Tomorrow morning Beyonce will be performing a televised free concert at Central Park in New York, almost exactly 28 years after Diana Ross performed a concert there for 800,000 people (the first day in the beautifully choreographed video above was rained off part way through so she actually performed the full show the next day, Friday 22nd July 1983).
After watching Beyonce's undeniably amazing (say something, what?) and historical headline set at Glastonbury this week I'm too exhausted to watch her again anytime soon. However I have just found a link to Diana Ross's slightly more sedate but equally glamorous affair, complete with (just slightly) gushing heartfelt proclamations, an impossible number of hit songs, and miraculously - even bigger hair.
Watch Diana Ross Live in Central Park 1983 here/ buy it on Amazon. *Disclaimer - the video seems to take at least 5 minutes to load but it does work so be patient!
It's hard to choose a favourite from an EP which only has three songs on it. They're all beautifully crafted, but the title track Origami might be my favourite to listen to live because it's paired down to just Tanya's voice and her trusty Microkorg.
If you haven't yet heard "Origami" you can listen & download here and I would highly recommend catching Tanya live at Love Box festival or one of the other gigs she has coming up this summer.
Listen + Download: Tanya Auclair "Origami" EP here
I know I'm supposed to be really excited about this new Biophilia album/ project thingy from Bjork, presently debuting at Manchester International Festival. I am, I promise, I nearly attacked a producer who has been working on this album for details (not allowed to name him/ her, apologies). Crystalline (above) sounds like the closest thing to the Vespertine album since it came along and changed everything in my tiny mind, yet with it's own very distinctive textures and direction which seems to end up in experimental drum and bass wonderland - yes yes all very exciting. Now can we talk about this remix please??
*Tries to think of something cool and interesting to say, fails*. Justin Vernon how I love your squeaky depths. Do you have the new Bon Iver album [iTunes link]? It sounds like this but even longer. Yeah.
It seems that if you would like to get your documentary commissioned this year, look no further than the nearest drinks company! Honestly though, who cares as long as they're interesting and not massively compromised? I'm not sure you can "distill" Cee Lo but if you could his bravery seems like a good place to start. In the niche musical world many of us occupy it's easier to pursue diverse tastes and take brave steps, in fact it's expected, but Cee Lo is one of the last who are able to couple genuine artistic integrity with major pop success - and right now that really is brave.
Apparently director Alec Sutherland finished this piece on Araabmuzik months ago but Burn Energy drink (pause) wanted him to hold off releasing it until later on this year. He nobly declined claiming this way it could be seen as something other than an advert (perhaps the reason we don't see Araab glugging energy drinks the way Cee Lo caressed his vodka above). Well, that and because Araabmuzik's album "Electronic Dreams" came out on June 14th [iTunes link] - I'm not feeling the whole thing but a few tunes are tough.
Some music just makes your heart shout "yayyyyy". Metronomy falls firmly in to this very official genre. Possibly one of the most endearing things about them is the gap between the real them (see above for slightly shy embarrassed west country blokes going slightly out of tune and giggly), and their commitment to making proper English sexy synthesized pop (see below for over the top glam par excellence).
I seem to have acquired three brilliant new albums from West Africa this spring, all on the funk inflected flex but not all strictly afrobeat.
The most recent is The 1st Album by Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou of Benin released on June 7th through Analog Africa. Apparently Samy Ben Redjab came across a test pressing of a session by the band from 1973 which was rejected by their record label at the time because of background noise. The band had to record a second session which became their rare as hen's teeth official album, and The 1st Album features two tracks from each.OPR actually put out another album earlier this year on Strut featuring their first new recordings for 20 years entitled "Cotonou Club". Download: The 1st Album 07.06.2011, Analog Africa [iTunes link] Cotonou Club 29.03.2011, Strut [iTunes link]
The second is also a set of re-releases but from Ghana's Ebo Taylor, hot on the heels of his album Love and Death last October. My lovely friends over at The Revivalist have a great interview and feature on the man as part of their Transatlantic Issue. You can download a track from the album for free from Nora Ritchie's Soundcloud player below.
Finally, Seun Kuti's From Africa With Fury: Rise. The interview with Wax Poetics above is great, but I can't help but wonder what Africans who are based outside of Nigeria or Africa will be feeling in reaction to this kind of music. Download:
From Africa With Fury: Rise 1.4.2011, Knitting Factory Records [iTunes link]
"We have a feeling that everybody in the whole world speaks drum..."
I've been digging through some of Gil Scott Heron's work I was previously unfamiliar with since his passing, and this is one of my favourite finds so far. I love the way as he speaks to the audience he jumps between hilarity, fascinating stories and the searing truth. At times it's tough listening to such a beautiful soul knowing he's gone, but comforting that recordings like this ensure the most important parts are still here.
It's easy to forget with so much information at our fingertips that Gil Scott Heron was aeons ahead of his time in terms of his knowledge of world politics and culture, I'm reminded here that he really was one of the griots he spoke of. The music itself has also lost nothing over the 30 years since this recording, which came just before the release of the album Bridges. Even classic songs like It's Your World feel brand new again with the addition of the beautiful introductions and live instrumentation.
