If you don't have time to keep up with what's new in music we've got the perfect thing for you. It's called Tuesday Reviewsday and every week our contributors come in to talk about what you should be listening to in one short segment. This week Music Supervisor Morgan Rhodes joins A Martinez to chat.
Artist: Branko
Album: "Atlas"
Songs: "Eventually"
Summary: Joao Barbosa traveled to five different cities over five weeks to create and record his latest album called "Atlas." It's appropriately named because showcases his own flavor and the best and brightest talents in the emerging global music scene. The result is a very sexy cosmopolitan thoroughly danceable mix of sounds and influences from Amsterdam, Lisbon, Sao Paolo, New York City and Capetown.
"Eventually" feat. Alex Rita & Bison is one of my favorite cuts from the project. The song has traces of South African house music combined with Portuguese Bass, which itself is a blend of styles (Bison is one of its biggest stars). It's also infused with the vocals of Alex Rita, a Danish singer.
The attention to multilayered genre detail shouldn't be surprising on this song or this album when you consider Branko heads up the Enchufada label, home to 40 plus artists from all over the globe, including his own band Buraka Som Sistema. They're well known for their blend of techno and a genre called Kuduro, dance music from Angola.
Artist: Roman GianArthur
Album: "Okay Lady"
Songs: "SEND:TON" and "PARANO:D"
Summary: Last time I was here I mentioned the Janelle Monae's collective Wondaland Arts society and their new project the "Epheus EP." Well, Roman GianArthur, guitarist and vocalist in the group released a free EP which features D'Angelo tunes mashup up with reinterpreted Radiohead tunes.
It is, in a word: COOL.
My favorite song? "SEND:TON" which blends, Radiohead's "Nude" from "In Rainbows" and "Send It On" from D'Angelo's "Voodoo."
I think the genius of this project is that it stretched beyond just covering Radiohead. This project showcases Roman GianArthur's ability to embody two distinctive and really inimitable vocal styles, insert his own phrasing and nothing gets lost in translation.
Artist: Empress Of
Album: "Me"
Song: "Icon"
Summary: Empress Of recorded this album during a month long stay in central Mexico, a self imposed getaway of sorts for thinking and creating. The result is her first full length album, "Me," a reflective, at times dreamy experimental pop album about self discovery, relationships, angst and her experiences after moving to NY.
If you hear a bit of Bjork in the sound of her voice, its because Bjork is one of her biggest influences. The production is big, sweeping, fantastical, quirky, personal.
Artist: SG Lewis
Album: "Shivers" EP
Song: "Shivers ft. JP Cooper"
Summary: SG Lewis is a young producer from Liverpool who's recently released an EP called "Shivers" which features vocals from JP Cooper, a singer with Manchester's finest gospel choir, The Manchester Sing Out Choir.
His stuff is very similar to a lot of the hybrid of soul/house music that we're hearing from groups like Disclosure and singers like Tom Misch, but this is burning its way through the blogosphere.
Give it a listen.