Washington D.C. main-stays Fugazi, somehow, and this is almost criminal, managed to slip coolly under the radar of rock / Indy lovers everywhere for almost the entirety of their career. Nobody but legendary front-man Ian Mackaye could have pulled it off.

It was Mackaye’s infamous dogged dedication to D.I.Y. home-grown music that did it; over a number of albums he produced on his own label, Dischord—including early greats 13 Songs, Red Medicine, In On The Kill Taker and Repeater—that both made him a worldwide hero to a select hardcore and also a hate-figure for a million non-straight edge rockers who believed adamantly that Mackaye was raging not only against the machine they all feared, that of capitalism, but against those close to him: fellow musicians of rock and roll.

Instrument, is the definitive Fugazi documentary film (as well as classic all instrumental album). Chronicling the bands journey over the years, and filmed in a hazy mix of low and high tech video, it featured intimate footage of the band both performing first shows, and interviews with members of the band, most notably with Mackaye himself.

But Instrument is so much more than just a documentary. To classify it as such is verging on insulting: as well as a document pertaining to the inner workings of a band so contemptuous of big ticket sales and huge stadium gigs, it enters and embraces the private world inhabited by Fugazi’s hardcore fans. And not just any fans. These are people from all walks of life, obsessed with Fugazi not only because of their music but their morals: this dynamic, rarely found in music, is Fugazi’s backbone—simply put, these people, in all their conflicting dress-codes and classes, fell in love for the same reason. It is this miraculous convergence of people that divides Fugazi from a generation of music so apparently similar, but so obviously different.

As a sidebar I just checked out the enigin scam updates. I really don’t believe a word of it to be honest, but check out the blogs and decide for yourselves!

Okay, so if you want to get technical about it then ‘The Reptile House’ is not actually an album; it is a 6 track EP. However, it is not written as an EP; it has clearly been created as a mini-album.

So there.

The Sisters of Mercy have gone through several major line-up changes over the years and ‘The Reptile House’ was recorded during their first phase. It is minimalistic, cold and dark; a ‘Floodland’ stripped down to its bare bones. There is nothing slick here; no big production, no big budget and no rented New York choir. ‘The Reptile House’ is far more basic than that.

But rather then fighting off its low budget and limited recording equipment, it revels in it. Most bands would desperately have tried to hide the fact that it was early days and they were skint. Except The Sisters did the total opposite. They embraced the limitations of the basic recording conditions and used them to create something truly powerful. Even the artwork on the sleeve is done in much the same way.

‘The Reptile House’ is ‘afterhours’ music and should be listened to at night; if it is not then it will take away the sun. The whole thing is so incredibly atmospheric. Eldritch’s voice has never sounded so sinister and on ‘Fix’ it’s downright chilling. Adding that to Hussey’s strangely jangling guitar sound, Gary Marx’s throbbing bass lines and the hypnotic drums of Doktor Avalanche results in something pretty special. Why did things ever have to change???

Any self-respecting Goth should have this in their record collection. In fact, any true Goth (or Gothess) who does not deserves to be force-dressed in a shell suit and to have their hair dyed blonde by a bunch of R’n’B fans.

Whatever way you look at it, ‘The Reptile House’ is one of the darkest and most Gothic-orientated albums ever made. Just don’t say anything like that to Andrew Eldritch as he has a problem with it; apparently, The Sisters of Mercy have never been Goths…

Found a great new site, enigin PLC design, its actually a personal blog, but well worth a look if you are into online design!

Sade’s newest album “Soldier of Love” is the artist’s first release in ten years since her acclaimed “Lover’s Rock” album of 2000. Released by Sony, Sade’s unique style has not changed over the years, and life-long fans of the artist will surely be pleased. Perhaps this was her goal, for this album will likely not create any new followings. Her sound remains the same, with few changes to her categorical sound.

The main fault in “Soldier of Love” is the lack of cohesive and accessible lyrics. Sade seems to struggle in creating an easy to follow story line on most – if not all – of her songs. This is especially true for the singles “Be That Easy” and “Baby Father”. The lyrics are repetitive and nonsensical. This is where Sade really seems to lose the charm that made the artist so popular.

