Filed under: Artists, Video | Tags: Delain, Nightwish, Within Temptation
One’s heritage can say a lot about a person; how they communicate, what they like to eat, where they live. But does music follow that same instance? For many, the music that surrounds them happens to be the music they tend to listen to. However, I’m more content with finding the music that is not well known. Why, because it is pure. More or less, my search for gold music, the unknown treasure.
With living in the States, more precisely Wisconsin, there are a lot of music genres to go around. But my treasures follow my European heritage. In the continuous search for new music, my brother came upon a band with connections to some of our other favorite bands. With symphonic melodies and soothing lyrics, my first impression was that this band was worth listening too. However, I wasn’t blown away by them.
But I made a mistake in my thought process of categorizing their music. Although, their lineup is similar to many of my favorite bands. Although, they come from the same area on the map, which creates similar influences to their music. And although, they are one band of many to form under the same genre, they began to stand out to me.
For many bands/groups, there is one particular artist that stands out in a band. Most of the time, the vocalist is that person. There are too many bands in the States that use their star’s name as the band name, ugh. So when you listen to their albums, you can clearly hear that star’s voice or instrument louder than the rest of the group. In some instances, that’s great, i.e. Oscar Peterson. But to be able to put together a band that fits all as one, without a standout artist, that’s hard to come by. That statement might be difficult to believe since everyone has a different view of what music is and should be. But to me, it takes a special touch to not expose an instrument too much, which can ultimately affect the purpose of a song.
To add, this band also brought power and emotion to an equal mix of instruments and lyrics. Which is why I haven’t been able to put them down for weeks. However, I have one more reason why this band stands out to me. All bands have an overall message that they write about. Whether that be fictional stories or political ones, they write for purpose. They just hope their messages come across as intended. But my feeling that came across with this band was a message of hope. Although rough some days, the possibility of tomorrow is infinite.
With those words, I introduce you to Delain.
Delain is a Dutch symphonic metal band founded by the ex-keyboardist of Within Temptation, Martijn Westerholt. They are currently touring off their second album, April Rain. Co-writer and vocalist Charlotte Wessels brings a lovely touch to the band. Trained in both classical and jazz singing, she brings a great balance to the melodic keyboard passages and flowing melodies on both albums. Delain also has brought in well-known guest artists that help compare their sound with the best of them. Most notably, Marco Hietala, bassist and vocalist of Nightwish. At the moment, it seems that Delain will keep their tours overseas. But I can only hope that one day they will make it to the States, preferably the Midwest; we have a high concentration of underground fans here. ;P
Rock, BC
Filed under: Artists | Tags: 3 Doors Down, A Perfect Circle, Alter Bridge, Cold, Epidemic, Facebook, From Zero, Iced Earth, Iron Maiden, Kamelot, Lifehouse, MySpace, Nightwish, Shinedown, tantric, YouTube
Social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace are good ways to find people who have the same musical interests as you do. There are several kinds of pages, applications, and music players that can help promote bands or just to make a place for fans to interact. There are several advantages to this, as long as you don’t get into a never ending music debate. The one advantage that I have come across is the introduction of similar artists.
I have a very deep musical collection, and by that I mean that I have a wide array of bands and artists that reach all sorts of genres, styles, and era’s. Unless I know of a band who is locally signed or they are not very well known, more than likely, the band or artist you like is on either Facebook or MySpace. I can be a fan of the well known groups like Alice In Chains, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd. However, I can also be a fan of Kenny Garrett and Micha
el Brecker. I can even be a fan of bands that come around this area like Caroline’s Spine, or even Shoeless Revolution. Within all of these fan sites, you can listen to their music, see news and upcoming concerts, or write a note on their page to tell them how much you like their music. All you have to do to find these pages is search for them. Either go on Google and search for “(band) MySpace” or “(band) Facebook” or go to the band’s website, they most likely will have links to their social networking pages.
So back to how this helps music fans like me, these pages can also open up discussions for recommendations of other bands. I have been introduced to many worth while artists just by surfing through Facebook, MySpace and YouTube, where otherwise I would never have heard of them and my music collection would be pretty bleak. So next time you find yourself needing new music, don’t be afraid to search for your favorite bands through social networking and see what their related artists have to offer. You really have nothing to lose, unless you come across a really awful band which then wastes your time. But besides that, you have nothing to lose.
