Dharmata 101 comes to us straight from the mind of JSun Bruner, a very talented and creative songwriter and musician.  His latest release, Protest Songs for the Content is nothing less of amazing, bringing the listener to world after world of unique colors and sounds.

 The first track, intro / awaken (swallowed) is one of my favorites from the album.  In the words of my best friend, this song has balls!  Edgy, distorted keyboards, drums and vocals take the lead in this track, and its tempo keeps you on your toes at all times.  Another one of my favorites from the disc is the vocoder driven radio quizotic.  This song has an edge to it, (driven by the vocals and drums,) which is nicely complimented by the quirky, amost jazzy, keyboard part.  It makes me think of what you might hear if you combined ohGr with Portishead… 

 While a lot of the disc is edgy and somewhat hard hitting, much of it is just the opposite.  Outline (of my shadow) stands out from the rest of disc the most in this regard.  There’s a lot of neat dynamic contrast throughout the song which to me is something that will set a good album apart from a great one.  While much of the song is in a minor key, the real surprise comes later on in the track when the chord structure moves into a lively sounding, almost uplifiting major key near the end.  It’s one of those great songwriting moments that you just don’t seem to hear as much these days, making it a definite must listen for the disc.

 Overall, Protest Songs for the Content is a must listen!  Dharmata 101 is a very unique artist, and this album definitely won’t let you down!

http://www.myspace.com/dharmata101
http://www.dharmata101.com
http://www.radio-active-music.com