Bettie Serveert pie

Well, today i will be reviewing an indie band called Bettie Serveert.

Here’s a short intro to them:

Jack: hey will, i was just trying out this new brand of milk, taste good!

William: Let me try it. (tries the milk..). My gracious davvy jones…. It taste awesome! Do you have more of it? I wanna let Elizabeth have some of that.

Jack: Give me those boots and i’ll let you have some of those DUTCH MILK from Dutchland. SAVVY?

William: dutch don’t come from dutchland you moron. They come from holland.

Jack: Holland? I thought they were called hols?

Sorry for that lousy joke. Well, Yup bettie serveert is an Dutch-indie band that was more or less formed early in the 1990s. The band consist of Carol van Dyk (vocals and guitar), Peter Visser (guitar), Herman Bunskoeke (bass), Martijn Blankestijn(keys) and Gino Geudens (drums).(talk about difficult to pronounce names!). Well less crap and lets listen.

This is one of their acoustic songs, You’ve Changed:

Haha, sorry for showing you guys a song that doesn’t really have the band. HAHA. But anyway, this song should be able to showcase the unique vocals of carol van dyk. Well some people will find her voice real irritating while some(like myself) will find it unique. This song is also really well written, making use of dominant clashing chords at appropriate times in the songs which in my opinion really brings out the whole song. Without those chords, the whole song would probably be “just another nice acoustic song”. And i absolutely love the last line of the chorus: “We’re writing our names in the lifes of the ones we miss.” Couldn’t have ended the song with any better lyrics than that.

Let’s see the full band now! This song is a new song to me too:

Their myspace link: http://www.myspace.com/bettieserveert

Well, the thing about this band is; i guess that they are very straight forward in their music(listen to songs like “Beginning to see the light” and “kid’s alight“), but at the same time they can sound really deep and sophisticated( like “Lover i don’t have to love” and “Dreamaniacs“). So i guess there is something for everyone. Carol Van Dyk adds point to the whole band in general.

Can’t say anything more about them than i already have, since i haven really heard alot of their music. I guess this is the kind of band where you kind of appreaciate their determination?, the fact that they have been around for maybe 20 years already and i think they will be till a long long time. Well, thats all for today…

No Music-to, No Dream-to

DAI, DYE, DIE, dine and DAI(do as infinity)

Does “Inuyasha” sound familiar to anyone? Well, it used to be my favourite anime! BUt why am i talking about “Inyasha“? Because simply Do As Infinity sang the theme song – Fukari Mori. Which is definitely their most famous song untill now.

Well, for me…. the band’s strength can be summarised into 2 points:

1. Van Tomiko(lead singer) is bloody cute and has a unique voice
2. The Compositions are absolutely awesome (will discuss a little more later)

In case you know absolutely nothing about the band; here is a short intro to them.

Do As Infinity is a japanese trio that was formed in 1999 after the main “brain” (Dai Nagao) decided that he was going to form a band. Dai Nagao is a composer that was hired by AVEX Tracs to write songs for Ayumi Hamasaki(Queen of J-POP) and Hitomi. The band consist of Van Tomiko(lead singer), Ryo Owatari(guitarist) and Dao Nagao(guitarist but he already left DAI).

SO…. Here is the song i will be reviewing. “Shinjitsu No Uta”. (Which is absolutely my favourite song in the world!!!)

*there is absolutely no way i could post a mp3 onto wordpress. ANGRY!*

Alright let me try to explain why this is my favourite song. Firstly, if you listen to the original version, the intro arrangement (or infact the whole song) is THE BOMB. Let me name the instruments that you can hear from the intro; ErHu, Pipa, Acoustic Guitar, Synthesizer and Acoustic Piano. So many instruments yet none of them clashing with each other. And the Erhu and Pipa absolutely give the whole song a very chinese/oriental flavour to it.(in my memory, not many japanese have done this before).

Secondly, its in 6/8(my favourite rhythm). The 6/8 definitely gives the whole song a very powerful driving rhythm on the 3rds. 6/8 have been known to be used most commonly in music like blues and waltz being able to “bring people into the music” very easily.

Graph Illustrating dynamics of songs

Thirdly, DAI songs always amazes me. almost all of their songs have very defined and strong dynamics that gives you a very “shiok/good” feeling. I know this sounds stupid, like DUH! All songs are suppose to be like that. BUt DAI is able to do it exceptionally well (the increase in dynamics is drastic) not just by increasing loudness but also by increasing the overall busyness , high notes in the melody and even the lyrics help by putting emphasis on certain words. Listen to every one of their songs and you will find the same trend.

Well, if you have watched the video, you would have realised that she definitely needs to work on her vocals, live. She sounds amazing on CD but i have to say that her performance in the video was far from ideal. Her voice “cracked” and towards the end of the song where she had to hit all those high notes you could practically see her “dying” to reach them. But i absolutely salute her for not using a vocal tuner(which i know of many artist who actually uses it during their live performances). But anyway i thought the band did a good job recreating the song(though there were lots of details lacking).

Song composition: 9.5/10

Performance: 7/10

No Music-to, No Dream-to

Experience the Jimi Hendrix Experience!

Well honestly i have to say, to promise to write a review of a 20 song album/compilation was definitely hardwork, considering that its my first blogging experience and that it is JIMI HENDRIX i am reviewing on. (you can imagine how many million people will be wacking my blog the moment i say something wrong or unpleasant).

