Green Balls of Magic

Scott Joplin draws and opens new doors on-, and to the heart, by delivering brilliantly presented musical transmissions that truly have no other agenda than to entertain the listener as swiftly and efficiently as possible. Notice this : once heart itself masturbates, transhumanism is : imminent.

Whereas the everyday average normal music composer - who should be beaten to death with the severed head of a lousy Cthulhu imitator, (as a start) - usually needs a tremendous amount of musical space to express (synonyme : waste) his ineptly distorted spiritual constructs in, Scott Joplin always
takes music AND the listener very seriously, and, therefore, his musical language simply is free of wasted spaces, free of lies, and refrains from robbing the listener out of the most precious commodity, called : time. (Cheapest commodity is called : hope.)

WHAT then, is a wasted space of music? That is the space you wish you could warp through instead, as a wasted musical space - synonyme : violation of silence - truly can offer nothing but pure hypocrisy, that which worships the masks of factual cluelessness, that which is fueled by the desperate urge to conceal the underlying, evident lack of musical ideas worth presenting to a
proper set of ears.

Scott Joplin left a mark that timelessly affects the collective psyche not as result as his aspiration to do so. Instead, he did that as result of being honest to himself, as result of not negotiating with anything less or else than pure idea and perfected honesty. These invaluable and extremely rare tools are utilized to define an inner vision of music characterized by sublime intricacy and the precious aspiration to entertain, as stated before, as swiftly and efficiently as possible. Scott Joplin's brilliantly realized desire is to seek, to define, to present, and even shape the forms of playfulness, rampant. If you lost me here, then hear my words : you fill a much needed gap.

On an additional note : though the origins of the term "ragtime" is not one aficionados seem to agree upon, one particular explanation claims that it became associated with the genre during the days ladies of the red light districts were undergoing their periods by. Unable to render their services as result of the "ragtime" they were having, they joined the patrons in the guest hall, while the local musicians entertained these social gatherings with the energetic audible intricacies this style of music is cultivated for. Quit reading this and watch the green balls of magic, monkey!

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Satan IS and always has BEEN a gentleman.

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Let's Play a Little Ping Pong

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The Symphonic Jean Michel Jarre

Won't Stop No At Marshmallow Planets

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Tadlow Music, 2006



It is not for sure, but not entirely uncertain either that recent team-ups of popular music with a classical environment left Ancient Synthwizard Jean Michel Jarre quite: motivated. I figure, he figured:

"I CAN'T call myself an up-to-date Music Creator and possess NO record with a Symphonic Orchestra under my Ancient Synthwizard Butt! Nons ways, NONS WAYS at ALL!"

So Tadlow Music delivers. Tadlow Music delivers you The Symphonic Jean Michel Jarre, and, fortunately enough, this double disc release brings a rather stable selection of the strongest elements Jarre had to offer to this day.

I would be curious to see what - if any - weaponry Jarre fans would choose to punish me with if I were to tell: Jean Michel usually relies on supersimple compositional methods, and comes up with output that is risk free to offer and similarly safe to appreciate, yet his recent efforts do not necessarily possess the creative power that fuel such classic composition of this author as Magnetic Fields 1. You couldn't watch a science TV show and miss out Magnetic Fields 1 for many many years. It is interesting to observe that even the song in question is clear and simple in it's structure, yet entertains you with such rampant power and elegant beauty to itself that it can go for eight minutes without you being bored for a moment. Very powerful vibe. Ah, did I mention that Magnetic Field 1 is included on The Symphonic Jean Michel Jarre? In a symphonic arrangement, as well. Definite peek moment.

This is all cool. No doubt. Yet Jarre sometimes exhibits a tendency of judging the musical significance of his own ideas incorrectly. He seems to fall in love easily with his invocations, which is probably acceptable. What is not particularly OK in my opinion is that he usually satisfies with the naked, raw idea and chooses NOT to entertain the musical thought further on. Thus there are risks that you will have the Iron Maiden Experience. The Iron Maiden Experience is this: you have some casual wind-blows-me-hair guitar riff and a galloping bass and rhythm section in the background. The wind-blows-me-hair guitar riff then collides with various powerchords to fill in your 4/4 and you are good to go. I am aware that Iron Maiden has some quite significant songs, but I am pretty sure they can deliver two blatantly boring pieces for each classic they wrote. The method and related experience I was outlined is clear manifestation of musical bullcrap, you see.

"We have to sell out 4*4/4 there, guys."

"Can you play like - some stuff in the foreground?"

"Like: "Pariramm-paaaa-pappppiraraaaa!" ??"

"Ye, OK. You do that and I'll go like: "TAN-dada-TAN-dada." Ye?"

"Ye. This for four by four times?"

"Ye. They'll fall for it. They always do."

"Ye."

"Ye."

A similar approach, say that I herein, unravels in the music of Ancient Synthwizard Jean Michel Jarre from time to time. When it does not, then he is very good. Alas, he should publish music that came by just THOSE moments, in my opinion. Remember his latest studio release? That one was particularly lacking any inventiveness and sounded more as a collection of thrown away ideas. My impression truly was that Jarre sold even his failed attempts to come up with new compositions. I am so sorry I forgot the name of the record as now it is quite hard to identify in the massive release palette he has even in a quite brief period. This is yet another strange aspect. If I see things correctly, Jarre releases a record virtually every next Sunday - sure, I am exaggerating a bit, but not THAT much, mind you I. To elaborate my prior implication about Jarre having definite uncreative periods, I can recall his 2004 album Aero though. Man. That sucked. That sucked badly. All in all, in my experience and opinion Jarre usually weights in as highly acceptable via seven songs out of ten, as far as the remaining three go: two will be brilliant and one will be silly, or vice versa.

Now having our almost stupendously lengthy introduction section ruthlessly concluded, let us start earing out what the Jarre Thing exactly has to deliver if surrounded by an orchestra, instruments and synthetizers all pointing at you.

