Now I have to say, I have never been more excited to listen to Beethoven’s 5th symphony. In addition to it being one of my favorites, 2Cellos has managed to make an arrangement that would even appeal to non-classical music folk. 2cellos decided to mash the classical symphony with the famous Whole Lotta Love by Led Zeppelin. While the music video is just the 2 cellists playing on stage to an audience, there’s a fun twist. The video shows Luka and Stjepan playing in an older era (suggesting a time when Beethoven was still around) and in the present era wearing all back and imitating what looks like a rock concert (in reference to Led Zeppelin).

At a certain point in the video it appears that both timelines keep overlapping allowing the duo from the past era to time travel to the present and appear on stage performing along with the duo from the present. The song ends with all 4 cellists getting a standing ovation from the audience and taking a selfie together.

Edited by: NJ Bakr

The album starts off with the brooding track ‘See You at the Bottom’ with some powerful guitar riffs. However, the album is far from dark; with poppy songs like ‘Same Damn Life’ you can be certain that the album will not leave you jaded.

The album’s first single ‘Words as Weapon’ has a hypnotizing drum line and a good message to boot.

Morgan also showed some really appealing vocals on various tracks like on the song ‘Nobody Praying for Me’ which starts off with him singing in very low tones.
In a nutshell Isolate and Medicate is an album with a fresher sound to the band that will appeal to old and new fans alike. Seether proved that they can still find new and interesting ways to make music.

Edited by: NJ Bakr. 

Tributes for Michael Jackson: 

• The Weeknd – Dirty Diana
• Alien Ant Farm – Smooth Criminal
• Sungha Jung – Beat it
• Dolapdere Big Gang – Billie Jean

Tributes for The Beatles:

• Michael Jackson – Come Together
• Jim Sturgess – Revolution 
• Doxology – Eleanor Rigby

Tributes for Metallica:

• Apocalyptica – Nothing Else Matters
• Avril Lavigne – Fuel
• Acid Drinkers – Seek And Destroy
• The Sins of Thy Beloved – The Thing that Should Not Be
• Van Canto – Battery 
• Miss Elena House – Nothing Else Matters

Tributes for Bob Dylan:

• Jimi Hendrix – All Along the Watchtower
• Guns N Roses – Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door

Tributes for Black Sabbath:

• Pantera – Planet Caravan
• Megadeth – Paranoid 

Tributes for Deep Purple:

• Opeth – Soldier of Fortune
• Throne of Chaos – Smoke On The Water

Tributes for Pink Floyd:

• AndromidA – Another Brick In The wall I & II
• AndromidA – Another Brick In The wall III
• Korn – Another Brick In The Wall

Trubutes for Nina Simone:

• Joe Bonamassa – Funkier Than a Mosquito’s Tweeter
• Dolapdere big Gang – Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood

Tributes for Eric Clapton:

• Lefay – Cocaine
• Ozzy Osbourne and others – Tears in Heaven

Tributes for Queen:

• Valensia – Bohemian Rhapsody
• Never Shout Never – Bohemian Rhapsody

Tributes for Led Zeppelin:

• Dark Angel – Immigrant Song
• Angra – Kashmir
• Dread Zeppelin – Black Dog

Tributes for Iron Maiden:

• Children of Bodom – Aces High
• Graveworm – Fear of The Dark

Random cover songs:

• Skid Row – Little Wing (Jimi Hendrix cover)
• Alaa Wardi – Royals (Lorde cover)
• Justin Murphy – Losing My Religion (R.E.M cover)
• Jeff Buckley – Hallelujah (Leonard Cohan cover)
• Kyle Jordan Mueller and Cece – Marry the Night (Lady GaGa cover)
• Incubus – Stand by Me (Ben E. King cover)
• Travis Ratledge – Someone Like You (Adele cover)
• Linkin’ Park – Rolling in the Deep (Adele cover)
• Brandon Ummel Band – Moves Like Jagger (Maroon 5 cover)
• Future Idiots – Bad Romance (Lady GaGa cover)
• Green Day – Working Class Hero (John Lennon cover)
  
• Five Finger Death Punch – Bad Company (Bad Company cover)
• Breaking Benjamin – Enjoy the Silence (Depeche Mode cover)
• Walk off the Earth – Somebody That I Used to Know (Gotye cover)
• Shinedown – Simple Man (Lynyrd Skynyrd cover)
• Ryan Lewis – Wonderwall (Oasis cover)
• HIM – Wicked Game (Chris Isaak cover)
• John Mayer – Free Fallin’ (Tom Petty cover)

Stay tuned for the next part…

Shereen G and Mena Ezzat

The Science of Selling Yourself Short by Less Than Jake
This is one of the happiest songs I’ve ever listened to. Although the lyrics are about how you can’t seem to do anything right but it also says that you’re your own worst enemy so you feel like it’s up to you to pick yourself up and live on your life.

