Various Artists – Raising Steam
Volume I
01. Miss
Von Trapp - Have A Pie: Modern Mrs Lovett
02. Helicopter
Quartet - Where Have All The Aliens Gone?
03. Thy
Last Drop – Gravedigger
04. Birthrite
- Loving You (Ain't So Easy)
05. The
Mysterious Freakshow - Hedge Witch
06. Crimson
Clocks – Red Violin
07. Montague
Jacques Fromage - Merde! Mon Dieu! (Absinthe! Sacre Bleu!)
08. Gladstone
– Night Creatures
09. Tom
Slatter - Mother's Been Talking To Ghosts Again
10. Metropolis
– Sirens
11. The
Mechanisms - Riddle of the Sphinx
Volume
II
01. The
Dark Design - Haggard Rider
02. Gurdybird
- Raggle Taggle Gypsy (video edit)
03. Venus
de Vilo - It's My Party - I'll Die If I Want To!
04. Ague -
Fifteen Leagues to Providence
05. Violent
Sky - Frances (In the Gallery of Stars)
06. The
Wattingers - Evil Driving Rain
07. Under
A Banner – Steam
08. Ghostfire
- Griminsky's Soul
09. BB
BlackDog - Steam Punk Junkie
10. New
Jacobin Club - Angel MMXVI
Volume
III
01. Kiss Like
Ether – End Game
02. Gordon
Midgley - The Tell Tale Heart
03. Victor
& the Bully - Every Fight Is A Food Fight For A Cannibal
04. Nathan
Jon Tillett – Eternaeon
05. Heathen
StrangeFellow & the VaudeVille Vagabonds – Masquerade
06. LM
Cooke – Poor Jenny
07. The
Filthy Spectacula - Flying Dutchman
08. Dark
Sinfonia - A Murderous Breath
09. Jessica
Law - The Mermaid's Revenge
10. The
Hare And The Moon - Come Unto The Corn
11. Napier's
Bones - Hand of Glory
12. Feline
& Strange - The City
13. Valentine
Wolfe – Corvidae
14. Krankschaft
- Come Fly With Us
15. Nathaniel
Johnstone - Seven Veils
What
we have here are three limited edition CD-R samplers of the Raising Steam
download albums.
Each
of these comes in a DVD box with a limited edition pin badge, only available
through one of these purchases.
For
your money you also get the code to get the entire downloadable versions
through Bandcamp, giving you access to another ten or so songs per volume.
ALL
monies raised go to the New Futures Nepal charity.
Now
you may of course be wondering what the hell is Steampunk music?
The
short answer is there is no such thing as steampunk music, not as a specific
genre anyway.
What
these samplers show is that anything is possible from classic rock to pop, dark
and twisted gothic horror, folk music and even traditional British music hall.
So why
is it called Steampunk? I hear you shout; my own opinion is that the “Alternative”
approach allows for such freedom that many talented artists are simply drawn to
something which is not locked down in a specific genre.
I
would urge you to investigate if like me you have a wide variety of interests when
it comes to music, perhaps the very name of Steampunk has made you avoid the
music, something which to its shame the wider music press has been guilty of,
thus failing to introduce their readers to some amazing classic rock music!
A few
examples:
From
Volume I, we have some horror tinged music hall comedy from Miss Von
Trapp. The Helicopter Quartet are
clearly emulating one of Karlheinz Stockhausen many experimental compositions.
The
track by Tom Slatter is quite stunning, a mix of light modern progressive rock
with a vocal delivery that seems to mix David Byrne and Syd Barrett.
Finally
Metropolis have a modern Hawkwind vibe with some Tubeway Army thrown in for
good measure.
Up
next a few from Volume II, how about Gurdybird who has mixed tribal drum
rhythms with playing an actual hurdy gurdy!
Venus
de Vilo brings a smile with her incredible dark and twisted mix of Nina Hagan
and Alannis Morrisette.
A
superb mix of seventies hard rock and proto doom Violent Sky are one of the
stand outs here.
Ghostfire
perform some fantastic female fronted acid folk, followed by some bass driven
stoner rock from BB Blackdog.
Last
one is New Jacobin Club, providing some folk tinged acoustic music with a very
powerful vocal.
What
does Volume III kick off with? Kiss Like Ether with some darkwave meets early
industrial and perfectly mixed and delivered.
Up
next is some weird space synth and then Gordon Midgley treats us to seven minutes
of mesmerizing narration of Poe’s classic tale.
Dishing
up some folk horror in the style of Marc Wilkinson (Blood On Satan’s Claw) and
Magnet (The Wicker Man) comes The Hare & The Moon.
Valentine
Wolfe are pure Symphonic Metal and keeping it heavy are Krankschaft (Hawkwind’s
Robert Calvert former backing band) blending Amon Duul II with Hawklords.
Last
up is Nathaniel Johnson whose take on folk rock is reminiscent of The Trees
meeting All About Eve.
Well I
have picked out a few, there really is much more on offer, almost every genre
is represented here.
For
more information, order details and a chance to preview the music go to the
Raising Steam Bandcamp page.
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