Vacation 2012: 19 Again

It's dark and grey outside, rainy and cold which means it's wintertime over here. And we're halfway so, about two months to go. That means it's time to take a break for a few weeks and travel to a more warm country.

This song is about the country I'm visiting, Vietnam. It's not about the most happy period of this beautiful and friendly country, but still a great and pretty groundbreaking song from halfway the eighties.

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Lack Of Ideas From Angels And Airwaves

After blink-182 imploded in 2005 front man Tom DeLonge and some friends started the group Angels & Airwaves, or AVA as they call themselves short. The members are from the same scene and play in bands like Nine Inch Nails, The Offspring and 30 Seconds To Mars. Meanwhile blink-182 got back together a while ago, but still DeLonge keeps making records with AVA. There was Love a year ago, which was available as a free download in the beginning. Now Love Part Two has been added to it and the two are bundled now.

Angels & Airwaves - Love Part Two (Ronald Says 4 out of 10)
Right from the start it's clear they continue down the same road: big bombastic compositions, echoing U2 inspired guitars and synths copied from the eighties. Pretentious tracks with big gestures, ready for football stadiums. Nothing new of course and no surprise with the background of the band members. But it doesn't come with a lot of creativity or subtlety.

The band flies right into it on every song, is clogging everything completely with echo and effects, while the drums keeps away hammering mercilessly. It's all building up using the same recipe and sounds alike. They're missing the ingenuity of the bands they are trying to copy. In short: it's a very superficial and one sided record. It's completely unclear to me what DeLong is trying to add with AVA and this album. As a way of relieve, blink-182 is probably a lot more effective and potential creativity that he's unable to express there sure can't be found here.

All songs are fully exchangeable and the album only has lows. It all sounds very unbelievable and fake, something that's more common to the emo-genre unfortunately. But even the biggest fan must be wondering what AVA is cooking up here. I can only conclude that DeLonge doesn't have enough material for more than one band. Maybe he should stick to just one hereafter.

This review has been published on ROAR E-Zine in Dutch over here.

Listen to 'Keep You Close' on Spotify.

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New Cool Collective Throw Great End Of The Year Party

Eighteen years ago the jazz combo New Cool Collective was founded. And so they named their new album Eighteen. They were programmed to play the smaller Melkweg hall but because of great interest it was moved to the bigger Max hall. And that one filled up nicely in what was going to be the last gig in 2011 for me.




New Cool Collective at Melkweg Amsterdam, December 29 2011 (Ronald Says 9 out of 10)
The band looks a bit surprised themselves. According to Benjamin Herman, great sax player and one of the original founders, they started out playing for only a handful of people. Of course they are very pleased with this great show-up, indicating that they have come a long way since. And their music changed from more traditional jazz, latin and afro-beat tunes to a whole new kind of music. All their experience, talent, skills and musical adventures are combined into music that will get everyone's hips loose and is cooler than cool.



And with this introduction in mind you know things cannot go wrong any more tonight. The band is feeling good, in great shape and in an even better better. The crowd is excited and willing to dance and the music is brilliant. The band treat us to many new songs off their new album and some great older compositions. All musicians get their moment in the spotlights. Herman, who is also the one to talk to the crowd in between songs, is showing why he's one of the best musicians in our country. The same goes for drum player Joost Kroon with his very broad repertoire of styles. Rock, swing, latin it all seems so natural to him. And then his solo...hot damn!



But let's not forget the rest of the band. This is a dream team: very skilled musicians who also have great chemistry together while playing. A special mention goes out to guitarist Anton Goudsmit and his contagious playing style. His energy and excitement is characteristic for the band: these are musicians who are playing for the love of music and most of all are having fun! I can only hope they will stay together for another eighteen years and many more after.

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Top 10 Albums 2011

Normally I don't do top 10 lists myself. But since I'm a writer for ROAR E-Zine, a Dutch music website, and they asked all their writers to come up with one I might as well post it over here as well.


The hard thing about year lists is, that they seem final, but in reality are just snapshots. So here's my 2011 snapshot:



01. The Black Keys - El Camino

And then The Black Keys release a great album just before the closing of the year that ends up at the top of my list. They seem to have found the perfect formula for great rock tunes: songs that are great compositions, keep on going and that I want to hear over and over again.



02. Arctic Monkeys - Suck It And See
Just like the Arctic Monkeys who took revenge with Suck It And See for the, in my opinion, unjustified moderate response on predecessor Humbug. When they can keep up this level I expect a true classic in one or two albums.



03. White Denim - "D"

White Denim also keeps on delivering quality. "D" turned into a true piece of art.



04. Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost
Girls had their definite breakthrough with their Father, Son, Holy Ghost that is full of nice indie songs.



05. dEUS - Keep You Close

And 2011 is without a doubt dEUS' year. Keep You Close left a big impression and meantime they are doing a true victory tour around clubs and festivals.



