YouTube Stars!

Happy Valentine's Day! When you think about it, you realize every day could be Happy Heart Day. Why celebrate Love just once a year? Love comes in different forms. Love expresses itself in different ways. Often there are power dynamics internal to the couple. Often there are twists and the one who, to all the world, appears to be dominant might actually be willingly submissive to their partner.

From all accounts, the new movie, Fifty Shades of Grey, based on the book series by E. L. James from 2011 and 2012 is going to draw huge crowds. What is the attraction? Is it the fact that Anastasia originally started out as Bella and Christian was Edward, in a fan fiction work based on the Twilight series? Is it the strong personality and physical attraction of Dakota Johnson, daughter of Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith? Maybe the sleek physique and penetrating charm of Jamie Dornan? Ultimately, the movie and book series have to stand on the strength of the story. Who has the power in the relationship. Who is dominant and who is submissive? Is there a true love here or merely a massive physical attraction?

And what about the soundtrack? Already, Ellie Goulding's song from the movie, Love Me Like You Do, has nearly 50 million views! Its a typical modern pop love song, with a bit of a hook. The video features scenes from the Fifty Shades Of Grey movie, along with Ellie Goulding flitting around moody sets. Here it is, enjoy!

Now, lets go way way way back. Lets go back Fifty Years and see what the subject matter of Fifty Shades was like in the 60s. In 1967, the legendary proto-punk Andy Warhol supported Indie Alt generally-strange and groundbreaking band, The Velvet Underground, released a classic album, The Velvet Underground and Nico. On said album we find "Venus in Furs". This is a hauntingly beautiful dirge, a slow hypnotic trance, featuring some of the following lyrics sung by band vocalist Lou Reed:

Shiny, shiny, shiny boots of leather Whiplash girlchild in the dark Clubs and bells, your servant, don't forsake him Strike, dear mistress, and cure his heart. Severin, Severin, speak so slightly Severin, down on your bended knee Taste the whip, in love not given lightly Taste the whip, now plead for me.

There are further lyrics. Let it flow over your consciousness, especially if you are a fan of Fifty Shades Of Grey. I think you'll be happy to hear this, if you have never had the experience before. Just. Click. PLAY! (If you dare)

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but whips and chains excite me!

Labels: 60s music, bondage, Dominance, E. L. James, Fifty Shades of Grey, kinky, lou reed, nudity, sex, submission, the velvet underground, Twilight, venus in furs

posted by KennyCrane at 2/15/2015 05:55:00 AM 1 Comments

Lado Sichinava and Profusion

Today, I would like to introduce you to a young, talented Georgian musician, living in Italy, Lado Sichinava. Lado is the drummer, composer, producer and co-founder of the rapidly thriving underground band: Profusion. Their Winter Album is about to be released at the beginning of 2015. We discovered interesting facts about him, the band's history and the role of Georgian folklore in their music.

In their Youtube Miniseries (their most recent upload) we follow the recording of their new album and get to peek behind the scenes and get to know the artists behind the band a little bit.

"Profusion is a merge of a multitude of genres, timbres and rhythms, an organic fusion", Lado explains. "Profusion is a bouquet. It can be a bouquet of everything. People think that we play progressive Rock and Fusion. Doesn't Fusion mean bouquet? Profusion of Flowers. In my opinion, this definition is more correct (…) we are a musical bouquet, a cultural bouquet."

Before they morphed into Profusion, for about a year they were called the Mardi Gras Experience. Since they formed exactly during this festival. "There were three of us, a Mexican, a Sicilian and a Georgian. Marco Pieri on the bass, Gionathan (Caradonna) was and still is the pianist and Lado the drummer. Nowadays, they are a quintet. This video was uploaded to Lado's personal channel and shows the band in concert; The Tower (1 and 2) are tracks from their second album Rewotower.

BONUS VIDEO! APPLE PARODY by PROFUSION

So what sparked Lado's love for music? "Everything began, when I was little, I was shouting and screaming. He'll be an opera singer, people said. I was singing all the time at school. They were preparing a group of kids for an opera of Gia Kancheli." "Here, take Lado, on the contrary he will help us, there will be a little peace." They took me and I was in this choir.

The Spaniard Andres Segoviam sparked Lados wish to play the guitar. He studied it at the 'Academy of the Gifted' for three years until he came across the Black Album of Metallica for the first time. And that was it, everything turned around. "I would like to continue with a different instrument and that is the drum." To continue studying, Lado moved to Italy as he had relatives there.

To say it in his words, his first home country is Georgia, the second Italy. There will be a time when I'll definitely return to Georgia. I don't know where I'll live but I know where I want to die. Profusion just finished working on their Winter Album after One Piece Puzzle, (2006) and RewoTower, (2011) which is to be released this winter.

Regarding Georgian folklore in their music: "It's my fault. Fault, in a good sense, because I think that the present, the child of past is the parent of the future. Georgian rhythm is a very progressive style of music. One can say that Georgian 'folk' is the base of progressive understanding. We can create a very interesting 'mix' out of Georgian music." According to Lado, Germans have their classical music which they can take a lot from. He thinks that the music of Zakaria Paliashvili is very interesting to look at under this aspect. It's not just Georgian classic folk but the foundation of progressive rock; this is exactly why we used Zakaria Paliashvili's moments in our composition Chuta Chani.

Profusion toured around Italy and France in 2013. We wish them best of luck with their music and many invites to Rock Festivals all over the world.

Labels: Annaconda1984, folk, Georgia, Italy, Lado Sichinava, music, Profusion, progressive, Rock

posted by KennyCrane at 2/01/2015 05:26:00 AM 0 Comments