New Music - Kotadama

Kotadama means “Spirit of words” in Japanese. Brothers Chris and Evan Brown hail from the Central Coast of NSW Australia. In 2006, Chris taught himself how to play the guitar and keyboards and convinced his brother Evan to teach himself the drums. The band Kotadama was born! Towards the end of 2007, at 19 & 21 Chris and Evan began writing and performing their own songs. For such fledgling musicians, their music has amazing depth and fiber. In fact, they won the International Singer/Songwriter Award at Festival4Stars and will be attending a ceremony in the UK to perform and accept the award. They also just had a #1 single on Kiss FM in New York City.



The debut album is named Dichotomy. It is a 12-song disc, pop from top to bottom. It opens with the title track, which, like most of the songs, mixes synthesizer with drums and guitars, a real aural banquet. Next up is As I Am, a song about the nature of love and life, and asks the eternal question "Can't you love me as I am, not for the clothes I wear." See You Tonight is the third track, a ballad again delving into the nature of relationships. Here is the video.



Earth Vs. Man begins with an homage to U2, then turns to full-out Kotadama. Their usual style of pop-rock is closer to Mr. Mister than U2, and when they discuss "the day has come when we decide there is no where to run, no where to hide", they have a plaintive quality to the situation. Three Simple Words, opens with a bit of MJ Blige inspired drama, building to a chorus that explains "I just wanna hear those three simple words." Here is the video.



Golden Child, has a nice bouncy quality, driven by a guitar that builds from light to full. Next up is Time N Tide, which slows it down with a ballad tempo, only to pick it up again in the chorus, asking to not let time slip away like the tide. Standing At Your Side, is another ballad that maintains the same quality throughout, pledging to be there for a lover till the end of time. What We Left Behindpicks up the tempo, as well as the intensity. Calm Before The Storm starts with "I don't want to play these games, who was right and who was wrong" and as it builds, you know they are talking about that period of time when a relationship dissolves. Land of Dreams, has a ethereal almost mystical quality, seemingly ready to udnerscore a movie in Cinemascope. The album comes to an end with The Fallen, a song with an almost acoustic feel to it. They lyrics are in search of that place where we can fall, and hurt no more.



Like many young bands at the moment, I can certainly hear the influences from the 80s and 90s. I hear The Edge's guitar licks infiltrate a few songs, while fellow Aussies Midnight Oil creep in, with the textured and layered approach to instrumentation. There is also a hint of the Little River Band, and the intelligence in the lyrics of Crowded House. Dichotomy is a great first offering, and Kotadama is a bond to keep an eye on as they grow and mature in the years to come. To hear some music and get more information for Kotadama, go to their official website here.

Live Music - Gregory Douglass - Sadly

Vermont-based musician Gregory Douglass just posted a video of a performance of his song Sadly. The clip is from Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs, New York. Gregory is accompanied by Monique Citro and Myra Flynn.



To listen to more of Gregory's music and to find his tour schedule, go to his official website here.

Worth Another Listen - Kajagoogoo

The British pop/new wave band Kajagoogoo was made up by Nick Beggs, Stuart Neale, Limahl [born Christpoher Hamill], Jez Strode and Steve Askew. They had one big hit in 1983, the startling Too Shy. In some ways Kajagoogoo could define the British New Wave sound that was rife in music at the time, an infectious blend of soft rock and r & b. Too Shy was all over the radio, playing repeatedly all through 1983. But it was 1983, and with that came the hair with more product than actual hair, more volume than God intended. I should know, I sported some of those looks myself.


Kajagoogoo - Too Shy
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Kajagoogoo released a new album in 2008, and continue to work on new music today. The band is still in tact, despite taking a long break. In 2007, they played a new song, Rocket Boy, at Retrofest 2007 in Scotland. Perhaps some things would be better left in the past. Here is the lead singer with a video of Rocket Boy.



To find out more about Kajagoogoo and what they have been up to, go to their official site here.

Dark Monday - Cats

Cats opened on Broadway in 1982, and closed in 2000, making it the longest running musical ever, running for 18 years and just shy of 7,500 performances. Since then, it has been replaced by another Lloyd Webber musical, Phantom of the Opera, which is still running today. It had music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and based on the work of T.S. Elliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, published in 1939. I saw a prodution of it a long time ago. The show had 11 Tony nominations, and an amazing 8 wins.



I gotta be honest here, I was not a fan of the show. Based on a collection of poetry, the storyline is not a strong one. The costumes and makeup looked cool from the stage, but when the 'cats' went into the audience, the illusion was lost for me. And it is not the strongest of Lloyd-Webber's music. It seemed to have more life as a dance piece than as a strong work of musical theater. Take for example, the opening, Jellicle Songs for Jellicle Cats.



Often in a Lloyd-Webber musical, giving a performer an Elvis type of moment. In this show, it is Rum Tum Tugger.



The real break-out song of the show is Memory, sung on Broadway by Betty Buckley. The song has been sung by almost every female singer who has picked up a microphone in the last 20 years.

Westlife Pre-Release Party - Early Hits 1

Left to right: Kian Egan, Nicky Byrne, Shane Filan, Mark Feehily, Brian McFadden.

Westlife, five Irish boys with a dream, released their first album in 1999. The eponymous effort started out a remarkable string of hit songs to top the UK Singles Chart. The first song released was Swear It Again, and it began the run of seven consecutive singles to top the UK chart. To date, Westlife has topped that chart 14 times. Swear It Again is the only Westlife song to chart in the US, reaching #20. Interestingly enough, the album is the only one of Westlife's discography to not make it to #1, landing just short at #2.



The second single was If I Let You Go.


The third single from the album also topped the charts. It was Flying Without Wings.



On November 31, Westlife will release their seventh studio album, Where We Are, in the UK. The first single, What About Now, was just released, and they debuted it with a live performance on the X-Factor show [click here to see it]. You can find the official Westlife site by clicking here.

A Happening In Central Park - 1968

On June 17, 1968, Barbra Streisand held a live concert in Central Park, and feared no one would show up. The little Jewish girl from Brooklyn who was told she was not pretty enough to be a star, no matter how talented she might be, didn't think there would be a crowd. Turns out that was not the case. Well, over 130,000 did, and it was captured on tape for a television special. She opened it with the classic songs More Than You Know/All The Things You Are, here seen as they were cut from the TV show.



When she sings He Touched Me, there is a certain amount of innocence and delight. And, of course, that voice.



Barbra's Happy Days Are Here Again was another standard she managed to make all her own. Once accepted as an uptempo fun song, Barbra owned it as a song of strength and defiance.



Barbra's interpretation of Cry Me A River was rather over the top at the time, for it screamed of sexuality and of a woman with some power to laugh at her man.



If you get the chance, buy or rent the DVD, you shan't be disappointed. You can find it at Amazon here.

Sunday Worship - Aretha Franklin

Is there anything more spiritual than Miss Aretha Franklin singing a gospel version of the Simon & Garfunkel song Bridge Over Troubled Water?