Music

Assiduous readers will have noticed your reviewer’s sudden obsession with Turkey. I work in bursts and after my interest in Greek pop-rock, I decided I should enter the world of Turkish rock. After falling in love (almost literally) with singers like Sevval Sam and Sezen Aksu - who possess truly unique voices - I decided to examine the world of rock n’ roll a little more closely... It was my greatest pleasure to discover a really great band: Duman.
Let us start with the beginning... What (…)

The first part of this review was dedicated to show DJ Shadow as a stand alone artist... This second part should reveal Shadow’s ability to collaborate with artists of his own genre, eg. Cut Chemist, as well as with seemingly musically distant artists such as Thom Yorke from Radiohead.
Drum roll... after waiting for more than a year for this review, here it is finally!
All right stop, Collaborate and listen "Shadow’s" back with his brand new edition! Collaboration... Even before surfing (…)

There are two kinds of pot smokers. In most cases, THC severely hinders your ability to focus and stay concentrated, which explains why so many pot smokers are social failures, even amongst themselves. THC can however have the reverse effect, provided that you are one of the chosen few who can appreciate this herbal substance as a sap for inspiration and creativity. You may still be a social failure as far as mundane conversations go, but that just gives you more time to spend on things (…)

Just so you know, bands don’t often make it to Oslo. Although this is the capital of Norway, I often have to wait for years before a band decides to swing by for a quick concert. This is exactly what happened with The Dillinger Escape Plan. And they finally came! My expectations where high to say the least. Anyone who has heard of this band will know that they have a reputation for their live perfomance... and I now know that they indeed are something special!
Let’s just say I was (…)

Where should I start endtroducing this shadowy yet bright creative composer ? Here in France who knows about my favorite DJ Savior except the underground circles of what they call "abstract hip-hop" ? Just a few fans of the Quannum crew or Sole Sides listeners... Well the man doesn’t want to be part of the mainstream anyway, but then who would ?
INTRODUCTION
The Shadow, aka Josh Davis, is prolific, avant-gardiste, savior of hip-hop... a genius and musik-art maker.
The man works with (…)

The Stereo Pictures project was started back in the late 1990s in France, by a newly created musical division of MK2 ( an ’independent’ film distributor). But at first glance, the idea of compiling movie and sound samples may sound rather cheap, a step further in a tendency for sound recycling and revival since the 1990s, and was first recieved rather sceptically.
Nevertheless, Jean-Yves Leloup, the project initiator, brought out and affirmed in the music scene a form of sampling and (…)

Sage Francis is launching into his own personal "Fuck Clear Channel tour", aimed against the huge american corporation and its manipulations. This gives us the long awaited opportunity to give praise to this genius of the underground hip-hop scene. When it comes to slam or spoken word, Sage Francis is a reference. But he has shown himself to be a great artist with the heart of a political animal...
He’s at it again... Sage Francis is simply an embarrassment as an American citizen. First, (…)

Both are from Britain, and at first glance that’s as close Radiohead and Asian Dub Foundation seem to get. But having already met a few years ago, Radiohead chose the Foundation as its supporting group to play in Paris on November 17th.
We came in a few minutes late, but as the Sounds crew hedged its way through the centre of the pit, Asian Dub Foundation had already started. Still, the group managed to bring in the crowd fairly quickly to their sound, and their calls for alternative (…)

Interview with Naho (Vocals, Flute) at The Sugar Water in Shibuya, Tokyo. Photos are from Ruby

I hope I don’t have to introduce Boog-ia to the French readers... If I do, it’s a scandal! I’ll overlook it for now but I want all of you to pay great attention to this extremely gifted band... Boog-ia have a mere two years of existence behind them but they sound like they’ve had a dozen. We managed to scrape some time of Winny’s (bass) heavy time-table to answer a couple of questions...
What is Boog-ïa ?I know that its noisy, that it doesn’t sound too friendly… Winny (bass): Well… (…)