However, Sade remains powerful when it comes to her singing voice. She delivers her vocals with perfection that old fans will surely be pleased with. This coupled with the fact that she kept the same team, creates a not-so-unfamiliar sound.

While many artists try to recreate their sound to attract new audiences, Sade seems satisfied with her tried and tested styling, which raises the question “who is this album for?” Many can argue that Sade released this album for herself knowing full well that her long time fans will follow. This is not a negative trait, mind you; in fact it is a refreshing change from the fickle musicians of the generation.

If you’re looking to find a new sound from Sade, “Soldier of Love” will surely disappoint. But if you’re desire lies more with hearing more of Sade’s unique vocals, then look no further than her latest release. This album may not be the best place to start your Sade adventure, but it is not likely to disappoint.

So really quickly, I have something to admit. I love bill owen (sorry Stephen). I was going through the most recent season on dvd well into the night and the acting was marvelous! I would highly recommend this one to all of you…

In 1992, Henryk Gorecki’s Third Symphony was released in remembrance of those whose lives were lost in the holocaust. The sheer size of its success could never have been anticipated.

Gorecki had actually written the symphony fifteen years earlier, but it had gone largely unnoticed. In fact, most of his work had been overlooked by everyone except a few devout followers. But with his Third Symphony (entitled; ‘Symphony of Sorrowful Songs’), he managed to connect with an enormous amount of people all around the world. The CD sold over a million copies and left his record label stunned.

The style of Gorecki’s music is a perfect way to illustrate the grief and sadness surrounding the loss of so many innocent lives. His symphony has a very minimalistic sound, but this does not make it cold. On the contrary, there is an incredible amount of emotion in the work and Dawn Upshaw’s beautiful voice brings a lump to the throat and tears to the eyes. It is a very spiritual piece of music with a strong feeling of the otherworldly.

Since he achieved such a huge amount of success, Gorecki has returned to his life of privacy and solitude. The ‘Symphony of Sorrowful Songs’ put him firmly on the map in the Classical world and he could easily have used that publicity. He preferred instead, to return to his life of obscurity and to stay away from as much of the limelight as possible.

Anyone who enjoys music that is built on feelings cannot go far wrong with the work of Henryk Gorecki. He manages to stir a variety of emotions with the use of very few instruments. If you are interested in listening to his music then Symphony No. 3 ‘Symphony of Sorrowful Songs’ is the best place to start.

Last thing before I go I think I should need to tell you all about the strangest art show that I saw in London over the weekend, the substance of it was a room with loads of shutters in it.

If I were going name a singer/songwriter from the last forty-odd years who had truly helped to change the face of modern music then David Bowie would have to be one of my first choices. He has done so many songs in so many styles; he has set trends and broken down boundaries. Rather than trying to think of what genres he has worked in it would be far easier to try and list the ones that he has not. For all intents and purposes, Bowie is one of the most influential musicians to have ever been in the business.

And out of the huge amount of his studio albums, I would cite ‘Diamond Dogs’ as his very best of all. Just having the initial idea of creating a concept album around George Orwell’s ‘1984’ is ultra-cool; but when you consider just how damn good an album it is, then it really does demand your respect.

Bowie actually approached Orwell’s widow and asked her for the rights to the novel. She refused, but he was not going to be put off that easily. David Bowie may not have been able to name his album after the classic book by Orwell, but he could still base it around it.

‘Diamond Dogs’ really is an absolute belter of an album. Bowie managed to capture the bleak mood of the novel perfectly and balanced it with eleven exceptional songs and some wonderful growling guitar. The whole thing is steeped in the atmosphere of a dark Science Fiction tale and the lyrics are made to measure.

It has the rock of ‘Ziggy Stardust’, the emotional detachment of ‘Low’ and the quiet insanity of ‘Aladdin Sane’. Every song is brilliantly written and the sequence of tracks is perfection uninterrupted. When David Bowie recorded ‘Diamond Dogs’ in 1974, he transcended everything he had previously done; it is pure genius.

Before I run, the val d isere ski bookings for our New Years trip have been sorted out. Next monday is the cut off for the overall cost, please get it to me when you have it.

When you think about movie soundtracks, it is not going to be very long before you come up with the name of Ennio Morricone.

