The Final Post

Yes, the exercise is over. I don't know my grade yet, but I am very pleased with my blog and I hope at least someone other than the teacher has taken his/her time to read a review or two.

One interesting thing is that to date this close to zero promotion blog has received over 1200 views. I have no idea who these people are, but I want to thank every single one of you. Take care and every now and then, buy an album from an actual record store. I promise it feels special. Also, go to see live shows and gigs. Usually those bands and artists that get to tour, are good at what they are doing.

Shred - Madonna: MDNA

1. Girl Gone Wild
2. Gang Bang
3. I'm Addicted
4. Turn Up The Radio
5. Give Me All Your Luvin'
6. Some Girls
7. Superstar
8. I Don't Give A
9. I'm a Sinner
10. Love Spent
11. Masterpiece
12. Falling Free

13. Beautiful Killer
14. I Fucked Up
15. B-Day Song
16. Best Friend
17. Give Me All Your Luvin' Remix

 
I want to start this review by first talking about something else. Madonna is allegedly the queen of pop, but to be the queen, you also have to deal with rivals and that, is not exactly a walk in a park. Lady Gaga and Britney Spears are on a hiatus, but last year both of them released albums that were brilliant in different ways. Half of Gaga's Born This Way was garbage, but there were over 20 songs and the other half which was listenable, came together as a great pop album and a strong contender to be the album of the year. Britney's Femme Fatale was something much more simple: The usual hit dance/pop record with dub'step influences. Yes, there are dozens of such records around, but Femme Fatale was an exception to the rule by being in every measurable way possible, a perfect album.

So, 2011 gave us two excellent pop records that are in the same league with what Madonna is releasing this year. MDNA's obejctive is no less than to beat Born This Way and Femme Fatale. I don't expect it to, but then again, this is the part I wrote two weeks before I listened to MDNA. Off to the part I wrote just this morning.

After the first listen, MDNA is a bit of a disapointment. It starts and end well, but the middle section acts like a crack in a well constructed cruiser's hull. On top of it, the extra songs on the deluxe version are more of an certificate of doomsday than music. MDNA has only shy of 8 songs which stand up for the Madonna badge, and that isn't much of an album.

Let's start with the good pieces. Girl Gone Wild might be just a lazy copy of Madonna's own song Celebration dating three years back in 2009, but it has an anthemic chorus and it is one of the better constructed songs on the album. It also has the radio friendly single banner above its head so its flaws can be forgiven. Most of the albums budget must have been spent on Gang Bang. The lists of collaborators on this song alone ranks more than rest of the songs on the album. I'd say the money was spent well, because Gang Bang is a five and a half minute blast of stone cold revenge in flavor of Tarantino's Kill Bill.

I'm Addicted gets handed the award of best song on the album the second it reaches the chorus. It relatives to Benni Benassi's Hypnotica album (2003, very much worth listening to) and shows that although Benassi doens't seem to have a lot tricks in his pockets, he does fine with what he's been given. The near excellent opening four is concluded with Turn Up The Radio. It's a simple pop song which you'll propably forget sooner than the year ends, but the naevity of driving in a car and singing along with the radio is sweet.

Gimme All Your Luvin' begins a series of mediocrities. I like the idea of this song and it tries hard to bring something new to the pop scene, but the melody is as weak and vulnerable as a tiny icicle. Some Girls doesn't improve much, but something must have been done with with this track because it sticks to your head like a gum in the hair. Not sure I like it in case of this song though. The next track, Superstar can be put in the same group with the deluxe songs. Cuss, the mediocrity!

I Don't Give A is a more interesting case. Instrumentally it's one of the album's worst, but its lyrics and the operatic ending section save the day. MDNA picks up its game again in I'm a Sinner. This song could accompany Madonna's previous classic albums, Ray of Light and Music. I'm a Sinner is silly and careless, doesn't take itself too seriously and therefore, it is reasoned to be taken seriously.

Love Spent is one of the album's most most pleasing moments. It begins with a banjo riff and although never reaches its full potential, it is still an instant fan favorite. The following song Masterpiece might have won a Golden Globe award, but to me its vague and boring. With different sound choises and more orchestra it could hold a candle to Madonna's big ballads from the 90's.

