The Uluchay Music Blog

Fools for Rowan - Twisted. Tied Up. Tangled.

2010-06-11T15:03:00.004+03:00

The word ‘Tennessee’ reminds whisky to most people, the home of Jack Daniels. But to people like me it means a lot more if there is a ‘Nashville’ before that Tennessee. The city has been an inspiration for many musicians or anyone who is a little bit interested in music. It is the home to the marvellous Gibson Guitars and it’s many luthiers that build the custom Gibsons along with many other top-notch instruments. Fools for Rowan is a band I came across when I was wandering on MySpace. For reasons I’ve explained earlier, when you see ‘Nashville TN’ on the location your expectations are a bit higher than any other band. Fools for Rowan consists of Erin Mullins, Rachel Brandsness, Aaron Elliot, Ryan Nanney and Jordan Cullen. They are probably friends from high school or something but of course that’s none of my concern. Although I don’t like 5-piece bands very much, it is good to see a girl (Rachel) playing the lead guitar. These kids didn’t betray their hometown, both Rachel and Ryan plays Gibsons both on and off the stage. Erin stands out to be the only member of the group who doesn’t play an instrument.

Their first album called ‘Twisted. Tied Up. Tangled.’ was released in 2009 and has two singles so far. Fools for Rowan’s style reminds me of Evanescence, some how hard rock with a hint of punk and gothic looks. The album opens with ‘Burnt Around the Edges’, a proper rock song with catchy guitar riffs accompanied by some (probably double tracked) excellent vocals by Erin. The album’s hit song (IMHO) is ‘Dead’, the fourth track which also has an excellent video (can be seen here) but my favourite is the live version of the song that you can watch below. I must say this is one of the best live performance videos I’ve seen on YouTube so far.

I find it much better than the album version. I thought this was a song written by someone else but when you watch the video you clearly understand that it is written by Erin. It is also quite hard to understand why the producer added strings to this song. I am no producer or anything close but it definitely sounds much better without those strings. Besides you don’t hear any other strings during the album apart from this song. The rest of the album goes with a slightly slower pace and there isn’t any song that attracts attention. Track 10 ‘Living Dangerously’ reminds me of ‘Still Waiting’ by Sum41 a little bit. Actually it reminds me “a lot” of ‘Still Waiting’.

To sum it up, ‘Twisted. Tied Up. Tangled.’ is not the best album of the world but not bad either, it is exactly what you expect from a new band. My opinion is that they’re ready to go national. After all they’re living in a country where the Jonas Brothers are famous. If they play their cards right, and a little bit of luck they can be the next Evanescence. Members of Fools for Rowan seem to have enough musician skills and looks to attract rebellious teenagers but they still have to concentrate a little bit more on song writing.

Muse at San Siro

2010-06-09T15:26:00.005+03:00

Yesterday I was at the great San Siro stadium to watch Muse live. Home to AC Milan and FC Internazionale, San Siro (or Stadio Giuseppe Meazza as called by Inter fans) is the 8th biggest stadium in Europe and the biggest in Italy with 80,074 seats. Taking into account one third of the seats cancelled and the addition of the pitch the stadiums concert capacity was about 60 thousand. Before the concert the rumours were that there will be 55 thousand and today La Repubblica wrote it was 60 thousand. My approximate head count was about 65 thousand so let’s say 60 (±5) thousand. I think this is as big as it gets and it was clearly the most spectacular concert of my entire life.

Italy is quite a special place for Muse as Matt’s ex fiancé is Italian and he has a house in Como (yeah we’re neighbours he came to ask for some sugar the other day) and most young Italians love them. He also speaks some Italian I guess because his pronunciation of the word “grazie” was pretty good (I’ve heard much worse). The evening started fairly well as I entered the stadium at 5 pm (for a concert that starts at 9) and found a good seat. The girl at my back was dedicatedly kicking my back with her white converse shoes. I turned back and threw her a few what-the-fuck!? looks but she was with her boyfriend and he had the higher ground (star wars episode 3 reference). Soon the supporting acts started with Calibro 35 (locals) and continued with Friendly Fires and Kasabian. The sound during this acts were awful as we were in the second ring and there were tiny speakers pointed towards us. The stadium was clearly not designed to host a Muse concert so the acoustic was pretty bad. I couldn’t buy a field ticket because they were sold lightning-fast and I was left with this one. No trebles or guitars were audible we were just hearing some bass and somewhat mids. I didn’t thought that would be such a problem because I personally think half of Muse’s music consists of Chris and his bass. Then there was a soundcheck before Muse and the trebles got a little bit better.