Disc 1:

The opening track Chronologie 1 is the perfect opening statement to start up an installment with electro-orchestrated aspirations. I mean it is the perfect opening track if and when "electro-orchestratism" - sorry 'bout that - is of focal importance. Chronologie 1 delivers you a nice, thick string fabric to lay down on and supports this simple yet elegant buildup with some massively effected digital cellos to offer nice, casual solos - summoning a sci-fi buildup that is quite pleasant to relate to. Enjoy that 3:00 minutes flat you have without the senseless human choir kicking in. Surely, it is not their fault, they even do a wonderful job as far as the actual job goes, but the nice sci-fi buildup is dead gone as Jean Michel Jarre points his mighty fingers to the First Pink Marshmallow Planet you will encounter. An elegant, brief, cautious sci-fi statement is chased away and unravels unto silly, overwhelming choirfest characterized by a supersmiple musical idea. All is not too bad though: at the climax some thick throated opera singer claims her presence and renders a nice little monologue to the magnificent stars to surround Jarre's Pink Marhsmallow Planets, even better: the ending portion makes elegant fun of basic compositional methods utilized in classical music. Jarre borrows emotional building blocks from Offenbach's Kan Kan, and places sci-fi psychedelics atop of them - the resultant sensation is cunning and stable, also a nice and effective way to wrap this one up. At the end up of the day, you can't help but notice that Jarre eventually arrived at quite interesting places with his seemingly redundant choirs to pose as the focal negotiation of this piece, yet I still tend to think that the very beginning of Chronologie 1 is strong and autonome enough so it could be work way better and way more functional as a stand alone statement than the intro section it gets semi-clumsily utilized as here.

Amazingly, the follow-up statement is entitled Chronologie 2. I notice Jarre has some exquisite fixation towards certain pathos-filled words, I am not entirely sure, but I recall as I would have seen stuff like Oxygen 13, even. Hm. Chronologie 2 is such blatant, shameless and hilarious of an effect craver that you suddenly fail to show a blaming factor of all this and decide to keenly follow up the pathos filled melody offered as focal theme instead. This is a funny piece: it is hard to decide whether Jarre takes you for a complete imbecile, anticipating you to live through Chronologie 2 as a serious "symphony??" or does he indeed make quite serious fun of the basic concept of symphonies? Hmm, I am not entirely sure of the correct answer, and this is why Chronologie 2 is kind of: kind to me.

What about yet another Chronologie statement, this time by the title Chronologie 3? I must admit this is a very intricate placement from the Jarre Thing, as this third piece to conclude the Chronologie trilogy speaks in fluent, flawless classical registers. A gloomy, cunning composition, exhibiting a nice, reoccurring focal period in which pathos grows so massive and strong that the buildup collapses under itself, finding a logical and elegant way to reoccur again. Why this placement is so original? I think it is because the prior installment left you wondering if you were taken for a fool or were just entertained. During Chronologie 3 though, your impression that you picked up the correct Jarre record to date solidifies steadily.

Oops. Now me sees Gloria, Lonely Boy is to follow up. I have no clue what this "Lonely Boy" business is, yet the song itself is blatantly peaceful and beautiful. A lady is singing about this particular Gloria character of whom identity I have not the dimmest idea, but I do hope she/he feels better after hearing this. The song pretty much feels like an attempt to calm someone down deeply hurt. Very strong, lazy - in a good sense - composition and a very nice, integral performance from all participants. A supermassive, memorable peek moment.

Equinoxe 4 is the piece I can so passionately scratch my face off listening to. A cautious, nice opening vibe to start up the piece, blown the hell away by a 2nd theme that flattens everything out that comes contact with it. Blah! This time the opening vibe is way more powerful than the senseless focal melody eagerly and ruthlessly voiced by brass instruments, but who cares, truly. The focal melody is Jarre's selfish personal fixation this time around, an idea he refuses to admit not being strong enough to worth showing around for several minutes. Equinoxe 4 has definite aspirations to exhibit meritorious emotional elements invoked by Magnetic Fields 1. By the calm starting vibe and the sinister mid section - yes, even the structure is similar to Magnetic Fields 1 - it has some degree of success, yet the focal, big-ass brass theme flattens the elegant buildup out hopelessly. This is not too bad, not too bad - but not too good, not too good, either.

Fishing Junks at Sunset is an oriental stroll around. It's cute. And, above all: it's truly cute. Did I mention how cute Fishing Junks at Sunset was? It is, trust me.

Souvenir De Chine is the gloomiest and one of the strongest moments of the double release. A superthick string section and a nice rhythm pattern are the focal elements here. Amazingly, the Jarre Thing yet again exhibits modest musical sanity here: he recognizes the massive layer of stringed instruments as strong as it is indeed, and spares them the upper solo registers, the register that would surely compromise this buildup, mind you. Souvenir De Chine is basically a rhythm section, yet such a melodic rhythm section it is that it does not need any solos to - I dare say this - filth it. An exquisite piece.

Magnetic Fields 5- The Last Rumba is some Rumba. It IS a cool Rumba, too!

Industrial Revolution - Overture is an easily approachable piece to represent and manifest Jarre's compositional skillset when the author is free to rely on a supportive orchestra and synths. It is a stable piece with a constant pulsation to it, offered for you by hammers to emphasize the modal atmosphere the title suggests. It is beyond questions that every instrument gets a role here, and gets a functional one. Apart from that: nothing more to unravel or to remain here.

Industrial Revolution - Part 1 is a quite subtle, cheerful piece. Massively, yet - should we say? - haughtily classical, with a cunning tendency to interchange between the delightful and the determined registers. This piece is organically connected to the follow-up statement, Industrial Revolution - Part 2. The resultant mood here maintains it's accessibility while opening up to a massively cinematic scale. A quite significant fabric of two connected statements to show off Jarre's evident capabilities to write music once he is serious about that.

Disc 2:

While I basically find Eldorado a pretty good song to provoke massive flows of saliva out through the corners of your mouth, I must admit that it has it's supersilly charms to it, and I tend to think that Jarre himself had not much more intention with it than to clearly include and reveal those. I dare to say that the song has elements and moments quite similar to the compositional methods utilized by guitar god Steve Vai on HIS symphonic statement.

