Tag Archives: Shopping

Walk Laugh Live Die by Alex Pardini

Posted on by
Reply

Alex Pardini

Alex Pardini gives us slices of life though Walk Laugh Live Die

My idea of  good music is something that  becomes part of your life. I think songs become part of our existence because we listen or use them to convey different things. We play songs to tell someone what we feel inside, especially when we can’t say it. Songs are time machines that take us back to that  time when we felt safe and loved. It could also be for dancing or relaxation. We also use songs  to channel whatever negative emotions we have inside. With their different uses in our lives, musicians are magicians casting spells to transform our reality into something bearable if not totally beautiful.

Walk Laugh Live Die by Alex Pardini is like a musical essay about what life is all about and what it should be. This isn’t just your typical funky lounge music. This is an album of songs that challenges listeners to either agree or contemplate. What I admire about Walk Laugh Live Die is this sense of cohesiveness that embraces the ten tracks. He is a great mix master and producer. The overall tempo seems to melt into each track and yet the individuality is preserved in terms of styles across songs.

The vibe is for slow dancing. It’s easy but not slow, elegant but has rugged edges courtesy of the funky guitar embellishments.  It’s an album of urban landscapes. That moment when you are done with work and you hangout with your crew and party the night away. My favorite tracks are Unknown Girl and Make Me Feel This Way. The former reminds me of Suzanne Vega’s Caramel (from Nine Objects of Desire) due to the classic synth sounds. Make Me Feel This Way gives me the feeling like I’m  floating at dusk.

Walk Laugh Live Die is a stylish album with a stylish music video. This is expected from an artist with photography as his other passion. This is an album that will linger in my playlist for a long time. Official release date is September 30.

Track listing:

Live to Live

Trouble in Paradise

The Storm

Beautiful Liar

No One is Like Everyone Else

Make Me Feel This Way

Unknown Girl

Sad Little King

Lost

You can buy the single from iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/live-to-live-single/id684958332

As for his complete catalog: https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/alex-pardini/id269952993

Album notes:

 Promo Text

Alex Pardini’s album “Walk, Laugh, Live, Die“ starts where “Made of Diversity“ ended a little over two years ago (2011). Though, it creates a world of it’s own by fortifying old paths and discovering new ones.

„Walk, Laugh, Live, Die“ is a colorful musical journey that will make you travel way further than from a to b.

Hop on!

About Alex Pardini

Alex’ musical world is a living and breathing playground of magic and surprises. His wide musical output is astonishing, but more importantly, a personal necessity.  A philosophical approach to music – a metaphor for his life.

Alex is constantly perfecting his art, experimenting and expanding his musical diversity, in order to find that all-embracing and unifying golden middle.
His photography takes his music one step further and extends his creative work into the visual realm.

A true one man operation flourishing in his cozy apartment studio. From the first shy sparkle of inspiration to the mastered song – always accompanied by his visual art.

Discography

http://alexpardini.com/readdiscography.html

Contact

alex@alexpardini.com

Interview withTom Lugo of Shishi.

Posted on by
Reply

934758_513908178666001_1350781570_n

 From interesting  female vocal influences, martial arts and the most touching electronic love song; Tom Lugo explains the inner workings of Philadelphia dark noisepop duo ShiShi.

Bliss is an interesting concept when made into an album. Bliss about finding someone and spending you life with that person. It could be a sense of contentment when you have finally found what you are looking for. And it is a personal thing. This is the subject of this interview as Tom Lugo of Shishi finally opens up his ideas behind the creation of Eternal Bliss, a full length album by Philadelphia based duo of  husband and wife Tom and Jaimie Lugo.

What’s the inspiration behind the title Eternal Bliss?ShiShi

What’s the inspiration behind the title Eternal Bliss? It’s a line in our song Bliss featured on the album. Being married for quite sometime and sharing our lives together is eternal bliss.