I personally don’t think there is much to say about Muse’s performance. They were epic as always, the setlist consisted of 24 songs (with 2 encores), 8 more than what they played at Rock am Ring two days ago. The songs were mostly from The Resistance and Black Holes and Revelations. They played “New Born” and “Plug in Baby” from Origin of Symmetry and “Unintended” was the only song from their debut album Showbiz. While there is a controversy among the fans about The Resistance and especially “Undisclosed Desires”, it was the peak moment of the concert. They stepped on to a moving stage, which goes in to the crowd and ascends to provide better visibility for people in higher levels. I thought the stadium was about to collapse, all the girls were shouting and singing even if they didn’t know the lyrics. I think we might see this concert as a DVD in a near future as their performance was almost flawless, the crowd was perfect and the stage animations were perfect.

A surprising moment about the concert for me was when Dom invited Nic Cester, frontman of the Australian band “Jet” to the stage. The Australian sang one of my favourite songs “Back in Black” of the AC/DC which is also a great coincidence to my previous post. Matt showed once more what he could do with his guitar when he was not singing and his “Angus Young” performance was perfect in every aspect including the famous “Duck Walk” but he didn't wear shorts. The song sounded so good and I was pretty shocked how they could manage it with just one guitar where AC/DC plays it with two. After the concert a friend who was watching from the field told me there was another guitar. This was always a discussion about Matt. No one judges his skills with vocals, piano/synth and guitar on the recording basis but when it comes to live performance he is just limited by the human nature. Most of the time people talk about rumours that he uses a backstage guitarist. Although I personally don’t believe the backstage guitarist thing, on some songs there was a fourth musician on the stage to help them with the keyboards.

At the end Muse pulled off a perfect performance at the San Siro. It is not easy to play in a venue like this. When you look at the back you see that only major bands and artists like U2, Robbie Williams, Bruce Springsteen and some local rock legends like Ligabue and Vasco Rossi filled this incredible stadium and now Muse is just one of them. I think this is as big as a band gets, they have already registered their names to the British Rock Music History. Some people think their last two albums are no way near as the first three but the most accompanied songs were also from these two albums. Most people didn’t even notice the songs from the previous albums. Muse now has a younger and wider crowd and it looks like they’re having lots of fun.

I have to post this as well. This video is from a TV show in Italy’s national television Rai Due. The producers asked them to perform a playback on the show. They refused to do a playback but the producer insisted so they prepared this wonderful prank. In this video they perform “Uprising” Matt plays the drums, Chris on the guitar/keyboard and Dom with a left handed?! bass.

AC/DC – Iron Man 2 Soundtrack

2010-06-06T02:16:00.002+03:00

Everyone who slightly knows my music taste knows that I’m a huge soundtrack fan. I always think that the soundtrack plays a huge role in the movie. A good soundtrack can make a movie last much longer in our memories. It is also a great and easy way to discover new music but there is also a fact that no one wants to listen to a soundtrack album without watching the movie itself. Well I am no exception but when you see four magical letters with a lightning bolt in the middle everything changes.

I didn’t see the first Iron Man movie but heard that it was really good and since I didn’t see the first one there is no point on seeing the second one. What I do about this film is to enjoy it’s epic soundtrack. Director John Favreau is a huge fan of AC/DC and he decided to use 15 tracks both from Bon Scott and Brian Johnson era, ranging from ’75 to ’08. The tracks are picked from ten different albums. Only ‘Shoot to Thrill’ and ‘Highway to Hell’ were used completely uncut in the motion picture. The album can easily be considered as a ‘Best of’ including hit songs like Shoot to Thrill, Back in Black, Thunderstruck, Have a Drink On Me and many others.

There is not much to say, this album seems to be a win-win for everyone. The movie will attract more viewers (AC/DC fans). The new generation of will be exposed to the music of AC/DC and no doubt they’ll like it. Fathers and sons will finally have a chance to listen to music together. Even if one kid starts listenin AC/DC instead of Justin Bieber the world will be a much better place.

A New Era

2010-06-04T17:40:00.005+03:00

As some of you may have noticed, my blog was dead for about 9 months or so. During this time I’ve moved to a new country, travelled half of Europe, discovered lots of new music and attended some kick-ass concerts. From now on you will find new stuff. I am planning to write a few posts per week, some of them will be long and boring and some of them will be short and full of YouTube videos (sorry for those who live in a third world country where YouTube is blocked). I have also created a Twitter account and a Facebook fan page for the blog so you can keep up with it. The first post will be in a few hours I guess. During this time you can watch this video of Datarock who are pretty much my favourite band nowadays.

Three Norwegian friends founded Datarock during a festival. They then hired a fourth but sometime later they were left as a duo. To briefly describe their style, it is something like electronic indie pop/rock. They published their debut album “Datarock Datarock” by their own label in 2005. Their second album “Red” was released in 2009. This is their most popular song “Fa Fa Fa” which is from their first album.

