Joanna Newsom - Peach, Plum, Pear from Kurtis Hough on Vimeo.
Friday 21 May 2010
Favela Finally On Blast!
Here's the press release from Mad Decent's blog...
DVD AND DIGITAL RELEASE COMING ON MAD DECENT JULY 20th
On July 20th the film will be available digitally and on DVD through Mad Decent. Fans will get an early chance to preview the film when it airs on Pitchfork TV's 'One Week Only' starting July 9th.
Favela on Blast, the directorial film debut from Grammy-nominated DJ and producer, Diplo, and his partner Leandro HBL, documents a vibrant and innovative musical subculture that has emerged in Brazil's impoverished slums, known as favelas. Well beneath the radar of mainstream society for the last 20 years, they have their own language, style and heroes. Their music and culture have gone mostly unnoticed outside of South America until now. Favela on Blast captures the rarely seen stories of MC's, DJ's, dancers, and cultural producers through the eyes of Diplo and Brazilian filmmaker Leandro HBL, with memorable appearances from funk superstars Deize, Tigrona, Mr. Catra, and Duda Do Borell.
Favela on Blast documents the culture surrounding "Funk Carioca," a musical rhythm that mixes the American electronic funk of the 1980's with the most diverse influences of Brazilian music. It is one of the most interesting musical movements in the world and it comes from one of the most violent and poorest places too: the slums of Rio de Janeiro. Bombastic rhythms coming from the Miami Bass and loops and samples are united to powerful rap vocals using Brazilian slang. This music is designed to be listened to as loud as possible and with high bass pumping through the tropical nights of Rio. The heroes are the creators- the musicians. Their pace is set between colossal street parties; propped with rudimentary sound-systems, warring drug factions, and an eerily tense city where the Police and societies elite have the upper hand until it comes to their musical culture, always Brazil's heart and nation's identity.
An Official Selection of SXSW Film Festival 2009, Favela on Blast was not an easy feat to be conquered. Little funding, unfamiliar territories, and broken translations proved to be harsh obstacles for Diplo and Leandro. However, to show the world the music that has helped acts such as Diplo, Bonde de Role, and a heap of Mad Decent artists rise to international prominence was worth the trouble.
Here's the trailer one more time...
Favela On Blast - Official Trailer from Mad Decent on Vimeo.
Rusko - O.M.G.!
The long awaited full length album by one of Dubstep's original pioneers and golden boys has arrived. Having been signed to Dilpo's super dirty label Mad Decent this is a slight change in direction. If you were expecting 12 tracks of Cockney Thug variations then you will be sorely disappointed. Dubstep purists too will probably bemoan the more 'cross-over' tracks on the album but then again if they had their way no one would know about dubstep except them so who gives...?
Any album that features Dirty Projectors vocalist Amber Coffman singing on a garage track has got to be worth a listen! And it is.
This a big album, with an epic foundation wobbling tone of voice, similar to the Crookers' debut earlier this year, in that it is going to be melting the speakers at a million parties for the duration of summer.
When Rusko makes dubstep he is of course a master having been very much responsible for making the genre known to a wider audience with his earlier releases, but here he stretches his producers muscles a lot more, covering old skool rave, garage and bassy ghetto party music that doesn't really seem to be have a specific label. With so many collaborations there's a lot of genre blurring making this a very interesting beast at times. It's always compelling listening; with moments of filthy bass heavy fun (Rubadub Shakedown) sitting alongside some breathtaking moments of deftly ambient beauty (District Line) and some just plain freaky (My Mouth and Oy featuring Crookers).
All in all a very satisfying experience, maybe not the album people were expecting, but OMG what did you expect?!
Download Oy feat. Crookers here
Thursday 20 May 2010
Around the World in 80 Minutes Volume 2!
~*~*~*~
~*~*~*~As with volume one this is a rollercoaster ride around the globe and through time with no care for genres! 'World' music is such a tired old phrase, let's mix it up!
