| CD REVIEW TSM/ SLW Promotions special May 2011, part two: Hion Martell – Bill Lubera – M.I.C. - Neil Zaza |
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TSM/ SLW Promotions special May 2011, part two: Hion Martell – Bill Lubera – M.I.C. - Neil Zaza As promised at the end of part one, part two follows right swiftly, eh? Here it is, so enjoy your reading! ----------------------------------------------------- Although to many of us the Ljusdal (Gävlesborg Iän) based Swedish band Hion Martell (read as “high on Martell” - and yes, the band is named after the classy brand of cognac) may be a new name in the music scene, the band has been around (in different incarnations) since 1992, and already issued 7 releases to date. However, this is their first album for a real label, and the band itself seems to look on it as its first proper release! It all started with the JJ Cale, Rolling Stones and Lynyrd Skynyrd influenced lead singer/ guitarist Christer Nilsson inviting a couple of friends over to record a few tracks. In 1993 guitarist/ lead singer Ulf Hagberg became a permanent member of the band, in time to be featured on the band's 1993 debut album ...For Your Exquisite Delight. I've no idea why, but it took until 1999 for the band to return with sophomore album Hit Ambition At The Canadian Club. I understand that during those years a number of people played in the band (check the band's website (www.) hionmartell.com for some details), and Christer's brother and current drummer/ backing vocalist Hakan has banged the tambourine, beat the drums, and played bass on several of the band's releases. Also, the band's sound on their recordings was very raw and lo-fi. Some tracks were recorded live, others on a 4-track tape recorder, and a couple even in a low-budget demo studio. With the arrival of 2000's album Top Of The Vision also entered permanent bassist Stefan Larsson, and by the time of 2002's Peace! a total of 4 full-time female backing singers (an important part of the band's sound) had joined the line-up. Two of those had regrettably left by the time the album was actually released. Next up the band started writing their 2005 concept album Music From The Swing Dynasty – Iron Motel By Hion Martell, made available only as internet download. The 4-track 2006 CD Water contained re-recorded versions of 4 tracks off the Iron Motel set. In 2009 came the last line-up change for the band when keyboardist Peter Süback (who'd been with the band for ears as a photographer) became the band's keyboardist and Hakan switched from percussion to full-fledged drummer again. It's in that line-up (apparently again without permanent female backing singers, although the ladies still are important in the band's overall sound) that the band wrote and recorded their latest album. Well, the opening of the previous paragraph really revealed everything about the band's musical orientation: strongly rooted in the music of the early '70s, the band play a kind of Bluesey (Hard) Rock with a nice underlaying “complexity” and the added advantage of having one of the singers resembling Cale somewhat in the calmer tracks. To hear some music (2 songs off the current album, one off Water) and a video (off the new album's track “(Don't Cry) Mary Anne”) by Hion Martell, surf to (www.) myspace.com/hionmartell to discover a band capable of entertaining a night's dancing and fun-making all on its own. 85/100 ----------------------------------------------------- Having started to play his instrument at the age of 5, Bartlett (Illinois) based guitarist Bill Lubera is a longtime student of George Bellas, and a virtuoso in his own right! During the '80s Lubera was the lead guitarist for successful Chicago based act Jinx, and during the '90s he displayed his guitar skills with the band RipChord. He's a prolific songwriter with a publishing company of his own, and has written material for other artists: in the '80s his song “1,000 Years” was featured on Cincinnati (Ohio) based band Prizoner's debut album Young And Rejected. He also guested on Michael Riser's album Rise. Since hooking up with Bellas in 2002, Lubera has devoted all his time to learning advanced guitar and compositional concepts. Eventually, it became unavoidable that he would express these new skill on a multi-layered instrumental solo album, using the latest technology of sampler instruments and Logic Pro Tools to program all sounds besides the guitars, creating 10 tracks around weather events (as suggested by the track's titles, with the