Category: UNCATEGORIZED

Intensity and release. That’s the modus operandi of Ivol’s new song, “Losing Sight”, which appropriately uses rising balloons as the cover image for the single. The song begins with heavy, dirge-like piano chords and a litany of one and two-word phrases about the quotidian activities of waking up from sleep, before the track hits its cathartic and doomed musical and lyrical conclusion: “Wake up / Wake up / Breathe / Step out / Breathe / Wash face …” It’s a fascinating composition by the Australian artist (that sounds influenced by Thom Yorke solo work like 2006’s Eraser) who builds a heavily textured atmosphere with glittery synth, hollow drum sequences, vibrating strings, an intermittent bass beat, computerized blips, a large music drop, and partial rap/spoken words: “I think I’m losing sight / You need to wake up, wake up”. Follow Ivol on tumblr, facebook and twitter. — David D. Robbins…

Martina Topley-Bird. Neneh Cherry. Bjork. Alanis Morissette. Alison Goldfrapp. Alison Moyet. PJ Harvey. Fifi Rong. Francesca Belmonte (aka Franky Riley). Those are just a few of the female artists I could think of that have worked with Tricky over the years. Not only is he a wonderful musician in his own right, but clearly he’s got a great ear for musical talent too. Women seem to work well within Tricky’s style. On the one hand, their vocals lend a softness that runs counter to his gruff spoken-word poetics. They’re the melody to Tricky’s brooding discord. But female vocals often blend into Tricky’s dark grooves too, accentuating the sensual, mysterious, and smokey edge of his songs. Lately, his partner in music making is Irish-Italian singer-songwriting beauty Belmonte (who appears on songs on “Mixed Race” and 2013’s “False Idols” — including the stunner “Does It”). She seems to be prepping listeners to expect…

Download and print off my World Cup Wallchart / Match Tracker with UK times and the updated kick-off times as were announced by FIFA on the day following the draw.

Download 2014 Printable World Cup Match Tracker

By David D. Robbins Jr. | Their Bated Breath

Bob Dylan is the greatest songwriter on the planet. Period.

Call him the voice of a generation. Or the Poet Laureate of Rock n Roll. Just know that he views those superlatives as shackles. It’s the burden of expectation he’d eventually learn was better answered with more music and obtuse off-stage answers. It’s better to think of Dylan as the ultimate shape-shifter. A chameleon. A kind of music escape artist as apt as Harry Houdini. He’s an old-world trickster, donning any guise that helps him create music. Dylan has played the hobo traversing the rails, a beatnik’s vessel for peace, a street-wise Shakespeare, a carnival showman, a bullshitter of the first order, a scorned savior with a thorn in his side, a waiting lover, a clown, a caustic wretch, and an angel warning of a wave large enough to drown the…