Day-Glow-Radio presents Around the World in 80 Minutes Vol.2
- (Algeria) Didi ~ Khaled
- (Benin) Les Djos ~ Orchestre Poly-Rhythmo
- (Bolivia) Le Gran Pelea ~ Los Ecos
- (China) The Lady of Mount Ali ~ Koo Mei
- (D.R. Congo) Loi ~ Koffi Olomide
- (Egypt) Ya Ramal ~ Adel El Musree
- (Guinea) Soko ~ Tropical Djoli Band De Faranah
- (Iceland) Ruby Baby ~ Björk Gudmundsdóttir & Trió Gudmundar Ingólfssonar
- (India) Aaj Mausam Bada Beimann Hai ~ Mohammed Rafi
- (Iran) Tesh Bad ~ Mousighi Jonub Siraf
- (Jamaica) Baltimore ~ The Tamlins
- (Japan) うるま島 Huruma Island ~ The Hoptones ﾎｯﾌﾟﾄｰﾝｽﾞ
- (Lebanon) Imminent Journay ~ Rabih Abou-Khalil
- (Nigeria) Dancing Time ~ The Funkees
- (Pakistan) Allah Hoo ~ Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
- (Peru) Tookie Tookie ~ Telegraph Avenue
- (Senegal) Africa Child ~ Abass Abass feat. Daby
- (South Africa) Vuli Ndlela ~ Brenda Fassie
- (Syria) Lanshob Sherek ~ Omar Souleyman
- (Zimbabwe) Hende Baba ~ Thomas Mapfumo & The Blacks Unlimited
First off we are in Algeria and who better to show us around than the almighty Khaled, the biggest name in the Rai genre. Didi is his massive hit from 1992 which made him a name around the world and not just Arab speaking countries, resulting in nearly 50 million album sales round the world!
Next up we move down through Africa to Benin, home the Orchestre Poly-Rhythmo, a voodoo funk band who have recently seen a revival thanks to a series of reissues by the likes of Soundway and Analog Africa. Fela Kuti and the like dominates most people's image of 70s African funk but Poly-Rhythmo were a force to be reckoned with and I cannot recommend their Kings Of Beninalbum highly enough.
Now when you think of Bolivian music most people picture native dress and panpipes, not screeching psych-rock. But the makers of the Psicofásicos De Bolivia - Go-Gó A 4000 Metros compilation obviously knew different and dug out some rare finds up in the Andes, they must have felt like Indiana Jones in a record store!
Next up we are in China courtesy of the beautiful Koo Mei. Known at the height of her career as The Little Skylark, she started out as an actress and moved in recording jazz songs, which can now be heard on Pathe 100's series of reissues (Vol.14). Her beautiful voice and the classy arrangements bring to mind the high life of Shanghai Jazz clubs, you can almost smell the opium!
To the Democratic Republic of the Congo next, and the sounds of soukous are made for moving! Koffi Olomide is one of the big stars of the scene and even named his own personal style of the genre (Tcha Tcho). He was recently reported dead but made a tearful television appearance claiming he had not died in a car crash, much to his fans relief! This track features so many beautiful guitar riffs and clattering beats, it's impossible not to feel like dancing.
The next track comes from Yalla! Hitlist Egypt, a 1990 album of Egyptian urban pop music that can be found here for those wanting to hear more
More music from the golden era of African guitar music now, and we are in Guinea, straight after they became independent from France in 1958. The 60s and 70s saw alot of hardship in post colonial times but as a result a huge west African movement of musical freedom and expression that lead to such a rich and varied musical heritage, preserved in Guinea mostly by the legendary Syliphone label, responsible for recording all the major bands in the country.
From African heat to Nordic blues now, Iceland specifically. Taken from the 1990 album Gling Glo this cover of the Drifter's marked Icelandic punk singer Bjork's first experimentation away from guitar-based rock music. Guðmundur Ingólfsson was a great and famous piano player in Iceland and he remembered Bjork as a 16 year old girl who, obsessed with jazz, would hang around his recording sessions. The album was a huge hit in Iceland and since Bjork's success worldwide has become even more popular. Sadly Guðmundur died not long afterwards and the band disbanded.
Mohammed Rafi sings to us now, from India. His four-decade career as one of the greatest bollywood playback singers can not be argued with, having recorded an estimated 26,000 songs in this time! This track (Today The Weather Plays Tricks On Me) can be seen in the film "Loafer"
Iran next, to southern Iran and some Janub music. Iran has an incredible musical heritage that fascinates me and this is another example of how much cool music it has to offer. This is a little different from the usual you think of when you think of Persian music, but the banging rhythms and choirs have a really big hypnotic sound.
The Tamlins provide our next track, the 1979 hit Baltimore, which was also covered by Nina Simone in the same year. The Tamlins were very famous in the 70s and this is one of their classic songs. You can hear this and much more soulful reggae on the compilation Darker Than Blue; Soul from Jamdown.
