Life Shaping Album # 6 - Amazonas - Guaco

Guaco, La Super Banda de Venezuela. What an amazing group of musicians. A band with 3 decades of history is impossible to analize briefly. 16 piece band... a big band of salsa, timba, songo, gaita, funk, you name it.

This album marks in my opinion the pinnacle of this band. I cannot imagine a better group of musicians than the lineup this cd had. The brilliance of Singer and true SONGWRITER Jorge Luis Chacin, voices of Luis Fernando Borjas and group founder Gustavo Aguado, make this album legendary. The drumming of one of my favorites, Fernando Valladares, is impecable, minimalistic and THE reference for drumset playing in a big band format... selfless, always playing for others but he has to play he PLAYS. Along with Nestor Perez on Congas and Julio Rivera on Timbales make up the best percussion section I have heard, obviously aside from Tito Puente, Mongo Santamaria, Patato etc back in the days. I could go on forever. PLUS the bass lines and piano montunos are the definition of GROOVE

The lyrics in this record are just outstanding... Chacin is one of my favorite songwriters... It seems like a large amount of my favorite songs are his. Amazing lyrics with the best horn arrangements i´ve heard, you HAVE to buy this record if you want to hear some of the best latin music ever recorded, be serious and buy it!

Another one of those records that when you are in love, have a crush, have a broken heart or simply are a breathing human being with an ounce of care and emotion, you will relate to this record. Esperandote, Si Usted la Viera, Ella Sabe, Cuando Recuerdo, Causas... every song is musically rich, innovative on so many levels... A true true true musical masterwork. The production and mix are flawless, and the genious engineering of my friend German Landaeta is perfect.

Its a true shame that Fernando Valladares, Morritz Beroes, Nestor Perez, Nelson Arrieta and Jorge Luis Chacin are no longer in the band. I cannot understand why you would get rid of the core and essence of your group... but that´s another story in which I know too little to make a small comment on...

¨Cuando recuerdo que ya no tengo rosas para dar, Cuando recuerdo tan solo me dan ganas de llorar, y la luna blanca se esconde en el silencio pues ya no luce como en mis recuerdos¨

Life Shaping Album # 5 Nightfall in Middle Earth - Blind Guardian

I had been searching for this kind of music since I could remember. I didn´t know how to explain or describe what I wanted to hear, but Blind Guardian, and this album especifically was meaningful in many different levels.

I have always been interested in Medieval times... whether in movies, cartoons or art, I was always attracted to this period. The cheesy image of a warrior somewhere in the woods playing an ancient string instrument in front of a fire next to his sword has always been appealing! jajajaja I know it´s corny but I really like that kind of stuff, what can I say...

Anyways I always wanted to hear the music that I thought would be in the backround of those times, but with contemporary instruments. In 2000 I started to become obsessed with author J.R.R Tolkien and his book The Hobbit. I started the book and a few days later I met the biggest Dream Theater fan I know who was also obsessed with Tolkien. We started talking and I asked him if he knew any bands that ¨sounded¨ like the books. The following day he let me borrow Nightfall in Middle Earth, which was based on Tolkien´s ¨Bible¨ The Silmarillion and dedicated to the author.

I got to my car and played it on my way back to my house. I was stuck in traffic, the one and only time I was HAPPY to be in traffic, listening to this. It was my first taste of power metal... a more theatrical and ¨bigger¨ sound than anything i had heard. I could imagine myself in freaking Middle-Earth, fighting orcs, jajajajjaja it was so cool! jajajja. I remember hearing the track Nightfall, right at sunset.... pretty fitting.

The guitars sound like horn lines in some fanfare, the lyrics are magical, the drums sound HUGE and the choruses are as powerful as you could imagine. All their albums kick ass, but this one takes the cake in my opinion. Along with Helloween´s Keeper of the Seven Keys II, Angra´s Angels Cry, and Gamma Ray´s Land of the Free , it´s the must have speed and power metal album...

