9 posts tagged “italy”
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08/02/09 Venice Airport Festival, Tessera, Venezia
08/22/09 Resonance FM, London 08/27/09 Soundpark Brugnera 08/30/09 Silly Boy Psichedelic Festival, Padova |
I think overall, they are sort of too atmospheric for me, but if you are into experimental and creepy music with anything from synth to bird sounds to organic percussions, then you should check out Father Murphy. In some way, I think if you already like slow tempos of doom metal, you'll welcome Father Murphy into your home/crypt.
Where I think the band succeed is when they're able to just let their music run with it, I'm talking about the epic "At That Time I Guess We Misunderstood" and "In Their Graves" - which I think are actually just one song, but with four distinctive mini-songs within the larger work (if you discount the "hidden track" as a separate song). There's light bulbs being shattered, there's actually some melodies, and some of the best vocals from "the Reverend" Freddie Murphy and the rarely heard Chiara Lee.
It should be interesting to see this band live, I'm assuming they like to improvise and also have a sense of the theatrics. I mean, who wouldn't want to dress up in some sort of blood-soaked Church clothes?
Bonus: Free download of Father Murphy's version of "There is a War" from Stranger Music: A Tribute to Leonard Cohen.... which will leave you to wonder, "Are you sure this is Leonard Cohen?".
08/02/2009 15:28:48 ♥ vu (
)
♥ maledetto.it/fathermurphy
♥ myspace.com/reverendmurphy
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08/04/09
Room 5 Los Angeles, CA
Discography
08/30/09 Vitale Park Summer Concert Series NY
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Reading their biography, it would seem they actually have an album called Eight Belles, released on Rex Records, however, I was sure hard-pressed to find any additional information about it. The five-track review copy I receive is simply self-titled, actually it doesn't even have a cover artwork (which as you know I'm very keen on good album artwork).
I can see why they'd title their forth-coming (?) album Eight Belles, this is one of the stand-out tracks for me. The song plays like a metaphor human relationship between girl (Eight Belles) and boy (Big Brown) in a song about a horse race. Murphy seems to have a thing for human-as-horses, as heard on another of their song, "When I Am A Horse Again".
Their tribute song to Owen Wilson is cute. You certainly know what to expect when you hear "God save Owen Wilson, he's a lot like me!". The writer-slash-actor whose work with Wes Anderson brought us the quadrilogy of Bottle Rockets, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, and, my least favorite, The Darjeeling Limited. However, "Owen Wilson" isn't as strong as "In The Woods", in my opinion... as this song employs woodsy bird recording, hand-claps, and that unison/unicorn harmony that I mentioned earlier.
No idea where you can pick up Eight Belles, but I'm sure if you ask them directly, they'd be more than happy to send you any information. In the meantime, you can get anti-folky music from Jessie Murphy's previous albums.
08/02/2009 15:28:48 ♥ vu ()
♥ jessiemurphyinthewoods.com
♥ myspace.com
♥ twitter.com/jmitw
Songs
From The Heart, 12 Song Album, 2008
by
Sylvia
Bennett With “The Three Tenors”
Genre: Smooth Jazz/Adult Easy Listening
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04/18/09
Bertofino’s Biscayne Key Biscayne, FL
Selective Discography
05/16/09 Bertofino’s Key Biscayne, FL
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Sylvia
was born in Italy, but
emigrated to Philadelphia
when she was a child. After moving to Miami,
she started singing professionally in 1976.
Phyllis Diller, Jackie Mason and other headliners began to use her to
open their acts when in Florida.
She was content being a pop performer until she met Lionel Hampton, who told
her she should be singing jazz. Recording with Hampton in 1985, Bennett worked
with him at festivals and at the inaugurals of Presidents Ronald Reagan and
George Bush. Three jazz records resulted from Hampton's injunction to go jazz -- I Need a Man in 1988 for New York Music,
Rainbows in the Sky in 1991 for her own
company, Out of Sight Music, and Here's
That Rainy Day for Bay Cities in 1992. Tenor man Boots Randolph joined her
on the latter session. During the 1990's, Bennett has appeared at European jazz
festivals, notably in Budapest and in Amsterdam.
