#listening to metallic madness makes you 100% happier

[sczawr]

what do you mean even when you play as Amy in Sonic CD Eggman still blows up Metal when he loses? don't be silly Amy saves him from it

[fuckyeahevile]

Matt’s statement:

“This is an incredibly difficult statement to write, but I have to announce that I am stepping down as the frontman of Evile and leaving the world of live music. I want to make sure I explain this decision fully and effectively, as fans of the band, especially the people who have followed Evile from the beginning, deserve so much more than just a slapped together, generic, easily press digestible ‘band member leaves band’ paragraph. Evile has been a very large part of my life, something I have given a huge amount of energy and time to, and this is a decision which I have agonised over for a long time as it’s something I care about deeply, but it’s a decision I have to make. So, please allow me to explain it as best I can. There are two main reasons for this decision, firstly there is family. Since starting Evile, I had very few commitments, allowing me to sink as much time as possible into the band, but in the past several years that has changed. I became a stepfather to two young girls around a very traumatic time for them, and very shortly after became a father to my own daughter. The time that I have had available to pursue music has been vastly cut down, and considering the future when live music becomes possible again, the demands of a touring band lifestyle are not as viable and realistic for me anymore, as my duties as a father to three children outweigh anything else. I don’t want to be away from my family for large amounts of time, and outside of my full time employment I don’t want to divide 50% effort and time to the band and 50% to my family as I feel like I would be giving each side half of the time they really deserve, and if I have to choose which one I want to give priority and 100% to, it is my family. I don’t want to go out as a frontman who is only half prepared, half practised and half ready, as Evile and its wonderful followers deserve better than that - and on the other side of that, I don’t want to be away from home for long periods of time and not be around to help my children grow up, they deserve better than that, and I don’t want to miss out on any part of their lives. The other reason is my health. I’ve always said that I would do Evile for as long as possible, either until I’m dead or until I can physically no longer manage performing on stage. I have come close to the former, but the latter is now where things are (when compared to the former, a relief). Over the past couple of years I have had a non-stop run of health problems, mostly chest related, including costochondritis, several chest infections, a spontaneous collapsed lung (which I stupidly thought was another chest infection) and then kidney stones and a few other health detours. This all relates to singing, which is something that is nowhere near a natural ability or talent of mine, it’s something that I have had to work incredibly hard on to get to where I managed, which let’s face it, isn’t exactly anywhere spectacular, I’m never going to end up on anybody’s favourite vocalist list (although there is one thing I’ll mention later). But, the amount of upkeep it takes to maintain what vocal range/power/lung capacity I have/had to a usable standard is ridiculous, and my annoying health issues make that obstacle ever harder to overcome, made even more difficult by my limited available time to do so, it comes down to me accepting that I can’t do everything and I certainly can’t do everything and stay healthy. A singing voice is a muscle and I always had the time to spend training it so I could keep it in a decent place for getting through a tour. Now, my health issues of late have destroyed what singing voice I had, and in the past several months of starting vocal training all over again, getting somewhere, getting ill, starting all over again, getting ill, starting all over again, and so on - I have come to realise that I just don’t enjoy singing anymore and I’ve had to be very harsh with myself to realise that truth. I was never the best frontman, or the best singer, and Evile deserve to have a frontman who can give 100% to that craft, and I am fully confident that person is out there and can help take them to that next level where I hope and believe they can go, nothing would make me happier than to see the band be a real success. For twenty years I have had the great pleasure of writing and performing music with my brother Ol, Ben, Mike, Joel and Piers in Evile. It has taken us to places I never imagined, locations I never thought I would get to visit, let alone go to these places to play music for people who were willing to hear it. I’m proud of the band’s achievements so far, touring with some incredible bands such as Megadeth, Exodus, Kreator, Overkill, Voivod, Sepultura, Three Inches of Blood, Entombed, Forbidden, Machine Head, Amon Amarth, Satyricon, Gama Bomb, Warbringer, Dr. Living Dead, Lightning Swords of Death, Sanctity, Mutant, Pitiful Reign, Seregon, Onslaught and more, then getting to see pretty much all of America, Canada and a vast majority of Europe, living in Copenhagen for a month recording a debut album with Flemming Rasmussen and using some of the same gear used to record Lightning/Puppets, recording three albums with Russ Russell, releasing four albums with Earache Records, having songs featured on Rock Band, having a song in a Neil Jordan film (Ondine), getting into the UK charts, having original album artwork created by Michael Whelan (did you know the band members are hidden on that cover?), being on the front cover of Terrorizer magazine, playing at some amazing festivals and meeting some incredible people from all walks of life. There are plenty more to mention, plus all the brilliant things I’m grateful to have seen, which I wouldn’t have if I wasn’t in the band, like a small ‘up close and personal’ acoustic Skunk Anansie set in the press tent at Sonisphere (Paranoid and Sunburnt is one of my desert island discs, I had the chance to chat to them after their set but completely bottled it and will forever regret it), but I want to mention just a couple of other things while I have chance to do so. I’m proud of my contributions to Evile’s music, whether it’s riffs or sections here and there, or entire songs (Burned Alive, Plague to End All Plagues, Long Live New Flesh, The Naked Sun) but i’m proudest of the lyrics and vocal lines I contributed, which is roughly half of Enter the Grave, most of Nations, most of Five Serpent’s Teeth (for those two records however, Ol and Russ deserve a lot of credit for guiding me through parts I intended to sing, telling me it was nonsense after I tried it, and helping me find the correct choices, that was invaluable in making the albums as good as they could be) and nearly all of Skull - which is where I want to point back to what I mentioned about singing earlier, as while I acknowledge it isn’t a natural ability and I’m not the strongest or even that impressive of a vocalist, I will always be glad that my performance of Tomb exists on that album, it was a hugely personal thing to perform and record and I’ll be forever proud that I got to do that and do it as well as I possibly could, that is my favourite album of the four I got to be part of. I also want to quickly mention that I’m proud of being connected to Jackson Guitars for so many years, it’s an honour to have been in their catalogue too, I’ve played Jacksons for as long as I’ve been playing guitar, so I would like to thank them for being so kind to me for the 14 years I’ve been associated with them. This is a lot to read, but I want to get all of this written down as I’m trying to process my twenty years of experiences and thoughts on so many things connected to playing music, into several paragraphs, there’s a lot I would love to say, but I’m not one to outstay my welcome. I want to finish with a couple of things, one of them being a big regret I will have about leaving the band, that I never got to play a show with Metallica, that was my biggest personal goal in playing live music, not fame or anything material, I just wanted to play a show with the band that changed my life. Even just meeting James Hetfield would have been enough for me, but I guess that’s one personal goal I’ll have to live with missing the chance on. More important than the personal things I’ve just written about though, is one of my main areas of pride, and that is Evile’s fans, I’ve always been so proud to be able to say that Evile has such wonderful and dedicated fans, it has been a pleasure to meet so many of you, to stand on a stage and play music for you, to see and hear you singing lyrics and vocal lines that I’ve written, to see all that headbanging madness, I will truly miss getting on a stage to play those songs, so I would like to say a real thank you to everyone who has spent time listening to these first four albums and come to shows to see us play live while I got the chance to do it, I will miss your headbanging and energy like you wouldn’t believe, but I will never forget it. Lastly, and very importantly, I want to mention Mike. A person I wouldn’t have known if it wasn’t for being part of this band, one of the most wonderful people I’ve ever met, a true heavy metal soul and a gentleman. This is one of the biggest things I’ve struggled with in my decision, I’m so sorry to him, that I can’t do my bit in continuing his legacy as a part it anymore. It breaks my heart to leave something that he was such a big part of, and that I was a part of with him, something that he was doing when we lost him. My hope is that, as a father himself, he would understand the decision I’m making. I’m taking all of my memories of Mike with me, and every year will always have a glass ready to raise on the day he entered this world, and on the day he left it. Thank you to everyone for reading this, hopefully I’ve written it well enough so you understand my reasoning. Please continue to support Evile as much as you ever have done, I wish the band all the success possible on their future journey, it’s been twenty years of extreme highs and lows, and everything in-between, I’m proud to be able to say I was part of it and I’ll be following where it goes from here with great interest, as a lifelong fan. My intention is to still play the Enter the Grave/Mike Alexander tribute show, whenever that may happen, as it would mean a tremendous amount to me to be able to pay tribute to Mike in a proper way, by playing the album he contributed the most to. But as of now, I am no longer part of the band. Please can I ask that people do not message me directly, I won’t be able to respond. Instead, please leave a comment below if you wish to say anything, positive or negative. The only thing I ask with that, is that you please remain respectful, whatever you want to say, good or bad, as the world has enough problems at the moment, and one of the things it needs is for people to think about what they say and care about how they say it. Thank you all again for your time in reading this, and thank you all for your time and energy given to Evile while I’ve been part of it. For the penultimate time (the last time will be the Enter the Grave/Mike show)... I salute you all.”

