Label: AMAdea Records

Album: U

Genre: POP/Electronic

Buy CD

ARTIST DESCRIPTION

Founded in 2001, Gravity Co. started out as a side project, working on the soundtrack to the computer game Trans, side project turned to full-time and they haven’t looked back since.

In early 2002 Gravity Co. made their debut, releasing their first single ‘Away’ accompanied by an art-school style video directed by Gravity Co.’s Producer Georgi Stanev. The bands first try topped MM TV’s (Bulgaria’s most popular music television) International Airplay Chart, holding on to the #1 spot for three consecutive weeks. ‘Away’ would later be included in NovaXposure – the monthly compilation released by ‘Radio Ventures’ with songs by Elton John, Sarah Connor, Alcazar and others.

Gravity’s second single ‘Mr. No One’ would set the critics straight, as to the bands potential, taking a play-list space in BMG’s official weekly video compilation, alongside Carlos Santana and Christina Aguilera.

The band stretched the boundaries further when Bill Withers granted official permission to record and release a cover version of his all time classic ‘Ain’t No Sunshine.

‘Away’, ‘Mr. No One’ and ‘Ain’t No Sunshine’ all made the cut for Gravity Co.’s highly anticipated debut album ‘U’ released December 13th 2002. Gravity, have since been identified by an original electro pop sound, with warm vocal melodies over pumping electro beats.

An instant success, ‘U’ brought home the first music awards – ‘Best Debut’ and ‘Best Pop/Dance Album’, from MM TV’s annual awards (the Bulgarian equivalent of the Brits).

Having released two celebrated albums, known for their engaging stage antics – performing full capacity venues and supporting the likes of the Stereo MC’s, Fun Lovin’ Criminals and more recently Ladytron – Gravity Co. teamed up with a wide range of popular Bulgarian DJ’s to remix some of the band’s hits.

AWARDS

- ‘Best Debut’ and ‘Best Pop/Dance Album’, from MM TV’s annual awards (the Bulgarian equivalent of the Brits).
- Holding on to the #1 spot for three consecutive weeks in the MM TV’s (Bulgaria’s most popular music television) International Airplay Chart.
- ‘Wings’, the first video by a Bulgarian Artist with airplay on MTV! Boasting Giorgio de Chirico inspired 3D animation – courtesy of one of Bulgaria’s finest Alexander Sokerov – ‘Wings’ would be played 13 weeks running on MTV’s World Chart Express.
- ‘Best Band’ from the annual MM TV awards of 2005. An additional ‘Band of the Year’ award was presented by Melo TV Mania’s annual awards.
- ‘Best Rock/Alternative Song’ for ‘What I Want’ (‘Instinct’ 2005) from the annual MM TV awards 2006
- On the 25 of March 2007, minutes before taking the stage to contribute a mind-blowing ‘Empty World’ against a multi-media frenzy, on the night of the BG Radio Music Awards Ceremony, the boys were called to the stage to collect the ‘Best Band Award’.
- Gravity Co. are the uncontested winners at the MMTV Music Awards, with the record 4 statuettes:
Best Pop/Dance song – Empty World
Best Pop/Dance Album – Mixedup
Best Band
Best Music Video – Empty World /Directed by Valeri Milev/

MUSIC QUOTES

The debut album “U” by the most successive Bulgarian’s band Gravity Co. is from those releases that on the first listen, you knew something amazing was happening but didn’t quite grasp it. By the second listen, you are hooked. By the third, fourth, and fifth listens, you realized you had stumbled upon a rare gem. The album range somewhere, between pop and electronic music with eminent contemporary elements, which sometimes even goes beyond the expectations. But to those with patience and an ear for the sublime, this will become one of the most rewarding and satisfying electronica albums of the decade. The sheer talent in this record is staggeringly high. Not only these guys have reached a new tier of studio production and aesthetic precision, but on top of that, the vocals are truly incredible. More importantly, it’s noticeable in the sequencing and mastering of each perfectly-layered sound. Listen on a solid, high-end system, and all the textures will open up and dance across the room in perfect balance. “U” has achieved a new level of greatness and this is easily some of the best music albums you could have in your collection.
- AMAdea Records, BULGARIA

If you like you can check the CD here.