I fail to pick up on Oxygene 13's originality which might be existent yet it is extremely well hidden. Some melancholic stuff it is, I suppose - but seems to have no intention to going anywhere, and, throughout this recognition you wish for it's end to arrive via that senselessly fast yet oh so! relieving manner.

Fortunately, the symphonic rendition of Magnetic Fields 1 has ended up as a quite firm and solid statement. The supportive synthetizers are now substituted by stringed instruments and focal solo synths are rendered via thick, clear brass instruments. A trademark effort in Jarre's career, Magnetic Fields 1 still has that paradoxical, fresh (!) retro sci-fi feel to it, while the fact that makes a quite special piece of this musical statement is that it has nothing more to it than this ever-present, fresh retro sci-fi feel. Then again: what more could you ask for? The fact that it offers nothing more or different than retro sci-fi feel is what we are so grateful for and signing on for here.

Emmigrant is yet another faceless, overwhelming stare-to-nothingness via senselessly overblown tones of Symphonic Orchestra Overkill. Immensely tiresome to relate or listen to, I figure Jarre tried to summon an atmosphere similar to Richard Strauss's improbably powerful Thus Spoke Zarathustra. My opinion would be that either you go for that particular majestic-space-sensation via senseless power as Strauss did, or you better off staying: SILENT.
You with me here, Jean Michel? SI-LENT. All in all, Emmigrant is one of Jarre's numerous failed attempts to create majestic space music, but it still remains a nice depiction of the Pinkest Marshmallow Planets you ever witnessed, nevertheless.

"This: Stinks! This Also: Sucks!" - Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Richard Strauss nodded. Jean Michel Jarre Hid Away. And Their Words And Gestures Made Perfect Sense, Indeed.

Oxygene 4 is both cute and persistent enough to successfully convince you about the meritoriousness of it's musical assumptions, also a funny testament of how easily Jarre ends up being overly fascinated by his own ideas. Oxygene 4 introduces a nice little chord harmony and feeds it to you till the end of spacetime or a highly illegal blackout process. The brass instruments make a nice modal interchange this time around, emphasizing the harmonies from time to time. Cute, simple, easily approachable and filled full by a casual, funny mood: Oxygene 4 is: actually good.

Rendez-Vous 2 kicks off powerfully, just to arrive to a strange spot characterized by some crazy-ass synthetic choir to rape out further pathos (??) out of a buildup that is filled with it already. Apart from this particular moment, Rendez-Vous 2 relies heavily on a nice, narrative musical language. Cinematic touch becomes evident. At the midsection though, the entire song pours down to an entirely different dimension. A superthick, dark synthetizer gravitates this tense period as paradoxical guiding light in a secret tunnel, where other instruments including choirs are just supportive elements and serve the welcomed purpose of musical secrecy rather pleasantly. Later the cinematic buildup introduced earlier comes back, and, amazingly enough: Jarre spares you the highly redundant synthetic choir section this time around, wrapping the statement up with some seriously intense opera chick instead.

Rendez-Vous 4 is quite weightless and silly in my opinion, but these qualities are the appeals at the same time. Definitely not an unpleasant piece, yet it's significance is superscarce at best. This is the proper music for some bubblegum commercial, or for some Space Travel Agency, organizing Trips With No Return to the Pinkest! Biggest! Marshmallow! Planets! Your ticket-checker is the Jarre Thing!

Acropolis offers a rather peaceful, elegant fabric with a tint of secrecy in it, and, fortunately enough, Jarre refuses to summon massively molested sci-fi pathos to compromise a stable structure. That particular sequence where two neighboring notes are colliding to form the chord harmony on is the focal attraction here, the moment you wait for, the moment the song gravitates to as a focal statement. A rather nice buildup at the end of the day, though I would be probably left even more happy with choirs absent.

The concluding piece Computer Weekend is some huge huge + sign on The! Pinkest! Sky! You! Ever! Witnessed! To! Surround! Your! Favorite! Pinkestest! Marshmallow! Planet! Featuring the all-time superclassic harmony progression to fuel such popular statements as La Bamba or Wild Thing, Computer Weekend is a big Yes! for life and stuff related, also a strange, but no doubt, somewhat humorous way it is to conclude a double disc release fueled mainly by mild secrecy, gloom and pathos.

At the end it seems safe to say that a rather eventful, integral series of statements you hear and witness with thy magnificent ears. Jean Michel Jarre once again proved to be a significant factor in the musical game, erasing the memory of a period in which he had considerable problem to produce evident quality. With The Symphonic Jean Michel Jarre you can't possibyl go entirely wrong, though your best option is to spot your own personal favorites for time to time and listen to them as stand-alone selections surrounded by neighboring musics of different origins.

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Steve Vai - Sound Theories Vol. I. & II.

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Epic / Red Ink, 2007



There are many guitar players out there who can set the fretboard on fire, and very few who can do whatever they please with the instrument. Steve Vai is one of these very few, no doubt, a musician in possession of a quite unique musical language and as versatile of a technical readyness as you have ever seen. Vai learned the ropes beside Frank Zappa where he had the exquisite chance to transcribe ridiculously complex music, had a massive period as White Snake's Primal Fretburna', and he leads a significant solo career since 1984, as well.

Be sure to check out his amazingly frantic composition called Massacre on his solo release, Flex-Able Leftovers. That muzax is: maaad, mad shit, if you don't mind me saying so, also it clearly reveals how this masterful player has a totally rampant and cunning ability to utilize musical notes to create patterns, sequences and moods you never heard or experienced before. Mind you, all this radical, welcomed mockery of musical notes is 24 years old now, and still it is one of the most relevant testaments of what special moods music can summon and soak you into.

I think it is safe to say that Steve Vai looks and handles his guitars as hollow bodies, ready to be possessed by an ever-increasing range of "musical personalities." He is more of a personificator to rely on musical channels than a "usual" player, therefore. He is the first and probably the only one to date whom you heard imitate human speech masterfully with a guitar - a nice glimpse into how welcomely radical and versatile his personal vision of music is.

