Positive Reviews

Hello ladies and gents! Another Sunday and another portion of Positive Reviews coming! In today’s chapter I’ve decided to go in more R&B/Soul/Urban style. Once again I turned to blind luck and picked an album that was telling me absolutely nothing. I commit to Love is a first solo album of Howard Hewett. His career started in late 70's, when he joined a Grammy winners Shalamar. It was a take to rise for Howard as he established his voice well in earlier mentioned genres. When in 1985 this cult band split, young vocalist started his solo career. Only one year later his first album saw the daylight and very quickly won hearts of millions. Many of the song that appeared on the album went very high on different charts, a whole album went Platinum. This information gave me the idea that once again I chose right. I was very curious of what gem hides in these files I was about to stream from one of the music services. First song on the record - “Stay” - started with a dr...

Invisible Limits – Demand for Supply (1987) Hello ladies and gentlemen! Today I want to take you for a trip around music style that exploded on the curve of synth era: Coldwave and Darkwave. Looking for my inspirations I spent some time on drinks with Dj Vilkas who suggested this turn. So we picked a band that was a completely mystery to me and I dived into Demand for Supply, debut album of German synth band Invisible Limits. Quick glance on the Internet shows that this band is still active! I was hyped straight away. If they still play it means their music has to be good. When I finally found some time (and clear my head from previous night with my friend) I sat relaxed and opened my ears to what was coming next. “Thoughts” grabbed me on the spot. A fantastic beat at the start with some dark vibe (something I was always looking forward). Then vocal of Marion Küchenmeister surprised me. Strong and powerful. With also a dark twist. All elements: keys, synth, drums, FX was ge...

When I was on mu trip to Lisbon, walking at the evening with family and friends through Alfama district, from one of the small restaurants I heard for the first time Fado, unique folk music straight from this beautiful country. Then it hit me, I should go and search for some fado musicians and write about it. On my way back I made my choice: Rão Kyao and his Fado Bailando became my next album to listen. There is not so much (at least not in English) information about this artist. What I could find about about him this he travelled far and tried to connect Portuguese folk music with eastern sound of Asia (like India). He also had a lot of influences from Jazz music. Usually I’m going through most songs individually, this record I will treat differently. It has this unchained soul this swiftly goes from one track to another. And in this way I should treat this piece from Rão Kyao, as a seamless flowing music. What caught me at the start is a saxophone. Rão quickly mastered this ins...

Hello beautiful creatures! Another Sunday and another meeting with positive reviews! Today I‘m going to talk about a band which was one of the first bands signed by legendary label Megaforce Records. I will not lie to you: metal music is close to my heart but when I was doing my research I couldn’t recall anything from this band. Their career maybe wasn’t long and extremely successful but nonetheless, they left us a couple of good tracks on their most popular album Metal of Honor . Band started their journey in 1979 and a couple of years later they signed a mayor label contract. The alum I will be reviewing today was their second, after T.T. Quick EP from two years before. At the start we get a great and powerful title song. Their powerful guitars, strong mix and charismatic vocal from Mark Tornillo (who currently sings in metal band Accept). At the start my first thought about Mark singing, led me to legendary AC/DC’s vocalist Brian Johnson. If someone loves this unique vocal fro...

Good evening folks! After choosing “Hydrology” as my another album for Positive Reviews, I wasn't aware how much I still don’t know about the artist I like to listening. Recoil is a project which started with Alan Wilder demo. After I heard his name I was like: isn't it that guy from Depeche Mode? I dived quickly to Wikipedia to find out more about it and I was right! This name rang a bell just quite right but I was in shock. How could I pass on his work until this point? After getting myself back to normal I started to explore his album. And what did I discover? A lot of unexpecting moments that stayed deep into my head. But to not get ahead of myself let me take you slowly but firmly through these 3 songs that filled for more than 37 minutes (yep, This is not a joke). “Grain” is the first song and also the shortest one (barely 7 minutes and 44 seconds;) on this album. It starts with a grand piano sound that plays a perfect loop for some first couple of minutes, then other...

In my new post I would like to go back again to the 80’s but this time to focus on a grandfather of rap music. I heard name Kurtis Blow maybe once in my life. Some guys, who were deep in rap subculture, mentioned him on some completely random occasion, as a guy who started it all. I easily forgot about him (as on that time I was fully focused on metal scene) and moved along. But now, when I was searching for a new inspiration for my blog, I couldn't past on Kurtis like I did last time. Quick glance on Wikipedia gave me even more backbone to give him and his album “The Deuce” a chance. Since the first, title song started, I was hooked on. I heard funky style, punchy bass guitar and that groove you can swing to. But then Kurtis started rapping. And combination of rap and live band put a smile on my face. How good were they getting along? For me it was a perfect combo. In every song there is enough space for a good melody, hip-shaking dance moments but also enough for quick and m...

Life quickly gave me a new challenge: review of a picture score (another wild research, I get it a lot). I thought that writing about it would be interesting simply because this type of music usually does not come as easy as ‘regular’ records. As I never heard about this movie, I decided to quickly watch it before I even touch what James Horner prepared for me. I was intrigued and confused by this film but quick research on Wikipedia answered all the questions I had (what questions? I leave that one for myself; you need to experience that movie on your own!). The album itself is only 30 minutes long but it is full of tremendous quality! I always believed that it’s better to write less and have an interesting piece of music. Mr Horner did exactly that. Four songs are very short but full of dramaturgy and emotions going back and forth. You can lie down, close your eyes and let your brain drift with all notes coming from speakers/headphones. Longer tracks bring even more. There are mo...