[johannesviii]

Top 10 Personal Favorite Hit Songs from 2019

The last list, for now. It’s been a wild ride.

Not the best of these lists, but some really refreshing stuff charted that year, and what was good was super good. And also, here’s a barely elligible #1 that nobody seemed to care about for some reason.

Disclaimers:

Keep in mind I’m using both the year-end top 100 lists from the US and from France while making these top 10 things. There’s songs in English that charted in my country way higher than they did in their home countries, or even earlier or later, so that might get surprising at times.

Of course there will be stuff in French. We suck. I know. It’s my list. Deal with it.

My musical tastes have always been terrible and I’m not a critic, just a listener and an idiot.

I have sound to color synesthesia which justifies nothing but might explain why I have trouble describing some songs in other terms than visual ones.

In 2019, my finger was fixed, I dropkicked depression in the garbage bin (with a little help from Eurovision because it was super good and full of hilarious shit), got married, and went on a roadtrip on Vancouver Island (BC, Canada), and that was my first real travel in 13 years. Met a lot of great people, seen amazing places, trees, bears and whales. And planes are also part of the adventure when you’re not used to them (you can watch movies on little screens from your seat now?? I had no idea. I watched so many movies). It was very exciting.

I also saw VNV Nation live in February, for the third time in six years. This time I had enough budget to buy a tshirt. I wasn’t expecting that concert to be even better than the previous two. At that point the new album had only been out for a couple of months and we still knew the lyrics of most of the new songs and Ronan’s face was constantly broadcasting a kind of “...........how” expression (face it guys, we like you. A lot). And they finished with All Of Our Sins and let me tell you, half the club was ready to start a revolution by the time that was over. Super intense.

Ok. 2019 albums! First, let’s talk about some negative things. Coldplay released Everyday Life at the end of the year. It was... uh. It was basically how I stopped loving their new stuff. That’s a very sad conclusion (for now) to this saga. This is exactly what I feared would have happened after Viva La Vida, aka them trying to go back to their earlier sound - except in the meantime we’ve got three fantastic albums with songs full of energy and joy. So I’m not too mad about this, just disappointed.

Within Temptation released Resist, and it wasn’t very good either, but I appreciated the general aesthetic of it. More SF-themed albums in symphonic metal, please. NF released The Search and while I’m still not a fan there’s a song on it that would have been #1 on this list if it had been elligible, so that’s something. And Carly Rae Jepsen released Dedicated and it was super good so why isn’t she getting new hits. Why. It feels unfair. Oh, and Avantasia made Moonglow and that’s the first time I’ve cared about their stuff in like a decade or so. Ghost In The Moon is super good, check it out.

