resolving to play more music.
may this be a year of taking risks for everyone.
first off, i'd like to apologize for having only one december mix, but it was a busy month of traveling and not traveling and dancing and everything else that one hopes for during the holiday season. that being said, i've been listening to a lot of music that i've been wanting to share for a while, so hopefully this makes up for it. here we go:
1. tom & dito - 20 meninas
2. tv on the radio - poppy
3. susanna and the magical orchestra - love will tear us apart
4. caetano veloso - porquê?
5. lars horntveth - news on the march
6. joy zipper - check out my new jesus
7. jens lekman - black cab
8. nick cave and the bad seeds - he wants you
9. the gourds - our patriarch
10. loose fur - elegant transaction
11. rothko - roads become rivers (rivers become oceans - four tet remix)
12. charlotte gainsbourg - night-time intermission
13. silvio cesar - a festa
14. four tet - a joy (battles remix)
15. estrella morente - volver
16. jenny lewis with the watson twins - the big guns
download: http://www.bazoomercom.com/ari/January%20'07.zip
one reason that hip-hop has been embraced internationally is that many cultures have a legitimate predecessor to hip-hop, laying the foundation for its adoption. in brazil, that predecessor is the repentistas, who improvise lyrics over what might be called "phat beats" in modern lingo. tom & dito rock the repentista culture with 20 meninas, an impressive display of the women folk they know. a new year, an old tv on the radio track and one of my recent faves, poppy. since i like to have some thematic similarities from month to month (just kidding), i decided to post yet another cover of joy division's love will tear us apart (calexico was the last one) by norwegians susanna and the magical orchestra (who, coincidentally are only two people). caetano veloso's new album has been called the "indie rock album of 2007" by david byrne, even though he made the remark in late-2006. judge for yourself. i bought the fantastic four tet remixes album recently, consisting of one disc of remixes he did for other artists, and another disc of takes on four tet originals. thanks to the album, i've discovered a whole slew of pretty great artists, some which i'll share this month and some next month. the first on this mix is lars honrtveth, with some lush orchestral electronica that seems to follow the caetano album almost perfectly. i think i meant to put joy zipper's check out my new jesus on the christmas mix, but alas i forgot, so here it is this month. black cab is probably my favorite jens lekman track ever, and it's dedicated to all of us who have ever blown a party for friends. it's funny, i hate the beginning of loose fur's elegant transaction, but the jam from the middle to the end of the song is so great that i'm willing to overlook it every time. another artist i discovered on the four tet remix album is rothko, even though i prefer the four tet remix to the original track. they are notable because all of the recorded parts on the album are electric basses, which is pretty cool if a bit monotonous at times. yes, i loved the science of sleep. yes, i loved my wife is an actress, and yes i love charlotte gainsbourg. so, naturally, it would follow that any mention of her collaborating with air and nigel godrich would get my enthusiastic support. silvio cesar's blatent rip-off of stevie wonder's how high can be forgiven because this track is funky as all hell. ok, even if you skip every other track i've ever put on a mix, PLEASE JUST LISTEN TO THE BATTLES REMIX OF A JOY FROM 2:46 ON. it's SO WORTH IT. sorry for that, i just had to tell you about it. hopefully you've seen volver by now, but even if you haven't, this song is the beautiful title-track from the film, poorly lip-synched by penelope cruz. but does it matter? there are two very *ehem* "apparent" reasons why it doesn't. thanks to rrrroche and melissa for turning me onto jenny lewis with the watson twins. i was never all that into rilo kiley so maybe i should go back and check that out too.
done and DONE.