Madonna collaborates with Joe Henry on Falling Free with whom she made some of her more fan-favorited work with (Don't Tell Me, Jump and Devil Woulnd't Recognize You). Falling Free is a peaceful, gallant ending to the record and it fills a cynical Madgetriber with hope that Madonna can still make great songs and... sing.

MDNA sounds brilliant if you listen it with a really expensive and great sound system, but as I can predict, most people just use regular headphones while sitting in a noisy bus. If this is the case, then MDNA is a tricky record. The hard to like middle section wounds the whole record down from great to average.

Madonna doesn't lose her crown with MDNA. In fact she manages to defend her spot valiently. The heights of MDNA are unreachable by Gaga's Born This Way and Britney's Femme Fatale, but it's thanks to the cohesiveness of those two records that the distance between Madonna and her competition is shrinking with an alarming rate. However, ask a stadium packed with 80 000 people and they'll answer you L-U-V MADONNA.

Shred: Michael Monroe – Sensory Overdrive

 

1. Trick of a Wrist  
2. '78 
3. Got Blood? 
4. Superpowered Superfly 
5. Modern Day Miracle 
6. Bombs Away 
7. All You Need 
8. Later Won't Wait 
9. Gone Baby Gone 
10. Center of Your Heart 
11. Debauchery as a Fine Art 
12. Another Night In The Sun 
13. You're Next 
14. Right To Be Wrong 
15. Sleepin' With My TV On





Since the dawn of times Finland has given birth to only one rock star that isn't recognized only at the local K-Mart. Calling Michael Monroe a rock star though should be forbidden by law, because rock stars are self-centered jerks. Besides that, they are usually either stoned or drunk 24/7. Fortunately there is another term we can use to address our friend Mike. Michael Monroe isn't a rock star, he is a ROCKER.

What the person is like impacts their music as much as how well they can sing or play an instrument. Sensory Overdrive is one of the greatest releases of 2011 in rock music, because it has a pure feel of ”let's go to that room and play some butt-kickin' rock'n'roll” to it. Simple, fun and effective. No one should get offended by that.

Since this the deluxe version, it's 15 tracks of pure hard rock with some punk, glam and even country thrown into the mix. This variety needed, because while the old school flavored band has enough energy to go with full force for hour and a half in a live situation, it's good to catch a little breath once a while. Many bands can write a fast paced rock anthem, but can they also do a slowed down love song? The important part here is not that those songs are on the record (as you don’t have to listen to them), but the proof that they can do them. Yet Gone, Baby Gone isn't even a love song, it's more a break-up song in which the singer is bothering little with the past to focus more on the present and the times ahead instead.

Surprisingly, Sensory Overdrive excels in lyrics. That's something you might not first expect from a record like this. While the record flags to the good old times of the 80's, it still manages to be high-spirited about the tough times we're living through right now and optimistic about the future. Lyrical content like this is tricky to write without getting too much in the face of the listener, but Mr. Monroe manages to wake some awareness without getting tagged a hippie.

There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with this record. It has great musicians, variety, coherence, ability to withstand the dire test of time and most importantly excellent songs. Even the extra songs on the deluxe version are more like an extra gear than a vain effort of trying to increase the album's value. On top of these straits when I listen to records in my house, I often have to turn the volume way up to hear the music to kitchen, to bathroom or the living room, but in case of Sensory Overdrive I don’t have to do this because the sound simply penetrates through the doors and the walls without losing tad of its intensity. Brilliant! Michael Monroe could become a lecturer in sounds science.

Now to the flaws, which I admittedly had to search with a microscope. Debauchery as a Fine Art (the song Lemmy is on) has a bit silly guitar riff in the beginning and the band isn't exactly reinventing the wheel on this record. That's probably what is stopping me from giving it the same kind of standing ovation as I gave to Stam1na's Nocebo. Still, Sensory Overdrive is a must-buy and a mighty display of skill from a man and a band the masses didn't expect to come up with anything this vibrant anymore. It came (behind the tree) and it conquered.

