Hello you lovely ladies and gentleman. It's been a while. We have some catching up to do. 

First of all, I apologize sincerely for not bringing you awesome music in the past couple of weeks. Summer caught up with me, wrapping me up in romantic bedtime stories and lovely magical time with my significant other, thus distracting me from my responsibilities. And also, in all honesty, I haven't heard anything that really smacked me in the face, and made me feel I had to share it. One of my low points; it happens several times a year.  

Forgetting all that stuff, let's get to the reason why I'm posting. One of my favorite albums is the reason. It be called "Marking Time", and features a lot of guess who? the John Butler Trio.

I actually discovered this album a couple of years ago, and take it for a spin quite frequently since I got it. A classic. Love it. Never gets old. It has this funky mix of JBT's music and Indian pizzazz, and the other artists featured on the album, such as Khalil gudaz, Martin Armiger Band, and Oumou Sangare rock the hose too.

I actually never even heard of the ABC miniseries that this soundtrack is supposed to be for, I just somehow found out that JBT was featured on it, so I wanted to check it out, and was not disappointed at all. Keep in mind that if you're someone that doesn't dig Indian sitars and other such trippy mellow stuff, you may not like. I, however, love that stuff. Can't get enough. Thus, I share. Be glad I'm so nice.

We have 3 tracks here to check out. If you like what you hear, drop me a line and I'll let you listen to another one. Enjoy, folks. 

P.S. I figured out why we never saw it. It was in Australia. Duh.

P.P.S. This album has JBT's version of "Across the Universe" on it. Sweet deal! 

Marking Time Wiki // Buy this Soundtrack, please 

Hear It: 

You Friend Tracy - John Butler Trio MP3

[audio:http://lovethemusicreviews.com/audio/07%20Your%20Friend%20Tracy%20-%20John%20Butler%20Trio.mp3]

Girlsong - Mir Wais and Jade Macrae MP3

[audio:http://lovethemusicreviews.com/audio/16%20Girlsong%20-%20Mir%20Wais%20and%20Jade%20Macrae.mp3]

N'Guata - Oumou Sangare MP3

[audio:http://lovethemusicreviews.com/audio/10%20N_Guata%20-%20Oumou%20Sangare.mp3] 

There is a lot of music out there that I know I should be listening to, and just haven't yet.  Two ways that I generally do this are through live albums and tribute albums, which is how I really got into the Clash at first.  One of the really standout tracks on both From Here to Eternity: Live and Burning London: A Tribute to the Clash was "Straight to Hell", which closes out both albums.  I present here Moby's smooth organ chords and Heather Nova's floaty vocals.  The song is beautiful, and one of my favourite ways to end things.  Dig it!

Straight to Hell - Moby and Heather Nova

[audio:http://lovethemusicreviews.com/audio/Moby%20&%20Heather%20Nova%20-%20Straight%20to%20Hell.mp3]

Buy This CD 

Seems like we're having our own little mashup madness here at LTM this week. Paths of Possession and Blue Stone are two artists that are somewhat local, and referred to me by friends. Blue Stone was discovered my esthetician-friend, who was on the hunt for music to play during her sessions with clients. She found Blue Stone on Amazon, decided to splurge and buy the album, and fell in love with it and referred me to it, knowing I appreciate ambient stuff. 

Blue Stone is a band signed by Neurodisc Records, who are based out of Fort Lauderdale, with a focus on techno, new age, world beat, trance, and drum and bass.  

The track "Worlds Apart" is relaxing, moving, and beautiful, all at the same time. Don't think Enya with a heavier beat, think Portishead-like vocals, with a great mesh of blippy take-me-away sounds. Yeah, dig that description.

This is probably one of my favorite tracks of the album, as well as being the name of album itself. If you're into more ambient, trancey stuff, definitely check this album out. I love listening to it while working, it helps me meditate to what I'm doing, especially if I'm trying to give myself a break and do nothing, and relax.

