More sights and sounds from Montevideo, the Ibero-American Capital of Culture 2013!
This new band is called Marvin Bridge & The Haddocks. It’s made up of Nikolas Araujo on drums, Martin Lyon on guitar, Max Ruano on guitars and vocals and Rafa Martinelli on bass.
Before going any further, I must tell you something: this band was new when they originally got in touch with me. That was about the time our national soccer squad was casting an almighty shadow over the whole of South America, so go figure…
Well, the fact I took my time to review Marvin Bridge & The Haddocks was actually a good thing. Because they have released their best work ever in the interim, an EP called “Abadejo” [Haddock]. Every cloud has a silver lining…
A leopard cannot change its spots…
And nothing lasts forever.
Except Pi.
3.14159
265358979323
84626433832795
02884197169399375
…
Dude. That shit goes on and on and on…
Anyway, this band was started in early 2011, and they lean a lot on 60s rock & roll and psychedelia. But their music also takes some detours along the way, and genres such as reggae and psychedelic-folk are visited more than recurrently.
Their influences include The Rolling Stones, The Doors, Pink Floyd, The Beatles, David Bowie, Bob Dylan, Marc Bolan, The Pixies. I mean, they’re evident. They surface at every turn, in a magnificent outpouring. Any discerning person would name these bands the first time around he listens to their music.
I just didn’t copy and paste that bit from their Facebook fanpage. And I didn’t forget to delete the comma between “Marc Bolan, The Pixies” and make the sentence read “Marc Bolan and The Pixies” to hide such an egregious maneuver, either. Continue reading →
A really great acquaintance I made as 2012 was ending, Colmena Gr is a young Uruguayan composer that has steadily been releasing a series of EPs over the course of the last two years. And he has just compiled the best of his work on a LP (which also includes a couple of new cuts), so what better time to feature him on MusicKO?
The way he describes his music is so accurate and full of sentiment, that I’ve transcribed the full text he sent me when I asked for some background information below.
I began writing music in 2009, but I only started recording my melodies in mid-2011. My first EP was named “Colapso”, and it comprised short-length compositions with just piano. It was a very personal piece of work.
Afterwards, I came up with “Rec”, an EP with 11 instrumental melodies which were edited and produced much more elaborately than ever before.
My music is aimed at experienced ears, the kind that can discover each and every sound (even if there are not that many of them, each sound I use is there for a very good reason).
One year later (and once I had perfected my new sound), in November 2011 I published “Pusil”. The tracks “Analepsis”, “Luminor”, “Prímula” and “Mutílido” had been issued in advance, and they were greeted with enthusiasm by most of my listeners. By mid-November three more melodies were ready – these were done in just a couple of days, the result of an intense and enlightened inspiration (I love when such magic surrounds my head). And it was right there and then that my fourth EP was born. It went by the name of “Tilda”, it included 4 tracks, and it had a mysterious cover with a black widow as its star.
I have always been attracted by little worlds, particularly these of insects. Their diminutive lives fascinate me, even more so when I’ve got a camera at hand. The worlds inhabited by ants and bees are what I like the most.
I’m specially fond of bees. I’m deeply attracted to the world of hives, and that’s where the name of my musical project is derived from. I’ve combined two words that are little conventional [“colmena” is Spanish for “hive”], and I’ve come up with a brand of its very own.
Just two weeks ago I released my first LP, and that makes me feel extremely glad. I brought together the 3 EPs I issued in 2012, and I added 3 new melodies. These 3 new tracks sound far more seasoned – or a lot less “amateur”, if you will.
I named the album “Anthophila” (after the word used to categorize these insects that love flowers, IE bees), and you can both listen and download it for free on Bandcamp. This is the link:
First thing first, today I’m announcing the winners of last month’s competition. As I’m sure you remember, readers were asked to submit artwork inspired by MusicKO’s logo. The response was extraordinary, and for that I’m exceedingly grateful. I received so many submissions (and I had to go through all of them one by one) that I had the perfect excuse for not stepping out of my garret in a fortnight.