 

School assignment: Image processing

I was ordered to do some image processing and publish the picture in the internet, so here is my take on the exercise.

I cropped the image, flipped it horizontally and changed the colours and lighting. I used a program called "preview" which came with Mac when I bought it.

The original picture:

Shred: Stam1na - Nocebo

1. Pirunpaska 
2. Valtiaan Uudet Vaateet 
3. Tavastia Palamaan! 
4. Puolikas Ihminen 
5. Aivohalvaus 
6. Rabies 
7. Lepositeet 
8. Nomad 
9. Ei Encorea 
10. Arveton On Arvoton

My quest to find the best record of the year continues with a promising entry. There was another record back in 2010 which I might have overlooked when I entitled Herra Ylppö's 2^nd record that year's best. Stam1na released their masterpiece Viimeinen Atlantis (Last Atlantis) that year. What was so special about that record was that it told a haunting story about humanity's last moments on this planet. Earth's resources had been depleted, natural disasters were sparked by the climate change and every nation was at war. This kind of every man for himself situation will be a reality someday, but our generation won't be there to see it although it's partially caused by us. Talk about an environmental awakening through music.

Viimeinen Atlantis made Stam1na a big band in Finland, so Nocebo is one of the most highly anticipated releases of the year. It was certified gold already in its first day on sale. While Stam1na still sings in Finnish, there is already one song on this album that is partially sung in English (Nomad). Not just that, but reportedly English lyrics exist for all the songs in case the band decides to get back to the studio to tape them and re-release this record entirely in English for international markets.

Listening to Stam1na’s music is like someone's arms came through the speakers to pull your hair and repeatedly smack you in the face with a pace of 200 punches in a minute. Yet under all this aggression and winding speed the music manages to be very melodic, catchy and even sophisticated. I don't have even half the theoretical knowledge of music to completely explain what's going on, but I summarize everything by saying that it works. These songs are multilayered and each listen reveals something more, making the record better and better. I have listened to this album over a dozen times in two days and I simply won’t get bored of it.

Nocebo isn’t as serious as its predecessor. For example, some of the lyrics of the first song are simply A, B, C, D E, F and G to demonstrate which chords are played. While Nocebo doesn’t fall in the category of theme albums, medicines, illnesses and the human body are mentioned in several songs, giving the album an organic atmosphere.

Pirunpaska (Devil’s Sh**) acts only as an intro as the record really gets going in the second song, Valtiaan Uudet Vaateet (Sovereign's New Claims, a pun from the story Emperor's New Clothes). This is possibly one of the best songs I have ever heard, mainly thanks to its fantastic c-section and guitar solo which frankly, is only a standard to Stam1na. Rabies starts with a striking, addictive drum fill and even without these three seconds of triumph this record deserves a special mention for its drums. Great drummers like Teppo Velin are sadly far and between (because everyone wants to play guitar), but Stam1na has nothing to worry about in this department.

It is tricky to find other highlights from Nocebo because it's so consistent and thought out from the beginning to the end. Songs bridge to each other nicely and the velocity stays way above the speed limit the whole time with exception to Lepositeet (Sleep Ties) which is a song about sleep deprivation and is described as the official ballad of this band. Yeah right.

Stam1na' is one of those bands that have never released an album which could be rated lackluster or mediocre. All their records are great and this fifth album manages to raise the bar even higher. Stam1na's previous albums are still very much worth listening to, Nocebo doesn't overshadow them, but it's a product of successful evolution.

Much of the praise should also be pointed to Nocebo's international producer Joe Barresi who has been able to focus this albums sound to get the best out of it. Last autumn a Finnish recording artist called Manna made a record with an American producer and the opposite of Nocebo resulted of this collaboration. Stam1na shows that a Finnish band and a  producer from USA can be a match made in heaven.

Side note: You may want to think twice before watching this rather disturbing video. Listening is a whole different case.

