Jacco Gardner

Hello, it is I that blogger that blogs once a year, and then tires of it. As of late I am finding more and more to write about because once again after many years of being unsatisfied with new music I feel a rebirth amongst us. Great artists are emerging from the wastes of major record companies and we are ready with willing ears. 

Websites such as bandcamp, songcloud, and MySpace are allowing bands to offer

Music and tour dates free to the public, and you get the choice to listen and then Download at a minimal fee

This post will be about a Dutch musician by the name of Jacco Gardner. This 25 year old multi musician has just released his first record titled Cabinet of Curiosities on Trouble in Mind records, an indie label out of Chicago. Jacco performed all of the instruments on the record himself except for drums but tours with a full on band. 

Jacco brings a sunny 60's psychedelic flavour to the millennium by not sounding like he is stuck in the past but by enhancing the sound with new technology. By using swirling guitars, harpsichord, mellotron, organs, anything you can think of really, and then adding a soft engaging vocal Jacco greats an effective baroque style pop similar to bands like Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd, Soft Machine, and early David Bowie. 

This is not your contemporary pop record. It is beautiful, full of haunting melody, surreal lyrics and top notch production. Over the course of the twelve tracks the album ebbs and flows like a wonderful daydream. This is an accomplished singer/songwriter/musician , a type of musician a modern label would not touch. However, thanks to social media they are not in charge any more, and great bands and music can be heard through great indie labels such as Trouble on mind. 

Overall 8.5 out of 10

Best tracks:

Clear the air

Puppets dangling

Where will you go

Chameleon

The ballad of little Jane

Cabinet of curiosities can be purchased through trouble in mind records. 

troubleinmindrecs.com

Erics Domain revamped-Diggin through the crates

I had a blog.....I stopped blogging...I felt I had nothing important to say. I have been asked why I don't blog anymore and I have decided to start writing about music again. I know a lot about it and I want to share some of my discoveries with you, anybody, nobody...the crickets....it doesn't matter. Music has always been a passion for me. I regret to say I cannot play anything but I have a need for good music in my life. I have met people and turned them on to new different styles and bands. I aim to dig through my finds and simply discuss what makes it tick, the stories behind it, and hopefully there are people who will go check out some old stuff or something they never heard of. So I urge you to join me as I strive to look for great music in a time where it may not be so easy. In a time of pop music and cheesy movie remakes its hard to find something unique that still gets ya thinkin 'man this is good shit'. Here it goes......

New Finds

So I must say winter in Toronto can get you down. Especially this one. Winter seems to drag on....which is why I spend my time indoors discovering what ever I can. I usually like to grab a couple of books, settle down, relax, and discover music. Now, I can't say my finds are new, or secret. They're just new to me. So after years of hearing of the bands Thin Lizzy, Budgie, and King Crimson, I finally decided to check them out. Thin Lizzy, is the band I new the most about, having heard The Boys Are Back in Town, all the time. I have too say out of the three they are the one I am not that into yet. I gave Jailbreak a few listens, and it's good, but I don't know if I would call it classic yet.

King Crimson, is good, as for as progressive rock goes. I can't usually stomache bands like Yes, or ELP, but there's something about Crimson. I urge everyone to listen to In The Court of the Crimson King, or Wake of the Posiedon. Both are damn good. There's a lot of creepy passages on both albums, and then some crazy loud parts. 21st Century Schizoid Man is worth a listen

Out of all of them Budgie was the only band I really didn't know except for Metallica covering them. They are a cross between Sabbath and Rush. I am checking out their early seventies catalog. If you like early metal this is a neat find. Check out Never Turn Your Back on a Friend, or their Self titled album. Classic records, both of them.

I also finally made my way through It by Stephen King, and I gotta say it's one of his better books. But I still have a fear of clowns!! I just find them even creepier now....YIKES

Fear of Sewer Dwelling Clowns

So I have realized after 18 years since I last saw IT, that it still scares the hell out of me. I am a horror fan, and a Stephen King fan; but there is something about Tim Curry in a scary clown suit, living in a sewer and scaring small children. I am probably not the only one that was terrified by this movie, and if I bother to look on facebook, I would probably find a few support groups. To overcome my fear, I am reading the novel for the first time. It ain't working. One has to hand it for Stephen King for creating something so evil, that it has scared me for years. It makes me wonder though, if I never heard of IT, would I still be afraid of clowns in general? The answer is yes, of course I would. Clowns are supposed to be these happy things with balloons, big shoes, and Volkswagen's that fit a surprising amount of clowns in them; however someone who has a big red nose, plenty of white makeup, and a scary ass smile is not okay in my books. Should I also mention how many clowns have actually been scary pedophile murderers. Case Closed. So IT is not what scares me, it's a damn clowns. Stephen King has just magnified all of our fears. I wonder if there was a severe drop in clown hiring for birthday parties after King wrote this novel. Kudos to King for keeping me up at night.

Sing With Me, Sing For The Laughter, Sing for the Tears

What is it about a song that makes us love it? What makes us like the music we like? Very philosophical questions, which I ask myself now, while I listen to a little mix of songs going on here. First was Aerosmith, hence the title of this post, now I am grooving and typing to Jumping Jack Flash. I ask myself this question because I grew up listening to rock and roll, and although I love all types of music, I will always crawl back to rock n roll as my favorite. Nostalgia plays into it allot. I collect records because thats what I grew up listening to. There's nothing like the sound of Darkside of the Moon on vinyl. CD's may be better digitally, but I would give my CD's away in an instant. I can't say that about my records.

