Traveling: Puerto Rico

In this cold italian winter I can't help to think about the caribbean. I dream of the sun, the smells de las calles, the sounds. So, I dedicate this post to the most caribbean place of "North" America, Puerto Rico. I'm fascinated by this place, where mestizaje is pushed at the limits, not without contrasts and contradictions. And this is well reflected by the music. Listen to that:


Sometimes I think there's more Puerto Rico outside than inside the island. Here there's an extremely good band, based in Washington, where every influence is perfectly melted into the true and original caribbean sounds. Here cumbia, funky and reggaeton go nicely together to reflect the real sound of the new latino generations.


Sometimes I think that hip-hop would somehow be already dead if it wasn't for the latin influence that made it revive and regenerate into something new and powerful. Latin rap and reggaeton, if well done, are irresistible. They make you dance even if you don't want, and they taste like a ron shot: sweet and hot. This album is a very good example of what latin hip hop is capable to do. Try to believe.


Puerto Rico is not just salsa and rap. There's something for every taste. I liked this album because it feels different. Mima is a musician between worlds. She somehow reminds me of the spanish singer "La Bebe", but with that latin sounds that gives her a good push on on the rhythmic side. Nice lyrics and interesting fusion research. Keep en eye on her.


This album is a mix of different elements, all melted in a folkloric athmosphere of latin rhythms, but not totally "classic". I like the lyrics, and the simplicity a little melancholic. The author is a multiinstrumentalist born in Puerto Rico that makes all by his self, and makes it good.

Etta James, a little goodbye.

Another great voice of soul and blues has faded these days. She started fading, actually, a while ago, when her mind started to surrender to dementia and illness. But she was there, a living witness to what she was capable to do in the music world. There's no female singer of our times that didn't try to test herself on Etta James hits, and it was never an easy test to pass. Now she's gone. But sure as hell she's going to last.

Etta James singing her most popular hit in 2009. She was beautiful, and she had that sad vibe in her voice like it was the first and the last time she was singing that tune. Awesome.

I think that Aguilera is one of the few contemporary singers that found a personal way to render Etta James songs. She's got a different style, of course, but the same strenght and power and that touch of rage that I think has always been one of the signatures of Etta.

Maybe it should have been Etta that night. But still, Beyoncé gave a great rendition of this song and the couple dancing on the stage made everything very very special. Etta was mad about that, but she was shining on that stage even if she wasn't there. A nice tribute, freshly done, were Etta James voice shines out like a spark on a funky base that honours well her name. Free to download.

John Lee, voodoo's forever!

I have a special place in my heart for mr.Hooker. I saw him live in Italy a bunch of years ago (better not say how many). I was kind of new in the blues vibes, and I will never, never forget the thrill I felt when I heard that voice. It was something coming from inside, not from my ears, but from my bowel, or just around there. It was the power of the blues, the real one, that I was experiencing and those incredible frequencies that John Lee Hooker was able to get out of his vocal cords. I can still see the man, dress all in black, hat on, sunglasses, singin' Tupelo Blues and thousand of people falling in complete silence, hypnotized by the rhythm of the shoe on the floor and the hand on the guitar. I was looking for that feeling when I started the search and, surprise surprise, I think I found it! There are tons of tracks that make feel like Hooker's still alive and rocking. Listen to these, and you'll know he's still here, bluesing around the music of our days, hat on, unforgettable.

john lee hooker - hobo blues / karim full moon dub by `DJ KiMO Irresistible tune with perfect balance between the bluesy sound of Hooker voice and a base line that can't let you stay still. This is the right way to make a classic brand new. Great job.

Blues Brothers-John Lee Hooker (Bobby C Sound TV remix) by Bobby C Sound TV This track booms right in the middle! One of the most played tunes of Hooker & friends rended in a way that makes you wanna jump.

John Lee Hooker - Mad Man Blues (miX&dorp edit) by miX&dorp Mad Man Blues got new sounds, excellent sounds must say, and it shines like it was composed yesterday.

Tupelo (Blues Cover, All Vocals,Guitars & Bass by The Fat Man) by FatFreeProductions Making a rendition of this tune it's not easy at all. How could anybody compete with those bass frequencies that John Lee was able to reach like they came from his stomach? Nobody could. So, better try something different. And this is what these guys do, and they've done good.

