Pierre Masse's Situations

I recently discovered a talented young man by the name of Pierre Masse http://www.myspace.com/pierrotechnique. He’s originally from Canada but moved to France- the native land of his father. There he listened to his dad’s records and fell in love with French music. He has a band-The Final Year and also dabbles with electronic music under Pierre XI. He is now living in Canada for six years .
Pierre’s soul comes pouring in his solo project called Situations, his debut record sold independently, which you can also download at bandcamp. It’s stripped off acoustic based approach allows listener to get to the lyrics as well as his fresh voice as he sing about life, relationships, modern technology and how these things tend to alienate people instead of bringing them together. The simplicity of the tracks allows listener to remove the barriers that can distract them and really get into the core of each songs. It’s like having a friend who just dropped by sing you his songs. And yes, it’s like you know the person who sings these songs because there are no pretentions present in his recordings.
In the spirit of indie, his talent shines because he does everything himself. And he is passionate to get his message across. At an age when everyone likes to bum around, have an awful good time and just talk about mundane stuff, Pierre is beyond that all that. He looks at the bigger picture. His guitar playing is pristine and he has this humour that is infectious.

Why I love Lifehouse

Lifehouse is a kind of band that appeals mostly to girls. The songs are sensitive and the members have the kind of looks that any mom would not fear of losing their girl's virginity to. Well not literally . I remember one time during the early part of the decade. I was playing their first album. My friend Kenneth pointed out to me that they're like boy bands. I said no. But then he made me realize that a lot of grls were compairing Jason Wade to Alex Band of The Calling. And He's got a point.

Ten years later the band has a new album out called Smoke and Mirrors. Everything about it is beautiful. The songs are a combination of sad tunes and topics like falling in love and missing someone. This is something that any hard rock fan would not dig. These are sensitive stuff . And the guys are exuding positivity.
Yes they haven't been involved in any major controversy that hits any rock band. These guys are responsible and they just love writing and performing music. The same formula that made them stick around while their contemporares are all gone.

I am a sucker for sad atmospheric tunes. Songs driven by harmony and melody. Good songs that aren't really controversial. Just the kind of songs that will stick around fo a decade or two. So I dig Lifehouse too.

90s Flashback :Garbage

Let's just say I am one of those who fell for the wickedly adorable Shirley Manson. She 's a Scot and her dad's a Genetic Scientist who is one of those responsible for the cloned sheep Dolly. Garbage provided a perfect mood for my danger baiting years and love for dark aural matter.
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So aside from reading about serial killers and vampires, the lyrics of Shirley Manson provides a perfect backdrop for the decadent decade.She got into acting and started in The Terminator series (th Sarah Connor chronicles ..or something like that) but which I never got to watch because we have no cable TV.Tsk tsk tsk!

Mike Verde in ReverbNation

  I got to listen to all tracks of Mike Verde on ReverbNation and I like them. They have a bit of Sigur Ros feel on them and Aphex Twin. Mike creates tracks that are sonically clear and atmospheric. Makes one want to get back for more:
http://www.reverbnation.com/artist/artist_songs/112274#/mikeverde

Trippin' with Jack Kerouac

I am in the middle of this insanely beautiful book On the Road by Jack Kerouac. I wish I was born way back when beatniks were the hip crowd. I love the fact that the passages are very familiar and his prose are really honest to a point that they are sometimes shocking. All those revelations. I will never look at any grand daddy the same way again hahahahaha.

On the Road is about a friendship created by these outcast characters. Jack speaks to Sal, the main character. He has a friend Dean(Neal Cassady in real life) who switches between two women in one night. Talk about sex , drugs and rock n' roll here. The novel also boasts of jazz music and the likes or Miles Davies and Charlie Parker. Man, I had to dig out old recordings just to hear that mourful jazz music from the 50s. Carlo Marx in the novel is actually Allen Ginsberg.

I can't wait to finish this one so I can post up a formal review. You can also find great info in this link:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Road

Hmmmm..Mike Verde's Quirky Beats Color the Cyberspace

  I like chilled beats. I'm not much of a dancer but I love to dance on a chair ;) It's such a blessing when Chad  pointed my attention to this electronic artist from Vancouver Canada.

Summer Nights is a quirky track which sounds like something you'd hear out of a computer game. The punishing drum parts in the middle makes it something like artist Beck would do minus the vocals. All pure fun with no strings attached.

