Jorge Ben - Jorge Ben (1969)
Artist: Jorge Ben(jor)
Album: Jorge Ben (1969)
Label: Dusty Groove America
Despite the flourishing interest in Brazilian music since David Byrne’s Brazil Classics series in the very late 80s, many incredible Tropicalismo albums have yet to be reissued in the States. Instead, the hits have been collected and recollected in compilations, greatest hits, and samplers galore. Now the pivotal album of Jorge Ben’s career, the album that transitioned him into a period of great productivity and innovation, has been reissued by Dusty Groove America. In many ways the current trend in cultural fusion, of musicians pulling from every obscure regional dance movement to enrich their beats, gets its form from the works of Jorge Ben, who mixed Samba and Soul into a style that has inspired musicians on a global scale since its creation. These songs are perfect. I can’t think of a different word. Each beat and note and word works, and each song is packed with sound.
Jorge Ben – Bebete Vaobora
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The curtain of percussive sounds, the sharp horns, and the Portuguese chorus: these are the sounds of Brazil that warm my blood. I feel a little foolish that I don’t know what this song is about, but I hold myself back from a quick google search. I am intoxicated with the sound, and I fear the meaning would distract or sober me from the sound.
Jorge Ben – Take It Easy My Brother Charles
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I think we are approaching a day when American bands will break into Portuguese (and I can’t wait), and I hope it creates the same odd, fluctuating tension I feel on this song as he weaves from English to Portuguese and back, somehow incorporating it into the beat, somehow making it feel seamless. Sleight of Portuguese.
For more information on Jorge Ben, check out out his official site and his wikipedia entry. Go check out the reissue at the label site, and buy the album.
Filed under global fusion, retro-novelty | Comment (0)Ratatat - LP3
Artist: Ratatat
Album: LP3
Label: XL Recordings
So far the reception has been positive but unenthusiastic. Pitchfork’s review (written by Nate Patrin) nails the album pretty well both as fodder for TV advertisers looking for something cool and non-distracting to put behind 2009’s forthcoming spots and also as another step in vague global fusion becoming the latest trend in mainstream electro-pop (following in M.I.A.’s path). I agree with both of these observations, though I also see this album as more subtle than Ratatat’s previous work (I’m glad to not hear another “Seventeen Years”) and wish that songs other than “Mirando”—the most palatable to the Timbaland, Pharell, Santogold, M.I.A. taste—would gather some attention. Don’t get me wrong: I love the above artists and the above song, but to me the best parts of this album are not the vaguely international dance pieces but the quieter songs that sound like a twee Air.
Ratatat – “Shempi”
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Though this song doesn’t have that immediate, first-forty-five-seconds hook that will get it radio play, it is a catchy electronic song with excellently-layered sounds.
Ratatat – “Black Heroes”
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More layered sounds falling into one another (including a very pleasant string arrangement). This one won’t be on a Williamsburg shuffle playlist, but I think it (and the album as a whole) is perfect for a long walk and a close listen.
For more info, check out the band’s site (they’re on tour!), listen to their tracks on their myspace, and buy the album.
Filed under electronic, global fusion, jangly | Comments (3)