His prolific career has seen him compose the music for around two-hundred films and many television dramatisations. In the world of movie soundtracks there are not many people who have this amount of work in their portfolio…

Morricone is still best known for his first big break; the trilogy of spaghetti westerns by Sergio Leone. Just about everyone on Earth instantly recognises his music from; ‘A Fistful of Dollars’, ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’ and ‘For a Few Dollars More’. No-one had ever written scores for movies that were anything like this. Ennio Morricone used a variety of different instruments, styles and vocals for these films that resulted in a trilogy of musical masterpieces; hints of Flamenco guitar, spooky bursts of harmonica, bells and chanting vocals.

The influence that Ennio Morricone has had on modern music is incredible. His style can be heard in many genres of music from Pop, Rock and Heavy Metal to Grunge and Rap. Erasure covered one of his songs, Jay-Z cited him as a major influence and Muse’s ‘Knights of Cydonia’ draws heavily on his spaghetti western style both for the song itself and its accompanying video.

Just about every area of music has been touched by the work of Ennio Morricone. Lee Perry’s Dub tracks all had Morricone style titles and if he hadn’t of recorded those tracks then Rap would never have even come about.

Sergio Leone died in 1988 but Ennio continued to work with him right up until then. He is still writing soundtrack to this day and he is now in his eighty-first year. Above all else that Ennio Morricone has achieved is his making an art form of the film soundtrack. Until he came along the music was simply another part of the movie.

One more quick thing, I have just checked out the web design for this human resources software page and I have to say in my web trained opinion it is incredably eye-catching. I was having a laborious time actually finding any particulars about the company or services however, which made me wonder what is more significant, attractiveness or usability?

The late 1980s brought about the Dance music scene along with several sub-categories. Suddenly the dance beat could be heard everywhere you went and even artists in other genres were caught up in its commercial possibilities.

It seemed, for a while, that everyone was being affected/infected by its sound. Even bands like The Cure got caught up with it and caused them to release ‘remixes’ of old songs on a rather naff collection called; ‘Mixed Up’ If an artist had any material lying around that had previously been deemed as being substandard, it could now go out as a single once that a Dance bass line had been added.

Dance continued well into the 1990s and remains mostly unchanged. Thankfully some bands began to add to it and mould it into something more interesting. If they had not then Dance would effectively have remixed and remixed and remixed until it vanished up its own bottom.

· Faithless gave a bit more depth to the Dance genre with intelligent lyrics and the use of other instruments.

· The KLF turned it into a parody of itself and wrote some great material.

· Enigma gave it an interesting Spiritual/New Age vibe by blending it with music from other cultures.

· Moby integrated it with Blues/Gospel/Hip-Hip/Rock and came up with some very poignant bits of music.

· David Gray stole its heartbeat and merged it into his brilliant acoustic work.

· The Prodigy moved on and made better use of electric guitar and other instruments.

· Miike Snow used their background of House/Dance and mixed it all up with Reggae, Pop and Acoustic to make their own sound.

Things were finally beginning to change in the Dance scene. Even DJ Tiesto looked to Classical and recorded his own version of ‘Adagio for Strings’. It seemed to have been a long and rather boring process, but evolution had come about in the genre; and with it came some very interesting new styles…

I have thrilling news for you all, I was talking to my friend last week and he has just got a excellent new gig at an human resources software company. Well done Harry

When Wishbone Ash released their third album in 1972 it soon became clear that it was something rather special. Their previous albums had done reasonably well in the UK chart, but ‘Argus’ peaked at number three.

Wishbone Ash had already gained quite a following by the early seventies but ‘Argus’ suddenly attracted an even larger fan base. It is one of the most successful Prog Rock records that have ever been recorded and it went on to influence many new bands in the following years.

One of the things to set ‘Argus’ apart from other records of the time by similar artists is its overall sound. It was the first Rock album to have a distinctly medieval feel to it. Since then the ‘medieval’ sound has been used (very successfully) by many Rock and Metal groups. A good example is Metallica and the superb title track from their ‘Master of Puppets’.

Andy Powell and Ted Turner laid down some amazing guitar work on the album; stand-out tracks have to be, ‘Throw down the Sword’, ‘Warrior’ and ‘The King Will Come’. Anyone who appreciates good electric lead guitar will be in rapture when they listen to these! The quietest song on ‘Argus’ is ‘Leaf and Stream’. This is a beautiful and sombre piece that almost serves as an interlude between the frantic riffs and squeals of the louder tracks. The lyrics conjure up a feeling of contemplation and inner searching.

