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DARKOSHI'S MUSIC REVIEWS
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| Artist | Title (links to RealAudio samples) |
Notes |
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| Aisha Kandisha's Jarring Effects | Shabeesation samples (cd universe) |
Aisha Kandisha's Jarring Effects is a Morroccan band,
playing music similar to Rai music, with nice electronic
sound effects. The band is named after a dangerous mythical
Morrocan jinniya (djinni?). Gunshots are used as a sound
effect, which along with the ambiguous words in one song, is
a little disturbing to me. Only a few of the lyrics are in
English. I like this cd; it has good bass rhythms and sound.
It is also somewhat trance-like.
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| Boy George aka Jesus Loves You |
The Martyr Mantras samples 1 (cd universe) |
Good cd. Dance-type music. George has an eerily different
quality of voice on Love's Gonna Let U Down than he
usually does, which makes this song quite interesting.
No Clause 28 is quite good, in an almost techno style.
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| Culture Club | The 12" Collection Plus |
This has remixes and extended versions of Culture Club songs.
I feel the remixes aren't very good, and that the original
versions of most of the songs are better. However, this cd
includes some songs I had not heard before, so it is at least
useful in that regard.
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| Dead Can Dance | Dead Can Dance samples (cd universe) |
This is one of Dead Can Dance's earlier albums. The music
is more raw and forceful, and less melodic than later recordings.
It is hard to describe DCD's music. It is sort of tribal, sort of
modern, with singing, drumming, synthesizers, and real instrumental music.
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| Dead Can Dance | Into the Labyrinth samples (cd universe) |
More good stuff from Dead Can Dance. Saldek is a simple
short song that I like to play in repeat mode. It gets an especially
mesmerizing effect when it is played in looping mode at the same time
as a reversed recording of the same song is played. The Wind that
Shakes the Barley is a haunting ballad sung a capella by Lisa Gerrard.
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| Dead Can Dance | A Passage in Time samples (cd universe) |
Dead Can Dance has beautiful, haunting songs. Brendan
Perry sings mainly in English while Lisa Gerrard sings
mainly in medeival or archaic languages.
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| Deep Forest | Deep Forest |
Deep Forest is a couple of French guys who make music
by sampling songs sung by various singers around the world,
and putting these samples together with synthesizer music.
This self-titled cd has song samples from African pygmies
and rainforest sounds.
It is a very good cd. The vocals are special on their own,
and the way they are put together with the music make them
even better.
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| Deep Forest | Boheme |
On this cd, Deep Forest has taken song samples from
singers in the part of Europe known as Bohemia.
This cd is also very good. Very emotional vocals.
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| Deep Forest | Comparsa samples (cd universe) |
This cd has samples from Latin, Caribbean, and African music.
I don't like this one as much as the others by Deep Forest.
It's just too generally cheerful and upbeat, which is okay,
I suppose, if that's what you're in the mood for. As always, how much I like a particular piece of music on any day depends very much on my mood. I have listened to this cd, for example, since I first wrote the above, and have found it very nice, and not too horrendously cheerful! |
| Eon | Void Dweller |
Nice techno. Uses phrases from Dune, the movie,
in songs such as Spice and Fear: The MindKiller.
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| Infekktion | New Virus mp3 samples (infekktion.de) realaudio samples (jpc.de) |
After listening to track 3, Your Master, on their
website, I just had to get myself this cd. Strong dark
electronic beat and sound. Industrial / goth?. German and
English vocals. Very good.
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| Joseph LoDuca | Xena: Warrior Princess, Volume 2 samples (cd universe) |
Good music from the television series.
Mostly instrumental/synthesized tracks. I especially like
the ones with vocals, such as the Main Title,
Xena Kicks Bacchae Butt, and, of course,
The Ballad of Joxer the Mighty. And with some of
the other titles like Pop Goes Xena, Rrarr,
Feather Fight, and Callisto Becomes a God,
who could resist picking up this album?
It is nice to be able to
listen to the music on its own instead of only having it be
a background to the show's distracting, albeit entertaining,
visuals and dialogues.
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| Joseph LoDuca | Xena: Warrior Princess - The Bitter Suite A Musical Odyssey samples (cd universe) |
This is the soundtrack to The Bitter Suite, an
episode in the third season of Xena:Warrior Princess,
which was done as a musical. It has a lot of musical-type
singing, and isn't bad.
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| Ministry | The Mind Is a Terrible Thing To Taste samples (cd universe) |
I usually don't care much for hard metal. But once in a
while, I find something that I like. This is one of those.
The songs on this cd have a very fast beat and are good for
listening to when you feel like shouting or going berserk.
They are very catchy tunes, which is unusual for metal, isn't it?
Includes the songs Burning Inside and Breathe.
The cd cover has a suitably horrid x-ray picture of a
skull.
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| Morcheeba | Who Can You Trust? samples (cd universe) |
So mellow, in a beautiful way. Soothing vocals,
relaxing music. Has the song Trigger Hippie.
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| Ofra Haza | Shaday samples (cd universe) |
Ofra Haza was a singer from Israel. There's a strong
middle eastern flavor to some of her songs, which range in
style from the mesmerizing dance tunes Im Nin' Alu and
Galbi to the haunting a capella Love Song and
to the beautiful lament-like Shaday, which has the
lyrics "the yellow moon shines in my eyes and watches
while i cry".
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| Peter Ulrich | pathways and dawns samples (cd universe) samples (projekt) |
Mostly gentle and rather soothing, yet rhythmic and delightful.
