Aerosmith Rockin' The Joint (2005) [japanese Edition]

Scabdates' accompanying photography is a frenetic blur of instruments and sweaty hair. Singers stand on amplifiers, and keyboardists stare intently at the veins popping in their hands; drummers reach over snares to tweak guitar strings, and saxophones appear out of the ether. It's an accurate portrayal of the Mars Volta's collagist sound, their subtitled and bullet-pointed avant metal that increasingly seems like the soundtrack to a film only Omar Rodriguez-Lopez can see. Still, even at their most insular (some would say self-indulgent), the Mars Volta seethe with intensity. Scab Dates proves this. Most of the more wandering elements of De-Loused and Frances the Mute disappear for this live document, replaced by hails of screaming organ, increased thump to the rhythm section, and Cedric Bixler-Zavala showing off the insane volatility in his voice…

This family pop group from Ilford, Essex, England, was based around siblings Jim, Frank, Anne, Kathy (all b. Ilford, Essex, England) and John Dooley (b. Whitechapel, London, England). They sang as a group for their relatives, but in 1973 decided to try to turn professional. Their musical accompaniment was provided by Frank on lead guitar, John on rhythm, plus the addition of ‘outsiders’ Bob Walsh (bass) and Alan Boean (b. Oldham, Lancashire, England; drums). In 1976 they created their own slice of history by becoming the first British singing group to tour the Soviet Union. However, they had to wait until 1977 for their first hit, ‘Think I’m Gonna Fall In Love With You’.

Ever since their beginnings Jaga have been a band who have searched for something different - without any interest in the latest trends, with no concern for who is on the cover of which magazine, this ten piece collective from Norway have focused their efforts on evolving a unique sound which can collectively express their musical ideas.
After months spent on writing new material, the band ripped it all up, went into an isolated studio out in the Norwegian woods and recorded the demo now known as the Spydeberg Session. Put down in one take in one day, it was a breakthrough moment for the group. A sound that was closer to their live sound than ever before. The band began to whisper about their rock album…

"This is Ryan" continues to confirm that trumpeter Ryan Kisor is more than a "young lion, a label he received after winning the Thelonious Monk Competition back in 1990. At the still young age of 32, he is continuing in the tradition of the modal-minded trumpet players who preceded him, sounding like he comes from the direct lineage of the great Woody Shaw. His excellent trumpet technique, especially clear in the upper register, makes possible seamless solo lines. "This is Ryan" features compositions by three major trumpet players from the '50s-60s: Kenny Dorham's "Una Mas, Don Cherry's "Art Deco and Dizzy Gillespie's "Con Alma". The CD also includes four solid Kisor originals: "Waiting for Brown, a hard driving modal tune; "Maiden Lane, a smooth flowing ballad; "Dirty Ernie, a hard swinger; and "Solitaire," a swinging waltz…

David Sylvian's Blemish album was the first release to appear on his own newly formed independent label Samadhisound in 2003. Written as a break from a project he was working on with Steve Jansen, Blemish is a suite of eight compositions based on studio recordings of live improvisational sessions utilizing Sylvian's voice as the focal point, minimal electronic brush-strokes and, on three songs, the prominently showcased free-jazz guitar work of Derek Bailey. Samadhisound returns to this fertile ground for its fifth release with The Good Son vs The Only Daughter: The Blemish Remixes, a collection of often radical re-workings by eight artists of seven of those original, stark compositions, all personally commissioned by Sylvian himself.

Porcupine Tree have always been pigeonholed with the modern prog movement, but the reality is that they're both a riff-addicted metal band and a troupe obsessed with rich harmonies and memorable refrains. Take the grinding guitar work of "Shallow" which dukes it out with frontman Steve Wilson's undeniably melodic chorus before easing into the delicate, beautifully crafted "Lazarus." Few bands exhibit this kind of depth, be it the dreamy, Pink Floyd-inspired hallucination "Halo" or the Queensrÿche echoes of "Open Car." If the 12-minute sonic meander known as "Arriving Somewhere but Not Here" is as head-trippy as rock music gets anymore, it is reassuring to know that this Tree is still growing. Ideal for headphones, Deadwing - despite its title - takes flight nonetheless.

Fierce Kate Bush fans who are expecting revelation in Aerial, her first new work since The Red Shoes in 1993, will no doubt scour lyrics, instrumental trills, and interludes until they find them. For everyone else, those who purchased much of Bush's earlier catalog because of its depth, quality, and vision, Aerial will sound exactly like what it is, a new Kate Bush record: full of her obsessions, lushly romantic paeans to things mundane and cosmic, and her ability to add dimension and transfer emotion though song. The set is spread over two discs. The first, A Sea of Honey, is a collection of songs, arranged for everything from full-on rock band to solo piano. The second, A Sky of Honey, is a conceptual suite. It was produced by Bush with engineering and mixing by longtime collaborator Del Palmer.

Finally Woken, Jem's full-length debut, fleshes out the It All Starts Here EP with six additional tracks. It features the addicting title track, the same one that blew away KCRW and Nic Harcourt and got her signed to ATO, and it really is quite brilliant. With a dizzy main loop and loping percussion that undulates slyly beneath Jem's dusky vocal detachment, it sounds like what would happen if Beth Orton started bouncing ideas off of Super Furry Animals' hard drive. The song's formula essentially repeats throughout Finally Woken – Jem's simplistically alluring vocals stringing along subtle electronic percussion, ear-catching samples, and melodic loops built from traditional instruments. However, perhaps because this debut sort of snuck up on her, it seems stylistically scattershot. Jem and collaborator Yoad Nevo have a jones for switching things up. They elongate and reduce their elements wildly, to varying degrees of success.