Album Spotlight: Diablo Swing Orchestra - The Butcher's Ballroom

Sometimes I find it difficult to pick something to write about on this blog.  Other times, the choice is obvious.  This is one of the more obvious choices.  Last week, an album called The Butcher's Ballroom by the Diablo Swing Orchestra appeared almost simultaneously on two blogs that I follow - namely, Free Albums Galore and Free Metal Albums (in fact, if you are a regular visitor to this blog, you may already have spotted this album in the sidebar under the Free music from around the web section, as both of those blogs are included there).  Marvin at Free Albums Galore wrote an excellent review of the album - as soon as I read the phrase "an insane combination of heavy metal, swing jazz, a traditional European music smorgabord, and a classical soprano voice that probably broke wine glasses in the studio," I knew that this was an album I had to check out.

 

It didn't take me very long to see that Marvin was absolutely right about this album.  This is probably the weirdest sounding album I've heard since I discovered Thumpermonkey Lives!; I think that if I hadn't already been used to hearing music that is a little on the strange side (such as Thumpermonkey Lives!, Mr. Bungle, and Devil Doll), my own head probably would have exploded upon hearing The Butcher's Ballroom - it really is that crazy.  The Diablo Swing Orchestra have managed to take all of the disparate genres listed above and craft a sound that is utterly unique; instead of sounding gimmicky (which would have been all too easy to do), it just works.  The swing metal of the opening track, "Balrog Boogie", does a great job of establishing the mood of the album; if you haven't been scared off after this song, then sit back and enjoy the ride, as it only keeps getting better.  "D'angelo", one of two short ballads on the album, is absolutely beautiful, consisting only of acoustic guitar and operatic female vocals; the other, "Qualms of Conscience", is a solo piano piece.  One of my favourite moments on the album is the transition between the sitar-infused "Gunpowder Chant" and "Infralove", which starts with an electronic beat before hopping into a number of different styles.  My favourite song overall is the final one, "Pink Noise Waltz", which throws just about everything in the band's arsenal at the listener, going from metal to a piano solo to a flute solo to a chugging NWOBHM groove to a cool jazzy outro.

 

The Butcher's Ballroom really is something that needs to be heard to be believed.  If you like adventurous, experimental music that doesn't conform to any preset standards, this is definitely something you should hear.  It can currently be downloaded as a 76.18 MB zip file from Jamendo.  Happy listening!

 

URLs:

http://freealbums.blogsome.com/2009/08/12/diablo-swing-orchestra-the-butchers-ballroom/

http://freemetalalbums.wordpress.com/2009/08/12/diablo-swing-orchestra-the-butchers-ballroom/

http://totallyfreemusic.blogspot.com/2008/01/artist-spotlight-thumpermonkey-lives.html

http://www.jamendo.com/en/album/49216

Song Spotlight: Sofia Talvik - "Strawberries On My Tongue"

In one of the best uses of Twitter I have yet seen, Swedish singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Sofia Talvik has made her new summer single, "Strawberries On My Tongue", available for the "price" of one tweet. If you're already a Twitter user, downloading the single is as simple as entering your Twitter login details on the download page; if not, just head over to the Twitter site and set up your own account. While you're there, you may want to check out Sofia's profile so that you can begin following her and receiving her updates; that's how I found out about this single, and I was able to download it within minutes of its release.

As you might expect from its branding as a summer single, "Strawberries On My Tongue" is a celebration of everything about summer. Everything about it is very mellow and laid back, from the piano and acoustic guitar to the hushed vocals and the sound of ocean waves in the background. Also included in the 15 MB download is a live recording of the song featuring Sofia and her band as well as special guest Steafan Hannigan. The live version features slightly different instrumentation and is a little bit faster than the studio version, which is a refreshing change of pace from artists who play their songs note for note in concert.

Though it's not yet summer anywhere on this planet, listening to "Strawberries On My Tongue" might make you feel like it is (even if you have a frost warning in your overnight forecast, as I do!). Happy listening!

Update: I have been informed by Ms. Talvik that it's rain in the background, not waves - evidently Swedish summers are rainy.  :D

URLs:
http://www.sofiatalvik.com/download/strawberries/
http://twitter.com/
http://twitter.com/sofiatalvik

Artist Spotlight: Sofia Talvik

Sofia Talvik is an artist that I discovered while searching for free Christmas music last year. Her 2007 Christmas single, simply entitled "Christmas", had such a unique, twisted take on traditional Christmas music that I made a note to check out more of her music after Christmas was over. When I found her 2008 Christmas single, "A Carol for the Lonely", I absolutely fell in love with the song and began looking for more of her music immediately (both of these songs are still available on her download page in case you want to either get a really early start on this year's Christmas music or do some catching up on last year's Christmas music). Fortunately, she has a lot of music that can be checked out absolutely free from a variety of sources; this post is an attempt to bring all of those sources together in order to make this wonderful music easier to find.

The first thing I would recommend is a very awesome twist on the idea of a free album. Sofia allowed 13 artists from around the world to each remix one song from her 2007 album Street of Dreams, the result being Street of Dreamix, which can be obtained totally free from her website. This album is very similar in spirit to the Nine Inch Nails remix albums, especially since most of those are also now being given away freely (if a little quietly) on the NIN remix site. Some of my favourite tracks on the album are Tobiah's remix of "It's Silly Now", with its 8-bit sound effects, and Libra's remix of "Running Out of You", which is just an awesome song period.

Sofia's last.fm page also plays host to a number of freely available tracks - all you need to do is look for "free download" links. last.fm pages can be quite volatile, with tracks going up and down all the time, so I can't say for sure what you'll see there when you visit, but some of the great songs I've been able to find there are "Ghosts", "Wish" (the original version of one of the songs from Street of Dreams), and the infectiously catchy "Blåa linjen Hem".

Likewise, her iLike page has a number of free downloads available - just look for the "Free MP3" links this time. The real highlight here is a set of 7 live tracks; a little Googling revealed that these are from a recording of an unplugged concert by Swedish radio station P4. These are among my favourite tracks that I have discovered, as Sofia's vocals and songwriting skills both shine brilliantly in the unplugged format. Also of note on the iLike page is a cover of Joni Mitchell's "River", which is done beautifully.

There's a good bit of overlap on each of these sites, but each also has things that you won't find on the others, so if you like what you hear, you'd do well to hit each of these sites and scoop up whatever you can find. Have fun, and happy listening!

URLs:

http://www.sofiatalvik.com/download/
http://www.sofiatalvik.com/download/streetofdreamix/
http://www.last.fm/music/Sofia+Talvik/+charts?rangetype=week&subtype=tracks
http://apps.facebook.com/ilike/artist/Sofia+Talvik