Betterment - 'Defined' (2010)

Betterment - 'Defined' (2010)

*free here*

1) Energy

2) Brotel Rwanda

3) Ded

4) Defined

Betterment is a cool emo/hardcore band from Florida (USA) that has this free EP out and are working on new material as well, to be recorded in April 2011. [As a side note, the new stuff is most like "Ded" on this album]. They have both clean guitars playing chords and distorted guitars putting the hardcore sound in.

They've also got some great vocals, I like them. They're harsh but you can understand a lot of it and hear the emotion in it. The band is tight, they all blend together well and get a great sound. The energy in the music is great - I'm sure they'd be awesome live.

They're showing that it takes a lot more than for some influential bands to break up to take down this genre. And the recording quality is not bad at all and the EP is less than 12 minutes. I actually made a list of my top 80 favorite emo/screamo songs and "Brotel Rwanda" was at 28, just above Cap'n Jazz's "Ooh Do I Love You". I hope that's a testament to just how awesome this band is. They're a fresh listen, and free at that, so definitely worth a listen!

RIYL: Sinaloa, mewithoutYou, Hightide Hotel

Yage - 'Anders Leben!?' (2003)

Yage - 'Anders Leben!?' (2003)

Tracks:

1) We Lost Beauty

2) Ohne Form

3) 128

4) Lange Luegenbeine

5) Anders Leben!?

6) Leben Leben

7) Situations are Like Cells

8) Save the Fear Slave

Yage is a hardcore emo/screamo band from Germany. But unlike some other bands I've heard from Germany that could be called "screamo" (like June Paik, for example), this band isn't as doomy sounding and has more clean vocals. It's like a medium in between Empire! Empire! I Was a Lonely Estate and Saetia if you can imagine it.

Actually, instead of imagining it, just listen to this album or some of the songs off of it that are on Youtube. It's not a long album, and although it can be background music, it's hard to listen to and not notice any of the interplay between drums and guitar. There are parts where there is unison, but there are other parts where the guitarist is playing a riff while the drummer is almost soloing. That's in a lot of hardcore music like this, but this band does it well.

The vocals are tough to describe, they're clean but raspy like Tim Kinsella (of half of all emo bands ever to exist) but when he screams it's more like most screamo bands, where it's not as understandable but it sounds emotional so you don't really care. Anyways, this is a great German band and I wan't expecting to find anything new in them but they were a pleasant surprise, and you'll probably think so too.

RIYL: Saetia, Loma Prieta, Raein

Il Cielo di Bagdad - 'Export for Malinconique' (2008)

Il Cielo di Bagdad - 'Export for Malinconique' (2008)

Tracks:

1) Stanno Tutti Bene
2) A Day of Wool
3) First Light of Morning
4) Export for Malinconique
5) Save Your Forest
6) Mr. Butterfly
7) L’ultimo Gesto
8) Magic Bus
9) Sunday Afternoon

This is a post-rock album by Italian band Il Cielo di Bagdad (translating to "The Sky of Baghdad" in English). I'll admit this album isn't avant-garde and doesn't bring any revolutionary ideas to the table, but that doesn't mean it doesn't give me goosebumps.

The band is a five-piece, with guitars, drums, bass, and piano/keyboards as well, that can't be described as ambient, but it has the same effect: it is soothing but at the same time isn't just background noise! There are also some vocals on the album. But the vocals aren't really lyrically focused, they're more for the atmosphere and what the sound of the human voice adds to the music. In this case the vocals fit really well.

The songs aren't very long, they're short post-rock tracks in the same vein of Moonlit Sailor or New Century Classics if you know either of those. The songs are simple, but not in a bad way at all. It's melodic, moving, and no three-minute buildups and quiet interludes are necessary for this band to catch your attention and touch your soul, they can do it from the very first listen.

RIYL: New Century Classics, Moonlit Sailor, Hammock

Blue Effect - 'Nová Syntéza' (1971)

Blue Effect - 'Nová Syntéza' (1971)

Tracks:

1) Má Hra

2) Směr Jihovýchod

3) Popínavý Břečťan

4) Blues Modrého Efektu

5) Nová Syntéza

Blue Effect is a jazz/progressive rock band from the Czech Republic, they formed in 1968. They were also known as Modrý Efekt, M. Efekt, Modrý Efekt and Radim Hladík, among other variations. Radim Hladík is their guitarist, a founding member, and arguably the most prominent member.