Download: Gil Scott-Heron "Live At The Bottom Line '77" [click here]
I'm so happy to be sharing this EP, Tanya Auclair is such an exciting singer songwriter and her work continues to exert a strong gravitational pull on my heart strings towards her live shows and recorded projects. I asked her a couple of questions about the new EP "Origami", the first 1000 copies of which are available for free download through her Bandcamp page so be quick.
I've searched high and low but can't find a single "ooh baby I love you/ you broke my heart etc etc", is it safe to assume the inspiration behind this EP was not your love life?
Haha! Yes, zero tolerance on the smoochy time policy on this EP. I kind of set myself these little 'rules' before setting out on the record. 1) no love songs 2) write everything live before even sniffing a computer...The rules were really just tools to push my songwriting skills. Its easy to write about love, I wanted to get better at telling stories.
What exactly is a Sverige?
Sverige started out as an epic poem I wrote for my mates after we did a road trip round Sweden. Travel and movement have always been good catalysts for me when it comes to writing, whether its the rhythm of your stride or the random stuff you get up to or the newness of it all. That trip set me off, soon as I got back I wrote the EP Thrum. The lyrics ‘Hear that whistle blow’ is the call you hear when something needs to be done.
Your last EP Thrum was a solo effort but for Origami you've worked with other people, what prompted the change and how did the process differ?
With the first EP it was me locked in my room with a Zoom recorder, Fruityloops and some instruments. This time I just wanted to try the opposite. I wanted to write and record as much of it ‘live’ as possible, rather than it kind of living on the computer. This last year I’ve been working with the brilliant drummer Joe Allen, and more recently double-bassist Arista Hawkes – and its really been a time of exploring making music of minimal means, whether by myself, in duo or trio. They’re such sick players that I had to have them and their personalities on the record. Then Jack Allett got on board to record/co-produce and he was also really into the idea of keeping the elements minimal. We managed to blag 6 hours of downtime in a studio to record the core parts, then all the rest was done in friends kitchens and flats. This time I’ve also been lucky enough to collaborate with some great filmmakers - Will Hanke on the ‘Gabriel’ video and Eleni Savvidou on the trailer for ‘Origami’.
Whilst we're on the subject, your solo show involves an almost annoyingly impressive number of instruments, how many do you play (please list) and will the list continue to expand exponentially?
At the moment I’m playing Microkorg, ukulele, guitar, melodihorn, sticks, shaker and sampling my voice. I’m still having fun messing about with this set up, but definitely up for new elements, as long as it can fit in my granny trolley (what I cart all my equipment in)
Your cover of "Gabriel" by Roy Davis Jr ft Peven Everett was rather beautiful, but if you could collaborate with anyone who would top the list?
Ingoma Nshya – the hottest drum troupe I’ve ever seen. They’re a company of female drummers from Rwanda – the first of its kind - traditionally women weren’t allowed to drum, but they broke the mould. Imagine being backed by 10 or 12 women dancing like cranes and drumming like thunder?! Powpow!
Anyone who can flip Jon B without it sounding utterly ridiculous is a hero in my book. 14KT is such a talented producer and I'm grateful he's dropped something new so I'm not just playing his Nowalataz LP from 2009.
As you may have heard Tanya Auclair's new EP "Origami" will be released on Monday 13th June, (I'm so excited for you to hear it). We dropped her beautiful cover of Roy Davis Jr ft Peven Everett's "Gabriel" a couple of weeks ago, and today an appropriately interesting and intricate trailer by video and performance artist Eleni Savvidou.
The featured song "Fluke" will be on the EP, it has actually been floating around for a while in Tanya's head, the random parts it's made up of took their time to come together but did finally a couple of weeks ago. The launch party for Origami is this Thursday 9th June at Servant's Jazz Quarters in Dalston, capacity is limited so I suggest you get there as early as possible.
"A week after I finished 'Fluke', I found Eleni's work by chance via twitter, as soon as I saw her films a light went on in my head. And then in both our heads! She experimented with different versions but this is the first take she did and she nailed it. Her film and my song are like 2 peas in a pod, or maybe more like 2 electrons jostling in the same atom. "
I never thought I would get excited by something following the words "Jamie Foxx Presents" but I'm happy to be wrong about that in this case. Having missed it at SXSW last year I'm still very curious to see Thunder Soul, and although it now has distribution in the US not much news has come through about international screenings - fingers crossed.
I interviewed the lovely Chairman Kato about his intriguing audio-visual installation "Underbelly" back in April, and now they've released a film directed by Rob McDougall which captures the experience for those who didn't get to see it this Spring.
If this is what's not on the album I'm so excited to hear what is! Mr Good Good aka Dego has a new album coming out on 20th June via 2000Black and on CD, and in the meantime has blessed us with a little exclusive to ease the wait. Apparently you can only grab this one here at PMOI and rappersiknow.com but I think it needs to be shared...