And here's the real thing:

Music thoughts for the new Titanic

These days have been all centered on the story of the Costa ship sunk just a mile from Tuscany coast and the 4200 and more people that were on it. Apart from reports, controversies, polemics and news, there's the big wounded body of this new version of the Titanic, laying on a side in a wonderful piece of Tirrenian sea, there are deads, and survivors, heroes and bad guys and all the imaginarium that eventually comes along with such an event. I tried to find some music to talk about all this.


This album is about boats. There are many type of boats represented here, the little ones and the biggest, like the "Concordia". They're all here as they should be, sailing, traveling and building dreams for the sailing people. I liked the global sound of this album. Quiet, relaxing, like a calm navigation, with that touch of melancholy that comes with the cruise package.


Talking about melancholy, here's Mr Hiro's comment to the Costa Concordia accident. Music, noises, sounds that slowly sank in a dark, quiet water, living just silence, and floating debris.


This track made me shiver. When I heard it I immediately visualized the night on the sea around the sunk boat. The almost silence, the dark, the work of the search and the loss of people and things floating on the surface of the water. It seemed to me exactly the sound of the post-disaster. With that little light of hope.


Another electronic music comment to what happened. Like the day after with the sense of loss but also the light of the day, the noises, the talking, the rescue...
A beautiful track by Tiago da Silva, a guy that perfectly knows how to make music talk about things and facts.

Homenaje a "El Goyo", igbaé bayen tonù.

Hace unos pocos dias falleciò en la Habana Gregorio "El Goyo" Hernandez, 75 años, uno de los representantes de la màs autentica voz afrocubana de la isla. El Goyo no solamente ha sido un gran artista de la rumba y de toda la cultura afrocubana, si no también un maestro para generaciones de cubanos y extranjeros que através de su personalidad, conocimientos y capacidad de comunicar aprendieron los secretos de tan grande y profunda cultura.

Igbaé, Goyo, ahora estas rumbeando con los grandes.

It's a cold, cold world.

I'm not a snow type. I'm the kind of person that would absolutely choose a winter in bikini on a tropical beach rather than ski slopes and snow boots and all the rest. But, winter's come eventually and it's undeniably cold. Some people love it, some people get the magic of a snowy night and icey air. This post is for them.


These russian guys know what cold and ice are. You can feel it in this music, made by "real" musicians, with a solid rhythmic and armonic backbone and a range of athmospheres that can surprise track by track. Beautiful.


If you want to relax with a cup of hot chocolate in your hands, looking out of the window on a chilly night, this is the album you should listen to. Relaxing without being soporific, electronic without being disturbing, it's a nice example of how chill and ambient can go together without making you instantly sleep.


Chill is certainly appropriate for cold weather, but there are times when chill is too much. So what about some rock? Cool and icey rock, obviously, like this, made by a one-man-band of Dayton (Ohio, I presume..). Healthy and refreshing, or warming, you choose.


And then... then sun comes out, and all that ice and snow start to melt, and it's time to get out and breath. Winter's over. Ok, I'm dreaming. And that's why I wanted to close this post with this album. It's an "old" one, but I totally loved it at the first listening. It has everything it takes to be cool: rhythm, sounds, imagination. From Texas, where they're not suppose to know exactly what a winter means.

Gescha what? Canada can rule.

There was a time when Canada could musically produce only pop-folk music and not much for exporting it. Every attempt of getting in the hip hop music scene with something really cool was kind of a flop. But... wind is changing on canadian artists. And this album is the living proof. Hip hop is a difficult territory to get into. We are into a genre where seems to be very little left to say and to experiment and where is extremely easy to fall into copycat and repetition. This band actually has something new to say. They have good rhythms, they work on music achieving original vibes, and lyrics are just perfectly balanced between interesting and fascinating. Are you looking for more? Gescha are fresh air in the hip-hop ground and I think we're gonna hear more of them.

Best Christmas notes! ...at least for me.

Are you tired of the jingling-tingling-dindongling that's invading your ears everywhere you go? I surely am. So, I wanted to leave my blog for a little Christmas holiday with good sounds on it. Ok, it's Christmas, I can't deny it even if I try, but can we please please make the effort to listen to some decent christmas music? I did it:

and if jingle must be, be like this:

I could go on... but I have to cook a Christmas cake, so Happy Christmas everybody! See you before the year ends C.