Funny thing is: by a period taking place between the year 2004 and 2005, Vai took some serious guitars, his band, and the Netherlands Metropole Orchestra into a massive audience hall and recorded stuff 'nuff to fill a double CD release and even a DVD to document the event visually. Released in the summer of 2007, you can't possibly have any other answer reaction to Sound Theories than turning your volume valve all the way to the right, baby.

Some funny quote from Vai:

"If you can't admire what you can do, how could you expect others to do that?"

A legit opinion, no? Classical musicians are absolutely at the top of the musical game, main reason for this being their inevitably superdelicate relation to their instruments. On a violin or a cello, you do not have your nice and cozy frets to generate the note your are looking for, they are doing this by the naked ear, and they also have the natural tendency to play the score as but devoted summoners of music, exhibiting no intention to shine personally. Yngwie J. Malmsteen, Neoclassical Nuclear Stringgrinder had the chance to work with a symphonic orchestra, as well - when asked about how hard or easy it was to co-operate with classical musicians, he stated this:

"It could not be more rewarding or easier. Classical musicians do not give you all that tiresome mannerisms, they simply play what is written in the score."

As we accounted on, Sound Theories is a double release, the first disc called Aching Hunger introduces "classic" Vai compositions for Vai and Orchestra, and a couple of fresh pieces are present on the release, too. The second disc, Shadows and Sparks features the Orchestra as they interpret scores written and arranged especially for a symphonic layout by Steve.

Wow. They start out on the first disc with Kill the Guy with the Ball, one of the most vivid stuff from Vai to date, now presented with a hilarious intro sequence to deliver a quite convincing basic statement that both a Symphonic Ear Assault Team and a very haughty guitar is present to blow you away quite hastily. Kill the Guy with the Ball is an intense, unique run with a very funny, I dare say this: intentionally silly, rampant, unruly melodic core to it's mood, a buildup which communicates itself in a highly dramatical fashion, yet what it communicates eventually registers as more cute and funny than intimidating - a special sensation you find yourself frequently greeted by when listening to Vai's music. He likes to make FUN of music, and once one can accomplish this, then one should be regarded as Master of this language, no doubt.

The God Eaters is a very cool song, since a song called The God Eaters couldn't be any less than cool even if to feature no sounds whatsoever. That it does, though - a chance to Stare Into The Void we are offered with here, an occasion we will have more thorough of later. An intersection that seems a little out of place at the start of the record, but anyway - who would antagonize The God Eaters, yes?

The Murder Prologue exhibits a funny Spaghetti Western affliction for that sixty seconds it is running for, making a rather comfy place for the follow-up Science Fiction Theme Score: The Murder.

As we were rather delicately hinting at, The Murder is a massively cinematic buildup, could easily be a theme song for a classic sci-fi flick like Total Recall or Terminator. Or any of Arnold's earlier stuff where he plays badass dude in a badass future. The Running Man comes to my mind as well. A massive, mid-tempo melody dominates this piece, revealed with powerful brass instruments and a rhythm section ready to show all the wonderful appeals of that simple 4/4 humanity never can get quite enough of. AC/DC huh? Amazing how many songs one could write based on the exact three power chords, no? As a cool science fiction musical statement about a world wiling to do anything for reliable profit, The Murder also demonstrates Vai's massive talent to summon cinematic drama on audible registers, an aspect we will have chance to thoroughly witness on the second disc.

Gentle Ways is no joke. Gentle Ways is no joke at all, chicks0rZ and dudes0rZ. Probably one of the most beautiful songs I ever heard, mind you, I am not particularly fond of music that has no other aspiration than being beautiful. Gentle Ways though: is immensely beautiful, no doubt. My impression when hearing this piece is of a newly born planet breathing for the first time - just for the record, and just to shock you. The definite choice if you want to seduce someone and have absolutely no intention getting caught doing it. Five onions for the Steve Vai Thing just for this song Gentle Ways alone.

Answers is a classical composition of Vai, delivering you a tribal tint of musical warfare you could be familiar of from the End Sequences of the Star Wars movies. The main theme has an acceptable pull to it though, especially when there is a casual Symphonic Orchestra present to back up Vai's intent guitar statement. Following the negotiation of the main theme, you have a crazy-ass solo and a nice, though brief modal switch-around to wrap this rendition of Answers up. Not a bad effort, but I still tend to regard this piece more as the Ultimate Anime Theme Song than a musical statement you must be eternally aware of.

I'm Becoming is tiny, is cute, is pleasant, is the Little Guitar Magic Trick you don't want to miss out if to put your audience to honest awe.

Salamanders in the Sun is a significant trademark effort of Vai, a song which hosted a nice, romantic cinema-appeal even in it's original form, now growing even more evident via renditions taking place in high-end acoustic dimensions. The buildup offers place for nice soloistic strolls, periods in which the main theme choses to withdraw, inviting the entire band to join in later on. Wise compositional decisions become clear as Vai and the Orchestra do emphasize different parts of the focal theme, and this is a quite eventful composition - easy to take elegant and cunning picks - so that, they do.

Of the song Liberty, I am not a particular fan. This is some guitar statement that seems a bit of an effect-crawer for me, at least I failed to shed tears upon it for the time being. Maybe I ought to have shut and endangered of starvation, THEN I would learn to appreciate Liberty. That time is yet to come, sorry - as even Vai would regard Liberty as a fill-in statement, he wraps this brief pathos-excuse up in less than two minutes, giving you just 'nuff time to soak those tears into your handkerchief prior the Attitude Song is to ruthlessly, and rather welcomely reveal.

As a trademark effort of Steve, and a truly unique rhythmic/melodic delivery to enrich the general language of music, you can't ever grow bored of the Attitude Song. Listen how the crowd reacts when realizing the opening vibes of this trademark statement. Rampant, haughty, playful and virtuous, this piece offers precise, elegant glimpses of pretty much all musical aspects Steve is keen to rely on if to form building blocks he is ready to construct music with. This rendition is highly accurate to the very complex original, a clear statement how top notch classical musicians are, indeed.

For the Love of God is yet another of Vai's very few compositions that seem to have no noticeable effects on me whatsoever. I fail to identify immense originality and convince power in this piece, yet it is never anything less than these qualities when I am to check the Vai Thing out.