When I did, I found out that my whole family had gone and left me (which was just a small collateral), and that I had missed the season finale of “Dexter” (which was not). Regardless of that, I’ve had the time of my life!
Anyway, these are the lucky winners of our latest compo:
Third Place:
This image was submitted by a fan of One Direction, obviously irate because of all my recent posts in which I (allegedly) made fun of the boys. And to think I’ve made it crystal clear that (to some extent) I actually like them. Sigh…
Calm down, girl. Easy does it. Go to the toilet, or something.
You know what? I’ll give you a piece of advice, a true pearl of wisdom for free: next Halloween, disguise yourself as a bell and see if someone hits you. I hope it works!
Second Place:
Someone from South America sent this in:
Yes, I know. It’s captioned in Spanish.
So what? Have you got a problem with that???? MUSICKO IS AN INTERNATIONAL BLOG!!!!!
Capitalist pigs! Bastards! Learn some Spanish! Or go follow the chicken, cross the street, and fuck your mother!
First Place:
This came from some far-flung country, I don’t know what the text says, but who gives two wanks?
(Five, actually)
(Ten)
(OK, fifteen)
If you are the person who submitted any of these images, then you’ll get a voucher by the hallowed sponsors of this blog (namely the Brill Building Society) in six month’s time. And if you haven’t received your voucher by then, don’t panic. All you must do is to visit the nearest Army of Salvation office, and ask them to help you out. (Remember that these offices are open from 1:00 AM to 3:00 AM only, and that you must wear fuchsia and magenta to be granted access to the premises).
The Brill Building Society.
The Army of Salvation.
Yes, I’ve got ties with all these organizations.
And plenty more.
I do.
Honestly.
MUSICKO IS AN INTERNATIONAL BLOG.
And because MUSICKO IS AN INTERNATIONAL BLOG, I cover Uruguayan artists! Yes! Uruguayan! From Uruguay! We rock! We roll! We twist! And we do the alligator!
And today, it’s the time to write about a lady! At last! I’ve been writing about boys for so long that the main page of this blog looks like a Russian submarine by now!
Her name’s Lucía González, and she has just released her first CD. The song “Please” has been chosen as its first promotional cut, and you can watch the accompanying music video below. It basically stars Lucía and her dog, Minnie.
The song was written and produced by Gabriel Casacuberta (who in fact helmed/co-wrote the whole record), and it’s an amiable mix of folk, pop and rock, held together by a steady bass and lyrics which nail the subject of love that’s clearly forthcoming but which still hangs on the faultline in a very supple way.
“Please” is also included on the soundtrack for “La Casa Muda” [The Silent House], a Uruguayan movie that’s had the distinction of being licensed all over the world (a first for a Uruguayan flick). Continue reading →
A middle-aged couple hired a young girl to look after their kids while they attended a party. The girl arrived early in the evening, and she stayed with the children as the couple went their way.
And everything was going fine, until the husband’s mobile rang. It was the girl, she wanted to know if she could cover the clown’s statue in the kid’s room because the children were scared by it, and they couldn’t get to sleep. The man said we don’t have a statue of a clown in our house, quick get the kids out and call the police.
It turned out the clown was a convict who had broken into the house.
And if you don’t copy and paste this text in the wall of five of your Facebook friends, tonight at 3 AM the clown will be at your bed, with a chainsaw in his hands.
OK, I’m sorry. I’m sorry. That was too good a chance to miss. I’m sorry. I won’t ever do that again, I swear by God almighty and by my High School Musical DVD.
Today, it’s time to cover a new Uruguayan artist on this blog. And I’ve found one that has got quite an interesting background. His name is Federico, and in addition to being a recording artist of his own he runs an independent label named Nikikinki Records. This label gathers together a distinctive number of Uruguayan performers, but some international acts have been joining its ranks recently.
