally see people getting their late 70s boogie on too, its fast paced and bouncy and just plain awesome no matter how you see it, its almost like the BeeGees came out of the past and gave them this track and showed them how to make it brilliant, by this point I'm completely lost in this wonderland of sound they've created for my ears, they follow this up with "Bitch" which is a great funk blues track with an INCREDIBLE guitar riff that leaves me in awe and makes me kind of think they went into the past and stole it from Bootsie Collins, its a thick and sexy straight up funk blues song, its kind of like if you mixed John Lee Hooker or Howlin Wolf with Parliament in a blender and mixed them till it was all liquid, with just afew thick chunks left for the guitar, totally brilliant. From there we go to "Lets Find A Way", a song that sounds like an uptempo Disco era BeeGee's song, or some other uptempo Ballad, you find yourself wanting to roller disco to this one, which is pretty awesome really, its great when music sends you back in time like that, shows a great power to it, next up is "Miracle" which has this great guitar arrangement and is like a total Marvin Gaye song, its just so damn brilliant, the soul falsetto, the upbeat Barry Gibb / Marvin Gaye style vocals and the whole funk dripping beats its just amazing, I find myself listening to it over and over and just living it more and more each time, and the bridge? i totally love it. Our journey ends with "Big Betty" a dirty, gritty, chunky as hell guitar driven funk rock track that sounds like something close to Stevie Wonder's Superstition or something very akin to it, with its brilliant rocky vocals, its untouchable guitar riffs and its overall sound that makes you feel like its a summer night in 1975 and its coming out the speakers of your home stereo at a backyard barbecue somewhere, it leaves you wanting to just loop the disc so you can hear it all again, because you aren't done with it blowing your mind into a million little shards yet.

Now the big question, Is this album for everyone? Oh hell yes it is, i mean come on, this is one of the best discs I've heard in YEARS, this thing blew me away from the very opening and continued to do so all the way to the very end, and left me wanting more, so ofcourse this disc is for everyone who wants to take a nice trip through the music spectrum and relive an era that alot of us wish music would get back to because of just how great it all was. So yeah, if you are a lover of music, if you're a lover of retro music, if you're a lover of fun loving good time music you can dance too and not feel embarrassed to play around your kids, parents or grandparents, all of which who more then likely will wanna get down with their funky selves to this, much to your horror at the image of that, even though it speaks to the beautiful feel and joy put into this. So yeah give it a listen, you'll love it as much as I do.


This is a brilliant accoustic version of their song "House On A Hill" which is by far my favorite song of theirs, so catchy, the album version is alot more funky though, but still love this version to death, wish it was on the disc really...



Artist: Mama's Gun
Album: Routes To Riches
Genre: Soul, Funk, Retro Pop, Britpop
Homepage: Mama's Gun's Homepage
Myspace: Mama's Gun on Myspace

Download: Download the Album here


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BC

Gojira - The Way Of All Flesh

I need to say right off the bat, this is a band that does not get the recognition it deserves. I really hope that this album will serve to change that. I have all 4 of their releases to date and there is a reason for that, let me tell you.

The Way of All Flesh seems to have picked up right where the last disc, From Mars to Sirius left off, almost literally (specifically note the guitar in the opening part of “Oroborus” and the end of “Global Warming”. This is most definitely a good thing, because From Mars to Sirius was one serious progressive death metal album. From their first album on, this band has gotten noticeably better. With From Mars to Sirius being one of my favorite albums as of late, I was very excited to put this one on.

In terms of the album’s structure, there are no problems. I would not say it is a strength either. Interestingly enough, the album’s first single does not appear in the first 3/4 of the album. It is in fact the third to last track, which is something I have not personally encountered very often. The single is an interesting choice, in my mind, however. It is very much unlike most of their music, whereas a lot of their other stuff was very quick-paced, and involved a lot of speed, half of “Vacuity” is slow, and pulsing - then moves to some familiar stuff - then changes to unfamiliar territory once again. A great track all in all, but a surprising choice and placement on the album.