Best clip for song “Good Bye,” as judged by Russian-born alt-pop artist Lena and her fans, wins grand prize, with eight runners-up also awarded; submissions deadline is June 30.

Lena is giving fans the opportunity to make a killer video for her – and the winner gets $5,000. Grand Prize is prize was made possible thanks to the generosity of her fans.

The Russian-born singer, whose maxi single “My Little, Temporary Loves”, will be released digitally on Fa Records (currently available exclusively on Nimbit), has challenged all aspiring film makers to produce a stellar clip for her song “Good Bye” and post it on YouTube for everybody to see.

The winning clip will be selected based on two criteria: artistic merit and user votes. The former will be determined by Lena herself, while the latter will be based on number and quality of YouTube views and Diggs.
http://www.farecords.com/lena-contest.html

Whatever one could say about Hills Rolling, the moniker of one-man band Trey McGriff, you can’t accuse him of having shallow roots. On his myspace page he lists as influences about one hundred or so bands and musicians. There are old schoolers (Otis Redding, The Beatles, Pink Floyd), new schoolers ( The Killers, My Morning Jacket), tweeners (Nirvana, Dinosaur, Jr.) electro types (The Cure, Depeche Mode) and eclecticians like him (Beastie Boys, Beck). No doubt this is in part a smart-ass commentary on the “what are your influences” question. It is also a list of people he has most likely listened to and is another way of saying that all the music he has heard, or for that matter, everything he has been through, is recorded by the brain, swished around by time, and reflected in his songs. Loves, hates, sounds, tastes, it’s all in your head. Musically and lyrically, this message comes through loud and clear on his CD Sweet Tea.

With all this in his musical blender, he has come up with a record that is like a meal with different foods, different flavors, and quite tasty. Sweet Tea is not an album with a theme or unified sound per say, but the strength of the songs and the individualism of his voice and musical palette steers the record clear of being a hodgepodge of stuff. He is not intellectually and intentionally going from style to style as if he’s searching for an identity, or flailing about hoping to catch the listener’s ear. The songs are well-crafted and come from his heart, making the music distinctly and honestly Hills Rolling. Not unlike a jazz artist who expresses his individual voice on an album by having a ballad, swing numbers, a blues and a song with a Latin flavor.

“Crazie” opens the record with a catchy bit of vintage hard rock that is the ‘08 answer to “Rock and Roll Hootchie Coo” by Rick Derringer. The macho stance of that song is replaced by the simple wonder of gettin’ down with a beautiful girl that’s made him so crazy that “I don’t know what to do / I’m gettin’ dizzy I’m shakin’ in my shoes.” The music works well with the song, alternating between hard bar chord guitar licks and trippy tremolo/vibrato-soaked guitar leads. His pop sensibility keeps everything tight, short and sweet like the tea. Hip hop drums open “Not Again”, then the song gives way to the kind of acoustic/electric guitar-based rock that never goes out of style. Percussion and a home boy chorus give the song a party feel despite the grimness of the song’s slice of life lyrics: “I just live day to day / barely keepin’ my head above the water / Not again got all these feelings trapped inside me / Not again can’t pay the bills I think I’m sinking your way . . . I’m so lonely / some day / we’ll ride the waves into the sun.”

This cut deftly combines a pleasant tune with grimness, humor, and hope all rolled into one. “Watching The Waves” is psychedelic rock by way of the Cure, with a beer soaked college kid trippin’ on playing some simple guitar chords and having a moment with his friends. The harmonica captures the feeling of timeless, be-here-now grooviness that puts you right there on the beach, as McGriff chants “Standing in the ocean watching the waves roll by, roll by.”

One of McGriff’s other musical projects is in the mode of experimental electronica and is called SomeWhere OutHere. The song “Middle of Nowhere” hints in this direction. Starting with an electronic drum pulse and droning bass with a spacey guitar riff ala New Order, this piece is a soundtrack to doing . . . whatever. Weird sounds come in and out of focus as the interlocking licks and drum beat march on. Whereas these elements might seem abstract on another record, here the music maintains a grassroots, funky, down home feeling.

