Blending industrial sampling, New Wave techno beats, Hard Rock guitars, and spoken-word poetry, Meryl Streek’s Songs For The Deceased (Venn Records) puts you in front of the most ardent liberal soapbox speaker since Eugene V. Debs. The single “Rags To Riches” delves into the emotional turmoil that is life under modern capitalism. I’m glad I got to review this one, because I’m politically aligned and probably most sympathetic to Meryl’s message. Fortunately, it’s also quite danceable.
“If sex is a sin, I want to get dirty” sings Hélène Ruzic (one half of electro-industrial duo –ii- (two-eyes) alongside multi-instrumentalist/producer Benjamin Racine) on “No Angels Allowed,” setting the tone for the duo’s latest mini-album Ars Erotica: Volume I (Self-Released).
Before diving into our review of Blow by Blow: The Jeff Beck Story
(Da Capo Publishing) by Brad Tolinski and Chris Gill (both best known from the pages of Guitar World), I must divulge that I am one of the most devoted Jeff Beck fans you will ever meet. I was fortunate to see him perform live fifteen times between 1989 and 2022, and met him twice and shook his hand both times (his hands were said to be insured for 10 million dollars USD). Not to be a conceited know-it-all, but I am one of the best people to shed light on this book for you, dear music fans. Continue reading