But the big event of the year music-wise, as far as I’m concerned, was the return of two bands I thought we had lost forever. Of course My Chemical Romance reformed, but they don’t have new music yet, so the main event for this post is the return of Tool with Fear Inoculum. It’s not even their best album, but having a pretty good new Tool album in the year of our lord 2019 wasn’t at all something I was counting on. Of course, the hardcore fans are still as insufferable as ever (insert the “you need a pretty high IQ” copypasta here), but it didn’t spoil my enjoyment of it. Come on! Their first album in 13 years! 80 minutes of hypnotic heavy rhythms and weird shit, an album that trolled me when I opened it by playing a music video while I was looking somewhere else (yeah I jumped), and they even managed to land a track for one week on the US hot 100! Again, Tool! On the hot 100! in 2019! Unbelievable. Are we starting to return to the good timeline? I certainly hope so.

Unelligible songs, now. The Search by NF would have topped this list super easily. Might be one of the songs I listened to the most in 2019, actually. Now That I Found You by Carly Rae Jepsen, again, should have been a hit, and I beg you to watch this music video if you’ve never seen it. The 1975 released the super unexpected People, which was still good, and also Frail State of Mind. And most unexpected of all, three artists I didn’t care about at all teamed up and made absolute gold: I Think I’m OKAY, by Machine Gun Kelly, YUNGBLUD and Travis Barker. That would have been the second slot on this list if it had been elligible. Or maybe the first, even? Not sure. I’m just so happy this kind of angry but uplifting music is starting to become popular again. I just love everything about this song.

Here’s a short list of honorable mentions!

Roi (Bilal Hassani) - I don’t like this song a lot, but I do like it, I’m glad it was our song for the ESC 2019, and Bilal is a very nice and endearing person, and everyone who disrespects him on twitter is free to come fight me in the pit, where I’m still waiting with that tambourine from my 1992 list.

Con Calma (Daddy Yankee, Katy Perry, Snow) - You already know I liked the original Informer a lot, so I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t pleased to hear this clone of it on the radio.

Breathin’ (Ariana Grande) - Here’s the usual “if I had better taste this would be higher” honorable mention.

Summer Days (Martin Garrix) - In the absence of any new hit song from Macklemore this will do in a pinch.

Circles (Post Malone) - The fact that everyone seems to adore this and I’m over there saying “it’s ok I guess” probably means I will never love Post Malone nor understand the hype about him, and that’s okay, I can live with that.

High Hopes (Panic! At the Disco) - Still elligible. Still good but too borderline annoying to make the list.

How Do You Sleep (Sam Smith) - This year Sam Smith pulled a Viva La Vida and decided to stop making boring music all of a sudden and I’m LIVING FOR THIS. I certainly hope they continue in that direction.

And now, the list.

10 - La Grenade (Clara Luciani)

US: Not on the list / FR: #55

The only semi-filler on the list. I still like it a lot. Don’t have anything to say about it, though.

9 - Panini (Lil Nas X)

US: #40 / FR: Not on the list

Wasn’t too impressed by this at first and it took a while to grow on me, but the chorus is a nice little earworm, and “hey panini, don’t you be a meanie” has a tendency to pop in my head when I read hateful comments on the internet now. And Lil Nas X is just too endearing to be ignored. We’re so lucky to have someone who became famous so quickly and instantly decided to dress like a Jojo character and have the geekiest music videos possible and still be super nice and humble. We don’t deserve this guy.

8 - Dance Monkey (Tones And I)

US: Not on the list / FR: #6

I’m super glad the US are finally getting on the hype train in 2020 because this is a ton of fun. If the voice was juuuuuust a little less grating this would be even higher. Impossible to get it out of your head and somehow in this case that’s a good thing.

7 - Dancing With a Stranger (Sam Smith & Normani)

US: #14 / FR: Not on the list

As I said in the honorable mentions, Sam Smith pulled a Viva La Vida and decided to stop making boring music all of a sudden and I couldn’t be happier about that. This song is still a bit too calm for my taste most of the time, but when I’m in the right mood, it’s just fantastic.

Again, I hope Sam Smith continues in that direction, because if you had told me a couple of years ago that I would start to like their stuff one day, I would have laughed out loud.

6 - Bad Guy (Billie Eilish)

US: #4 / FR: #16

Duh.

I’m not as enthusiastic about When The Party’s Over as a ton of people are, mostly because, well, it’s a slow emotional song with little to no colour in it and by now you’re already aware I tend to have next to zero interest in that kind of songs. Bad Guy, on the other hand, is half hilarious half scary in equal doses, and even if I’m not super fond of the weird outro, it’s still a fantastic, weird as shit song, and I’m really glad Billie Eilish exists. Can’t wait to see where she goes from there.

I’m super glad this song didn’t come out when I was a teenager myself though. Come to think of it, I’m not sure I would have survived if the musical landscape from 16 years ago had been as depressed as it currently is. Thank god music is slowly getting more energetic again in 2020. Let’s stay on that track.

5 - Hey Look Ma I Made It (Panic! At The Disco)

US: #61 / FR: Not on the list

I follow several music critics on youtube and over the course of 2019, I’ve seen undiluted vitriol and hatred against this song (Spectrum Pulse even made a list of his “worst hit songs” of the decade and put this one at #10! TEN!!). And... I don’t really get where it’s coming from? Maybe I’m too literal-minded to see what the problem is with a sarcastic song saying “look I sold out and now I found success again! And it’s not that great!”. I just think it’s a lot of fun. Thank god Todd put it on his best list, at least we can agree on one thing for once.