Anyways, this album is an instrumental jazz/rock album that the band recorded with the Czech Radio Jazz Orchestra (it's printed on the album in Czech). The album does run a bit long for five tracks at about 43 minutes, but I guess you could expect that from a progressive rock band.

However, don't let that deter you from listening, this album is fantastic. If you thought Jimmy Page was the best, check out Radim Hladík practically front both groups with his roaring guitar solos and riffs. This was released in 1971, and some of the stuff he is playing is so technically advanced when you compare it to other guitarists of the era like Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page. Perhaps you could best compare the guitar on this album to Terry Kath, guitarist of Chicago until his death in 1978. He combined jazz, hard rock, funk and advanced technique but not without the emotion. Take out the funk and you've got yourself a good taste of what Radim Hladík is like.

There are so many sections in the album where the sound is so powerful and driving, with the bass and drums leading the way and the horns and guitar soaring with a huge sound that blows your mind. This album is so underrated, it's practically a crime. For any fans of jazz, classic rock, progressive rock, or good music, Czech this one out.

RIYL: Chicago (early), Wishbone Ash, Jeff Beck

Der Weg einer Freiheit - 'Der Weg einer Freiheit' (2009)

Der Weg einer Freiheit -'Der Weg einer Freiheit' (2009)

Tracks (translations in brackets thanks to Genta):

1) Ewigkeit [Eternity]

2) Spätsommer [Late Summer]

3) Frei [Free]

4) Aurora [Aurora]

5) Zum Abschied [Farewell]

6) Welk [Faded]

7) Neubeginn [Restart]

This is actually a strange pick for me, it's an Atmospheric Black Metal band from Germany. I don't really listen to that much Black Metal, mostly atmospheric Black Metal kinda like Alcest or Amesoeurs if you know them. They blend post-rock and Black Metal vocals, which is really neat.

Black Metal to me has always seemed to be centered around emotion, whether sadness or anger. They screams from the vocalists really express that, and this band really offers that in a cool way. They are a vocalist and then another musician who plays guitar, bass, and programs the drums for the albums.

I don't understand the song titles or vocals, but I could really care less because the music is so captivating, especially the guitar parts, sometimes with the usual non-scalar tremolo picking of Black Metal like in "Zum Abschied", but sometimes in a more triumphant and positive manner like in "Ewigkeit".

If you like any Black Metal, then you should check this out. But even if you enjoy some post-metal or screaming vocals from time to time, it's still worth a YouTube search of some of their tracks, they're really stunning, and the album doesn't exceed 50 minutes like many Black Metal albums do.

RIYL: Enslaved, Alcest, Amesoeurs

Caravels - 'Floorboards' (2009)

Caravels - 'Floorboards' (2009)

Tracks:

1) Iceland

2) Greenland

3) Buddy System

4) Sixty Acres

5) Meat Wave

6) Safety Jobs

It may only be an EP, but this is a fantastic one. Caravels are a hardcore/real screamo band, described as a "loud band from Henderson, Nevada." They are highly energetic, and I'm saying this just based on their studio recordings.

They have roaring guitars that interact with awesome vocals that are screaming, but you can still tell what he's saying. It's not as emotional in a personal way that bands like La Dispute are, but the lyrics are actually pretty poetic.

It's the type of music that you would go crazy to when no one is watching but at the same time could make you think. It's an awesome blend of emotion and just awesome hardcore music, that a lot of "skramz" bands don't always have.

RIYL: Daniel Striped Tiger, Native, Sinaloa

Rare Bird - 'Rare Bird' (1969)

Rare Bird - 'Rare Bird' (1969)

Tracks:

1) Iceberg

2) Times

3) You went away

4) Melanie

5) Beautiful Scarlet

6) Sympathy

7) Nature's Fruit

8) Bird on a Wing

9) God of War

Every now and then you find a band like UFO or Rare Bird that could really play some awesome music back in the day, but never got the recognition of bands like Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, or other "Classic Rock" bands. But let me tell you this: Rare Bird is no average album-oriented rock band from the 60s-70s.

The English quartet play a great mixture of hard rock and progressive rock. But it's not the annoying kind of progressive rock with four or five 9 minute songs on an album; these guys deliver a full set of tracks that adds up to about 40 minutes on this self-titled debut.

The keyboards on this album create a whole new atmosphere that just gives the music an edge over bands with the usual guitar/bass/drums/vocals lineup. You hear it from the beginning of the first track all the way through. Overall, this album is one of my favorites of the late 60s/early 70s era of music, which is one of my favorites.

RIYL: Deep Purple, Warhorse, Armageddon