 I swear the tracks off this album would fit well in the TV series The Walking Dead because of the doom and gloom style. But the songs are also beautiful. It’s like holding the most fragrant black rose. Who are Jamie Lugo’s vocal influences?
Shirley Mason, Gwen Stephanie, Debbie Harry are the influences for her vocal stylings for this record.

Kung fu music

Anything for You is my personal favorite because of the lyrics and the melody. What’s the story behind this song?

I wrote the song for Jamie, it’s how I feel towards her. Many of the songs are about our lives and situations we have lived through.

I love Shirley Manson and the band Gabage and the rest of the female vocalists you mentioned and I guess that’s one of the reasons why I like your sound. Will there be an official music video soon?

Yeah, I love Shirley, Debbie, Gwen, Jamie as well…lol We have 3 videos out so far. One for Anything for you, our daughter is the model in the video:


We have a video for Season of the Bitch which features our daughter:


A video for the song Bliss:

Hopefully we’ll be shooting another one soon.

You mentioned you’ve been playing live.Is this something to do with promoting Eternal Bliss. Do you plan of releasing a live album too?
Well, I play live some of my other projects (Panophonic, Under the wire, Stellarscope) but we have not had the opportunity to perform under ShiShi. Hopefully by the end of the summer or sometime in the fall we’ll have some live gigs happening. So, we’ll have to see about a live album.

 Tom Lugo and Martial Arts…can you expound on this a bit and how to you reconcile the two: music and martial arts.

Tom at Integrated Kung Fu Training Sessions at UUCDC

I have been an martial artist all my life, it is not what I do but part of who I am just like music. in order to become proficient in martial arts you have to be patience, humble, grounded, and persistent all qualities that transferable to being a musician and artist.

Where can listeners buy your songs(that means all of the side projects as well).

The album is currently on sale (Release date 06/11/2013) at bandcamp for $6 http://pateticorecordings.bandcamp.com/album/eternal-bliss . The release will it will be available on CD through Amazon and Reverbnation in the next couple of weeks as well as through all major download retailers like Itunes, Rhapsody, Napster, etc.

How do you see 2013 opening up to your music? Plans?
With an over saturated music market it is hard to get your music heard, so our hopes are to gain a solid following of fans and continue to write and record more music. We also have plans of playing out but that most likely will not happen until later on this year.

What are your top 7 albums this month?

The new MBV
The KVB- IMMATERIAL VISIONS
Ummagma/Virta Split EP
Imagine Dragons- Night Visions
A*Star/Blindness split
A Place To Bury Strangers- Worship
Justin Timberlake ‑ The 20/20 Experience

Shishi:
Jamie – Vocals
Tom – everything else

Cars and The Wild Irish Poet

Posted on by
Reply

My friend The Wild Irish poet made what he describes as : ” Mock up ads I have made for Ferrari and Rolls Royce.” Checking out the video I can tell there is nothing light about it. I think this is the only car ad I am willing to check out again and again. His narration gives depth and ‘spirit’ to material objects like fancy car. Yeah think about it: there is nothing really spiritual about cars. Well at least that’s what I think personally. After seeing countless ads, nothing really strikes my fancy unless they feature female vocalists that sound like Enya. Other than that it is really something you want to get over while you wait for your favorite TV show.

But Alan Cooke changed all that in this ad. His voice which has captivated theater audience for years is in top form in this project. Not to mention that he really took this job seriously. I don’t mind if I will ever own a Ferrari or Rolls Royce. All I know that a talent like this one is more precious than cars.

Links:

http://www.thewildhourshow.wordpress.com/

http://www.wildirishpoet.com/

https://www.facebook.com/voiceimprovement?fref=ts

https://www.facebook.com/WildIrishPoetBookTrailerAndNarrationServices

Entre deux, Enter Two by Pierre Massé

Posted on by
Reply

Pierre Massé, Party in Morocco

Pierre Massé unleashes sonic excitement and lyrical wit with the second album Entre deux, Enter Two.

