Alternative Sound Bytes

The rise of alternative rock in the USA. From its early underground days where bands like Black Flag drew inspiration from the DIY ethos of punk, Left Of The Dial traces the history of the network of fans, clubs and fanzines that sustained the scene and launched the careers of bands like R.E.M., The Pixies and Husker Du. The film takes a fresh look at the explosion of the Seattle scene, culminating in the success of Nirvana’s ‘Nevermind’ and the tragic loss of Kurt Cobain, an artist whose triumph and tragedy continues to cast an inescapable shadow.Source:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/sevenages/programmes/left-of-the-dial/

Eric Mouquet and Michel Sanchez of Deep Forest are sound reporters. A voiceless musical duo, they draw on voices from every corner of the world. Under their patronage, infinitely distant utterances have become familiar to us. Hymns of joy and cries of anger, prayers and aubades, songs of hope and despair have all been brought to shake our certainties, seize our senses and stir our emotions.From Africa or Eastern Europe, from pygmies to nomads,the human visions brought to us by Deep Forest have helped greatly in narrowing the musical gap between the hemispheres. In the North of France, Deep Forest’s homeland, sheltered from sight and far from worldly concerns, a true communion has sprung up between ethnic songs and instruments on the one hand, and accordion, piano, synthesisers and high technology on the other.

Deep Forest’s music – in the manner of so many non-Western civilisations – refuses to draw lines between joy and suffering, elation and sadness, just as, from the very beginning, it has banished all barriers of style from its personal grammar. After three albums and thanks to the diversity of encounters, mixes and alliances that the group has undertaken, Deep Forest have not only invented a sound different from any other, they have also created a language. From the heart of the Amazon forest to the North of France, from Havana to Prague, from Madagascar to New York, it remains our best-shared secret.

Source

The huge genre of the music industry has joined in the commercial mainstream to harvest the rewards and make things easier. But this phenomenon is not a bad thing. Proof of which is Echoing August. For a song to be successful, it has to be catchy. The melody and lyrics must stick to the mind of the listeners so that singing along will not be a hard task. These are the ingredients used by Echoing August for its songs. The first E.P. of the band, the Intentions, was released and include Nick Martucci on vocals and guitar, Shawn Sandi on drums and Pat McCarthy on bass.

An alternative rock band formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1979.

The band comprised guitarist and vocalist Paul Westerberg, guitarist Bob Stinson, bassist Tommy Stinson, and drummer Chris Mars for most of their career.

The Band began as a punk rock group, but began to incorporate other subgenres of rock music and became instrumental in the development of early alternative rock.The Replacements is one of the influences of these bands such as The Goo Goo Dolls, Green Day, Pavement and many more.

Following the critically acclaimed Let It Be (1984), the band signed to Sire Records, becoming one of the first American underground rock bands to sign to a major record label.

In the ’80s the Replacements’ blend of punk guitar and pop melodies garnered critical acclaim but little commercial success. Hailing from the Minneapolis home base of acts as diverse as Hüsker Dü and Prince, the quartet was seen by its fans as generational spokesmen; Paul Westerberg’s angst-ridden confessional songs cast him as a postpunk Bob Dylan and would influence such ’90s stars as the Goo Goo Dolls.

via [Rolling Stone]

Jeffrey Scott Buckley (November 17, 1966 – May 29, 1997), raised as Scotty Moorhead, was an acclaimed American singer-songwriter and guitarist.

Known for his ethereal singing voice, Buckley was considered to be one of the most promising artists of his generation after the release of his critically acclaimed 1994 debut album Grace. At the height of his popularity, Buckley drowned during an evening swim in 1997. His work and style continue to be highly regarded by critics and fellow musicians.

via [Wikipedia]

One of my Favorite Song that’s written and sung by Jeff Buckley’s Last Goodbye and as another post from the blog site And She Writes entitled it as the Best BreakUp Song Ever.. Well, it depends on how you listen it, you may get different meaning and interpretation to it. Anyways I love this song, this song rules.

There are still some good songs that Jeff Buckley wrote and performed but this song really topped the charts for me.

So is there any song in particular that Jeff Buckley wrote that you like?

The Last Waltz by Killdozer was originally released in 1997 by the defunct Man’s Ruin Records. Until now, it remained to be the pioneer of the historic Madison slo-core and still the one and only certified live recording. Since year 2000, it has been totally out of print but fortunately Wisconsin label Crustacean records was able to make a totally remixed, remastered and repackaged CD version. The momentous documentary of the band’s final tour is entitled The Fuck You We Quit Tour. It is believe that there could be a possibility of a mini revival of the live recording of their 1996 final show.

Bands in the late 60’s and early 70’s pushed the limits of blues-rock into a new genre which would be called heavy metal. Early eighties the heavy metal genre began a sub-genre categories to better describe the stylistic differences that were growing out of the original heavy metal movement. End of the 1970s many of the earliest heavy metal bands disbanded.

Review: Dashboard Confessional’s The Shade of Poison Trees

Dashboard Confessional fans found Dusk and Summer a wee bit disappointing and since then, there is much talk and anticipation about the band’s next album. It has been going around that Chris Carrabba was to gear back to their earlier style, which is more intimate. Indeed, The Shade of Poison Trees does seem to satisfy the standards. However, affectation is still met when the whole collection has been listened to. Nevertheless, producer Don Gilmore gave full trust to Carrabba and the rest of the band and allowed each of their hidden selves to shine through in this album.

“Fever Dreams” and “Where There’s Gold…” is perfect for the fans of the older Dashboard style and shall fulfill their listening pleasure once more as the two songs carry their signature acoustic instrumentation and sing along choruses that resemble those around the campfire. Indeed, Dashboard Confessional has come back home to cheer their loyal listeners yet again.

Click here to go to The Shade of Poison Trees tracklist

For More Info Visit the Dashboard Confessional Site..

We’ve seen the future of Rock & Roll and its name is no longer Bruce Springsteen. The band on stage at New York’s Ritz sounds like an ailing vacuum cleaner riding roughshod over a madrigal choir. Nonchalantly the musicians step out of the stage-divers’ way as waves of high-intensity drone and retina-piercing white lights wash over the crowd. On the one hand, there exists a fossilizing corpse called classic rock-a four-decade-old mummy grown stale and tired, a once vibrant part of mainstream culture now reduced to background music for car commercials and Olympic events. Imagine a major motion picture in which characters sport faded Mudhoney T-shirts, pull Replacements albums from their record collections, and go hear Alice in Chains, and you’ve scripted Singles, Cameron Crowe’s look at love among the ruins in Seattle (due Sept. 18). Then there’s the Lollapalooza ‘92 tour, a seven-band alternative- rock circus stuffed with the Chili Peppers, Soundgarden, and Pearl Jam.

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Source:

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,311492,00.html

By the start of the 1990s, the music industry was abuzz about alternative rock’s commercial possibilities and actively courted alternative bands including Dinosaur Jr, Firehouse, and Nirvana.

Nirvana’s surprise success with Nevermind heralded a “new openness to alternative rock” among commercial radio stations, opening doors for heavier alternative bands in particular. Many pop punk bands such as Green Day and The Offspring were also labeled “alternative”. The New York Times declared in 1993, “Alternative rock doesn’t seem so alternative anymore.

Source:

Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. “American Alternative Rock/Post-Punk“. All Music Guide.

Azerrad, Michael. Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana. Doubleday, 1994. p. 160 ISBN 0-385-47199-8

Rosen, Craig. “Some See ‘New Openness’ Following Nirvana Success.” Billboard.