Negramaro - Mentre Tutto Scorre

2009-09-06T23:03:00.011+03:00

It's been quite a while since I wrote a post. I said some goodbyes, packed some stuff, quite awkward but sold our good ol' car. Since some of you may know my computer is dead and I'm using my brothers old laptop which I've kept for emergency situations like this.

I haven't listened new stuff except what I have in my iPod, yesterday I decided to use the 30 song credit which Last.fm gave me (damn you Last.fm). I've typed "Italian" and started listening. The second track Last.fm played was Negramaro's "Mentre Tutto Scorre". I was very impressed by the song and Last.fm couldn't offer me better stuff since track 9 which was Toto Cutugno's classic "L'italiano". I've done some search and found out that these guys were quite famous in Italy. I listened to "Solo3min" which was also great.

Today I decided to write a post about their third studio album; Mentre Tutto Scorre. The album brought the band country-wide fame and "Best Italian Act" award at the 2005 MTV Europe Music Awards. The title song was their first single and the fourth single of the album "Nuvole e Lenzuola" was selected for "Guitar Hero: World Tour" video game. Their music is best described as Alternative Rock, which stands for; somewhere between pop and rock, yet worth listening. Giuliano Sangiorgi is a very talented singer, he has a very characteristic voice, his vocal range is very wide and he can switch between high and low very quickly.

Believe it or not, I haven't listened the album completely yet (now I'm at track 9) but I am very very fascinated. Maybe because it's Italian and I don't understand anything except a few words but I always believe that music is more than just words. I can say that this is the first and so far the best Italian album I've heard. These guys know how to make good music and I'm quite happy perché I have a favourite Italian band before I leave.

Les Paul (1915 - ∞)

2009-08-17T21:20:00.007+03:00

A few days ago, as I was checking TV before breakfast I saw a shocking line saying "American Guitar Virtuoso Les Paul Dies at 94". It was kind of inevitable, nearly no one lives 94 years but what shook me was something much more interesting.

I was sitting with my family by the poolside when I saw a friend of mine coming. We started to chat about music and stuff. He plays double bass for my former university's orchestra and has a little recording studio on his own. We went to his place, we played stuff with his bass and guitar (which was a Les Paul replica), we watched various videos on youtube, discussing which guitar player is better. We watched Joe Pass, Zakk Wylde and many others and finally it came to Les Paul, I showed him this video and we were both amazed by this incredible man. Then I went home to sleep, and learned that he died when I woke up.

Les Paul was not just a Jazz/Blues guitarist, he was the most talented inventor the music industry has ever seen. Most notably, he invented solid body electric guitar and multi-track recording. The techniques he used was way ahead of his time. He recorded many hit songs in the 50's with his ex-wife Mary Ford, and with other legendary musicians including Chet Atkins. Most importantly, he was the inspiration to almost everything we hear today. When he had that famous traffic accident, he asked the doctors to bring his guitar, and the docs fixed his broken elbow according to his picking position.

When he was 93 last year, he was still playing at Iridium Jazz Club in New York on mondays. He was one of the few artists I wanted to hear live. I knew my dream was kind of impossible. He lived a very good life and with things he left behind, he'll live in our hearts forever.

The Red Special

2009-08-12T15:51:00.012+03:00

It's not a Gibson, it's not a Fender, in fact it doesn't even have a brand. What we have here is the most unique guitar of rock music history.

Brian May, the lead guitarist of Queen built this legendary instrument with his father, they used what they had in the house so it's basicly a built-your-guitar-at-home! They used woods from an 18th century fireplace for the body. May stated that he has two wormholes at the neck. The inlay buttons were his moms nacre buttons. The tremolo system was taken from an old motorbike. Because May is a physicist, he knows a lot about electricity and he has done all the wiring, he bought three single coil Burns pick-ups and wired them in series instead of paralels. Which resulted more bass and less treble, also when all pick-ups are active, the output is triple. He installed on/off switches for all three pick-ups which is not something common in three pick-up guitars.

Despite it's features, the Red Special also has a unique tone which is impossible to replicate. When you listen to a Queen cover, you know there's something wrong but you can't tell what it is. Let me tell you, it's the Red Special, no guitar(ist) can match it's tone or Brian May's technique. Brian May built this guitar in 1963 and used it to record all Queen albums. Today he still uses this 46 year old guitar along with it's replicas which makes it one of the longest active guitars of all time.

If you have enough money, you can have a replica of the Red Special. Brian May founded his own guitar company called Brian May Guitars (wow what a creative name) and reproduces this important instrument for Queen fans. Do I want one? I'm not so sure, even if they had a lefty model, this guitar is meant and built to be played by Brian May.

Thank god! We're not hearing you anymore Top 10

2009-08-10T00:18:00.005+03:00

Today I decided to post a list of musicians who we are not hearing from. They've either ended their musical careers or no one cares about them anymore. One thing they have in common is they make our world a better place to live.

