JGoth.com – Japan Goth Music

I have gone through most of the CDs that I have received relatively recently and don’t have any CDs left to review. Anyone want their CD reviewed? Just contact me via “Contact us” above.

I have had the chance to talk about a site offering free tattoo chat. The site offers people from all over the world to join Tattoo Chat City’s chat rooms and have a great time sharing their tattoos and the stories behind them.

When you register you will find a lot of different tattoo chat rooms including video chat rooms allowing you to show off your tattoos and see other skin-canvases of other users. All chat rooms are 100% free allowing users the chance to chat on tattoos and other subjects that they love.

Registration is simple only requiring you to include your Username, password, e-mail address, age gender and agree with the terms and conditions of the site. Once you have completed this simple form you will have access to the chatrooms.

While not having a tatt myself, I am interested about them and those who have decorated their body with this unique art and (time-permitting) would enjoy joining up to this site.

For those with tattoos or an interest in tattoos and the stories behind them, Tattoo Chat City offers a unique experience to mix and exchange stories with like-minded individuals.

So, if you have an interest in tattoos and related body art, this free tattoo chat site could be just what you are looking for.

While we are on the subject of tattoos, there is a site for tattoo lovers offering tattoo dating and general socializing. The site, Tattoodating.com, includes thousands of members with an interest in tattoos. Like most social/dating network site, Tattoodating.com allows users to upload their own pictures, send messages to other members, interact on a bulletin board and enjoy a live audio/video chat room. This is definitely the place to be to show off your own body work and interact with like-minded people.

I have seen all manner of tattoos, from the very small home decoration to full-back tattoos. Some have been immaculate pieces of art, while others have a more rustic feel. Never-the-less, although I have no tattoos (yet), I hold people who have turned their bodies into skin canvases with one or a number of tattoos. As for me, I am interested in trying out a tattoo as a temporary piece of body art.

Here is where European Body Art, formed in 2001, comes in. EBA specializes in Airbrush Tattoo Supplies – temporary tattoos using air-brushed designs. The company produces high-quality airbrushed tattoos that take a couple of minutes to apply and last up to a week or so. The tattoos offer a realistic look, painless temporary expression of the user’s individuality. This is the kind of experience I am looking for, before committing my body as a permanent canvas.

The company also offers help to potential airbrush tattooists with training and the right Airbrush Tattoo Supplies to set up an airbrushed tattoo business. Through the company’s innovative development, airbrushed tattoos have become a multimillion dollar business. There are a number success stories including a number of operators making over $60,000 per year.

As a potential temporary tattoo customer this sounds like a great system to get a taste of what a real tattoo can deliver.

Dead Scarlet Records has just released Glimmer Void’s debut 5-track album “Souls Parade” in digipack cd, limited edition.
Glimmer Void is a band from Athens, Greece, that combine ethereal female vocals with dark atmospheric melodies, influenced by the Gothic, neo-folk and neo-classical music scene.

Bio
Originally formed in Athens, in September 2004 by Stelios Mastrodiamadoglou (keyboards, guitar), Thalia Makri (vocals, lyrics) and George Kokkoras (drums, percussion), Glimmer Void started working on experimental ideas to create songs that combine ethereal female vocals with dark atmospheric melodies.

The band felt completed only after Vaggelis Babadelis (guitar) and Diana Rahmanina (cello) joined in
The process of recording began no sooner than the year 2006 and the result of it was the debut album “Souls Parade” consisting of 5 tracks.
“Souls Parade” is now out thanks to Dead Scarlet Records.

At the present time, there are two new members, George Skoufas, (male vocals and bass guitar) and Dimitris Zannis at the guitar, after Vaggelis left the band.

Glimmer Void is now giving live concerts to the Greek audience and continues writing new songs for their next album.

Today’s review covers viagogo, a European online ticket exchange that allows people to buy and sell live event tickets in a safe and guaranteed way. The company matches buyers and sellers of concert tickets, sports tickets, theater tickets and more. All manner of Tickets are available from live concerts to sports events to art and theater.