It is hilarious that after putting so many Fall Out Boy songs on my lists, the one that I love the most from Panic! is the sellout song. Not sure why this was huge while the even better Say Amen wasn’t, though.

4 - Sunflower (Swae Lee & Post Malone)

US: #2 / FR: Not on the list

I usually don’t get the “chill” songs that tend to be successful these days but this one, unlike most Post Malone songs (bar Circles), has lovely pastel colors and a cloudy texture and it’s a really good vibe. It took several months to grow on me but it sure did.

In about ten years, people will listen to Sunflower and be submerged by nostalgia, mark my words.

3 - Old Town Road (Lil Nas X)

US: #1 / FR: #1 (see, everyone agrees for once)

Everyone on the planet already wrote a thinkpiece about this song and yet I’ve only seen maybe one out of five mentioning, just in passing, that the entire song is based on a Nine Inch Nail track from Ghosts I-IV, superbly re-used to make a weird and insanely catchy country hip hop song out of it. Ghosts has been one of my go-to albums to listen to while I’m painting for about ten years now. I’m saying all this because hearing a track from Ghosts on the radio for months was absolute bliss for me, especially in a new and improved version.

Thank you Lil Nas X for everything you’ve been doing and I wish you a long and successful career. You deserve it. I love this and I love you.

2 - Bury A Friend (Billie Eilish)

US: #73 / FR: Not on the list

Hello again, Billie Eilish.

This song is absolutely terrifying and that was before I even saw the music video. This is the soundtrack of your nightmares right there. I’m not even sure it deserves to be so high on the list, but frankly I’m too terrified to care. Maybe Old Town Road should be higher. I don’t know.

Also you have to know that when I’m super tired I go into echolalia mode and automatically repeat words or entire sentences that my brain considers interesting, like “potiron” (pumpkin) or “dramatique” ; and recently, my brain decided “when we all fall asleep, where do we go?”, sung exactly like it’s sung in this song, was its new favorite sentence. So. Hearing yourself saying that to an empty room while you’re drawing or folding clothes or cleaning plates is not a very pleasant experience, and it makes this song extra scary to me.

And now, here’s the last #1 of the last one of these lists (for now), and I’m glad to announce it closes this series of posts in a super fitting way.

Check this out. It’s so perfect in every way.

1 - Walk Me Home (Pink)

US: #99 / FR: Not on the list

Nobody seemed to care about this song over the course of 2019, and it's barely elligible, and I still have no idea why. The music reviewers I follow only either talked about it super briefly when it came out, or not at all. The rare ones who were making top 100s at the end of the year instead of top 10s usually put it somewhere in the middle of their lists. And yet it’s the elligible song I’ve listened to the most.

If you’ve been reading this series of posts for a while now, you probably already know exactly why it’s here, but here’s a quick recap.

The second album I ever bought in my life was Pink’s Missundaztood in 2002, and I loved her music a lot:

I was still really fond of her stuff in 2007:

Then she started to become less interesting and I basically ignored her apart from a brief blip on my radar in 2017:

Meanwhile, in 2012, fun. made some of the best songs of the entire decade before vanishing instantly, and I’ve been mourning them ever since:

And in the middle of last year, here I am, listening to the radio, and suddenly I hear something that sounds exactly like a fun. song, except I’ve never heard it before and it’s sung by a female singer, and, most importantly, it’s 2019 and fun. broke up more than six years earlier. And I’m like, what’s going on. This is so good. What the hell. What is this.

And I hear it a second time weeks later, and I google it, and I discovered that 1) it was Pink singing this, which made it my favorite Pink song in literally more than ten years, and 2) it was, indeed, written by one of the guys from fun., among other people who’s influence is less obvious.

I guess the main lesson from 2019, between newcomers making great music based on dead trends, old groups reforming, and this song, is that nothing’s gone forever, and things you used to enjoy can come back at the most unexpected time and in the most unexpected form.

There’s always, always gonna be new music to love, and it’s just a question of time.

Quick note

And with this, these lists are over... for now.

I don’t regret making them even if they were a ton of work, because that was super useful for a lot of different reasons.

They helped me get a better understanding of my own life’s chronology. That may sound stupid but I tend to link events to the music I was listening to at the time, and putting all that music in chronological order helped a lot.

I rediscovered a ton of songs I had completely forgotten about, and a lot of new ones. My playlist is much richer now and I’m happy about that.

I also discovered a few artists I knew nothing about.

It forced me to analyse two depressive episodes in my life and just because everything was now in exact chronological order, it accidentally helped me pinpoint what caused both of them. Better and cheaper than therapy. Impressive.

It made me realise how important some bands and artists had been in my life, and I relistened to some of their catalogue while making these lists. For some it was really obvious (Indochine, Placebo, Mylène Farmer, My Chemical Romance among some others), and for some others (Moby, Linkin Park, Mika in particular), it was a real surprise.

It made me realise that Placebo might have been huge in France but weirdly enough not that huge in the UK nor in the US. It’s especially striking when you look at their wikipedia page in English then in French and realise how detailed the French one is compared to the English one. Can’t believe Sleeping With Ghosts was a n°1 album here and basically nowhere else. That was the band where that discrepency was the most obvious but it wasn’t the only one like that. Really puts stuff in perspective.

It also helped me realise how cyclical popular music is. 1) trends tend to die near the end of every decade and the worst year is usually somewhere between the 8th and the 9th year. 2008 and 2018 tend to confirm this. 2) For the same reason, some new & interesting stuff appears at the beginning of every decade, and reaches its high point of quality between the 2nd and 4th year of the decade. 3) Basically I’m saying we’ve now passed the lowest musical quality in recent memory and 2022-2023 will have some exceptional music.

