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Tue, 1 May 2007
Brobdingnagian Bards (Featured Group 5/2007)
Mood:
 lyrical
Topic: May
BROBDINGNAGIAN BARDS
PARENTAL WARNING! Unless you want your children asking
you embarrassing questions in public,
it would be wise to keep this music out of
hearing range for little ears!
Back to my Celtic roots this month, in honor of Faire season! Once a Rennie, always a Rennie, and always loyal to Rennie musicians... The Brobdingnagian Bards, though, have a special place in my heart, because Mama Linda (RIP) was the first to take me to see them. The band is comprised of two exceedingly handsome and witty gentlemen, Andrew McKee and Marc Gunn. Both of these men I have had the good fortune of conversing with a couple of times, and they are every bit as smart as their music! A word of advice- if you ever see them in person, go up to them and ask about their name, it's a fascinating conversation, especially since the book they took it from isn't period to the Renaissance in the slightest.
Anyway, onto their music! It's everything a Rennie could ever want... Beautifully Celtic, at times irreverent, and hilariously anachronistic! Their version of Wild Mountain Thyme is moving and gentle, and this from the same band that has done Monty Python songs, the Do Virgins Taste Better Medley, Jedi Drinking Song and If I Had A Million Ducats! If you have any appreciation for good Celtic music, or even if you just enjoy a good gut laugh or intellectual funnies, you simply have to check these boisterous bards out... BECAUSE REAL MEN WEAR KILTS!
Links to Brobdingnagian Bards:
Brobdingnagian Bards Official Website
Brobdingnagian Bards Online Shop
Brobdingnagian Bards on MySpace
Brobdingnagian Bards Stuff on CafePress
Brobdingnagian Bards Music Samples
CDs of Brobdingnagian Bards:
A Faire to Remember on CDBaby.com
Songs of Ireland on CDBaby.com
Songs of the Muse on CDBaby.com
Memories of Middle Earth on CDBaby.com
A Celtic Renaissance Wedding on CDBaby.com
Brobdingnagian Fairy Tales on CDBaby.com
Christmas in Brobdingnag on CDBaby.com
The Holy Grail of Irish Drinking Songs on CDBaby.com
Sun, 1 Apr 2007
Lendi Vexer (Featured Group 4/2007)
Topic: April
Featured Group 04/2007
LENDI VEXER
Our featured group for this month hails from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Self-described as trip-hop, it's hard to thrust Lendi Vexer in that category and leave them there! They have trance, darker undertones, a little soul thrown in on ocassion... Their unique sound prompted Guto of Tripofagia to write, "Tribute to Desolation is one of the nicest melancholic trip-hop songs I've ever heard..." And to top it all off they're one of the most playable trip-hop bands *I've* ever heard!
This female-fronted band came out with their CD Suicidal Adage in 2004. It's one of the few CDs that I have bought based on instinct without ever actually listening to it. I got it in the mail about a week into 2005, popped it into my player... And wondered why in God's name I hadn't bought it sooner! Honestly, I had never been as pleasantly suprised as I was when I heard Lendi Vexer's music! It was just what I had needed- slowly driving, thumping, life-insistant and beautiful music with a dark edge that couldn't be denied. My mother hated them intensely... Not because the music was bad, but because after two months it was still the only CD I would listen to! Now it's 2007 and I'm still as much in love with Suicidal Adage as ever.
However, since I'd worn out my original CD, I needed a new one! I went to the CDBaby site, and lo and behold.... LENDI VEXER JUST CAME OUT WITH A NEW CD THIS MONTH! YES!! CELEBRATE GOOD TIMES! I actually listened to the samples, and they don't disappoint. They've thrown in a bit more of the rhythms traditional to jazz this time, but their vocals are still as enchanting (even if I can't understand them) and I still want to swishy-dance to every single track.
They've gotten themselves a bit more of an exotic sound this time around too, a little taste of India hiding in the background. All in all, their new CD, The Process of Disillusion, evokes smoky nights, bitter dissapointment and techno love. I may not speak Spanish, Portuguese, or whatever (if someone knows, please tell me, I'm a lousy linguist)... but I don't care. Lendi Vexer is a shining indie gem among the dull mainstreamed rocks of trip-hop, and you'll be kicking yourself for millenia if you miss out!
Links to Lendi Vexer:
Lendi Vexer Official Website
Lendi Vexer- Sales and Wallpapers
Lendi Vexer on MySpace
Suicidal Adage on CDBaby.com
The Process of Disillusion on CDBaby.com
Don't forget to look for Lendi Vexer on iTunes and Napster!
