Organic Darkwave

Magdalene.

There is a quiet revolution taking place in popular music led by artists interested in both the evolution of digital sound and the complexities offered by the rhythms and melodies of traditional cultural music. Pushing past the early pioneers of fusion, Paul Simon's Graceland, for example, recent bands such as Beirut and Beats Antique have eschewed any sense of Americanism and instead have modernized and digitized old-world sounds. Now, bands like Black Magdalene are taking the strong vocals and dominant guitar and bass that characterizes American rock and layering it with North African, Middle Eastern, and Eastern European rhythms, sounds, and mythology to create a wholly new, and wholly modern sound. They call it Organic Darkwave.

Listen:
http://www.reverbnation.com/blackmagdaleneband

You can see Black Magdalene play live this week, Friday, at the Ninkasi home tasting room in Eugene, and Saturday at the Ash Street Saloon in Portland, Oregon.

Photograph:
http://www.digitallatte.com/

Neap Tide

Rain.

The rain drives.  The wind howls.  Inside fevers rage against a final flu, the last of the season arriving in the early days of spring.  Outside, an ambulance arrives to take away an elderly neighbor.  The mail stands in tall stacks, sorted and ignored.  There are probably bills in there, important, time dependent things that should be addressed.  A good friend calls to say her life is on fire, there is no help to offer her, only an ear, a nod, a gentle cooing.  

Life has a way of pressing itself upon us, flattening us down, stretching our time, patience, and good humor.  It is important in these times to remember that like the rain, they come in bands, great stretches of gray.  This is not the new state of things, there is no permanence in this malaise.  Like the rain, this too shall pass.

Listen:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tul8_l0eAHc

Photo Courtesy of:

www.rubygonewild.com