Riding my Bike at night is trippy and as the title says, a perfect cruising track.

Acid Tapes Cabin Acid-Trance on acid. A perfect R2D2 companion. My folks were curious with the sound emanating from my laptop as I am writing this review and listening to the music. It is a kind of music I can relate too. Not dark or heavy. Just pure goodness fun.

Check out
http://www.myspace.com/mikeverde

Canadian Chad Paquet making a promising music

  Chad Paquet is from Canada and he makes amazing music. He laces his ballads with comedy. But wait a second. He is a serious musician. His style is a combination of easy alternative,folk ,jazz and funk. And this guy can cook a mean cuisine. So, will there be new tracks or maybe a full EP coming from Chad? Only time will tell. Please check out his songs on myspace:(on the pic Chad and sister Emily)


http://www.myspace.com/chadpaquet

Royal Wood

Wow I haven't got such a treat since Ben Folds Five . Royal Wood makes a kind of music that is suited for heartbreaks or for simply lying down on the coach on a lazy afternoon. I love his piano playing and a voice that might have come from black and white films. If you are in the mood, you might want to check Royal Wood out.

http://www.myspace.com/royalwood

Sade is Back with Weapons of Mass Hypnosis

I am looking forward to getting Sade's new album Soldier of Love. I am not much of a soul music fan because I was brought up to a different kind of musical culture. I personally ban all rap and hip hop music at home. But then again there is something about Sade's music that speaks to me. Perhaps it is her innate sense of elegance and propensity for writing about pain that really get to me. Her voice s not something that you would really call 'showcase vocals' because it is laid back . But after hearing too many Celine Dions and Mariah Carey, this is a breath of fresh air!

Sade is still in top form and to think this lady is already 51! She is still backed witht he same musicians since she launched her first highly successful album Diamond Life in 1984. After waiting for 10 years(Her last album was Lovers Rock) this is a great news .

ZADE, renowned Jordanian composer and pianist, presents "a message of peace to the world" with new CD‏

I received an email from a reader regarding a unique musician. I think it would be marvelous to highlight such talent here:




Hi,






Renowned Jordanian composer and pianist, ZADE has joined with 100 musicians from 40 nations to present “a message of peace to the world” in ZADE – One Night In Jordan: A Concert for Peace out on CD February 9th and to be released on DVD on March 9th.






ZADE’S cinematic music blending East and West draws inspiration from the anthems of the great film composers, his homeland’s natural beauty and the efforts of His Majesty the late King Hussein of Jordan to make peace in the Middle East.


The epic music event features musicians from around the world including; London’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Voices Choir, virtuoso violinists Karen Briggs (Soul II Soul, Wynton Marsalis) and Grammy winner Charlie Bisharat (Elton John, Black-Eyed Peas), Ramon Stagnaro on Spanish guitar (Josh Groban, Shakira) and world music woodwind maestro Pedro Eustache (Paul McCartney and Don Henley) all performing ZADE’S uplifting compositions at one of the world’s largest remaining Roman Amphitheatres, built nearly 2,000 years ago.






I have advance copies of One Night In Jordan: A Concert for Peace for review. Below is a link to additional assets. Please let me know if you are interested in featuring ZADE.






Download (cover art, photos, bio and press release):


http://www.specialopsmedia.com/assets/Zade/Assets.zip






One Night In Jordan: A Concert for Peace Preorder Link:


http://zade.shop.musictoday.com/Dept.aspx?cp=29054_29206






Zade’s official site:


http://www.zade.com


FaceBook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/ZADE/189051320768?ref=ts


MySpace:


http://www.myspace.com/zade_zdrecords
iLike:


http://www.ilike.com/artist/Zade










ZADE - One Night in Jordan: A Concert for Peace


Epic Music Event featuring Musicians from Around the World Performing in The Name of Peace at Historic Roman Amphitheatre to air on PBS in 2010.






Concert CD from ZD Records, Distributedby EMI,


to be released in the US on February 9th, 2010, followed by the DVD release.






LOS ANGELES – Named by the Washington Post as a "gorgeous pianist/composer/hunk," and recognized by The Washington Times as "Jordan’s leading Cultural Ambassador (who) dedicates his music to building bridges of peace and tolerance," the young Jordanian composer and pianist ZADE makes his television performance debut joined by one hundred musicians from 40 nations to present “a message of peace to the world” in ZADE – One Night In Jordan: A Concert for Peace airing as a PBS special in 2010. The CD and the DVD of the concert will be released in the US on February 9th, 2010, followed by an international tour by ZADE in Spring, 2010.


