OBSCURELAND

So Archspire released another single yesterday. Well, I had no intention to review it as I am in a hectic schedule now but seriously guys, this one wrote itself out.
OMG! It is straight up amazing. A lot of us have been anticipating their new record but this song!!! I mean where to start?
First off, songwriting is still absolutely brilliant, with every second of it madly technical and most of it on mind-melting speed. I say most .. but that’s the beauty of it. But let me come back to that in a sec.

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MOR VE ÖTESI – SİRENLER

Bana göre müzik, sanatsal ifade araçlarının içinde en saf ve en güçlü olanı.

Bir duygunun, bir sanat eseri aracılığıyla ve fakat yaratıcı süreç tarafından seyreltilmeden, içtenlikle karşı tarafa geçirilmesi başka türlü özel bir sanatçı gerektirir.

Herhangi bir grup “sürekli övgü”yü hak ediyorsa, bu Mor ve Ötesi olabilir

Mor ve Ötesi müzik teorisinde bilinen tüm doğruları yapıyor ise şaşırmam! Ancak onları farklı yapan şey, aniden (çoğunlukla vokalle) gelen, formu en estetik haliyle bozan, süper artizan ve uyumsuz hissettiren minik aykırılıklar; kusursuz gitar, bas, davul ve vokal kombinasyonu ile yıllardır oluşturdukları ayırt edici temel sound’larının üstüne her seferinde koymayı başardıkları, bu kendileri minik, etkileri büyük yaratıcı bölümler.

Bu işte teoriyle falan olacak iş değil. Yüzyıllardır müzik teorisyenlerinin kitaba, notaya, metoda, yazıya, yönteme döktüğü şeyleri Harun Tekin’in DNA’sına kazınmış olarak bulmuş olmasından şüpheleniyorum. Sanatçının kendine has sesi ve benzersiz yorumu, görünmez bir kancayı ruhumuzun çok derin bir yerlerine takıyor.

Devamını okuyun

I thought I could keep it cool until I see Katatonia next week but no, I am losing my mind.. I am super excited to see them again (thanks to Vera Music Productions) and I can’t stop fantasizing about hearing some of my favourite songs live. To keep my sanity, I decided to create my own dream setlist.
But before we get there, let me briefly explain why I am madly in love with this band..
Well to start with, they are a very confident and adventurous band who is brave enough to go after some unorthodox melodies, to incorporate new ideas into their established sound, and not afraid to reinvent themselves over and over again.
Although they seemingly follow a verse-chorus song structure, nothing is predictable in their music. They incorporate ever-shifting dynamics and interesting musical ideas. They never let anything get monotonous-sounding but rather are exceptionally innovative in their creations.
It’s also amazing that despite all the crazy dynamics and subtle twists and turns, not even one section feels out of place or gets incohesive.
I think no one would dare put them in one genre as they have flirted with lots different styles and genres over the years but the one thing that never changed was the sheer quality of the writing…. and the undeniable complexity of their music.
As you might have figured I don’t have enough good things to say about them, Katatonia is unique as a band and I don’t see any peers or obvious comparisons in the scene.

Let’s face it: we have so many choices today.. and we have only so much time.. So I choose.. I find it hard to stick to a band unless they incorporate some special influence or element into their sound that sets them apart from the rest of the pack. And Katatonia does exactly that.

OZAN ERKAL RöPORTAJI

Ankara’nın değerli müzisyeni Ozan Erkal’ın üçüncü teklisini yayımlamasıyla dayanamadım, hemen kendisine birkaç soru gönderdim. Doğrusu müzisyenin kalemi de çok güçlüymüş, ortaya oldukça keyifli bir söyleşi çıktı.

We are talking about some unmatchable talents here. Read the full article.

Lady’s interview with Daniel Tompkins and James Monteith of Tesseract.

SHINEBACK – RISE UP FORGOTTEN, RETURN DESTROYED

Today I’m with you with Shineback, the solo project by the brilliant Simon Godfrey of Tinyfish.

First off, a gentle warning…

This one will be a long *cough* fangirly *cough* review, although I don’t plan to do my usual track-by-tracks. If you’re a busy bee and you find this scary-long so much so that you are considering not reading it, reconsider as I came up with a silly yet practical solution; I will italicise my own buggery so you can skip and go to the serious shit right away… Cool huh? We’re all happy!

Obviously, if you prefer to go for a compact review, that’s fine as well – this one is more of a ‘thank you letter’ to a musician for giving me one of my favourite albums… Speaking of which, I honestly think an art form of this kind should be called something else – a mere “album” is not doing justice to the mastery at display here with the intricate story, beautiful lyrics and perfectly flowing music.

You know those works; if you go through all the material on the website and the CD it becomes a completely different experience than listening to an album. I am overwhelmed by the amount of effort went into this phenomenal work. Read the full article.

RIVERSIDE – WASTELAND by AndrewBennett

“What do you have left when you’ve lost everything?”

Self-answering question it may seem, Wasteland acquires its gut-wrenching emotional power by asking one primary question of its listener. Its title is as haunting as its stark, bleak and empty soundscape, the fluid guitars of Piotr Grudziński more conspicuous than ever due to their lamentable absence ever since his sudden death of cardiac arrest at 40 in February 2016. If emptiness truly exists, it is personified by the sound of Wasteland.

“What do you have left when you’ve lost everything?”