MOG - yakulto's Posts

MURS Punch Out!

yakulto — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 11:04:17 GMT

Wonderful, wonderful video. And the song aint half bad either.

And isn't it about time for a new Murs/9th Wonder album yet.....?

Back from the Deth

yakulto — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 05:18:58 GMT

My tickets to see Megadeth popped through the letterbox not so long ago. I'll be seeing them on November 1st in Tokyo at Shibuya AX and I can't wait.

Those of you (including myself) whose interest in the band lost it's luster during their journey into mediocrity from 97's Cryptic Writings, through 99's Risk to 01's The World Needs a Hero albums should really take a fresh look at the band.

Megadeth came back with a vengence with 2004's The System Has Failed album which blew me out of the water. The band hadn't sounded this vital or agressive since the early 90's and songs like Blackmail The Universe, Kick the Chair and Of Mice and Men were up their with the best songs they'd ever recorded.

They followed it up with this year's United Abominations album which was a continuation of more of the same quality from the last record.

It's a shame that a lot of people can't see past the fact that the Megadeth of 2007 is just Dave Mustaine with a whole new band, but to be honest it's always been pretty much just his band, regardless of how much affection one might have for past members. He did after all write 99% of the bands songs over the years. And give me the new lineup and albums like The System has Failed over the "classic" lineup and more albums like Risk anyday of the week.

Anyway, judge for yourself with this video from this years Donnington, where they play the best of the new, Sleepwalker, with the best of the old, Take no Prisoners.

I'm going to Graceland

yakulto — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 11:21:51 GMT

Back when I was a wee lad there were a number of concerts I saw, either on TV or video, which really fuelled my love for music and more specifically, that fuelled my love of drums and inspired me want to play music.

Queen Live at Wembley Stadium or at Rock in Rio, Iron Maiden at Long Beach Arena (AKA Live after Death) are a few that spring to mind.

Another that has stuck in the memory was Paul Simon's Graceland concert, performed in 1987 in Harare, Zimbabwe. I recorded it off the TV and watched it until I wore the tape out. Since then I've never had a chance to see the concert again, but alway wondered if it was as good as I remembered it to be.

I finally bought a copy of the DVD of the concert recently and it really hasn't lost any of it's magic for me all these years on. Fantastic band, great songs, guest performaces by Hugh Masekela & Miriam Makeba - pretty much one of the best concerts I've ever seen.

If you've never seen it than I would heartily recommend it, whether or not you're a fan of Paul Simon - good music indeed.

He's back.......

yakulto — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 10:54:18 GMT

.....and thank fook for that.

Great album. Hopefully it wont be another eight years before his next one.

Bill Bruford

yakulto — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 05:28:16 GMT

A post in honour of the esteemed William Scott Bruford, better known as Bill Bruford.

And here's the original track off the wonderous Bruford album, One of a Kind.

More Jiva

yakulto — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 11:04:11 GMT

A track from their Sun & Moon album. Quality stuff.

Jiva - Why have I not heard of these guys before?

yakulto — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 10:57:33 GMT

While having a browse around a Tokyo branch of HMV I stumbled across an album called 'Day into Night' by a group called Jiva. It was on one of the listening-posts and I had a listen as you tend to find all sorts of delights available for listening in Japanese record stores, the kind of stuff that you would find buried away somewhere in western stores, or even not stocked at all.

Anyway I digress, I popped on the headphones to be soothed by some of the lushest music to have hit my ears in quite some time - warm bossa-tinges, a bit of house influence, funky bass lines, quite wonderful vocal melodies, and an almost fusion feel on some of the instrumental tracks.

Needless to say I bought the album and it has been in near constant rotation since. Wonderful, positivity drenched uplifting music of THE highest quality. Listen to this group on your ipod in the morning and you walk into work feeling ready to tackle anything.

I tracked down their 2005 album 'Sun & Moon' too and it's more of the same, fabulous music.

Which begs the question, how could I have randomly found out about such an amazing group? They really deserve to be big so that more people can experience this fabulous group for themselves. I think they may not have a deal in the U.S. as the two albums I have are Japanese and U.K. versions respectively, which is a shame as they're an American group and with a lot of dirge that comes out you'd think there'd be a Jiva-spaced hole for music of this quality.