Okinawa pop is up next, from the Hoptones. There is a great amount of rock'n'roll, rhythm'n'blues and jazzy pop from the pacific Asia during the 50s and 60s and it has achieved a very cool cult following. Labels like Sublime Frequencies release almost nothing else. This is a brilliant song from Ryukyu Rare Groove: Shimauta Pops in 60's-70's 琉球レアグルーヴ
One of the greatest Oud players in the world can be heard in the next song; the legendary Rabih Abou-Khalil. He has released scores of incredible jazz-fusion albums, mixing the middle east's traditional music with western jazz and classical. This is from his album Yara.
Nigeria is famous for it's funk and here from the Nigeria 70 series is a classic example of what makes the country so famous for just that! Pakistan next, and the renowned Sufi singer, easily the most famous of them all (in the west at least), Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Allah Hoo is one of his most famous recordings and is a great example of devotional music.
More low-fi rock from the Andes now, except this time from Peru specifically. This track has a really funky feel to it and again, like the Bolivian track earlier, shows that Peru is not all about panpipes. Telegraph Avenue were a popular underground band in the 60s and often sang in english, being inspired by the American rock music of that era. Some hip-hop brings us to Senegal next, home of Abass Abass. This a great track that shows the depth and beauty of African hip-hop, which really is where it's at! There's alot of exciting hip-hop and ghetto music coming out of africa and always has been.
Speaking of African ghetto music, Kwaito is a form of house music from South Africa's townships, coming in many forms, from full on techy house (see DJ Mujava's huge 2007 tune Township Funk) to more pop sounding, like Brenda Fassie's classic song Vuli Ndlela. Brenda Fassie was one of the huge 90s stars of the electronic pop movement in South Africa and her song about Nelson Mandela (Black President) was a huge hit.
Another artist who mixes traditional with electronic beats is Omar Souleyman, Syrian music's wild card, this man has recorded over 500 albums and attained mythic cult status in the west thanks to the Sublime Frequencies label who started releasing hhis albums a few years ago.
And then finally, the Lion of Zimbabwe sings us out, Thomas Mapfumo. With his band The Blacks Unlimited, he became a massive icon of African music, just as much for his outspoken political views as for his music(of which Bob Marley was a fan), a trait which got his music banned numerous times and resulted in him having to flee to America. He still lives there, in Oregon to be exact and still tours the world.
............And there you have it, I hope you all enjoy listening to this as much as I enjoyed putting it together.
*GEEK*
Wednesday 19 May 2010
Koffi Olomide
For those that downloaded and enjoyed my mixtape Around the World in 80 Minutes last summer, here is a preview of Part Two, which will be available to download here shortly!
Koffi Olomide is one of the biggest stars in the world of Congolese Soukous, a vibrant and uptempo form of African music perfectly exemplified above. Earlier this year the 54 year old musician was presumed dead but don't worry folks, he is still alive and well and churning out hits!
Robyn - Body Talk Pt.1
Her eponymous LP from 2005 was without doubt one of the highlights of noughties pop, an unashamedly good record that proudly sat atop the throne further cementing Scandinavia as the Pop capital of the world. She returns this year with not one, not two but three EPs under the name Body Talk. The first part is already all over the internet and is probably old news to most people in the habit of blogging but come June 13th when the first proper single from Body Talk Pt.1 is released it should very well be a dancefloor anthem for the summer.
Dancing on my Own is somewhat like With Every Hearbeat; The Sequel. Where the latter was her walking away from a lover and swearing she wouldn't look back, the former sees her slip up and follow him to a club to watch him dancing with his new girl. And boy does it hurt.
This is pure Robyn; Euphoric melancholic electro. The rest of the EP is similarly brilliant, featuring collaborations from Diplo and Royksopp among others, with ballsy lyrics and deftly handled production it quite frankly shits all over the competition.
She is the indie kid's favourite pop star, lacking the over the top trashiness of the likes of Gaga and having a clear knowledge of 'electro' as a beautiful form of music rather than a cliche that means it's perfectly hip to like her.
Here is one of the remixes from the forthcoming Dancing On My Own single release, by the joyous Rex the Dog. Enjoy.
Tuesday 18 May 2010
Passing Judgement!
Once again in the absence of anything significant to post about I will instead pawn off some reviews of some new singles.
First up...
