Conquering Dystopia - Conquering Dystopia Review

Conquering Dystopia - Conquering Dystopia [Instrumental Metal]

Adding to the veritable list of musical super-groups to release material within the last year or so is Conquering Dystopia, featuring Alex Webster (bass), Jeff Loomis (guitar), Alex Rudinger (drums) and Keith Merrow (guitar). 

Being an unabashed fan of the instrumental work of Loomis and Webster, like so many others in the metal world are, I was gleefully anticipating heavy riffing, blistering leads, interesting bass work and ...

... more heavy riffing. 

Keith Merrow has been one of the few YouTube musicians that I've followed for a good few years. Of course, that means that I've heard his previous collaborations with Loomis. Still, the prospect of getting to listen to a full album featuring two of modern metal's most tasteful and creative riffers was enough for me to put my work aside and plug in.

Singling out a particular track or two to feature here (and then verifying its availability on YouTube) was no easy task. This album is as tightly-written as they come, chock full of interesting riff lines and adorned nicely by Alex Rudinger's solid drumming. Each track has its own 'feature': check out, for example, Rudinger's subdivisions of the main motif in the first 30 or so seconds of "Inexhaustible Savagery" (clip above). This is undoubtedly straight-up metal drumming, blast beats, double-pedaling and all, but it is presented in a way that appeals as much to the music geek as to the headbanger. 

A similar concept can be heard in the opening riff of "Autarch", only that here, the band is working around a triplet feel (as compared to the straight 4/4 in "Inexhaustible Savagery"). Often, guitarists working with more than six strings fall too deeply in love with the extended range and end up producing muddy, unimaginative chugs as excuses for riffing ideas. This is, thankfully, never the case here - Loomis and Merrow, perhaps unsurprisingly, make good use of the full range of their instruments in creating highly listenable hooks and riffs.

The lead work, as has come to be expected from Loomis, is edgy and blazing quick. What is surprising about it, however, is that it takes up a significantly smaller proportion of the total airtime than Loomis has always had with his solo work. I was still iffy about this state of affairs after the first couple of listens, but have slowly come to appreciate how this affords space for Merrow's own melodic passages and Rudinger's frenetic drumbeats without taking away from the fact that Loomis is the de facto lead player.

My only definite gripe with this album is that Webster's insane bass-playing isn't featured as much as I would have liked it to be. Perhaps that was not what the band had set out to do, but ... it's Alex Webster! Imagine buying a Ferrari and only ever using it to perform the mundane task of driving to work! Having said that, though, this is ultimately only a minor issue in light of all the other excellent things the band does in this work. Production is good, songs are captivating, the band sounds like an actual unit instead of a hastily-assembled bunch of musos and Keith Merrow finally gets his due time playing for a wider audience. 

Here's hoping Conquering Dystopia produce more stuff.

★★★★☆

Bassekou Kouyaté & Ngoni ba - Jama Ko Review

Bassekou Kouyaté & Ngoni ba - Jama Ko [African World/Afro-Latin/Jazz]

                                      

Jama Ko is the third studio album from Malian musician Bassekou Kouyaté and his band Ngoni ba.

I hadn't heard much in the way of African music prior to listening to this album, which I suspect allowed me to review this collection with an open mind free from stereotypes and expectations (a frame of mind which I should, admittedly, try to use more when reviewing more familiar genres like metal).

This album starts off with its title track: a smooth, groovy piece of music.



The beats and vocal lines are distinctly African, but the Ngoni solos by Kouyaté at times take on an almost blues-rock feel (think Gary Moore and Derek Trucks). Kouyaté, additionally, makes use of a variety of effects like distortion and wah; his solos and interludes, as a result, have a quasi-contemporary touch; this isn't something I'm terribly pleased about, but maybe I should give him the benefit of the doubt since it could be the case that the Ngoni's own raw sound cannot sufficiently cut through the mix or even that Kouyaté himself wanted it to be this way.

The album, overall, stays fairly true to genre; having said that, there are certain songs that have a slight Latin-influenced flavour to them ("Madou" and "Sinaly" being two of such). These two tracks stand out for their more accessible ("catchy", if you will) grooves and up-tempo feel. The string work by Kouyaté on "Sinaly" in particular is speedy and technical without being overbearing or show-offy; the vocal melodies are memorable - anybody with a pulse who listens to this stuff will end up involuntarily tapping their feet or knuckle-drumming or something like that.

This album is a pleasure to listen to - Kouyaté's obvious musical talent shines through in his playing and composition. The chorus singers sound rich and full, and the various guest vocalists add gloss and colour to the tracks. However, it disappoints in the sense that it seems to straddle the divide between traditional/ethnic and contemporary without taking on a definitive identity. Nevertheless, this album contains enough musical value and interest factor to keep me listening.

