Band of the Week: Mandala, Plurals, & more!

Well, would you look at that? I actually remembered Band of the Week for a change. Considered renaming it "Band of the indeterminate time period" but it just sounded silly... Anyhoos, onwards.

First up we have English instrumental duo Mandala. Scrummy proggy, metally brilliance. Seriously good. Here's new single Wind Secular:


Next up, more instrumental prog metal stuff! Woo! This time from Belgian project Plurals. Have a listen to the Inner Planets EP, which is currently a free download:


Then we'll have the new (ish) track from Aamir al-Loki because I only remembered it existed last week. New EP should be coming soon, so that's also pretty awesome.


Next, I think we'll have Harlequin Jones. Dark cabaret loveliness. Yum. Check out The Bad Beginning:


Finally, not really a band, but I just had to share because they're absolutely brilliant - the re-issue label Dust-to-Digital. They take old recordings, digitise them, then release them as CDs and I have found some most delicious stuff on their BandCamp. For the purposes of this post, let's have this, which is the first disc of an album of upright bass tracks:

Band of the Week: more random discoveries!

Not Bandcamp discoveries this week (well, maybe a couple), but hurray for random 'net treasures.

First up (and yes, I know I've mentioned her several times before, shush), the delightful Aamir al-Loki. Goth-electro-pop. Check out her video for Don't here:

Next up, Fairy Meds. Female fronted punk rock. Another random Bandcamp discovery.

(tis free download, by the way...)

And then... let's have letlive., who I've also mentioned a couple of times before in relation to their amazing live show. Progressive post-hardcore loveliness. Here's the latest video for Muther:

Next we'll have Cloudkicker, which is another Bandcamp discovery. Instrumental metal. Great for sticking on while working, I find. Let's have Discovery, since that's the album I actually have. There's loads of them though. The title track of this one is especially awesome.

(all of his albums are free downloads, if I remember rightly...)

How many's that? Four's not enough, surely?Ahh, I know what we can finish with. I rediscovered this piece of awesomeness last week and completely forgot to share. This is Pistol Youth's acoustic cover of Flo-Rida's Low. It's rather brilliant, as are Pistol Youth in general. Indie/alternative rock.

Off you pop.

Randomness: Christmas songs

Oh, yes, it's that time of the year, so I thought I'd share some Christmassy goodness.

First up, the best Christmas song ever. In my opinion, obviously. Fairytale Of New York by The Pogues and Kirsty McColl.

That's probably my favourite, but it's in close competition with this work of brilliance from Tim Minchin. Personally, I think this song pins down what Christmas actually means to a lot of people nowadays and it is a genuinely beautiful song.

What next? Let's go with I Believe In Father Christmas by Greg Lake and A Spaceman Came Travelling by Chris de Burgh.

I'd include some of my favourite carols in this post, but I'd struggle to find versions I actually like. I do, however, highly recommened checking out The Sussex Carol, a song I'm led to believe is less well known outside the UK. It's a lovely little song.

Instead, we'll finish with this just-released EP from the delightful Aamir al-Loki. Ahhh, re-imagined Christmas carols are always fun

Current Love: Your War by Aamir al-Loki

I love this lass, she's awesome. Not much to say really, other than that this is the latest scrumminess from the most wonderful Aamir al-Loki. Love love love.

Go show her some love. And then go and get your grubby mitts on her albums. I want the new one now, damnit - it has a title, Lyrics & Tyranny, but as yet no release date. No worries, I'll make do with what I've got until then.

Band Of The Week: super-mega-awesome feature... promise

Well, I didn't really feel like doing a proper Band Of The Week blog this week. So, instead, here's a few bands/artists I think everyone should check out.

Aamir al-Loki: Wonderfully odd self-described goth-pop. I'd put it closer to electronic rock, but goth-pop will do. Make sure to check out her new album Kill Your Demons. (Yes, I know I already wrote about her last week, but I'm just emphasising the point.)

Ahab: Funeral doom metal. I've never listened to doom metal in my life, but I'm pretty much in love with Ahab. Brilliantly atmospheric, plus their work's based on Moby Dick and whatnot. Someone on last.fm called it "whalecore". Made me smile.

The Damned Things: Pretty much straight up rock, with some melodic metal influences. Fall Out Boy + Anthrax + Every Time I Die evidently = a brilliant combination.