Although the songs on Songs From The Heart are standard jazz love ballads or “torch songs”, Sylvia's silky smooth, clear and bright toned soprano voice and warm personality, are particularly suited to these old favorites. Not only does she touch your soul, she soothes and caresses it! You instantly feel relaxed and at ease listening to her, and by the time Sylvia has finished you feel reassured that things really will be all right.
Add to this “The Three Tenors,” tenor saxophonists, that is. The late Boots Randolph, two-time Latin Grammy nominee Ed Calle and eight-time Grammy nominee Kurt Whalum accompanying the singer with saxophone solos on each tune, and providing the perfect blend of sax and vocal. Just another reason Songs From The Heart is a “must have” for every jazz collection.
Songs From The Heart is available either as a CD or as a MP3 download from CD Baby
03/28/2009 14:18:04 ♥ bill (
/eoj.video-maxx.com)
♥ sylviabennett.com ♥ myspace.com/sylviabennett
I'm all about sludge and bands with a good ear for repetition. Anyone who's paid attention to any article I've written is probably well aware of that. And it's been a while since I wrote about a band that sent us something that's all about that, too. So with that having been said, Italy's Ufomammut combine a sludge assault reminiscent of early Isis with subtle psychedelic flourishes that tie it all together into something unique. Their new album, Idolum, is out now, and I have to say, I'm really digging it.
“Stigma” opens the disc with an oddly timed guitar riff that builds and layers, eventually adding reverb-drenched organs and some of the most “musical” shouted vocals ever recorded. “Stardog” is where they assert that they were just getting started. A heavy downtuned guitar riff provides a backbone, while strange, barely audible samples and the shouts of the singer take stabs at it, only to all come to a complete stop, after which everything comes back together into a jam session vaguely reminiscent of White Light/White Heat era Velvet Underground, with insane drumming and noisy, squealing guitar that sound quite graceful together. “Hellectric” reminds me a lot of Isis on Celestial. With that really mathy backbone making what could otherwise sound like a slow song at the beginning sound evil as it builds into pile after pile of oceanic waves of sound. The bass drum-heavy breakdown and the subsequent build-up, however, are the defining moment of this song. On the other hand, “Ammonia,” despite sounding really evil, with lots of what sounds like flanger and reverb all over the place, with whispered vocals subtly audible underneath parts of it, actually is that slow song. It's got that sort of pseudo-”Egyptian” vibe going on, with guest-vocalist Rose Kemp lending her rather impressive voice to the track, and it works pretty damn well. And, of course, just because it's slow doesn't mean it doesn't build up into into a heavy psychedelic stoner jam! Granted, it doesn't pick up a lot of speed, but it'll still melt your eardrums if you play it too loud. What more could you ask for? The next track, “Nero,” just kinda seems like a logical progression from that. An 8-minute dirge that instantly cranks the heaviness, but then dwells on that alone without worrying about the speed too much. Once again, what I like about this is how the vocals seem to exist solely for the purpose of cutting through all the sludge being laid down by the instruments. The psyched-out breakdown at the end is about as majestic as that sort of thing gets. With all that slow noodling, the full-on aggression of “Destroyer” is pretty welcome when it shows up. The psychedelia of the past couple tracks is still there, too, channeled into spacey breakdowns throughout. The last track, “Void/Elephantom,” actually two tracks tied together by a meandering, overly long middle bit is probably what I like least on here. The tracks themselves are good. And honestly, if I was listening to this on vinyl, I'd probably be a lot more forgiving, just because it is really hard to take a track this long when you have a music library sitting in front of you and you could change the song at the push of a button. But, unfortunately, that's how the vast majority of listeners are going to hear this, and I'd be willing to bet a lot of them are probably going to skip about half the track every listen after the first, if they don't skip it altogether. “Void” opens with a slow space rock thing with sung vocals buried under it. Eventually it gets heavy, and then it breaks down. Then it's a meandering ambient keyboard thing for about 15 minutes. The length of it is kind of overboard, and it could've used some trimming. Toward the end of it, samples start coming in and “Elephantom” starts up. It's a heavy thing, with lots of really cool samples and a sort of “jammy” vibe and a looser feel than most of the rest of the album.
