Sea Oleena-Sleeplessness (2011)

Whether or not music contains lyrics, it is as much a medium of artistic expression as literature, dance, or sculpture.  It is my opinion that artists should try new ideas and to push the limits of genre classification.  The harder it is to classify a certain artist, the more artistic that artist tends to be.

Sea Oleena (otherwise known as Charlotte Oleena) has released two LPs that are, in my opinion, as a whole greater than the sum of their parts.  What you hear is ambient distortion, cool electronic production and silken, bluesy vocals that serve as the staples of the music. 

Oleena, of Montreal, calls herself an ambient blues musician, and while these two styles would seem to clash, creating a disjointed listening experience, the two mesh much better than one could imagine.  The music she writes and performs is about organic visual perception as much as it is an outward expression of inward emotion. 

Contrary to most ambient music, "Sleeplessness" contains both memorable and recognizable melodies that manage to shine clear through a misty wash of electronic reverb.  As the term suggests, the ambient portion of the music supplies the beautiful, sparse atmospherics, while Oleena's gloomy vocals provide a spark of blues-oriented rhythm and a simple melody.  Even on a casual first listen, the music is difficult not to sing along to.  In its own way it is catchy, but at the same time honest and soulful.

The textures present in this music are varied and deep.  The visuals are breathtaking and the emotions true and serene.  In many ways this is an incredibly unique listen.  It stays in the head of the listener for hours after the short seven tracks have faded to silence, leaving one comtemplative and restless.  It is this quality of all else that makes this record a standout.

While this album is not patently new, it was a recent new discovery for me.  Sea Oleena is a criminally underrated artist that deserves support.  Through her bandcamp page, she is offering both "Sleeplessness" and her 2010 self-titled debut as name-your-price downloads.  There is no minimum, but if you have the means, please donate a few bucks to help keep her producing new music. 

If you like music with no boundaries, you will love both of Oleena's albums.  I enjoyed both of them very much and can whole-heartedly recommend them to you.  Check out the full stream of "Sleeplessness" courtesy of the Sea Oleena bandcamp page below.  As always, thanks for reading and enjoy!

The Mark Lanegan Band-Blue Funeral review

If you a fan of grunge rock, there is a chance you have heard of Mark Lanegan.  Lanegan is an American musician who started out in 1985, forming the grunge band Screaming Trees.  He began his solo career way back in 1990 when he released his album "Winding Sheets".  Mark Lanegan was born in 1964 in Ellensburg, Washington. 

Having not been a huge fan of the grunge movement of the late 1980s-early 1990s, I had not been aware of him until earlier this year.  I discovered him on one of those days were I was browsing through 'artists you also might like'.  The cover art of "Blues Funeral" intrigued me, but nothing could have prepared me for the music I was about to hear.

For starters, "Blues Funeral" is not very grungy.  This is an alternative blues-rock album and nothing more or less.  I didn't know this until after I had listened to some samples on Amazon.  So I decided to give this record a try.

This album blew me away.  Lanegan does what he was good at so well that he doesn't try to be something he is not.  While the subtle grunge influences do show up from time to time, this is an album that is startlingly honest and bitterly sorrowful.  The guitar work is sheer wizardry, second to none.  Lanegan's band blend buzzing, crunchy alternative rock riffs with slower-tempo and amazingly melodic acoustic blues plucking.  The band weaves keyboard atmospheric work into the mix on many occasions, which help to accentuate the bleak nature of this album.  As expected, the drum work is tight, but not overbearing, allowing plenty of room for the other instruments to shine.  This is not even to mention Lanegan's vocals.

Lanegan has a very distinctive baritone voice that has been described as "scratchy as a three-day beard yet as supple and pliable as moccasin leather."  I find this description to be quite accurate. This differs from typically nasal high pitched singing and bland yelling found in a lot of grunge rock today.  His voice further deepens the sense of tragedy you get when listening to this record.  That was one asset to his singing that hooked me right away.  Not many singers are willing to go through the risk to sing quite like he does.  For the vocals alone, this album gains points with me.

"Blues Funeral" is a great album that should go down as one of 2012's best releases.  I may even rank this in my top ten.  It is that good.  Take a listen to the blues below. Enjoy!