exception of the album closing shortie “Silver Lining”). Helping out in the programming (and also mixing and mastering the album) was Lubera's tutor, George Bellas. Stylistically, Lubera's music on this album can be categorized as melodic Progressive and Neo-Classical/ progressive Rock compositions with complex time and modal changes, soaring lead solos, and dramatic interludes having to do with the catastrophic weather event the track is titled after. Exceptional tracks are the Baroque-styled (harpsichord piano) “Earthquake” and the lengthy (just over 9 minutes in length) “Tornado” (due to it's being the only track with vocal samples in it as well)...but really each and every track on the album is exceptional in its own right. Whether it's because of some wacky time signature break, the nicely interwoven layers, a great “keyboard” passage, or the sometimes neck-breaking speedy solos...each and every track gets the listener's immediate attention, and one is compelled to continue listening until the end of the album. Those fortunate enough to have thought of pushing the “continuous play” button at the beginning of a listening session, will probably take a short breather when the first track is begun again...allowing for further analysis of the album's melodic complexity. To get an idea of what the album's like, Lubera put 30-second samples of 6 of the tracks (as well as two full-length “videos”) in the “Music” section of his own website (www.) billlubera.com, and if you're looking for somewhat longer samples of those same tracks, check what's posted at (www.) myspace.com/billlubera. If you're into instrumental guitar music, you'll know from listening to these samples that Global Warning is an album you'll want to have in your collection...or at least that's how I personally feel about this. Great stuff, worthy of a year-list nomination (should settle quite comfortably in the Top 10 or Top 5 of the “Instrumental Music” section!). 98/100 ----------------------------------------------------- Canadian born guitarist/ lead singer Yvan Serre works this band from China...in fact M.I.C. enjoys a very nice degree of popularity in that country. Following the late 2008 self-titled debut (which was apparently still a try-out stylistically, in spite of the fact that the band had already been around since 2004) came January 2010's Out 2 Rock, which saw Serre going for a more unified (Hard) Rock sound (reviews of both albums plus history of the band can be found in the TSM/ SLW specials posted 03/12/2009 and 30/03/2010 respectively). Both the albums have generated considerable airplay across Europe, and the Sept/ Oct 2010 issue of Germany's Heavy Magazine even honored M.I.C. With a full-page interview. On the live (Chinese) front, the band has more recently opened shows for several renowned Chinese Pop stars, including Wang Feng, An Youqi & Xian Zion on live TV broadcasts. With its third album Serre confirms the stylistic direction chosen with the sophomore album with 12 new songs. I still don't think he'll ever win any singing contests (he has a medium high-pitched nasality when singing alone), but at least M.I.C. is now becoming a recognizable unit. Well, it seems funny to say that, because each album sees the man recording with a different line-up, so maybe I should've emphasized on the music becoming recognizable with the M.I.C. monicker...and I can sure understand how this band could liven up many a party they play at! One thing has to be said: Serre's guitar solos and lead play is getting more interesting over the years as well. On drums and keyboards there's now the newbees Tommy Burke and Dave Smith respectably, and on the bass there's Uchida “Yugi” Yuuji, whom already was a guest musician on the band's debut album (playing on two songs). Also back is Angela Renzetti, providing duet vocals with Serre on the song “I'll Be Back”. The debut album had a song with Chinese lyrics, something which is done again (well, half English too) with the song “I Want To Live” (co-written by Serre and one Zhijuan Luo). As per usual, the new album has a couple of guest musicians with one Guang er taking over the keyboards on the track “I'll Be Back” and one Scarlet Rose playing violin on “Barbie Lady”...and somewhere along the line one of the guys also frequently provides backing vocals. To get a whiff of the new (and old) material, all you need to do is check the songs posted at (www.) myspace.com/madeinchine. You'll have to agree this is Party Rock of a certain kind. Love it or leave it! Me, I