Kazhes pierakstu burtnīca

Some people call this band Abba of the nineties. This thing doesn`t happen to have no reasons behind it all - after all "AoB" just like Abba comes from Sweden, does poppy music in the Europop manner, relies heavily upon synthesizers (as a matter of fact, there seem to be no other instruments upon this record), the band also became popular on both sides of the Atlantic, the band contains two singing chicks and two dudes who don`t sing. I can probably find some more similarities but I find myself too lazy for that. Yet there`s one difference between these two bands that proves to be a significant one - while "Abba" surely had some fillers on even the best albums they at least weren`t offensively bad. It`s clearly not the case with AoB though. Apart from "All that she wants", "The Sign" and other three singles there`s very little this album can offer. And even the singles don`t offer that much - the vocal melody and the girls voices are ok, but generally there ain`t anything more than it. Music is generic dance pop, so cliched that at worst moments it sounds being created by using some cheap "Dance eJay". The non-singles tracks are just bad enough to be considered very bad. I won`t say that I haven`t heard anything worse than this record but there`s no real reason why I would ever listen to it again.

Grupas "Cream" otro albūmu daudzi ne bez pamata uzskata par Ērika Kleptona garās un mainīgi kvalitatīvās karjeras augstāko punktu. Un nav jau brīnums - pēc rokas piešaušanas ar "Fresh Cream" viena no pasaules pirmajām supergrupām, kurā līdzās Kleptonam piedalījās enigmātiskais basģitārists Džeks Brūss, kas uzņēmās vairumu vokālu Cream ierakstos, un neapšaubāmi izcilais bundzinieks Džindžers Beikers. Kopā viņi radīja tādu hārdroka stilu, kas daudziem lika teikt: "Wov! Tie džeki gan māk!" Un viņi patiešām mācēja. Vai kāds, kas nemāk, spētu radīt kaut ko tādu kā "Sunshine of Your Love"? vai "World of Pain"? vai vismaz "Dance the Night Away"? vai varbūt "Tales of Brave Ulysses"? Šajā ierakstā ir ne tikai izcils instrumentālais darbs, bet arī kolosālas atmiņā paliekošas kompozīcijas, dziesmas ar Melodijām ar lielo burtu. Džeka Brūsa balss varbūt nav neko spēcīga un unikāla, bet pilnīgi pietiekama, lai neradītu nepieciešamību piesaukt palīgā kādu Robertu Plāntu. Galvenais te ir ģitāru spēks, enerģija, kuras tam pašam Kleptonam mūsdienās izteikti pietrūkst. Viena šī albūma kompozīcija gan ir maigi izsakoties dīvaina - noslēdzošā akapella "Mother`s Lament" drīzāk būtu vietā kādā Monty Python ierakstā nekā hārdroka grupas albūmā, bet varbūt tas ir veids, kādā "Cream" pasaka: mēs nemaz neesam tādi krutie nopietnie veči, kā jūs par mums domājāt, mēs esam arī trīs muļķīgi tipi, kas ne īpaši labi māk dziedāt, bet kam patīk labi pavadīt laiku. Un kā var slikti pavadīt laiku ar "Disraeli Gears"?

"One Hot Minute" fanu acīs ir viens no neveiksmīgākajiem aso sarkano piparu ierakstiem, kas, protams, nav nekas pārsteidzošs - ieraksts, kas iznācis starp "Blood Sugar Sex Magik" un "Californication", ieraksts, kurā nepiedalās Džons Frušente, bet kaut kāds sviestais Jane`s Addiction ģitārists (ok, Deivs Navarro nav gluži sviestains, bet Frušente viņš nav). Albūma galvenie grāvēji bija "Aeroplane" un "My Friends" - diezgan līdzīgas noskaņas mierīgās RHCP dziesmas, ne pārāk atmiņā paliekošas. Ar mani patiesībā ir tā, ka teorētiski man viena no šīm dziesmām patīk, bet klausoties jebkuru no tām šķiet, ka tā, kas man patīk ir tā otrā. Pie vainas varētu būt dziesmu pārāk lielā sastieptība - varbūt ja tās katra būtu uz pusi īsākas, tās būtu arī ilgstošāk baudāmas. Kaut gan laikam tomēr "My Friends" man patīk labāk, tajā ir kaut kas no Smashing Pumpkins "Bullet with butterfly wings", tikai ideālā gadījumā šī dziesma būtu pat ne uz pusi īsāka, bet beigtos pēc pirmās reizes, kad atskan piedziedājums un tās garums būtu 1:25, nevis tagadējais 4:02. Personīgi man no šī ieraksta dziesmām vislabāk pie sirds iet "Coffee Shop", kurā gan ir ļoti tipiska Flī basa spēle, kas bez maz vada visu dziesmu, bet to kompensē baigi labs piedziedājums: "Meet me at the coffee shop, we can dance like Iggy Pop". Toties kāda ir doma Flī solo gabalā "Pea", kurā vienīgais instruments ir viņa bass, es īsti nesaprotu - ne viņam ir interesanta balss, ne tajā dziesmā kaut kas ir. Un teksts apmēram tāds kā "Fuck fuck shit fuck" dziesmā iz Blink 182 repertuāra. Iespējams, koncertos izpildīt šo "kompozīciju" vēl ir kāda jēga, tad albūmā tā ir vienkārša ausu laika nosišana. Vispār, lai gan esmu lasījis, ka "One hot minute" esot visnetipiskākais RHCP ieraksts, jāatzīst, ka patiesībā jau nu šī grupa ir vienveidīguma kalngals - ja jau tās netipiskākais albūms ne ar ko neatšķiras no tipiskajiem - roks, fanks, mazliet salkanu balādīšu, tas ir kokteilis, no kura jau divdesmit gadus RHCP veiksmīgi slauc diezgan pamatīgus augļus. Viņi nu gan ir tipiska grupa, no kuras ir vērts iegādāties pāris interesantākos albūmus, bet pārējo vietā nopirkt kādu labāko dziesmu izlasi. Un "One hot minute" noteikti ietilps tajā albūmu kategorijā, kurus iepirkt nav obligāti nepieciešams.