Thu, 1 Mar 2007
Mankind is Obsolete (Featured Group 3/2007)
Topic: March
Mankind is Obsolete
Yep, I'm finally getting around to a review of the band whose banner I've had on the bottom of my music page since... Well, since I started this section back in 2006! Why now? I finally got MySpace up and running again, so it was tons easier to contact them than it has been in the past... and they're not only a great group, but from my contact with them they're a terrific bunch of people, too!
The band formed in 2002, was fully formed by 2003, and is based out of Los Angeles, CA. MKiO is headed by the angel/succubus-voiced Natasha Cox and also features Jon Siren on drums, Mark Nurre and Scott Landes on guitar, Gordon Bash on bass, and Brian DiDomenicoon keyboards. Mind you, in this multi-talented group, they all do a little bit of everything... No slackers here!
Self-described on their MySpace page as "Alternative/Punk/Industrial", MKiO is all that and so much more! They're also a little Metal, a little Goth, and a little Trance, with a side of House for added juicy hardcore goodness. My favorite song of theirs is Icarus, which (like it's Greecian mythos namesake) is at once beautiful, tragic, and hard-hitting. The line "I cannot lose control" featured in the song's background is also reminiscent of the myth, where losing control of his passion Icarus gives in and flies too close to the sun, causing his wax wings to melt... Which of course leads to certain death from crashing several hundred feet into the rocks and ocean waves below ( memo to kids with Superman/girl undies- yes, gravity works). In the same way, the steady beat of the song crashes over your senses and bespells you before you're aware of it.
But don't go getting the idea that MKiO is a one-hit-blunder group... Far from it! In fact, Still Right Here, Angel Disease, Puppet, Another Day... All good, and they're just a small sample of the songs from the two albums they have out currently! Not to mention the songs are all different- unlike some of the more mainstream industrial bands that just scream "repetitive boredom". Pretty much matter what type of music you like (unless you like children's campfire songs or the Andrews Sisters), you'll find at least one song on each album that you'll absolutely LOVE, and more that you'll like enough to listen to again and again
Links to MKiO:
MKiO Official Website
currently under construction, but links to great promo banners
MKiO Merch Site
MKiO on MySpace
Metamorph on CDBaby.com
Rise on CDBaby.com
Thu, 1 Feb 2007
The Undead (Featured Group 2/2007)
Mood:
 energetic
Topic: February
Featured Group #1 02/2007
The Undead
Happy Valentine's! This month, as atonement for the interruption of musical artists that happened in January as a result of my move, I bring you the first TWO fabulous bands double-featured! They're very different, but they both rock!
The Undead are headed by ex-Misfits [guitarist] Bobby Steele. He totally proves that he's the soul behind the original Misfits band with this new endeavor! The Undead is a group that's anything but typical, ranging from rock pieces reminiscent of 80's hair bands and the 70's punk scene to remakes of Golden Oldies... (Your Webbe-Mistress' fave song? "Slave to Fashion"!) These guys are the pure spirit of original punk rock distilled from greatness, even if at times they seem a little hokey and repetitive. Even for their (admittedly few) faults, they're still a great band, and I think this is what Bobby Steele was trying to do with The Misfits- make fun music with a point of view!
Links to The Undead:
Til' Death: from CDBaby.com
Dawn of The Undead: from CDBaby.com
The Undead on MySpace
Fields of Aplomb (Featured Group 2/2007)
Mood:
energetic
Topic: February
Featured Group #2 02/2007
Fields of Aplomb
Happy Valentine's! This month, as atonement for the interruption of musical artists that happened in January as a result of my move, I bring you the second of TWO fabulous bands that were double-featured! They're very different, but they both rock!
Fields of Aplomb are a complete 180 from The Undead. I first discovered them some time ago when I was browsing around the "Goth" section of CDBaby.com. I took a listen and liked the samples I heard so much that I immediately ordered their CD nekromanteia, and I've been hooked ever since! They use very ethereal tunes and odd sources of inspiration to come up with some of the most celestial music I've ever heard. These guys are great for relaxing after a hard day, doing Yoga or Tai Chi, painting, or even for use in demon summoning (no, I in particular am not that stupid, I'm just reporting what I've heard about the music from a friend). It's very old-school Goth, emotional, brooding, dark, and beautiful. Any The Shroud or Sopor Aeternus fans out there looking for the next-gen in esoteric Goth music, Fields of Aplomb is definitely a band to look into!
Links to Fields of Aplomb:
Reverence for the Lost: from CDBaby.com
Please note: currently out-of-stock, but you can put your name on the waiting list
nekromanteia: from CDBaby.com
Spiritum Oriundus: from CDBaby.com
Weoroscipe: from CDBaby.com
Fields Of Aplomb Official Website
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