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Beth Orton is a famously good singer, as evidenced by the three albums that have so conspicuously built her worldwide reputation over the past decade. Not even that illustrious body of work, however, can properly prepare you for the extraordinarily personal, almost naked and most certainly honest emotional qualities of "Comfort of Strangers," Beth Orton's new album released in February 2006.
Its production values are deceptively uncomplicated. Deceptive, because the album's stripped-down sonics allow the emotional complexities of Beth Orton's performances - and particularly her premiership talents as a songwriter - to flourish; at times sad, funny, playful and poignant, romantic, always lyrical and on occasion even a touch sentimental. Indeed, coming after her opening trilogy of albums, "Comfort of Strangers" represents a total sense of reinvention, a fabulous alchemy resulting from a set of simple rules that Beth Orton decided for the new CD.
Straight from Michigan, this is the first single off Multoc's upcoming album "...They Never Saw It Coming".
Does Gnarls Barkley's album "St. Elsewhere" shed light on his mysterious personage, or does it further obscure him? It's a complex record, to be sure. It employs the full spectra of pop music and human emotion. The warm, breezy single "Crazy" and the spry finger-snapper "Smiley Faces" recall "Songs In The Key Of Life" and "Good Vibrations" in equal measure. "On Line," a lament for the lonely and ambitious, could be a tricked-out G-funk holdover. Often dark and unpredictable, "St. Elsewhere" nevertheless retains its sense of joy throughout. Even Cee-Lo's darker moments, his introspection on "Necromancer," and the chilling "Just A Thought," on which our hero fights off suicidal ideation, flourish in their lush, funky surroundings. It constantly shifts its shape and never sacrifices momentum. And it contains a mess of contradictory clues about just who Gnarls Barkley actually is. Perhaps Gnarls Barkley will never fully reveal himself. But if "St. Elsewhere" is any indication, his music bears Marvin Gaye's depth of feeling, Jeff Buckley's emotive theatrics, and wild courage not seen since Prince's prime. Behold the most exciting debut of 2006. A psychedelic soul masterpiece.
"Portrait Art," by Patrick Burke
A face can hold many emotions. I have been drawing for most of my life and will never stop working. All I need is subject paper and a pencil or two.
The Samsung Rugby SGH-A837's could use a few improvements, but it remains a solid choice for a rugged, straight-forward phone with a loaded feature set.
Go to enough extremes and you'll find a kind of balance. Until now, The Frames' music favoured bi-polar swings, violently loud on one song, violently quiet the next. On Burn The Maps, their fifth studio album, the band have reconciled their various personalities into one volatile organism, synthesizing gorgeous melancholy with full-blown anger. If 2000's For the Birds seemed to capture the Dublin/Chicago quintet playing in a small room with nobody watching, Burn The Maps turns on the arc lamps. Served by their most faithful production job yet (courtesy of ex-guitarist Dave Odlum and new guitarist Rob Bochnik, who formerly spent eight years working at Steve Albini's Electrical Audio Studio) and recorded in Black Box studios in France, the new record is a skilful mix of widescreen scale and magnifying-glass detail, sort of like putting a Herzog still under a microscope. So, you get the self-questioning psychodrama and martial rhythms of the single 'Finally', featuring a hackle-raising vocal from Glen Hansard and typically panoramic string arrangement from Colm Mac An Iomaire. You get spiky, nasty pop songs like 'Fake' and 'Underglass', with its dum-dum bassline worthy of Kim Deal. You get the seraphic boy soprano melodies of 'Happy' and 'Sideways Down' and the graphic 4am truth-or-dare drinking games of 'Caution'. And you get epics like 'Keepsake', distinguished by the sort of sea change dynamics associated with Mogwai or the Dirty Three. In short, here's a world where Spector collides with Steve Albini, Arvo Part with Sparklehorse, open-heart surgery songs that deal in love and hate, mourning and ambition, art and blood.
The longer versions of these tracks, featuring Jack DeJohnette and Foday Musa Suso will be available on the album by "The Ripple Effect" :"Hybrids" released October 4th 2005 on Jack's label "Golden Beams Productions".
The Project: The Ripple Effect was conceived of as a project to blend some of the elements of modern electronica/dance music with previously recorded music by Jack DeJohnette and some of his collaborators. All of the music on this album was taken from multitrack recordings. Some elements were added, sometimes overdubbed and edited, while other parts were omitted. The structure and composition were altered, but the musicality was retained. While staying true to the original?s feel, a new piece of music was created.
We believe this hybridization of styles is a part of the natural developmental flow of music. Enjoy.
