R.I.R.T.: Palosanto by Enrique Bunbury

Artist: Enrique Bunbury
Album: Palosanto
Released: October 29, 2013
http://www.enriquebunbury.com

Written by Raul Leon – @VillainMy
Airspeaker Album Rating: 3.5 out of 5 speakers

ENRIQUE BUNBURY…
In light of his latest album release Palosanto, I thought I’d take a few paragraphs to review the spanish lion man, singer-song writer, uber performer, Enrique Bunbury.

Enrique Bunbury, born Enrique Ortiz de Landázuri Yzarduy on August 11, 1967 in Zaragosa Spain has been gracing the world wide masses with his music and live performances since the early 80’s. After playing with a few initial early band incarnations Bunbury ultimately wound up being the front man to the historic spanish rock band Heroes del Silencio. From approximately 1984-1996 Heroes del Silencio earned world wide recognition and fame with massive album sales and massive world tours.

(In Rocktober of 1996 the Heroes del Silencio played their last show in Los Angeles until they would later reunite to play a greatest hits tour approximately 20 years later.)

HEROES DE SILENCIO
Enrique Bunbury’s solo career was born in 1997 when he recorded and released his first solo album Radical Sonora. This first attempt at solo creativity was a complete antithesis of the Enrique Bunbury the world had come to recognize while the front man for Heroes del Silencio. It was evident Bunbury made a conscious effort to clean his creative slate as he completely changed his physical appearance and went in a complete opposite direction with his musical efforts. Radical Sonora was a strong attempt at a fusion between Electronica and loud guitars. Radical Sonora though not very well received by the public (especially ALL the die hard Heroes fanatics),in my opinion, DID produce a few memorable tracks such as Alicia, Encadenados, and Alfa.

REVIEWERS NOTE
I was at one of the album signings for Enrique Bunbury’s solo album debut of Radical Sonora. Bunbury was very warm and thoughtful in his approach as a person. In retrospect, I suspect, although he fully believed in his attempt at a solo career and this NEW direction in music, he must have been scared shitless in the actualization that HE alone had to bear the weight of either his music’s success or utter dissapointment.

Two full years after his initial debut album, Bunbury released his follow up album Pequeno in 1999. The course of Bunbury’s solo career would change forever as this creative incarnation would catapult his career and music into a bonafide success. Bunbury, creatively reincarnated, was born and here to stay.

DISCOGRAPHY
Bunbury has released several albums since, in chronological order they are as follows: Radical Sonora, Pequeno, Pequeno Cabaret Ambulante (live), Flamingos, Una Cita en Flamingos (Live), El Viaje a Ninguna Parte, FreakShow (live), Hellville Deluxe, Las Consequencias, Gran Rex (Las Consequencias LIVE), Licenciado Cantinas, AND NOW PaloSanto.

Some memorable tracks off these albums include:
Algo en Comun, El Viento a Favor, Infinito, El Club de Los Imposibles, El Extranjero, Frente a Frente, Lady Blue, El Solitario, De Mayor, and Bailando con el Enemigo.

IN CONCLUSION
From Bunbury’s latest album, PaloSanto, I have thoroughly been enjoying the title track and first single Despierta, the celestial Mas Alto que Nosotros solo el Cielo, and the nostalgic El Cambio y la Celebracion. PaloSanto is an easy listening album with great accents in musical creativity and especially lyric content with Bunbury’s always recognizable and distinctive baritone roar. It’s an honest work, and sounds like an album that came very naturally to it’s creator. For the fans, it’s an album to fall in love with many times over. If you haven’t listened to much of Bunbury’s previous material, this album would be a good starting point as it captures the essence of Bunbury’s inexhaustible facets to his music. I simply admire the fact that this guy keeps putting out such quality work, time after time. In closing, quoting the Spanish Lion himself, “Hasta Siempre, que les vaya bien bonito!”