On the second disk, the installment to feature Steve's orchestral compositions a somewhat "tribal" musical appeal unravels and dominates the early segment of the program time. Let me elaborate: remember the mood of the music the Evoks are playing at the very end of Return of the Jedi? The composition Shadows and... feels quite similar to that mood, saved for a nice, melancholic, though rather brief duet sequence of a violin and a cello. Later in this composition, Vai even offers a glimpse of the middle east, and blends it with the musical language of detective fiction theme scores - a supercool, yet quite brief moment, as well.

Sparks starts off with a gentle violin monologue and pleasantly welcomes the supportive string section to join in for time to time, spreading focal statements of the composition unto a more profound, richer audible field. Let ourselves not to misinterpret Vai's intentions here, though: if he would chose the supportive instruments to remain constant, then our ability to greet them with pleasure would vanish, as we would have lose the chance altogether to welcome their revelation and activity. This here fluent composition arrives to a focal dimension of interesting timbers and a carefully selected note palette later on, offering you a clever fairy tale mood, as a party of adventurers would venture into uncharted territory, even into a Dragon's cave or into some similar matter. Higly cinematic and highly effective stuff, even better: Vai choses to simplify his statement for brief periods of time, rendering huge, delightful bursts of pathos, just to throw that away as well and reveal more devoted attention to the solo violin again. All Hells break loose later on though, no instrument is left inactive in the climax portion as our hypothetical Dragon is to emerge and claim some Phat Adventurer Asses for itself, I guess. Vai concludes the piece with a truly epic, beautiful ending sequence that comes out of nowhere, remains for the exact period of time you could highly appreciate it for, then the buildup goes back for the tribal affair - both Vai and the Evoks through him made a statement though, no doubt.

Frangelica PT. I. starts out as yet another fluent fairy tale stroll-around, later enriching the modal buildup with the introduction of a more wide array of musical flavors, even we have a glimpse of "familiy science fiction" - if there is such a genre at all. I think there is - remember the 1979 flick The Black Hole? Haha! Moreover: Hoho! The onion may decide to scrutinize that piece of cultural retina stigma later on - so take heed, and take a rather careful of that. Frangelica PT. I. is a discursive demonstration on how skillfully Vai establishes and elaborates in different musical atmospheres, yet he exhibits no particular intention to stick around in any of them for a thorough sightseeing.

Frangelica PT. II. is a definite peek moment of the release - a highly soloistic upper structure entertains your ears and conforms nicely to a stable rhythm section, a fluent flow of gentle ideas, introducing well placed gateways between the various solo statements to follow up - and they do follow up, and maintain their clear, keen relation to the stable fluctuation offered in the background. Following a rather OK piano solo, the Vai Thing emerges to deliver a solo atop the rhythmic structure, our welcomed result is a rather pleasant revelation of sane free jazz traditions - oximoron there? - out of a musical space that is very pleasant to spend time in. Oh, for the John Coltrane fans: some decent Saxophone will make a statement here, as well - let alone the Oboe, closing this composition atop caressing ambient synths - a stable conclusion period to wrap up one of the most relevant compositions of the release.

Helios and Vesta is a thorough stare Into The Void, more precisely:

Into Za Bigazzz Voidzzz, Brada'!

as Vai choses not to give any kind of relation to you this time around, except for the improbable runs and howls of sounds approaching your ears in elusive patterns. You just imagined - as Vai later decides to introduce you to a quite interesting musical place, where rules are though did not change. You have notes with identical significance to them approaching your ear, but occasionally
consorting with supportive background elements to offer the impression of a compositional statement ready to manifest. Indeed, later a composition unravels and elaborates at the verges of a funny retro-sci-fi feeling, an easy going stroll around to leave these interesting fields behind for now.

The concluding piece is Bledsoe Bluvd., a famous early composition of Vai, which's original you can hear on his solo release, Flex-Able Leftovers. (If you do decide to put it into a playback device, that is.) This is some funny song, truly. I am not exactly sure if it depicts the sensation of being utterly, hopelessly drunk and having no will left to deny it anymore, or being bored beyond all comprehension - nevertheless it remains a significant musical piece you can't avoid to relate to one way or another, as the tonal content and the mood it delivers both pose a very unique musical sensation, forming on the simple notion how the piece feels no embarrassment at all of how utterly silly and irrelevant it seems to be - a mockery of accusing something that seems silly with the accusation of sillyness it is. Now it all makes perfect sense though, as this sentence made as much sense as Bledsoe Bluvd. probably has aspiration to make any, and this is why this song is kind of: cool.

The orchestral rendition of the piece offers some extra sequences not present in the original version, these do concern intentionl, temporal cacophony and nice solo runs, interchanging each other as Vai seen it fit.At the middle portion we arrive at a fluent, casual piano monologue, then Vai enriches this here incarnation of his former effort with a superbrief guitar solo and makes place to yet another intersection to connect back to the main theme. The part where women go like: "Whooo!" and "Laaa! La! La! Laaa! La! La! La! Laaaa!" is still classic though, and still is included.

Steve Vai's Sound Theory is an easy recommendation both for the manic guitar freak and for possessors of ears ready and keen to encounter nice surprises, also it accounts Vai's considerable talent and ability to sew cinematic music, as these recent compositions of him arranged for orchestra are originating from places that are full of images absolutely worth seeing.

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Squarepusher - Hard Normal Daddy

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Warp Records, 1997

The debut record of Tom "Squarepusher" Jenkinson remains as fresh and solid of an experimental audio effort as it was by the day it hit the market more than ten years ago. Grooves and licks of this series of statements approach ears both on the positive emotional registers, and via the darker side of Squarepusher's trademark elements, the latter ones are usually involve either a sensation of inventive, mild secrecy, or massively, though sanely presented cybernetic assault. Jenkinson is pretty good both at generating playful and happy moods, and being welcomely, radically psychotic if to invoke languages music is capable to reveal, if keenly and skillfully asked for.

