I'm Actually From Sweden

I suppose the big labels were hunting down Arcade Fire and Polyphonic Spree copycats a few years back.  Some A&R guy got lucky and found a bunch of Swedes who happened to be a marriage of both bands.  This is what they came up with.

There are a couple alright tunes, a lot of amateur production, and nowhere near the energy of real Arcade Fire or P-Spree albums.  Just a bunch of talented, if unoriginal, musicians trying really hard to sound as cool as their heros for the first few songs, and slowly devolving into washy, listless nordic pop that is a shadow of the region’s many more talented acts.

Perhaps guilty of having too many cooks in the kitchen, I’m From Barcelona’s liner notes list 28 1/2 musicians.  The best track doesn’t kick in till #8 – coincidentally it’s Houdini.  28 people with one good song placed near the end of their album just doesn’t seem like a recipe for success.

This is disappointing.  I like Sweden.  And I like Swedish bands.  And I like the packaging.  But the record feels derivative and forced.

Wooden Arms

Setting a certain mood can be a tricky thing. Sights, Sounds, smells, lighting, and environment, all have a role in setting a certain tone for someone. For Polaris Prize winner Patrick Watson setting a mood for an album seems to come naturally. Wooden Arms, the band’s sophomore release on Secret City Records features beautiful strings (Fireweed), evocative male/female vocal harmonies (Wooden Arms, Big bird in a Small cage) and spoons, glasses & other found objects as percussion instruments (Tracy’s Water).  There’s even a mega phone in Tom Waits-esque Traveling Salesman.  All are essential components in the mood mastery of Patrick Watson.

I could easily describe the album as beautifully textured, dreamy, haunting or spacey (Patrick has even described his music as Spacey folk). In fact the first time I listened to it I found myself lost in the music — before I knew it I was already on the fifth track. And if that is the mood this album is trying to set, then bravo! Many of the tracks flow seamlessly and fluidly between each other.  I challenge you to expand your horizons – this is a great album worth getting lost in.

Snow Blindness Is Crystal Antz

I’m glad someone in Canada is drinking the pickled crazy juice.  Is there an artist in this country more irreverent, more playful or less caring of what you think than Chad Van Gaalen?  Its refreshing to get some music made for its own sake, which considers the art and artist first, and one’s indie image second.  His muse is indeed peculiar.  Even two-headed … nay, three-headed — and wearing pink suspenders.  For this single-minded artistic independence, this blog will continue to champion him.

Black Mold is Chad’s electronic alter-ego.  A collection of experimental glitches, melodies, science experiments and found sounds.  No lyrics.  Just a man and his gadgets in a basement somewhere in the 403.

19 tracks in all – flying firmly in the face of the current 10-track max on any given release since … well, since apparently nobody listens to albums anymore.  Except us?  We like albums.  And so, thank you to Chad for Toxic Lake.  And for No Dream Nation.  For somehow channeling Anti-Pop Consortium and Chris Clark (Warp’s unsung heroes).

Snow Blindness Is Crystal Antz flows well and you’ll be hard-pressed to discern your favorites until a couple attentive listens through.  There are a lot of great moments but the strength of this album ultimately lies in its ability to create and sustain a mood throughout the entire setlist.

Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson: what other artist was a big influence on both?

Jackie Wilson (Mr. Excitement), “Lonely Teardrops,” live (TV broadcast), 1958

Paramore es una banda formada en el año 2004 en Franklin, Tennessee.

Hayley Williams (voz, guitarra), Jeremy Davis (bajo), Taylor York  (guitarra),  Zac (bateria) y Josh Farro (guitarra).

No quiero entrar en discusión, el genero en el que los han acomodado es Rock/Pop, y punto.

Su discografia es corta. tres albumes de estudio y dos en vivo.

En este post solo pondré los tres de estudio y uno de los discos en vivo ya que el disco grabado en Inglaterra no es tan representativo de la banda como el Final Riot; ademas, la calidad de sonido es muy mala.

ALL WE KNOW IS FALLING (2005)

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=PJ6Y055Z

RIOT! (2007)

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=564X306E

FINAL RIOT! (1008)

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=KTYSFV1U

BRAND NEW EYES (2009)

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=0XHEGBZ4

DISFRUTEN LOS DISCOS… SI TIENEN ALGUN PROBLEMA CON LOS LINKS…

TUITENME @manrayk

FACEBOOK blogmonstruo@gmail.com

Agradecimientos a Qk por la petición

Well, look at what we found! Belgian producer Faskil has done an exquisite remix of the great Gemma Hayes song which serves as our blog’s namesake.  You can download it for free from his site.

FYI. New new new!!!

So new you don’t even know you’re reading this yet.

[This fist ain't gonna pound itself.]

