- Details
- Written by: Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
The Miraculous is a musical rollercoaster between darkness and serenity. This album is a body of work so modern, beautiful and challenging in many aspects that it deserves a special place in the music Olympus.
Anna Von Hausswolff, on her third album, offers a magnificent portrait in music of gothic litherature, history and fantasy. That same fantasy that populated the heart and soul of the young artist from Sweden during her childhood. The Miraculous is a place that Von Hausswolff has idealised for many years, when bedtime stories related to the album title brought in her sleep journeys made of terror, magic and loss.
The Miraculous is an outstanding journey into creativity and talent. Von Hausswolff's voice offers, throughout the album, an array of peaks, curves, highs and lows, showing a remarkable amount of flexibility and power at the same time.
Musically, the album is almost a cinematic dream. One of the secrets of the fabulous sound springing out of The Miraculous comes from the use of the Acusticum Pipe Organ from PiteƄ, Sweden, with the impressive amount of nine thousand pipes. Together as an organ, this magnificent instrument incorporates built-in glockenspiel, vibraphone, celeste and percussion adding to the core of this album, a unique wall-of-sound.
The title track is ethereal, with slightly dark Popol Vuh-type music passages at times, dominated totally by the purity of Von Hausswolff's voice and the remarkable sound of the organ above mentioned. Come With Me/Deliverance is exhilarating and intense, An Oath is an ode to seductivity, with Von Hausswolff drawing you in with her beautifully unique singing voice.
An artist like no other in the music business. A record to cherish and love. Album of the year.
Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
The Miraculous can be purchased via Amazon
Anna Von Hausswolff's The Miraculous Tour Dates:
- Details
- Written by: Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
Broken Down is an album that meant to be made, maybe through divine intervention. The new album by Dana Fuchs is her first acoustic record, a record that Fuchs' fans wanted for a very long time. The central theme of the album came up by pure accident during the recording session, simply by staring at photos of some of Fuchs' family members, sadly passed away prematurily.
The American Artist has always had a very close relationship with her family and such personal losses made a big effect on the New York based singer/songwriter's soul. Being on Tour has been a kind of antidote for Dana Fuchs in the last couple of years, able to discharge her sorrow night after night on stage, with her devoted fans and her band. Broken Down encapsules 14 stripped-to-the-bone songs, some of them brand new, other previously released on early albums plus the cover of Ain't No Love In The Heart Of The City.
The album, as mentioned by Fuchs on the sleeve notes, is a meditation in music on love and loss on a deep, personal level. Lyrically, Dana Fuchs explores the life journey she has been through in the last couple of years with the usual, unique intensity and honesty that have been some of the trademarks of her career, together with her powerful, beautiful voice. There are songs about holding memories of the past, although painful sometimes (Keepsake, What Went Right), which the American Artist knows to be the only recipe she knows to hold on to the meaning of life. Dana Fuchs sings with her heart and soul on each song, no matter whether it is about sufference and loss (Moment Away) or love (Kind Of Love).
Jon Diamond, Fuchs' Compadre of a lifetime, shows his craftmanship once again in co-producing the album (together with Fuchs), playing acoustic/electric guitars and harmonica beautifully. One of Diamond's big merit is to be able to read and feel Fuchs' inner feelings like no other and, as a consequence, to complete musically Fuchs' outstanding singing style on the album.
The closing tracks of the record are particularly moving. Misery, a demo that Fuchs made some time ago and never saw the light of the day until now, shows a woman that is trying hard to get back on her feet, still living the pain of her personal losses ("Are you just like me? Holding on to misery... You need someone to believe in).
Dana Fuchs has announced recently to the press that she will take some time off from touring, before the Winter Tour and given what she has been through, that is perfectly understandable. This beautiful acoustic album has allowed the singer/songwriter to express and let go, under the art form she likes the most, all the pain Fuchs has been through and still going. It is not a coincidence that in Sad Salvation, the song that closes the record, there are lyrics such as "She smiles at the children selling candy on the street, remembers the good old days, a life so bittersweet. Listens to the schoolgirls sing their songs a little louder and with the weight of the world she walks a little prouder".
Dana Fuchs has got all the right to feel that pride, especially on this record. With Broken Down, Fuchs has been able to frame a crucial, although sad part of her life on a special record like this and, at the same time, to gift her fans with a body of work of incredible intensity. Broken Down is food for soul and a beautiful portrait of true artistry and poetry.
Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
Broken Down will be released November 10th 2015 and can be purchased via Dana Fuchs Website
- Details
- Written by: Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
There are many ways to remember the people we loved in our lives. Those very same people who played an important part for us and left an inner and indelible mark in our existences.
Omar Dykes and his Howlers decided, through their new album, to honor some of their friends they lost in 2014 in the only way that suited them the most, through music. Twelve songs that show a perfect caption of the band's music philosophy, throughout their whole career. Every Omar & The Howlers album has always an intense, visceral, direct and distinctive sound and, above all, always respects the music roots closer to the band's hearts.