The Artists: As a leader, composer and drummer, Jack DeJohnette has supported some of the most important and innovative musicians of our time, including Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Carlos Santana, Keith Jarrett, Herbie Hancock and Pat Metheny. Widely regarded as one of jazz music?s greatest drummers, DeJohnette?s playing has long drawn on sources beyond "jazz." Never willing to sit still long enough to be categorized, he was already describing his work as "multi-directional music" thirty years ago. See http://www.jackdejohnette.com for more information.
Foday Musa Suso is an internationally recognized kora (West African 21-stringed harp lute) virtuoso and a Mandingo griot.Born in The Gambia, Suso grew up in a society where griots function as walking libraries, singing their stories for the community while providing history, wisdom and entertainment. Suso has performed and recorded worldwide with many prominent musicians including Herbie Hancock, Philip Glass, Pharoah Sanders, Ginger Baker and Bill Laswell. See http://www.fmsuso.com for more information
Composer/multi-instrumentalist John Surman is one of the key figures in a generation of European musicians who have crucially expanded the international horizons of jazz. He is acknowledged as an improvisor of world class, and composer of a body of work which extends far beyond the normal range of the jazz repertoire. He has performed and recorded with musicians including Elvin Jones, Gil Evans, Karin Krog, John Taylor and Dave Holland. See http://www.johnsurman.com for more information.
Remixer/Musician Ben Surman is involved with electronica projects including Third Zomby and Mind over Rhythm. He is also currently working on remixes for Karin Krog, Colin Walcott and various other artists. As an engineer he has worked with many artists including Herbie Hancock, Bobby McFerrin, Dave Holland, Hermeto Pascoal and Jim Hall.
Marlui Miranda is the most acclaimed and recognized performer and researcher on music from the Brazilian Indians. She has interpreted and adapted traditional chants and songs from many Brazilian Indian nations. Miranda worked with Hector Babenco in the film At Play in the Fields of the Lord. She is a recipient of several grants including a Guggenheim and the Cultural Merit Medal and has recorded and performed with leading Brazilian musicians including Milton Nascimento, Gilberto Gil, Egberto Gismonti and Nana Vasconcelos.
Producer/Engineer Big Al is best known for his work with various projects including Mind Over Rhythm, Clone Theory and Clip. His recording studio "The Sonic Kitchen" is responsible for some of the highest quality electronica and dance music to come out of the UK in the past 15 years including work with Plaid, The Black Dog, John Holt, Youth, Dennis Bovell and Zomba Records.
"Ancient Techno" and "Ocean Wave" appear in their original form on Jack's previous release on "Golden Beams Productions": "Music From the Hearts of the Masters."
For more information please visit http://www.jackdejohnette.com
Natalie Walker. Urban Angel. Biography. Born and raised in Indiana, vocalist Natalie Walker is an artist whose lilting, melodic voice and lyrical reveries reflect a life journey of determination and self-discovery. With musical influences ranging from Alison Krauss to Portishead, Jewel to Lauryn Hill, Beth Orton to Bjork, the former lead singer of downtempo electronic group Daughter Darling now delivers her own unique, haunting sonic landscape that is at once organic, ethereal, elegant and entrancing. ?Creating music is my outlet,? says Natalie. ?I was born to sing. When I don?t, I feel empty. When I do, I feel fulfilled. It?s that simple.? Urban Angel, her solo album debut, was co-written by Natalie and two-man production team Stuhr. ?I worked with two really great producers out of Brooklyn, Dan Chen and Nate Greenberg. They?d send me the rough copy of a song and the music would just evoke emotion,? she explains. ?Its like fitting pieces of a puzzle together. When you?re in the studio recording its all very raw and real. I try to make a song new each time I sing it. I want it to be unforgettable. My producers are amazing. They forced me to develop my real voice. I?ve improved my vibrato and my tone. Stuhr delivered exactly what I asked of them. It couldn?t have happened more perfectly.?
Gnarls Barkley: "Smiley Faces"
?You are the best. You are the worst. You are average. Your love is a part of you. You try to give it away because you cannot bear its radiance, but you cannot separate it from yourself. To understand your fellow humans, you must understand why you give them your love. You must realize that hate is but a crime-ridden subdivision of love. You must reclaim what you never lost. You must take leave of your sanity, and yet be fully responsible for your actions.? -Gnarls Barkley, in a letter to the legendary rock critic Lester Bangs
So who is Gnarls Barkley? Diligent pen pal to Bangs, soul giant Isaac Hayes, and Violent Femmes ringleader Gordon Gano? Well-kept romantic consort to pop stars Mariah Carey and Janet Jackson? English teacher to synth-rock legends Kraftwerk? Croupier at a mysterious annual gathering in the Bay Area that allegedly draws members of the Wu-Tang Clan and Britian's Stuckist art collective? It seems that, in the music world, Gnarls Barkley is always nearby yet impossible to find. The membership rolls of both the Atlanta hip hop collective Dungeon Family and Athens, Georgia?s psychedelic enclave Elephant Six list Barkley as an affiliate, but mention him to either group and they?ll shoot each other frightened looks and start talking basketball. The rumors fly hard in every direction and remain defiantly unverifiable.
