I first listened to Joe Satriani when I was in high-school, in 1995. At first I found his music pleasantly different from either the hair-metal 80s kitsch (even though some of his early stuff are clearly influenced by the æsthetics of the time) or, the fashionable genre of the time, grunge. Much of Satriani’s music can be characterised as a mixture of guitar virtuoso meets the blues meets the Mixolydian Mode. Some of his early stuff also include some elements of country, 80s music. He’s typically subtler and more structured than most other guitar virtuosos of his time (e.g. Steve Vai), his tracks often conveying a sense of dialogue between two guitars. Some people interpret Satch’s music as a never-ending solo; I tend to disagree: While the guitar undoubtedly has the central stage in his music, his phrasing, melody and structure hardly resembles what you’d define as the archetypal chorus-verse-solo structure of the Rock or Metal genres. Some of his tracks indicate very high levels of musicianship and convey strong emotions, characteristics that go way beyond your typical shredding passage.
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Σήμερα άκουσα — μετά από πολύ καιρό — το Diesel And Dust. Ίσως επειδή — όπως πάντα συμβαίνει με τη μουσική — έχω τόσες πολλές αναμνήσεις, κυρίως καλές, που καλύπτουν το μεγαλύτερο μέρος της ζωής μου, ίσως επειδή η μουσική είναι εύπεπτη (αν και όχι ξεχωριστή) αλλά παράλληλα τόσο διαχρονική (η σχέση μου με τα 80s είναι κάπως ‘περίεργη’, αλλά η μουσική των Midnight Oil σίγουρα δεν χαρακτηρίζεται ‘τυπική’ των 80s όπως και να το πάρει κανείς). Ίσως επειδή το πολιτικό μήνυμα των Oil είναι τόσο επίκαιρο και σημαντικό είκοσι χρόνια μετά τη κυκλοφορία του δίσκου, το άκουσμα των κομματιών του δίσκου αυτού πάντα με ευχαριστεί. Δυστυχώς ο πιο πολύς κόσμος περιορίζεται στο Beds are burning που έχει καταντήσει, μαζί με πολλά άλλα κομμάτια που αποτέλεσαν ‘Best Of’ κάποιας εποχής, χιλιοπαιγμένο τραγουδάκι που στη πορεία έχασε το όποιο νόημα ήθελαν να περάσουν οι Midnight Oil. Ο δίσκος όμως έχει πολλά περισσότερα να προσφέρει σε όποιον διατίθεται να τον ακούσει!

In 1987 Apple was a huge force in the personal computer industry. First of all the industry was ALIVE. Thriving. Evolving. Competing. Apple still had loads of money from the success of the Apple II, the Mac was creating the DTP sector, the now 30-year old desktop paradigm was relatively new and there was no real competition to Mac OS in terms of graphical user interface prowess. This was the time before TalOS/Taligent, before Copland. Before stagnation. This was the time when Apple had the means and the will to do more than sugarcoating existing solid technologies and going after easy money. The Knowledge Navigator was a mock video of Apple’s vision of 2010 personal computers. Some of the ideas found their way in Apple’s ill-fated Newton Personal Digital Assistant — still by far the most impressive PDA ever. Some were realised in the form of the World Wide Web.
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I just stumbled across this record, Punk Goes 80s. As an 80s kid I’ve got an inexplicable affection for 80s music/{sub-}culture, despite the kitsch-factor occasionally found therein. It’s not actually liking 80s music, as older people often do, definitely not disliking it, as younger people often do, it’s a strange feeling. There’s something charming about aspects the 80s that I cannot pinpoint, some sort of nostalgia that you feel when watching Donnie Darko or — even more surprisingly — Real Genius. I also happen to enjoy some aspects of rock/progressive/metal music quite a lot.

So you can imagine how happy I was when I found Punk Goes 80s. It is essentially a compilation of 80s songs, performed in a punk/prog/alternative/rock style by modern bands. Listening to ‘Everyone wants to rule the world’ (Tears for Fears) or ‘Straight up’ (Paul Abdul) in their punk/alt renditions was quite funny. You can find their purevolume.com site here. They’ve got a medley there. You can also visit their myspace.com site here.

If you also find the above somehow, inexplicably interesting, check it out.

Athens is white. It’s been snowing here for two days in a row, a rare occasion indeed.