POP-QUIZ x 3

Here are 3 pop-quiz questions.
1.This one's a little technichal but I'm thinking of Thelonious Monk.
-What's the only song Thelonious Monk wrote in 3/4?


Well, "Ugly beauty"

2.Now I'm thinking of spoken, shouted, whispered and sampled intros, so what are the songs for this?

-"I know when to go out. I know when to stay in. Get things done"

1983!! David Bowie "Modern Love". I love this song!!!!
Here's the song with better audio


-"OK, Tokyo, South America, Australia, France, Germany, UK!"
This is a pretty shitty song, but here's a hint: Two top musicians who had the worst results working together. Here's the proof

Mick Jagger and David Bowie "Dancing in the street".
Have you ever seen a worst duet in history? I bet you have. hahaha

MAKE IT SOUND LIKE THE OCEAN: HAPPY BIRTHDAY JIMI HENDRIX

Eventhough everyone's eating turkey or tofurkey on thanksgiving day, here's a little rock n' roll reminder.
The so called best guitar player of all times, James Marshall Hendrix, was born on November 27 1942.
On october 16 1968 the double album electric ladyland was released. This was the third and final album of the Jimi Hendrix experience.
I'm not going to review it because many things have been said about electric ladyland, about the summer of love and 1968's music in general, so eventhough it's a great album by one of the best musicians of all time, and used the best technology from the US and the best technology from teh UK, this is just a brief reminder for you to be aware of the date.
Here's All along the watchtower live version. Bob Dylan's original song coverd by Hendrix on electric ladyland

IT'S ALL ABOUT MOBY

As usual Moby can't stop 'till he gets enough!. As eclectic as he is, last Monday (November 24) Moby released his album Last nigt remixed. A remix by Brooklyn-based DFA Records signees, who re-imagined Last Night's original album that was released earlier this year. I just heard some of the new mixes @ http://www.myspace.com/thisislastnight.
This is a good record, so good that Moby answered to Peter Gaston when he asked him about the track "I like to move in here" remixed by Holy Ghost the following: "It wasn't so much a remix, as they actually re-recorded the entire song. They even hired a horn section and a new singer. I like the original, but I actually prefer their version."
Good new version by the way. Everything points to the rave rebirth thanks to AC Slater the Bushwick-Broklyn based DJ/producer who remixed my favorite song of Last night:"The stars".
AC Slater is as Moby called him the "re-inventor of the old rave aesthetic".
You can hear to the remix here: http://www.myspace.com/theacslater and warm up
for next Saturday December 13 Degenerates party. My favorite dance party in which this time Moby will be dj-ing with AC slater, Drop the lime and JDH+Dave P, this time they'll spin @ le Poisson Rouge not @ Hiro Ballroom as they used to.
See you there.

Here's another remix of "I like tomove in here" I found on Youtube. Pretty minimal techno elements that match my taste on music.

MUSIC INVASION

I planned to blog on las Friday's concert: Jason Lindner's big band @ new Zinc bar but I haven't been able to stop humming "it swell" a song by Jeff Taylor.
It seems Jeff Taylor's music has invaded my brain because besides the catchy and very sticky melodies and warm harmonies, I can't seem to be able to come down from the feeling I cought last Saturday.
Can't believe I missed him at CMJ because here's what he wrote on that night
"Friday, October 24, 2008
CMJ Blog ’08
Whoa... Last night was crazy.
We played 205 Christie on Thursday.
Equipment was flying around the stage, I knocked myself in the forehead with my telecaster, started bleeding...
I may have had a couple too many....
Blurrrrrr........
-----------
Hope you had a good time if you were out in the audience; it was a blast up on stage.
Had lots of fun with 'Progress,' a new song where I get to stomp around on effects pedals.
Thanks for supporting, see you at Rockwood on Saturday for an 11pm show!
Yours,
Jeff"

