by teepoo

Last year we posted the well loved track by Tor titled Aperture. The dude is back and about to release a full album titled Drum Therapy. Check out Glass & Stone off the upcoming album that demonstrates his use of Celtic samples and down-tempo beats. The result is a modern type of “world” music.

Website

By Sweet Sound of Sunrise

An airshow disaster seems to be an odd event to name a band after, but that’s what a band formerly known as Ramstein-Flugschau got their name. You would know them better as Rammstein.

Formed in Berlin in 1993, Rammstein is a pioneer of the Neue Deutsche Härte, genre of music that mixes techno into a mix of hard rock and metal. This combination, combined with a reputation for elaborate, pyrotechnic-heavy live shows, has made the band famous throughout Germany and many countries all over Europe.

Band members Till Lindemann, Richard Z. Kruspe, Paul H. Landers, Oliver Riedel, Christoph Schneider, and Christian Lorenz remain in the same lineup from the band’s inception almost 20 years ago. Their popularity has extended beyond the continent, too. “Du Hast” is likely their most famous song in North America, after being featured on the sountrack for the movie The Matrix.

By Sweet Sound of Sunrise

To Canadians from anywhere else in the country, the East Coast is known for friendly people, fishing towns, and the population’s predominantly Celtic roots. Nowhere is this heritage more apparent than in the folk music of the region. While provinces like Nova Scotia are more Scottish, Newfoundland and Labrador is predominantly Irish, and this is reflected in the style of traditional music.

The Irish Descendants were formed when fishing industry workers on the island of Newfoundland combined two folk bands in 1990. Their debut album, released the following year, brought them to the attention of Warner Music. Warner signed them on and they were immediately successful with a string of albums. 1996′s Gypsies and Lovers won them a Juno Award and an East Coast Music Award. At Newfoundland’s 500th anniversary, The Irish Descendants played for the Queen. Internal tensions and musical differences from that time onward caused several lineup changes over the years, with Con O’Brien as the only remaining founding member. Nevertheless, the band continues to tour in North America and occasionally Europe. 20 years after their start, they remain a successful Irish folk group and show no signs of slowing down.

Irish Descendants – Rattlin’ Bog

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Plan B have just finished 2 shows in the LA and NY, impressing the likes of Paloma Faith and Elton John hoping to break ground as they already have done since 2005 here in the U.K. Plan B’s music is best described as rap mixed with other genres such as Pop/Rock/Hip-Hop/Soul and Dubstep. Continue Reading

By Sweet Sound of Sunrise

When someone mentions German music to me, I normally think either Wagner or Rammstein. There’s no in between. So I was pleasantly surprised when I found out that not only is reggae extremely popular in Germany, but that there are many German reggae artists who, although they may not be household names to those of us in North America, play to sold-out crowds of tens of thousands all over Europe.

Instead of focusing on one of the really big mainstream bands, I chose to showcase a musician signed to an indie label, Sebastian Sturm. He was born in Aachen, Germany to a German father and an Indonesian mother in 1980, and spent his youth between Germany, Belgium and Holland. At the age of 14 he started his first punk band, and stuck with music since. Soon afterward, he realized that punk was not his scene, and started a reggae band at the age of 20. In 2007, he was named Best Newcomer by Riddim, a German reggae magazine. He may not be Jamaican, but his focus on real instruments and roots reggae makes his brand of music authentic and head-bob inducing.

Sebastian Sturm – Be Righteous

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

By Sweet Sound of Sunrise

This week’s WMW post comes to me thanks to my friend Sonya, who introduced me to this band. It piqued my interest, because when I think of metal, I think of Iron Maiden, Scandinavia and the eastern half of the United States. Even the niche of folk metal is firmly planted in northern Europe in my mind. Nevertheless, Peruvian folk metal does exist, and – for all you metal fans – it’s good.

Chaska was formed in Arequipa, Peru’s second-largest city, in 2002. The following year they released a self-titled demo that secured them gigs in Lima, the capital. In 2005, Chaska began performing outside the country, beginning with Chile, and even opened for Sepultura in Bolivia. In 2009, they released their debut album Pururauca.

According to their Myspace page, the word “Ch’aska” is a Quechua word for the brightest star in the sky, as it was called by the Incas and still is in certain areas of Peru where they still speak the language. Like all folk music, Chaska’s songs are heavily laden with traditional instruments, such as the pan pipes, played by Marcelo Huapce. The rest of the lineup is formed by Carlo Alonso Raffo, Carlos Llosa, Alan Rubina, and Tito Malaga, who are responsible for the heavy, guitar-laden and gravel voice-driven, metal part.

Chaska- Nymph of the Lake

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.