10 - t.A.T.u

They were cute russian girls, what made them popular was not their music but their sexual preferences. They were holding hands and kissing on every performance, I think the world needed something like that at the moment. Then one of them got pregnant somehow and bla bla. Even if they're doing something at the moment no one really cares anymore. "All the Things She Said" was not a bad song but was nothing special. Ten years from now no one will remember them.

9 - Vanilla Ice

I don't really remember what this guy was up to, he stole a sample from Queen's "Under Pressure" and released something like "Ice Ice Baby". The song was absolutely rubbish for any Queen fan, and people who liked the song liked the sample. The only good thing about him was something he hasn't done. It was Jim Carrey's epic dance performance on SNL.

8 - Eamon

I have to admit I kind of liked his song "Fuck It! (Don't Want You Back)". But when I think about it now I ask myself; Do we need him now? The answer is absolutely no! He was just another one hit wonder, he filled a huge gap with this song, he's done his service to the community and then disappeared. Akon & Snoop Dogg released "I Wanna Fuck You" but it was no way near. Thank you Eamon, you've done a great job and destroyed yourself.

7 - Backstreet Boys

I think these guys were offended because no one showed them the meaning of being lonely. It was literally impossible to understand the meaning of being lonely when you are a 5-piece boy band. I think even they didn't like their music, they were only in it for the money. It's not only the thing about Backstreet Boys, we also got rid of Westlife, N'Sync and Blue. In total, they sum like 15 or 20 men and the only thing left from this group is Justin Timberlake. He fills the gap of boy bands individually and as long as he's around I don't think world needs another boy band.

6 - Spice Girls

This is sort of the same story with the Backstreet Boys but Spice Girls were much more dangerous. The world has been through a lot in the last century, the WWI, the WWII and the Spice Girls but we're safe now. If David Beckham has played a tiny little bit part of their break up I thank him a million times. You're not only a great football player, you're also the man who saved the world.

5 - Aqua

I'm a barbie-girl, in the barbie-world.

Life in plastic, It's fantastic!

Yes it was fantastic, no one understood what hit them. Aqua, you are responsible for the brain damage you caused on millions of people and I also think you are the reason of the economical crisis.

4 - Alphaville

There was nothing wrong with Alphaville's music. In fact they released a few classic hits including "Big in Japan", "Forever Young" and "Sounds Like a Melody" but it is very obvious that you don't belong to this world. What you did was great but it was just a phase. When we find life forms in another corner of the universe we may need you. We may send you to that galaxy and maybe they would understand your music. With their clothes, keyboards and that stupid smoke machine they tried to make the music of the future. So here we are, at the future and what you have done doesn't seem to be the music of now and I don't think we'll come across anything like you in the following 50 years.

3 - 50 Cent

I don't wanna talk much about him, ('cos maybe he'll find and kill me) he didn't make a single contribution to the music industry and he isn't around since he was crushed into pieces by Kanye West. The world has enough gangsta rappers, we didn't see you around in a while and I don't think we want to.

2 - Amy Winehouse

Her first and probably the last album was not bad, I listened to it for like a month then I got bored. And presumably she got bored too so she started to do other things. I don't even know wheter she's dead or alive. What she is trying is to die and become a legend but no one told her that you don't get the legend status with only one album. I think you should've gone to rehab when they told you so. I honestly don't think that would make any difference but there was a tiny possibility for us to have a proper musician.

1 - Las Ketchup

These three spanish girls were probably the worst musicians world has ever came across. None of them looked beautiful and their song "Asere Je!" sounded like shit. I still don't know how but it become an instant hit. Then I guess people realised and said; OMG we created a monster! They somehow disappeared and the world is a much better to live now. I still get scared when I remember them, sometimes I see nightmares of them being popular again. Thank god we're not hearing you anymore.

Florence + the Machine - Lungs

2009-08-07T18:57:00.002+03:00

It's been quite a while since I have posted an album review, and I decided I should do one. Lungs is the debut album of english soul & indie artist Florence Welch. The spelling is a bit of a confusion, iTunes Store and Amazon.com refer to as "Florence + the Machine" while Last.fm and Wikipedia credit as "Florence and the Machine". Anyway, it seems the spelling of their name is the least of problems.

Florence was making music with her friend Isabelle Summers, they called each other "Florence Robot" and "Isabella Machine". Then she switched the name to "Florence + the Machine", judging by the name it seems like a band but this is her recording name, the Machine is a group of artists who provide backing music for her.