If you see these albums anywhere I strongly suggest you pick them up - your life will be all the better off for it.

Now I have to hope they put in an appearance over here sometime soon so I can check them out live........

Stevie still got that magic

yakulto — Sat, 24 Feb 2007 08:54:38 GMT

Last Saturday night I was lucky enough to get a chance to witness a Stevie Wonder live show for the second time in my life and what can I say........

Unbelievable show, 2 hours and 26 songs long. A true honour to get another chance to see him again at the enormous Saitama Super Arena, especially given the 8th row, just right of centre seats we were lucky enough to get (in a lot of Japanese shows, all the tickets are the same price, and you pay your money with no choice of where your ticket will be, you could be right at the back or front row, it's all the luck of the draw).

How's this for a setlist:

01. Too High 02. Visions 03. Living For The City 04. Higher Ground 05. Don't You Worry About A Thing 06. You're The Sunshine Of My Life 07. Tuesday Heartbreak 08. Maybe Your Baby 09. Superstition 10. If You Really Love Me 11. Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm Yours 12. Isn't She Lovely 13. Stay Gold 14. Overjoyed 15. When I Fall In Love (Nat King Cole) 16. Ribbon In The Sky 17. Place In The Sun 18. Yerster-me, Yester-you, Yesterday 19. My Cherie Amour 20. Sir Duke 21. I Wish 22. I Just Called To Say I Love You 23. Part Time Lover 24. So What The Fuss 25. As 26. Another Star

Special mention must also go to his band who were shit-hot (especially the rhythm section of Nathan Watts on bass and Chris Johnson on the drums).

One thing though. Now, I've lived in Japan for around 6 years and this is the second time I've seen Stevie live over here. Does he play regularly anywhere else in the world? If he doesn't, and Japan is the only place he still performs in big arenas then that's a pretty sad state of affairs.

Everyone needs to see a Stevie concert. He'll make you smile, make you cry (yeah, I'm not ashamed to admit I teared up on more than one occasion during his set) make you dance and make you go home glad to be alive. Thankfully we still have such a monumental talent alive and well and here's hoping I get another chance to experience his music live once again in the future.

Thanks Stevie.

The return of the mighty duo

yakulto — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 12:13:23 GMT

Well, it took the arrival of the first album in 6 years from one of my all-time favourite artists for me to finally pull my finger out my arse and get posting on here.

Yes, a good few years after their last classic, Creating Patterns, 4hero return with their long awaited new longplayer, Play With The Changes, and boy was it worth the wait.

Gone is the experimentation from that last LP and in it's place are 16 tracks of pure soul, with more than a nod to their 70's influences but with one foot firmly in the future.

One thing that does remain the same from their last outing is the total separation of writing/production duties between the 2 members, Marc Mac and Dego McFarlane (not one of the 16 tracks features both of their work in any form). 8 of the 16 tracks are the Marc Mac offerings, with the rest being taken care of by Dego. What this means is that you get a wonderful split between the lush, often string clad, more convential-instrument lead Marc tracks (Morning Child/Look Inside/Give In/The Awakening/Sophia/Superwoman/Bed of Roses/Our Own Place), and the more futuristic, experimental Dego tracks (Take My Town/Sink or Swim/Play With The Changes/Something In The Way/Stoke Up the Fire/Why Don't You Talk/Gonna Give it Up/Dedication to the Horse).

Add the presence of Kaidi Tatham on most of the Dego tracks and you get an album that's hard to top. I really can't stress how beautiful this album SOUNDS too, 4hero really are top of the tree in terms of production (with IMO only Jazzanova anywhere near their level). Listen loud on a decent sound system and let the goose-bumps begin......

So needless to say, you really need to hear this album. And while you listen thank the lord of your choice that their are still people like Marc & Dego out there, taking time and effort to craft the music that they want to make, producing music of the highest quality, regardless of what the rest of the music world is doing, just for you & me.

Although we're only a mere two months into 2007, I'll be very suprised if I hear another album that surpasses PWTC - album of the year, no doubt.