This
album is out now, it's damn solid and worth a listen, and these guys
have a European tour coming up in November. Keep watching their
website for details on that. They sound like they'd be pretty sweet
live. The album is on CD and there's a limited edition double-LP for all you vinyl geeks. The transparent sold out, and as of this writing, there's about 200 copies of the black left; it goes for 40 Euros, so if you've got a lot of cash lying around to spend on records, and you like what you hear, you might be interested in that. The packaging is definitely pretty top-notch.
-Soup
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07/13/08 Eboli (Salerno/Naples), Italy
Discography
07/18/08 Arezzo Wave - Livorno, Italy 08/09/08 Carpi/Modena, Italy 08/29/08 Burning Man - Black Rock City, Nevada
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Costanza Francavilla, or simply known as Costanza is an Italian singer, has a full length album out on July 8th called Sonic Diary. After putting the album in to listen, I instantly think of electronica and trip hop, but with a dreampop quality, as her singing style is often breathy, sexy, and deamlike.
Looking at the very impressive/see-through press material, it looks like her music's been licensed out to a variety of television shows (CSI, L Word) and movies (.45, starring everyone's favorite Milla Jovovich). It doesn't surprise me, as this type of electronica music (think Moby) works well as background music.
However, I think the one thing people might know her from is her collaboration with British electronic artist, Tricky (and, sure, you might know him from another Jovovich film, The Fifth Element).
Apparently, Costanza who was a fan at one of his show gave Tricky's drummer a three-track demo CD and that was passed onto Tricky, who absolutely loved it. So all the songs on his Vulnerable album in 2003 featured Costanza's vocals with two songs co-written by her ("Stay" and "What is Wrong").
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One of the most bizarre and interesting song from their collaboration is their cover of XTC's "Dear God". I wouldn't go so far as to pronounce their version equal or better than the original grand epic song in three and a half minutes, but I will have to admit that it's "different". I think if I didn't know about XTC, I would really love Tricky and Costanza's version. (Side note: their cover of The Cure's "Love Cats" is better).
Now, if you thought "Dear God" was weird, the very original electronica take on Fugazi's "Promises" and Johnny Cash's "God's Gonna Cut You Down" must be heard to be believed. The way she sings "promises are shit", with her Italian accent, it doesn't sound bad or naughty at all.
Other songs I thought were interesting is the opening song, "Just Another Alien". Not so much a song, but a series of questions that she was probably asked when she was applying to live and work in the USA. The Italian song, "I Tuoi Occhi Sono Pieni Di Sale" (featuring Riccardo Sinigallia) was also interesting, it made me want to learn Italian. I did use babelfish and it tells me that the title translate to something like "Your Eyes Are Full Of [knowledge?]", so I'm assuming it's a personal/love song?
The one song that I think everyone will really enjoy is "Silence". This is such a dreamtronica song, full of child-like and innocent singing on a very lush music background. I feel like the song belongs to a soundtrack to a movie.
Fans of electronica lounge music, made famous by such compilations such as OM: Chilled and Lounge Experience series, should really enjoy this. These songs are perfect for either laying around the house or at a small party, really good for any occasion.
It looks like she'll be playing a few dates in Italy with Marco Messina. If you aren't lucky enough to live in Italy, her album Sonic Diary is out this Tuesday. For convience, you can actually get high quality MP3 from Amazon right now.
