‘Counterclockwise’
(2012) is the latest release from Croatian band Ivan Mihaljevic & Side Effects.
It certainly doesn’t disappoint devoted fans of their earlier albums, as
‘Counterclockwise’ oozes more of their rock vibe music that everyone has become
accustomed to.
Ivan Mihaljevic & Side Effects..
what a band! It’s amazing to discover
the complex elements that come together on this record. Classic rock fans will
find much to savour and enjoy in the layers of drum beats, guitar riffs and
poetic vocals that hark back to bands such as Incubus and Social Distortion.
The intro track ‘Too much is not
enough’ provides the listener with a clear direction of where the album is
going with its deep contemplations and observations on today’s society and its
emotional state. Those who love introspective song writing will find much to
adore amongst the varied tracks on ‘Counterclockwise’. Given that the band is Croatian, I have to
give them credit for navigating the English language so well, rather than
producing clunky lyrics that can often stem from European bands wading in the
waters of English written music.
The band displays some real skill,
particularly with the array of guitar riffs and solos sprinkled throughout the
record, and the silky smooth voice of Ivan Mihaljevic which truly reminds me of
Brandon Boyd from Incubus. My particular favourite of the whole album is
‘Gilded Cage’, which begins with the sound of something being wound up,
unfolding into a beautifully chilled out song which exposes some really raw
emotions and crying out to God.
Overall,
fans of the band and of the genre of rock will not be disappointed by this
record. It provides classic easy-listen music draped in Ivan Mihaljevic &
Side Effects’ originality!
R'n'R
CD BABY http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/ivanmihaljevicsideeffect
Trevor Simpson is the resident DJ at Ruby Skye, San Francisco's marquee EDM club and has remix credits to the likes of M.I.A., Dev and Enrique Iglesias, Jason Derulo, and Lady Gaga.
The Cataracs are a multi-platinum group responsible for #1 Billboard pop song "Like a G6" and David Guetta "Sweat" featuring Snoop Dogg. Recent projects include songs with French EDM superstar Martin Solvieg and Icona Pop.
Dagger is the first single from Trevor Simpson's debut ep and will be out on World Town recordings world wide on May 14th .
The Real Lil Dee is a revolutionary rapper and hip hop entrepreneur with more than 350,000 followers worldwide. Lil Dee the son of a bank robber and drug dealer grew up visiting his father in prison. During his early adulthood Lil Dee would find himself engulfed in a life of crime and at war with a system determined to snatch away his freedom. On the run, he would often find himself in foreign countries exposed to multicultural societies and philosophies which heavily influenced him as an individual.
In an effort to change his life and not wanting to follow his father’s footsteps, Lil Dee began to immerse himself into the music business and now can be found promoting and marketing underground hip hop artists via Rapmonster.com. He is constantly educating the masses about systematic racism, false religion and oppression through social media outlets such as Twitter, where he has well over a quarter of a million followers.
On the 10th of February 1925, a great man penned his well known “First Message to the Negroes of the World From Atlanta Prison”, wherein he made his famous proclamation: “Look for me in the whirlwind or the storm, look for me all around you, for, with God’s grace, I shall come and bring with me countless millions of black slaves who have died in America and the West Indies and the millions in Africa to aid you in the fight for Liberty, Freedom and Life.”
That man was Marcus Garvey. A Jamaican political leader and orator who was a staunch proponent of the Black nationalism and Pan-Africanism movements. Garveyism inspired others, ranging from the Nation of Islam to the Rastafari movement, which proclaims Garvey as a prophet. It’s a shame so few people remember or even know about Marcus Garvey and the Black Star Line, today. Before Martin and Malcolm ever made their marks, there was Marcus.
Lil Dee is one of the very few new rappers out there that seem to be tracing Marcus Garvey’s footsteps with pride and integrity. This is a real man that has something to say about the world and doesn’t just rehash the same youth and gang struggles that mainstream rappers continually brandish to their fans.
Lil Dee tells stories of struggles, injustice and real issues that not a lot of rappers out there would even attempt to address nowadays. He also does it in such a clever fashion that it is undeniable that this emcee understands the world in a much broader sense than your average rapper. I will admit Lil Dee is not the easiest artist to listen to at times, his voice and personality takes some warming up to if you haven’t listened to his music before, but once you do, it is just smooth sailing from there on because this man is one of the best things to come out of the underground rap movement in quite a while.
Over at the Rapmonster.com website we stumbled across “The Lions Den,” an album by Lil Dee, that hosts a collection of 39 whopping tracks. “Liberty Or Death” which kicks off the fireworks, has an opening verse that reads:
“we have the greatest lost of people thru human history
niggers dont know about kemetic school of mystery
many people done lost their nation hood
alot of damn people have been conquered and abused
yet our lost was so great man its hard to recover
everytime i turn around we fighting each other
we opressed you my brother and we both suffering
the white man is to blame that aint up for discussion…”
Making it clear from the outset that Lil Dee, lays it down straight and doesn’t any cut corners in his messages. He raps with wit and conviction that propels as the album goes on. His flow is awesome, and he can easily switch up at almost any time with no sign of slack.
Once again, Lil Dee really knows how to paint vivid pictures filled with social commentary and real positive messages despite the use of explicit language on the occasion; but there is a lot of substance on this album and his lyrics are so thought provoking that the cursing is simply just in context.
The thing that makes Lil Dee and the album so great is because this is what real hip hop is supposed to be about. Nowadays you hear rappers exclusively rapping about stuff like cars, women and drugs. Rap music has become quite stale recently, but it’s albums like this that are keeping it alive. The Lions Den sends positive messages as opposed to talking about the futile stuff mentioned earlier and goes way beyond the beats.
Lil Dee is one of those unique artists that is really able to talk to the people and send a message about society in his raps.
.jpg "Trevor Simpson and The Cataracs \"Dagger\"")
