Betty Donelly: Alone & No Title

Bella donna of cracked porcelain

As is the case with many fortunate events in life, my discovery of Betty Donelly and her universe was exclusively due to chance. While running a search for songs with the word "belladonna" in the title (for some reason that is of no importance at the moment), I came across one entitled The Belladonna Saucer Eyes. The melody and accompaniment brought memories of Marc Almond back in his glorious Mother Fist & Her Five Daughters days, while the vocals and singing style were reminiscent of The Cure - but still, the originality of the result as a total could account for a really unique musical identity. The voice had something tormented yet powerful in its "texture", the lyrics told a strange, melancholy story, an unexpected melodic twist in the last phrases of the refrain took me completely by surprise. I was hooked.

Melchiades - Kouki: 3908

Acid post-apocalypse

3908 is the fruit of an unexpected, if not improbable, collaboration between two artists whose diametrically opposite musical temperaments promise an intriguing (at least) auditory experience. The extremely minimalistic cover and laconic, enigmatic title do a really good job at disguising the tumultuous richness hidden within. This is an album that should by all means be seen - and most importantly, listened to - in conjunction with the personal view of art expressed by each one of its contributors.

Days of December 2008

What Is Our Homeland?

Days of December 2008. Violent riots in Athens as a reaction to the killing of a young student by a policeman. The beautiful historical city center reduced to ashes, ruined properties, vandalized buildings and monuments. Who protects us from the protectors of all flags and ideologies? A video that does not try to take sides nor explain anything, but simply records (and deplores) one of the most irrational events in Greece's modern history. The patriotic poem What Is Our Homeland? by Ioannis Polemis (1862-1924) takes on a bitterly sarcastic twist, juxtaposed to those images of hate, destruction and despair.

The Melchiades Estrada Band: Pink Radio (single)

Fluorescent, inspired, fascinating

Pink Radio by The Melchiades Estrada Band boasts an intriguing title and the weird beauty of a composite, multifaceted instrumental melody that bridges the colourful epopy of the '80s with the more introverted sophistication of the '90s, and at the same time illustrates the evolution of the composer's own musical universe and personal mythology. Its parts are held together by the thread of rhythm that unfolds in the background, like a rebellious planet with its own cadence of movement, which strangely keeps the rest of the orbits attuned to the universal harmony.

Melnar Tilromen: Valley of the Withered River

Boris Christoff meets Dead Can Dance

Looking for Celtic/Gothic rock on behalf of a friend (and having received a few very nice recommendations in private, for artists on and outside Jamendo) I discovered this beautiful surprise.

MADFEET: Si l'amour etait de ce monde

To go where?

Okay... I found this album while searching for Celtic rock music for a friend, and I must admit that it attracted my curiosity, given the fact that in spite of the impressive introductions on the group's main page, the one and only review it has got so far is negative to the extreme and without any explanations. I must also admit that I usually write about the music I find interesting and which I hope other people might also like to discover; I have infinite respect for everyone's creative endeavours and their (our) agony of artistic expression, so when I don't like something, I just don't write anything. And I have to confess that this time, I find myself in a difficult position.

Arne Pahlke: flugUNtauglich

Walking on wings

And just when one might have thought that the variability and perfection of form in Suchen would not be easily surpassed, or even equalled, this new album comes to subvert this idea and give an even more intriguing dimension to Arne's already multifaceted work...

Naadir: Synapticollapse

The dynamics of reaction

A four-song EP of energetic funk rock, flirting with punk and jazzy elements and with some beautiful melodic moments. The songs denounce the injustices of life and the vanity of the world, with vigorous, passionate vocals and lyrics that manage to be angry and sensitive at the same time.

Der tollwuetige Kasper: Manchmal kommen sie wieder

God lives nowhere

The new album by Der Tollwuetige Kasper (Arne Pahlke's side project) "welcomes us into our lives" - in a life that we shouldn't feel too happy or privileged to be living... I will not refer to the technicalities concerning this particular musical style - others have done that much better than I ever could - but I will approach this work subjectively and emotionally, based on my impressions after repeated listens of Manchmal kommen sie wieder.

XKTDra: Presentations

The voice of fairies and mermaids

This is an album out of this world... Music that comes from an unknown, seductive universe, and the voice of a mermaid or a fairy, with an almost archetypal sound that speaks directly to the heart.