The two main strengths of this album are it’s consistency and strength of the individual songs. Excluding “The Way of All Flesh”, “A Sight to Behold”, and “The Silver Cord” any of the tracks on this album would have made a solid single. The non-single-worthy tracks, however, are almost essential to the album itself. Each provides a fair change of pace, and a break of the monotony that Gojira can become.

The fact that each song on the album is quite distinct is what separates it from From Mars to Sirius, which could really be the only real difference (aside from the obvious fact that the songs are not exactly the same). On From Mars to Sirius all of the songs sort of blended together after a few listens, whereas this is not the case on The Way of All Flesh.

On a more technical note, the production quality of this album is absolutely perfect. The mixes range quite differently at times, sometimes being guitar heavy such as the track “The Art of Dying” but are also very balance at times, such as the track “Esoteric Surgery”. The one thing I noticed that I really like, though some others may dislike, is the volume of the snare drum and toms. I liked the fact that they were fairly loud in the mix for almost the entire album. They have such a bright, crisp sound that adds a lot to the songs that have such a dark sound. The best example I noticed of this is in the track “Yama’s Messengers” where each snare hit is very clear and obvious in the mix, bringing attention from the constant grind of the guitar and bass drum parts.

With a fresh batch of brutal songs, Gojira has put together a very strong fourth release, and in my opinion their best to date (inches out From Mars to Sirius by a nose). While staying in-character and using slow triplets and grinding guitar sections, they have added a few small dimensions to the mix that only help make the listener appreciate the things that make up what Gojira are known for. Where the band goes from here in unknown to me, but I can almost say for certain that it will be good.

Download Here

Artist: Gojira
Album: The Way Of All Flesh
Genre: Prog Death/Thrash Metal
website:www.gojira-music.com/
Rating: 4.5 out of 5

BeZ

Foreign Heights

Many years ago, I became bored with the hip hop scene here in the united states, its not that I lost my love for it, I shall never do that, I just felt that the scene had degraded to nothing more then a marketing tool filled with 3 to 5 minute adds that crammed as many high priced products into each video and each verse as possible, I felt that was insulting to the listener and to legacy of hip hop as a whole. I got tired of seeing "artists" like 50 Cent and Nelly who base their sales more on a faked image and songs about shoes and 5 minute songs that are a verse and a half of nonsense lyrics and a hook repeated over and over, become multi million seller wile countless artists who take the time to well craft each track lyrically and beatwise and try to make every album and experience that doesn't insult the listener, are starving. I don't get it, and thats why I turned outside of the United States for hip hop, I figured hip hop is global, there has to be some good stuff out there right? Boy was I right! You've all seen me post albums by artists from Denmark, Norway, Canada, Trinidad but living in Denmark, I got afew coming up soon from the UK and Sweden even, but when you think of Hip Hop, you don't normally think of the land down under (where women roll and men plunder!), but believe it or not, the Australian hip hop scene is blowing up and with the power of the internet and networking places like myspace and the like, is set to possibly take the world in a maelstrom that merges that well crafted underground american sound (living legends, ect) and the old school hip hop feel of beats that make you wanna blast them with the bass up, and enough aussie slang to make you know where they're from.

At the front of this charge are a group called Foreign Heights out of Sydney NSW, its a "supergroup" of sorts, all three members are solo artists in their own rights, Nick Toth is their DJ and sometimes male emcee, the beautiful Maya Jupiter and needing alittle more mic time MC Trey do most of the rapping, they're a sort of Salt'n'Pepa with a male DJ if I had to find something that most would know to describe them. And I must say, I do love them as a group, its very hard to find their solo work though, that kind of let me down because I was looking forward to it, but I shall endeavor to hunt and eventually bring to all of you whatever I find, I think they are that damn good both alone and as a group, thats a big thing from me, because I do hate the concept of most supergroups, for one, even a foreign one to grab me, trust me, its good.

