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The Bloody Beetroots – The Great Electronic Swindle

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People often misjudge marriages between genres, such as electronic and rock, or pop and reggae. They don’t know what to make of such marriages. Some even feel their paradigms threatened as they’re unable to categorize these mashes under a certain label. I say: the more, the merrier. This is not to say every mashup is a good one. Some experiments are disastrous, others are uncomfortable, while most are just weird . But sometimes, someone gets it just right . The Bloody Beetroots are one of the few acts that got this blend. Not too salty, not too sweet. Perfect . The Great Electronic Swindle is the duo’s latest album. It is a jungle of styles and sounds, all coherently built upon one another. It is energetic, explosive, and, at times… sweet. Twenty fast and furious tracks featuring some very thoughtfully picked guest vocalists, ranging from rockers JET and Perry Farrell to the excellent Greta Svabo Bech . Make no mistake, it is hectic. Most of it isn’t kind or gentle. It’s a lo...
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Album Of The Week: The War On Drugs – A Deeper Understanding

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If Bryan Adams ever had children ( I don’t know ), I wouldn’t be surprised if Adam Granduciel , vocalist and frontman for The War On Drugs , was one of them. The rough, warm timbre of his voice makes it a familiar place for the listener. The Philly outfit are back with their more recent — and dare I say, the best — effort: A Deeper Understanding . Twelve years and three albums’ worth of professional experience, it seems as if this deeper understanding of which they speak is not only a nice arrangement of words. It really seems as, in this album, The War On Drugs have found their true, better sound. A Deeper Understanding , the band’s fourth album, is emphatically honest, sonically beautiful and teeming with moments of maturity. Sure, the band has always been nice to listen to, but the levels of connection between artist and listener achieved throughout some passages of the album is something I have rarely witnessed before. It is tough to put the feeling into words, but the same ...
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#TBT – Rufio

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It was early in the newborn millenium, and after the mainstream success of bands like Green Day and Blink-182 , pop punk bands came crawling out the drains everywhere. Rufio was among those bands, but their sound really set them apart (and ablaze). Rufio formed in Rancho Cucamonga, California, around the year 2000. Their members were young high school and college friends and acquaintances. Quickly, they released their first album, the excellent Perhaps… I Suppose (2001, The Militia Group) . We’ll come back to this album later. After Perhaps… found its way into the computers and CD players of thousands of teenage kids in America, the band released its sophomore record: MCMLXXXV (2003, Nitro Records) , which was produced by Nick Rasculinecz ( Foo Fighters , Rancid ). The Comfort Of Home (2005, Nitro Records) followed, and after a fall tour with MxPx and Relient K , Mike Jiménez (drums) and Jon Berry (bass) left the band citing creative differences. This marked the beginning of ...
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This is the most relaxing song in the world

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Sometimes we have trouble sleeping. That’s the way it is. Fortunately, Manchester band Marconi Union have the answer: they composed the most relaxing song in the world. The British trio have 11 albums under their belts. Haven’t heard of them? Didn’t think so (we hadn’t before, either). They are semi-famous in certain obscure scenes, and are often linked with master composer Brian Eno . Weightless , the track in question, was composed in 2011 in collaboration with the British Academy of Sound Therapy . So every note in there is actually there for a reason. The track, according to studies, induced a 65% reduction of anxiety in subjects, and brought their pulses to 35% of their usual resting rates. So, if you need a good night’s sleep, we got your back (also, there’s a 10 hour version , if you’re interested). Listen to Marconi Union below. http://ift.tt/2sTwjq7
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Some people made a fan-made version of Madeon & Porter Robinson’s Shelter: The Movie