Here's a video of It Swell with Thing (Mark Guiliana's trio)@ Rockwood



If you want to listen to Jeff Taylor's music click on the title of this post

MARK GUILIANA'S THING

The thing with Mark Guiliana's music is that it's based on good taste and deep emotion.
Beyond the technical aspects, which he clearly controls, he's the type of musician that transfers life to music and viceversa.
Nothing's evident but everything's there. It's as if he had chosen my favorite elements of music and merged them to play with the THING (his trio with Nir Felder on guitar and Malcom Kirby on bass), but that's not the only thing that strikes me about Guiliana's music.
He can play different genres but his stamp's always there, not in an narcissistic way but to serve his energy and the music.
Honesty is what you'll percieve if you listen to him, and to me that makes Mark Guiliana NYC's best drummer.
That being said, here's a video of the solo he played last night to end his concert @ Rockwood music hall.

you can check out Mark Guiliana's music by clicking the title of this post

THOUGHTS ON WRITING ABOUT MUSIC

I think I shouldn't admit this but recently I got to the conclusion and finally understood that there are not perfect words that could possibly describe music.
That's the reason I stopped bloggin' for a while.
Anyway, there are many ways of communication and music is the most direct way for me, but I also want to share my thoughts with words so that's why I'm back and I'll keep writing and sharing my perspective with whoever wants to read...

QUESTION 6

Barak Obama was elected which makes me believe in human kind. I'm optimistic, and hopefully racial attacks will cease, and there may be peace, as Dee Dee Bridgewater sang while collecting founds for Obama's campaign. But singers and racial conflict have always been related and here comes my question:

Which 1964 song was Nina Simone's response to the killing of Medgar Evers by a white gang?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GpOGtGCLyk

Mississipi Goddam
Medgar Evers was a civil rights activists from Mississipi and was murdered by Byron De La Beckwith, a member of the Ku Klux Klan.

And now that we're into songs related with human rights listen to this classic.
Strange fruit, an anthem that can be one of the firs anti racism songs remembered, specially in Billie Holiday's voice

ROCK AL PARQUE HAS BEGUN

The most important rock festival in South America is taking place this weekend in Bogotá, Colombia (Nov1,2,3). The free "Rock al parque" festival in it's XIV version started yesterday with the metal day which is the day that attracts more public. 80 thousand people went yesterday to see the local bands and the international bands that included Paradise Lost and Carcass (England), Ratos de Porao (Brazil), and Muscaria (Ecuador). The other 13 bands that played yesterday where local and national bands. For the record Colombia is a very strong country on metal music production.
It's a shame I'm not in Bogotá for Rock al parque and eventhough I never go to the metal day, it's a shame I couldn't see Koyi K Utho, a Bogtá based band that has played 5 times in different versions of this fest. and that's sponsored by GIBSON guitars.
Today and tomorrow are my favorite days of the festival because the two stages will present diverse music souch as 1280 almas, a rock legend from Bogotá, Gondwana, Nawal and Sargento García for the reggae-tropical lovers, la Kinky Beat (Spain), Black rebel motorcycle club (U.S.A) and BLOC PARTY!!! (England).It's really bad that I'll miss Bloc party's show, specially now when they just released their new album...
In terms of organization and weather conditions (it's an outdoors fest)I really hope this year's Rock al parque is better than last year's because last year an unexpected ice-rain storm fell upon Bogotá and chaos ruled because besides the fact that the park was covered with ice rain (10 c.m) people went CRAZY (remember that Colombia has no seasons so we're not used to those types of "natural hazards").
And now that we're into natural phenomenons this year the slogan for Rock al parque is: "Rock for the water and the earth". Maybe some of Radiohead's and Al Gore's global warming awareness is filtering to the south. Anyway, I'll have to wait to see some of the youtube videos and maybe share them with you because this year's Rock al Parque will present 37 national bands and 15 international bands. We'll just have to wait to see how it went and while we do, let's check out some videos:
Bloc Party



LAST YEAR'S ICE-RAIN AND CANCELLATION OF THE PRESENTATIONS


GONDWANA


Koyi K Utho


For the official website of Rock Al Parque click on the title of this post