Monday, January 30, 2012
Sambasunda Quintet
Indonesian music has had little exposure in the UK, but next month there's an ambitious 12-date tour of major venues by a group that set out to revive and update the traditional styles of West Java. Sambasunda Quintet are from the regional capital Bandung, where they also work as part of a 20-piece ensemble mixing western and local themes. In this pared-down lineup their gentle, often haunting songs are based around the sound of the kacapi, a large traditional zither-like instrument carved to look like a boat. To this they add violin, traditional percussion, the suling bamboo flute, and cool, soulful vocal work from their female singer Neng Dini Andriatti. They start with the thoughtful, drifting Bulan Sapasi (Crescent Moon), then speed up with gently driving but still hypnotic songs, and show off their western influences on the jaunty Paddy Pergi Ka Bandung (Paddy Goes to Bandung), in which they mix Irish and local styles. An intriguing, charming set from a band who should prove surprisingly accessible to western audiences.
Friday, January 27, 2012
D'Angelo – the comeback
D'Angelo is no stranger to spells of absence from the spotlight; since starting out in the early 90s, the "prince of soul" has only released two albums, with a 5-year gap between 1995's Brown Sugar and the follow-up, Voodoo. The problem is that his latest hiatus is surrounded by controversy.
While working on his forthcoming third album, D'Angelo has had several brushes with the law, one of which resulted in a widely circulated mug shot of him looking bloated and ill. As Spin magazine put it in 2008: "What the hell happened to D'Angelo?" Because of this, a large portion of Twitter's response to the news that the singer had chosen a church in Stockholm for his first live show in 12 years was: "Is he still fat?" Few people thought he would be able to match the man whose tour in 2000 drew such acclaim that Robert Christgau declared him "the R&B Jesus".
Hand-wringing about whether D'Angelo is fit to return to the stage lead some to speculate that playing a relatively obscure venue in Sweden was cheating. Never mind that he was brought up playing music in a Pentecostal church in Virginia, was this a way of slipping one past fans in case he didn't meet expectations? (Incidentally, Lauryn Hill played a comeback gig at the same venue earlier this week.
All this conjecture starts to look silly when D'Angelo enters stage left. It almost seems like a false start, when the band run through Playa Playa without their frontman and it looks worryingly like the singer has bailed. But then he appears looking relaxed and a little cavalier, perhaps playing a trick on those who doubted him. Guitar in hand, he immediately launches into a spiky, insistent version of Feel Like Makin' Love while sporting an enormous smile. It sounds as if he's never been away.
The singer belts through old hits Devil's Pie and The Root with the vocal prowess of his earlier years. There is a 20-minute version of Shit Damn Motherfucker, and halfway through D'Angelo, his four singers, two guitarists and a keyboardist leave the stage so bassist Pino Palladino and the drummer flex their skills, only to return en masse to finish the song. Only two new songs are performed, The Charade and Sugar Daddy, both contorted and theatricalised to dazzling proportions, but which have yet to back up D'Angelo's assertion that his new album will be "the black version of Smile". The encore comprises an extended version of Brown Sugar.
For those who rhapsodise about D'Angelo's Voodoo tour in 2000, in which the singer abandoned the introverted mellowness of his records to produce an energetic and imaginative show, his current approach may not feel as ambitious. Instead, D'Angelo has carved out a more intimate set-up, one in which he occasionally channels the spirit of James Brown, proves himself to be an astonishing singer and banters playfully with the audience.
The result of all this – the speculation, the controversies and the near silence for more than a decade from one of the most impressive musical talents of a generation – is a triumph. And it's also a whole lot of fun. At one point, he leaps off the stage with a kick of celebration. For all the worry about whether D'Angelo was ready or not to make a comeback – and he plays London next week – it didn't seem to occur to anyone how much the man himself might enjoy it.
While working on his forthcoming third album, D'Angelo has had several brushes with the law, one of which resulted in a widely circulated mug shot of him looking bloated and ill. As Spin magazine put it in 2008: "What the hell happened to D'Angelo?" Because of this, a large portion of Twitter's response to the news that the singer had chosen a church in Stockholm for his first live show in 12 years was: "Is he still fat?" Few people thought he would be able to match the man whose tour in 2000 drew such acclaim that Robert Christgau declared him "the R&B Jesus".
