What music are you listening to?

Quote by Mendalla

Since I know Cora likes Metric, here's one of the songs they sang on Parliament Hill in the annual Canada Day concert.

I completely missed that. Glad It caught my eye today. Thank you for the thoughtful post.

I have a handful of favorite songs from Metric. I think I am prone to listening to some songs over others depending on my mood.

Sick Muse - Metric

Bands of His Majesty's Royal Marines - A Brubeck Portrait.

Keep Breathing - Ingrid Michaelson

New live video from Tigran Hamasyan and his current ensemble.

Gojira is not a metal band I have paid much attention to but with them becoming the first metal band to play an Olympics last night, they are now on my radar. Metal and rock fans seem uniformly pleased with their performance and even some mainstream reviews are citing it as a highlight.

Here's an audio of the performance. It's a metal version of a song that goes back to the French revolution.

And one of their own songs, from the 2005 album From Mars To Sirius, which seems to be widely regarded as their best work.

Amazon Love - Johnny Flynn feat. Lillie Flynn (his sister). A repeated favorite of mine. I love the way he plays guitar.

The original (Fleetwood Mac) recording of Black Magic Woman was great, but... along came Carlos Santana! His version is guitar-heavy and a superb rendition. However, it didn't end there. On the Moonflower album from 1977, Black Magic Woman flows into Gypsy Queen, and what a pairing that was! Listen for yourself. it's awesome!

"The Jacket" Soundtrack Crazy D Remix

Continuing my exploration of pianist-composer Tigran Hamasyan. This album-length piece was composed by Hamasyan and performed by his ensemble with the Yerevan State Chamber Choir in memory of the Armenian genocide. It's an incredble album, bringing his American jazz background together with his Armenian cultural background in a beautful way.

And from the sublime to the loud and heavy, here's a new single from Japanese all-female power metal act Lovebites.

Fly - Nick Drake

Anyone else here remember this oldie but goodie? From the 2024 edition of Wacken Open Air, a premier festival for rock and metal, here's The Sweet with their one and only (at least on my side of the planet) hit.

And from Wacken's opening day, here's one of my current faves, Mexican power trio/sister act The Warning. The Villareal sisters are going great guns this year between a new album and a world tour. Dany (guitar, vocals), Pau (drums, vocals) and Ale (bass and backing vocals) are all on fire here.

St. Vincent is one of those artists who manages to be good a so many things. Singer, songwriter, guitarist and now producer of her latest album, All Born Screaming. This song is from All Born Screaming.

Oo, another fine female singer I follow dropped a new single. Swiss singer Melissa Bonny has been in four bands so far in her career (five if you count a local cover band where she got started). She also does guest appearances with other bands on a fairly regular basis. This is, however, one of her less common solo releases and leans more into a pop sound vs. the metal that is her usual. Nice song, though, and I wonder if this means we'll be hearing more solo work from Melissa.

Quote by Mendalla

Anyone else here remember this oldie but goodie? From the 2024 edition of Wacken Open Air, a premier festival for rock and metal, here's The Sweet with their one and only (at least on my side of the planet) hit.

The 2024 lineup is a far cry from the original four-piece band of the seventies when they had several hits in the UK.

Three of those original four passed away at a fairly young age. Here is their first UK No.1 hit, Blockbuster.

I wonder how they would have gone down at Wacken if they were still like that!

Globalization has even affected music. Here we have Mexican power trio The Warning teaming with Japanese rockers Band-Maid. Damn, this track rocks. The bands have been teasing it for what feels like weeks but the hype was justified.

Something with a bit of a personal connection. Norwegian folk ensemble Gate recorded a new video in Akershus Castle in Oslo where I just happen to have been when I was in Oslo after my cruise in June. Beautiful old castle well worth the visit. And the room where this was shot is especially gorgeous.