The composer’s epic cinematic music blending East and West draws inspiration from the anthems of the great film composers, his homeland’s natural beauty and the efforts of His Majesty the late King Hussein of Jordan to make peace in the Middle East. Recently, ZADE and some of the world’s finest musicians – including London’s renowned Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Voices Choir, virtuoso violinists Karen Briggs (Soul II Soul, Wynton Marsalis) and Grammy winner Charlie Bisharat (Elton John, Black-Eyed Peas), Ramon Stagnaro on Spanish guitar (Josh Groban, Shakira) and world music woodwind maestro Pedro Eustache (Paul McCartney and Don Henley) traveled to Jordan to present an uplifting and majestic musical journey of ZADE’S compositions at one of the world’s largest remaining Roman Amphitheatres in the world, built nearly 2,000 years ago.


This monumental concert television event was filmed in HD, under the patronage of Her Royal Highness Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein and dedicated in loving memory of His Majesty the late King Hussein of Jordan. It was one of the biggest, if not the biggest, ever concert staged in Jordan.


Following the live concert, ZADE was flooded with emails from Jordanian fans urging him to “tell the world that we want peace,” while thanking him for “giving us back the hope we have sometimes lost.”


While The Los Angeles Times noted that for ZADE, “making music and advocating world peace go hand in hand,” People Magazine lauded ZADE as a piano prodigy. No stranger to U.S. audiences, ZADE’s previous albums have spent months on the U.S. Billboard charts – beginning in 2003 with his self-titled debut – and his wild popularity in Jordan helped his albums reach No. 1 on the Jordanian Album Charts.


Music featured on ZADE – One Night in Jordan: A Concert For Peace includes original compositions that ZADE composed and produced ranging from his signature epic “Kingdom of Peace,” to the Latin inspired “Tango,” the energetic “Amman,” and the reflective “Santiago’s Dream,” inspired by the book “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho.


America’s love affair with ZADE began in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Feeling that “terrorists have hijacked my religion,” ZADE began a humble grassroots effort to create a better understanding of his culture in the West by performing house concerts across America. Playing in people’s living rooms, churches, temples, schools, and hospitals, he toured non-stop from 2001 till 2005, performing an average of 200 nights a year and earning praise for his efforts to combat world polarization. These earnest community concerts for peace catapulted the artist onto the world stage, ZADE has performed before Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama, First Lady Laura Bush, and their Majesties Jordan’s King Abdullah and Queen Rania.


In 2005, ZADE established the ZADE Foundation for International Peace and Understanding, a U.S. non-profit organization helping musicians expand their role to become proactive peace builders and future community leaders. Under the patronage of Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan, and with support from Berklee College of Music and Seeds of Peace, ZADE toured with musicians from around the world. Not only did the concerts feature artists from war-torn regions working together through music, but each stop of the tour included different cultural workshops in which band members were able to talk about their experiences growing up in their respective countries. The performances and workshops had a positive affect: a performance at a Washington, DC area synagogue prompted a new dialogue between the Muslim and Jewish communities in the area, the tour helped launch The Boniuk Center for Religious Tolerance at Rice University, as well as the creation of The Peace Song Initiative in Detroit, MI.


ZADE studied Western and Middle Eastern music composition and piano


performance at Noor Al Hussein’s National Music Conservatory in Amman, Jordan and later continued his studies at the Berklee College of Music in Boston.






ZADE – One Night in Jordan: A Concert for Peace features band members including John Robinson (Drums), Walter Rodriguez (Latin Percussion), Frank Crawford (Keyboards), Michael Thompson (Electric Guitar), John Peña (Bass Guitar), Gary Innes (Accordion), Lilit Khojayan (Qanoon), and Nasser Salameh (Middle Eastern percussion).


Executive Producers are Danny O’Donovan and Gustavo Sagastume; Producer: Danny O’Donovan; Associate Producer: Betsey Kamel; Director: Steve Purcell. A presentation of WLIW21 in association with WNET.ORG.

Cheers!


Becky


Well, I hope this one will bring our readers new musical discovery worth hearing and talking about .