Sunshine of your Love, has just come on and I still haven't answered my questions. Music is what makes us who we are. In some way or another we relate to a certain song because of lyrics, or because we enjoy the beat. Allot of our surroundings will affect the music we listen too. It is almost like it calls to us. If we were not moved by music, it would not be the industry it is today. But what music has become, can be called souless. Nobody writes a song like Wild Horses, or Wish you Were Here. Those songs are immortal, beautiful, and classic. It just seems to many people are about the money nowadays. But with every rule there is an exception. The White Stripes, for example play a type of rock and roll that is a throw back to the way it used to be, and possibly a way rock n roll will head. Back to the roots. No one cares for Alternative anymore.....it had it's day.

Possibly I am drawn to Rock n Roll, because of the key point, It HAS a Soul. It has creativity, beauty and most of all a hook. Not all rock and roll is beautiful, some of it is just noise, but it is just an expression, hence it has a soul. Not to say that Hip Hop, Pop, and other forms of music do not have soul (especially soul music), but the main point is, early forms of hip hop and pop were ingenious because they were groundbreaking. Now it just sounds tired. How many songs can Kanye really come up with that sound like the last one he made.


Maybe I am not a realist, but rock and roll was better in the early days before the music industry became saturated by business men instead of music lovers. Like it or not, it just because a challenge to find interesting music now adays. At least I will always have Exile on Main St waiting on vinyl when I feel I have lost faith in the music industry.

A Fresh Start

So I tried this blog thing a while back...but it failed miserably...so I will try this out again. A whole new fresh start. For the last year or so, I have pushed myself to read as much as possible. I used to read allot, but it got to a point where I just didn't bother much anymore. In 2006, my resolution for 2007 was to read 15 books throughout the year. I reached that goal by February and managed to read 116 books. The books varied from Stephen King, to Salman Rushdie, to Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and John Irving. I discovered allot of authors and books I hadn't really thought of, and I have now kept on going this year with my goal. My resolution this year, was to read some major classics. This will be the year of Dickens, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, and I will have to throw some Stephen King in there for good measure.

TOP TEN 2007!!

So what were the favorites of 2007...Well here it goes...


10. Invisible Monsters - Chuck Palahniuk
I discovered Palahniuk years ago with Fight Club, but pretty much forgot about him, until this year. I managed
to read almost every single thing he wrote throughout the year, and this one by far was his best work. A great disturbing tale of beauty and how you are percieved by yourself and others.

9. The Satanic Verses - Salman Rushdie
I wanted to read this one to see why Rushdie is hated by so many people. Can't say I found it offensive but I can see how people can...a classic tale of good and evil. I have to read this one again for sure...

8. No Country For Old Men - Cormac McCarthy
After reading the Road by this author...I was leary of starting another book by him. I was to say the least wanting more out of The Road, and it never payed off. No Country For old Men, I read because the preview looked terrific. The book was even better than the movie, and this is one to read if you like cautionary tales of fate, and what is in store for those who take chances with luck.

7. Sirens of the Titan - Kurt Vonnegut
Greetings from Tramfalador..........what a novel!!! Vonnegut has been called a science fiction hack writer...but to me...he is every thing that is good about writing wrapped into one convenient accessible package. Cats Crade was also extremely enjoyable.

6. The Hotel New Hampshire - John Irving
John Irving was probably my best find of 2007. This book was my fourth, and I couldn't put this one down.While it is overshadowed by it's previous book, 'Garp', it is a classic Irving novel in a sense that you get immersed in it.

5. Life of Pi -Yaan Martel
Classic...thought provoking, CANADIAN!!! Enough said

4. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsy
Heavy, intense and deeply emotional. A hell of a book, that will stay with me for a very long time.

3. East of Eden - John Steinbeck
A friend told me to read this one. A retelling of the Cain and Abel story. Gripping, and intense, it also features the best female villian I have ever come across in a novel.

2. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
Yossarian's adeventures in a world war II outfit, where anything goes, is a true classic American novel. While it s a difficult read, it was one that I will enjoy again and again.

1. The World According to Garp - John Irving

The Number one book of the year. The crazy world of T.S Garp is perverse, obscene, cruel, but most of all.......original. Irving's fourth book, and the one that sent him to the bestseller lists, is arguably one of his best works. The characters Garp, Jenny Fields, Roberta, and Helen all jump out of this novel and become your best friends. That is until the great endin, which couldn't have gone any other way. This is a book that makes you feel every emotion as you read it.

Runners Up
The Stand - Stephen King
Mercy Among the Children - David Adams Richards
Barney's Version - Mordecai Richler
Jude The Obscure - Thomas Hardy
To Kill A Mocking Bird - Harper Lee
Eyes of the Dragon - Stephen King
Killing Yourself to Live - Chuck Klosterman
I know this much is True - Wally Lamb
Fall On Your Knees - Anne Marie McDonald
RANT - Chuck Palahniuk


I will probably one day post my entire list from 2007...but this will do for now....
Till next time