Written by Raul Leon – @VillainMy
Airspeaker Album Rating: 3.5 out of 5 speakers

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R.I.R.T.: Doo-Wops & Hooligans by Bruno Mars

Artist: Bruno Mars
Album: Doo-Wops & Hooligans
Released: July 19, 2010
http://www.brunomars.com

Written by Raul Leon – @VillainMy
Airspeaker Album Rating: 4/5 speakers

QUESTION…
Is there a single that Bruno Mars has released that has NOT been an absolute smash hit!!!?
Bruno Mars (born Peter Gene Hernandez from Hawaii, from parents of Puerto Rican/Jewish/Phillipine, and Spanish descent) was officially introduced to US with his first single “Just the Way You Are”
in the Summer of 2010 (July 19,2010) from his astronomical debut album “Doo-Wop and Hooligans”.

“Her eyes, her eyes, make the stars look like they’re not shining…”

Damnnnnnnn… C’mon, it’s so good, it ain’t fair!!!
Following the success of his first single, shortly thereafter, Mars released his second single “Grenade” (an ode to love martyrdom) in the Fall of 2010 (September 8th, 2010).

“You know I’d catch a grenade for you, throw my hand on a blade for you, jump in front of a train for you, do ANYTHING for you…”

Obvious crazy stupid love, the REAL shit! Both of these initial singles along with Mar’s debut album eventually helped him earn his first Grammy Award on February 13, 2011.

“It Will Rain” (my personal favorite Mars jam) was released on September 22,2011 as a single on the Twilight: Breaking Dawn soundtrack. Oops! Sorry Twilight junkies…Breaking Dawn, PART 1. Duhhh!!! Mars’ use of universal imagery and subtle dark undertones referencing narcotic hallucinogenic substances are perfectly balanced anologies which make for a beautiful haunting symphony of a song.

“If you ever leave me baby, leave some morphine at my door, cuz it would take a whole lot of medication, to realize what we used to have, we don’t have it anymore…if you walk away, everyday it will rain”

OKAY, SO PERKING THINGS UP…
Bruno Mars released the first single “Locked Out of Heaven” on October 1, 2012 from his second mammoth album “Unorthodox Jukebox” which debuted on December 11, 2012. Needless to say, “Locked Out of Heaven” reached #1 on various music charts. Bruno released other phenom hit singles shortly thereafter, the piano ballad “When I was your Man”, the funky “Treasure”, and the sexually driven “Gorilla”.

Bruno’s early success hasn’t only won him noteriety with a whole world full of devout Bruno Mars fans but also amongst other huge entertainers of which he has collaborated, such as, Snoop Dogg (Snoop Lion, etc.) and Wiz Khalifa.

All in all it’s very difficult to wrap my head around the simple fact that this guy has REALLY only been on the music scene since 2010. Incredible! I’m gonna go ahead and put out there that my gut and passionate ears foresee Bruno Mars being the “Prince” of what I’m affectionately calling The Now Generation. (And yes by Prince, I mean that mean musician of a man who partied like it was 1999). Prince to the 1999 Generation. Bruno to the Now Generation.

Look! Bruno can dance his ass off. Bruno plays a mean guitar and piano, along with other instruments. Bruno writes all of his own music. Bruno can sing. And Bruno is short. Yes, a tiny man just like Prince! The Biggest of things out of smallest of packages. I rest my case!!!

Written by Raul Leon – @VillainMy
Airspeaker Album Rating: 4/5 speakers

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Reviews in Real-Time: Pure Heroine by Lorde

Artist: Lorde
Album: Pure Heroine
Released: September 27th, 2013
http://www.lorde.co.nz

Written by Raul Leon – @VillainMy
Airspeaker Album Rating: 4/5 speakers

LORDE
finally released her highly anticipated debut album Pure Heroine following up her enormous smash hit single Royals from her, The Love Club EP (2012). Pure Heroine on the whole is a great musical extension and continuance of what Lorde already demonstrated with her hit single Royals. This girl can flat out write a song and sing her ass off!!! John Little the other music/instrumental collaborator on the project needs only to offer a simple sound effect and old school hip hop drum track to give Lorde a instrumental foundation to lay down her melodic harmonizing vocal explosions.