like 3rd Degree even better than the sophomore album. I dó hope Serre has now found his definite line-up! 84/100 ----------------------------------------------------- Darn, Neil Zaza, that takes me back awhile...almost to my beginning days with this website, but that's so long ago that we cannot find the review on the internet anymore (due to a late 2004 computer crash we suffered at the Concrete Web headquarters)...so how about some history lesson? As mentioned in the opening of the page dedicated on him at Wikipedia, “Neil Zaza is a melodic instrumental guitarist who has become well known for his technical accuracy and adaptation of classical works by Bach and Mozart into his own blend of Neo-Classical, melodic guitar instrumentals.” He started playing guitar at the age of 10, but it wasn't until 1987 that he started the band Zaza, which released two albums (1989's Just Get It and 1991's Party With It) and toured the US before folding. After two solo albums (1992's Two Hands One Heart and 1993's Thrills & Chills) Zaza was a guest guitarist with The Hartford Symphony Orchestra, and his last album in the '90s would be the 1996 album Sing,which catapulted the guitarist into instrumental super-stardom thanks to the monster hit I'm Alright” (it apparently remains one of the most popular and challenging tunes for guitarists to learn, continuing to influence new players to date...there's even ring-tones and Dance mix versions of the tune in Asia). It took Zaza no less than 5 years (well, in 1998 he díd release the live album Snap, Crackle & Pop...Live) to return with 2001's Staring At The Sun (the album I reviewed back when...), and after that he started an annual concert at Cleveland's Palace Theater called One Silent Night, during which he brings his own versions of popular Christmas songs backed by the 60-piece Cleveland Rock Orchestra. 2002 saw the release of the albums One Silent Night... Volume 1 and Volume 2.A new album under that monicker, entitled Neil Zaza's One Silent Night...A Night At The Palace, was released in 2007...but that wasn't before the release of 2004's studio album Melodica, 2005's compilation album Rewind: The Definitive Collection, and 2006's studio album When Gravity Fails. Over the year, Zaza has shared stages with the likes of Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Dweezil Zappa, Steve and Mike Porcaro (Toto), Yngwie Malmsteen, Vinnie Moore, and countless other renowned guitarists. Artists such as Dweezil Zappa, Eric Carmen, Michael Stanley, Mistheria and JRZ System have invited Zaza to display some of his guitar play on an album of theirs, and he also contributed tracks to several tribute albums (check the Wikipedia page for more details). In 2004 Zaza founded his own label Melodik Records, and over the years he's regularly been approached by guitar manufacturers for endorsements on signature guitars, which became popular among guitar players the moment they were put on the market. Zaza is also frequently invited to play clinics around the world. His latest tour-the-force was leading more than 5,000 guitarists at the 9th annual Thanks Jimi festival in Wroclaw on April 29, 2011...in an attempt to set a Guinness World record for the Largest Guitar Ensemble (a video for that attempt can be seen at (www.) neilzaza.com. But...before that, there's Zaza's new album, titled after the number 212 which has been popping up in his life quite a lot. With one Garrett Janos playing all drums (except on 2 tracks which were done by one fabio Colello), Zaza took care of all guitars (including bass and mandolin), and keyboards when not letting someone do a guest performance (thus one Todd Rogers can be found playing the whole album's Hammond B3 organ necessities, and some piano; one Timothy M. Bradford plays piano one one track, and one Walter Cerasini plays the bass on 4 tracks). Besides 9 original instrumentals, Zaza also recorded down-right fierce instrumental covers of The Police's “Message In A Bottle” and A-ha's “Take On Me”, available only on the physical CD. To listen to 1-minute (or something more) of the 9 original tracks, check the separate music player at (www.) myspace.com. For additional material off older albums, use the normal music player. Me, I was already converted the first time I came across this great guitarist, and being quite fond of instrumental guitar music anyway, I cannot go any other way that with top rating and a nomination of 212 into the year-lists! 98/100 ------------------------------------------------------ Tony. |