Traveling: Chile

There's a place in South America that appears to be far. Farer than every other place in the american continent. Maybe because is just a long and thin strip of mountains that isolate the people that live on the coast. Maybe for its troubled and hard history. I don't know why, but since I was a little girl there was something about Chile that made me imagine that land like a bubble somewhere nowhere. There were these people, artists, musicians, writers, sparse all around the world talking about their lost homeland and telling magical tales in a way that made me sure that this was supposed to be a special land.
Here I found some music from that far place. And still it talks to me in the same way. One day I'll see it with my eyes and I'll know a little more how far it is.


This album is the soundtrack of a movie titled "Mejor no fumes" (You'd better not smoke). It includes a very wide range of styles and genres and collaborations of different artists. The result is a poetical travel in the modern chilean pop music, with accents of rock and songs with beautiful lyrics and open atmospheres.


And this one is a weird mix between pachanga, cumbia and ska and rock and... almost everything. It's funny, danceable, interesting and fresh. Makes me think of a long travel by train. Don't know exactly why.


Another perspective on Chile. This album takes inspiration by the rainforest, the autochthonous populations of ancient south America and their traditions and rituals. I must confess that I've been first attracted by the cover and the title. Pacarina, in fact, were the places where the first inhabitants of Peru and Andes were supposed to come from, sacred places like caves or lakes. And before being humans those people were elements of nature, of the underworld... well isn't this fascinating?


When I listened to this album the first thing I thought were Manà. Then I kept listening and was captured. I like this album a lot. It's a little rough, there's a lot of rock and blues, but it's totally "latino" in its best declination. I can't get tired by the lyrics and I totally love Balcones y taxis.

Bonus Track

This is an original project that I wanted to inlcude in this post. An experiment of "painting" portraits by music. I think that mission was accomplished.

Aux pies nus Cesaria walked away.

Cesaria Evora was one of a kind. She made popular all around the world a music and a place - Cabo Verde - that, if it was not for her, could still be ignored by the most.
Her voice was velvet, her songs were always in an unstable balance between sadness and joy, between Africa and Europe. Between.
And she was that kind of woman that without being a beauty could capture eyes and ears and stand on a stage keeping the audience in her hands, in her soft modulations and breaths.
She was a queen on bare foots. Aux pies nus she always went on the stage and like that, discreet, she went away. Have a nice trip, queen Evora. This is a little tribute.

The original:


The remix:
ROTW # 07 - Cesaria Evora - Petit Pays - (2002 - 20syl RMX) by 20syl

The interview:
Sarah Linhares interview with Cesaria Evora by Sarah Linhares

Lennon, better than ever.

Everybody's been honoring John Lennon in the anniversary of his death (8 december 1980). I'm a little late in this celebration and I must confess that I didn't have particularly deep feelings about this tribute. I'm not a fan of Beatles and if I had to choose I'd go for George Harrison, without a doubt.
But, I can't deny that Lennon represents a mile stone of music of all times, but I am still critical about his idolization. So, here I am trying to find new ways to keep Lennon's name alive without being obvious or boring.
I found some good reasons for this post looking in SoundCloud...

Imagine-a-jump-john-lennon-vs.-van-halen by jackstanleywp
Imagine that? Really? I don't know if van Halen would be pleased to hear this one, but I surely am.

John Lennon vs. Jay Z - Sweet And Sour (B.Chen Mashup) by B.Chen
A little less unprobable, but still surprising. This mashup actually works. And maybe the two of them would be pleased this time.

WORKING CLASS HERO (my tribute to John Lennon) by MariSela MuSik
I am always cautious when it comes to Lennon covers. Most of the time they're way too mellifluous and I can't go over the first minute. Not this time. This one is absolutely beautiful. MariSela is on my fav list from now on.

Fold - Happy Chocolate (feat. John Lennon & Nina Simone) by fold
This is more a beautiful speech than a song. But I like the way it sounds and I think that pairing Lennon and Nina Simone is a very good idea. The base line is also very cool.

Gershwin's here to stay.

Every single person who took a mic in the hands and tried to sing jazz had to cope with the Gershwins (I mean George and Ira). Their standards are a must. You can learn jazz playing them, singing them, staying on the classic path and then trying to skew and change patterns, inventing. The history of jazz has been made on those notes and still they're here, kind of a sound track for all of us jazz lovers, musicians, singers. Old stuff? If it's old, still rocks.