¨Never trust the Northern winds, Never turn your back on friends¨

Life Shaping Album # 4 Distorted Lullabies - Ours

It seems like I say the same thing about every record, but this is a masterpiece... My friend kept telling me about this band, how amazing their singer was and what a great live performance they put on. I trusted her and eventually bought the cd without actually hearing a second of it prior.

From the very first sound I was convinced I was about to be blown away, and needless to say I was more than blown away... Everything about this record speaks to me. The lead singer, guitarrist and basically the engine behind the whole thing is Jimmy Gnecco. I have had the luck of seeing my favorite singers live but I have to put Jimmy at the top of that list, at least as far as rock music is concerned. You just have to be lucky enough to watch him perform and listen to what he can do and how he does it. I´ve been fortunate to see them 7 or 8 times, and everysingle time he delivers. I have never seen a ¨bad¨ Ours performance, not ONE.

One of the things about this record is that it has inspired me to write my own music and appreciate music for what it is... Right before i found out about Ours I waspretty much only listening to Megadeth, Dream Theater, and more complex stuff, all this technique driven music that even though I loved and still love with a passion, lacked whatever Ours had. I guess how ¨simple¨ and minimalistic the music was. On one hand you have some guys playing 18 minute songs with incredible solos, 8 or 9 sections to a song, and then you have a guy playing 2 chords per song and the simplest of drum beats and the music is as, if not MORE, powerful.

Lyrically he´s great... there are many beautfiul songs and even the sad ones make sense, feel right and just rock. When I first heard the record about 4 years ago I understood and related to the lyrics on a song or two, now I think i have matured and understood what jimmy meant back when he wrote the songs.

Fallen Souls, Here´s the Light, Misery Head, Dancing Alone, Meet me in the Tower... they are cool song titles and even better songs. I owe this record a LOT and could talk about it for a long time. My guitar playing has picked up, i´ve even tried singin and composing more than ever, and if it were a timeline you could see that part of me divided into pre and post Ours.

Jimmy and the guys always take the time to hang out after the shows and talk to their fans, which I have to say are as loyal as they come. On a personal note Jimmy has been nothing but nice to me everytime I have met him and when we have spoken about my admiration towards him he was extremely humble and thankful. Much respect.

¨ Ah these people, We've got to love these people, Because if we don't they will go away¨

Life Shaping Album # 3 - You Go Now - Chroma Key

This one of those cd´s you hear and think: ¨Man I wish I could have done this cd, I wish this was MY record.¨ Kevin Moore´s production work, musicality and creativeness is stamped on this album. I really cannot describe the type of music... it´s like experimental-ambiance- trip hop-electronica or something... It´s just a fantastic album. Known for his work as Dream Theater´s Keyboardist, their first, he has the technical ability to leave you breathless yet this much more minimalistic work, as observed in his debut solo effort Dead Air For Radios, it´s all about atmosphere and thought. His stuff with DT was incredible and when I found out he quit the band and decided to do his own project I was instantly interested, yet his second release, You Go Now, is one of the coolest records i´ve heard... i just like it a ton.

The lyrics are interesting, they make me laugh sometimes. I can listen and actually have listened to this record over and over and over and over. It has inspired me to be more creative and explore my songwriting. When i play this album all I want to do is close my eyes, relax and just think about anything that is bothering me or anything that is great in my life at a certain moment. He, like Mustaine, writes with some interesting irony and sarcasm. I get hypnotized by the music and I can barely remember what the songs are about... but there are amazing lines that stay on my mind like ¨I found myself back in the bachelor scene, I feel like an astronaut on a submarine¨

The sounds he creates and the choice of samples and weird effects grip your attention right from the start. I also enjoy how diverse the snare drum sounds he picks, and how in one song there are 3 or 4 different snare sounds.

My favorite track on this one has to be Get Back in The Car... great bass line.