See you in December 2020. I have no doubt there’s a ton of great music coming up in the near future.

[rbeatz]

Space Mom, Rezz, is my #1 act of 2017

Billboard recently dubbed Dance’s Breakout Artist of 2017 to REZZ, and I couldn’t agree more. I had the pleasure and opportunity to cover her Mass Manipulation World Tour this Saturday at the Playstation Theater in Time Square, New York City, New York, USA, North America, Planet Earth. It didn’t feel like planet earth; however, as I was sonically and visually transported to another dimension in time and space. Below is my Rezz discovery story, my transformation into a Rezzbian, my review of the events that took place last Saturday at Playstation Theater, and photos I took from her unforgettable performance.

In 2017, I’ve seen Rezz 4 times: Bonnaroo, Electric Zoo, Lost Lands, and last Saturday in New York City. I’d never heard of Rezz before Bonnaroo. I had a slew of friends adamantly tell me I should go see Rezz at Roo (Bonnaroo’s nickname) because “she’s incredible.” I typically know which friends to trust musically at this point, and these emphatic murmurs were coming from trusted sources.

That low end play @OfficialRezz #Bonnaroo http://pic.twitter.com/QneNP8MSNK

— rBeatzRadio (@rBeatzRadio) June 11, 2017

I was blown away by the downtempo, experimental-bass music that was coming at around 100 BPMs (Beats Per Minute) or lower. I’d classify it as beautiful, trippy bass music from space for the masses. When I was younger, I loved dubstep; however, at the ripe age of 27, the 140 BPM intense energy drops can exhaust me. Rezz’ music kept those industrial sounds at a lower tempo, giving me the tonality and texture I always loved from dubstep at a lower speed and energy I could get behind.

I loved dubstep, also, because of how creative and crazy I could get with my whomping or headbanging as most would call it. I always called it whomping because that’s what dubstep sounds like. If you don’t know what whomping is, check the video below of a mom whomping. You can really get creative with it. It’s kind of like dancing to heavy metal with A LOT more moves. With Rezz’ music, I was still able to WHOMP, combining my two favorite elements of dubstep with the unavoidable passage of time. This is WHY I loved her music the first time my ears laid ground to the frequencies she was combining and arranging.

After Bonnaroo, I was hooked. When I got home, I read about her and listened to all her music. Standard operating procedure when you’re blown away. I found out she really blew up on deadmau5’s mau5trap label and was found early on by Skrillex. She released her first two EPs in 2016: The Silence is Deafening and Something Wrong Here (both released on mau5trap), and peaked at #19 on the Billboard Dance Charts late in 2016.

When I saw her at Electric Zoo, I spent the most time with my camera in my backpack dancing alone to her set. I couldn’t have been happier. This was her debut show on her Mass Manipulation World Tour.

I wanted to see her on the biggest stage with more lights and her accompanying visuals around her. Another aspect of Rezz’ show that is out of this world is her visual performance. There is an essence of hypnosis in the majority of her visuals; a perfect compliment to her sound. There is typically a lot of red and black spirals of different patterns that put listeners into a visual trance. Occasionally during her sets, there will be other Rezz animations there to mass manipulate. The more Rezz’ the merrier in my opinion.

#EZoo2017 @OfficialRezz Riverside stage was too small for her http://pic.twitter.com/rUwJWLy82j

— rBeatzRadio (@rBeatzRadio) September 2, 2017

Aside from the apparent tone of the above tweet, Rezz was still one of my favorite sets at Ezoo. I ended up buying her Snek T as my only merch purchase at Ezoo. Rezz’ merch was so popular, they only had one small left. I still wanted it, so I bought it and gave it to my girlfriend.

It glows in the dark, which is pretty cool if ya ask me.

Click HERE to get your OWN.

Lost Lands was more like it. It was another stop on her Mass Manipulation World Tour. Rezz did her THANG at a New York City festival; however, it’s like when you see a HUGE Great Dane in New York City. You think to yourself, “Dam, that dog is really limiting their potential in such a small area. I need to see it run free in a huge field.” Lost Lands gave me just that. The sound and visuals were everything I dreamed of, and she was in a prime-time slot. She started her set with her hit single, Relax, which provided the calming, hypnotic, spacey, weird, and exciting vibe that would carry through her entire set. I took the video below.

Rezzbians yelling, “SPACE MOM!” were out in full force. I felt weirdly at home in the middle of Ohio that night, finding so many people who were just as obsessed with Rezz as I was. After Lost Lands, I found out there’s a Facebook group called The Cult of Rezz, which I joined immediately after gaining that knowledge. I was enamored by the creative collaboration by the Rezz fans (or Rezzbians) participating in the group chat. There is a sense of respect and compassion in the group that’s been passed down by the group’s mother, Rezz. Click HERE to check the group out on Facebook.

After seeing her crush three festival stages, I was eager to catch her at a venue. I saw she was playing at Playstation Theater in my hometown of New York City, and thankfully rBeatzRadio has done enough to be able to get me access to such amazing shows.

I wrote a preview for the event, which you can read by clicking HERE, and I joined the Facebook event Cult Meet Up @ Playstation Theater to interact with my fellow Rezzbians before and at the show. In the preview, I revered Rezz’ storytelling techniques. Music is storytelling, and it takes another level of skill to do it so well with just sounds. A lot of her music doesn’t have lyrics.

I packed up my camera, and headed off to my 3rd iteration of Rezz’ Mass Manipulation World Tour. I headed straight to the bar when I got it, that’s where I saw Playstation Theater was serving a special Rezz drink. I didn’t get it because I like beer. I wondered, though, if this was her idea or not.

