The album of 2008 “Pro-tools” by GZA

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Pencil featuring Masta killa and the RZA

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Paper plate (50 cent diss)

Album review – Morcheeba ‘Dive Deep’

1. Enjoy The Ride – Morcheeba & Judie Tzuke

2. Riverbed – Morcheeba & Thomas Dybdahl

3. Thumbnails

4. Run Honey Run

5. Gained The World

6. One Love Karma – Morcheeba & Cool Calm Pete

7. Au Dela

8. Blue Chair

9. Sleep On It Tonight – Morcheeba & Thomas Dybdahl

10. Ledge Beyond The Edge

11. Washed Away

 

The new album by the multi million selling trip-hop band Morcheeba hit the shelves on the 4th February 2008.

We havent heard much of the Brixton trip hoppers for five years since their last project ‘The antidote’, and the ”best of” album, ’Parts of the process’ which was also their last album to feature the vocals of the magnificent Skye Edwards, though this should not off putting to old fans as faith is restored in the Godfrey brothers’ new record with the single ‘Enjoy the ride’, featuring the vocals of veteran singer Judie Tzuke, the folk rock, hip hop influenced track blends beutifal acoustic guitar strums against wonderfully crafted bouncy beats ands rhythms.

The album also has contributed vocals from the likes of relative newcomers Thomas Dybdahl from Norway on the track ‘Riverbed’, rapper Cool Calm Pete, and Manda, a French singer who contacted the band via the well known global social networking website, Myspace, having said that it was her dream to work with Morcheeba, Manda was asked to guest on the single ‘Gained the world’.

Despite the absence of Skye’s vocals and the usual chillout mood from the band they are well known for ‘Dive deep’ delivers something that offers a variety, with the numerous appearences of vocalists Morcheeba are offereing a fresh approach to their world, and simply enjoying the chance to expand and go beyond one genre of music, as the Godfrey brothers dont like generally being labelled as trip-hop.

‘Dive deep’ is something not to be missed by old fans and new. This album has to be fully enjoyed from the first second till the record stops playing, this album needs to be understood in todays terms, put aside those genre catagorizing opinions and thoughts and listen to some elegantly sung vocals and cleverly crafted tunes, music like this only comes around every so often.

 

Morcheeba’s original gear : -

Roland Super Jupiter MKS80

Novation BassStation

Hammond organ

Wurlitzer electric piano

EMS Synthi A

 

Other albums released by Morcheeba : -

Who can you trust – 1996

Big calm – 1998

Fragments of freedom – 2000

Charango – 2002

Parts of the process – 2003

The antidote – 2005

Dive deep – 2008

This months top ten game soundtracks

This months top listen for the best in video game soundtracks.

1- Viking Battle for Asgard (playstation 3)

2- Grand theft auto 4 (Playstation 3, Xbox 360)

3- Metal gear solid 4 (playstation 3)

4- Final fantasy 12 (playstation 2)

5- Lost odyssey (Xbox 360)

6- Silent hill Zero (PSP)

7- crysis warhead (pc)

8- dead space (Xbox 360)

9- Civilisation revolution (playstation 3)

10- gears of war (Xbox 360)

Today’s music

A friend not so long ago asked me what i think about the music of today. as i did a research project on this subject last year, there was never going to be a simple one line answer, and i wasn’t prepared to let it go without some deep searching and explanations. there are many contributions to the ever evolving music of today, and why the music of the past was so popular and still is to this day.

lets start with the early music, you see music from 80’s was and is still a great era for music, and the 70’s, 60’s and so on, you get the picture, music from the past was so successful, due to one significant reason, there was no real involvement of the internet. you see back in the day, the only way to listen to music was via the radio or going to a gig, and the only way to have possession of a recording was to buy a record, so bands, singers etc (up until the internet and downloading became a main factor of the music industry) sold millions of records making the music from that era seem the best ever created. nowadays we have other ways to listen to, buy and have possession of music, and the main reason being the use of the internet, for instance a band could sell a million records, by download only, but this doesn’t mean that that song is going to be all over the radio, you see there are now just so many ways that music is distributed, it is hard to keep a total record of how many records have been sold in one week, and the fact that the internet is now worldwide makes the whole music selling boom even harder to control. This in a way is a good thing to have happened to the music world and the industry, though this is treading on to new grounds, so i will leave that there.

moving away from that area, lets now talk about the other reason why music has changed so much, and this time talking about the use of electronic instruments, or basically, technology/computers. i see it as this,

“Technology has shaped music, the way that music has shaped technology”.

you have to understand, and like it or not, but technology has had such a huge influence on music, from as early as the phonograph effect to the first computers to ever invade our homes. when technology started to attach itself to the evolve-ment of music, those who were using it to their advantage were unknowingly starting a new revolution, when Igor Stravinsky started to write pieces that were exactly the same length of the record, i don’t think he knew just what he was doing for the future of music, the first vinyl records were roughly 3 minutes and 30 seconds in length, which is why we have grown up with nearly all songs being the same length.

but the importance of technology to music doesn’t stop there, music is just as ‘good’ and as advanced as it always has been, if all that music that we all love from yesteryear was the same in todays world, all the same notes, songs, tunes, then we wouldn’t have evolved very far with ourselves, i mean we all wouldn’t want to be walking around in shell suits still would we.

so no matter what we make of all the music there is out today, we just have to accept that if its come this far it deserves at least a little respect, and people need to search hard and far for what they ‘like’, instead of blaming TV (come on you know the culprits- X factor, pop idol etc etc), because music doesn’t stop there it is and always has been a universal language.

The Manchester sound’s radio broadcast

The Manchester sound radio broadcast, coming here soon. Keep posted.

What is the worst sound in manchester, where are the loudest places to live and work

Recent comment’s

recent comments made by Dgjcrabtree on Alysonjane’s weblog on the impact of the internet and the traditional music industry, and how hip hop has changed since the 1970’s, for full article’s go to : -

Alysonjane.wordpress.com

Has technology taken away musicianship…….?

Comment made recently by dgjcrabtree on the technology and the effect on current musicians and musicianship, to read full article go to : -

http://mhartshorne.wordpress.com/sound-recording-blogs-and-discussions/

Is hip hop really dead……?

Comment recently made by dgjcrabtree on post about current state of hip hop, to read full article go to : -

http://publicfigures.wordpress.com/2008/11/10/rap-city-canceled-is-hip-hop-really-dead/

Manchester sounds and noise

University of Salford survey of noise levels in Manchester, for short radio broadcast.
Please take your time to fill out this short survey.

(copy and paste into comment if needed)

1) Do you live or work in the city?

2) Which area do you live/work?

3) How do you travel into and around the city?

4) Is excessive noise levels a problem for you during commuting?

5) Describe what sounds cause the problems?

6) Is it the actual sounds or just the level of the noise?

7) Are you frequently effected by high noise levels in the area you work/live?

8 ) Dscribe the sounds that cause the problem?

9) Is it the actual sound or just the level of noise that causes the problem?

10) Describe how you are effected by the high noise levels?

11) Has this lead to any health problems?

12) If yes please explain

13) Would you consider moving your work or living area to a more quieter location?

14) The RDA of high noise level currently stands at 55 dB, Manchester has an average dB reading of 78. Are you interested in protecting yourself against constant exposure to excessive noise levels?

15) Any other comments?

Thanks for taking the time to fill in this survey.

We would like to use the names of the participants who answered this survey for us, no names will be mentioned next to any comments or answers, only as a contribution list, if you would prefer we didnt use your name please state below.

A new beggining

Hello and welcome to The Dgjcrabtree weblog, keep informed and up to date.