My thanks to Marcus and the band for selecting their favourites – hope you enjoy.

Arne (drums)
Siena Root – waiting for the sun
Raconteurs – rich kids blues
Led Zeppelin – we’re gonna groove
Grandfunk Railroad – loneliness
Motörhead – lost in the ozone

Marcus (guitar)
Leo Kottke – constant traveler
Colour Haze – love
Jimi Hendrix – bold as love
Genesis – watcher of the skies
Siena Root – we

Arvid (bass)
The Who – doctor jimmy
Minor Threat – in my eyes
Colour Haze – zen
Nausea – sacrifice
Hypnos 69 – the antagonist

Chrissi (vocals)
Jefferson Airplane – Eskimo Blue Day (live @ Woodstock)
Jimi Hendrix – Bold as love
Colour Haze – Stratofarm
Grace Slick and the Great Society – Didn’t think so
Grand Funk Railroad – Can’t be too long

The White Rabbit Dynamite Guest Music mix (146 mb) will be available to download for the next month (until midnight on 8th August 2011).

Cover photo and band logo from the White Rabbit Dynamit website.

Sorry Ken but just could not resist this new Day in the Life of… I know how much you love ‘em.

Woke Up This Morning – A Tired Man – A Cold Hearted Man – Feel So Bad – Happiness Is Overrated – What Can I Do – Can’t Keep Living Like This - I Could Be Happy – For Today I’m with A Boy – With Magic in my Socks – I Feel It All – Someone’s Coming – Right Behind Me – Quick Tie One On – Dude (looks like a lady) – A Good Woman – It`s Not The Thing Henry – Le Petit Bastard – Everybody Knew – I’m Just A Pimp – I Came as a Rat – She Came Through The Chimney - I Was Drunk – I Should Have Known Better – If I Could – Find The Real – Only Black Man in South Dakota – I Would Be Happy – (Still A) Weirdo – But I’ll Be Satisfied – Thank U.

The Day in the Life of Ken… Part 2 mix (160 mb) will be available here to download for the next fortnight (until midnight on 14 February 2011).

Now I know this doesn’t happen very often (especially to me) but last Friday as my dear wife and I were out shopping, I went to browse the albums in the local Virgin. I do this most weeks while we’re out – saves fighting with the SMB’s at the veg counter – and usually browse new releases hoping to see an album I like. Anyway last Friday was different. Last Friday I discovered Amplifier.

I saw the name of the band on the CD but it meant nothing – it was in the heavy metal section which does not normally make me want to investigate further. However, I saw the first song was called Motorhead and thought it be nice to hear how someone has covered one of Lemmy’s old songs. So I asked the assistant if I could hear the album on one of their listening stations – it wasn’t a cover it was an original song and for the next 30 minutes I just stood and listened to most of the album with a big huge stupid grin on my face.

I bought the two albums that were there (Insider is the name of their second album) and have listened to them all weekend – they are both excellent. The first album (it’s called Amplifier) is the better one but they both contain enough musical treasures to satisfy anyone who reads this.

It’s too late to make these my albums of the month so I’ll make Amplifier my album of the Season and I’ll make the band my discovery of the year so far – truly a great band.

So what’s the album like? I don’t know if I can do it justice yet – it’s just fantastic; as good as Siena Root (Different Realities) Porcupine Tree (The Incident) and Colour Haze (All) as good as any rock album I’ve heard in the past 10 years.

Listen to the sample tracks then go buy the albums (apologies to your bank manager)

On Off:

Panzer:

Procedures

That was then – now 5 years and a further two albums along the line they have come up with this, their fourth release “Different Realities”. For each release they have kept the core of the band yet amazingly each one has a different vocalist. And so whilst the music has similarities, the vocal delivery changes each time. Is this progressive? Or does it show a band still trying to define it’s sound? That decision is yours alone, all I do know is that it makes each release different from the other and appears to show a willingness to experiment.

And never more than on this one. Gone for the main part is the heavy blues sound, the sometimes throaty, sometimes sultry voice. Indeed, for the most of it, the vocals have been removed altogether. Instead we get two mainly instrumental movements. The first, “We” takes up what in the olden days would be side 1 of the LP, followed on side 2 with “On the Road to Agartha” (wherever that may be).