One last note, if you are on Facebook or MySpace, you’ll see little interactive discussions floating around on your friend’s profiles. Some of which are not very interesting, but I will usually participate with the music themed ones. This one reached me yesterday, in care of NewsChannel 8’s very own Chief News Director, Emily Hintzman! Feel free to send me your list as a comment to this post.
Think of 15 albums that had such a profound effect on you that they changed your life or the way you looked at it. They sucked you in and took you over for days, weeks, months, years. These are the albums that you can use to identify time, places, people, emotions. These are the albums that no matter what they were thought of musically shaped your world.
The challenge: Do this in fifteen minutes; as if nobody is judging your answers…
1. Alter Bridge “Blackbird” 2007
2. Cold “A Different Kind of Pain” 2005
3. Cold “Year of the Spider” 2003
4. Epidemic “Epidemic” 2001
5. From Zero “One Nation Under” 2001
6. Iced Earth “Horror Show” 2001
7. Iron Maiden “Brave New World” 2000
8. Kamelot “The Black Halo” 2005
9. Lifehouse “No Name Face” 2000
10. Nightwish “Once” 2004
11. Nightwish “Dark Passion Play” 2007
12. A Perfect Circle “Mer De Noms” 2000
13. Shinedown “Leave A Whisper” 2003
14. Tantric “Tantric” 2001
15. 3 Doors Down “The Better Life” 2000
Bonus: Transformers: The Movie Soundtrack 1986
Just to mention again, I’ll be playing at Ed’s no name bar (252 E 3rd St) in Winona, Minnesota tonight for Mardi Gras Fat Tuesday. I’ll be sitting in with my former band, the Dixie Midnight Runners, starting at 10:00. Hope to see you there!
Cheers, BC
Filed under: Artists | Tags: After Forever, Amanda Somerville, Anette Olzon, Arch Enemy, Epica, Floor Jansen, Kamelot, Lacuna Coil, Leaves' Eyes, Liv Kristine, Nightwish, Sharon den Adel, Simone Simons, Tarja Turuen, Within Temptation
When I started driving to work this morning, I decided to turn off the CD that I’ve been listening to for the past few days and tune into the radio. I don’t want to point out what radio stations are good or not in the La Crosse area, so I’ll just say that I mostly listen to 100.1 and 95.7. Well this morning on The Rock, they were talking about how someone called in and was asking what kind of bands have female musicians. They started listing off some bands, mostly the well known ones from back in the day. Some people called in and added bands like Lacuna Coil and Arch Enemy. But I feel that they left out the best of the best, mostly because people do not know of these bands, baring them from seeing the musical excellence of these female musicians.
Probably the most popular of the bands that I’m going to list is Nightwish. Recently, Nightwish went through a vocal change, bringing in Anette Olzon who replaced long-time Nightwish vocalist Tarja Turunen. If you’re wondering about the origin of those names, Nightwish is from Finland. Anette has only recorded one album with Nightwish, Dark Passion Play, but that album exceeded, at least, my expectations. I have been a fan of Nightwish since the Once years, which is not that long ago, but I was able to backtrack into their history to become a respectable fan of theirs. But my point is, Anette has an awesome voice. There are a few times on their latest album where Anette hits a note just right. I don’t know if it’s the frequency level of her voice tuned to the perfect note or whatever. But when she hits those notes, you have to shut your eyes and enjoy, maybe even smile or give one of these \m/.
The other band that I want to mention is Epica. Not the Kamelot album from 2003, but the band that coined their nam
e after that Kamelot album. Epica is a symphonic metal band, just like Kamelot, who formed in 2002. They are fronted by none other than the legendary Simone Simons. I did say legendary! Simone has a voice that was influenced more on the classical side of singing. She has a very smooth, lyrical presence to every song she sings. She has done four albums with Epica, along with a few guest appearances, including a hit single with Kamelot called “The Haunting (Somewhere in Time)“.
Those two are my favorites for female vocalists, but here are a few more for you to check out if you please.
Sharon den Adel (Within Temptation)
Amanda Somerville
Floor Jansen (After Forever)
Liv Kristine (Leaves’ Eyes)
Rock, BC
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