5 posts tagged “latin”
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06/10/08 Blue Note Columbia, MO
Discography
06/12/08 Bonnaroo Music Festival TN* 06/13/08 Bonnaroo Manchester, TN* 06/14/08 Festival of the Arts Columbia, MD* 06/14/08 Columbia Festival of the Arts, MD* 06/15/08 Arts Center Carrboro, NC* 06/17/08 World Grotto Knoxville, TN* 06/18/08 Ravari Room Columbus, OH* 06/19/08 House of Blues Chicago, IL* 06/20/08 Beachland Ballroom Ohio* 06/21/08 Black Cat Austin, TX 06/22/08 Festival of Arts and Ideas CT* 06/24/08 Stubbs Austin, TX 06/25/08 Museum of Fine Arts Boston, MA* 06/26/08 Ironhorse Northampton, TX* 06/27/08 SOB’S New York, NY* 06/28/08 Nectar’s Burlington, VT* 07/01/08 33 Hess Hamilton, Ontario* 07/02/08 Horseshoe Toronto, Ontario* 07/03/08 Comerica Cityfest Detroit, MI* 07/04/08 Sunfest London, Ontario* 07/05/08 Sunfest London, Ontario* 07/06/08 Montreal Jazz Fest Montreal, Quebec* 07/07/08 Festival D’Ete Quebec, Quebec* 07/09/08 Cisco Systems Bluesfest Ottawa, Ontario* 07/12/08 Rotown Rotterdam* 07/13/08 North Sea Jazz Festival Rotterdam* 07/18/08 The Earl Atlanta, Georgia* 07/19/08 Tipitina’s New Orleans, Louisiana* 07/25/08 The Parish Austin, Texas** 07/26/08 Antone’s Austin, Texas* 07/28/08 Pole Pole Festival Gent* 08/01/08 Cambridge Folk Festival Cambridge* 08/02/08 Riverside Festival Nottingham* 08/03/08 Danouter Folk Festival Danouter* 08/04/08 Farmleigh Affair Dublin, Dublin * with Grupo Fantasma ** with Brownout
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The first time I heard The Alchemist Manifesto from Ocote Soul Sounds and Adrian Quesada, I thought it was a soundtrack to a 70s French movie, filming on location in Spain. It is wonderful background music that seems to have been yanked from afro-jazz, reggae, funk, latin beats, etc.
Ocote Soul Sounds is really the stage name for musician/producer Martin Perna, and this will be the third Ocote Soul Sounds release, but the second with Adrian Quesada.
Perna's actually pretty well-established, working with as many artists as Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings to TV on Radio, while Adrian Quesada is a founding member of the Latin big band Grupo Fantasma and their side project Brownout.
With The Alchemist Manifesto, I would have to say that the album is largely instrumental, with the exception of "Hacia Un Manana Mejor", "La Reja" and "El Pescador", but I wouldn't call these typical singing lyrics. They sound more like marching Spanish chants or background with the music in the foreground.
I read that "El Pescador" is actually a cover of a classic Afro-Colombian song, but I'm not familiar with the original. What I can tell you is that the song features a killer flute sound.
Flutes and other organic sound seems to be the basis of The Alchemist Manifesto, with more flute madness can be found on "Gunpowder" and "Hacia Un Manana Mejor", while "One Hundred Years" emphasis on hand drums.
I love the excellent bass, on "Contra El Sol" (Against the Sun), but my only complaint is that the song is too short.
Overall, an wonderful easy-listening album for fans of latin jazz soundtracks. The Alchemist Manifesto is released today, June 10th from ESL Music. Look for Grupo Fantasma on tour, they seem to be doing all the major US festivals.
Trivia: incidentally Perna acted as session musician for Scarlett Johansson's mixed-review Anywhere I Lay My Head
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06/20/08 Greek Theater Berkeley, CA*
See Also
06/22/08 Hollywood Bowl Los Angeles, CA* 06/26/08 Central Park Summerstage NY* 06/28/08 Merriweather Columbia, MD* 07/07/08 Ottawa BluesFest Ottawa, Canada* 07/11/08 Balaton Sound Zamardi, Hungary* 07/11/08 Kalamitsi Thessaloniki* 07/12/08 Petra Open Air Theater Athens* 07/24/08 Nice Jazz Festival Nice, France* 08/01/08 Big Chill Festival United Kingdom* * with Federico Aubele |
Instead of cramming all of my "Spanish Summer" articles, I will be spreading them out in the next few days. Here's the first one, which I had written nearly two months ago, I had to just go in and make some updates:
Argentinian singer/songwriter, Natalia Clavier is releasing her album Nectar next Tuesday. Fans of world, jazz, and trip-hop would love this Spanish album.
How Nectar came into existence was that she was helping fellow Argentinian Federico Aubele record his album Panamericana for ESL Music in Washington DC. She met Eric Hilton of Thievery Corporation and gave him a ten track demo that she recorded with Aubele's help. Hilton loved it so much that he pulled some strings and had ESL sign her right away.
I don't have her demos, but if it sounds anything like the finished Nectar album, I can see why Hilton was very excited about it.
Most of the songs demonstrate Clavier's beautiful voice, especially on her version of legendary Argentinian folk singer Atahualpa Yupanqui's "Tu Que Puedes Veulvete". I felt most of the songs were a bit loungey, but backed with typically trip-hop elements. Check out my easily favorite track "No Volvera".