Clinton Jacks works as a cook in a Waffle House restaurant near the South Carolina coast. ?One night back in the year 2000,? he recollects, ?I saw Danger Mouse come in here. Cee-Lo was with him. And they had this other dude with them, dressed up like H.R. Pufnstuf. Danger Mouse and Cee-Lo ate big meals, but H.R. Pufnstuf only wanted hash browns. Then they left, Danger Mouse and Cee-Lo, but H.R. Pufnstuf stayed around for hours. He must?ve had twenty cups of coffee. I went in the bathroom, and when I came out, he was gone. But he left a $500 tip on the table. And he left a little note that said, ?Compliments to the chef. Gnarls Barkley.??
Danger Mouse, a/k/a Brian Burton, produced the infamous Grey Album, a full-length blend of the Beatles? music and Jay-Z?s raps that became a cult classic after it was suppressed by EMI. He recently garnered a Grammy nomination for Producer of the Year for his work with the ?virtual band? Gorillaz. Having recorded with enigmatic rapper MF DOOM, not to mention a cast of voices from ?Adult Swim?, Danger Mouse is no stranger to outsized characters. He admits that he helped out with St. Elsewhere, the first album credited to Gnarls Barkley. ?A lot of people ask me about him,? says Danger Mouse when the topic arises. ?He found one of my Pelican City records, which was this downtempo experimental stuff I did in college, and I started getting letters from him. He?s not [Blur frontman and Gorillaz co-creator] Damon Albarn ? I can blow that myth out of the water for you. A lot of people think he lives in South Carolina. Personally, I think you?d be more likely to find him in Europe.?
From beneath his shroud, Burton's spiritual adviser, the usually silent ?Dr. President?, murmurs something unintelligible and then??Not that I know where he is.?
Cee-Lo Green, a/k/a Thomas Calloway, is a Dungeon Family alumnus, once-and-future member of Goodie Mob and a wildly eclectic solo artist. His music is steeped in the gospel and blues traditions of the Southeast, merging timeless soul with experimental funk and hip hop. He confirms reports that his dramatic voice and soul-rummaging lyrics appear on portions of St. Elsewhere. ?Yes, I believe that I sang on at least some of the Gnarls Barkley record,? he says. ?But we are not the same person. I am Cee-Lo. I am a humble trumpet, and the wind of God blows through me. You might consider Gnarls the spit valve on the trumpet, were you inclined to consider him at all.? As he walked away, Cee-Lo could be heard to mutter, ?You want to know who he is? He?s the dude who owes me thirty-five dollars, that?s who he is.?
Does St. Elsewhere shed light on this mysterious personage, or does it further obscure him? It?s a complex record, to be sure. It employs the full spectra of pop music and human emotion. The warm, breezy single ?Crazy? and the spry finger-snapper ?Smiley Faces? recall "Songs In The Key Of Life" and ?Good Vibrations? in equal measure. ?On Line,? a lament for the lonely and ambitious, could be a tricked-out G-funk holdover. Often dark and unpredictable, St. Elsewhere nevertheless retains its sense of joy throughout. Even Cee-Lo?s darker moments, his introspection on ?Necromancer?, and the chilling ?Just A Thought,? on which our hero fights off suicidal ideation, flourish in their lush, funky surroundings. It constantly shifts its shape and never sacrifices momentum. And it contains a mess of contradictory clues about just who Gnarls Barkley actually is.
?I?ve made him my life?s work,? says Milton Pawley, a Los Angeles music writer widely considered the world?s leading Barkley scholar. ?And even with all the evidence I?ve gathered, I?m still not sure he really exists. Maybe Gnarls Barkley isn?t a person. Maybe he?s out there in the wind. Maybe he?s inside of all of us. Like ?Bob? from Twin Peaks, only more funky and less evil.?
Perhaps Gnarls Barkley will never fully reveal himself. But if St. Elsewhere is any indication, his music bears Marvin Gaye?s depth of feeling, Jeff Buckley?s emotive theatrics, and wild courage not seen since Prince?s prime. Behold the most exciting debut of 2006. A psychedelic soul masterpiece. Gnarls Barkley may not be easily located, but he won?t be a stranger.
Pela is an American rock & roll band. At a time when the word 'America' has never been more fraught with meaning, songs that speak to our basic feelings and emotions about life could never be more resonant. Lost amongst all the geo-political tumult are the stories of every day America; the aches and pains and the beautiful possibilities. Yet amidst all the turmoil and uncertainty, new stories are being written and told by a new generation of American bands. Pela is clearly one of those voices.