Mad Zach was one of Rezz’ openers. I thought he was a perfect warmup to Rezz’ more intense, higher-energy vibe. He loves experimenting with sounds, just like Rezz.

I interviewed Mad Zach earlier this year for the release of his EP, Fortress. I was impressed with his acute interest in sound design and experimentation. He’s also been taken interest by Ableton and Native Instruments, helping these music tech companies create unique sample packs that other producers can use in their music. Click HERE to read the full rBeatzRadio interview with Mad Zach.

.@madzachofficial was the perfect opener for @OfficialRezz _ http://pic.twitter.com/QBFvi6LF3P

— rBeatzRadio (@rBeatzRadio) December 19, 2017

Rezz agreed because, duh, she PICKED HIM, and she’s super involved with her fanbase. She makes it a point to really be there for her fans when she can, regularly replying back when you catch her attention. This is another aspect that makes Rezz great, and another reason that she was named Dance’s Breakout Artist of 2017 by Billboard. Rezz has truly built up an organic, engaged audience through the last couple of years. These fans are also super devoted to her cause because she’s there for them.

Couldn’t agree more !

— ᴿᵉᶻᶻ (@OfficialRezz) December 19, 2017

She started off with, Relax, which is such a good song to start with. As I said above, it sets the tone for the rest of the night, letting listeners know to throw all their anxieties away because this isn’t a scary bass performance, this is REZZ.

She eventually delved into an evil edit of Porter Robinson & Madeon’s Shelter, which is a favorite of mine because that vocal chop melody is super catchy and comforting, then the script is flipped, adding power and grit creating a stark contrast. The bass was so heavy, as you can see from the video taken below, thanks to Playstation Theater’s in-house sound system powered by JBL.

Rezz relies a lot on sub-bass in her song compositions. According to Google, sub-bass is “low-register pitched pitches approximately below 60 Hz and extending downward to include the lowest frequency humans can hear, assumed at about 20 Hz. In this range, human hearing is not very sensitive, so sounds in this range tend to be felt more than heard.” Therefore, her music is very much FELT. This also explains the movement of the phone, as it’s unable to hold still from the heavy sub-bass.

After the evil edit of Shelter, you can hear her going into probably her 2nd most popular song off Mass Manipulation, DRUGS! She obviously played most songs from the album since that’s what the tour was about!

  One of my favorite drops was when she played Rage Against the Machine – Killing In The Name (Just A Tune Flip), bringing that heavy metal/ punk rock feel to a modern day electronic setting.  Bringing back those old-school rock style vibes into a bass music setting is a fantastic way to change it up during sets. The nostalgia factor kicks in, where everyone in the audience remembers that old song, and goes crazy to its modern day spin. I loved this song, so I posted the Soundcloud embed below.

Killing in the name of @OfficialRezz _ http://pic.twitter.com/3Lryx2SBoL

— rBeatzRadio (@rBeatzRadio) December 19, 2017

From time to times, Rezz would slow it down and play some noticeable vocals. At one point, playing her song with Laura Brehm, Melancholy from her Billboard chart topping Something Wrong Here EP. Rezz’ melodies are quite noticeable, creating a sense of uncertainty and anxiety. A lot of her songs don’t have lyrics; however, the storytelling in her songa speak to a contrast between confusion and power.

This drop also had my head spinning. Since Rezz has such a sinister vibe to her show, I decided to put this old-timey black and white filter over the video. I’m not sure what the song is and have been trying to find it ever since! Someone help ID!

Towards the end of her set, she played her new single with Isqa, Psycho.

New single by @officialrezz & @isqamusic – Psycho _

A post shared by rBeatz Radio (@rbeatzradio) on Dec 19, 2017 at 12:29pm PST

Overall, Rezz has been my favorite artist to go see in 2017. She’s not only my current favorite up-and-coming artist. She is my #1 favorite artists at the moment for everything I described above. There are still tour dates for Rezz’ Mass Manipulation World Tour, so if you’re feeling the vibe and notice she’s playing in a city near you…

Click HERE to purchase tickets to Rezz’ Mass Manipulation World Tour

Photos from Rezz @ Playstation Theater

from rBeatz Radio http://ift.tt/2oMAGmG

[monicccalml-blog]

Important note: I am not English or anything so sorry for any spelling/grammar mistakes

