Now that it’s the weekend and you’re not dedicating your brain power towards work, you’ll have time to digest Polyphia’s new track ‘Neurotica’! This …
Polyphia Play With Intricacies on New Track ‘Neurotica’
Some of you may be trying to support Ukrainian musicians with the #Music4Ukraine Challenge, but maybe you don’t know where to start. I’m here to help. I will be publishing a series of mini blog posts about some of the great Ukrainian music I’ve found, and I’ll give tips about the types of listeners I think might enjoy it. If that description matches you, then I hope you’ll dig further into the artist to learn more and share what you find with your music-loving friends!
“Hydronaut”
By Shiva the Destructor
The first thing I notices was the stunning psychedelic temple artwork. It gave me a sense being drawn into an epic story, and the music delivered!
The song starts with a swirling with delay effect accentuated by modulation creating an underwater feeling. Eventually a gnarly and present bass lick sludges through the bottom end foreshadowing the journey that is to come.
Guitar riff slides up the neck then abruptly gets choked off gives just a moment of respite, allowing the tune to gasp for breath before it digs back in.
Eventually the tune dies off again, but instead of starting back up as it was, it restarts with series of bright arpeggios. This creates a slightly more optimistic vibe for just a moment until the heavy guitars assault the low end again- this time they crush with increasing pressure.
You might be lulled into thinking that this is a purely instrumental tune, but so you may be surprised when the lyrics start 3:26 into the song. Be patient. The voice is haunting and at times trippy- spinning in the swirling into and out of the guitar lines.
The lyrics are poignant and dark- it’s one of the few songs I’ve listen to that has a full set of discernable lyrics, sung in English.
After the vocals tell their story, the guitars pick up the intensity again and wander through a harmonized solo, ultimately arriving in the land of ambience, where they joined by an organ that opens a gap for the lyrics to rejoin the mix one final time.
Hydronaut is a beautiful soundscape that envelops a heavy griding rock tune. I think it’s likely to be enjoyed by the subset of Tool fans that don’t need everything to be super heavy (sorry, I know some of you need it to be ultraheavy and this isn’t for you), grunge fans, psychedelic rock, fans of dark complex grooves, stoners
If you’re looking for other great Ukrainian music, I encourage you check out the playlist below. As I find more tunes, I’ll add them there. I plan on publishing more “Hasty Music Reviews” like this to help you find the artist that bests suits your style. Also, if you’re interested in learning more about #Music4Ukraine be sure to check out my Listen for A Cause post.
I hadn’t planned this post, but I woke up early this morning and this was on YouTube. It’s already the last day of August, summer is falling. That marks this time sensitive so here we go…
Pat Finnerty does a comedy video series called “What Makes this Song Stink.” It’s tremendously clever satire of YouTube videos loosely following the format of Rick Beato’s music appreciation series called “What Makes This Song Great.” You should check them both out. Seriously, they’re some of my favorite channels.
Pat recently made a video poking fun at the MGK song Emo Girl. In his video he analyzes the song and forms a fake band and records a song in the same style.
The name of the fake band is August is Falling and their first fake song is called Mad This Summer. Long story short, through a strange series of event which he describes in the video below, August is Falling accidentally became a real band and now the members are inching closer to that elusive hot tub money.
Like Pinocchio, this fake band wants nothing more than to be a real band, but they need subscribers. So check them out below and subscribe. Then go back and watch all of Pat’s videos. I recommend watching them in order because his material is rife with call backs to previous jokes.
It’s ok, click away, enjoy Pat and Rick’s videos, then come back and leave me a comment if you enjoyed it.
Maybe you’ll feel inspired an you’ll want to start your own fake band. If so, you may want to write parody songs like Pat Finnerty does. If so, you may want to check out my post on writing parodies for some more inspiration.
Cheers!
