Red Record Box

I’ve heard some new “pre-releases” off the upcoming Metallica album and they sound great! The awful and annoying tin can has been replace by a tight, crisp and full snare drum on Lars’ set. What a relief. Plus the music is excellent. Real Metallica. I can’t wait for the release in September. (22nd?) Of course, I won’t share it with you here for obvious reasons but I will report more. New producer (for Metallica) Rick Rubin has whipped them back into shape. Who was that last guy? Bob Rock? (just call me Gregg Internet) He was on some kind of second childhood kick where he butted in to play bass on most of the tunes and then let that awful snare drum sound out of the studio. Metallica should sue him and leave their fans alone. We all know that file-sharing only turns into sales. Right?

The entity that’s ruined the record business isn’t peer to peer it’s Amazon.com who lets everyone sell their used CDs online. Why buy a new CD when you can get the same quality sound from an old CD? Who cares about the tattered cover art? I buy a CD, rip it to my computer, throw the CD up in the attic where I’ll never see it again and I go out on the Internet and get a nice new shiny digital piece of cover art. Metallica should sue Amazon.com and Bob Rock. They did more damage to Metallica than any file-sharing fan ever did.

Gregg

Here’s some more Florence and the Machine just to keep the appearance of progress.

Alvin is Gregg by the way.

Gregg

This is so funny. I really like old Metallica. Not too old, maybe from “With Liberty…” through S&M Live. When they came out with the St. Anger album I was beside myself with Alvin Anger! Plus, you see, I’m old and I have no friends who share my love of Metallica so I had no one to share my outrage with. But that was a few years ago. I’ve zipped my St. Anger files and have just put them away.

When I ran into this video this morning, I knew I had to post it.

Alvin (or is it?)

Zenzile, once known as the “Kings of French Dub” have obviously taken a different direction on their newest release. I found them through a reference to “Tricky” and decided to sample their latest project because he appears as a guest vocalist on one of their tunes. If you’re really searching for Dub, you will find a little here but if you’re searching for something different and catchy you’ll be in the right place. Hard to describe but dark, deep, driving, downtempo comes to mind. I read 2 reviews that mention talking heads in comparison but I don’t see it. Also when it comes to the “Tricky Track” you’ll recognize the voice but sans the growl that usually sounds like an exhalation after a deep toke. Check it out. This is what I heard today.

 

 Reflection feat. Tricky [3:25m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 The War by Angels & Airwaves [5:08m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The other song is by Angels & Airwaves, kind of a post-punk, emo supergroup (Blink-182, Box Car Racer, Over My Dead Body, Offspring, 30 Seconds to Mars) that seems to almost have turned themselves into an arena-rock band. I like the song and I think I’m about to get a chance to see the group live so we’ll see if it’s just production or if they’re making a transformation into pure commercialism. But I like what I like…

Alvin

I’m sorry I’ve been posting only video lately, but you have to see this…

What does this mean? What’s a white chick doing on this train? Why does she think she can just get up and start shaking her stuff in front of all these people she doesn’t even know? What’s going on here? Why won’t that guy look anyone in the eye?

*******

Now jump 40 years forward to 1997 and see how Qawwali singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan collaborates with producer Michael Brook on the fusion album “Star Rise.” This rare work is surprisingly available at amazon.com’s new mp3 service.

 

 Sweet Pain [6:28m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

I’ve just been feeding you videos for the last 3 posts so you need to go out and purchase this specialty! - Star Rise

PS: I do realize that I’m presenting 2 differing styles of eastern music here. One obviously secular in the video and one traditionally devotional with the twist of western fusion in the Ali Khan download. I’m not a total idiot. (but if you can tell me more about the secular style, I’m interested)

Alvin

Thanks to Lady Lazarus for pointing out this video. Tragic.

ALVIN