Vama Veche recently released a new song, called “La Radio“. In my view, it fits perfectly with their efforts of staying in the spotlight, even though they are mostly producing commercial songs and trying to be again something they used to be quite a long time ago. It is not working, guys !

The “La Radio” song has quite no meaning whatsoever, except for repeating the same theme of “we are all products of the society around us and we live our lifes in clichees”. Ok, you said this on 3 or 4 albums so far, is it really meaningfull to repeat it once more?

What is even worse is that some people are so thrilled of this song they start screaming it all around – like a couple of drunk guys did at Club D’Or few days ago. Bleah !

If you want to be convinced – or if you just want to get “To The Radio” – here is the video.

Since some days ago, Google opened a new project, called Google Music Trends – based on the anonymus data from Google Talk they are able to say which are the top most listened / preffered songs worldwide. If this will continue, it is going to cover a much bigger range of users which other music charts are not covering, but this depends mostly on the number of users taken into account.

Until now, there are different figures regarding the total number of users of GTalk. Some say it’s 866.000 [link], others mention a figure as high as 7.126.000 users [link]. Due to the fact Google Talk can also be used directly from the browser, with the Gmail window open and does not require a special install, it might be hard to find out the real number, but I believe it is a pretty high one.

Recently, almost every time I look at the new things released by Google, I tend to belive that the “20% time for own projects” culture thing is really working and a lot of products are being developed in that fashion.

Finally, after some years since the last real vacation, I managed to decide to leave for some days. Of course, all the plans for this vacation have ben changed and changed and finally it seems I will be in some quiet and peacefull seaside retreat.

The plans for these 8 days or so are quite impressive: 4 books and dozens of business articles to read, about 2 Gb of music to review and some business plans to put in order and analyse thoroughly. Hope I will manage to do most of them while also getting some rest and relaxation.

And as all these activities require some nice music in the background, the playlist for this time is impressive. Here are some of the tracks which will keep me company through the days:

[mp3] Bob Dylan – Hurricane – One of the most powerful of Dylan’s protest songs, released in 1976 and inspired by the story of Rubin Carter and his trial.

[mp3] David Gilmour – On An Island – One of the most relaxing songs ever, this is meant to give me that state of bliss an island should inspire.

[mp3] Dido – Sand In My Shoes – Well, sand is for sure to be found there, so this track goes along pretty well. One of Dido’s best tracks, in my opinion.

[wma] Eliades Ochoa – Chan Chan – My favourite Buena Vista Social Club song. It is one of Compay’s last songs he composed and became an instand success after being released in 1987. Like this songs inspires, sifting sand on the beach is probably going to be one of the daily activities :)

[mp3] Erin Bode – Graceland – Along with David Gilmour’s On an Island, is one of the most relaxing songs, as I mentioned previously on this blog.

[wma] Gotan Project – Una Musica Brutal – this song has remained in my mind since hearing it the first time at 6 AM on a beach, with an incredibly strong coffee in my hand.

[mp3] Johnny Cash – Father and Son – Johnny Cash is one of my favourite artists and his music was a great partner some years ago, in the same resort. Therefore, he could not fail the playlist.

[mp3] Lynyrd Skynyrd – Free Bird – Combining both an excellent guitar (I am a sucker for guitar, in general) and a great melody, this is one of the songs I would recommend to Andrei when discussing guitarists and their performance. Probably Van Halen’s Erruption and Pink Floyd’s Confortably Numb are going to come along, too.

[mp3] Sergio Mendez – Mas Que Nada – A recent addition, provides a great feeling of the Samba spirit. And Brazil is marked as a “not to miss” destination for the future years.

[mp3] The Cult – Painted on my Heart – I just like this song a lot, so he makes the playlist.

Well, this is about it. Some 24 hours till departure left, so let the music play.

Downloads above are just for sampling purposes, respect copyright and go buy the album, do not distribute.

The Observer published a very nice collection of photographs put into a slide show with audio explaining the meaning of music to New Orleans natives and how musicians are still trying to keep the city’s cultural heart beating.

The slideshow was made after the floods in New Orleans and is showing the passion people find in music even in harsh conditions. Excellent.

New Orleans has always been an important music center, specially for Jazz, Funk music and Rap. Artists like Louis Armstrong and Phil Anselmo (Pantera) are some of the artists with a deep influence in music comming from New Orleans.

find the whole article and slideshow here

It seems it is the comeback’s year – after recent news on Pink Floyd reuniting, Depeche Mode touring again, Tom Waits releasing a new record, same for Bob Dylan and more, I was also reading today that Iron Maiden is planning to release a new record in September. To be entitled ” A Matter of Life and Death”.

They just announced their tour dates in Europe and Japan and they sold out almost everywhere…not this is something !

[via music.com]

As artists reach a great longevity in music, their latest releases are becoming more and more not only new works, but remakes of their old tracks or just new songs they found somewhere in the drawer.

Likewise, Tom Waits is to release a new album, a 3-CDs one with over 60 tracks, some of them being old songs which did not find a place on a record so far, others being songs from films and compilations. As the name of the album says it – “Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers and Bastards” – they are songs which were never put together in a proper manner so far.

Still, this does not diminish the value of the set, which I am sure can be marked as a classic in Tom Waits’ discography of over 27 albums so far.

And, speaking of clasic Tom Waits works, here is one of them to download: Tom Waits – Jockey Full of Bourbon.

Via “I Guess I’m Floating” I just came across the news that Bob Dylan will release a new album, called “Modern Times“. And some special bonuses are in for the ones who pre-order it via iTunes, like four videos and a digital booklet.

Nice, looking forward to it ! The full album is to be released in late August.

Digging a little deeper, here is the tracklist:

When I first listened to it, it took me back almost 10 years ago, to the high-shool years of rock (and roll). Giving the same feeling as the old heavy / speed metal bands like Metallica (first albums), Slayer, Motorhead and others were inspiring back then, the “Christ Illusion” album is one of the best Slayer produced in years.

The lyrics are also in the fashion of their most popular themes – religion, war and violence. Probably the album will not top their best so far, like Reign in Blood for example, but it is a remarkable album nonetheless, specially considering the longevity of the band – and Tom Araya still has that awesome screaming in his voice :)

As time has passed, I am sure I am not listening to Slayer the same way I used to, but hearing them play like in the early years certainly gives a nice impression and brings back some good memories.

The full album can be listened to (but not downloaded) on MySpace/Slayer. Also, here is a live performance of The Cult.

After playing all across Europe – including Romania - on their “Touring the Angel“, Depeche Mode want to keep their fans on that high mood and are planning to release a DVD with their Live in Milan performance.

The release date is announced as September 26 and the first trailer can be seen here.

There are about 30 tracks on the DVD, plus some additional ones on the CD comming in the package. Also, a 20 minutes documentary and press kits will be on the discs.

I mentioned in an earlier post how sometimes a song just sticks into your memory relating with a particular place, moment, person or feeling you experienced when first hearing it. It happened several times until now and I still have songs remained like post-its attached to moments far away in time.

Likewise, this weekend’s song has to be The Roots – The Seed 2.0, which I listen to few times just before leaving Vama Veche and just before a beautiful road-trip through Dobrogea. The song just has that kind of rhythm which makes you dance on a deserted beach, holding a bottle of rum :)

The video is here and the song to download here. Also, a lot of other live songs from the Roots available on www.therootslive.com.