The album contains some good songs and some very good songs. Very good songs catch you at a few listens, remaining songs are at so-so level. There is no doubt that Welch is a magnificent singer, she has a very strong voice. Throughout the album, she doesn't make a single mistake in terms of singing, but seems like the Machine isn't working very well. It's her fault though, you can feel that Florence Welch is the boss of this thing. I think she didn't set her genre in her head yet. Some songs have the proper indie rock sound with great guitar riffs some have lots of strings and no guitars at all. It feels like this album was not produced by a single producer and in fact it really is. Florence knows music and it feels like she's been doing it for a while. I believe this is a compilation of her previous works. 46 minutes is not very long but she kept all the good songs for the first half and you get bored after a while. "Howl" I think is the best of the album and one of the best songs I've heard this year, "Girl With One Eye" is epic, "Kiss With a Fist" has a lot of joy and fun but all these songs were not brought together properly. All songs are individually good but it is very hard to follow. The only binding force is Florence's extraordinary voice but after a while you start to think this is a best-of album of the artist and each song represent different eras of her career.

In conclusion, this is an album with some very good songs performed by a very talented artist but the problem is it doesn't feel like an album at all. I think Florence needs to decide which way she will go in her career, and she has to do some mending to the machine. If Florence Welch takes my advise (I don't see any good reason why she should) she has the capacity to be an all time classic.

New Earphones

2009-08-04T21:53:00.006+03:00

I went for a little 3-day holiday and now I'm back for more. I also have a new pair of earbuds. My DealExtreme orders have arrived, including these cheap in-ear earphones. I've had a 54 km bike trip today with these new ones.

For those of you who don't know about DealExtreme, it's a Hong-Kong based web site. It sells China made technology gadgets, they're very low quality but most of the time they do the job. Prices are at "you gotta be joking" level and they ship them free worldwide. Buy a keychain for $ 0.79 and you have it delivered to your door all the way from Hong-Kong without any shipping cost. It's quite safe, it accepts only PayPal.

I think I made quite an advert about the site and now it's time for the earphones. I got them for $ 4.38, it may sound cheap (in fact it is) but it's one of the expensive ones on the site. I read some good reviews and some bad, I decided to give it a try. This is my 4th cheap earphone, previous 2 were also from DealExtreme. I had a pair of fake iPod earphones and a pair of iPod style in-ear earphones. They were both rubbish, and worth $ 3.86 combined, I kept one for back-up and gave other as a gift.

I usually can't get along with in-ears, this one is no exception. Again the middle size pads didn't fit my ears and again the right (I think my right ear canal is wider) one feels a little bit loose. I needed something like this because my Sennheiser earbuds are useless in public transport. This one has better noise isolation, it's not perfect but what you expect from an in-ear. The thing I like about this one is it has more (except Sennheisers, Shures and Koss') treble than the other in-ears on the market, the bass is more balanced, it doesn't blow your ears but doesn't sound very good either. One let down of this thing, and the biggest is it's mids. The mids are terrible and spoils all the fun.

They maybe a good choice for an average music listener but for me it just isn't. I have to admit they sound better than Sony Ericsson Walkman Phone's bundle in-ears and most Sony's or Philips'. Some earphones sound better in time but I don't think I'll like these. Not because they sound bad, I just don't like in-ears, and probably will never do.

Metallica - Death Magnetic

2009-07-30T13:07:00.006+03:00

When you have a brother who is seven-year older, you listen to some unusual stuff. While my class-mates were interested in stupid pop songs of the era, I was listening to Pink Floyd, Queen, Nirvana and of course Metallica. I was 8 or 9 years old when I first heard Metallica and loved their music since. Death Magnetic is their 9th studio album and the best among last few.

They had problems with Jason Newsted for a long time, he was a decent bass player but his parts were either cut out or volumed down during mastering. I think James didn't liked this guy at all and Jason stormed off. They recorded the dreadful St. Anger without a bassist, with producer Bob Rock in charge of the instrument. Metallica did not produce a proper album since the legendary self-titled black album. They "Load"ed, they failed, they "Re-Load"ed, they failed again. They screamed their "St. Anger" and the fans were quite sure, a legend has come to an end. They signed Robert Trujillo as the bassist which did not cheer the fans either. Most people believed they were becoming their own tribute band.

James Hetfield and his friends did a proper job this time, they decided to work with Rick Rubin as the producer. He produced Slayer and Audioslave albums before, and he knows the recipe. James was in charge of the band since day one, he pushed himself to the edge this time. His vocals are perfect, riffs are catchy. Lars destroyed the drum kit into pieces. His drums were also good in "St. Anger" but there was nothing else to back him up. I think the drums in this album are at "... And Justice for All" level. Kirk is a bit of a let down of this album, he has a few good solos but instead of going for melodic solos like in the past, he fell in love with the wah pedal. Rob has done a great job with the bass. This is the first album that we hear proper bass since "Master of Puppets". Here's a video released before the album, shows Rob's skills with an acoustic guitar during one of recording sessions.

