I have listened to a lot of hard stuff in my life, but I am still waiting for someone to come and tell me "You know what dude, I found something even harder than RATM". Let's get this straight, you have hard bands, more and more so actually, but more often than not, they are either: the 400 bpms drumkit fanatics from the 80's metal division, or you have the alcohol-syndrome, lo-fi squealers from the satanic department. In the end, a lot of noise, and not much in terms of impact, and aggression.

RATM was one of the first bands, to so effortlessly fuse all the harder parts of well: rap, hard rock, punk, funk, and even psychedelic tripping at times (listen to Morello's guitar playing live, you'll see what I mean). The result was this instantly recognisable, explosive style, that really made you want to come out, and punch the first guy in the street (because well, you knew that he was in it too, along with all the other manipulative capitalists...)

The band, and foreman formidable Zach de la Rocha, took a lot of heat for their uncompromising, ultra-critical, uber-rebellious lyrics, aimed at (in no order of priority), corporate America, the Feds, the PR industry, all of the ex Presidents, the Contras, the US's foreign policy, the KKK, etc. etc. It's true that the message is a bit raw and repetitive. Still, it's always a refreshing alternative to have such heart-felt lyrics, even if they are highly polemic.

And I can pit their first album, and it simply stands against anything else that came out after it. Songs like "Bullet in the Head", "Bombtrack", "Freedom", and "Killing in the name of" are lengendary stuff. Later works like "Guerilla Radio" and "Calm like a bomb" were killer too.

The overall line-up was great too, and when Zach left, they welcomed another legend, Chris Cornell, to go a bit deeper into their pysches, and less with the foreing policies, to form Audioslave, another class act.

Mostly the baby of Dave Grohl's efforts, (during and most noticeably) after Nirvana's disband, Foo Fighters were poised to be a killer line-up. Provided they could find their own voice after the suicide icon overlord Kurt Cobain.

Their first self-titled album is, in my opinion, by far, the best one of them all. 12 tracks of old school rock, balls-out, head on, spanning the whole rock feelings spectrum, from the frantic avalanche beat, and vocal headbutting of "Good Grief" all the way to the confused, moving, and sublimely sung, saturated and heart-wrenching "Exhausted".

Their next albums were a bit more pop / soft rock, with catchy choruses ("My hero" / "The One"), and were all pretty good, but kind of lost a bit of the primal scream along the way, except for notable exceptions such as "Everlong" which is one of these all-time best break up songs you will hear once again reverting to grunge-like sound and fury to voice the unspeakable...

Less desperate than Nirvana, more classic in its style, less syncopated, it is great rock, and officialises Dave Grohl, as one of the damnest, finest, coolest, multi-talented rock star we have seen in decades. Check out their video clips, they are hilarious (I remember especially the one for "Low"... it's pretty funny...)

Cesaria Evora is a native of Cape Verde, the small archipelago west of Senegal. Quite like the people themselves, her music blends obvious influences such as African drums, latin/cuban vocals and piano/guitar, all of that sung in portuguese.

A very refreshing alternative to Buena Vista's social club, to give a comparison. It should give you the same feeling of being peeking on a large ballroom, where sunshafts beaming through smoky broken curtains fall on an old piano player, with this ageless woman singing next to him. Singing these sensual sad songs of lost love, departed ones, of last kisses and of times passing by, staring out to the bay where rare ships come in to the sound of shrieking kids swimming in the green blue waters between the rustying shipwrecks.

Her two most famous, and probably most accessible songs are "Saudade" and "Besa me mucho", but you can always stick an album in the player, and let your mind wonder, it should go places pretty soon...

The composer behind hits such as "(You make me feel like a) Natural Woman", "It's too late", or even "Jazzman", and other "One Fine Day", "You've got a friend" all of these classic jazz / folk / 70's gems, Carole King remains vastly unknown to the larger audiences.

You may assume that she was a "simple" composer, relatively unable to carry off a song, but if you listen to her almost eponymous album "Tapestry", the one that sent her to orbit, you will soon realise that she was quite an amazing singer too. Very chilled-out, very human, deeply loving, listening to her songs should make you want to know the woman behind them. Certainly did for me. Eternal respect for the woman who made these beautiful, seemingly simple songs about love, about you and me, and with such underlying respect for the human condition. 70's grade hippie like lyrics, without the sappiness, nor the attitude. Love.

RATM fans might be a bit confused at first, as the exit of de la Rocha seems to have had a huge impact on the group. Then comes Cornell, and you have a set of world-class musicians gelling, in a much more subdued, private, existentialist rock.
The band sounds pretty much perfect to me (provided "perfect" is a word acceptable in the lexicon of the uncompromising rocker...). They sound quintessentially rock, with the hurt feelings, the rebellious cathartic cries, the class, the despair, the sound and the fury.

Yet, the style is a lot more calm and intense. Out with the leaded punch in the face, in comes the clean guitars, and the scortched feelings. Out with political agit-prop, in with personal angst. Out with the rabid lyrical prowess of de la Rocca that made you bounce of the wall in the bathroom as you were pondering the evils of the ultra-capitalist model, and in with the devastating voice of Cornell, which probes at a different level, less about macro-economics, more about internal stories, you know, all the old tunes that still make all the sense in the world.

Personal favorites are, obviously "Like a Stone" (what a voice, what a voice that man has...), "Gettaway Car" would be close second, and well, these two sum up their different style, equally moving and energetic, but calmer, maybe... more tired... Anyway, brilliant stuff.