The Left Rights: Brainchild of Jimmy Urine and Steve, Righ? from Mindless Self Indulgence. Bizarre, crude, not all that imaginative, but good fun. Warning: may offend. No, seriously, may offend. I've seen the comments on some of their stuff.

Me And The Mountain: English, female-fronted rock. And if you dare compare them to Paramore I'm likely to kill you. Just because it's a female fronted rock band doesn't make it like Paramore. Besides, Me And The Mountain are shitloads better than Paramore. The debut EP Ruthless is due out at the beginning of February - should be on the iTunes store.

Get Scared: Post-hardcore type stuff. Or possibly rock with post-hardcore influences. Who needs this whole Black Veil Brides hype when you can have Get Scared and they're so much better?

The Blackout: More post-hardcore. Better live than on disc, so if you get the chance to see one of their gigs, take it. Although I warn you, it may mangle your knees. Check out their new track too - free download at the mo.

Last but not least, the wonderful Emilie Autumn, love of my life. Well, my musical life and she's a gorgeous woman too. Hey, a girl can dream. Ahem. Self-labelled "victoriandustrial", look out for the epic electric violin solos against industrial beats. On top of all that scrumminess is her voice. Eargasm, much. Seriously, go check her out. Hmm... maybe next week's band of the week can be for EA. Seeing as she's my favourite musician and all that and I don't babble about her enough. Mmm.

Anyways, go check them out, tell me what you think and pass it on.

Band of the Week: Aamir al-Loki

Well, Band of the Week has been rather MIA the last few weeks. My bad. But it's back now - happy times all round! This week we have the lovely Aamir al-Loki, a solo project by a lovely lass I bumped into online.

Aamir al-Loki is a self-described goth-pop musician. Personally, I think there's more of an electronic rock influence than pop, but I can see the gothic tendencies - subject matter, tone and overall feel. I first checked her out some time last year when I asked for suggestions of new music on deviantART.com. I can't say I was all that enthralled at the time, but then I did just skim through the tracks available without really properly listening. I was also slightly put off by the somewhat silly artist bio. Then last week I was asked by the artist if I'd write a review of her new album, Kill Your Demons. Well, I needed some music to review for the group I run on dA, so I figured I'd have a look. This time I listened properly (you kinda have to when you're reviewing) and I fell in love. I downloaded the album within a couple of minutes of hearing the 30 second preview snippets, stuck it on repeat all day and the next day pumped out a glowing review. Said review has now been tweaked because no one wants to read my gushing about how brilliant it is. It is brilliant though.

That done, I had to download the debut album, It's Easier In The Afterlife. That's now going through it's fifth rotation since I bought it yesterday afternoon. I'm as much in love with that as I am with the new album. Now, instead of gushing some more about her brilliance, I'm going to attempt to explain why Aamir al-Loki is worth spending your money on.

Firstly, she has a voice which I would personally rate as one of the best I've heard recently. It puts me in mind somewhat of Emilie Autumn (who just happens to be my favourite musician EVER) - beautifully ethereal in parts and yet capable of turning harsh within seconds. The music reflects this, with hard electronic beats powering the tracks along underneath sometimes exotic sounding instrumentation. This is why I'm more inclined to label it electronic rock than goth-pop. Or maybe electro-goth. Can you have electro-goth or have I just made that up? Whatever.

I also love that there's so many little influences showing up. There's an instrumental track on Kill Your Demons called How To (Properly) Utilize Your Newfound Immortality. My first thought on hearing it was "this sounds like it's come out of the 80's". It's a lovely little chunk of synth-pop. I should have expected it really - I know she loves Tubeway Army.

What else to say? I love her. She's awesome. Go download her music now - (Kill Your Demons) (It's Easier In The Afterlife). Or if you're of the CD buying kind (which I would be if I had a CD drive, grr), and you live in the US, you can buy a physical copy of Kill Your Demons here. Check it out, let me know what you think and pass it on.

Assorted Aamir al-Loki links:
Myspace
Ourstage
Youtube

Recommended tracks:
From It's Easier In The Afterlife: My God, Guillotine, Myopia, It's Easier In The Afterlife, Let's Start A Cult
From Kill Your Demons: How To (Properly) Utilize Your Newfound Immortality, John 3:16, Romans, Khuda ke Bacchey, Kill Your Demons