I loves you Porgy
Two different renditions of the same standard. Forget just for few minutes the incredible and unforgettable Nina Simone and retune on something new. Two ways to keep this song alive staying on the traditional (but nicely performed) pattern, or going a little ahead with a touch of modernism that does fit perfectly. Equally beautiful.





Summertime
This is what we should name a hit! There's almost nobody in music world that has not played this tune at least once in the lifetime. So whatever rendition you can think about, probably you'll find it. These are the Summertimes I found worth to be listened to and maybe bought.
Again, there's the classic one and the dary one.





Bonus Track

Christmas preview

I know it's a little bit early. But tonight I was coming home from the hospital where I study and I realized that the streets were already decorated with christmas lights and stuff... By the way, I'm going out for a little travel next week, so when I'll come back it will be totally christmas pre-time. And I'll be totally unprepared, like every year. So I thought that it would be alright to take a first look for some good christmas music. And I found this:


A string quartet playing a nice folk and jazzy version of holiday music. Very well played, very enjoyable, very christmas time. It almost made me desire a snowy landscape, a fireplace, and a christmas tree... almost.

Accents of: children's music

This post starts with the Bulgarian voices. Yes, those incredible choirs that are capable of sounds that no other human vocal chord can produce. I just was in the mood for the Bulgarian voices and was listening to some tracks. And in the middle of the tunes I opened I found an album of bulgarian children's music. I was curious and pressed play. My little ones started to dance like crazy saying "more" everytime a track stopped... So that's more or less how this all started. And I guess it may just be the beginning.


I didn't know that bulgarian voices were amazing from the very beginning...


Brasil. Sao Paulo, rhythm and fun and the story of an elefant and a little ladybird. This is good for grownups too.


A children's version of the classics of pop and rock? In Brasil it's possible. And sometimes it's better than the original.


Canticuenticos is a nice project from Argentina that mixes music, visual art, and education. The songs are composed on latin american rhythms and atmospheres, are beautiful and funny. And I love the muñequitos.

The presidential mixtape

Week-end, time for mixtape. I searched something fresh and funky to make this sunny week-end run with the right pace. And I found this one. It's exactly what I was looking for and it's free. It's a nice mix with almost everything you could think of when you want to listen to soul and funky and r'n'b. So what are you waitin'for? Click, download, dance.

The Floyd's still pink

Some days ago I started thinking of some names that really really changed the music of our era. I came up with a few names and one of the first was Pink Floyd. I can't say I am a big fan of their music, but there's no way to underestimate their greatness. I started to wonder what could have been made with their music in these last 20 years, year more year less. And what I found out totally amazed me.


When I saw the title of this album I stopped, stared, and thought "what the hell...". I read all the story and started to do some research on the Internet. Is it true? Is it a big fake? Is it even hypothetically possible that Marvin Gaye and Pink Floyd recorded together? I know this thing's been around for a while, but I still have no answers. What I can surely say is that this album is amazing. Definitely amazing. And free. And if somebody happens to know something, please, please, tell us!


Another great finding. A classical guitar rendition of some of the most popular Floyds tracks.
Boring? Not for a single minute. Wonderful idea on excellent fingers. And Money is my fav.

Moving to the dj's & co places, I found out that dubstep community has an unconditional love for Pink Floyd and has produced some high quality tracks that could all be included here. But I had to choose and I did it just following my taste. If you're curious you could spend a night surfing on Floyd dubstep renditions.

Pink Floyd - Welcome To The Machine - IDeaL & J-Break dubstep remix by JBREAK

Comfortably Time - Pink Floyd DUBSTEP RMX (Pretty Lights v Pink Floyd v Stylust Beats) FREE DOWNLOAD by djstorms

Bonus Track, the odd mashup:
Pink Floyd vs Stevie Wonder - Another Brick In The Superstition (DJ Prince) by djprince

Accents of: trip hop #1

I like Trip Hop. I remember the time when Massive Attack, Portishead or Tricky were on the top. I had a particular eye for Tricky; I was living in Milan and Maxinquaye has been my soundtrack for many single nights and metropolitan working days.
Their popularity had been slowly fading, but I think they left an important inheritance in music. An athmosphere, an aura, that can change it all in a track history. I can't tell exactly what it is. It's like being in a dark room and look at a little source of light, and start seeing something without totally understand what it is. Uncertainty, possibility, that's what I find in trip hop. Don't you? So I found some new excellent names that are keeping the style alive, among the most known many others. My little tribute to all of them:

And The Forest Began To Sing[skän] by [skän]
Almost an hour of the best trip hop of all times. Played around the theme of nature and flowers, it's totally hypnotical, and enjoyable. And download is free. Want more than this?