In her October 2007 article in the New Yorker, author Sasha Frere-Jones, the best music writer around I must add, wrote that, unlike rock from the 50’s through the 80’s, twenty-first century indie rock is totally devoid of the blues and soul, the root-feeding soil of so much great music. This leaves indie rock and its offshoots, in his words, “full of lassitude and monotony.” No problem with that here. Hills Rolling McGriff is from Georgia or thereabouts, so the blues, soul and country are in his blood. Perhaps that is what helps blend the musical stew he’s cookin’ up on Sweet Tea. This CD is further proof that while commercial rock and pop are rotting and twisting in the wind, these are great days for music down here where just us folks are living.

http://www.myspace.com/hillsrolling

There is a great appeal to this kind of music and at the same time, it can be eerie and haunting and put a little chill in your spine. It comes at you in rapid succession as Elliot starts singing all of his mind-bending lyrics. The title track is ominous, particularly when you watch the video, which is an ad for to the Rachel Caine Morganfield Vampire series. You would never know it though; it has you thinking it is a movie. On “Pieces”, he sings about how his heart is in pieces on the floor and he is just a toy to his lover but he is not going to cry even though he “Can’t seem to get this feeling gone” or “Get this lovin’ right” This is a straight from the hip shot aimed at his partner.

This album has an interesting dance club beat to it at times then all at once; it is a futuristic and cold waltz of death. On “Output”, he sings about how his love is breaking up as if he is on a cell phone or trying to see this person on the other side of the video cam. There is a short segment in the middle of the track where the mood shifts and Nate Schneekloth, who contributed the project, plays some rolling acoustic piano to show you his talent for versatility on the keyboards and the ability to play more than the prevailing style of electronic based music. It was as if he removed himself from the entire process to play a prelude to a jazz album. It is a very interesting transition then he jumps back to the initial mood set by the driving and pumping electronic synthesized melt-your-brain apocalypse like it was just a missed beat of the heart. Every track is hard to forget once you listen to all the lyrics, and find yourself bobbing your head, tapping your feet and then before you know it playing it all over again.

Elliot Scott really has something here and I think realistically there are a few different avenues that this music can take. With the nightclubs and this obsession with vampires, I think there is a big play there with movies and even games.

Check out this album and the video, which is a necessary evil, on Elliot’s My Bands Music profile, you can stream the entire album before you decide to buy tracks or the CD.

Artist: Elliot Scott
Title: Danger Is Here
Genre: Electronica-Alternative Pop
Label: Independent
Website
MyBandsMusic Profile
Tracks:
01. Danger Is Here
02. Kontwined
03. Output
04. Next!
05. Try Again
06. Strange Thoughts
07. Pieces
08. Walking Wounded
09. Terraform
10. Who Knows
11. Subconscious
12. Visions

© MuzikReviews.com

Keith “MuzikMan” Hannaleck

The Instants are a quirky bunch of guys (and girls) with even quirkier songs. I wouldn’t want to make the mistake of comparing quirk, but if you put them in a room with Noel Fielding they would wee all over him. I didn’t quite know what to expect from the gig, but the red-lit rustic Bush Hall certainly got me in the mood for sharp & funky garage grooves (and sex). Luckily the Instants didn’t fail to deliver. Their first song “monkey in my head” rang my bell, and they continued their set with cutting riffs and a stomp-clap-move groove that didn’t disappoint. Their songs are loaded with energy, spirit and its always nice to hear stories of robots pleasing women on planet mars and peculiar transsexuals called Julia, while the singer mimes what he sings in a surprisingly un-annoying way.

If you put the Kinks, XTC and a Kaiser Chiefs’ synthesizer in a room, pumped them full of crystal meth/Viagra and watched the orgy that ensued, their twisted freak of a love child would be something like this band, all under the shadow of creative lunacy. The Instants seem to know their stuff and play together well, along with their theatrical front man.

If you get a chance, go and see them, they are the ones to watch in 2008.

’saratus persen’ is a world music group from Indonesia, formed in the beginning of September 2001, combining traditional music instruments : balinesse gamelan such as pamade & kantil, sundanesse such as drum & suling, african djembe with a western music instruments : drum, electric bass, violin, bongo, rotothom & percussion etc…the sound music more a balinesse influence….so attractive, nice for move and dance…. www.saratuspersen.com www.myspace.com/saratuspersen

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Multiculturalism in Rock — American Musician DIRK HAMILTON Puts Lyrics In Italian

San Francisco, Calif. -
Dirk Hamilton is back from a month-long tour of Italy. This makes a total of three months there this year. He’s been touring in Italy every year since a fan/promoter encouraged him to come over and ‘do some shows’ more than fifteen years ago — and today his brand of roots-based alternative rock has a sizable italian following there.