“We Are Them” kicks off in relatively laid back style, a gentle piece of acoustic guitar, with an almost whispered voice advising “we are them, they are us”, “we are all the same” before the drums and electrics kick in to waken us from the reverie. This sets the scene for the theme of the album, the mixing of styles and instrumentation as well as ideas from a worldwide perspective. The plea to come together is repeated throughout, not only in the admittedly limited lyrical context, but mainly in the huge diversity of instruments employed.

Not many bands these days have the courage to open an album with a track running to over ten and a half minutes, but then Siena Root are no ordinary band.

This fades nicely into track 2 “Different Realities”and this is where the musical diversity really begins to shine through. I can’t state for certain exactly what instruments are being used, I hear Spanish guitar, sitar, hurdy gurdy, the CD booklet informs me there is things called the darbuka, tzouras, qaraqab, rauschpfeife. I’ll have to take their word for it – whatever it is, it sounds so fresh and haunting at times. But these instruments aren’t just there for the novelty value, these guys really know how to play them and work them in with the more familiar guitars and synthesizers. This track is more of a rocker than most other tracks and sets the scene nicely for “Over the Mountains”, see if you can notice the join!

“Over the Mountains” rocks along nicely with a great drum beat helping it along and possibly harks back more to the aforementioned “New Day Dawning” CD. Again this is another instrumental track, one to nod the head to.

The “We” movement finishes off with “As We Return”, returning once more to the theme of different, but alike. Being the final vocal track, this appears to draw the attention more to the lyrics than a straightforward vocal CD would. Because there is a definite lack of words to follow, maybe it’s just me, but I tend to pay more attention to what is offered than I would normally. “Different realities, but one goal” – profound words indeed in these troubled times.

The sleeve notes inform us that “The Road to Agartha” is a musical piece in the form of The Raags, the framework of Hindustani classical music. This is combined with rhythms from North Africa and played with the traditional instruments mentioned previously, but for added effect, joined with medieval European instruments such as the recorder, violin and hurdy gurdy! How easy would this be to turn into one complete mess? How effortlessly do Siena Root make this appear as natural as the over-riding theme of the CD?

Long instrumental passages can become tiresome to the average listener, of this I am well aware, however I don’t believe that anyone who can appreciate music for the beauty in it could ever become tiresome of this section of the album. It sweeps along, blending the quieter reflective moments with bursts of sheer energy which just catapult the listener along.

And by the end, as we come full circle and return to the opening, we are ready for it all to begin again.

You will never hear this CD on MTV or national radio. Very few music magazines will give it any more than a passing reference. It won’t sell in the millions and 99.9% of the music buying population will never even know of its existence. Which is more than just a shame, it’s positively criminal when you consider the mindless trash that passes as popular music these days. I urge everyone to at least give this band a listen, if you don’t like it, fair enough, but you’ll never really know what you’re missing until you give it a go.

The news is that Siena Root are busily completing a new live double CD of their recent European tour. I know who’s first on the list for a copy when it’s released.

October’s Music Mix wasn’t easy to do as I had so many songs I wanted to include – in the end I had to make it 21 songs instead of the normal 20 as I just couldn’t delete one more song.

I hope you enjoy – it starts with two monster songs by Magazine and The Decemberists lasting over 22 minutes – just classic. Then it simply steams along with tracks by Siena Root, Our Lady Peace and Silversun Pickups before slowing down a bit with Tom Baxter and Fink (amongst others). The concluding tracks are gems by Martha Wainwright (about her Dad), Lauryn Hill and finally we arrive ‘Home’ with The Engineers – bliss, pure bliss. What God gave us ears for.

Please remember if you like a song on the Mix, let me know, I would love your feedback, but also to buy the album as I’m sure you’ll like.

Happy listening.

Laughing Dog

The Music Mix [a 161mb zip file] will be available for one month from today – until 31 October 2009.

Please support the artists – if you like a track, buy the album!

Music for the Month ~ Music Mix 03 ~ October 2009

There’s no real reason to post this video apart from the fact that I love it.

So please, put your preconceived ideas about music behind you – watch and listen to some guys doing what they do best – simply playing music from the heart…