Blue Stone/Neurodisc Website // MySpace // Buy Worlds Apart 

Blue Stone - Worlds Apart (Searching For You) (MP3)

[audio:http://lovethemusicreviews.com/audio/06%20Worlds%20Apart%20(Searching%20For%20You).mp3]

Otherwordly Beats + Caterwauling + Ear Sex = Thievery Corporation 

I considered not writing this post, thinking, "Everybody has to know who the Thievery Corporation is…", but then I realized that even if one of you didn't know who they were before you read this post, then it was all for something. I'm so nice. And it would defeat our purpose.

Thievery Corporation was introduced to me by a friend when he was drunk, telling me how awesome they were. I took all this with a grain of salt, but he did burn me a disc with some of their stuff. I guess some people can communicate honestly when intoxicated. Well. I got hooked.

Some of you may be familiar with the track "Lebanese Blonde", which was featured on the Garden State soundtrack. (I swear, every song in the world has been featured on that soundtrack, and I've never even seen the bloody film.) They recently released their album "Versions" in 2006, which is a compilation album featuring a handful of outside artists. 

Possible categories: electronic, dub, acid jazz, lounge, world, ambient, experimental, indie, etc. 

What I like about Thievery Corporation is the global feel they have. They combine styles of music from all over, and languages, too, which makes for a quality blend of sound. Added to their political bent, you get music which is a sign of the times, and to me, representative of ever-increasing surge in globalization. (I'm an anthropology major, what can I say. <<—That. ) 

So, you have quick rundown of Thievery Corporation, a handful of links, and some selected mp3s. They're quite hard to choose, because TC is one of those groups whose albums have 12 out of 13 uber tracks. The ones I chose are from the albums I'm more familiar with. I'm not writing a band history because I don't care what year the DJ was born in. Its all about the music, dawg.

Related Links:

Thievery Corporation Official Website

Thievery Corporation on MySpace

Thievery Corporation Wikipedia Entry

Thievery Corporation at Last.FM

Related Ear Sex(doing a bit different):

Le Monde

[audio:http://lovethemusicreviews.com/audio/02%20-%20Le%20Monde.mp3] 

Facing East

[audio:http://lovethemusicreviews.com/audio/02%20-%20Facing%20East.mp3] 

Lebanese Blonde

[audio:http://lovethemusicreviews.com/audio/04%20-%20Lebanese%20Blonde.mp3] 

Heaven's Gonna Burn Your Eyes 

[audio:http://lovethemusicreviews.com/audio/01%20-%20Heaven%27s%20Gonna%20Burn%20Your%20Eyes.mp3] 

Neon Golden - The Notwist

German + Indie Rock + Electronic = Delicious

 The Notwist has been rocking my socks for a while, so I thought I'd let the masses know of their goodness. 

 Here we have Consequence, from their release Neon Golden. Low-key, purty, but a bit of head squeeze.

Consequence

[audio:http://www.lovethemusicreviews.com/audio/the%20notwist%20-%20consequence.mp3]

Related Linkage:

Buy It! 

The Notwist Official Website

The Notwist on MySpace

Bio on Wikipedia 

KS has a unique style for an electronic musician. I am impressed that the solo artist has done this much work on his own. That's not to say the music is perfect, however.

Let's start with what's good. KS builds a good beat, and proper backup. The atmosphere is set within a few seconds of each song. One can easily get into the groove of these tracks. They are fun, and the effects are surprising and fresh. The repetitious elements are a bit dull, but they suffice for the composition's overall style.

Now to the bad. There is no lead, no melody, nothing for the backup to back up. This all makes it half-baked. I can never fully appreciate music that doesn't make noises into a song, with life, a meaning, and a future. While the "difference between a noise and a musical note is your intentions," good intentions aren't enough to make this real. Without anything to make the music other than a beat with some noises, it's just ambiance, meandering about the speakers with nothing to do.

There's a solid beat, a solid grounding, and a destiny for greatness, but it remains an unplanted building of sounds. The composition simply doesn't say anything, and therefore has no power. Overall, it just seems to be a pile of toys, fun to play with, when they could be industrial strength power tools, able to really do something.

Final verdict: Soundtrack-tastic. Lots of potential waiting for a spark.

Available websites:

KS on Myspace

Buy "The Tinnitus Made Me Do It" on CDBaby

EPK

Streaming Audio:

Le Butt Shakin' Awakening