The Ghost of Van Gogh is Hamilton’s latest CD, and this time the lyrics in the booklet are translated into Italian right next to the English. His Italian fans buy his music and fill piazzas, clubs and concert halls to see him perform. But the subtle word play in many of his songs must be nearly impossible for Italians to decipher. In fact, the Italian reviews of his shows seem strange by American standards. Italian writers often describe Hamilton’s physical mannerisms and emotive vocals as measures of the depth of his soulfulness, yet don’t mention at all the content of the songs —his lyrics— the originality of which he’s known for here in America.

Hamilton speaks fairly fluent Italian now because of the amount of time he has spent in Italy over the years. And while many of his friends there do understand some English, he knows that even one everyday idiom or colloquialism is enough to throw a non-native speaker off. After all, his layered poetry turns up multiple meanings even for native english speakers. So he rounded up the services of one of his italian friends living in America, Micol Biasetti, and set about translating all twelve new songs. The kind of translation problems to be overcome reveal themselves in titles like “The Magoombies,” “I’m the Thug of Love,” “All and Nothin’” and the enigmatic “Caterpillars in My Ears”. In the song “Meadow” for instance, Hamilton takes a look at the nature of human impact versus the resilience of the planet — and in the very first line, all of the following occur: a nursery rhyme is turned on it’s head, words that cannot be looked-up are created, and a familiar idiom is trotted out: “When Lumberjack and Lumberjill go out to play, Mother Nature takes a lickin’.” Any meaning-knots such as these were either unraveled by Micol herself, or she flagged them for Hamilton’s explanation before proceeding. The result is a CD package that provides italian speakers with close to the same experience of the artistic value of Hamilton’s lyrics as english speakers are able to enjoy.

Born in Indiana and raised in California, by the time Hamilton graduated from high school, he’d already been singing and playing guitar for several years. While in college, he supported himself by hitting the nightclub, bar and music festival circuit, making a name for himself with his idiosyncratic style and committed performances. Although he couldn’t have known it then, he’d soon have his work compared to Van Morrison, Dylan and Springsteen.

He went to Los Angeles for greater exposure and caught the attention of Steely Dan producer Gary Katz, who became the ‘in’ which led to Hamilton releasing four critically acclaimed albums in four years. (Two were released with ABC Records and two with Electra). From Hamilton’s third album, Meet Me at the Crux, the song “How Do You Fight Fire?” and the title track got enough radio airtime to put him on the map and led to him touring America. The rest is history for one to discover one song at a time, and one album after another.

His new CD, The Ghost of Van Gogh, is released on his own label (Acoustic Rock Records), and makes for a concert of intellectually sharp alternative rock. Hamilton’s intense howl blends perfectly with what this talented band puts out. Hamilton on lead vocals, acoustic and rhythm guitar and harmonica, Don Evans on lead guitar, Eric Westphal on Bass and Tim Seifert together make up The Dirk Hamilton Band. Fans of rock and musical sophistication will be happy to have checked out this musician, both his body of work and his live performance.

Dirk Hamilton returns to the Bay Area for a very limited number of shows promoting his latest CD.

In Marin: Saturday, Jan. 5 — 19 BROADWAY Fairfax, CA (415) 459-1091
Show opener: Double Barrel Duo. Doors open at 9pm

http://www.19broadway.com
http://www.dirkhamilton.com
http://www.myspace.com/dirkhamilton
http://www.splashpaint.com/dirk_19broadway.html

For more information, contact:

J. Carlson
Splashpaint Creative
TEL: 415 302 8426

Learn how you can sell my music through Kazzong.

What promises to be a great show for a great cause at a cool old bookstore in Soho:

TIFT MERRITT with THE ROSEWOOD THIEVES
Friday, November 16, 2007 at 7:00 pm
Housing Works Used Book Cafe
126 Crosby Street
New York, NY 10012
(Soho)

www.housingworksbookstore.com
$20