1. Navidad de rock
2. Príncipe de paz
3. Noche de paz
4. Tiempo de dar
5. Invierno en el desiero
6. El tamborilero
7. Navidad de cristal
8. Que bonito niño
9. Linda navidad
10. Winter in the desert
11. Silent night
12. Drummer boy

1. Supe que amabas

2. Mas que una anhelo

3. Girando hacia Ti

4. Es una aventura

5. Dame tus ojos

6. Un Viaje Largo

7. Antes de Ti

8. En Tu hogar

9. Tu palabra

10. Me haces Crecer

11. Quiero Ve

1. Ahora Quiero

2. Revolucionar

3. Quien Soy Yo

4. Chocolate

5. No Me Importa

6. El Tiempo Pasa

7. Como Me Quieres

8. No Quiero Regresar

9. Te Voy a Defender

10. Como Olvidarme de Ti

11. Es Un Sueño

Saturday morning, driving down to Champaign-Urbana to visit my younger son Luke (Dads Weekend at the U of I), when the radio signal on Scott Simon’s NPR show started to fade (interviews this week with Wes Anderson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar), I took out this CD and slid it into the dashboard player—something Luke gave me, a couple years ago, for Christmas.

Wyclef Jean, Carnival II: Memoirs of an Immigrant (2007)

“Sweetest Girl (Dollar Bill)” (with Akon and Lil Wayne)

*****

“Any Other Day” (with Norah Jones)

*****

“Fast Car” (with Paul Simon)

**********

lagniappe

A native of Haiti, WJ established a foundation to provide aid to the people of that country, which can be found here.

Haiti is my native country, one I know as the first black nation to gain independence in 1804. Most other people seem to know Haiti only by the statistics about how bad things are there. The majority of its 8 million residents live on less than $1 per day. Unemployment is close to 80 percent, and more than half the population is under 21 years old. Haiti is the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere.

I have been spending a lot of time talking with people in my native country to try and understand what is behind these statistics and the past escalation of violence, all of which brings tears to my eyes. I have had conversations with gang leaders, met with the police officers and sat down with the leaders of the militias and the army. I have talked with Haitians from all walks of life, all colors of skin, all backgrounds and beliefs. From all these people I hear only one thing in my head and feel only one thing in my heart–that there is only one Haiti. Every Haitian loves their country like a mother loves her child.

I see old women with large bags of rice on their heads and men on street corners selling sugarcane and mangos, all just trying to survive with a strong sense of pride. Walking past a church in my village, I hear the congregation singing an appeal to God to hear their cries and grant deliverance to Haiti. Through experiences like this, I sense where my mother and my father got their strength. Now the whole country needs to reach deep into the spirit and strength that is part of our heritage.

The objective of [my foundation] Yéle Haiti is to restore pride and a reason to hope, and for the whole country to regain the deep spirit and force that is part of our heritage.—Wyclef Jean

Here’s more from a band my older son Alex opened my ears to after seeing them, in July, at New York’s South Street Seaport.

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

“Everything With You”

*****

TV broadcast

Want more? Here.

Engrained

Deadly grooves.  Granular synths.  A hint of prog.  Air returns.

Opening with Do The Joy, we can’t help but wonder if this is going to be the dirtiest Air record yet.  But as if on cue, Love states the case for these 12 cuts – a little adult-contempory, a little epic, refusing to admit that yeah, sometimes its a little cheesy – but that defiance is what makes the French their bad-ass selves.  And its what allows Air to be Air.  Lets see you make Floyd-esque synths sound bad-ass.

Intricately woven jangly guitars surround infectious bass.  Classic repetitive lyrics allow the synth-work to shine.  And Bob Moog is somewhere, surrounded by rainbows, clapping his hands and jumping gleefully while listening to the bridge in Be A Bee.

Love 2 is not without its lulls – this is Air after all.  It can’t be all good.  Tropical Disease is ready for 70’s sitcom re-runs.  And You Can Tell To Everybody may just lounge you to sleep.  But these duds are few and interjected by coy raucousness via Eat My Beat and Night Hunter.

This isn’t Moon Safari or Talkie Walkie.  Its much slicker.  But the synth work and classic vibe make it worth repeated listens – even if its only with a martini in hand.

If you speak French, there’s a great interview and tour through their studio here.

After this, what’s next for Mr. Pop (as he’s known in the New York Times)—a revival of The Three Penny Opera?

Iggy Pop, “King Of The Dogs,” live, France, 2009

*****

Here’s a shout-out to my brother Don, who recently gave me—for my fifty-zillionth birthday—a copy of Mr. Pop’s latest, Preliminaires, which includes this parvum opus. Who could have imagined, back in August of 1968, during the Democratic Convention in Chicago, when we were in Lincoln Park listening to those other Detroit/Ann Arbor guys, the MC5 (who the next month signed with Elektra along with the Stooges), that we’d be listening to this forty-one years later?