Since in the past few weeks I`ve relistened to some of the records I enjoyed when I was younger (it`s the 75 year old me talking right now) I couldn`t skip HIM (his infernal majesty). Back in high school when I was a sad, sad person I used to listen to this album quite a lot. Not in the past few years though. HIM are a finnish band that plays its music in the style of goth rock relying on two subjects - love and death. For most of the time these two things are considered to be one. After those years these songs don`t even seem that overplayed to me, even "Poison Girl". The album doesn`t offer much more than its four singles, so I`ll rate them according to what I think of those songs. 1)"Poison Girl", 2) "Join Me", 3) "Right here in my arms", 4) "Gone with the sin". Actually back in school I thought of "RHimA" as the best cut but today the rocking track seems a bit too forced to me. The other three songs are a bit too similar to each other, of course, and cliches override this record but who cares - as music for pokemon people this ain`t bad at all. Oh yeah, and all the non-single songs apart from the opening "Prelude to tragedy" proudly suck. This still is music for depressed high school losers, even if you think it ain`t.

Filmas pilnais nosaukums ir pārāk garš, lai es uzticētos, ka mans faktoīds tam nenogriezīs galu. Tas ir "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan".

Boriss Grebenščikovs un viņa banda "Akvarium" turpina terorizēt klausītājus ar savu mūziku. Varbūt ne gluži bandu un ne gluži terorizēt, bet ideja ir skaidra. Muzikālajos aranžējumos šoreiz Grebeņs atteicies no savas pēdējo gadu mīlestības - regeja un vairāk sācis uzticēties deju mūzikas ritmiem. Taču tas nenozīmē, ka Aquarium tagad izklausās pēc kaut kāda Underworld vai vēl jo vairāk pēc DJ Bobo. Patiesībā "Aquarium" joprojām izklausās pēc sevis - Grebenščikovam ir ļoti specifiska izpratne par dziesmu melodijām un pat tādās trance kompozīcijās kā "Afanasij Nikitin bugi" tikko Grebeņs sāk dziedāt (runāt), tā atkal tas pārvēršas par ļoti tipisku Akvarium dziesmu. Kaut gan vispār deju mūzikas ietekme šajā ierakstā ir ļoti spēcīga un labākās dziesmas ir tās, kurās šo ietekmju ir mazāk. Iespējams, ka tādu dziesmu kā "O smisle vsego suščego" Grebenščikovs ir paspējis ierakstīt jau vismaz 20 reizes iepriekš (man visvairāk rodas asociācijas ar viņa solo albūmu, kur viņš izpilda dzejnieka Andreja Vertinska kompozīcijas), bet es tādas klausos ar stipri lielāku prieku nekā viņa elektroniskos veikumus. Kā jau ikvienam kārtīgam krievam, šeit arī netrūkst dziesmu par alkoholu. "Mama ja ne mogu boļše pitj" ar savu depresiju lieliski saskan ar optimisma pārpilno "Stakan" ("vse govorjat, što pitj neļzja; ja govorju - što budu"). Vispār otrajā diska pusē vairāk ir tādu tipiskāku dziesmu, ko no BG var gaidīt - apmēram līdzīga stila dziesmas kā viņa albūmā "Kostroma, mon amour". Patiesībā es īsti nezinu, vai vēlos teikt, ka šis albūms ir pārāk tipisks Akvarium ieraksts, lai izceltos uz citu grupas albūmu fona, vai arī žēloties par netipiskajām noskaņām. It kā atsevišķas dziesmas ir lieliskas, bet tās ir visas jau iepriekš kaut kur dzirdētas. Laikam sanāk, ka kaut gan man šis albūms patīk, man tas vienlaicīgi arī nepatīk, nevar taču patikt kaut kas tāds, kas ir sevis atražošana, bet jaunās noskaņas mani nepiesaista, sarežģīti - vai ne? Tomēr nē, man patīk šis albūms, kaut arī es saprotu, ka tam man nevajadzētu patikt. Tā ir būtiska Akvarium priekšrocība - viņus ir forši klausīties, pat ja viņi nav nemaz tik forši.

