Mouth of swords (or the 3 reasons why you'll get to love the new lightsword from SW7)

The trailer for Star Wars 7 is out.
No I did not see myself but being on the social network linked with quite a bunch of geeks ( and that is good 'cos I'm a bit Geeky myself) I could not really escape the turmoil that this new trailer has raised.

The real one not the false ones that sprouted some days prior.

The fans are edgy and when it finally hits..... All we could hear about is the light sword.
Not the traditional light sabre but a sword, Game of Throne style, with a light-whatever on its handle

It is fun, it is ugly, it is a treason...... Hear a bit all or nothing on this one.

So here's the three reasons that settle this question.

1- It is done !

You can bicker, pester, marvel all you want. The trailer is something that is gonna be part of the final movie. You can use a trailer to get excited or bitch all you want. You know you're going to see the movie by yourself just to love or bitch some more about it.
Trailers are supposedly made for people who needs a invitation to go see a movie. All those who waited eagerly to see it are die hard fans who just want to get a taste of love or something to moan and bitch 'cos that is what fanboys (and girls) do.
Me ? don't care, gonna see the movie anyway.
So about this sword ? well they choose to do it, not gonna change. might like it might not. Don't have much of a choice. Either go see it or not,. have your opinion later.


2- Betrayal ! Foul play !

Lucas would never allow that...It is betrayal of the universe.
First I doubt Lucas has not his say in this.
Second, talking about the guy who, in my opinion did a big low kick balayette to his own universe with the prequels.
Lucas works better when people use his Ideas...Because back to the light sword, he is the one who made a sith use 2 light sabers as one (bo) staff. Yes  a staff, not a sword. Don't recall that much ruckuss on this one (besides the rest of the movie) before....

3- And in the end.

You know what they say.... It is not what le light sword looks like that it is important... It is how you use it.

And I hope they 'll make something out of it rather than just a cool/uncool design that make the internet talk about it.....
So you can debate love and bitch, it is your right...but what for ? Heard there were some important stuff happening in the world that should be of your concern...And where you can actually make an Impact.

Opinion... Opeth -Pale Communion

The brand new Opeth observation. So let’s get clear. The death metal Opeth is not coming back with this one. It is a follow up of the Heritage. Rising from the ashes of the 70ies prog metal era, Opeth delivers another solid album, though not really metal, but more solid than the precedent.

 The riffs are great, the moody songs are melancholic as ever., the rythmn session is well in place. Axenrot never sounded so jazzy and really remind of Martin Lopez’stouch missed by some.

Disc starts of strong, great riffs. The third song has a killer chorus in the end. Then a couple of ok-songs before the moody rain going to the great beat of treason before falling out in a quiet style with the final one.

The songs are not really complicated and strange but are supported by great melodies and rythms and clear vocals that makes Opeth the best 70ies band of the 2010ies.

With this album they entrenched their love of great 70ies prog and deliver a solid release that of course will disappoint the hardcore fans of death metal but not by the fans of great music.

TRANSATLANTIC Kaleidoscope. quick review (sort of)

Brand new album (with bonus disc or dvd too) from super groupe transatlantic.

We’ll do it the quick way. Transatlantic is much more a Live band than a studio one. The epics works (at least for me) much more live than on a disc player or such.

But let’s sum it up quick. It is a classic (as in the first two ones) transatlantic album.

First an epic, not good, not bad. Typical if you like transatlantic..

Then a ‘single’ not very good song (Shine) and a great mi epic songs ‘Black as a sky’ showing how you do not need 25 minutes to do a great song.

Then the Traditional Neal Morse’s acoutic song (forgetable)

And the last epic which is Way better than the first one ( despite some feeble vocals by M Trewavas – sorry pete- on a chorus.)

The bonus disc is nice as always, classic and songs covered from prog bands.. or not. A curiosity for fans of the groupe mostly (but it was nice to rediscover Night in white satin and discover –shame on me- king crimson)

So to sum up. Nothing new nothing original, nothing badly done, return to the average Transatlantic disc with a wonderful song, a great Epic, a meh epic, and two forgetable /filler songs.

Not bad to discover Transatlantic the first time, not bad for the usual fan

Selfconsumming fire (or how the New Iphone6 changed everything...just kidding)

Talking about art and softpower. A few weeks ago I woke up to the usual newsflash à 7.30 am. Usual local politics, Ukraine, ebola and so on.

Then, near the end, they start talking about the New Iphone 6 presented by Apple (with all the traditional ‘one more thing’ etc, etc).

I was outraged.

Not by Apple because for the matter, they are really the perfect incarnation of the soft power.

Here is a company doing which is simply a traditional commercial presentation of a new product.

Of course they do it the American way. With style, U2, catch phrases and such. Apple is now renowned for that. It is a mass, it is expected.