It is great to follow the lives of interesting musicians to witness the growth of their music as life happens. “Guess you could say where I would be ten years from now”…goes the line of the song” I Will Wait” taken from the second album of Pierre Massé titled Entre deux, Enter Two. The first album Situations was officially released in 2010. At that time, his music was mostly acoustic-based with few ambient flourishes. This was followed by the  electronic remix of the same album which showcased his expertise with gears and the DAW.

Entre deux, Enter Two opens with My Mortal Enemy, a track  included in a series of tracks he streamed online prior to the official release of the album. My Mortal Enemy is characterized by the fusion of electronic and acoustic instruments. His voice has matured too. It has become stronger and fuller. It is more expressive than when Situations was released. Observations1: In Her Eyes…follows. It is instrumental with a soundtracky appeal. The pace is enough to make you lie in bed staring at the ceiling and just let time pass.

When Tomorrow Comes is a rouser. It  explodes in your face after several strums. It’s the result of the aggressive guitar riffs and reverberating bass-lines. Pierre has maintained his typical French slurs which was already noticeable with Situations. Un poète fermé nods on the folksy side, typical of his heroes like Francis Cabrel and other French singer/songwriters.The title track  Entre deux, Enter Two is another instrumental. His acoustic guitar playing has acquired elegance with time. I Will Wait is probably the grooviest track in the album. Great electric guitar solo too. Take note of the rhythm changes. This proves to be one of the fascinating things in this track.

Another instrumental track Observations 2: …Coule cet air merges electronic beats and acoustic instruments. Quelques mots nods once again on his French side where verses are narrated. The track climaxes into an instrumental explosion of  guitars.  It’s the shortest track in the album. Sculpting the Light has rhythm changes and abundant guitar solo parts. The track penetrates your senses like smoke. Dans nos pas closes the album with a forlorn melody. For those who love sensual male vocals with French accent, you will love Entre deux, Enter Two. That, and the richness of his lyrical talent that wraps itself like pasta strands into the tasty bits of his music. Not too sweet, not to sour..a little peppery  but with a dash of bitterness for beer. This is Pierre Massé.

Ox Cohen:Tri Axis Triple Works

Posted on by
Reply

Ox Cohen

Artist: Ox Cohen

Album: Tri Axis Triple Works

Style: Experimental Rock/Ambient/New Age

Hometown: CHICAGO, IL

Every track of Ox Cohen is like a portal into another world. You don’t know what to expect when you open it. And in every track lies its own Jack in the Box. There are strange and mesmerizing sounds that happen within the span of the track. Tri Axis Triple Works is an album about voyage within and into space. The use of experimental rock calls to mind Vangelis and Tangerine Dream with the melodic beauty of Yes.

I think this is the kind of album you would like to listen to in your bedroom while staring at the ceiling for an hour. It really takes you away. Tracks like Cloud Voyage and Refinder really do their job in transporting you into an electronic sound scape that moves forward. Gem Highway almost has that Flock of Seagulls 80s synth vibes. Coupled with hypnotic beats, everything swirls as if in colored lights. You can sample most of his music here: http://www.banguskahnmusic.com/music/

Tri Axis Triple Works sounds like a taster of what’s more to come from this classically trained musician from Chicago.

Bio:

Ox Cohen artist born in St. Louis and raised in Chicago began his music training at age thirteen learning the basics of Blues and Heavy Metal to start and later expanding into Jazz and Classical throughout the years as he had gone to Music High School and College. Later played in several bands. The band experience was semi-professional, one of which was mainly a grunge/alternative influenced one and the other a metal band. Then as time had passed Ox Cohen became more into composing, although he had written throughout the time period. In the last seven to ten years became more enamored with computer recording, the keyboard as well as the cello and fusing guitar within the synthesized instruments. Ox Cohen is a big fan of a lot of the Hard Rock and Progressive Rock bands coming from the Seventies as well as the bands of the Alternative movement of the Nineties yet as well influenced by many other genres including the Sixties and Classical music. He hopes that listeners can appreciate his music and hopes it will bring a healing effect when it is possible.

Links: http://www.banguskahnmusic.com/

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ox-Cohen/331961380155645