Follow Me by Uncle Kracker

One of those songs that you make you feel good about love.
P.S: not recommended for those in a relationship with a married person.

Grace Kelly by Mika

You can’t help but sing along when you hear this one. It’s catchy with uplifting beats that make anyone wants to dance and sing along.

Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough by Michael Jackson

I don’t think there’s anything to be told about this song; the title says it all. Boogie on!

50 Ways to Say Goodbye by Train

A good way to describe this song would be to say that it’s the happiest break up song ever. Instead of writing a mopey and dull love-gone-wrong song like most artists do, Train decided to go in another different and fun direction.

Good Day by The Click Five

You will soon be having one after listening to this track by this Beatle look alike band.

Better Now by Collective Soul

A highly underrated band, they have some amazing tracks such as this. This song will make you ‘happy as Christmas’.

Dancing in the Moonlight by Toploader
You can’t have a list without this track and I don’t have to say why.

Get Lucky by Daft Punk and Pharell

It’s Daft Punk and Pharell, together, need I say more?

The Remedy by Jason Mraz
A song full of hope and just tells you to live your life to the fullest.

This is the second album to be released by Daniel away from his band Trigger. Daniel has written all the music, produced and played all the instruments you hear in this album apart from the drums played by Terry Sadowski and guitar solos done by David D’Andrade.

The album is mostly hard rock songs with some shredding guitar riffs and powerful vocals that remind you of rock bands in the 80s. He isn’t afraid to mix melodic rock with hard and classic rock and it sounds great. You can tell the album’s beautifully produced.

Daniel proved to be a talented songwriter and musician; this album could easily slip into hard rock classics and I’ll be looking forward to his next solo album.

The rest of the EP is still not available to listen to but the band released a minute and a half video of the track. The video is mainly vocalist Stefan Karg walking around in various streets in a fast motion. The song seems like a mash up between punk rock and rap, which I don’t think go that well together. If normal singing vocals were used maybe it would’ve made the song more bearable.

Jubran is gifted in playing the oud and composed all the tracks on the album. The lyrics are accompanied by her playing the oud only or some mellow electronic beats.

Jubran stated that she was preoccupied with the concept of ‘place’ and she tried to imagine the different places in which each poet placed himself. She kept in mind the different moods and atmospheres of each place while she composed the music, she also remembered all the recent places she has been that ‘shaped her life’. And that’s how Makan was created.

M. Shadows has steadily left the screaming vocals behind and turned to singing vocals which turned the band into a new (better if I say so myself) direction. The band took a deep blow when The Rev passed away in 2009 as they were writing material for Nightmare. The Rev was a great creative force in the band but the band dealt with his death very well as they continued to work on the record. They got top notch drummer Mike Portnoy to record the album and tour with them (one of The Rev’s idols). And they shot to the top. The album was a great success and considered one of their best.

Hail to the King is the first album to be written without any input from The Rev and Arin Ilejay was recruited as the band’s permanent drummer. He also contributed to the writing on this record. It is noticeable that the drums on this album are fairly simplistic, not like their older material, it was what the band wanted out of Arin on this album and to put his true style of playing on pause but only for the moment.

When listening to this album you’re reminded of old school metal like in the 80’s. Influences of bands such as Iron Maiden and Metallica are evident on the album.
While many argue that some tracks are just plain rip offs of old metal tracks, like ‘This is War’ is stolen from Metallica’s ‘Sad But True’, it is not the case. As I said earlier, the influence is clear such as the song structure perhaps but nothing on this album was a complete rip off as nothing was identical to any other bands’ material.

