That’s what J Medeiros has been able to do with his song entitled ‘Constance’. It’s about a girl from the Philippines who gets caught into human trafficking. According to the Largest Minory:

The Philippines has a high rate of child prostitution. Many sex establishments in the Philippines are backed by Japanese capital, and are the favored destinations of pedophiles from America, Australia, and Europe. Children may work up to 20 hours a day, and be forced to service up to 100 customers a week. A 2005 estimate reveals that 150,000 young girls, some as young as six years old, work as prostitutes in the Philippines due to poverty.

Medeiros’s song entitled Constance talks about this trafficking and how people are ignorant to it. Since it doesn’t happen to too many American’s, its kinda kept in the dark. And its easy not to recognize something that doesn’t directly affect you life. But when a well known and conscious artist brings up a topic like this and does it with simplicity, it really hits the heart and the mind.

This song is only one track on a full album by Mr. J Medeiros named Of Gods and Girls (2006). Def a worthwhile album to check out. Has a full set of conscious lyrics, simple and easy flow, and purposeful themes. My favorites are Silent Earth which talks about how people stay unresponsive to world needs even though they see what’s happening, and Call You which is an ode to his mother and father love for him.

A little bit of background info: Mr. J Medeiros co-founded hip hop’s underground group, The Procussions. They were around for over 10 years becoming a pretty big indie success. They toured the globe with the likes of A Tribe Called Quest, Talib Kweli, and many more. They ended up releasing two LP’s: As Iron Sharpens Iron (2003) and 5 Sparrows For 2 Cents (2006) on Rawkus Records.

Here’s a music video of his hit single entitled Constance:

I wasn’t really a big fan of Opeth before. Mostly due to the screaming and some due to the level of straight metal sound. But I had enjoyed Damnation (album that was released in 2003) because it was “softer” and didn’t have the screaming. Watershed takes the best of their earlier albums and the greatness of Damnation to comprise a full album that can be listened to the whole way through.

One song, their latest single too, seems to sum up the way this album sounds. It’s entitled, “Porcelain Heart”, and here’s a music video that was recently released for it.

Porcelain Heart

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I feel like anyone that truly loves quality music should either know these guys already or at least have heard them enough to appreciate what is they do. They have influenced my music compositions at least as much as Tool and Led Zeppelin. I really wanted to include their lead guitarist, Mikael Åkerfeldt, in the Real Guitar Heroes post, but it was hard to really capture his essense in a single audio clip. There’s much more to him than flashy solos. He’s a great writer and somehow he’s able to blend classical acoustic with death metal. Although there is at least one solo in nearly every song, his solos aren’t immediately as impressive to the casual listener as some of the guys I listed. While Mikael Åkerfeldt is the lead singer, lead guitarist, and writer for the band (and his stage persona definitely brings out his ego), Opeth is an all around outstanding and talented band. Make no mistake, Opeth is metal at its best, but they aren’t the kind of metal band that just tries to play as fast and as loud as possible.

My initial reaction to Opeth was shock actually. I first heard Blackwater Park (2001) blasting in my dad’s truck. When you’re not used to screaming, that’s the only thing you focus on. Either that or the fact that my dad likes heavier music than me… what’s that about? But I was told that Opeth had some the best rhythm and lead guitar work and drumming if I could just embrace the vocals. To my surprise, Opeth had some incredible compositions and nearly half of their tracks are 10 minutes long or very close to it. Now I don’t want to focus on the screaming too much because Opeth is very diverse. One minute they’re playing a classical duo piece with acoustic guitar and piano, the next they’ve got the mosh pit going crazy.

There is an attitude out there that you shouldn’t have to acquire a taste for music. This is a bold faced lie. Don’t give in to the propaganda. If I kept the attitude of immediately dismissing any music with screaming, I never would have gotten into bands like Opeth, Isis, and Baroness (to just name a few). Each of these bands has incredible talent. And from these bands I found others such as Russian Circles, Irepress, and God is an Astronaut (and all three are instumental). By the way, it turns out those death metal screams in Opeth’s music are all through a synthesizer. So don’t try it at home kids. Anyways, if you haven’t climbed that wall just yet, there is still plenty of Opeth with no screaming. If you need an entire album with no screaming whatsoever, I might suggest starting with their album Damnation (2003). This whole album is mello with acoustic guitars and actual singing, and makes a good segway into some typical Opeth. Hopefully, it will establish the kind of intricate compositions they tend to write.

Once you get into Damnation and get over yourself, you’ll find the typical Opeth is everything Metallica could have ever hoped to be. In my opinion, it’s some the best composed metal out there with particularly well written guitar work. And somehow they’ve managed to always have an outstanding drummer, despite the fact they’ve gone through more drummers than Spinal Tap. Opeth’s first album came out in 1995 and they’ve kept pretty busy since. I’ve got nine albums of their’s and I’m probably missing some obscure ones somehow.

For an audio clip, I’ve selected a couple pieces that illustrate their diversity. The first clip is from Bleak off Blackwater Park and the second is from Deliverance off the album Deliverance (2002). If you purchase these albums, you’ll find that Bleak is 9:16 and Deliverance is 13:36. I’ve cut down the length of these clips by a long shot, but I hope it’s still enough to give you a solid impression. All I ask is that you play the clip at least past the first 30 seconds, the distinction in vocal styles is staggering. I tried to minimize the screaming content, but I didn’t want to erradicate it completely and portray them to be someone they’re not. I also happen to think the solo at the end of the clip is one of the best transitions from metal to acoustic I’ve ever heard. Trust me, at the very least you’ll decide that Opeth isn’t your style, but you’ll still appreciate what they’re doing. You know… assuming you actually like good music.

• Rarely seen or found on the web
• Serve a higher purpose to an artists’ song
• Something we Obnoxious Guys simply find cool or interesting

Our first set of music videos focus on a band from Ireland that goes by the name of God Is An Astronaut. We started listening to them about 9 months back when they released their latest album Far From Refuge (2007). Immediately after listening to that, we ran back and grabbed their prior two albums All Is Violent, All Is Bright (2005) and The End of the Beginning (2002). They are an amazing instrumental-only band which you can jam out to without ever feeling the need for lyrics. I love bands like that. Though lyrics wouldn’t hurt, they can do without them and still produce quality music.

We recently got to see them perform at the Ottobar in Baltimore, MD. Sadly, Baltimore is one of the most empty cities and their bars are even emptier than the city itself. When we walked in, there were a total of 15 other people inside, and 8 out of the 15 people were members of the opening band. So you can imagine the vacant feeling we got as we walked in and grabbed a beer from the 1 bartender and 2 beer taps inside.

This was the first tour God Is An Astronaut was on in the U.S. and when they came on, the place started to fill up to about 75 people or so. Not very large crowd base at all and that would have been discouraging to most headlining bands (especially for those that had travelled from so far), but they played through their set like champs. Without even the slightest hesitation, they elongated their set and played 3-4 new songs and redid a few oldies. Then afterwards, they came down and talked with all the fans for 15-20 min. I rarely find that type of temperament in a band and respect for their fans. That humility and appreciation alone has made me a fan of these guys for life.

Becoming a bigger fan of God Is An Astronaut, I decided to buy all the singles and extra CDs they were selling at the venue. Surprisingly, I found these two music videos on one of the EPs entitled A Moment of Stillness. I had not seen them online previously and wasn’t even aware the band had produced any videos. Both videos are great compliments to the songs they are made for. Without trying to explain their meaning (which I’m sure I’ll butcher), I think you’ll find it for yourself. If you pay attention to the shifts in the music, you’ll see a resemblance in the video as well.