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Look, editing video is time-consuming, even when you have all source material ready to use. Imagine gathering thousands of cell phone clips from concerts, syncing them up and building a one-hour-plus movie out of them. Oh, and add HQ audio and sync that as well, just for quality control. A group of fans did just that and the end result is amazing. I don’t know all the facts, but it seems as quite a lot of fans gathered and collected cell phone clips, edited and synced them to an audio mixed (by fans, as well) of Madeon and Porter Robinson ‘s epic Shelter Live Tour to create a movie. Think of all the time this took. Go on. I’ll wait. The Shelter tour was a run of collaborative shows between both artists. It featured songs from both, intermixed, and a stunning visual production, which (I’m sure) resulted in one of the most memorable live experiences in electronic music history. There’s not a lot more to say. Just watch it. Here’s a full list of the credits, as per their...
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#TBT: Collective Soul

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The 90s spawned a generation of bands that, without any clear common markers between them, created a new genre altogether. Someone, possibly out of sheer laziness, decided to call it Alternative Rock. Boy, did this explode. Collective Soul stood strong near the top of the Alt Rock food chain for years. They were adult-friendly, sometimes they rocked, and Ed Roland ‘s unique soothing voice combined everything to produce a very, very radio friendly rock band. Although, technically, they’re still an active band, their last album, See What You Started By Continuing (2015, Vanguard) was a bust pretty much everywhere except the United States, although it was generally quite well received by the critics. Arguably their best work was achieved in the span of 11 years and 6 albums between 1993 and 2004. Collective Soul was a standard during my middle school years. When Why, Pt. 2 hit the waves, in 2000, it became an instant party anthem (more due to the music video than the actual song...
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#TBT: Silverchair

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Silverchair is one of those bands that, until they appear on shuffle, live mostly in the back of our minds. Still, back in the early naughts, they were one of the biggest names in rock and roll. The young band stormed into the airwaves with their first single, topping at #1 in the Australian charts, Tomorrow , in 1994. They were just 15 or 16 years old! This was huge for me. I was only 5 years younger than Daniel Johns . He quickly became one of my musical heroes (plus, he married Natalie Imbruglia , I mean…). They released 3 albums ( Frogstomp (1995), Freak Show (1997), and Neon Ballroom (1999)) by the time they turned 20. Neon Ballroom (1999) was, undoubtedly, one of the defining albums in my youth. It had it all. For me, it was an artists’ album, from the intricate guitar tunings to the literary-inspired lyrics. It featured a whole new level of sound for them, coming from the teenage angst of their previous two albums. To me, the album was not only transcendental, but e...
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Harry Styles’s surprising solo debut

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When I started This Noise Of Mine , the focus was to write only about good music. Of course, that’s an extremely subjective standard, but the idea is to maintain that canon throughout several collaborators, and create a diverse space with lots of good music for different kinds of people and tastes. Still, I never thought to write a post about anything related to One Direction , and still, here I am. Music is here to surprise us. Harry Styles , former member of teen boy band  One Direction , released his debut solo album earlier this month. I started hearing and reading of people whose opinions I respect talking about how this album is worth a shot. So I gave it one. It’s not easy to come into this album without preconceptions and escepticism. After all, steering clear of boy bands is the only common agreement among us rockers. So, leaving a boy band for a solo career must be a tricky move. Not only does one have to fight a made-up persona, probably famous, within,...
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In Memoriam: Chris Cornell

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A talent this rare is found a handful of times in entire generations. What  Chris Cornell  (1964-2017) had was a unique gift, a gift that became one of the leading voices for an entire generation. His music, his songwriting, and his passion will always be what we'll remember him by. Chris Cornell  started his musical career more than 30 years ago, in 1984, when a group of 20 year olds gathered and started a little band in Seattle, Washington. They named it  Soundgarden . They went on to spearhead an entire musical movement, along with other local bands such as  Nirvana ,  Pearl Jam  and  Alice in Chains , inspiring an entire generation through their art in the process. After  Soundgarden  split in 1997,  Chris Cornell  released the first of his five solo albums in 1999,  Euphoria Morning . He then became the lead vocalist of supergroup  Audioslave , with whom he enjoyed success along with former m...
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