Submit your Record Store to the worldwide BraveWords Record Store list

Have you ever had the experience of walking into a record store? Posters all over the walls. Music blaring. Racks of vinyl and CDs. You are on the hunt for a new release or looking for that lost treasure. 

There is always something new or strange to discover. Taking vinyl albums, Compact Discs, Music Cassettes, VHS tapes or DVD's into your own hands gives a first look and feel for a release. It's very different compared to looking music up online. Just turn around a actual record and you know what I'm talking about. Share the experience with a friend and you can start talking about releases quickly.

Often there is a chance of having a listen to new releases through headphones directly at the store and if you purchase something free magazines or other goodies maybe added by the shopkeeper.   

Record stores are a rare breed these days. BraveWords.com wants to help fans around the worldwide find record stores. 

Keep the spirit of Record Stores alive by submitting them to the Record Store list.

Do you own or work at a record store that sells rock and metal albums? BraveWords.com is assembling a list of record stores around the world for fans to use. They will put this list online for all fans.

Note: Only store name, address and URL will posted. Phone number, email address and contact name will not be shared online.

To take part, find the BraveWords Record Store Submission Form here:     

https://forms.gle/Gnm3JkxCAR9bgx4J7

Please take the chance to help Record Stores survive in these hard times.

The Nightstalker - a mysterious project living in books, movie and music

In these times we're living in we need something that takes us away from the everyday troubles. You know like using the spare time before going to bed. Some time to come down.

The cover for the movie already gives a little glimpse that something strange is about to knock on our door.

But what can be seen and heard that's not so well known already but could be worth it? Something new and exciting. I like mysterious stories and this particular one got me in quickly. It's taken of the story description for the movie "The Nightstalker Case: Found Footage".

All begins with the discovery of the corpse of a young man in the city of Natural City. Sergeant Patrick Matennen arrives first at the scene of the crime. He picks up a camera near the body. He decides to watch everything that the camera has recorded in order to understand what happened. 

Michel Garsou buys an action-camera and is witnessing a strange murder. The latter contacts one of his friends who has been investigating for some time the mysterious appearance of a nocturnal protector in their hometown. They will exploit all possible tracks to find information. 

From there,events follow each other quickly. Michel finds himself in spite   
of himself dragged into this dangerous investigation. 

I like that The Nightstalker project is something like a a story that lives in many ways  through music, a movie and books (in french language).

The music side stems of two projects - Sercati and The Nightstalker. Both are held in a rougher style combining rough dark metal but with lot's of atmospheric elements in it. The songs include spoken passages and strong sung parts. It's
not of the usual kind but makes it overall more attractive. It feels more like a narrative that are transported through heavy sounds based on riffs and sounds but with slower rhythm.

I picked this one track to give you a overview on the mood of the music.

You can download the movie called "The Nightstalker Case: Found Footage" and also buy books in french language that spin the story further.

Keep a eye on the Facebook page so you won't miss out how the story evolves further both musically and storywise. Or check the Sercati homepage for detailed information and links to purchase the music.

Why support music? New picture series starts today

It's time to make a statement. This blog should show why I believe in music. To take things a bit further I'll post pictures in the upcoming time with short thoughts why music matters to me.

What do you think about it? Do you agree or disagree? Do you maybe have own thoughts you would like to see shared here?

Please let me know your thoughts right here in the comments section or post on Facebook where I also shared the picture. 

The first picture with statement in the "Why support music?" series. 

Book Review: Don't forget the business in the music business - Antonio Ponce (2016)

A book that keeps it short and instead of too much anecdotes it's filled to the brim with useful instructions and hints for bands who have passed the first basic steps.

The cover of Antonio Ponce's hintbook - Don't forget the business in the music business, (c) by Antonio Ponce, used with kind permission

Summary

Having a first look at this publications reveals that it won't be a long read. All in all it comes along with 78 pages of information. Don't let this keep you away from having a eye at it. The author knew that time is always short so he kept the words sharp and precise. He only focusses on what's really worth having a closer look at.

This said it should be mentioned that this hintbook is intended to bands that have already passed the first steps. You should have your instruments ready, learned how to play it properly and have assembled a bunch of people together that really can stick with each other. Songwriting is only touched slightly when it comes to things like sound and style. That's exactly where this business guide starts out.

