Terence Blanchard FLOW. Blue Note
In recent years we have featured a couple modern jazz releases in our top ten albums of the year. At Shakenstir we view music as a language with many dialects and hence our propensity to include jazz with rock, folk, dance, world, pop, etc., etc… In 2005 at least one jazz album will find its way into the top echelon of releases, and it’s this one. And it could even top the list…
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Download Festival 2005 Day 3
Boy did I sleep! And it was just as well since there were many bands I wanted to cover today including the fabulous System Of A Down. There was also a certain little event happening on the main stage early in the piece, but more about that later.
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Download Festival 2005 Day 2
On a night in a tiny tent anchored on rock-hard ground; being strafed by low-flying passenger jets; and kept company by narcoleptic fellow campers, sleep was impossible. But day two performance prospects were great and especially in the heavy metal department.
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Download Festival 2005 Day 1
Donington Park 10/11/12 June 2005
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Coldplay X&Y. EMI
When I heard the first single cut from Coldplay’s new and rather belated third album, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. It was so mediocre I wondered whether it would have even made it into the band’s first album. But then it probably would have done as it is exactly what the record company doctor ordered; ‘make it light, radio-friendly, inoffensive and hook-laden.’ And while I was thinking that the single was poor, everybody else seems to be praising it to high hell… So what the hell is happening here? Perhaps I’m wrong? I do like Coldplay and sang Yellow to death for ages after it was released. The album didn’t impress, but the second album and a good live festival performance convinced me that this was a band a cut above the ordinary. Am I biased? I don’t think so. One of my favourite bands is Radiohead but I still found it in my heart to heavily criticise the last album, although it did glisten with the band’s irrepressible taste for adventure. This morning I received Coldplay’s full new album and after a couple of spins wondered whether Martin’s honourable and outspoken stand on Fair Trade for Third World countries had been overlooked when it came to his fans…
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Ryan Adams & The Cardinals COLD ROSES. Lost Highway
The prolific recording career of singer/songwriter Ryan Adams continues with this double album. And it finds Adams performing what he knows best; songs that revolve around his own experiences of tortured love and life. There’s also a stronger country rock vibe in an album that comes close to bettering his original debut release, the classic HEARTBREAKER.
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Jose Gonzalez VENEER. Agencia
I was handed this CD with a ‘Give this a twirl’ from my son. A quick search on the Internet revealed that Gonzalez is twenty-six years of age, has Argentinean parents and was brought up in Sweden. The sparse album sleeve notes revealed that VENEER was actually released over two years ago, and immediately I thought of Damien Rice and David Gray whose albums also took some time to embed themselves into the UK market. VENEER is the equal to both those major-selling albums, and is very beautiful.
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