22 February 2012
Remix albums are always a tough one. There’s the fact that they often feature a wide range producers whose styles may not all be compatible, and also if you already enjoy an album then it’s very hard for a remixed version to be as good when you’re comparing all the songs to the original versions. [...]
![Year 3, Day 126: Zao – (Self-Titled) [2001]](http://365aay.com/wp-content/themes/365/thumb.php?src=wp-content/covers/Zao-Self-Titled2001365AAY.jpg&w=120&h=120&zc=1&q=90)
21 February 2012
When it comes to Zao, where do I start? This band has been one of my favorites for at least the last ten years. From constant line-up changes with not even one original member in the band currently to the controversy they were causing back in their golden days of their youth, these heavy-hitters have [...]
20 February 2012
It used to be that part of the apprenticeship process—whether it was writing, painting, or playing music—was plain aping: finding something you liked, then trying, often vainly, to reproduce it as accurately as possible. Ninety-nine percent of what emerged, of course, was complete shit—that’s why they call it process—and then on to the next influence. [...]
19 February 2012
If we take the model of “hipsters,” if indeed they exist at all, being middle-men through whom underground forms of music are sold to the mainstream, then we have an interesting angle from which to look at an album like Theli. Metal, especially in the style of that played by Therion, certainly missed the boat because of its specific characteristics, and has since been black-balled by the indie community and more or less missed out on the mainstream everywhere other than [...]
18 February 2012
“Electric music for your body, everybody music” In these times, it takes a really determined and dedicated band to make a living playing roots music. If there were a Grammy category for hardest-working-band-in-the-business, Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad would get my vote. This roots-reggae-dub outfit has played what is quickly approaching a thousand shows since [...]
18 February 2012
It’s the one that started it all for Public Enemy’s time in the public eye, 1987’s Yo! Bum Rush the Show. Abrasive in both content and in sound it sent a clear signal that Public Enemy (P.E.) was no average crew. What began as a part time hobby for a set of Long Island natives [...]
16 February 2012
Since the beginning of time, (if you consider 1967 the beginning of time, which you obviously do), the debate has raged on: which is David Bowie’s best album? I mean, yeah, no shit, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust. Or Low, depending on high your brow is. But I’ve always been of the opinion [...]
15 February 2012
For the first time all season we’re getting some consistent snow and cold weather which means my wintertime playlist is finally getting broken out a bit more. Similar to how everyone and their grandmother have their favorite summertime songs, I’ve got some wintertime classics and InI’s Center of Attention is one of my favorite cold [...]
14 February 2012
The 39-year-old Mauro Remiddi, who uses the moniker Porcelain Raft, has been through quite a wide variety of musical composition in his lifetime. He has composed music for short films like La Matta dei Fiori as well as a tap dance show entitled Vaudeville 2000, plus he has was a member of the band Sunny [...]
13 February 2012
I got home last night at five—less than 48 hours after leaving for New York—and was stunned to see the detritus of my trip planning scattered around the office: book boxes open, drawers, spindles of CDs yet to be burned. It wasn’t the mess that surprised me as much as what comprised it: again, less [...]
12 February 2012
Were it up to some members of the jazz community in 1959, upon the release of Ornette Coleman’s arguably best, almost certainly most ground-breaking but undoubtedly best known work, the ambitiously but appropriately titled The Shape of Jazz to Come, Coleman would have been dragged over the coals for committing a crime against the medium [...]
11 February 2012
Remember punk rock? Studded, pierced, tattooed, torn and put back together again, loud, opinionated, chaotic; fast for fast’s sake, and unconcerned with causing offense. Punk started as a social movement; a grimy wall of ticked-off kids sneering and [...]
10 February 2012
As a male and as a music enthusiast I am always intrigued by songwriters lacking a Y-chromosome. There is something so completely otherworldly when it comes to the lyrics written through the female perspective, and depending on the source it can be immensely satisfying. This brings me to my new found guilty pleasure of sorts [...]
09 February 2012
Never before have I been more legitimately upset to find out when an album was released: 2006?! Are you kidding me? This must be the most perfectly rendered throwback of all time. There is absolutely no way that this frenzied, compartmentalized production came from anywhen but the dawn of the 1980s. How could any group [...]