06. Beastie Boys - Hot Sauce Committee Part Two

Beasty Boys came back hard this year with a great album, that can measure up to their greatest work.



07. Foo Fighters - Wasting Light

With a smart promotional campaign no one could ignore Foo Fighters' Wasting Light. And it's just as I like it: like a hit in the crotch and a kick in the ass.



08. TV On The Radio - Nine Types of Light

TV On The Radio is a different cup of tea; a well thought through album with intelligent songs.



09. Radiohead - The King Of Limbs

Just like Radiohead and their The King Of Limbs. Sometimes they are too much for me, but this album is nicely balanced.



10. Happy Camper - Happy Camper

And there were great Dutch releases, that just missed my list. Happy Camper did make it with its beautiful atmospheric songs and the wonderful varied vocals.

So there you have it. 2011 was a good year with great music and some great gigs as well. I can't wait for 2012! Happy New Year!
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The Black Keys End The Year With A Blow

One of the last releases many people were waiting for this year was the new The Black Keys album El Camino. A while ago they gave us 'Lonely Boy' with its great video that went viral to their own surprise. The release of Brothers raised the bar high and many people had great expectations. And boy they did not disappoint us!


The Black Keys - El Camino (Ronald Says 9 out of 10)
In fact they even raised the bar a little more. Their sound is even more polished. Long gone are the times of rough blues rock. In this case however it's not a bad thing. Brothers already gave us catchy rock tunes but still with a rootsy blues sound. But also with enough pop for a wider audience. El Camino takes it a step further. And yet they managed to stay clear of the pitfall where so many bands fail. They did it without selling out and overproducing the album. Danger Mouse who only produced one song on Brothers did the whole album again this time. And apparently it's a golden combo.

It's as if they have found the cooking bible to writing great rock songs. Every single song is a little gem that has great hooks. There isn't a weak moment to be found. 'Lonely Boy' was the perfect choice to release as a first single and is a great representative for the album. 'Dead And Gone', 'Money Maker', 'Sister', 'Stop Stop', to name but a few all have great guitar licks and grooves. The riff in 'Run Right Back' may be simple, but it's brilliant at the same time. And every time you play this record it gets better. I just can't stop listening to it. And so The Black Keys end this year with great fireworks.

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Yearly Party With De Dijk

Another year running at its end, another December, so this means another De Dijk show at Paradiso. I've lost count on how many times I have seen them play. Many of those were Paradiso shows, the place that's their second home.

De Dijk at Paradiso Amsterdam, December 17 2011 (Ronald Says 9 out of 10)
There's not much I can tell without repeating myself. It sounds pretty boring: year after year we find ourselves there with the same band, that partly play the same songs although they do have their new songs of course. But in reality it never is boring. It's one big party with great music. And although all editions may sound alike they are not.



This year turns out to be a great one. The sound is great, the band looks focused, comfortable, in great shape and in an excellent mood. And the new album has songs that work great on stage too. I'm with my usual group of friends, drinking cold beers and the world doesn't seem bigger than Paradiso's main hall for a few hours. And isn't that what it's all about?

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Back To The Dark 80s With The Horrors

Many people were pleasantly surprised when The Horrors released their latest album Skying earlier this year. The songs move between new wave, noise and punk and the electronics add a dark touch to it. The album ended up high on many year lists. They should have played with Halloween but it was postponed until tonight.

The Horrors at Melkweg Amsterdam, December 11 2011 (Ronald Says 7 out of 10)
They would definitely be a perfect band to play with Halloween and not just because of their name. The sometimes gloomy music combined with the lighting that has them standing in the shadow most of the time, suits a pumpkin party well. It was killing for my pictures though, so I only was able to get a few that are decent enough to upload. And even those aren't great.



But it's the music that counts and that's all fine. They play a tight set and their songs work great on stage. It shows that all the critics heard it well, since it's clear the songs of the last album are really good. They sound like Simple Minds and Talk Talk in their heydays, mixed with some Joy Division darkness. Singer Faris Badwan sounds convincing and the tight band make good use of playing loud accents.



The synths add the extra dimension that lifts the songs from nice to great. Tracks like 'I Can See Through You' and 'Still Life' go down well and they impress with a sold performance of 'Sea Within A Sea'. There's hardly any interaction with the crowd but that only contributes to their stage presentation. It does stay all a bit on the safe side and the band seems to play on routine and is leaning back too much. Maybe next time they could spice up their set list a bit more to keep it interesting enough for themselves. The Horrors won't scare you, but their music may give you some shivers now and then.

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Setlist
1.Changing The Rain
2.Who Can Say
3.I Can See Through You
4.Scarlet Fields
5.Dive In
6.Endless Blue
7.Sea Within A Sea
8.Still Life
Encore
9.Mirror's Image
10.Three Decades
11.Moving Further Away
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