This is their longest "proper" studio album, it's 74 minutes long and the shortest song is the last one "My Apocalypse" at 5:01. Metallica usually had long songs, "...And Justice for All" had 9 songs, "Master of Puppets" had only 8. This one has 10 songs and despite a few, they are very good ones. "The Day That Never Comes" was released as the first single before the album which I think was a perfect choise. It's a song with proper Metallica sound and changing tempo, which is something we haven't heard from them in the last decade. James has perfect melodic vocals in "Broken, Beat & Scarred" and my favourite "All Nightmare Long". We also have a new unforgiven in this album the "Unforgiven III". I wonder how much unforgivens they have in store for us. It has a piano intro, it's 7:46 long and has a rather slow tempo. This time we don't have "What I've felt, what I've known" lyrics, in fact it doesn't even resemble the first two unforgivens. The album overall has a complete sound. It's seems long but it isn't. You get easily involved with it and never get bored after all, we all missed them so much.

I believe this is the album that all Metallica fans were waiting for since '91. All the world knows they are not super talented musicians. What made them popular was their ability to compose melodic songs. They don't need to prove themselves. They are already legends and I think with this album they realized what they should do. Write good, melodic songs.

Wingsband & The Fab Four

2009-07-29T12:22:00.010+03:00

I woke up this morning with the melody of "Mrs. Vandebilt" by Wings' ringing inside my head and when that happens you don't have much choice, you have to listen that song. So I did, and then made some searches on YouTube if anyone has covered it. There was not much and (I don't know how) I soon found myself watching bass covers of another Wings song "Silly Love Songs". Wondered if there is a video of Wings performed it live and what I accidentally found was astonishing.

Video info section said Wingsband at The Grove, April 13, 2008. I was kind of confused because Wings broke up in 1981, former members tried to re-group but Paul McCartney refused. Just a few seconds later I realized the lefty guy who plays a Rickenbacker 4001 bass and sings was not Paul McCartney! He was a musician called Ardy Sarraf and what these guys has done was a perfect Wings tribute band. Ardy is not looking exactly like Paul but he has his 70's outfit, is a lefty, plays his bass and sings. You can't expect more. They even have a Linda! She backs vocals and plays the keyboard. I've also seen "Band on the Run" and "Jet", the performances were truly amazing.

Then I found out same guys also have a tribute band called "The Fab Four". I was excited as hell and quickly started to watch their videos. I came across some tribute bands before on YouTube, I also seen some Beatles tribute bands but they were nothing more than "OK". Most of them even tried to form a Beatles tribute band without a lefty Paul. Wingsband was very good, but The Fab Four was even better. These guys have a perfect attention-to-detail which doesn't only make them the best Beatles tribute band but also one of the best tribute bands ever. They have all the right instruments, the Höfner, the Gretsch, Epiphones, Rickenbackers, Gibsons, the Ludwig drums and Vox amplifiers. It's also same with Wingsband, they use the exact instruments Wings used in the 70's.

It's not only the attention-to-detail, these guys are proper musicians. They perform with out a single mistake. Rolo Sandoval (Ringo) doesn't miss a single beat. Both Ardy Sarraf (Paul) and Ron McNeil (John) can play keyboards, Michael Amador (George) throws perfect guitar solos. And it's not just that, just like the Beatles, all four guys sing. Each of them sing songs belonged to the Beatle they represent. I've spent all my morning listening to these guys with an empty stomach and a smile on my face. For me the most important thing is, they perform late Beatles songs. The Beatles stopped performing live in 1966 and most of their classics were released after they focus on their studio sessions. Paul McCartney performs some songs in his concerts but there isn't any live performances of these songs by the Beatles. They do not record, they only perform live in front of special audiences and they seem to be enjoying themselves. I think they know they can't compete with the giants, and the world really doesn't seem to be needing new Beatles.

I don't know how it feels to be in a Beatles concert, but neither does the rest of the world. The Beatles isn't around for 39 years now and their last succesfull concert was 43 years ago. These guys are trying to fill a huge gap, and I think they're doing it properly.

Kanye West - 808s & Heartbreak

2009-07-29T01:25:00.005+03:00

I'm not much of a rap person but when it comes to Kanye West, things change instantly. He is a wonderful producer and in my humble opinion the best rapper of all time. 808s & Heartbreak is his 4th studio album. You can feel this album is different from the previous ones without even listening. The first three albums were titled in a college theme ("The College Dropout", "Late Registration" and "Graduation") and all contained Kanye's famous bear on their cover art.

Almost everyone agrees that the first two albums were hip-hop classics. Graduation was advertised with "Stronger", maybe his best song ever, but the album was a bit of a let down. This album proves he is now successfully graduated and no doubt his heart is broken. The thing I like about Kanye is unlike other rappers, he sings, he doesn't try to prove himself. He doesn't have a very good voice but he can sing. He showed the world that hip-hop is not about saying words that rhyme. In this album he really reflects his emotions to his singing.