And the crowds all around the world go wild with the new products they are putting out.

Because what they sell is a way of life, something that is supposed to be cool, Hype, make your life easy like a stroll in the park. ( won’t be asking which park and at what time….)

And all over  the world we got Medias relaying this.

And mind you, not in specialized technology reportage. No, plain regular information, just before the sport reviews.

What bugs me the most is that not they do not speak about it.

 We speak of movies that are out almost every week, have some here and then news about a CD or a concert but these are well categorised and moreover, most of the times, criticized.

They talk about stuff but they really have tested before (or saw or heard).

But not here. Not only Apple does have more coverage than the competition but the Medias relay the information solely based on Apple declarations. No test whatsoever.

And it makes me wonder as the song says, are they paid for that advertisement? Or is it free ? Because I can understand (not condone mind you) if a newsroom’s been greased to sell a product. But if they are doing it for free, it is as much frightening as it is astonishing. To witness the power of the soft, cultural and marketing prowess of selling something that makes it to the news. Imagine the new fruit yogurt unveiled for you right before the weather report. Thrilling isn’t it ? The soft power has many uses, it could be harnessed for ideology like during the cold war but it is also a powerful economic tool as shown (and a great communication bill saver to boot !).

But in the end, the insidious power softened our perception of the world, making the keen and sharp reporters believe that a commercial presentation is news. Meaning that if you hear about it on the telly or the radio, then it is true, it is important, it is worth investigating and moreover important to have and own !

If the people we trust to give us information are starting to get tainted with the slithering sneaky and insidious power used by merchants, we must rely on the sharpness of our senses to continue to be astonished, even year after years, that this kind of thing happens and are not so familiar that it seems so natural to accept them.

And nowadays, it is one hell of a fight.

IQ- Road of Bones ( kinda review)

 The brand new IQ album is out for some times now. And it is almost a double album.

I say almost because the darkly named ‘road of bones’ is single album that exist in a special edition with 45 or so minutes of bonus music.

So the first question is: is that bonus disc any worth?

Well actually the first question should be the first disc is any good?

For those who do not know IQ, they are a Neo prog band from England. Lots of keyboards and nice guitar sounds with a broken voice like (and full of cryptic lyrics) front man in the guise of Peter Nicholls.

For those who know them, we recognise the IQ sound (hell we have almost the first line up of the band, baring keyboardist Martin Orford, casualty of the download war) but with an edgier sound.

The guitars of Mike Holmes are more into riffs than solo on this release that sounds definitely more metal, or at least darker.

And the lyrics and the songs show that.

Hence the serial killer (that Steven Wilson would not forsake) song that gives the name of the album:  the road of bones or the not very bright future of living together in until the end.

All the songs (with the short exception of calm and peaceful Ocean) are very dark and loaded with heavy riffs and hard bass lines.

And it is a good one. Great lengthy songs, very moody as IQ tends to do them. A nice addition much more crafted and built than the previous one, Frequency.

So back to our previous question, what is this bonus CD all about ? Covers ? Crappy demoes ?

Well no, you have full length songs and instrumentals. Fully produced and original, some could have been on the main dish (Ten million demons but the disc would have been waaaay too dark) but the ‘mood’ of these songs do not really fit the album. Could they have make a EP-album on their own ? I would say almost. We’ve seen fill in songs worst than those.

But strangely, the concept as a double album does not really fit for between the first disc and the second, there are too much differences and yet they are all quality products.

So people into IQ or who wants to discover the band,  can buy this new album but preferably the double discs version, the second being not exactly a full album and way to good to be simply a bonus one. So great bunch of music for less than two albums ! Goody !

SOUND OF CONTACT review (sort of)

Just passing by to drop a few line on the debut album of sound of contact

http://www.soundofcontact.com/

Let’s get this out already shall we ? Yes SOC is the band of Simon ( I am the son of Phil) Collins where he sings and does the drums. Though there are some similarities (voice, face, prog rock) it is only fair to try to review this debut album just by itself.

SOC is a prog rock concept album around space. We’re facing a easy prog rock mostly in the vein of popish prog rock (with instrumentals and an Epic) but the album is musically ( but not lyrically) easy enough to enter with nice instrumentals and a few single possible (closer to you has that written all over it).

SOC is a very prog popish record, easy enough to listen. Not bad for a debut album but not a very powerful one. Though we can easily introduce people to the world of prog rock with this album, complete with nice melodies and catchy chorus that are an easy approach.

Worth listening to. I awaits the next one maybe not eagerly but I'll lend another ear.

On a side note, they did a pretty nice almost full album concert with the flower kings starting with the french date in Paris. MIssed Karmakanic but it was nice to get Moebius slip in full length.