At first, The Kitchen Sink may seem an album divided into two segments, with seven songs all completely original and five covers. Given the theme of the album, though, even the choice of the covers makes lyrically sense and the whole album comes together as a unique core. From the Western music shades coming from I'll Keep On Dreamin, through the Country-esque and easygoing Dixie's All Night Bar until the firing, in every sense of the word, Fire And Gasoline, where Dykes' guitar offers sumptuous, delicate arpeggios, belonging to, perhaps, the finest moments of the repertoire of this giant of the blues.
Even when Omar & The Howlers do covers, they manage spectacularly to put their music signature on each songs, making them sound like they are almost their own. Dykes proves, once again, besides being a great guitar player, to be also a fabulous singer in the old classic Cutie Named Judy, by Jerry McCain. Throughout the whole record, The Howlers sound in great shape and a front man like Dykes could not wish to have a better group of musicians accompanying him. On this particular tune, they succeed beautifully in re-creating an highly entertaining 50's rock type of sound.
The cover of Who Do You Love is perhaps the most intense moment of the album. This celebrated masterpiece, originally from Bo Diddley, is executed so masterfully by The Howlers which, despite the turnover of musicians throughout the years and within the band, manage to mantain a robust and highly refined sound, so intense to sound like a real blues war machine. This version is certainly a true testimony of their musical artistry.
The album closes with another original by Omar & The Howlers, Climb On Board, where Nick Connolly's piano solo stands out in a tune that resembles Western atmospheres and carries an intrinsic message of love and devotion to the band's friends sadly passed in 2014.
"Climb on board and ride this gospel train with me," sings Dykes, almost to invite the listener on this journey made of memories and very personal to Dykes and his band. Omar & The Howlers, once again, have not only made another great record but also created a labour of love and respect for life and that great value which is friendship.
Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
The Kitchen Sink can be purchased as a download via Amazon
- Details
- Written by: Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
Few people have the ability to talk about the pain, the suffering and the return to life in the way Walter Trout does. Few, very few, believed and hoped to be able to hear a new album from Trout, given the heavy health issues in which the American artist had been through in the last 24 months. Whereas The Blues Came Calling drew almost an artistic testament, Battle Scars, Walter Trout's new album, marks instead the struggle and the physical and artistic resurrection of this incredible artist.
By Trout's admission, Battle Scars is a Concept Album that, through its lyrics, describes the moments of despair and the desire to fight against the painful physical ordeal Trout has lived in recent times. Despite the hard lyrics, Trout honesty and immediacy of his words go straight to the heart of any listeners. Sonically, the album is a complete triumph. Battle Scars reaches such levels of musical excellence that perhaps the American artist had managed to achieve as a soloist only with albums such as Blues For A Modern Daze or Full Circle in his long and glorious career.
Produced very accurately and beautifully once again by Eric Corne, Battle Scars finds Trout and his band in top form. Trout's guitar has that sound of a lion kept in a cage for a long, long time. Michael Leisure and Sammy Avila, faithful "Compadres" of Trout for many years, combine their talent in playing their instruments with Trout's guitar and harmonica so perfectly and in unison with the American Guitar Maestro, almost sounding like a unique sonic core throughout the album.
Walter Trout's new album is perhaps one of the most rock sounding records he has ever done and the sound that echoes out of Battle Scars goes in perfect harmony with the concept of the album. At first dark and almost sinister in the lyrics, then increasingly steady and powerful, especially through Trout's Wall Of Sound, as to symbolize the will to fight with all his strength against the pain.
Playin 'Hideaway, Fly Away and Move On exude powerful and lightning hard-rock, for which bands such as AC/DC now would sell their souls to the devil, in order to be able to emulate what Trout and his band manage to put together, on Battle Scars.
My Ship Came In and Tomorrow Seems So Far Away are so perfect that not a single note is out of place on those tracks. Cold, Cold Ground, despite the gloomy lyrics, summarizes beautifully in its majestic blues tempo all about Trout's talent, both as a guitarist and as a singer/songwriter.
It is rather difficult, if not impossible, to find any low points in a flawless album like this, that shows so many traces of sonic and lyrical peaks of great artistic value. The acoustic ballad Gonna Live Again that closes the album, sums up everything that Battle Scars is all about. The fears, the hopes, the desire to fight and never give up. And for Trout and all his fans, the absolute certainty to have found once again, through this album, one of the most inspired and talented music artists of this generation.
Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
Battle Scars is available worldwide via Mascot Label Group
- Details
- Written by: Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
Leeds in England is maybe not the most obvious place in the world to listen to music that echoes genres such as Rootsy and Americana. Dave Hanson, however, manages very successfully to put together a music package that fuses the tradition of the best British songwriting with American West Coast music style, in an excellent mini EP album that offers many promises for a full length debut album to come expected for this winter.
Blind Faith, the title track of Hanson's mini album, is catchy and radio friendly. The song recalls echoes of JJ Cale and Black Keys at the same time, artists which are very close to Dave Hanson's heart.