Alright…You Picked It! And this one was a blowout from the word go. It was really down to three choices but 2 weren’t even close. The winner was …
You Picked It! Metallica – ‘Kill ‘Em All’ – Album Review
I’ve been doing this series for several days now and I’m really loving learning more about the music and people of Ukraine. I hope those of you who read this blog are listening to the tunes and recommending them to your friends. Hopefully we can send these tremendously talented musicians a little support through our viewership.
Typically in these posts I give a brief description of what you’re about to hear and try to encourage readers to listen to songs based on similar Western artists. I’m not going to do that this time. I could draw parallels to some important and beloved artists, but this time I’d rather just encourage all of you to listen to the track below. (If you’re the type of creator that is inclined to do a Reaction Video, please record yourself as you listen for the first time. I promise, you will thank me for giving you the heads up.)
“Pisces” is an absolutely hauntingly beautiful and brutally powerful song that needs to be experienced. I will warn you that it gets pretty heavy, and some of you may not normally be inclined to listen to music like this but please listen through to the end. It is a musical rollercoaster and it is absolutely worth the ride.
If you like this song, please check out more tracks from Jinjer. I’ve been listening all week and I keep finding more and more to love about them. “Judgement (& Punishment)” is one that I highly recommend. The reggae influence is unique in metal and in my opinion it is something other artists should consider experimenting with.
Also, I found a few clips of them talking about the war that you may want to check out.
Some of you may be trying to support Ukrainian musicians with the #Music4Ukraine Challenge, but maybe you don’t know where to start. I’m here to help. The playlist below has tons of great songs you should check out from a variety of musical styles. When you find something you love, please share it with others!
In search of the best albums of 2022, I find myself this time around turning to three established acts and someone very out of my comfort zone. Enjoy…
In Search of the Best Albums of 2022.
Some of you may be trying to support Ukrainian musicians with the #Music4Ukraine Challenge, but maybe you don’t know where to start. I will be publishing a series of mini blog posts about some of the great Ukrainian music I found and I’ll give tips about the types of listeners I think might enjoy it. Be sure to listen to the song below and if you like it share it with your loved ones.
“I’m the Mountain”
By Stoned Jesus
If you’re looking for other great Ukrainian music I encourage you check out the playlist below. As I find more tunes I’ll add them there and I plan on publishing more “Hasty Reviews” like this to help you find the artist that bests suits your style. Also, if you’re interested in learning more about #Music4Ukraine be sure to check out my Listen for A Cause post.
Some of you may be trying to support Ukrainian musicians with the #Music4Ukraine Challenge, but maybe you don’t know where to start. I’m here to help. I will be publishing a series of mini blog posts about some of the great Ukrainian music I’ve found and I’ll give tips about the types of listeners I think might enjoy it. If that description matches you, then I hope you’ll dig further into the artist to learn more and share what you find with your music-loving friends!
Kurs Valüt
By Kurs Valüt
If you’re looking for other great Ukrainian Music I encourage you check out the playlist below. As I find more tunes I’ll add them there and I plan on publishing more “Hasty Reviews” like this to help you find the artist that bests suits your style. Also, if you’re interested in learning more about #Music4Ukraine be sure to check out my Listen for A Cause post.
Some of you may be trying to support Ukrainian musicians with the #Music4Ukraine Challenge, but maybe you don’t know where to start. I’m here to help. I will be publishing a series of mini blog posts about some of the great Ukrainian music I’ve found and I’ll give tips about the types of listeners I think might enjoy it. If that description matches you, then I hope you’ll dig further into the artist to learn more and share what you find with your music-loving friends!
“Picnic in Tchernobyl“
By Yom
Here is a live version from the Yom Official Youtube page.
If you’re looking for other great Ukrainian music I encourage you check out the playlist below. As I find more tunes I’ll add them there and I plan on publishing more “Hasty Reviews” like this to help you find the artist that bests suits your style. Also, if you’re interested in learning more about #Music4Ukraine be sure to check out my Listen for A Cause post.
Plan M: Finding Joy in Music Blog 