Roll Deep (feat. Jody Connor) - Good Times
If Roll Deep's manifesto was to become possibly the ugliest trio of rappers to ever appear on music television, then it would appear they have been entirely succesful in their endevour. However something tells me that they have actually set out to dominate the charts, and while it is true that they very probably wil achieve this (in the short term) it must be noted that this song is so bad that it makes N-Dubz look deep and positively genius by comparison.
Not only does the lead rapper's fascination with rhymes involving the term 'late-night shopping' leave the listener agog from the very beginning of the track, but he and his fellow MCs don't get any better than that, repeatedly repeating the same tired cliches about champagne and having an awesome time. Jody Connor seems to be enjoying herself though, fulfilling the 'Girl who sings the chorus and looks pretty' role with generic aplomb.
Then again I would probably dance to this if I was drunk enough but relying on the fact that most of your listeners will only dance to your shit if they are as a hammered as your Champagne-boasting lyrics would suggest isn't a good thing. Oh and at 3.23 you can actually see a minge. Avoid.
*
Crystal Castles - Baptism
OK so this isnlt their new single, most people are currently enthusing about the tracj 'Celestica' but I am totally in awe of this album track at the moment. Taken from their new and also self titled album (meaning they now have two albums called 'Crystal Castles', just to confuse the novice) this is like Courtship Dating on steroids. In a cathedral. In space.
Huge stabs of anthemic rave synths shatter the stained glass and rain around you in a torrent of lazer-fuelled angst and passion. This is what they do best. Furiously beautiful ravepunk, except this time they seem to have honed and polished their sound into something more streamlined and sleek, without losing the gritty charm of their debut. MEGA.
****
Sleigh Bells - Tell 'Em
Much hype is currently surrounding this noisy Brooklyn duo, currently signed to M.I.A.'s label N.E.E.T. recordings. I am yet to hear the whole album but I can say that so far I am very impressed. This is messy joyous anarcho-pop of the highest order, and further evidence of just how much variety and creativity is out there at the moment in American ' indie' music (see also, Yeasayer, Animal Collective, Grizzly Bear etc). Certainly more than the UK indie scene which is still mourning due to the Arctic Monkeys' refusal to do the same thing twice.
Judging by this fanfare of an opening single, in which they combine screeching guitars, crunky baltimore beats with a half-time cheer-leader pom-pom waving rhythm and rainbow synths, and the other youtubes I have dug out, they promise to be a highlight of 2010's sound (which is going to be pretty loud). RAWR.
****
M.I.A. - XXXO
The third song to slip through the net ahead of her third album (out at the end of June) is yet another total change in sonic direction. First we had the dreamy and beautiful Rusko produced Space , followed by the explosive, raw, kraut rock sampling Born Free (a song which was almost totally eclipsed by the video that accompanied it) and now this. First listen was sceptical. Yes this has a very 'commercial' sound, as many furious fans have pointed out on youtube's comments section, but I am still willing to give it time, as I didn't enjoy Born Free at all on first listen, and consequently love it.
Yes it does have a commercial sound but only in that is more accessible than most of her other tracks. Compared to other commercial tracks (see Roll Deep, above!) this is still in a league of it's own. The beats are there, the sound is suitable M.I.A. without losing too much of her guerilla appeal, and who knows, flirting with the mainstream may just be the best idea she has ever had. Cross-over potential!
****
Big Boi- Shutterbug
This has been out for a while now but I still feel it is necessary to big it up, up, up!
One half of OutKast for those unfamiliar, Big Boi has come back with a huge hulking beat of epic proportions. This makes me want to be in a club. Yes that is a cliche, but that beat! That beat is "shittin on niggaz and pissin on the seat"
OutKast can always be relied on to come up with consistantly brilliant party tracks with significant lyrical and musical depth to lift them above their contemporaries. Of course it won't be as huge as Hey Ya! but few songs ever will. Produced by Scott Storch this funky riff is a perfect match for Big Boi's eloquent turns of phrase. Epic.
****
Justin Bieber Ft. Ludacris - Baby
No the title isn't referring to Justin himself, but to a school sweetheart; romance before pubic hair. Ludacris' rap reminicses back to when he was 13. Unlucky for some. This is a bit weird really isn't it. As for the music, it's alright as bubblegum goes but I just can't quite swallow this. It smells funny.
Justin's hand gestures seem to be a lot like those of Chris Brown, who dances alot like Justin Timberlake, who is a bit of fond of Michael Jackson, who was a child music star who got seriously fucked up. Oh shit! Someone call Childline and send this poor kid back to school quickly!
**
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