The site’s clean design and ease of use made it easy for the user to select and book for an event of interest to them. I was particularly impressed with the concert ticket area that includes such artists as Bruce Springsteen, Kylie Minogue, Bjork, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and even Iron Maiden and Korn! Searching deeper into the music concerts by category revealed dozens of artists that you can book to see in every selection for Alternative/Indy to Country and Folk.

The sports zone also provided comprehensive coverage of Football/Soccer, Golf, Rugby, Cricket, Formula 1, Horse Racing and even events from the Beijing Olympics.

If I could choose to buy Concert Tickets to see it would have to be for one of Bjork’s shows in England as she has been one of my favorite artists since seeing her perform in Australia over 10 years ago! If possible I would like to get London Tickets to see her live.

Overall, it is clear that the site has been carefully designed, making it easy to use and, after becoming a member, you can readily buy or sell tickets. It brings clarity and efficiency to the otherwise murky world ticket sales and purchases.

I feel very honored to be able to do a review about the contemporary classical music site of Frederik Magle. Frederik Magle is a composer, concert organist and pianist based in Denmark. His works are mainly modern tonal-based classical and film music. Frederik Magel has composed a variety of instrumental and vocal ensembles as well as solo music for violin and piano. His work stretches across genres from full orchestral works to modern electronica.

All items reviewed in this post are available for download on the site with but you will need to register on the Magle International Music Forums to gain access to all works (access is free). This works quite nicely as you can discuss the works further online.

There were around 10-12 tracks available online, but I have selected four to review on JGoth.com – Rising of a New Day, The Shadow, Far Away and Lullaby.

Rising of a New Day is a powerful piece bursting with energy with lively strings and brass alluding to the moment the sun breaks the horizon with all the promise of a new day. There is a quieter interlude perhaps alluding to the still-sleeping creatures, before the sunburst sequence returns again. The piece culminates with drums and finally the music quickens its tempo to exude the feeling that the day has truly arrived. I find it to be an inspiring piece reminding me that every new day has the potential to be a great day. This song is only available in the Forum so you will need to register to listen. Another interesting light-themed piece is Let there be Light, a heavier piece available here. However, I personally find Rising of a New Day the more satisfying of the two to listen to and worth registering to get access to.

The second piece is Skyggen (The Shadow), one of 20 songs based on fairytales by Hans Christian Andersen on the album Sangen er et eventyr (The Song is a Fairytale). The Shadow is a vocal piece backed by cello, piano and bass. It is an interesting piece, capturing the fantasy tale’s essence. However, the vocals are in Danish so I was unable to fully appreciate the track. You can find this track and Fra et vindue i Vartorv (From a window in Vartorv) on the main site here.

One of my favorite tracks on Frederik Magel’s site has to be Far Away, an ominous piece of electronica. Starting slow there is a feeling that something dark is approaching. Then it breaks out into gamboling keyboards as the darkened being comes into view. It is a fine piece of work that captured my imagination especially in the fast-tempo sections with keys and percussion playing off each other. About two-thirds of the way in the music lets up before unleashing a high-tempo, more uplifting tone. I definitely recommend taking a look at this piece through the forums here – remember you need to register first before getting access to tracks released on the forums.

The final track I looked at is Lullaby. As the title suggests this is a very peaceful piano work. Its tempo is slow to begin with and slowly fades to lull you to sleep.

There are plenty of other downloads on this site and I would recommend anyone looking for more modern classical works to take a look at this site. My favorite was Far Away, but many more tracks have found their way to my iPod this weekend.

Links:
Frederik Magle’s site
Frederik Magle downloads
Magle International Music Forums

Location: Milan Italy – Genre: Gothic

Stompcrash‘s Requiem Rosa has a very interesting provenance, originating in the online poetics of an unknown writer, being picked up by the band and turned into a full-on Gothic CD. The music is no-nonsense Gothic rock played with finesse. The sound combined with the feelings emoted by the original author of the words forms a pretty darned good CD.

The official blurb wraps up the origins of the lyrics:

A treasure is always hidden. Time ago they were buried in woods or lying in the deepest oceans. Today they hide in the mysterious ways of the Net. Surfing without direction The Stompcrash found one of them. A site called RequiemRosa.com offers some gloomy vocal lines waiting for somebody to give them new life. That’s what The Stompcrash did: their first first album Requiem Rosa is their interpretation of those awesome melodies written by an unknown and generous songwriter. It could remain a secret forever, but The Stompcrash decided to share it and let everybody know how to reach Requiem Rosa. Just to see if someone could bring new life to these lonely voices. Now it’s up to you.