You'll get direct tipps that can save you a lot of money and the boring surfing around and wasting time to figure out all the basic steps on how to lay down your basics for a proper band. Some chapters contain more information while others are held shorter. One thing was great for me: the book is also a good read for your own real life. It's of use not only to musicians but also to other people following their dreams...

It should also be said that these pages won't make you a superstar or anything like that. I think there is nothing like that around. A book also can never perform the steps for you that are necessary. If you keep that in mind you'll be satistied with your investement.

The only thing I would add in a second edition is something like a calculation sheet in a electronic format or at least a short example directly in the book. This would round out the chapter of keeping a close eye on the tight budget perfectly. It could help as a start you have directly at your hand because reading something is fine but how to turn it into real action? Anwer: here is a sheet to give you a proper start.

Purchase-Link 

Since the book comes along for only 5 Dollar as a pdf file via the website of AP Jones Publishing I think it's a good starting point to bands that always have to trouble with money. But who doesn't have trouble with this in this world we live in? So don't be afraid, you are not the only one. As a alternative you can also pick it up as a Kindle file through Amazon.

If you want a copy as a real book you'll need to put in more money, it's available for around 20 Dollars on the website of the publisher AP Jones Publishing.

Contact Data

You can get in touch with the author directly using Facebook.

A Tribute to Lemmy (R.I.P.)

Rest in peace Lemmy Kilmister. Thanks for sharing so much truth and music with us.

Dark Music collection helps victims of tragedy in Bucharest

On October 30 2015 local band Goodbye to Gravity were celebrating the release of their second album at the nightclub Club Collectiv n Bucharest when the tragedy occurred and a massive fire began to spread. First hints point to a massive lack of security as the reason for this sad event. 

More than 50 people died and many dozens more are still in hospital. The victims and their families continue to need help with all sorts of things from funeral expenses to medical care.

Happily the Romanian artist, Costin Chioreanu has released a collection of avant-garde dark music, entitled "The Quest For A Morning Star", to raise funds for the people in need. The download features one hour of very dark tunes that in my ears perfectly fit to the dark situation we are all facing these days. 

Chioreanu is well known and highly respected for his graphic works for At The Gates, Arch Enemy, Napalm Death, Arcturus, Darkthrone, Mayhem, Ulver and many others. A musician himself, he has collaborated with various artists to create "soundtracks" to accompany his exhibitions in the past. The result can be purchsed now for the first time as a download album.

So if you want to help out the people affected by this sad event please consider buying a copy of the digital album through Bandcamp. This download is available for a limited time until November 27th 2015. You can listen to the full record below to get a idea of how the record sounds like.

Update 30.11.2015: The campaign is over and was a big success. The exact amount that has been raised will be announced on 5th December on the Facebook page of Costin Chioreanu. The digital compilation will remain on Bandcamp for the price of 1 Euro to keep it online forever.

If you still want to help the victims of the Club Collectiv tragedy you can purchase a physical copy of the record through Avantgarde Music. 

Limited to 300 copies, this A5-sized digipack features 8 beautiful art works by Costin Chioreanu on a 7 pages booklet. Includes unlimited streaming of The Quest For A Morning Star via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

All profits of this physical edition will be collected and donated to the Foundation “fundatiamereuaproape.ro". You can check out all the details of the release and find the pre-order link on the pages of Avantgarde Music.

Adrenaline Mob / EP and Video up for streaming

Wow, very powerfull and hard music. That is what first comes to my mind when I listened to this one. And looking to the people that stand behind it, it's rarely surprising that in comes in such a fine quality but it is a surprise that there's only few progressive elements in there. Just look at the actual member list and you'll understand:

Mike Portnoy - Drums
Russell Allen - Vocals
Mike Orlando - guitars

Their first album "Omertá" is about to be released on 3/13/2012 but you can already have a first teaser of what's to be coming up by listening to the songs of the first EP on the widget below.



They did already put out a video, if you like more audiovisual stuff then this one is for you:



After all give their website a click and look around for more stuff or even join the community of the band:

Adrenaline Mob - Official website