Hand-wringing about whether D'Angelo is fit to return to the stage lead some to speculate that playing a relatively obscure venue in Sweden was cheating. Never mind that he was brought up playing music in a Pentecostal church in Virginia, was this a way of slipping one past fans in case he didn't meet expectations? (Incidentally, Lauryn Hill played a comeback gig at the same venue earlier this week.
All this conjecture starts to look silly when D'Angelo enters stage left. It almost seems like a false start, when the band run through Playa Playa without their frontman and it looks worryingly like the singer has bailed. But then he appears looking relaxed and a little cavalier, perhaps playing a trick on those who doubted him. Guitar in hand, he immediately launches into a spiky, insistent version of Feel Like Makin' Love while sporting an enormous smile. It sounds as if he's never been away.
The singer belts through old hits Devil's Pie and The Root with the vocal prowess of his earlier years. There is a 20-minute version of Shit Damn Motherfucker, and halfway through D'Angelo, his four singers, two guitarists and a keyboardist leave the stage so bassist Pino Palladino and the drummer flex their skills, only to return en masse to finish the song. Only two new songs are performed, The Charade and Sugar Daddy, both contorted and theatricalised to dazzling proportions, but which have yet to back up D'Angelo's assertion that his new album will be "the black version of Smile". The encore comprises an extended version of Brown Sugar.
For those who rhapsodise about D'Angelo's Voodoo tour in 2000, in which the singer abandoned the introverted mellowness of his records to produce an energetic and imaginative show, his current approach may not feel as ambitious. Instead, D'Angelo has carved out a more intimate set-up, one in which he occasionally channels the spirit of James Brown, proves himself to be an astonishing singer and banters playfully with the audience.
The result of all this – the speculation, the controversies and the near silence for more than a decade from one of the most impressive musical talents of a generation – is a triumph. And it's also a whole lot of fun. At one point, he leaps off the stage with a kick of celebration. For all the worry about whether D'Angelo was ready or not to make a comeback – and he plays London next week – it didn't seem to occur to anyone how much the man himself might enjoy it.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
In the footsteps of Clueso
2011 he accompanied on his tour Clueso yet, now he has his own: Max prose, singer-songwriter from Berlin. He is just 22 years old, his curly hair and the guitar spread campfire. There are texts in the style of German Philipp Poisel and bosses, sometimes stormy, sometimes melancholic. On 15 February 2012 is Max prose with "The imagination will prevail" in the amp to be heard.
The press release says:
Max's prose is back in the future! Wherever he plays, he has a very strong presence. A young guy with a guitar on stage: Dylaneske pose Cohensche intensity and the curly hair Although the head of a Rio Reiser. It comes with German lyrics. Distinctive and somewhat surreal. Small stories with big sets. And he drowned in his own strong voice. Max Prosas music has many influences: the great songwriter he is called a smile. And he knows all the old songs like the new songs, the broken of the variety. On stage, however, because he stands as if it had always been his home.
Where did he come from? Here and there from Berlin. Down the Kurfürstendamm and turn right. To his mother he can not remember well, the fathers changed. As a toddler he should learn classical guitar, he soon exchanged for an electric, an old Telecaster, what else, he joined the Berlin underground bands on, just to be in a gang, but he held the microphone in his hand. Thus he grabbed the loneliness of all the singers, he became a loner. Bored with school, he quickly brought the behind, Abi made with 17
Immediately afterwards, he went on the road hitchhiking classic, to England, was a stowaway. In Liverpool, he tried to hire as an ordinary seaman, brought him a fucking boats to Dublin. This was the school, after which he yearned always: Burned down in a lousy board with a pen and paper and a bottle of whiskey sitting on the bed, hoping that the muse comes. And sing at night in the streets of Dublin Dylan and Tom Waits songs. The rental, a warm meal and drinks jumped out there. The thickness of the skull and the morning were like a moment of awakening. Max woke up as a singer-songwriter. Those who had to study just this plan, physics? That was someone else, it was past.