Rating: ★★★★☆

CandyRat Records

Many a casual guitarist might have come across CandyRat Records on Youtube by chance. The label's most famous names include Don Ross and especially Andy McKee (of 'Rylynn' and 'Drifting' fame).



There are those who think that the video above just shows some bald dude smacking the paint off his guitar and making a series of incoherent sounds, and there are those who are able to appreciate the technical and compositional brilliance of the CandyRat artists. Listed below are a few of my favourite songs/artists from this label. All of you should check them out right now.

Kelly Valleau (Song: Anubis)

Kelly Valleau, like many of his label-mates, is Canadian. He makes most of his money playing classical guitar, but proves that his percussive/ethnic play is just as strong as that of anyone out there.



Ewan Dobson (Song: Time 2)

Dobson gained recent fame for this piece, which draws from his trance/video-game influences. Still, he remains criminally underrated.



Antoine Dufour (Song: Reality)

Antoine Dufour is arguably CandyRat's most creative mind; his songs tend to lack traditional structure and flow and his ideas are abstract. This stuff is more for serious listeners.



Maneli Jamal (Song: Cold Arrival)

Maneli is one of CandyRat's newest artists but is a longtime favourite of mine. 'Cold Arrival' was written before Maneli got signed to CandyRat Records and draws from his many cultural influences (he's ethnically Persian but has lived in a number of countries and finally settled in Canada).



There are many more equally amazing musicians (not just guitarists) signed up to CandyRat Records but I haven't got the time to list all of them out. Regardless, this label has been an absolute fountain of entertainment and inspiration for me for the past three or four years now, and I hope that you will derive the same pleasure from listening to its artists' creations as I have. Enjoy!

PSMS (Portnoy, Sheehan, Macalpine, Sherinian) Live In Singapore

The four American rockers performed, courtesy of Inokii, at TAB Orchard Hotel last night in front of a crowd of about 200 people.

Satthia and I started queuing outside TAB at around 5.30 pm (doors were at 7 pm, according to the tickets); we were something like third in line. By around 6.30, the line had lengthened to over a hundred long. What, then, did the organisers do? Let us in early? No, they saw it as a chance to flog off merch. However, in a rather comic sequence of events, the guy and girl trying to sell posters couldn't even get a single customer amongst the hundred-odd-strong crowd.

What did the organisers do next then? Well, as has always been standard procedure, they conducted bag checks on everyone in the queue (funnily enough, they would do a second round of bag checks as we streamed into the venue). Way to hold us up outside, fools!

Anyway, after all that shambles, we got into TAB and took some time to check out the available merchandise. There was, disappointingly, very little purely PSMS-related material; rather, each individual performer's solo material was on sale. Satthia and I decided to pass on the merch and instead grab drinks and head over to the standing area. We managed to get spots right at the foot of the part of the stage where Derek Sherinian's keyboard rig stood.

The crowd (which by then - around 7.10pm - had ballooned to a couple of hundred people) initially stood and waited in anticipation, but soon got bored after having to wait through around half an hour of random music filtering out of the speaker systems, with not a single performer in sight.

Suddenly, at 7.45pm, the music stopped and was replaced by one of those tension-building, bass-heavy tracks. Smoke started rising from the back of the stage. The crowd went wild; their heroes were arriving. One by one, Tony Macalpine, Billy Sheehan, Derek Sherinian and finally Mike Portnoy took to the stage and immediately broke into song.

At this point, I have to confess; I had done very little research on PSMS before attending their gig - I was there precisely because I have long been a fan of each individual musician's work, rather than their collective production. Still, I was hugely impressed by what I was seeing and hearing; the four guys were obviously taking it easy and having fun, yet still playing out of their minds and driving the crowd wild with their complex lines and mindblowing solos.

The character dynamics of the four musicians were plain to see; Sheehan and Portnoy, the most outspoken members of the group, were taking turns to mock-'stage hog', what with Portnoy's liberal use of stick tricks and contorted facial expressions and Sheehan, all six-foot-something of him, taking up dozens of different rock-star poses with his bass and always shifting to the front of the stage to engage the crowd. Sherinian, the group's serious one, always had this intense glare on his face as he pulled out riff after riff, counterpoint after counterpoint and solo after solo on his rig. Macalpine was just chilling in the centre of the stage, dishing out blistering solos while wearing the expression of a contented retiree relaxing on a beach, lemonade in one hand and novel in the other.

It was obvious that the four guys genuinely enjoyed playing with each other (as well as with the audience) and weren't just there to show off or rake in quick cash.

Tunes like Planet X's 'Apocalypse 1470 BC', Dream Theater's 'A Change of Seasons' and 'Lines in the Sand' and Tony Macalpine's 'Edge of Insanity' were gleefully lapped up by the audience, most of whom were, refreshingly to see, pretty familiar with the work of at least one out of the four musicians.