Let’s do a short intro on Jimi hendrix:

1) Guitar god

2) Rolling stones magazine ranked him #1 on “the greatest guitarist of all time”

3) Worshipped by guitarist all over the world even until today

4) His songs have been covered countless times (voodoo child, little wing, bold as love–just to name some)

5) And he is self-taught.

Yup. That should be enough to give you an idea of who or “what” he is. (well incase you were wondering why he doesn’t have any grammys, he lived in the 60′s and then grammys has just started and it was called “the best on record“. DOn’t believe me? check wiki)

Jimi Hendrix plays as a trio (called jimihendrix experience) and its just something about a trio that always fascinates people. As for me, 2 questions about trios are constantly on my mind: 1) HOW THEY MAKE THEMSELVES SOUND SO FULL(not empty)??!! 2) How does the guitarist sing and play such complicated lines at the same time?

Call me a noob but i’ve tried playing “little wing” and singing at the same time. It was a disaster. i wish i could record it down for you guys, but its just too embarrassing(considering my “shy” personality).

Being a guitarist for years, many people have adviced me to get a Jimi Hendrix album but i never did listen to their advice, until i started playing “guitar hero world tour” on Wii. HAHA. Well, it was almost like i was committing a sin to not buy a Jimi Hendrix album. WHY? you may ask. Well here is your answer:

Still don’t understand? watch the Next Clip.

Well, i’ve known that he is definitely a guitar god who is capable of ripping of your brains with his riffs and solo but to me…… He was more of a showman. If i don’t watch him live, there is no point. But i have to admit, i was completely wrong. HE SOUNDS AMAZING ON RECORD TOO!!.

So here it is, my review of the record.

Tracklisting:

1. Purple Haze
2. Fire
3. The Wind Cries Mary
4. Hey Joe
5. All Along the Watchtower
6. Stone Free
7. Crosstown Traffic
8. Manic Depression
9. Little Wing
10. If 6 was 9
11. Foxy Lady
12. Bold as Love
13. Castles made of Sand
14. Red House
15. Voodoo Child(slight Return)
16. Freedom
17. Night Bird Flying
18. Angel
19. Dolly Dagger
20. Star Spangled Banner

Yup, 20 songs. Well if you ask me, it is definitely worth your money(it costed me S$19.95).

You are probably getting tired of this post by now, trying to get through it because either you know me, or you are really bored. So i shall just focus on the overall record and some highlights of the album.

Well, i have to say, listening to the record 3 times through, i realised that there was a very observable change in the style of his music through each album and especially when his bassist changed(from noel redding to Billy cox). I was a getting a little bored when i was listening to the last 5 song of the album especially when the songs became a little “poppier” in my opinion. But i thought the choices and placement of each song was almost perfect(atleast for the first 15 songs).

Some pages from the album booklet

Purple Haze’s riff was just pure raw power which will get any rock enthusias’ head popping back and forth. My only complain is that this song is too short! And if you are expecting a complicated sounding theory filled song,… sorry you won’t find it here. The main driving force of the song is the delightful riff that you will never find sick of. (which is expressed in many of his songs) The ending solo could have went a long way if not for the fade away. haha.

All along the watchtower totally blew me away. The fill ins was just so tasty and so suitable for the song (written by bob dylan). You will be able to find some “wah wah” action in the middle of the song which resonates between ur left and right speakers. Even though it wasn’t written by him, he just expresses this song so well. Not the best singing though, but it wasn’t going to affect it at all. The song is just so well arranged, simple, not flooded with too many solos and the buildup of the whole song was wonderful.

Not only were there pictures, there were also write-ups on each song

Jimi’s songs can be divided into 2 different kinds in my opinion. Pure energetic rock and clean bluesy softer songs. If the later is what you are looking for, you won’t be dissapointed because songs like “Little wing“, “the wind cries mary” will be able to satisfy your needs. What can i say about “little wing“? The intro is pure genius, the progression was well thought out, the words were meaningful and the drums and bass was just enough to bring out the whole “slow blues” feel yet being able different from any BB king or muddy waters song. just brilliant. (Bold as love would be another similar song. And i actually think Bold as love is better than little wing-personal preference). The BIG double stop hammer-ons and pull offs were i guess totally unheard of during his era and he was able to use so many of those notes in this short song.

And you have to listen to “voodoo child“. the intro alone would be sufficient, really.

Just like yin yang, you can’t have all good and no bad, so here it is: the singing was definitely not the best you will ever hear(but i guess he was able to create a kind of personal style that makes him who he really is), and on some songs he sounded like he was rapping or reading from a book(e.g. castles made of sand – but i still love that song though).

The last song would be one of those song that will drop your jaw when you watch him live but on record,……. it just doesn’t sound right to me. It sounded like he was trying to play some national anthem while rolling on the floor(at least thats wat i pictured in my mind).  And the change in style for the last 5 songs was really spoiling the whole pace of the album. “freedom” was perhaps the only song that i enjoyed from the last 5 songs.

SO If i were to summarise the whole album in 1 word: TASTY. definitely one with lots of guitar skills to learn, one which exploits the blues and make it new, one that can make a person feel high and low at the same time.

8.5/10 for the music

(in case you were wondering what “little wing” sounded like-thats me by the way)