After having read `The Collector` I expected this one not to be much worse. The first and the longest of the stories entitled just like the book was a major disapointment - I don`t really like books about the life of visual artists, and this one is no exception. Some sort of a senseless love story and a few naked girls is all this book can offer. "Elinduk" is even worse - some romantic medieval nonsense. The last two stories managed to improve the impression on the whole book - "Poor Coco" is a story about a writer that doesn`t stand for himself and suffers because of that. "The Riddle" tells us a story about a man that disapears - but it is not a true detective, it`s too postmodern for that.

MASH is one of my favourite sitcoms, it was made in the 70`s and told us the stories of Trapper and Hawkeye Pierce - two surgeons trying to have a good time while staying at a mash in the middle of the Korean war. They drank their booze and they loved their women, and they harrased major Frank Burns and his devoted lover, crazy patriot major Hotlips (that was her nickname and I never knew what she was really called). But the film that inspired the tv series isn`t that good, and it dissapointed me bitterly. The characters are the same, but you can`t really feel the pacifism of the series in the film, and the jokes fall flat most of the time, although there aren`t that many jokes in the entire film to speak about the majority of them. But there was a thing I liked about this film - and it was the leading song, entitled "Suicide is painless" - it`s a real beauty, and it`s sung to a dentist called "Painless". "Suicide is painless, it brings on many changes, and I can take or leave it if I please". I don`t want to try suicide, but the feelings after watching this crappy work of cinematography nearly made me want to.

Why do I always watch them films about music? I don`t really know the answer to that. And this was certainly a bad choice what to watch. The film is somewhat between a real motion picture and a documentary - most of the stuff really did happen but in a bit different manner. What really bother`s me is the style of music you get in this film. I`m not a particular goer for the "Joy Division", "Happy Mondays" sound but it`s what you basically get. The centre piece of the film is a TV guy named Tony Wilson, a man who owned the label that recorded Joy Division and Happy Mondays. Later he also founded the Hacienda - the most notorious nightclub in Manchester. But what`s bad is that it`s the place where rave was born. And you can guess - to I like rave? No, I don`t. And I`m not particulary interested in Mr. Wilson`s life (although Steve Coogan is a good actor). So, we get this drugs issue, and Wilson`s private life. And nothing else? Oh, yeah, we get a mess of a movie - with disturbing music, no point being made, actually - with nothing. The only positive thing I can find here is the first ten minutes - before we switch to new-wave. Punk was pretty good, I liked the way the first Sex Pistols concert was shown, but after that everything went slowly downwards. Unless you can identify yourself with this kind of music I don`t think you should watch this.

Mr. Miller, according to "Space" (not the French but the American band) is "our local vicar and a serial killer". According to Latvia Mr. Miller is either an editor of a magazine of private dirty clothes and a person representing a sexual minority. According to the local tradition Mr. Miller is some guy who happens to like driving fast cars without a licence and who is a young architect. According to American literature Henry Miller is one of the writers that first introduced explicit sexuality in American literature. He and his woman that is, forgot her name. In this book though you don`t encounter a single appearance of words like `penis`, `vagina`, `pussy`, `cunt`, `boner`, `cock` or even `Peter Tool` (I only used these words so you can find this record of the factoid by using the search option on the site), oh no, this book tells the story of Henry Miller going to Greece from his native States. In there he undergoes a treatment of life that`s just like he always wanted it to be - poor and unambitios (not that he was a rich man before going to Greece). That`s one weird thing - I always thought of this fellow being a brat that doesn`t give a damn about anything. But it proved that in fact he was just a nice and mellow fellow that despised the American dream more than anything. Oh, and he didn`t like the French because of them being too pretentious about themselves. Not that this autobiographic tale is particulary entertaining, but at least it gets more and more interesting towards the ending thus leaving a positive impression upon your humble servant.