As a debut record, it is understandable that Squarepusher chose to rely mainly on clear, friendly musical ideas to start off the effort, yet the sections in which he elaborates on the further pathways he is keen to take remain a significant flavoring element to a first release that seems quite easy to timelessly appreciate.

The opening track Cooper's World delivers the welcomed sensation similar to what you would anticipate from a theme song for a TV series concerning shifty affairs, cars, and missions impossible. I tend to see The Hoff Thing! revealed with his magnificent hair, giving instructions to K.I.T.T. on his special wrist-instrument whenever Cooper's World starts off. Well, this is just one particular option of course, but the feeling seems quite intentional to me, summoning the spirit of vintage, popular action-drama. Some definite emotional tribute to the late '70s and early '80s is quickly revealed herein, though Squarepusher conducts this modal hommage via very stable, fresh, interchanging musical ideas, adding and enriching the genre opposed to just serving a colorless copy of it. A constantly reoccuring, funky second theme fills spaces in between a cutely epic opening statement and a conclusion of plain fun and elegant ease. Also, portions where the rhythm section's instruments choose to melt into the background and offer free, whimsical glimpses of themselves are of special note. As decent of a debut track as any artist could possibly go and hope for.

The follow up track, Beep Street is the song to outline Squarepusher's trademark approach of generally avoiding aggressive, intimidating audio arrangements. He utilizes quite intense drum loops here, yet wisely leads them to go manic in the dimmest, safest regions of the background, and fills the remaining space with an inventive fairy tale melody of tender secrecy. Ignoring the musical sensation summoned ends up as an act virtually impossible to commit, and that, we conclude with but the greatest of delights.

The Jenkinson Thing had his sense of humor right from the start though, as the consecutive track Rustic Raver demands way more out of the lazy ear. A decent bass line is presented to sell out the quite rampant, stable rhythm loops, all these two to meet with a crazy-ass synth shape of pure psychotic power and a quite decent, improbable melody to entertain the rhythm section. A glimpse into the darker side of Squarepusher's musical vision is clearly and welcomely offered, in fact, as if he would have been frightened of being dismissed as creator of some seriously sick stuff, he chooses to follow Rustic Raver with a very brief chillout session, only to shatter our initial, evidently false concept of him being an evader.

Chin Hippy is probably the most radical delivery on the album, basically a Toccata and Fugue for Monster Drummachine and Manic Voice thy shall behold. The frantic rhythm patters are the main appeals here, one can evidently hear that the author put quite some work into this strict, radical, yet very effective musical assault - or he happened to invent a damn smart algorithm to harass those drums and effects.

A massive chillout session then follows up with the track called Papalon, forged though by quite tasteful, gloomy grooves and a willingness to dictate more rigorous, yet sane type of a pace for brief periods of time. The follow-up track EZ Boogie is the perfect counterpoint to the previous statement, also I personally find this track to be one of the strongest on the record. This is science-and-detective-fiction music sanely rampant here with a focal section of powerful, chordbased theme-leading and a solo synth to offer elegant, haughty licks on the blues register to spice this heavy duty installment up even more.

Fat Controller introduces massive, stable 4/4 to present a cybernetic twistaround on the fields of electronic mayhem. The bass has a definitely strong, warped appeal to it, a nice musical sensation as if rendering the digital serpent you probably familiar with from the game where you go for the very next star to eat up, while the serpent is getting bigger and bigger, eating up the place with it's body while devouring the stars.

Vic Acid chooses to elaborate on the same field Fat Controller led us to, but saved for the decent base it presents us with, offers no particular surprises or peek moments to relate to. Normally, - now this is a funny word to come up with if to deal with the Jenkinson Thing - this song would be a stable middle section of a more sophisticated buildup. As if Squarepusher would have came to the exact same conclusion, he quickly disposes of this here defendable, yet somewhat underdeveloped statement.

Male Pill Part 13 is the piece to culture into your ear for the rest of your existence. An extremely catchy and clever groove reveals itself and commands all around it to conform, and that, they do, indeed. A crystal clear understanding of the sides of jazz that are very easy to relate to is firmly presented, with significant melodic middle sections you can spend waiting for the main theme to reoccur. Needles to say, Jenkinson is quite aware of your longing, and proves to be hell of an anticipator builder this time around, developing a secondary theme of essential significance even from the material that connects the focal theme back to itself. Nice one.

Rat-P's AND Q-'s is rather strange of a song in my opinion, I can hardly relate to it or find the will to do so. I got the impression that Squarepusher wanted to do something with an orchestral flavor to it, but I am far from being convinced that his effort was successful. It would be quite cool for an amateur horror movie though. A find it to be the only mistake on the record, and you can commit two of those prior to lose an onion on these pages.

Rebus is somewhat of a rebus as well, though a nice occasion to let saliva drop off from the corner of your mouth, if nothing else.

I think the title My Red Hot Car is probably not featured on the original release, as this seems to be a bonus track for the remastered version of the record that hit the market in 2004, though My Red Hot Car was also a single to the Go Plastic! album. Anyway, some cute, easy going pop composition with a synth singing in it, if I am not mistaken. Some catchy grooves and a nice, tender pace to sell out this chillout period.

Squarepusher Theme is yet another quite significant track on the record. The opening statement introduces a nice collision process of tasty jazz chords and the bass to excitingly relate to it, though a different take on the approach is quickly utilized, invoking a supporting background synth to spice the buildup with caressing, soft melodic power, originating from the base that is established and voiced already. The melody is heavily and welcomely chord related even on this track, at later points a fresh synth and a subtle guitar is invoked to conform with the buildup.

Lost in Space is the perfect choice to conclude the record, a keenful return to fluent, easygoing territories where drums though run manic, they run gently and friendly, and entertain the nice synth and effect flow with stable audible values. The bass is particularly clever here, simple, yet greatly original. I totally like the profound acoustic instruments that offer brief glimpses of themselves from time to time, elements like this include a Twin Peaks-ian electric guitar and a gentle, though similarly quite massive saxophone. A restless, yet strangely enough, a restlessly calm and tender piece to conclude a debut record of significant value.