The album itself, is self titled "Foreign Heights" and it kicks you in the face from the very start, the first track "It Goes On" (with Mr. Zux) though a normal crew flow track, blasts you out the box right at the first note and doesn't stop for a minute, flows beautifully into the second track "Get Yours" a track about how everyone needs to stand up on their own and get their own in life is a great guitar and scratch track that will keep your head nodding the whole time and singing along by the end, it flows right into "The Feelin" a great chill hip hop track that is great to just sit back and chill too the beats are light and relaxed and the lyrics are great too, it actually compliments the previous two tracks really well showing they can chill as well as bring the hard beats, excellently done, "Main Street" speeds things up abit more still a chill style but faster then the one before, its a track about where they each grew up, they all rap about what life is like and mention various things about the areas and life there, its really a nice track, the lyrics will miss most though if you can't listen fast or find a lyric sheet, still a great track. The next track "Mess with my Flow" is a nice crew freestyle track, featuring Maya, Trey and Eternia, I've heard of eternia before, I can't remember if she's Canadian or Australian, or maybe there is two, i'm not really sure, its still a great track with all three ladies they all flow rather tight and the beat is a great bass guitar driven track. The rest of the tracks on this 13 track disc are all rather great too, there are afew other guest shots from fellow aussie rappers of various sorts, all rather good on various levels, afew other stand out tracks near the end are "Journey On" which sounds almost like Timberland on Bubba Sparxxx first album, the song itself is a very deep track that seems very biographical and uplifting, a very nice addition and it was smartly placed near the middle of the album, "In His World" is a love song that reminds me of a mix of TLC (the Crazy Sexy Cool era) and Natile Ozborn and Urban Underground (notably their song "True Love"), and "LaLa" a very uplifting song about keeping your head up and not letting life get you down, I do love when they mix tracks of these sorts into albums that are mostly kick ass club ready hip hop, it shows just how well versed the artists are, a true joy to listen too.

As a whole, I was surprised at how great this album really is, I got it passed my way and was told to give it a listen, I wasn't expecting what I got, I love when that happens, when an album surprises me in a good way. Always a welcome surprise. I'd say give this a shot if you're a fan of REAL hip hop, stuff you don't hear on the radio and doesn't rely on gun and drug talk or degrading women to get noticed, if you're a fan of rappers that just wanna rap and flow and live for beats and lyrics that are real and honest and hard at the same time. Seriously give it a shot, it'll surprise you.


Artist: Foreign Heights
Album: Self Titles
Genre: Hip Hop, Aussie Hop Hop, Abstract Hip Hop, Beats

Foreign Heights by Foreign Heights

By BC

Tomorrow Time by The Boats

BC About This Album:

Once again, The Boats return with their third album "Tomorrow Time" which is just as good as the last two. They have added more vocals to this one and tweeked their sound alot, adding new sounds to their stable of sounds and beats, and the vocals are all run through various flangers and the like, I'm not really sure what they're trying to say with the song titles, as you know from the last two albums, the song titles are just as important to the whole concept as the music itself is. These titles seem very agressive and angry "A Sincere Fuck You", "May Our Enemies Never Find Happyness", and such. I guess it fits with the next level style they've gone for here, more aggressive, more dynamic, more catch your attention. I don't dislike the idea, but I do find it abit strange coming from such a mellow group, not strange in a bad way though, its a nice new depth to them I think.

My only complaint really about this album is simply that its so short, least it seems it, in my first listen I hadn't realised that I went through the first 7 tracks as fast as I did, and before I knew it, I'd gone all the way through all 11 tracks in what seemed like no time at all. I would honestly love a double or tripple disc from The Boats, maybe one that tells a story in musical form, or one that tackles a different genre each disc or something, I feel as if they're strong enough as a group to tackle that sort of thing at this point in time. The retro hippie feel of "Industrial Violence, Venus and Mars, When Planets Collide???" proves that more then anything else on this disc.

I do, as I've always said about The Boats, and about many other artists in their genre, I do wish that there was a place on mainstream radio for this sort of stuff, I believe it would reach a very broad demographic and get alot more people to see just how great some of these unknown artists really are. As I've done with their last two, I whole heartestly suggest getting our download of this album. You will not be sorry.

Artist: The Boats
Album: Tomorrow Time
Genre: downbeat electronica / chill out

The Boats - Tomorrow Time

by BC