Retrospective: No Dout – The Singles 1992 – 2003

1. Just A Girl 
2. It's My Life 
3. Hey Baby 
4. Bathwater 
5. Sunday Morning 
6. Hella Good 
7. New 
8. Underneath It All 
9. Excusme Mr. 
10. Running 
11. Spiderwebs 
12. Simple Kind of Life 
13. Don't Speak 
14. Ex-Girlfriend 
15. Trapped In A Box 
16. Girls Get The Bass In The Back

Greatest Hits collections are rarely any band's best albums. There are several reasons for this phenomenon:

1. There aren't enough hits (Kellis – The Hits, 2008)

2. The hits are far from being the band's best songs (Foo Fighters – Greatest Hits, 2009)

3. The songs are good, but don't match with each other well (Madonna – GHV2, 2001)

4. There are another half a mill greatist hits collections darkening the artist's memory (Michael Jackson)

5. The band doesn't approve of the album at all and it's been released only to make money (Guns N' Roses – Greatest Hits, 2004)

Miraculously, No Doubt avoids all these sins with their greatest hits collection. Fans may have their own favorites in the No Doubt catalogue that are not present, but to just an ordinary consumer, it's hard to go wrong with this collection because it gives what it promises, all No Doubt's singles. Only one studio album (The Beacon Street Collection, 1995) isn't featured here at all.

No Doubt is a band that has aimed to change their style a bit for all their records. Despite this the change between tracks on The Singles stays smooth and easy while retaining refreshing variety. Most of this is because in its core No Doubt stays the same even if they had an opera singer on their record. Bass and drums rock the rhythm section steadily, while Gwen Stefani gives No Doubt something extra special with her vocals. Music seems to also matter a lot to this band as they take their time with each record.

The listener gets wrangled in immediately by the hasty rock piece Just a Girl, followed by a cover of Talk Talk's It's My Life which was recorded to promote this compilation at the time of its release. While the band was reportedly dubious on performing a cover, the song sounds right and like No Doubt couldn't have covered any other song. Other highlights of this collection are Sunday Morning, Hella Good, Simple Kind of Life and always so touching Don't Speak. If these songs spark any interest in you towards this band, exploring deeper to world of No Doubt might be time worthy.

After half a dozen postponements, No Doubt is expected to release new music this year. Some songs from the record have already been played to the press and so far the reception has been panegyrical. The only problem No Doubt seems to be having right now most likely isn't the quality of their music, but their obsession to keep perfecting it. They clearly have something in their sleeves. Let's just hope it won't be Chinese democracy.

Shred: Steel Panther - Balls Out

1. In The Future 
2. Supersonic Sex Machine 
3. Just Like Tiger Woods 
4. 17 Girls In A Row 
5. If You Really Really Love Me 
6. It Won't Suck Itself 
7. Tomorrow Night 
8. Why Can't You Trust Me 
9. That's What Girls Are For 
10. Gold Digging Whore 
11. I Like Drugs 
12. Critter 
13. Let Me Come In 
14. Weenie Ride

As the cover (and in that matter the track-list) suggests, this album contains over the top heavy metal from the 1980's recorded with today's equipment and saturated with sexually explicit lyrics. Steel Panther is a pure parody band, but they have something that most parody bands don't have... Great musicians. And... Great songs?

The answer to that question would be yes, but while this band is instrumentally arguably on a very good level, it is the lyrical content that comes out as both a blessing and a curse. The lyrics are thoughtfully written, and although listening to Steel Panther at first feels like watching soft porn with your ears, overtime it starts to feel more like... Well, ordinary music. Or then you have just lost your mind.

All the songs on this record are completely listenable. After a strong opening with In The Future and Supersonic Sex Machine, the record buyer is taken to a  journey to so called daily life of Tiger Woods. The gag is old, this scandal happened early 2010, but the song, Just Like Tiger Woods, is brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. There are other themes on this album that tie this record to our times more than the year 1985. One of them is social media. In the song Why Can't You Trust Me, the signer's girlfriend keeps lurking around in his Facebook and Myspace profiles to keep track of visits by other women. She surely has her reasons because Michael Star (artist name, vocals) seems to read the unholy bible of infidelity before he goes to sleep at night... Or more like o'clock in the morning. Or at noon. The protagonist of this album is a highly toxicated middle-aged man that has a somewhat reductive attitude towards women. Michael Star respects them only to the point he stops getting benefits; sex and preferably also money. As much of the album has the same setup in every ong, Balls Out can feel repetitive at times.