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Squarepusher - Music Is Rotted One Note

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Warp Records, 1998



The third installment in Squarepusher's career delivers a clever, haunting musical feeling that is sleek and subtle enough to conceal itself partly for time to time, though it's presence remains pretty much evident during the record, armed with the eventually fulfilled promise of particular peek moments where it's creator offers temporal free spaces for this everpresent sensation, a couple of more profound packs of insights unto the cunning "dark of it".

This delicate component hardly, if ever vanishes fully during the record, taking the coherent position of a mood-connection, elegantly, globally affecting the overall experience. As a massively yet cunningly haunted journey, Jenkinson's 1998 effort is an ideal choice to evoke a musical space that delivers integrity and organic connection throughout the tracks.

The record runs 50 minutes flat, with 14 tracks to create the whole buildup of the release. The opening song Chunk - S is the decoy here, a cute, easygoing jazz-funk piece to make you believe that you are into a relaxing joyride with all the happymood switches set all the way to the right.

Think again, baby, and Don't Go Plastic, as Squarepusher shows off his impressive analogue drum skills in this second track, simultaneously evoking the haunted component that pretty much chooses to stay for the rest of the audio time, sometimes dominating, though most of the time offering the delicate "metathreat" approach of:

Hey, I could come out to reign over stuff again at any time now, you know!

Quite many of shorter, longer atmospheric effect sequences emphasize this promising perspective, the compositions themselves flowing almost unnoticeably unto their actual fabric, though when they do, the trademark haunting feel of the record wisely chooses to melt into the background, eager though to delicately assault your ears soon 'nuff again.

One of my personal favorites on this record is the seventh track, called Circular Flexing. This is a total WOW! for me, generally it feels and hears out as a very decent motion picture music piece in which the haunting feel is free to reign in it's puzzling, fascinating totality for the whole of the track, but the top of it all is the feature presentation of who I call "The marine", a person speaking in your average "badass marine" register, though of his sentences, not a word you will make out, I assure you. Yet you hear the tonality and his calm, factual mood clearly, resulting in a special audible experience of mentally witnessing a marine to deliver his final report after ending up on this distant,(?) improbable (?) planet/place the musical fabric evokes. A truly nice piece. It is hard to tell if the marine is synth-generated or a real person, but I guess it will remain a secret between God and Tom Jenkison. Should add the synth or the real person yet to the latter two, no doubt.

The aforementioned track also serves as a pivot point of the record, since the consecutive, gentle chillout track My Sound makes a comfy room for a crazy-ass freejazz tune to follow up, a piece ready to relentlessly entertain our now-welcomed trademark guide and companion, the haunted feel, which this time can't help but join in the fray, making somewhat of a very interesting and welcomed audio-joke of himself, finding a temporal peace and a funny function in this rampant, yet caressing freejazz buildup.

The curios title to mark the track Theme From Vertical Hold signifies the beginning of this nice section, where Squarepusher skillfully assaults the hihats via either probably more than 3 arms or a crazy-ass effect processor, the drums are radical and cunning enough to catchy, re-ouccuring melodies to join in. After a while, the haunting feel seems to get fed up with all this, though, presenting itself in an astonishingly powerful manner in the painfully short follow-up track, Ruin. The tortured agony of a syntsound we witness here, along with the superdark, hypermassive background synths to join us in our scrutinizing process. The results are so massively weird and shocking on the audible registers that Squarepusher himself might have got somewhat frightened of it, so he chooses to briefly wrap this short effect showdown up, commanding the haunting feel to take quite a couple of steps backward off it's victim it was torturing. Genuinely original and significant moments, without doubts.

Shin Triad is of special note, as well, partly because of the synth signal Jenkinson tricks you with at 0:20. Try to sleep listening to the record, and watch what happens when you reach this particular portion, will be funny, Tom and I promise you that. Other reason one must account on this track is a short experimental sequence, where a dude - maybe Squarepusher himself? - signs/scats some funny/silly melodies away, yet the signal goes into some hyperradical effect processors, resulting in some similarly funny monstersound you hear, characterized by the supporting presence of an equally modified bass synth. The audible experience is such as you would have ended up between little funny monster creatures, having one of the biggest party of their lives with massive, clumsy, bigger monsters. Another short, yet very entertaining sound experiment by the Squarepusher Thing.

Music is Rotted One Note cleary remains a significant musical shipment of Jenkinson's career, blending his quite mature, subtly presented analogue drum skills with the experimental electronic warfare he is equally skilled and relentless at. Melodies on this record tend to comfort with the haunting feel that is dominating the release with either dainty fingers or an iron fist - a deliverance that is very easy and very interesting to listen to, and even easier to recommend for all with opened up ears.

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Squarepusher - Hello Everything

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Warp Records, 2006



UK based artist Tom Jenkinson broadcasts out of the endless possibilities of experimental sound warfare since his 1997 debut, an era in which he establishes his musical significance under the curios nickname of - > Squarepusher. Turns out pushing squares in the company of Jenkinson truly never gets eventless or predictable, therefore a nice occasion and an excessive amount of reasons we have here to ear the content out of his latest studio release to date: Hello Everything.

The record runs a little more than 60 minutes, though the Japan release has three bonus tracks and a Katana included. OK, I was lying - only two bonus tracks. And no Katana, either. Tom Jenkinson needs not be concerned for if and when the presence of bass guitars is evident in his surroundings, he himself being a very skillful player of the instrument in question. A quite delightful stance we shall witness in his musical approach though, in which Jenkinson's knowledge of the instrument is "but" a background element, coloring and muscling out the layered soundfabrics of clever electronics running atop each other, always holding hands.

This 2-in-1 structure seems to be an essential keypoint in Squarepusher's musical thoughts an directions as a composer, as the majority of the pieces here are relying on a strong electronic background foundation to sell the pieces off on their own merits right away, though the various solo instruments are taking their turns to offer key melodies with either the constantly returning agendas, or they also might choose to take a crazy-ass solo and never bear knowledge of where it will lead them to - as long as we decide to join them and find out with them.