Of course, one does not go to a gig like this without mentioning the solo segments of each artist. Billy Sheehan's bass solo - performed with all the other members offstage taking a break - was, for me, the best among the four. On top of his usual frenetic shredding, Sheehan added in sprinkles from tunes like the ever-beloved 'To Be With You' and displayed his trademark showmanship and style.

Overall, the gig was a joy to behold, both musically and in terms of performances. There were a few minor letdowns along the way: firstly, standing so close to Sherinian's rig meant that at times we couldn't quite hear Sheehan's bass and especially Macalpine's guitar; secondly, the sound tech kept screwing with Sherinian's levels (to the point where midway through the gig, his default expression was a death-stare towards the general direction of the sound board); thirdly, the number of monkeys waving their iPods, iPads and whatever with no consideration for the viewing pleasure of others was way too high and finally, the bouncers and security crew kept being wet blankets and discouraging us from staying close to the stage (the whole crowd just ignored them after a while).

However, that's not to say that any of the abovementioned incidents was able to take away from what was a truly marvelous and worthwhile performance. If, as expected, PSMS release a DVD of their set, I will hunt it down.

A Night With Tommy Emmanuel

Last night, Satthia and I went for Tommy Emmanuel's yearly October gig (he's been giving shows every year since 2009 now) at the Esplanade.

As we entered the Esplanade foyer, we were greeted by quite a scene: not only was there a dance exhibition happening smack in the middle of the concourse, there were so many people carrying all manner of stringed instruments (guitars, basses, ukuleles and the like) in their cases.

We knew at once that a good number of people had turned up for the Tommy Emmanuel show.

We got in early - at around 7.20pm, ten minutes before the listed show timing - and settled down into our seats. By 7.30pm, around two-thirds the hall had filled up, but the number of empty seats left was still obvious. So much for a good turnout, we thought.

We didn't spend much longer thinking, though, the star of the show burst onstage shortly after and - as he did two years ago (yes, I've been to more than one Tommy Emmanuel gig. Be jealous.) - immediately dived into an uptempo number complete with his customary percussive fillers and technical wizardry. The crowd got absolutely fired up, and the tone for the night was set.

Then, just as he started his second tune, the latecomers filtered in. Lo and behold, nearly all the seats in the concert hall were occupied. It never ceases to amaze me how many people manage to be late for absolutely anything going on in their lives. I mean, it's Tommy Emmanuel!

Not that I was distracted by the stragglers or anything - I was by then engrossed in what was happening onstage. The music was, obviously, upbeat at the beginning and technically far more impressive than anything I had ever seen live (his bluesy-jazzy rendition of Amazing Grace was particularly incredible - look at those freaking chord voices and changes!), but I harbored the little fear that Tommy would spend this gig exclusively playing new material. Me being me, I had gone for his 2010 gig as a first-timer hoping to hear his 'biggest hits' like Guitar Boogie ..



.. Angelina ..



.. and Classical Gas.

I did get to hear Angelina and Gas (and they were breathtaking) but not Boogie, which was kinda disappointing especially when Tommy came back onstage to cries of 'Encore! Encore! We want more!' and played a refrain of his very first piece.

I wasn't to be let down this time round, however.

During the 'second half' of the gig (there technically were no 'halves', since there was no intermission - I'm labelling this segment as such because it represents the point where the musical content and mood really swung during the show), Tommy changed guitars (from his standard-tuned guitar to his drop-D-tuned instrument), played a few tunes and then fitted a capo onto his guitar's second row of frets.

'Oh my god,' I turned around and said to Satthia.

True enough, Tommy busted out a rendition of 'Angelina', much to the delight of the majority of the crowd, myself squarely included. In 2010, Tommy had played 'Angelina' in a really cutting and heartfelt way; he even put words to the signature chorus melody. This time round, he took the song much slower and let each note really drag and ring. After the song, he stepped up to the mike and said "That's Angelina" and cracked a little grin before continuing, "She's my youngest daughter; she's fourteen and studying in public school in England.."

His voice trailed off somewhat. We got the message.

If the 2010 rendition could evoke tears from the audience, the 2012 one would surely have evoked sad, sad sighs.

No one could be sad for much longer, however, as Tommy took the mike again and declared: "Who's a big Beatles fan here!?"

The audience, knowing what was coming, started to cheer raucously.

"Okay, wonderful, I've got some Rolling Stones tunes for you."

Cue laughter and one or two 'Oyyyyyy's from the top level of seats.

"Just kidding. Anyway, I'm gonna start off this Beatles montage with a song by George Harrison."