Bon Jovi – The Circle [Deluxe CD/DVD Limited Edition] (2009, Island Records)

CD:
1. “We Weren’t Born to Follow” … 4:03
2. “When We Were Beautiful” … 5:18
3. “Work for the Working Man” … 4:03
4. “Superman Tonight” … 5:12
5. “Bullet” … 3:50
6. “Thorn In My Side” … 4:05
7. “Live Before You Die” …  4:18
8. “Brokenpromiseland” … 4:57
9. “Love’s the Only Rule” … 4:38
10. “Fast Cars” … 3:16
11. “Happy Now” … 4:21
12. “Learn to Love” … 4:39

DVD:
When We Were Beautiful – Documentary

Band:
Jon Bon Jovi – Lead Vocals
Richie Sambora – Guitar, Backing Vocals
Tico Torres – Drums, Percussion
David Bryan – Keyboards, Piano

Additional Musicians:
Hugh McDonald – Bass
Charlie Judge – Keyboards

Producer: John Shanks with Jon Bon Jovi & Richie Sambora

It’s hard to believe after only releasing two albums in the 1990s that Bon Jovi is now on their fifth studio release in the 2000s alone (The Circle is actually their sixth studio release if you want to count their acoustic reworkings of their own songs on This Left Feels Right). And I haven’t even mentioned the live album and box set they released this decade! So yes, the band has been extremely active this decade with a steady stream of albums and world tours that sell out wherever they go.

The downside to all of this? Their music overall hasn’t been up to snuff with their ’80s or even ’90s output. Their “comeback” album Crush was great, different but great. Bounce rocked harder and was really good. After that, the band has turned into a bland rock band that doesn’t really rock at all and they’ve dabbled way too much in country rock in an attempt to stay relevant (but it worked for a bit, so what do I know?).

In hype for this album, Jon and Richie promised they were done with Nashville and that the album’s title was a reference to the band coming full circle and getting back to rock ‘n’ roll and that they were giving us a “big rock record”. Well, I can tell you this much — thankfully, most signs of Lost Highway are gone (perhaps lost?). I wouldn’t say this album is “big rock” at all, but it is a better effort than Have a Nice Day even if it still sounds similar to that release. I had been hoping this would be closer to Bounce (“Bullet” comes close), but no dice.

I realize that the band is laughing all the way to the bank with the steady stream of bland, safe rock ‘n’ roll made for their soccer mom fans, but I really wish these guys would pay attention to the minority of fans that want a harder edge and huge sing-along choruses. I don’t expect a sequel to Slippery When Wet or New Jersey (though the band does offer up the bass line from “Livin’ On A Prayer” for “Work for the Working Man”), I don’t want a nostalgia release, but throw me a few bones! Give me a couple of songs that have that feel good over the top vibe that band had up until Keep the Faith.

Noticeably absent is the classic Bon Jovi sounding ballad that doesn’t care what decade it is. Even on the awful Lost Highway the band managed to squeeze out the under appreciated “(You Want to) Make a Memory”. Desmond Child co-wrote that song and he helps out a bit on this album, but even his involvement can’t save this album.

Ultimately, The Circle is another collection of mediocre, thoughtful and mature rock songs (Just like U2!) that don’t please this old school Bon Jovi fan and I can’t imagine reaching for this album in the future.

The CD/DVD limited edition comes with the 75 minute B&W documentary When We Were Beautiful, which follows the band on their Lost Highway tour from 2007. It’s a pretty interesting look into the workings of the band.

Highlights: “We Weren’t Born to Follow”, “Work for the Working Man”, “Bullet”, “Brokenpromiseland”, “Happy Now”

www.bonjovi.com
www.myspace.com/bonjovi

My 18-year-old son Luke, who was home from college over the weekend, played me this track yesterday—something by another college guy, 21 years old and a senior at Duke, who leaves campus every weekend to do shows all over the country. We were driving into the city and Luke, who’d burned this on a CD, slid the disc into the dashboard player. “I love this song,” he said. “It makes me feel good inside. It’s the beat. And his voice is so good.”

Mike Posner (with Big Sean), “Speed of Sound” (2009)

Want more? Here.

lagniappe

The most difficult part of the [music] business today is deciding whether I should commit the dollars to signing an unknown or wait until the artist has a hit. Then there are guys like Mike Posner. I would bet on him for the future and today.—Marty Bandier, the 68-year-old chief executive of Sony/ATV Music Publishing

1. Mi Mundo Necesita De Ti

2. El Padre Salió A Buscarte

3. MI Sol De Alegría

4. Tierno Dios

5. Yo Me Abrazo A La Vida

6. Que Piense En Ti

7. Siempre Está Conmigo

8. Te Extraño

9. Instrumento De Tu Paz

10. Glory To You

11. Abre Los Cielos