PS, Usually we just have one or two releases on Tuesday that I need to do coverage on. So I normally check on Sunday and work on the review that very day or, at the latest, on that Tuesday. I thought I was sitting pretty as I've already taken care of two releases already that was meant for July 7th (Connected) and 8th (Matt Keating), but we still have these that's being release this week: Wire's Object 47, The Coke Dares' Feelin' Up, Son Ambulance's Someone Else's Deja Vu, Patti Smith/Kevin Shield's The Coral Sea, and Costanza's Sonic Diary. If I have missed anything, please accept my apologies and contact me right away.
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03/08/08 GOR Bulungan, Jakarta Selatan
Sounds Like
03/15/08 SXSW Music at Annex, Austin 03/20/08 Amoeba Music Store, San Francisco 03/20/08 Make Out Room, San Francisco 03/27/08 Univ. Hamka, Jakarta Selatan Jakarta 04/04/08 Score, Citos Jakarta 03/20/08 Annex Building, Hotel Nikko, Jakarta |
Head over to Minty Fresh and grab some free SXSW tracks!
It would seem that these Minty artists: We Are Standard, Beangrowers, Ezra Furman & The Harpoons, and White Shoes & The Couples Company are all going to be at that massive SXSW show. SXSW hasn't even happened yet, and I'm already sick of hearing about it, haha!
The funniest title among these four songs seems to be the Stone Roses-inspired song, "I Wanna be Ignored" by Ezra Furman & The Harpoons. The song is a fun little quick number with a lot of jangly guitars. Also note: clapping.
I don't know what We Are Standard normally sounds like, but their song, "On The Floor" suggests you rock and worship them.
I also really dug Beangrowers, the lyrics and singing is really good and you'd think they were American, but they're from Malta (a small country near Italy). I will have to get back to this band later, my main focus for today's post is for Indonesia's White Shoes & The Couples Company.
Rolling Stones and All Music Guide seems really smitten with this band, naming them "the best 25 bands on Myspace" and "25 most crushworthy bands of 2006", respectively.
I can see why, Aprilia Apsari's vocals is very sweet and the music is very indiepop.
The good news is that they're doing some rare US tour dates - so if you're in SF, please contact me.
03/07/2008 23:16:41
vu
my♥posts
whiteshoesandthecouplescompany.org
Seems silly to compile compilation albums, isn't it?
Well, compilation albums are such a great source of discovering new
music. Especially if they're cover compilations (since you already know
some of the songs, you're willing to take a chance on something new). So below are some compilations that I thought I'd bring to your attention. Plus two of them are available for download for free, so check it out:
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A CENTURY OF COVERS The most interesting cover is "Get Me Away I'm Dying" translated into Italian by Perturbazione. To hear another version of this song by Bettie Serveert, head over to Cover Lover. |
TWIN TOWN HIGH: MUSIC YEARBOOK VOLUME 9
The other songs will be spotlighted later in my Minneapolis entry. |
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HOY COMI SANDIA EP #2: A SWEDISH INDIE-POP COMPILADO
Most of the bands on this compilation have already been covered by us (see W♥M: Sweden). I wanted to mention a band that we haven't talked about: which would be Irene. Checking out their myspace, I noticed they're going to be playing Eurosonic Festival in January 2008. "Stardust" seems like a very short song but it's very good. I especially love Bobby's bold voice (it reminds me of 80s Europop). If you like this, you'll probably really love The Legends - which we're also reviewing here. |
HACKTONE DIGITAL SAMPLER 2007
I have created a custom cover art, in case you guys want to group them together under your Various Artists or Sampler folder. You can download the art by following this link (save it as a jpeg). Hacktone have been pretty good about giving free samples on their iTunes page, but since you need to live in the US and have an iTunes account, these unDRM free tracks are well worth checking out. For more details on Hacktone, visit their website or read our coverage of some of their artists on W♥M. |