Many bands write whole albums and admit that it’s a tribute to a certain band(s) and when you hear the record, you can instantly tell who influenced this particular track. That doesn’t necessarily mean that the artist ripped off another artist. For example in Muse’s last album, The 2nd Law, a track like ‘Panic Station’ is clearly influenced by Queen’s ‘Another One Bites the Dust’.

The album kicks off with a very Metallica-like track ‘Shepard of Fire’ and this pretty much gives you an idea how the rest of the album is going to be like; heavy old school metal with some ear shredding solos. Vengeance and Gates both perform some ear shredding solos and rhythms, and Shadows’ vocal performance is just outstanding on all of the tracks be it a heavy or mellow ballad. It’s clear that Shadows has greatly improved since all of the band’s previous work and proved that he can perform a wide range of vocals which separates A7X from many other metal bands that lack this element.

Although this album is very different from older A7X material, it’s a great album that takes you back to old metal days. Metal and Sevenfold fans will all find tracks to their liking.

Was it fruitful? Did he stand against the police officers? Did he achieve what he needed from this experiment?

Let’s explore…

First, introduce yourself.

Shady: My name is Shady Ahmed; I’m a singer/songwriter guitar player.

How long have you been singing and playing the guitar?

Shady: Both collectively for about 7 years now.

Tell me about your own band, Shady Ahmed, was this your first concert?

Shady: Well in all honesty, I never intended to get a backup band to play along to my music and just preferred to be a solo artist; I still plan to create a new band with a new name. I had performed in a few random gigs as a solo artist, but I had no band, hence my name appearing on the marquee.

Why did you decide to make your own band rather than playing whatever you wanted in Kravin?

Shady: I’ve always written songs on my own, even before Kravin. Kravin was actually my idea for a band to play my originals. The first rehearsal we ever had, I was holding the guitar and playing one of my songs. But then time passed and the line-up changed, the whole dynamic went in another way that I loved, and I went along with it giving it everything, especially with songwriting. But the kind of music Kravin presents is far away from the songs I’ve always written in the corner of my room. When Kravin plays live, it’s the best rush I get, I feel like we own the crowd…but then there’s a whole side of me that feels left out. This is my attempt to maintain any kind of balance if you will. And playing both styles simultaneously is a learning experience I’m still getting used to.

What are the advantages of being a solo artist? And what are the disadvantages?

Shady: Well, playing live on my own has a certain freedom to it… I play whatever I want, even if it’s a song I heard on the radio and felt like playing. You get to communicate your vision the way you choose. Having said that, there are some songs that I have played alone for a couple of years, but when played with a band, they just had a totally new meaning, it was like finally listening to my music the way I had intended on making it. I’d say the disadvantages of playing solo is the audience factor, you have to think of ways other than the music to keep them interested. For example, I performed an acoustic version of “Kiss The Girl” (Little Mermaid O.S.T) and it ended up being the one they requested at the end of the show for the encore… which wasn’t really what I wanted; I wanted to be able to go on stage, with my guitar and play my songs for people, but the audience isn’t ready for this yet.

Do you have your own band, stable members or do you get session musicians to perform with you?

Shady: Like I said before, it’s a stable band, but it will not carry my name on the main headliner, it’s a new band with a new identity, but the songs we are performing will be songs we write together.

Tell me about your experience in the streets and people’s feedback concerning this experiment? And why did you think of doing this?

Shady: Its simple, I had a show, I was tired of promoting it online, so I played real music to real people, in the streets! It was great, I got a lot of love; people were amazingly supportive and it caused a lot of buzz. Unfortunately the concert didn’t get the end of that promotional train, and most of the attention went to me singing in the streets. They focused on the “what” and “who” more than the “why”.

What songs did you pick to sing in the street? What language? What type?

Shady: Believe it or not, I improvised everything I did on the streets, apart from a couple of covers I did for some people who had come to see me specially. It was great; I ended up writing 3 tracks which I will perform at the concert on the 18th of April at Sakia. The songs were in English, and they were pretty much what you would expect from acoustic music, they had pop sensibilities. They were in English, because my music is in English, I wouldn’t want to advertise for something other than what I do.

Which concepts allows you to choose your songs; to entertain people or to display your talent?

Shady: When you’re singing in the streets, you have to keep in mind that you want to be heard, so I played a lot of up-beat stuff, hard strumming and loud singing, which really paid off because I was able to work on a new sound; one that I had not found a reason for before. So that was a great thing by itself.