New Nightwish song, the second single from the upcoming album Yesterwynde, yesterday but so far no video to go with it and the audio seems to have vanished from YouTube as well now. Maybe the official video is coming soon? Anyhow, it is a very different song for them, even if elements of band songwriter Tuomas Holopainen's usual playbook are definitely there. Arguably, not even metal, with strong 80s-esque synth riffs and some other atypical elements. I have listened multiple times on Spotify and definitely like the piece, but it's seeming disappearance from YouTube (not for the first time) has me wondering what's up. I will add the video if/when it comes. Meanwhile, I will add a link to the track on Spotify for those who can hear it there.

https://open.spotify.com/track/20w340h37XvpPjiO591XCg?si=-aaIbGJiRAKmDBLXWsBt-Q

Down To This - Soul Coughing

Quote by Mendalla
so far no video to go with it and the audio seems to have vanished from YouTube as well now

Video is now announced for August 13 (this coming Tuesday) and the audio is back on YouTube.

Quote by Mendalla

Video is now announced for August 13 (this coming Tuesday) and the audio is back on YouTube.

And now the official video. Very well made and tied to the theme of the song. Lead singer Floor Jansen cracked a joke about needing some lotion for her dry skin.😋

Brittany Slayes (real surname is Hayes) is a power metal vocalist from Victoria, British Columbia. Her band Unleash the Archers dropped their sixth studio album earlier this year and are touring right now. Brittany herself has been getting some attention for a powerful performance she gave with the Dutch supergroup Ayreon last fall. She packs quite a set of pipes as can be heard in this performance of The Cranberries' Zombie from a few years back.

Johnny Flynn - Little Yellow Dress

Cello in metal is not new with Tina Guo. The Finnish trio Apocalyptica have been doing it for a long time. But the Chinese-American cellist really rocks in her show at Wacken Open Air this summer. She's not new to the festival, but I am not sure if she ever performed a set of her own before. Usually, she's been there as a featured artist with other bands. And get a load of that cello in the first one.

New album out yesterday that is almost doomed to make my year's best list. Vermillion is the debut solo album from Dutch metal mezzo Simone Simons, who has been the lead singer of the band Epica since its founding 20+ years ago. She collaborated with another amazing Dutch musician on this, guitarist/producer/songwriter Arjen Lucassen of Ayreon and Star One. The results are a true work of beauty.

The final single, which came out with the album, features another singer I adore, Montreal's Alissa White-Gluz. Alissa is best known as the lead singer of melodic death metal band Arch-Enemy for the past decade. While Alissa's voice isn't quite in the same operatic range as Simone's, she is a strong clean singer and also one of my favourite harsh vocalists (her main voice in Arch-Enemy) and both voices get a workout here.

Continuing with Simone's solo debut, she and Arjen made the brilliant decision to close the album with a gorgeous acoustic ballad, "Dark Night of the Soul". With Simone backed by piano and cello, it is a beautiful and perfect ending to the album.

And another Dutch singer draws near to releasing her third solo album. Charlotte Wessels put out another video from The Obsession this week. The album is up for pre-save on Spotify now, too, if that's your streamer of choice.

And from reviewing the track list, I see that Alissa White-Gluz appears on Charlotte's album as well. The two have collaborated several times both in studio and on stage so it's not really a surprise to see another collab.

A while back, YouTube music influencer Nahre Sol did an interview with Armenian pianist Tigran Hamasyan. And that got me interested in his work and more broadly in the modern jazz scene. Hamasyan is jazz-trained but uses jazz more as a base than his only influence. Nahre even discussed how metal, esp. the complex rhythms of bands like Meshuggah, is an influence on his work. Being Armenian and still residing in his homeland, the music of his culture is a huge influence and presence. His new album, Bird of a Thousand Voices, is a concept album drawing on Armenian folklore with a diverse set of musical themes and ideas. Jazz, prog, metal, electronic (eg. Vangelis and Kitaro), folk, and probably more that I am missing. Amazing work. This is from it.

Saw this band as the first opener for Dierks Bentley. Really top not notch

https://youtu.be/cOKHBwNPQKo