ELLA MARIA LANI YELICH O’CONNOR
On tracks like 400 LUX, Team, and Glory and Gore, Lorde’s haunting vocal style and very personal lyrical content is reminiscent of Tori Amos (minus piano) and that’s not mentioning that Ella Maria Lani Yelich O’Connor AKA Lorde is only 17 years old. My only constructive critism is that I would accuse Lorde at times of being too comfortable in her voice. By this I mean that Lorde, in moments, demonstrates that she possesses quite the vocal range (from her vocal harmonies on Royals and Glory and Gore) yet throughout the entire Pure Heroine album she remains in her signature vocal range.

Now, whether or not this is a deliberate attempt on Lorde’s behalf to capture the essence of her album (as this signature vocal tone has certainly paid her millions to where she can say, Fuck it, why not!!!?) may only be evident to the listener through her future musical endeavors? If Lorde can continue to challenge herself as an artist, continue to astonish us with her creativity, and beautifully haunting musical expression I suspect that she will continue to impact artists and influence the future of musical expression especially for those of US that truly “will never be Royals”…

Written by Raul Leon – @VillainMy
Airspeaker Album Rating: 4/5 speakers

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Reviews in Real-Time: High Rise by Stone Temple Pilots

Artist: Stone Temple Pilots
Album: High Rise
Released: October 8th, 2013
http://www.stonetemplepilots.com

Written by Raul Leon – @VillainMy
Airspeaker Album Rating: 4/5 speakers

Listening to the new EP, High Rise by S.T.P. with Chester Bennington…

fills my ears with a freshness that I vividly recollect, coincidentially, (listening for the first time) to S.T.P.’s second untitled album otherwise known as “Purple”.

Writer’s note: First off, I will spare this review from contemplating and comparing the likes of two different vocal power houses such as Chester Bennington and Scott Weiland. Simply put, Weiland was fired from Stone Temple Pilots and if any other vocalist/front man could fit the S.T.P. mold (in my opinion) it HAD to be Chester.

One of my favorite things about the S.T.P. line up is how it’s always been THAT of a complete musical collaboration. A true band, in that, it is NOT limited to the presence of solely just one front man/lead singer. The DeLeo brothers and Kretz remain musical poets in their own right. With their signature STP sound, R. DeLeo constantly taking his bass for a walk, D. DeLeo thrashing solos, and E. Kretz banging percussions as they never stray from their dynamic sound. It’s fun creative music.

This is why I love and was so excited to hear about the musical collaboration between these two, already great entities, STP with Chester Bennington.

Out of Time, the band’s debut single, from their High Rise EP captures the embodiment of the perfect marriage between Stone Temple Pilots and Chester. I have reason to believe that this phenomenal pairing couldn’t have come at a better time. Please allow me to elaborate…

Chester Bennington, I’ve recently argued, seems to be at a crossroads in his vocal stylings. It seems evident to me that Chester is taking big strides and making huge attempts at being a more “complete” and “all around” singer/vocalist. One needs only to reference Linkin Park’s vulnerably expressed, Waiting for the End, and Castle of Glass where Chester does not scream his vocals, not once. That being said, all in all, it seems pretty obvious that Chester is quickly (and successfully in my opinion) transitioning, as a genuine vocalist, from SCREAMS of passion to SINGS of passion! Obviously on the High Rise EP you can still witness some of Chester’s signature screams but I’d say that 90% of Chester’s vocals are that of him singing the songs.

Other songs featured on this EP are Black Heart, Same on the Inside, Cry Cry, Tomorrow, along with their debut single Out of Time. So to all you Linkin Park and Stone Temple Pilots fans, yes, it happend, and with continued success this great collaboration of talented and creative performers may very well sustain the test of time as have their predecessors.

Damn!

S.T.P. has been around approximately 20 years!!! In listening to the EP, the band’s chemistry is undeniable and it’s difficult to fathom that this lineup has only existed for the better part of only one year. This collaboration seems born to play together. Chester’s unmistakeable and uncomparable vocals along with S.T.P.’s musical creativity is a MUST HAVE, so go out and GET SOME High Rise!

Written by Raul Leon – @VillainMy
Airspeaker Album Rating: 4/5 speakers