New York City Slut (Up for download) by Recess!
I'm going to follow the work of these australian guys. I like almost all the tracks I heard, and this one is my favourite at the moment.

Le Passage Des Traboules by Mindpleasure & Friends
From France, the art of mixing styles. Can Swing be twirled around a trip hop line? Yes it can, and it's nice and cool.

Say Blue! third part: the feminine.

I think it's because I miss singing so much. I feel like in my throat there were tons of notes and sounds crowding and pushing to get out. But, matter of fact, a day's got not enough hours to make everything I'd want. So, I listen, and actually I prefer listening to somebody I can relate to or sing on, at least in my shower sessions ;) And when I look for female music I always come out not only with good artists and musicians, but also with peculiar persons, with a story to tell and a personality that comes out of the crowd.
So, what about soul and blues in feminine? Nothing better for my ears, and for my showers...


This artist is an eclectic, soulful, magnetic woman that can surf over different music styles and always be at the top of them. Maimouna Youssef is a Grammy nominated artist with coolaborations that scream out loud "she's damn good". Unforgettable voice, a must have album.


On this side of the Atlantic Ocean there's this beautiful young and talented woman with a deep and velveted voice and an album that can be heard again and again and never gets boring. Somewhere between jazz and reggae and soul. An actual patchwork.


This woman plays the guitar in a way that remembers Steve Ray Vaughan with a plenty of female soul and poetry. Deeply american, somewhat country and blues, but with something special that makes her different from everything I heard before.


Do somebody remember Suzanne Vega? Well I didn't. But it came up in my mind when I found Molly Bryant. Ok, I have to be onest, I'm not exactly euforic about this finding. It's nice, but not my favoured style, nor was Suzanne Vega. But my little one loves her. She dances and sings and smiles, so... do I have to say more?

The Forces of Jazz

This is pretty much the beautiful surprise I was looking for at the end of a hard day. I was looking for something new to hear and I needed jazz,' cause jazz helps me to relax, to refresh my tired neurons and make space for new things in my crowded mind. And there they come out! This is what we could name a strange couple. An austrian saxophonist, Karolina Strassmayer, and an american drummer, Drori Mondlak, joining their forces in a very very successful union. Their music is fresh, somewhat intellectual but never too much introspective to be understood. They both are more than excellent musicians and the tracks of this album are one better than the other, telling stories and not just playing around a theme. Playing and writing with them, equally excellent guitar, Cary DeNigris, and bass, John Goldsby, make the quartet Klaro a group that no jazz lover should miss.

One sting, two sting, many bite!

When I was a little more than a child I had two (alright, maybe three) great loves: one was Prince. I loved him unconditionally, whatever he was doing. The other one was Sting. He was in the second place just because he was a little too blond and a little too british to be my first. But like many first love-s they didn't stop. Here I am, still in love with them (now I'm more focused on the music though). So, here are some different ways to make Police/Sting classics still perfectly alive. I was just a little surprise that with so many cool tracks they produced there are just few of them used for mashing and remixing. Roxanne's on the top... come on guys!

An unexpected version of this song. I really hadn't consider an englishman with umbrella and dubstep beats. Warning: It's contagious.
Sting - Englishman In New York (Free bootleg) by kator

Now two versions of the superclassic Roxanne. We heard it all, and still can't forget the tango version of Moulin Rouge. But still there's plenty of space to work on. My 3yrs old daughter was dancing and jumping to these two, so it should work for everybody.
LeeDM101 - Roxanne's Tainted Fly (The Police / Soft Cell / Miley Cyrus (?!)) by LeeDM101

Put On The RedLight ( Police vs Coldplay ) Dj Lobsterdust by Mixes and Mashups #2

Finally, one of the most played and danced bass lines ever ever. Walking on the moon. This is maybe a little too ambient to my taste, but I think it wasn't bad to chill out a bit.
The Police - Walking on The Moon (sageone remix feat Hannah Fogel) by sageone