The electronic backgrounds also have this nice tendency to exhibit varying moods and interchanging atmospheres, ranging from nice, tender musical spaces through "funny gloom" to naked menace, therefore one of the most significant compositions here is definitely The Modern Bass Guitar. A story of a cute, clueless, effectless bass synth signal we hear, an audible entity finding itself on the fields of modern electronic soundwarfare, encountering musical assault on the very planes of aggressive electricity - suffice to say that the aforementioned cute, clueless, effectless bass synth protagonist takes part in pretty much all the audible transformations a sane (huh?) person could ever came up with to this day, Squarepusher though, being one in evident determination to shatter sluggish audio-preconceptions, offers quite a few musical black holes to peek through.

As of this here new millennium, we should always be aware and conscious of these precious moments and curious holes, moments and holes that are yet hard to find and witness, and might also feel like hard to approach. Just might, we should emphasize here, as in my opinion, this is but a lazyness of an ear conditioned to hear and appreciate what it already have absorbed and had relied on, in fact, the presence of extreme audible stimuli Squarepusher delivers is strong enough to entertain the opened up ears in ways never heard before, and the extremities pictured in The Modern Bassguitar are quite qualified to drive the bearers of a somewhat lazy ears well beyond madness, too. Either way, not a musical statement you likely get away from without forming a radical opinion on it. Me: totally digs it.

I find the track called Planetarium to be another peek segment of the record, a journey in unknown space with an elegant musical layer that which is cunningly and effectively lovecraftian in my consideration. Man beholds it's own, possible insignificance in this here current form when confronting the infinity of space-time, so ultimately you either go hypernuts and H. P. Lovecraft will be more than happy to greet you in the Halls of Cosmic Horror where he, I imagine, is not an inmate but an ever curious Professor, or you might also decide to be simple baffled by the nature, the complexity and beauty God came up with to entertain all, including the Great Cthulhu.

Squarepusher asks you the same pair of questions in Planetarium via the channels of music, are you afraid of your condition and it's very position in the Universe, or you think you are ready to find out more about it? You are most certainly welcome to interpret the question and articulate your answer both ways. To me it is a clear musical display of how small and smaller a planet or a galaxy let alone human can get when a curious observer grows bigger and bigger with tools of imagination, though the Universe being capable, no doubt, to offer endless space-time to the operations of such an imagination, better yet, by the sheer beauty the Universe provokes both imagination and common sense - do they differ ultimately, one wonders? - to try solve it's mysteries.

One finds himself in a hard position if to point out tracks that are lacking evident thought and raw musical power on this record, yet I have a feeling that the song called Bubblelife could easily tolerate an increased length, one of the rare occasions when Squarepusher decides to throw away a very nice buildup, as if a bubble would pop. Maybe this metaphoric intention is the cause of this somewhat ruthless act, nevertheless one still is free to loop the track and enjoy until a blackout pops the bubble out eventually.

The opening track Hello Meow is also of note here, glorifying the supermassive retro-videogame musical language with the creative audio tools of recent days, resulting in a smart emotional mix of cheerful (!) nostalgia and a meta-message of not being afraid of where music has already been and where it might still carry us to.

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Paul Gilbert - Get Out of My Yard

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Guitar Nine Records, 2007



Paul Gilbert is back with his latest studio release, entitled: I Still Have It, Baby, And You Know It. Nah, just joking. Gilbert's latest addition to extremely high-end guitar molesting goes by the title Get Out of My Yard, and I must say it features songs to impress curious ears and to blew unsuspecting speakers apart. A special occasion we have as well, and OH!, a special occasion it is indeed, as Paul accompanies the record with an optional instructional DVD this time around, showing off the musical and technical methods he utilized to create the album's songs. Well, He Still Has It Baby, And We All Knew It.

Paul Gilbert always was and still is one of the shredders we better look and listen out for, as he strolls on a wide variety of musical spectrums, while usually maintains that classic nuclear edge of All The Guitars That Electrified. What I truly dig in Paul's game as a listener is that he does not seem to be happy, not to mention being intimidated with and by hypothetical boundaries of musical languages established earlier, rather he chooses to take super-closeup looks of the actual style, with the quite defendable agenda to basically play the hoile crap out of them, THEN beyond.

He is clearly still quite fond of inventing and interpreting easily likeable rock melodies through the channels of sizzling guitar warfare, utilizing a nice tint of resourceful, brash blues language to wrap the majority of the new compositions up.

Gilbert still remains among the few who do with the guitar as they and what they please to though, so you will definitely have the moments and compositions here which are likely to truly amaze you with the sheer musical, and not the least, technical creativity embedded in them.

The short while very well balanced opening track is a definite "OMG!" here, a piece Paul performs with a Human Capo present, and urges you to do the same on the instructional DVD. A short and effective introduction filled with all the pathos you could possibly get out of a guitar with six E strings and a pair of necks we are talking about here. Yes, Paul Gilbert is a funny dude, according to fellow stringmaster Yngwie J. Malmsteen, for whom words we could relate without any hesitation whatsoever.

A humorous yet amazingly cheerful classical hommeage to german composergiant Joseph Haydn is also of note here, while the subject of my personal amazement is definitely the Echo Song, a piece Paul wrote with a smart delay effect unleashed on the relatively simple themes he is striking on the instrument, resulting in a genuine, wanderous sci-fi feeling that remained untouched and never shown until Paul Gilbert was kind 'nuff to share this unexplored musical dimension with us.

Paul Gilbert is an excellent teacher aswell, on his latest DVD he is not only introduces you to the individual musical paths and ideas he relied on to form the compositions, - a rarity indeed - but in the later section of the DVD he shares very useful information about the various concepts of advanced guitar molesting, including arpeggios, string skipping, how to play with rhh-iddddi-hhi-ccculous speed, and how to prevent being sucked into wild space on board a vacant space station invaded by hostile alien lifeforms. One of the methods mentioned above is not being subject of thorough discussion and demonstration by Paul on the DVD of course. Or at least I did not notice it at first.

To wrap things up, we can easily say that Paul Gilbert keeps unto his own promise, coming with the Get Out of My Yard production line. Seeing and hearing this, it is more than likely that:

Your guitar playing may never be the same!

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