The album takes it's name from the Roland TR-808 drum machine, he did most of his production on these machines. Unlike previous albums, this doesn't include much strings, it's more electronic. The sound of 808s are so dominant, giving the album a more complete feel. The first two singles, "Heartless" and "Love Lockdown" stand out but other songs are also really good. "Bad News" and "Coldest Winter" are worth attention. "Amazing" is made popular by NBA but I don't think it's one of the better ones. It's a good song though I think they chose it because it fits with their slogan; Where Amazing Happens. The album closes with a freestyle live performance called "The Pinocchio Story". It is quite touching and if he improvised that on stage, well he is a genius.

For me a good album is made by writing a few good songs, and writing other songs to back them up. This album does that exactly. 52 minutes it's still a bit long but his shortest album up to date. He definitely has better songs in his previous albums but this is the most complete one. This is the best to listen to. Which also makes it the best Kanye West album up-to-date.

Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon

2009-07-28T04:11:00.002+03:00

I just came back from a 45 min. walk, had a shower and set for this. It's 4 AM now, and I'm beginning to think that I should do this "walk, listen to an album, take a shower, write a review" thing more often. So here it is, Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" or "The Dark Side of the Moon" or whatever you call it.

First things first, this is not an album that you can listen to on a normal time, you have to be prepared for what you are about to hear. You have to have the right conditions. I've listened to this album many many times and I don't really remember listening it in a morning time. Not because it's titled Dark Side of the Moon, this is a dark album, and to listen to a dark album you have to be in a dark environment. Most albums, you listen and have a good time. This one is an exception though. You listen to it, it rocks your world, changes your life. Every single time.

I've first heard about this album when I was like 14 or 15 years old. We were trading cassettes with friends, and I've got this. I guess I gave him Queen's Greatest Hits II. I wasn't much of a music freak back then but the first thing that got my attention was the recurring melodies in the album. They were stealing their own music, and they were doing it in style. This also helps to give a more complete feel to the album and attracted the listener. It is highly psychedelic and highly progressive. If you don't know what these two words mean don't worry, you'll definitely get it when you listen.

The first two tracks form an epilogue of what's yet to come, and the album actually starts with "Time". The backbone of the album is songs 3, 4 and 5; "Time", "The Great Gig in the Sky" and "Money". Then comes "Us and Them" which is kind of a bridge between the beginning and the end. This album does not contain usual rock songs except "Time" and "Money". Clare Torry perfoms one hell of a vocal in "The Great Gig in the Sky", Dick Parry's saxophone in "Us and Them" is epic. I still believe it's the best ever performance by any session musician.

The album was intended to Syd Barret, their former front man who (decided to) lost his mind. It opens up with quotes from a few mad men. These voices (and sometimes evil laughs) are placed at various points in the album. I later learned that these were not actual mad men, they were friends of the band members. Linda and Paul McCartney were also interviewed but their voices were not used in the album. But another Wings member Henry McCullough says "I don't know, I was really drunk at the time" between "Money and Us and Them". The main idea of the album is to look at life and things from another point-of-view. The closing lyrics of the album is shocking:

and everything under the sun is in tune

but the sun is eclipsed by the moon

This is not an album which consists of songs, you have to think of it as a 45 minutes long song. You definitely don't want any of these songs in your shuffle playlist, any of them will bore you to death, but when you listen to them all together, it is magical. It ties with "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" at the top spot of my best albums of all time chart. There isn't a possible way that anyone can surpass this no matter how hard they try. This is the highest point achieved in writing, executing and producing music.

"There is no dark side of the Moon really... as a matter of fact, it's all dark."

Gerry O'Driscoll

Paul with a Flute!

2009-07-27T18:15:00.002+03:00

This is a photograph I found at YouTube. Shows how talented Paul McCartney is, he is playing a block flute while holding a cigarette.

Disclaimer: Kids, smoking is bad! Don't start smoking just because Paul McCartney did. Well who am I speaking to, kids nowadays don't even know who Paul McCartney is. All they know is Lady GaGa, Akon and that sort of shit.

This shot was taken during one of the first takes of "The Fool On the Hill". Paul probably wrote the flutes of this song, but the original record has proper flutes played by Richard Taylor and Jack Ellory.

This photo really made me smile because like every other kid in Turkey, I had my mandatory music education with this instrument. I don't know where it is now but mine was white. It reminded the old days when me and a friend (Levent) of mine played Metallica songs with block flutes.

The Magnificent Apple iPod

2009-07-27T17:28:00.002+03:00

I just wanted to pay my respect to this incredible piece of technology; the 30 GB iPod 5G.