And then came 'Here Comes The Sun', followed by tunes like 'When I'm Sixty-Four', 'Day Tripper' and 'Lady Madonna'. Classic stuff. By then, I was grooving and clapping to the beat in my seat  - a tiny group of not more than six or seven started to follow suit - but unfortunately, the audience lived up to its Singaporean billing and largely sat there stock still in a mixture of awe and stiffness. Tommy Emmanuel was freaking doing everything on stage - prancing around, headbanging, taking up various 'guitar poses' - short of asking his crew to flash giant 'HEY GUYS, CLAP ALONG WITH ME' words on the wall, and yet here those people were, treating this gig as if it was a 1980's Pavarotti show. Sigh.

There was still more to come from the legend.

He picked up his newest instrument - a Maton Forrest Gump edition, based on what he said - and fiddled around with it. It was tuned to D. I wondered immediately what was coming next.

It was Guitar Boogie.

And the crowd went batshit crazy, really for the second time the entire gig.

More classic numbers like 'Purple Haze' and 'The Trails' (a brilliant, haunting piece by anybody's standards) followed, and Tommy eventually signed off with one of his trademark several-minute-long percussion solos that got the crowd roaring and barking for more when he left the stage.

He did return for the encore (he always does) and played 'Halfway Home', a nice tune with a chill country-rock vibe and a perfect show-ender.

Everyone left satisfied; Tommy had truly 'showed up and done his best'.

There is really nothing negative to be said about seeing the world's greatest acoustic guitarist in the flesh anyway.

BluesJamTracks is awesome

The guitarists among you might have come across the Youtube channel 'bluesjamtracks' and seen its videos featuring famous artistes playing to backing tracks taken off its sister website (jamtrackcentral.com).

Those who, like me, claim regular viewership of this channel are in luck. Bluesjamtracks has just released a new series of featured videos including the below:

CHRISTOPHE GODIN


ANDY JAMES


GUTHRIE GOVAN


Holy shit! Three (and more) of the guitar universe's beastliest players featured on this site!? Add this series of videos to my list of time-killers during army duty.

Featured Artist: Animals As Leaders

Animals As Leaders is a three-piece progressive/technical metal band comprising guitarist and frontman Tosin Abasi , second guitarist Javier Reyes and drummer Matt Garstka.

This all started when Abasi, having been noticed for his technical guitar work, was offered a solo record deal. Initially apprehensive, he nonetheless decided to take up the offer and thus AAL was born.

AAL has released two albums so far: their eponymous debut (2009) and Weightless (2011).



'Tempting Time', off their debut album, is perhaps the one song that catapulted Abasi (and the band as a collective) to relative fame. Its use of synth effects (particularly at the start of the song), odd time signatures, complex riff and rhythm work and brain-twisting guitar solos is characteristic of the band's overall direction on this album - an extremely technically-accomplished and musically-intelligent effort.

I personally recommend this band because its members, while being very skilled individual musicians, strive to make good, listenable pieces rather than attempting to show off their full range of skills. Each member's musical input adds depth and value to the pieces.



Another piece off the same album, 'Song of Solomon', shows this off well. While it does not feature any particularly mind-blowing solos (by Abasi's ridiculous standards anyway), it does contain some highly complex rhythm work courtesy of Reyes and previous drummer Navene Koperweis. The production and synth work is pretty neat too, a rarity among young-ish metal bands.

The second album, Weightless, goes in a different direction from the first, a testament to the 'true' progressiveness of the band. It's one thing for bands to be musically progressive in one album and afterwards stick to their trusted formula (hello, late Dream Theater) and another for bands to keep expanding their musical horizons and trying different things.



'An Infinite Regression' is probably my favourite track off their new album, and happens to be its very first track. The 'classic' AAL elements - complicated riffing, use of both clean and distorted guitar lines, technical drum work and copious shredding - are all there, but what makes this track 'belong' to Weightless instead of the earlier album is the section which starts at around 1:50 into the video. The fusion-jazz groove that kicks in is simply addictive; at the time of writing I have replayed this particular section of music at least five times. This is something you would not hear in the first AAL album (or any number of albums that Justin Bieber puts out, hehehe).



'Isolated Incidents' (actual song begins around 0:20 into the video) is rather different, at least in how it starts. The song begins with a slow, clean guitar intro and progresses into a clean, jazzy passage - again, a step in a new direction for AAL. However, at around 2:30 into the song, the music reverts to 'old-school' AAL, blazing solo and all. This is what I like about this album - it is easily identifiable as an AAL collection but distinct from its predecessor.

Overall, I find AAL to be a nice balance of technique and heaviness. AAL is, however, strictly NOT for headbanging to, unless you wish to experience for yourself what whiplash feels like. It is, instead, for you to grab a beer, put on, and sit back and enjoy.

- JE