21 Grams by Alejandro Gonzales is actually one of the best movies that I have ever seen. It has everything it is dramatic, it has a bit of hope, lots of thinking, it has the vibe of great independent movies and it is filmed in indescribable manner when the storylines are ripped to pieces and you are basically collecting a puzzle for the first half hour of the movie. And of course it has great music.
Hayseed Dixie
A band from Tribute section.
Hayseed Dixie started as a country act but had really not much success, at some point they decided to change the style and cover some rock tunes. Replacing Oi with Oink and Hot with Hellyeah. That definitely changed their career and their name (which is actually a parody of AC-DC).
Their first two albums were complete tributes to Ac-Dc and KISS in 2001 and 2003, covering the best songs of these rock-n-roll legends in awesome bluegrass style. They also had a record covering various tunes from the 70th. On their next releases “Let there be Rockgrass” and “A hot piece of grass” they included some of their own compositions and had much broader cover scope. Now no one was safe from the bluegrass havoc. Green Day, Queen, Motorhead, Misfits, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and even Outcast can be found on these plates. Two new records also were released in 2006 and 2007 . The 2007 album “Weapons of Grass Destruction” is just spectacular, still I think nothing beats their first Ac Dc tribute.
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ANOICE
Anoice is a six piece post-rock/folk band from Japan.
You definitely want to ask: “And that’s it?” Yeah! Cause I just don’t now words that are beautiful enough to describe this music. But I’ll try.
So two guitars/mandolins, keyboards, bass, viola and drums, not standard set, but noting extraordinary. In their 2006 release “Remmings” these dudes are mixing together post-rock, ambient and neo classical music. As a result, gentle melodies combined with completely different understanding of music. Yeah Anoice haven’t invented anything new, sometimes it reminds of Arvo Parts “Alina”, sometimes of The Ascent of Everest, sometimes of Ben Frost. But no direct quotes everything is mixed with gentle Japanese flavor and a bit of Japanese folk.
Well actually I think I failed trying to describe their music. But it’s always hard to describe such masterpieces.
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Whitley
Some of the recent discoveries.
Whitley is a duo from Melbourne, Australia that plays a mix of alt-country and folkotronica. Their debut album “The Submarine” was released on September 15 and they are now playing a support tour.
The album is wonderful; I’d say it is the possible album of the year for me. A gentle mix of country, acoustic guitars, spiced wth electronica similar to Postal Service style. A minimal set of guitars and occasional banjo and fiddle produces awesome melodies and the whole work is somehow similar to the minimalists like Arvo Part. Sometimes a whole composition is divided between just two instruments.
The vocals are nice and the lyrics are wise and a bit depressive, but very honest. They give the album the final calm feeling and great melancholic mood.
A plate really worth of checking out.
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The Ditty Bops
Unbelievable couple.
The Ditty Bops are two girls Amanda Barrett and Abby DeWald and the band is a mystery from the beginning. These two were on a search for a lost cat as they stumbled upon a backyard of a stranger who was a musician and a guitar collector. He encouraged them to form a band. Not even a band, an adventure that never ends. They sometimes add a little bit of theatre to their shows and the last tour was a cross country on bicycles!
As for the music it’s even more interesting that the outfits and ideas. Ditty Bops are a mix of country, cabaret, saloon and a huge part of the so called western swing. The have extraordinary melodies, nice female vocals, a vide range of string instruments like banjo and mandolin. The lyrics are smart and interesting, a combination of simple words that makes a huge meaning. But still the main thing is the feeling, they have nice groove and have really something more than a casual swing or country band.
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