[Five minutes after Shady starts singing the police arrive and question him..]

How did you react with policemen? Did they tell you to stop? And did you really stop when they asked you to?

Shady: Policemen came and asked me what I was doing, and so I answered them. I was told by a lawyer that there was no law against me singing in the streets, the maximum anyone can do was ask me to leave. I spoke to them with reason, and they couldn’t hold anything against me. They had no reason not to have me there, and I had no reason to leave. And just for the record, I only stopped playing when I was tired! And if people are allowed the freedom to smoke in the streets, harm themselves and those around them, then why shouldn’t I sing?!

Would you do this again?

Shady: Of course, and I’ll get more musicians with me next time.

What did you learn from this experience and you would like to share with the others?

Shady: I learned that sometimes you do something for a purpose, and you end up benefiting in a different way. Either way, you just have to accept it as a blessing. And I learned that doing something you’ve always wanted to do can sometimes be the most fun you can ever have.

Do you think that the Egyptian artists/bands should to promote for their lives – as you did – and sing in the streets, and do not depend on the place marketing plan only?!

Shady: I don’t know! I certainly can’t speak for other musicians.

People think that the most of artists/bands perform their music for just a matter of propaganda, just to humor the social problems such as; poverty and the economic crisis. So what is your comment on that?

Shady: I believe that if you are an artist, it’s up to what kind of art you present to showcase your talent. If you’re a singer not a songwriter, you have to be ok with the fact that you are singing somebody else’s words, so that’s not really presenting a vision, it’s borrowing one. I also think that because of commercial demands, some bands find themselves writing about more universal situations like being stuck in traffic, or short on money or whatever. This is to make the audience relate to the music which in turn makes them want to listen to it more which in turn makes the band famous and successful.

“When it comes to my presentation of my art form, I have always done everything myself, the singing, the songwriting lyrics and the melodies and even the guitar playing, I do that because it’s the only way I know how to create something. That plays a big role in creating a vision or a sound you try to achieve through the songs, the music translates your state of mind, at that time…sometimes you are put in certain situations that drive you to write something. That could create a vision for a song, or an album, or even a painting.” Shady added.

What about your vision of “Songs Once Deemed Unworthy”?

Shady: There was no real vision, I mean the title itself shows you what I thought of the songs, and they were a collection of songs I had written at the time to kind of frame a state of mind I was in. It was a 5 track demo. And after the show we got the chance to ask Shady more questions as a feedback after his concert…

Have you achieved the number of audience that you needed after your marketing plan?

Shady: I did not have a specific number of people in mind for the gig; no expectations, and no disappointments.

Did you play in your show the same songs that you played in the streets?

Shady: Yes! A Couple

What are your plans for the future?

Shady: Make and record music, play as many live concerts as I can. I am currently working on recording some of my music and producing it with Sary Hani who plays guitar in the band. I plan to release the music online and sell it at shows as well.

Do you think having the same front person in two different bands would distract the audience at some point? If yes, would you at some point drop all the projects and concentrate on the sound of Shady Ahmed?

Shady: I think if I focus my efforts on what people think or if they get distracted I would not be able to play music all together. I can’t control what people think or see. The two bands are for two completely different kinds of audiences, if people who have seen me with Kravin enjoy my acoustic material as well, then they are more than welcome to join in and have fun with me as I make it and play it. And I think I don’t have to worry about that because I never intended to make music just for the sake of performing live or being famous; it’s far more important to me then that, it’s too precious and it means more to me than most things. That is part of why I sang on the streets. So I’ll defiantly always keep making music, even of its just for my dog to listen to and bark at my bad ones, and maybe even howl along to my sad ones.

How can we find your music online?

Shady: I have my music posted on MySpace, and my channel on Youtube is called Shady Ahmed Music (one word) I am also on Facebook but that goes without saying. A very good friend of mine as well helped me post my demo acoustic album online on his blogspot www.strangeinstereoworld.blogspot.com so you might want to search for it there; it’s called “Songs Once Deemed Unworthy”.

Do you want to say anything to the audience out there?

Shady: It is not enough to say you love music because it’s bigger than your love for it; you have to show the world what music means to you. You have to live the music you love. Let it in and embrace it.