Life Shaping Album # 2 - Youthanasia - Megadeth

]MegadetH[

I can say with all honesty that the most important musical influence in my life has been Dave Mustaine, the mastermind behind one of the most successful and enduring metal bands in the world... MegadetH. Over 10 studio records, 20 years in the business... there´s sooooo much you can say. Any serious rock guitar player would listen to these guys.

I remember the very first time I heard Megadeth as if it were yesterday. My great friend Daniel knew about them for a while but I was way into Metallica at the time. To make a long story short after he played for me Skin o´ my Teeth from Countdown to Extinction, I could feel there was something in that music more powerful than anything I had heard at that time.

A week later MegadetH was releasing their 6th studio album called Youthanasia. I went to the record store, bought it, heard songs 1 through 4 and the cd started to skip. I was enraged since i was listening to the best album ever, at that time for me, and I couldn´t get past track 4. I took the cd, threw it somewhere and didn´t hear it until 2 or 3 months later. I cleaned the cd and managed to get it working and what followed was incredible. Dave Mustaine´s singing, guitar playing and song composition were flawless. David Ellefson´s bass lines were as fitting as you could imagine, Marty Friedman´s feel, his fills and solos were on point and Nick Menza´s drumming was full of groove, power and relevance.

Songs like Addicted to Chaos, Blood Of Heroes and Family Tree, drove me to practice drums and convinced me with every touch of the play button that I wanted to make music a part of my life.

When I first went to Berklee and spoke of Megadeth, and metal in general, many people didn´t take it seriously. Many people believe that if it´s not jazz then you are not that relevant or valid in the music world. I think that your influences, however trivial they might be are as important as the artists regarded as legends... Am I a bad musician cuz I didn´t grow up on jazz?? i don´t think so. I believe Mustaine is as important as Miles Davis, that´s just my opinion. I owe much of my musicality to him, wether it´s good or bad that´s another story, but I cannot value him less than the ¨greats¨ simply because people don´t take him seriously.

Mustaine has had countless drug and alcohol problems, etc so many might think he is not a good role model. I can say that his perseverance, his will to keep making music post- metallica, and what he has to endure from people, especifically metallica fans, in astonishing. I had the opportunity to meet him and personally thank him for his meaning in my life and he seemed grateful as well. He is a great father, husband and doens´t take crap from anybody. Try it and his world famous ¨Mustaine Snarl¨ will scare the daylights out of you.

Amazing record from an amazing band... and don´t get me started on Peace Sells, Rust in Peace, Countdown to Extinction, etc etc etc. My favorite band.

¨Sing a one note song of rage, Live and die within your heart ¨

Life Shaping Album # 1 - Tiempos - Ruben Blades

There are way too many cd´s that have ¨made me who I am¨. Actually I am firm believer that everysingle experience you live has a direct effect on who you are, how you react to things, etc. But enough of this existential rethoric.

The following posts will describe some albums that I feel you must own in order to get to know me, if that makes sense at all. There is no particular order in these, just whatever comes to mind first.

Tiempos by Rubén Blades has to be in my humble opinion one of the greatest musical masterpieces in the history of music. Enough said. I really have no words to describe this particular album. I picked the hardest one first I guess... It´s a salsa record yet it´s far from salsa, traditional salsa. Instead of horn arrangements there are strings... it all sounds peacefull, classy, sofisticated and ¨from within¨

The production is brilliant. The sound of every instrument is perfect, but most of all the essence that the artist wanted to capture was achieved without a doubt. He describes the whole process as giving birth rather than producing or recording it. I have written about this idol of mine before and I won´t extend this too much. Lyrically speaking this record is GENIOUS. If you live, breather and actually care about the world, people, good things and bad alike, you will feel this record.

As far as picking my favorite track.... now this is difficult. If you have ever loved someone or been in love you must listen to track # 6 ¨Tú y mi Ciudad¨ and he has one of the most amazing frases i´ve ever heard. I won´t tell what it is... listen for yourself.