Four songs that offer different shades of a musician who has, undoubtedly, very interesting artistic intuitions. One of such intuitions is expressed through the sinuous Island Sky, which transports the listeners into a tropical oasis, suspended half a way between the Caribbean and the M6, one of the most well-known British motorways.
If this EP is a taste of things to come, we may expect even more fireworks from the forthcoming album that Dave Hanson will release later this winter. In the meantime, Blind Faith is certainly an EP of great quality and depth that deserves the attention of all the fans of great music at 360 degrees.
Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
Blind Faith EP can be purchased via Amazon
- Details
- Written by: Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
The hardest working man in music, the self-made blues/rock Titan, Bonamassa must have heard these comments a thousand times in his career. Music cliches aside, Live At Radio City Music Hall, his new live album (the 14th one in 13 years) offers a different take on the many abilities of the Guitar Virtuoso from Utica, NY.
From Bonamassa's personal perspective, this new live album has many significances. It is the Grand Finale of 36 months spent with his half-acoustic and half-electric band on Tour and also a dream come true, by playing in such iconic venue for a born and bred New Yorker like Bonamassa.
Given the importance of the event and the special location in his heart, Jo-Bo showcases his class and talent in many different ways, by re-dressing some of the songs from his latest studio album under form of more bluesy, folk or even funky shaped tunes. In the acoustic part of the show, with what Bonamassa called The Huckleberries part of the band, songs like Different Shades Of Blue or Happier Times dazzle the crowd with a new light.
The electric part of the show is equally intense. Bonamassa, maybe feeling a little bit the tension of playing on home ground, loses no time in onstage banters or indulging himself on long guitar solos. There is an excellent array of musicians on stage with him and the Guitar Maestro uses their skills and artistry in full. From the raw blues atmosphere of Double Trouble (sadly absent from the cd tracklist) to the rampant blues/rock of One Less Cross To Bear, a new track, in which the Horns Session adds an extra spice to the swaggering sound of this fabulous tune.
Many underestimate a vital point, about Joe Bonamassa. He is not just a hugely talented guitarist but he is a very good singer too. The closing version of So, What I Would Do?, offers one of the best vocal live takes this artist has ever given in his long and glorious career. The standing ovation from the crowd, in the end, is totally deserved.
The Radio City Music Hall live recording is, perhaps, one of the best live albums Bonamassa has recorded. There is a real desire and drive, from the American Guitarist, to showcase his knowledge and understanding of different music genres, without falling into the temptation to play his hits over and over again. And he certainly succeeded in doing so.
Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
Live At Radio City Music Hall will be released on 2nd October 2015 and can be purchased at Mascot Label Group or Amazon
Joe Bonamassa World Tour Dates
Uk Tour:
- Details
- Written by: Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
The aim of who creates art, any form of art, is to bring to the masses that message of culture that, in an era like this, too often get soffocated or totally nullified by the Internet and the various Social Networks.
Fabrizio Poggi from Italy is an artist that respects such statement right to the bone. His new record, Il Soffio Della Liberta' (The Murmur Of Freedom) is a labour of love, inspired by the blues culture and the values and the richness of history that this genre carries. The album has been inspired by a theatrical music performance of the Italian Bluesman, celebrating a century of blues through the songs and the stories of those human heroes that have brought the Afro-American population from slavery to freedom.
The album features some brilliantly revised classics, such as Seeger's We Shall Overcome or Dylan's I Shall Be Released and some powerful Traditionals of the Blues, like Oh Freedom or I Want Jesus To Walk With Me.
Poggi has, in this record, stellar Special Guests to help him accomplishing this splendid music project, artists of the highest calibre like The Blind Boys Of Alabama, Eric Bibb, Charlie Musselwhite, Garth Hudson and many more. Musically, Poggi challenges himself in performing those classics, by offering an highly palatable ensemble of Blues, Folk and Americana. And where his voice can't reach, then there is his fabulous harmonica and the class of the musicians accompanying Poggi, creating some really special vibes on this musical history ride. To hear the closing track of the album, the evergreen Amazing Grace, just on harmonica and voice, it is really something special and almost goose-pumping.
There are several references, on Il Soffio Della Liberta', to Martin Luther King and his importance on inspiring Poggi to create this concept album. In one of his most famous quotes, King once said "You can kill the dreamer, but you can't kill the dream". That is the way in which the Italian Artist lives and has always lived his life, by breathing, thinking and living the dream of Blues every single day through his enormous talent.
A work of love, honesty and class. Il Soffio Della Liberta' is musical food for soul.
Giovanni "Gio" Pilato
Il Soffio Della Liberta' can be purchased via Amazon Italia.
Fabrizio Poggi will be touring the United States, please see Tour Dates below:
September 27th - Gruene Hall, New Braunfels, TX
October 2nd - Hondo's On Main, Fredericksburgh, TX
October 3rd - Poodie's Party, Spicewood, TX