Released through Nomadism Records Stompcrash’s Requiem Rosa contains 12 tracks.

The CD starts nicely with The London Fog paints a dark Gothic landscape with deep male vocals and works very well giving an image of London during the Ripper’s days there. Like a Noise is more a straight Goth rock track with strong femme vocals emphasizing the ever-present darkness in the listener’s life.

Watching Me Fall is wrapped around very deep male vocals and atmospheric background music. The sadness of the song where the singer has (emotionally) fallen and cannot be rescued by the one he loves or perhaps loved. 99 Cats is a much lighter sounding song with has an early 80′s shoe-gaze style.

Traditional Goth rock with clever vocals adorns Dorian, linked to the classic horror-novel by Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray. Modern Slaves is another quicker-paced song driven by strong femme vocals about the dilemna of today – have we all become slaves in the modern era?

I Will Kill Myself is a heavy-hearted song with a lot of sad violins and the protagonist declaring her love to her partner, but that she will kill herself. I am not sure if this is literal or metaphorical suicide, but either way it is a very beautifully sad track. Moscow is a rock song dotted with sound bites from World War II-style bulletins of Russians reclaiming territory from the Nazi’s.

Wake up in a Grave is another track driven by femme vocals, depicting the rather scary idea of waking up in a grave. Bloody Rain is a lot bouncier and plays like an 80s Goth/Post Punk track. They do a good job too, mixing deep male and strong female vocals throughout the song.

The Wind That Moves the Flowers is probably my favorite song with the female vocals seeming to slip through the instrumentals like a wind spirit. The CD wraps up with Mountains of Madness a good Goth-rock track. It was a nice finish to the album.

I found this CD to be really enjoyable, especially The London Fog, Like a Noise, Dorian, The Wind That Moves the Flowers and Mountains of Madness. The songs were crisply made and quite clear. The only downside for me was that a few times the vocals were sometimes a little hard to catch, especially as the concept of the record was based on an online anonymous poet. Aside from that one quibble I like this CD a lot and find the sound quite addictive. You can have a listen for yourself at their MySpace location or on their homepage.

Rosa Requiem :: Track List
01. The London Fog
02. Like A Noise
03. Watching Me Fall
04. 99 Cats
05. Dorian
06. Modern Slaves
07. I Will Kill Myself
08. Moscow
09. Wake Up In A Grave
10. Bloody Rain
11. The Wind That Moves The Flowers
12. Mountains Of Madness

For more information check:
The Stompcrash (you can also purchase the CD there).
Email: thegrave [AT] thestompcrash [DOT] com
Stompcrash on MySpace
Requiem Rosa (the anonymous poet).

Will it all end in 2008?

Someone did a whole series of Nostradamus videos relating to next year that I decided to plug into the JGoth system so people (including myself) can check them out during the new year slowdown.

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If you are still interested there are four other videos available from this person. I took them off here because it was paralyzing the page.

I was about to get ready to write some more reviews from the Greek Goth label, Dead Scarlet Records, when I received three really interesting CDs.

The first two came from the main man at DeathWatch Asia, Jude. Despair and Sawdust in Me are Japanese bands who are making waves in the Gothic/underground world. Two pops to Jude for sending these across. Jude who, apart from running the DeathWatch Asia label, heads up Sins of the Flesh and does keytair for Despair. I will get onto the reviews soonish – latest in the new year.

If you cannot wait for a review, you can buy either CD internationally from Music Non Stop (click here for Despair’s Rewired Riot Technology CD, click here for Sawdust in Me’s Mortification Made Me single).

The other CD received was from Chris of The Stompcrash (MySpace), a Goth band in Italy. The CD is called Requiem Rosa and the lyrics have their origins from a site of the same name created by an unknown songwriter. Quite a dark, mysterious provenance, which has certainly caught my attention!

Anyway, more events will be added in the days ahead and reviews soon after that.

Have a Merry Christmas!

Igor.