 Kesha’s newest album came out on 11 Augustus 2017. Of course I know Kesha, she sang famous songs like: ‘Tic Tok’, ‘Die Young’ and ‘We R Who We R’ I also know that Kesha had a really hard time because of a man named Dr Luke, he is a horrible man and Kesha took him to court but all her charges were dismissed. Well, this is her comeback album: It has 14 tracks but first, let’s look at the cover art. The cover art gives me space vibes, she is literally in space and has a bunch of UFO’s on the ceiling. Kesha herself appears to be standing in water completely nude. There is also a line around her, could be the feeling of being trapped. But I have no clue what that eye is doing there on the right. Kesha seems to be looking at a bright light or she is moving towards it, the light could be meaning ‘freedom’. Also on the left the room she is in seems to be melting away. On to the tracks on the album! Track 1: Bastards. Starting the album off with a slow and meaningful song is something I did not expect but she did it with a good song. The guitar gives me old Kesha vibes because she is a country artist and knows how to play the guitar. The song Is really meaningful and I love how Kesha is being honest with us: ‘Don’t let the bastards bring you down, don’t let the assholes wear you out.’ She really is hitting the high notes at the right places, I notice that Kesha has been working on her vocals because I didn’t expect this from her at all and I’m loving it. She is shutting her haters down with this song! ‘I’ve been underestimated my whole life. I know people gonna talk shit (tututu dum).’ I love the tututu dum she adds in the end, she makes it seem like it isn’t a big deal and she is just... mentioning it. I am really loving the song and I feel like this song wouldn’t be the same if Kesha didn’t hit those high notes.  Just when I was about to get bored with the strumming of the guitar Kesha adds a more instrumental and powerful outro letting the song keep its edge and the Childs play again with singing: ‘La la la la la la eh’ The song is telling us to not let haters get to us and Kesha is mentioning that she also gets hate from people and that she just doesn’t care anymore which I love. track 2: Let ‘Em Talk featuring The Eagles of Death Metal. Electric guitars in the beginning, I love the electric guitar so I’m here for it.  Kesha is going full force in the song, again hitting high notes with some words like ‘baby’. The beginning was good but the chorus is really funky, telling us to just live our lives and let people just talk about it. This is old school Kesha and this song is a real bop. The way she says ‘Do’ after the chorus gives the song life, really, if she wouldn’t have said it like this it would have lost its touch.  I love how with the influence of The Eagles of Death Metal the song has a rock side to it but still manages to contain its country side. The song is really catchy but to be honest I wouldn’t want to listen to this for more times than 5 times, it will lose its touch if you’ll put it on repeat. Track 3: Woman featuring The Dap-Kings Horns I know this is a single on the album and I like the beginning already, Kesha telling the man ‘okay shut up’. She again has a special way of saying a word, this time with ‘woman’. I also love the laughing vocals, It suites the song. I feel like this is the ‘Independent Woman’ of the 2010′s: ‘I buy my own things, I pay my own bills’ but this is edgier with the lyric ‘I’m a motherfucking woman baby that’s right, I don’t need a man to be holding me to tight.’ I also love it when she says ‘don’t touch my weave’, it makes the song more relatable to a lot of people and gives the song a funny side.  Wow, the song also uses trumpets, It really in the background but that makes it even better. I really like this song, it gives everyone a feeling of empowerment and it’s an amazing song. What are those things at the end of the song? It feels like someone is laughing but it also sounds like a seagull... maybe a seagull that’s laughing? Yes probably. Track 4: Hymm Again a softer song, no guitars or trumpets this time. Kesha’s voice really suits this style to be honest. This chorus gives me life, it makes me close my eyes and enjoy this song. I really like the lyric on this album! ‘I know that I’m perfect, even though I’m fucked up.’ What is this song even about? A hymm for how we live? So basically this is just a song about living your life, I don’t care actually I really like the song.  It’s so soft but Kesha’s voice really changes it, she is reaching for notes in the end and it’s great. This really is a different Kesha, I’m not used to hearing this. Why is there not a music video for this song? This is the first song that has vibes from the cover art.

Track 5: Praying Ah the lead single of the album, this is Kesha’s comeback song with strong vocals and a deep message. In the music video Kesha is playing the piano, I didn’t know she could play the piano, that’s amazing.  This song is 100% about that asshole Dr Luke. So she is telling him that she is ‘thankful’ for him giving her fire and strength, she hopes he is changing his soul and being a better person and that he’ll find peace. Wow this is amazing and what a comeback song! it’s just her and piano and some violins in the background, it is a really beautiful song. The backing vocals give me a opera vibe but I may be reaching. I feel like she is going to hit mad notes because she is building up to something in the bridge, her voice becomes stronger and deeper and the piano chords are pressed in harder. Geez that high note! Kesha really did that, this high note will go down in history as one of the best high notes, damn can she also do this live? I hope so. After the high note everything drastically changed and now drums are added. The way she said Praying in the end is so soft and great. That is an amazing comeback song and I think no one expected this from the country girl. Track 6: Learn to Let Go The intro involves hard drums so I’m guessing this song will also be a bit edgy. The instruments are more pushed forward then Kesha’s vocals and I think they should have balanced it. But in the chorus it is actually suitable but I can’t even hear what she says before ‘demons inside me.’ This is another anthem for people, Kesha really became that girl. Kesha changes her vocals in the chorus but she changes it so it goes one in one with the song and also with the fact that she is also saying a lot in one sentence, girl when do you breath. In the bridge I just love the way she says ‘why’, also giving the some something extra. I love the build up to the last chorus, I feel like that last chorus is known for being epic and Kesha did a great job with that. The song is great on its own but I think it is not that good compared to the past songs on this album, but not every song can be flawless and everyone has a different taste. Kesha does a great job in keeping this album still fun to listen to, it’s a kind of album you put on and out of nowhere the album is finished without you noticing. Maybe I’m saying this to quickly because I am only at track 6. Track 7: Finding You

Guitars are back! So this is Kesha’s first love song... oh ‘and forget we’re dying.’ This is then a song about a relationship that is breaking apart. No it’s about love XD. This is a sweet song, she is saying that even after the life she will find her lover. I just love the way Kesha is expressing her feelings in the album ‘so when I say forever it’s the goddamn truth.‘ Kesha is really showing that you can make a bop with little use of instruments, the drums are following 1 pattern and in the chorus they change a bit, in the end the guitar disappears and some piano chords are used. I really wonder of this love song is Kesha’s real experience or just a song she wrote. This song is so sweet, deep and real, Kesha knows what she is doing.