We are together for about two years now and not just my opinion, this is one of the best products Apple has ever created. Mine is actually a 5.5G which is an updated and more stable version of the 5G. Most of my friends are surprised when they hear it but I find 30 GB limited sometimes as my music library is growing steadily. the 80 GB model is a lot thicker than this and battery life is not as good. I use it with a pair of Sennheisers mainly and on long journeys I use Philips' SBC HP200. I also have some crappy bundle white earbuds as back-ups. Amateur or professional, every musician agrees that the quality of equipment is crucial for making or listening to the music. Believe it or not, this thing has better sound than most of the laptops on sale today.

This is unfortunately the last real white iPod that money can buy. It's Al Gore who forced Apple to discontinue their glossy white design products. As some of you might not know, he is in the board of directors and well you know his enviromentalist stuff. Today the only white Apple product on sale is the good old MacBook. I had my hands on the new iPod Classic but it's nowhere near this. Somehow it doesn't feel right. Cover flow is good but with white background? Come on Steve! Plus you get the album covers with reflection (again on white background) and slightly angled. Who wants that? I want my album covers as straight squares. The unit, screens, menus, every bit of it's design is perfect and flawless. I think this is Jonathan Ive's best work up to date.

So overall, my iPod is great, iPod Classic is not, don't buy it. It only comes in black or silver so it's not even an iPod. I'm sure they'll notice their mistake (the white iPhone is also a crap) at some point and will give us white, proper iPods and I will be happily using this one until that time.

"I will hold you for as long as you like, I'll hold you for the rest of my life."

Paul McCartney - Calico Skies

Franz Ferdinand - Tonight: Franz Ferdinand

2009-07-27T01:46:00.001+03:00

Tonight: Franz Ferdinand (quite an awkward name) is the third studio album by the Scottish rock 'n roll band Franz Ferdinand. Alex Kapranos and his friends handed the production to Dan Carey this time, and the result is quite good I must say.

At first few listens you get an idea that this album was intended for the dance-floor. However things change after a while, this is still a rock album, and a very good one. You get hard guitar riffs, even a few short guitar solos which is not something we heard from these guys before.

Rob Hardy really pushed hard on this as the bass is more dominant than ever. At some point (Can't Stop Feeling) you just find yourself listening to the bass and ignoring the rest of the band. Alex Kapranos' vocals are not extra-ordinary yet not average. He just uses his vocal range quite effectively. He knows his limits, and executes flawlessly. Nick McCarthy is like he was in the first two albums. He is just great, full stop.

The pace of the album is near perfect. Opens up with "Ulysses" the first single, is an electronic-rock song with great tempo. 3rd track "No You Girls" is also catching, you don't get bored at the first half of the album but there isn't really something worth much attention. Things start to get a little better at track 7 "Bite Hard". "What She Came for" is a proper rock song with a little solo outro. The party-piece is "Can't Stop Feeling" and located at track 9/12. It's clearly the climax of the album.Trumpets resemble Cake songs a little bit. "Lucid Dreams" is the longest song of the album with 7:56 and second half of the song is an experimental techno keyboard solo. Then they close the festivities with two slow songs. It's not an album that you listen good songs first and then get bored or get bored waiting for the good songs to come. There are good songs at the begining, then a little stall, and a fast climb to the top.

Franz Ferdinand has really done a proper job. They didn't make the mistake The Killers and Muse did, and donated us 3 wonderful albums. Is this their best album up-to-date? You can't tell. Which one is their best album? Well you can't tell thet either. The next album is crucial for them, more important than the first three. With this album, we may be witnessing history as it is being written.

Hello, Goodbye!

2009-07-26T20:23:00.001+03:00

Here is my first ever blog post, I hope you all enjoy reading it.

I would like to welcome you with one of (there are like 50) my favourite Beatles songs; Hello, Goodbye. This song was written by Paul McCartney (credited to Lennon/McCartney) in 1967. Alistair Taylor, Brian Epstein's assistant and a friend of Paul visited him and asked how he writes so many songs. McCartney asked Taylor to say the opposite of whatever he says. That's how this song was written. Paul is a strange man, he even wrote songs on the phone (I'll tell you the story of "Getting Better" in later posts). The songs working title was "Hello Hello", then changed. It was not released on an LP (later released on "Magical Mystery Tour") but only as a single. It stayed at the top of the charts for about seven weeks. Lennon hated this song because his classic "I Am the Walrus" was the B-Side. Paul and George Martin believed "Hello, Goodbye" was a more commercial tune. In the video, The Beatles appear in their famous Sgt. Pepper outfit, Paul and John are without their mustaches. Paul's Rickenbacker 4001 makes one of it's rare appearances.

Welcome to my blog, and bye for now.

"I don't know why you say goodbye, I say hello!"

Paul McCartney