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EXOTIC RECORDINGS PRESENTS DIY DISS
This compilation, I believe some of the songs are original. I do know each of the introduction to the song (usually a "diss") were recorded exlusively for this compilation. I'm assuming these compilation (which aren't for sale) are given away if you buy a CD from them. |
EVERYTHING IS NICE: MATADOR RECORDS 10TH ANNIVERSARY ANTHOLOGY
The tracks that I really liked off this compilation is Non Phixon and The Arsonists. Obviously, Pavement is undoubtly one of the more popular band that is on this compilation - so here's "Stereo". The prices are pretty reasonably, I think I picked it up for $10 (for about 40 tracks!) |
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REVOLUTIONS #3
This song is from The Gentle Wave's second album, Swansong for You (2000), it's my second favorite song after "Falling from Grace". Trivia: Isobel Campbell appears on the cover. |
NEW NOISE #13
I've discovered quite a few good bands from these samplers, their latest one has a great track by Lily Allen. This song is pretty cute, it's about coming up with excuses to avoid being picked up - including the hilarious "I'm pregnant, yeah." |
12/07/2007 23:50:43
vu
my♥posts
www.weheartmusic.com
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Tour
12/04/07 ETNOBLOG Trieste 12/05/07 BANALE Padova 12/06/07 RENFE Ferrara 12/07/07 TAGO MAGO Massa 12/08/07 CORTE DEI MIRACOLI Siena 12/10/07 YOUR NOISE (on MTV) Milano 12/14/07 ARCI TAUN Fidenza (PR) 12/15/07 TEATRO CARTIERA Rovereto (TN) 12/21/07 LYNX CLUB Vicenza 12/28/07 OFFICINA 49 Cesena 12/29/07 FEEDBACK Foligno (PG) 01/05/08 RATATOJ Saluzzo (CN) 01/18/08 CORALLO Scandiano (RE) 01/25/08 ESTRAGON Bologna 02/08/08 NEW AGE Roncade (TV) 02/09/08 VIBRA Modena 02/16/08 CORALLO Scandiano (RE) 03/12/08 SXSW Austin, Texas 03/13/08 SXSW Austin, Texas 03/14/08 SXSW Austin, Texas 03/15/08 SXSW Austin, Texas 03/16/08 SXSW Austin, Texas Discography
Sounds Like Weezer, Grandaddy, Teenage Fanclub, Beach Boys, Urusei Yatsura, Death Cab For Cutie
Chuck Norris Fact
Guns don't kill people, Chuck Norris kills people! |
Here's the deal, I'm clearing out about 30 album reviews this month, so I can get a fresh start in 2008. So basically, I'm threatening you with MULTIPLE posts per day. This is my 348th post (my goal is 365 prior to December 31st).
Anyway. What's your favorite Chuck Norris Facts?
Mine's:
Why didn't they find Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq?
Because Chuck Norris lives in Texas.
Massimo Fiorio compiled a bestselling Italian book called I Fermenti lattici dello yogurt di Chuck Norris sono tutti morti (the title suggest something to do with death and yogurt????).
Fiorio is the bassist for Canadians, a strange name for a band consisting of Italians! They're setting out on a long tour starting today (Nov 4th) and looking at their calendar, they're doing SXSW 2008 and MTV Italia.
I'm also very glad to see that the song they've chosen for their single is "Summer Teenage Girl", my favorite song off A Sky With No Stars. They're offering the song as a free download from their official website.
I've read that their debut EP The North Side of Summer (released in late 2005) garnered amazing reviews from traditional magazines and blogs & webzines. I don't think you can buy the EP anymore. I know the initial pressing the bands produced were completely sold out.
Then they entered in the Heineken Jammin' Contest in 2006 and was eventually featured as a "Breaking Band" in the NME (resulting in being the first Italian bands to get reviewed in their Breaking Band column).
So obviously the song of choice is "Summer Teenage Girl", but I also wanted to draw your attention to "15th of August" which is another favorite song off the album. It has a great intro to the song that will perk you up. I'm almost going to guess that the song writer probably wrote it on August 15th of this year?
So, the debut album is called A Sky with no Stars and released by Ghost Records. Apparently the single for Summer Teenage Girl is very, very limited. There's only 100 copies produced. You can pick up the single here for €6,50 EUR. That's like $5000 or something.