Track 8: Rainbow Yes a slow song with the piano again. I had to pause the song a bit to catch my breath. The text is so deep and empowering, this is a song that will help you through hard times and the rainbow theme makes me think of Cyndi Lauper’s song True Colors. I feel like this song is more about the message behind and the instruments so Kesha’s vocals will just be ‘normal’.  This song is not only about your demons but about saying that you are stronger then the demons and that you are a star. Great job with this song Kesha, during the interlude I started crying. Kesha had a hard time and she is telling that she is happier now and that we need to celebrate life with her. Track 9: Hunt You Down The title itself sounds funny, she is gonna hunt someone down. The Country is back and I’m liking that.  This song is again about not wanting to be owned by someone, like woman. Omg she is yodelling, this is so random and amazing. Oh I understand, she doesn’t want to be called baby or those sugar names but she does want to be his favourite person, that is relatable I love it.  Okay she is telling him she never killed someone, I love how I don’t even find it weird because of the country vibe.  ‘If you’ll fuck around, I’m gonna hunt you down.’ That says enough. She is saying she sees everything he does... aka she hacked his Insta, facebook, twitter, whatsapp. This song is really swingy and then you start laughing because of the lyric. In the bridge Kesha really doesn’t finish her sentences and it is kinda annoying but I forgive her because this song is really funky. I KNEW she was gonna include a conversation in the song. Just imagine your lover coming to you and saying ‘I love you, don’t make me kill you.‘ In any other case then Kesha, run. Track 10: Boogie Feet featuring The Eagles of Death Metal You immediately hear the Eagles of Death Metal are in this because the electric guitars are back. Kesha is changing her voice again! ‘alright.’ I feel like Kesha had a lot of fun with this song. I also like the ‘talking vocals’, something different with a really different tone then in the beginning of the song. She is talking about Pepsi and you hear a can open, this song is really extra. Her vocals sound like she is singing that part while grabbing her nose and blocking the nostrils. They are really giving Kesha a lot of vocal effects. I really like the part ‘Dance with me, dance with me please.’ And then a man that repeats that sentence. The second part of the chorus is really good (After the first time she says ‘dance with me dance with me please.’) After ‘are you scared of these boogie feet’ the drums goes crazy and then it just stops. I don’t really like the way she is singing some parts here but the chorus is really catchy. I have a love/hate relationship with this song.

Track 11: Boots

I thought this song was gonna be country but it’s not. It’s mysterious and it really makes me want to hear the rest of the song. The drums again giving the song life! Okay she is saying she is becoming fucked up a lot and every time her boyfriend is next to her. This song is the first sexual song and I like that because now a lot of song is about sex, not that it’s bad but Kesha has different subjects for her song which I like. This song has something but I can’t figure out what yet, maybe the mysterious vibe and the way Kesha sounds.  I like the part after she says Boots a lot. Kesha being cheesy calling herself a kitty because she has claws, lol. She just wants her guy to satisfy her I think. the beat of this song is so amazing and without this beat I would hate this song.

Track 12: Old Flames (Can’t Hold a Fire To You) featuring Dolly Parton No way Dolly Parton?! A country icon! I love this song already, I didn’t know Dolly Parton was still active, she is 71! You go girl. Anyway... The beginning has electric guitars and drums, I thought this was going to be a typical country song to be honest. Dolly Parton just screamed/moaned in the intro, this is going to be an edgy song. When Kesha started singing the instruments just stopped, interesting. I was like ‘what is happening in the background’ but it was just Dolly Parton singing in the background. There is a banjo-like instrument in the background and I find that a great addition to the song. What is the song about? I don’t even understand the title let alone the lyric at this moment. Kesha’s and Dolly’s voices sound amazing together, Kesha is singing in a low tone and Dolly in a high tone. The fun thing is that Kesha is starting to sing a sentence and after 1 word Dolly hops in and sings along, it sounds like she keeps forgetting she is suppose to sing. The song is really not edgy, electric guitars and drums are the main instruments but it is slow and soothing. Dolly Parton still has that beautiful voice at age 71. And now Kesha is in the background. I’m so loving this duet, it’s better than expected, I have no clue what the song is about but they are performing it so well. Bravo to the both of them! The ending is that ending you need to stand up and clap.

Track 13: Godzilla

A slow song again. Lol what is this song about: ‘What do you get if you take Godzilla to the mall.’ Oh this song is suppose to be sad and I feel bad for laughing. Kesha is again singing ’la di da di da di da’ like she is singing about the most normal subject ever. A slow song with again only guitars and piano but this is meaningful and funny at the same time because who sings about Godzilla. Kesha is friends with Godzilla and tries for Godzilla to meet her mother. Godzilla is only tame if he has pizza and videogames, so she caught bigfoot and tamed him with pizza and videogames, I’m here for these lyric. I don’t actually like the song but it I don’t hate it, it’s just a fun song.  Damn the biggest plot twist from this album, she is in love with Godzilla.

Track 14: Spaceship

Because of that title I’m going to say that Kesha is in a spaceship in the cover art. Banjo’s are added and I’m interested in seeing what Kesha is going to do with those.  She has the same vocal effect as in Boots and it’s not my favourite. I really want to listen to what she is saying but because of the way she is singing I can’t understand it. Drums are added, okay. She is waiting for her spaceship to arrive, wow I’m having a blackout is this literally or not because she is also saying that she doesn’t care if he don’t believe her. Okay I’m starting to get tired by this banjo, maybe it is just me but I don’t like that the banjo is the main instrument with the drums. But actually the song is not horrible but I don’t really like it because I get bored with it after 1 minute and the song is 5 minutes. Okay the last chorus starts and out of nowhere I like it. logic. I do like the fragment of Kesha talking with space references. ‘nothing is real, love is everything and I know nothing’ why did she add the love part in it is my question? I don’t care because it makes this fragment even more mysterious. I guess she got her spaceship because the song ends with the sound of a plane so I guess that’s the spaceship. The ending actually makes it more mysterious and it makes me want to repeat the song again, that is amazing I love how Kesha did that.

This was the album from Kesha! I think this is a great comeback album with different sides of Kesha as she sings about the fun in live, the haters in life, overcoming the hate in life, love and whatever spaceship was about. I will say again that I won’t get bored listening to this album and if I’ll listen to it again it will be over real quick because every song has something to it. If Kesha is to do a tour in Europe, I’ll go to her concert!