Samia Farah sings on Adrian Sherwood's second solo cd, Becoming a Cliche
Saturday 20 January 2007
Friday 19 January 2007
New Best Old Thing
Sally Shapiro: Anorak Christmas... (follow the link for mp3)
Italo Disco is coming back STRONG... have you heard Tracy Thorn's new solo stuff? Let the music play, he won't get away...
Thursday 18 January 2007
PISCES (Feb. 19—March 20)
Due in part to the relentless barrage of disguised brainwashing in the form of ads, news, and entertainment, most people are not themselves an average of 45 percent of the time. You, however, are currently refuting that scary statistic in style. Your percentage of being-true-to-yourself is at an all-time high, and holding steady above the 85 percent mark. Keep up the good work, Pisces. In fact, take advantage of your momentum to push for even greater authenticity. Say exactly what you mean even more. Think your own thoughts even bigger and louder. Exorcise every last one of the celebrities, entertainers, salesmen, and authorities who have demonically possessed you.
Açaí!
Darker, Sweeter...Well, after all the bull I have had to deal with this last week before my annual South American vacation someone up there must have taken pity on me and dropped an early copy of Bebel Gilberto's new cd Momento in my lap, (it's slated for a March release.) Coming on like a synthesis of her first two cd's, Momento is a wonderful mix of dark and sweet set to a modern slack beat. Not as intimate as her self-titled second disc, an album that was one of the perfect releases of 2004, Momento hones the electronic flourishes of her first album, Tanto Tempo, against the edge of languid Brazilian rhythms and the emotional shorthands used with near perfection on Bebel Gilberto.
So what do we have here 3 years later? A singer who has dipped once again into her cultural (and family) heritage with results both subtle and celebratory. The magic of Bebel is understatement, in both voice and arrangement. This album is actually more accessible on first listen than B.G. The cover of Night and Day is at once bold, beautiful and baffling, as Bebel's original composition, Every Day You've Been Away on B.G. is brought into sharp relief by it. Songs like Close to Me, Momento and Azul will be on endless loop on the ipod, as will the first single, Bring Back the Love, hypnotic, repetitious tunes that owe more to samba than one might first think. Phrasing and rhythm used emotionally and powerfully without the bombast. Nice.
What is most apparent is the quality of Gilberto's voice, which is warm and conversational and seductive but never overtly so. She believes what she sings, and though the songs here may not be as compelling as B.G., she's telling heartfelt stories more than painting pictures. These tunes might actually come to fuller life in concert where Gilberto usually begins a show as the girl next door and ends as the garota de ipanema. And, somehow, she's got the impressive knack for making you think you can speak Portuguese (or at least understand it.) Many of the songs (Os Novos Yorkinos, Tranquilo) seem like melancholy, yet happy, mantras to her status as a New Yorker and a Carioca, a quality that brings full on saudade to Bebel's tunes. So again, Bebel releases a collection that will slowly grow in your mind, perhaps colder at first, yet sweeter than before and then- integral and irresistible.
Wednesday 17 January 2007
Superman returns
I had avoided this movie even though Parker is in it. I have to say, it would have been FAR more interesting if Parker had played Lois Lane and Kate Bosworth had been an extra. What a total waste of time. The only surprise was that Brandon Routh totally worked as Superman, but then again, Superman is an alien from another planet. I don't know how Bryan Singer does it, but his films are so dramatically inert. There's no tension, no life. I have no idea why Kate Bosworth was cast in this movie, let alone any other. She has no warmth. And dare I say it, very daytime tv. Oh well, I hear they are making another one. Let's hope they don't try to recast General Zog.
Sunday 14 January 2007
Thursday 11 January 2007
Just in time for my trip to South America: Bebel Gilberto's new single!
Bebel's Bring Back The Love is available in original and remixed versions at itunes now! The pic is a teeny weeny teaser of her new cd cover for MOMENTO....
Sunday 7 January 2007
Thursday 4 January 2007
DJ Rap (Charissa Saverio) - "Good To Be Alive"
I didn't even know she had videos back then! Love this album.
"I'd love to love you, but I'm too impure an angel."
Wednesday 3 January 2007
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