Many fans of Heavy Metal will have a prized copy of ‘Argus’ in their record collection. Bands such as Wishbone Ash injected a huge amount of imagination and energy into the Rock music scene and helped pave the way for new British Rock bands.

‘Argus’ can now be seen as Classic Rock or Vintage Metal and what a good vintage it is.

One last thing, I was talking with my friend the other week and he feels that in the recession lots of companies are turning towards team building activity london to inspire the employees. I am a little put off by how I feel about this, I mean it’s a nice notion but it is never going to stimulate people as much as a nice big bonus is it?

The Cure are an incredibly influential band. They have recorded thirteen studio albums to date and written songs in several different styles including; Pop, Punk, Goth and Alternative Rock. They are very transient in their song writing, constantly experimenting with new ideas. Even so, whatever type of song it is they record; it is blatantly obvious that Robert Smith is at the helm. But, personally speaking, I think that their Goth stuff will always be their greatest material.

They first met up in 1973 and played a single gig under the name of, ‘The Obelisk’. After this they adopted the title of, ‘The Easy Cure’ until Robert Smith decided that it sounded ‘too Hippy’. Their first single, ‘Killing an Arab’ (released under ‘The Cure’) sparked a lot of controversy. There was never meant to be anything insulting about the song and it was merely shaped around the novel, ‘The Outsider’.

After this Rocky start, the band soon began to make more constructive progress. Their first album, ‘Three Imaginary Boys’ was extremely successful, but then they had their first big change in style with their ‘Gothic Period’… The second and third records would be very different indeed. ‘Seventeen Seconds’ was a bleak and minimalistic album. It’s single, ‘A Forest’ was the only track to offer a chink of light and even that was not a very bright one. It is a cold and detached album that can leave you feeling the same way; but it was also absolutely brilliant. They followed this with ‘Faith’ in 1981 which was very similar with its sound.

In 1982, The Cure released, ‘Pornography’. This was their darkest offering yet and it is still seen as a masterpiece of Gothic Rock today. Anyone who had walked in the shadow of ‘Seventeen Seconds’ and ‘Faith’ was going to love this. Again, it was different; the bleakness was still present but ‘Pornography’ was darker, louder and more angst-ridden. The lyrics were tortured and angry and the instrumentation was hypnotic in many parts. This was The Cure in the finest hour of their Gothic years!

Sidebar: I have just updated the text on the homepage for red diesel suppliers, I know that it will surprise you that I am doing some stuff for an oil company; but I don’t think they are as enviromentally irresponsible as I once assumed. Plus, I’ve sold out, I need the compensation!

Music videos have now been around for a great many years. If you are in a band and you want your new single to have an accompanying video that is different and original then you will have your work cut out. The trouble is that so many things have been done before (and some things have been done again and again…).

Singers or bands that have a teenage target audience will often set out to shock. This is partly marketing tactics but it is also sheer desperation because it is now so hard to come up with anything truly unique.

There have been certain videos over the years that have been memorable and sometimes groundbreaking.

Here are a just a few;

· Take on Me – A-ha.

This was the first time that anyone had really made full use of animation for a music video. The result was almost like a black and white comic set to music.

· Sledgehammer – Peter Gabriel.

Again, this used a clever type of animation. This time it was more like a series of snapshots that had been strung together.

· Street Spirit – Radiohead.

Probably one of the most visually stunning and stupefying videos ever made; black and white photography, impossible mixtures of slow motion and real time, graceful dancers and fairground imagery.

· What You Waiting For? – Gwen Stefani.

If you are going to have a sexy, scantily clad female singer in a video, then what better imagery to mix her with than that of Alice in Wonderland?

So what will become of music videos in the future if we are all out of ideas? Well, I would guess that CGI technology will keep things going for quite a while yet, but when people are finally tired of that… who knows?

Exactly what new techniques will come about in the years to come is anyone’s guess, but it is sure to be very interesting.

So before I log off, I have something to admit. I love robin ellis (sorry Rachael). I was watching the dvd last night and she is insanely hot…Apparently there is a new fan forum coming out for her soon!