12/04/2007 11:27:28
vu
my♥posts
canadiansmusic.com
myspace.com
Oliver Urdaneta currently has one of the hottest song in the blogsverse, "Por qué no te callas".
If you haven't heard about this phenomenon, it's from a televised conference between Latin American, Portuguese, Spanish, and Andorran leaders, in Chile.
Hugo Chavez kept interupting Spanish Prime Minister Rodríguez Zapatero
(despite Chavez's mic was turned off) and eventually lead to Spain's
King Juan Carlos telling the Venezuelan leader "Why don't you shut
up".
This little statement instantly became a huge ringtone hit, generating about 1.5m euros practically overnight.[1]
It wasn't long before mashups and this song by Oliver Urdaneta appearing on the internet.
So there's little information about this guy, I don't think he's even released music (at least in the traditional album releases). I think he's also currently living in Italy since 2005. You can read more about him on es.wikipedia.org and perhaps someone can translate his biography for me (but only if it's interesting).
Here's the chorus:[2]
Por eso se oye con afán, ¿Por qué no te callas?
y siempre te recordaran, ¿Por qué no te callas?
la gente canta con ardor, ¿Por qué no te callas?
el rey está cambiando su color, callado estás mejor
Urdaneta's music video for "Por qué no te callas" have generated over 1.5 million views on youtube, and you can download the MP3 version off his website.
11/24/2007 08:44:38
vu
my♥posts
www.olivercontigo.com
| Cristina wrote: Nov 24, 2007 7:10 PM |
[this is good] Hahaha. I saw the awful video on Youtube the other day.
The composer's biography is a bit dull. He started his singing at a vocal school as a child. He competed in regional and national contests. He belonged to a couple of bands, then released a solo cd. He toured all-over Latin America and the US. In 2003, he wrote the theme song to a Venezuelan soap opera. It became a hit in Venezuela and parts of Europe. In 2005, singles from Simplemente Oliver topped the Italian charts and were club hits in other Euro countries. After Chavez made a fool of himself for the millionth time, Urdaneta wrote this song to the tune of "Y Viva España". He'd like to write songs in as many styles as possible. His last release featured Bachata, Salsa, Reggaeton, Cha Cha Cha and Balada compositions. And, he can dance, too!
BTW, Chavez was interrupting the current prime minister, Rodríguez Zapatero, to badmouth the former one Aznar.
Although it's illegal to produce and sell bootlegs (live recordings) in the USA, it was a gray area in Europe, where some companies, such as Kiss the Stone was legally selling bootlegs. Most artists didn't want to legitimize KTS or such companies, so I'm sure the RIAA stepped in and shut down the business.
I have a few "official" bootlegs (e.g. cd pressed, not cd-r), and today I will be talking about my favorite of them all: Thank Your Lucky Stars.
This was recorded in Los Angeles (Aug 26, 1986) and the sound quality suggest it was taken directly from the soundboard. The total running time is 74:35 minutes, so they had to drop "Bigmouth Strikes Again" to fit the show with the limitation of 80 mins.
The company that put this together in 1994 is Big Music (based in Italy, distributed by CDMusicCo, srl). They did an amazing job. They got all the track listing correct (with running time), spelled all the band member's name, random live pictures (none of which are from the actual LA performance), and a short summary written by "Professor Stone" (of Kiss the Stone).
PLUS, they have on the album cover, a picture of James Dean (which as you all know, Morrissey is a huge fan of). The album art is done in the style of the Smiths record sleeves, which is usually a still from a movie in various color tints. I believe the title "Thank Your Lucky Stars" was taken from a 40s movie, but James Dean did not appear in that particular film.
The song I've picked out is "I Know It's Over", which you can hear Morrissey saying in the microphone, "Jesus Christ! Don't be so stupid! Leave him alone, you stupid idiot! Leave him!" to some security guards. Although I'm sure they were just doing their job, they should've also known that it's often encouraged by Morrissey that fans should get up on stage to dance.
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