Steel Panther isn't something you may enjoy in large doses, but a listen there are here isn't harmful in any way. Just remember to respect your partner afterwards and don't take a word for anything what this band is saying. It is a game. They are playing characters. It's not real, but it sure is fun.

Shred: Herra Ylppö & Ihmiset - Mies ja Nainen

1. Särö 
2. Mies Murtuu 
3. Matador 
4. Keksiyö 
5. Ikuiset  
6. Paula Puree  
7. Se Seurustelee  
8. Mustat Hevoset 
9. Mies ja Nainen 
10. Rautavaara Rules 
11. Öitä

When Ihmiset released their debut album Sata Vuotta (Hundred Years) in 2008, the best record of the year was released in January. When Ihmiset released their second album Pojat Ei Tanssi (Boys Don’t Dance) in 2010, the best record of the year was also released in January. So now when they’re releasing their third record in January 2012, is the best record once again released in January? Let’s find out.

A Man and a Woman. That’s basically the only topic Herra Ylppö (Herra = Mister) has ever sung about in his songs for his so called solo project band Ihmiset. The other group Ylppö is part of, Maj Karma, gets some other lyrical content besides the usual relationship twaddle, but the message is still mainly the same with some variations. If you can take all this emotion-rich content and even like it (not to mention understand Finnish language), the music of these bands can really speak to you lyrically. At least it has spoken to me like this in the past, but in the case of Mies ja Nainen I was first uncertain. I have heard all this before, why should I be enthusiastic about it again? In the end I came to a conclusion that this is Ylppö’s world and he may have wanted to form some kind of trilogy with these three records. In the future however, Ylppö must come up with something else because the relationship fountain has now been depleted.

This is an international blog, so how would a foreigner hear this record? Instrumentally everything is fine. First song Särö (Crack, but not drug crack) starts with a simple echoing piano riff, hitting drums and recognizable Hamid Moeini guitars. As a fan I’m thinking immediately that yes, this is exactly what I’ve expected the record to sound like. Matador exhibits some Spanish bull fighting pipes and CMX-like guitar riffs in the beginning while Mustat Hevoset (Black Horses) is bright guitar pop. The whole sound of the album is very radio friendly and most songs are in single length. Alternative, punk and metal aspects are far and between. As the album progresses many things start becoming clearer. The songs on Mies ja Nainen don’t hold the candle to that of the previous record's, but while the other two albums severely lacked coherence, Mies ja Nainen has plenty of it.

Originally this was supposed to be a double album with “Mies” being the energetic rock record while “Nainen” would focus on more settled and gentle songs. What happened in the end was that the band decided to make one good album instead of two mediocre ones and you can hear this compromise on the finished record. Some songs sound like they came straight from the rock record; some from the gentle record and others are a good merge of the two. It’s the songs “in the middle” that clue these two different sounds together to make an eloquent listening experience.

This is a good record and it fixes the issues Ihmiset has had in the past, but emerges some new problems. What is missing here too much is that trembling feeling that ”this song is freaking great”. The band was able to achieve this feeling in the past because they favored variability over coherence, so it seems that in the case of this band the other seems to come at the price of another. This is a shame as the band spent the entire year making this album and the finished product in some ways feels less than what they aimed for or at least less than what the audience was expecting it to be. Even the graphics in the CD-case are almost exactly the same as that of the previous album’s.

All the songs on Mies ja Nainen are good, some very good, but that's about it. The record is missing the edge this band had in the past. The sound is sleek and easy, unchallenging. Only the last song Öitä [translated (Good) Night] makes an exception. On the plus side though the band plays excellent as usual and the album is convincingly mixed and mastered.

Lastly to answer the big question, no, this most likely won't be the best record of the year. But I do have to admit that I have been very hard on this album in this review. Mies ja Nainen is exactly the kind of a record Ihmiset wanted to make this time. They were set to make a great commercial Finnish rock album and Mies ja Nainen embodies just that. I think that Ylppö fans will be pleased though that Maj Karma is coming back, hopefully next January.