Max prose flew back to Germany and became immersed in the music scene in Berlin, Erfurt and Hamburg. After countless gigs in the cities, he recorded demos with Swen Meyer. And suddenly he had fun at school: the pop course he attended in Hamburg and enthusiastic at the Pop Academy in Mannheim President Hubert Wandjo. Things came to run the demos and Ingo Heinzmann of Universal Publishing. Today is Max's prose part of the free artist network Zughafen, the management of Clueso, Ryo, including Norman sense
The press release says:
Max's prose is back in the future! Wherever he plays, he has a very strong presence. A young guy with a guitar on stage: Dylaneske pose Cohensche intensity and the curly hair Although the head of a Rio Reiser. It comes with German lyrics. Distinctive and somewhat surreal. Small stories with big sets. And he drowned in his own strong voice. Max Prosas music has many influences: the great songwriter he is called a smile. And he knows all the old songs like the new songs, the broken of the variety. On stage, however, because he stands as if it had always been his home.
Where did he come from? Here and there from Berlin. Down the Kurfürstendamm and turn right. To his mother he can not remember well, the fathers changed. As a toddler he should learn classical guitar, he soon exchanged for an electric, an old Telecaster, what else, he joined the Berlin underground bands on, just to be in a gang, but he held the microphone in his hand. Thus he grabbed the loneliness of all the singers, he became a loner. Bored with school, he quickly brought the behind, Abi made with 17
Immediately afterwards, he went on the road hitchhiking classic, to England, was a stowaway. In Liverpool, he tried to hire as an ordinary seaman, brought him a fucking boats to Dublin. This was the school, after which he yearned always: Burned down in a lousy board with a pen and paper and a bottle of whiskey sitting on the bed, hoping that the muse comes. And sing at night in the streets of Dublin Dylan and Tom Waits songs. The rental, a warm meal and drinks jumped out there. The thickness of the skull and the morning were like a moment of awakening. Max woke up as a singer-songwriter. Those who had to study just this plan, physics? That was someone else, it was past.
Max prose flew back to Germany and became immersed in the music scene in Berlin, Erfurt and Hamburg. After countless gigs in the cities, he recorded demos with Swen Meyer. And suddenly he had fun at school: the pop course he attended in Hamburg and enthusiastic at the Pop Academy in Mannheim President Hubert Wandjo. Things came to run the demos and Ingo Heinzmann of Universal Publishing. Today is Max's prose part of the free artist network Zughafen, the management of Clueso, Ryo, including Norman sense
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Music of Bandradar
Good thing there is the Bavarian Radio. Because with on3 this has created a platform with a knack for new talent. This has sometimes presented on3 the promising Brics and by a coincidence to me, this idea fell into my hands. That the "Brics" coming from Regensburg and the bassist happens to be the brother of a former schoolmate's has also meant that this article has now been written.
That in the above-ig to seeing live performance yet every note was 100% is hard to hear, but the true direction of the band. Unfortunately there are not too much material of the young band, but the hope is that we hear a lot more to be great.
That in the above-ig to seeing live performance yet every note was 100% is hard to hear, but the true direction of the band. Unfortunately there are not too much material of the young band, but the hope is that we hear a lot more to be great.
Band radar - Boy & Bear
Boy & Bear, which are from Dave Hosking, Jake Tarasenko, Killian Gavin, Tim Hart and Jon Hart Sydney, Australia, who on her debut pop and folk perfectly understand to associate with each other. Here are the five guys in their home long ago no more blank pages.
With their debut album "Moon Fire", which is already published in Australia and was awarded with gold, the band has encountered a wave of euphoria going on that last week culminated in this year's ARIA Music Awards has. With all seven nominations Boy & Bear went into the race and were finally awarded in five categories: Album of The Year, Best Group, Breakthrough Artist Album, Best Adult Alternative Album and Breakthrough Artist Single for "Feeding Line."
With their debut album "Moon Fire", which is already published in Australia and was awarded with gold, the band has encountered a wave of euphoria going on that last week culminated in this year's ARIA Music Awards has. With all seven nominations Boy & Bear went into the race and were finally awarded in five categories: Album of The Year, Best Group, Breakthrough Artist Album, Best Adult Alternative Album and Breakthrough Artist Single for "Feeding Line."
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)