Since yo no hablo ingles, I couldn't tell you what these songs are about. What I can tell you is that Clavier's voice is really gorgeous and the music backing her up are a combination of both organic and artificial sources. Here are some quick notes on the songs I really enjoyed: "El Arbol" (note record scratching), "Azul" (orchestra with dance beats), "Confusion" (pianos & low cello bass; sad tones), and "Tiempo" (just really liked this one).
It looks like she'll be doing some US & UK dates with Federico Aubele. Nectar will be out this Tuesday, June 10th, you can pre-order the album on ESL Music.
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
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04/26/08 Lime Light SanAntonio, TX
05/08/08 Louisiana 05/09/08 Popmayhem Fest! Gainesville, FL 05/10/08 Orlando, Florida 05/11/08 Georgia 05/12/08 Athens, GA 05/13/08 Drunken Unicorn Atlanta, GA 05/14/08 Virginia 05/15/08 Danger Danger Gallery, Philly,PA 05/16/08 Philladelphia, Pennsylvania 05/17/08 New York, New York 05/18/08 Brooklyn, New York 05/19/08 WNYU radio New York City 05/20/08 Cafe Nine, New Haven, CT 05/21/08 Boston,, Massachusetts 05/22/08 New York, New York 05/23/08 Cleveland, Ohio 05/24/08 Michigan, Michigan 05/25/08 Michigan, Indiana 05/26/08 CBGB St. Louis, Missouri 05/27/08 Chicago, Illinois 05/28/08 Chicago, Illinois |
We got an exciting week of news lined up for this week.
First off, I wanted to mention that Austin's A Faulty Chromosome (myspace.com/afaultychromosome) is going to set on tour, and judging from their myspace tour information listing, they are in need of help booking venues in various cities. They are definitely playing CBGB in St Louis, but if you're in New York, Chicago, and Massachusetts, and have or know public venues, please help them out.
I've also noticed that they are selling their music as donationware, their album, As An Ex-Anorexic's Six Sicks Exit has a suggested price is $6.66 - but you are free to donate any price you can afford. This is a really cool concept.
Although they lists Belle & Sebastian as "sounds like", I don't believe this is the case upon listening to some songs, but you can be the judge of that. I do like that they have a very DIY sound and often it sounds like they're making things up as they go along, with a general guideline.
By the way, I do have someone working on a review of this album, so hopefully that will be up sooner than later.
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Ocote Soul Sounds and Adrian Quesada (ocotesoul.com) have teamed up to produce one of the most interesting and exciting mostly-instrumental album coming out in June called The Alchemist Manifesto. They are members of Antibalas and Grupo Fantasma[W♥M].
My initial reaction to this album is that it's a very strange soundtrack to a French movie, that is set in Spain. It's very refreshing and I look forward to putting up the review in June.
In the meantime, Quesada is playing with his Grupo Fantasma at the Norman Music Festival in Oklahoma and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in Louisiana.
You can find more information on our press release page.
Speaking of press release, check out Series Two Records 4 CD compilation to be released April 22nd. This is a rather impressive collection of bands (a total of 90 songs from 90 different bands).
If you're a fan of Sarah Records[W♥M] and Swedish pop music[W♥M], it's worth checking out.
It's also very limited, 100 handmade albums and all the money goes to promoting and releasing of future music on Series Two Records. Support your indie label and tell them you♥music too.
Finally, just a quick mention, but I was sent the finalized album artwork for The Day is Brave, the debut album from Brendan James (myspace.com/brendanjames).
Please refer to my earlier article on Brendan James for more information, but from the comments and personal feedback, I can tell you that this guy will be someone to look out for!
That's all I've got for this week. Keep me updated on music! Contact me!
04/20/2008 13:36:26
vu
my♥posts
weheartmusic.com
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Brownout is an 8 piece "Latin Soul Ensemble" (a side project from the more popular Austin's Grupo Fantasma). They have a debut album called Homenaje to be released at the end of January.
It's very easy to see why Prince is into these guys. This band seems capable of blending soul, latin, and tinges of acid jazz with absolute ease. There is not a bad track on this release.
The songs are sequenced in such a masterful way. Clearly extensive time and effort was put into this. The production team of Adrian Quesada, Beto Martinez and Greg Gonzalez have outdone themselves. The horn arrangements by Leo Gauna are uncanny.
I am not sure I have heard such horn arrangements since the glory days of the James Brown Band. This band clearly has its own sound, however, even when it seems to be tipping its collective hat to Tito Puente. My favorite track is “The Sexican”.
Even with its retro leanings (feels like 1972), the band is ultimately very contemporary and clean. With a little luck and proper promotion, this music could definitely could become its own phenomenon.
The band are currently on tour:
- 01/23/08 Zeppelin’s Pub El Paso
01/24/08 ROOTDOWN (Little Temple) Los Angeles
01/25/08 Soul Sessions Los Angeles, California
01/26/08 Body Heat Party @ El Rincon San Francisco, California
04/18/08 Super Soul Shakedown @ Limelight San Antonio, Texas
Look for Brownout's album, Homenaje, on January 28th on Freestyle Records.
01/23/2008 18:05:27
todd
my♥posts
myspace.com/brownoutmusic
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