Friday, November 07, 2008

Music Reviews: Pacha Massive, Au, Ray LaMontagne, Melpo Mene, Kings of Convenience

Okay, election's over, everybody. Time to either calm down or buck up, depending on your persuasion. Back to normal, people. We have a country to run here.

So back to normal for me, too - with a music review. It's been a while. I've been... distracted.

This is a great set of CDs, all of which I recommend with a thumbs up. I feel really fortunate to have had the chance to come across them. :)

Pacha Massive - "All Good Things": I would call this Latin electronic music. Not hip-hop or reggaeton, I don't think... but not traditional or salsa either. Where there are lyrics, they are skimpy enough for me to put in the studying playlist, plus they shift back and forth from English to Spanish within the same song, so.. well, it's interesting. :) Favorites to sample: the title track, Cruisin', Don't Let Go, Drive, Pachagueando.

Au - "Verbs": This one seems to be in the tradition of Stereolab, Air, Cibo Matto, etc.. If there's one standout track it would be "rr vs. d", and that alone is worth a download. If you like that, you'll probably like the rest. Like I do. :)

Ray LaMontagne - "Gossip In The Grain": His "You Are The Best" is... well, it just is. :) You can imagine Ray Charles singing it - with the backup singers and blues feel - it's great. This guy's voice is perfect for blues, whether uptempo or slow. All tracks are good, but I especially like You Are The Best and Let It Be Me. Aww... yeah. :) And Winter Birds is a stunning piece that combines the best of Dylan's Lay Lady lay and Iron & Wine's Love And Some Verses. Beautiful and haunting.

Melpo Mene - "Bring The Lions Out": Great lovemaking CD. :) (not that I necessarily *know* about such a thing personally, but... I can at least imagine that it would be, given the right conditions.) ;)

Favorites: all are good - it's kind of an entire piece. If you were using it for atmosphere as noted aove... you wouldn't focus on any one track. But maybe I Adore You stands out a bit in that department. :) Great electronic chill music and easy breathy vocals. Tender and persistent. Marvelous.

Kings of Convenience - "Quiet is the New Loud", and "Versus": Versus is a CD of remixes of the songs on "QitNL", done by people like Ladytron and Four Tet. And as usual, most of them don't seem... necessary. :P

"QitNL" is a gorgeous CD, in the same vein as their more recent release. I really don't know of any better acoustic/vocal chill music, unless it's Melpo Mene above. Favorites: all really, but The Weight Of My Words, and Failure, rise to the top. :)

1 comment:

Future Urban Planner said...

Ummm, Ray LaMontagne- EW (Entertainment Weekly) has done reviews of his two latest CDs & gave them favorable reviews. Glad you liked him too. I discovered Micah P. Hinson, who at 22 (?) has already done more hard-living than some people will do in a lifetime. And his voice reflects it. If you didn't know how old he was you'd swear he was a road-haggard 40 - at least. I downloaded "Don't Leave Me!" off iTunes :-)

Am lovin iTunes I can get CDs that I can't find at Amoeba (sometimes) & don't care about the CD booklets i.e. what are they saying?! And I can catch up on a few guilty pleasures- Leonard Skynard's Sweet Home Alabama- yeah, you probably would never peg me for a Skynard fan, but there's just something about the chords of that song that gets you in touch with one's inner red neck.
I've also gotten other stuff like more techno- we'll have to compare ntoes at Christmas ;-) Found a band that sounds like Interpol's jazzy stuff called Kubichek!
I also downloaded a free music video from Sia. She sounds like Engish isn't her first language, there is a definite accent in her voice, perhaps French? One of her songs "Breathe Me" was in the ending scene of one of my favorite shows, Six Feet Under. I think you'll like her.
I also downloaded a CD from a band called Make Up, which is kind of soul/funk/hard to categorize, but you might get a kick out of come the holidays.
And we don't have speakers, but I'd read reviews of this Irish band (not punk) called Mr. North so I downloaded their EP. Eh, you may like them, but I'm not too crazy about them. Interested to get your opinion.
Oh, and fair warning to the Chairman of the Board- I shall be raiding your CD cabinet(s) at Christmas to enhance my iTunes collection :-D
Hope you enjoyed your time with Jimmy. <3, >^..^<

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