3 posts tagged “grupo fantasma”
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I have a ton of news I need to get to, but obviously still playing catchup because of my illness from last week. As I have previously mentioned, many of these news items can be found on our press.weheartmusic.com website, so if you have music-related announcements, please let me know, maybe even twitter me?
First off, is Stereo Total return to the USA for one BBQ show!. This is for May 31st, in Brooklyn, NY. And if I lived in New York, I would be out all the time... especially because everyone seems to tour and/or are in New York. Plus, I love Stereo Total!
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I don't normally announce other people's contests, but I felt this one is too good to pass up: Win a Maxtor OneTouch 4 Plus Terabyte Hard Drive. It is for a Terabyte drive from Maxtor. As you know, my HD is fast depleting, so I entered into this contest. Don't worry, I never win at these things anyway, so I thought perhaps you guys might have a better luck at it.
What makes his contest music-related is that it includes MP3s and videos (?) and music content from The Sickest Kids, Be Your Own Pet[W♥M], Between The Trees, Story of the Year[W♥M], Black Gold, etc.
Winners will be contacted the week of June 9th from www.thesyn.com/blog.
Jason is reviewing Samantha Crain's album, The Confiscation, so I thought you might want to check out Samantha Crain - "The Confiscation," a music novella, out July 22 on Ramseur Records.
Reading her mini biography, it seems that she's a Native American folk singer, so the obvious "earthy and spiritual" was used to describe her music.
It should be interesting to read the review and hear some of her music here.
She's also doing a ton of tour dates, so head over to her myspace for the latest information.
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Also, a few brief mentions: Grupo Fantasma Serves Up Sonidos Gold For June 17th Release and Bad Religion to Release New Maps of Hell (Deluxe Edition) on July 8th.
These titles are pretty self-explanatory. It seems like we just reviewed Grupo Fantasma's Comes Alive, but this new CD, Sonidos Gold, is a studio album with new material.
From my brief listen to this new album, it's really good, with a fusion of latin and dance/pop music.
Also, briefly, my favorite, Bad Religion is re-releasing New Maps of Hell, in a "deluxe edition". This is pretty cool, considering that this legendary punk band have never released any deluxe or repackaged their albums before.
I will assign someone to review their album, but in the meantime, read my previous article on Bad Religion.
Links:
weheartmusic.com
Tour Dates
02/21/08 Chop Suey Seattle, WA
02/22/08 The Waverly Cumberland, BC 02/23/08 Legion Tofino, BC 02/29/08 Engine Room Houston, TX 03/01/08 Hal’s Landing Laredo, TX 03/02/08 Texas State Arts Festival Austin, TX 03/07/08 The Parish Austin, TX 03/09/08 Long Center Austin, TX 03/13/08 SXSW Austin, TX 03/29/08 Lucy’s San Marcos 04/04/08 Brazos Nights Waco, TX 04/12/08 Red River Amp Alexandria, LA 04/19/08 Intern'l Festival Houston, TX 04/20/08 Main St Arts Fest Forth Worth, TX 05/04/08 Jazz & Heritage Fest N Orleans, LA 06/07/08 Telluride Jazz Fest Telluride, CO 06/12/08 Bonnaroo Fest Manchester, TN 09/18/08 Krannert Center Urbana, IL
Album Discography
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Real Musicians playing real music.
- Prince
That endorsement from Prince made it all worthwhile for the 11 band members of Grupo Fantasma, who's been playing funky latin orchestra music since 2000.
Prince ultimately became a huge fan and invited the band to play for him in London this past August in front of 20,000 people. Then they were asked to appear on Austin City Limits on PBS last November - which I know personally that people saw this show (so it reached a lot of people).
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With that said, Grupo Fantasma are currently on tour, and the last CD, Comes Alive, captures one of their exciting and energetic live performance at Antone's Nightclub at their hometown in Austin, Texas.
I like to listen to live albums from the beginning to ending in one sitting, as it's meant to be listened to. I also like a concert to have a lot of interaction (talking to the audiences), but unfortunately this was pretty much a straight show... with the exception of the "introducing the band" that takes place towards the end of the concert.
My one complaint is that they censored any f-words. I can't think of a reason why they want would edit the album, unless this recording must've been originally made for FM radio or sale at Walmart or sensitive listeners? Anyway, they're not that noticeable and it doesn't really distract from the music.
It's about the music, man. They sound like seasoned veterans, each band members adding their distinctive instrument into the live songs. I do have to admit whenever the trumpets is played, wow that instrument overtakes any instruments being played.
If you can't get enough of these latino tunes, check out their side project, Brownout[W♥M], who's just released their debut album, Homenaje, on January 28th.
PS, in an effort to bring W♥M back to its core root values, I have created a review-only music blog: vhm.vox.com. Please add me to your neighbourhood. I will occassionally post reviews of new music here at W♥M, if I feel the band is truly deserving. Let me know what you think of this? Do you like seeing news and reviews here?
02/21/2008 08:34:32
vu
my♥posts
www.grupofantasma.com
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Further Reading
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Cassettes Won't Listen wants you to know that his cover EP One Alternative is free to download and so far have been downloaded 6,000 times. Song covers includes Pavement, Butter 08, Blind Melon, Liz Phair, and Sebadoh, all stars from the 90s.
You can download all five covers from cassetteswontlisten.com
The press release also indicate that his next EP is called Small-Time Machine to be released on March 11th, 2008.
In the meantime, you can see him live at a few upcoming tour dates:
- Tour Date
02/01/08 Union Hall Brooklyn, New York
02/07/08 The Delancey New York, New York
02/15/08 Europa Greenpoint, Brooklyn, New York
03/12/08 SXSW Austin, Texas
By the way, the album artwork included is kind of a parody of the compilation, No Alternative (1993).
No Alternative was the third of the AIDS benefit albums, following Red Hot and Blue and Red Hot and Dance. You can read more on W♥M, see original artwork on wikpedia.
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Further Reading
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Grupo Fantasma also wanted you to know that they're going on tour in February. Apparently Minneapolis' Prince did them a huge favor by asking them to be his backup band as well as the opening band for a few shows.
The press release describes this group as "the finest and funkiest latin orchestra to come out of the United States in the last decade"... and really, who could argue with that?
I did check out their official website and they are offering some full songs for download on their audio page, so download some free songs.
Their tour dates:
- Tour Dates
2/12 Flagstaff, AZ @ Mogollon Brewery
2/13 Cabazon, CA @ Morongo Casino
2/14 Los Angeles, CA @ Echoplex
2/15 Sacramento, CA @ Harlow's
2/16 San Francisco, CA @ Slim's
2/17 Santa Cruz, CA @ Moe's Alley
2/18 Ashland, OR @ Mobius
2/20 Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge
2/21 Seattle, WA @ Chop Suey
2/22 Cumberland, BC @ The Waverly
2/23 BC, Canada @ TBA
2/24 Bellingham, WA @ NIghtlight Lounge
01/10/2008 07:41:44
vu
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grupofantasma.com
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