Life Amongst the Black Sheep is a song with a catchy beat and
wonderful vocal tone-shifts. Melodic, ritualistic chanting in
"Evocation".
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| The Radio Sofia Choir and Ensemble Paganke music by Philippe Eidel and Arnaud Devos |
BALKAN mysterious voices of bulgaria |
This is a really cool piece of music. The singers are from
Bulgaria and Serbia. Their singing is really wonderful.
It's very different from Western styles of singing - the tonal
combinations are totally different. The music is very eerie
and spooky, including tolling bells and clanging metal. The
singing is somewhat spooky too. One song is a combination of
humming and muttering/chanting sounds. This cd is just great!
This is the soundtrack to the film Bunker Palace Hotel.
I have not seen this film, but I would like to, just to see
how the music fits in it.
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| Swans
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The Great Annihilator samples (cd universe) |
This is my favorite Swans album, as well as one of my favorites,
overall. The music and vocals have a primal intensity to them.
The lyrics are dark & twisted; I can't quite say why they appeal to
me. The music makes me feel... otherworldly, free from restraints
of normality. Taken to a world that isn't all nice and pretty...
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| Swans Related Project: Jarboe
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Sacrificial Cake |
mysterious? not quite the right word... there is a word... sensual... otherworldly... macabre... poetic... deep. entrancing. seductively perverse... curiously revulsive... disturbing... rippling... traveling where most music doesn't tread. |
| Ulali
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Mahk Jchi samples 1 (ulali.com) au samples (NOT RealAudio!) from ladyslippers site (may take a little while to load) au sample 1 au sample 2 au sample 3 |
I love this cd! I never get tired of listening to it.
Ulali is a trio of female Native American singers
(Pura Fe, Soni, and Jennifer) with absolutely
beautiful, emotional voices.
A strong drum beat wonderfully accompanies them on some of
the songs. Some of their lyrics are in English and some
are in Native American languages.
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| Uxia | estou vivindo no ceo samples (cd universe) |
Uxia is a female singer from Galicia (a part of Spain).
This cd has some nice songs. The music is somewhat relaxing,
with mainly stringed instruments and piano accompanying Uxia's
warm voice. Some of the songs are slow, with too much piano
for my tastes. However, it has a few songs that I like very much. Especially
Tua Nai E Meiga, which has a really interesting sound, and
has a faster tempo than the other songs. The cd liner notes have
the song lyrics along with English translations.
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| (various artists) | 21 Jump Street - soundtrack |
A nice collection of tunes...
3 a.m. Eternal, Ice Ice Baby, and more... just an overall nice,
funky, nocturnal, reminiscent ambience to this album.
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| (various artists) | American Indian Dances (this cd was put out by ARC Music, under license from Smithsonian/Folkways Recordings) |
Singing and drumming from Apache, Sioux, Navaho, and Zuni
dances. Hard to sing along to, but it almost makes one's heart start
beating in rhythm to the drums. Trancelike. Sound quality is
not very good - seems to be in mono; maybe these are older
recordings. Some of the songs seem to end too soon; they
might be excerpts from songs that could go on for hours.
The liner notes describe the dances and costumes worn by the
dancers.
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| (various artists, including Bindusri, D.C.S, & Sasha) | The Bhangra Dimension | Peppy, dance-able bhangra music. Much peppier, higher-pitched, and
less forceful than the What is Bhangra? album, which I
prefer to this one. But this album is good in its own right, even
though it tends towards happy, cheerful, and sweet peppiness.
The lyrics are in English.
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| (various artists) | Death Rave 2000 (compilation) samples 1 (cd universe) |
Great stuff. Rave, obviously. Forceful mega-electronic
sounds; cool voice samples. Great for energetic dancing.
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| (various artists) | Death Rave 2010 (compilation) samples 1 (cd universe) |
Similar in style to the previous one listed, but not quite
as overwhelming. I like the 2000 one better, but this one
is still good.
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| (various artists) | Schattentanz I |
German Goth music. Double cd; 30 songs, each by a different band.
Really pretty cool songs. Though they might not be quite as interesting
or appealing for people who don't understand German.
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| (various artists) | Street Jams: Electric Funk - Part 1 samples (cd universe) |
Great, great, great stuff from the 80's, in the days of rap
and break-dancing. Play this at high volume.
Has Planet Rock, Electric Kingdom,
Play At Your Own Risk, and more.
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| (various artists) | What is Bhangra? |
This is great bhangra music. Bhangra is a type of music
which combines traditional Indian and Pakistani with modern
Western styles such as reggae, dance, pop, and hip-hop.
This album has energetic music with fun rhythms and
vibrant, melodic voices.
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| Music of John Williams, performed by the New World Orchestra, conducted by Andrew Hopson |
Music from the Star Wars Trilogy Collector's Edition Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi |
This is a new arrangement and performance of John Williams'
famous music. It is a good one. If you want the music
from the movies, definitely get the original soundtracks.
But if you have those, and want more... these are new
versions of the songs, which maintain the original spirit
of the songs, but add some new twists to them. They are
based on the original, not special edition, movies. So,
Lapti Nek is included. (Thank goodness. Why they had to
remove this song from the SE RoTJ, I'll never...). The songs
are purely instrumental versions; no vocals included. quote, "Over 2 hours of Original Recordings. All selections are newly recorded and have not appeared on the original soundtrack of the Star Wars Trilogy. These recordings are in no way associated with John Williams or the producers of the Star Wars films." copyright 1999, KRB Music Companies. |