So, if you visit Nikikinki’s website you’ll be able to download music from local performers such as Ari Vinitzki, Lila Tirando a Violeta, Fabián Echandía and Turra Total, along with Eric Bejaranbo (from Mexico) and Johnny Slidell (from the US) to name just a few.
In all cases, the music you can find on the site is available at zero cost. You just have to submit your e-mail address, and that’ll be the start of a thousand lives with the music of this league of extraordinary gentlemen.
Federico himself has released two volumes of love songs named “Los Amores Imaginarios” [Imaginary Loves], and he also fronts a band which goes by the name of “Julen y la Gente Sola” [Julen and the Lonely People]. I became familiarized with his work while I was online one day, goofing around on Facebook. I came across a live performance of his, he had posted a song named “Asuntos Ajenos” [Other People’s Businesses], and I gave it a whirl. Usually, I click on such videos and then keep on scrolling down my news feed. And that’s precisely what I did when I first crossed paths with “Asuntos Ajenos”.
But I didn’t get very far. A couple of seconds into the performance, I stopped scrolling down. I was listening.
And when Federico started singing, I had to scroll up again to see him play. There was a sort of magnetism both in his voice and his overall demeanor. You couldn’t call it technical prowess, you couldn’t call it interpretative proficiency or smoothness. But it was some sort of coruscating quality all the same.
And you know, that’s good news. Really good news. That’s what I always want to see on young performers.
Frankly, I was amazed. I mean, not amazed in the same way Taylor Swift is amazed at awards shows, and she puts her patented OMG face on, like this:
(If you look carefully, you’ll also notice that when this happens Taylor Lautner is always, always on the very first row. He’s staring all dove-eyed at T Swizzle, until he realizes the cameras are on him! And when that happens, he turns his head with haste, as if thinking “Oops, I’m not supposed to harbor feelings for her any longer!”
I hate you! Vile monster! How could you break our sweetheart of the rodeo’s heart?! Hope they cast you in a suckass saga with endless sequels! Hope you’re condemned to do the same mediocre role for ever!
Oh, wait…)
But I was surprised by how much Federico could elicit, by how much he could transmit in a way that seemed so effortless. And I decided to take a closer look at his work.
So, I downloaded the first volume of his “Amores Imaginarios”. And that’s the album I want to tell you about today.
According to the liner notes, Federico recorded the 12 songs that are included between 2009-2011 on his bedroom, using an acoustic guitar and his computer. This is a lo-fi album by definition, so that if you’re enamored with Okkervil River’s marauding guitars on songs such as “We Need A Myth” then I’m afraid you’ll have to browse. This album is not about sounding good, it’s about conveying ideas in a way that’s unembellished and completely spontaneous.
We could debate incessantly how valuable such a thing is from an artistic point of view; writers like Victor Hugo used to claim that there’s nothing more detrimental to art than the rush of inspiration, that ideas have to be diligently refined, and that the greatest works come from a process in which corrections and reformulations are always in order. Conversely, authors like Byron (who were uttermost expressionists) felt that saying what one had to say in the way that it would naturally come out was the fairest thing to do.
How much you’ll get from an album like this one (and from most of Nikikinki’s oeuvre, actually) depends on where you stand on this debate. If you collapsed to the floor and cried aloud “Deflower me! Deflower me, Dave!!” when the Foo Fighters won their last Grammy Award and Grohl mentioned that they had recorded the album at their very own garage, then look no further than this. Continue reading →
Good ol’ Pete Townshend. He releases a chunky bio, and the standout passage is the one in which he confesses he fancied the ass off Mick Jagger when he was young. Actually, he mentions that he fancied another part of the Rolling Stone’s physiognomy. But let’s leave it at that, OK?
It just had to be.
Then, Kelly Clarkson announces the release of her first “Best Of” package, and when you glance at the tracklist “Sober” is nowhere in sight. “When beauty meets ignorance they shout in the street”, right darling? What’s your excuse?
It just had to be.
And now, Casablancas release their first EP, “Please Don’t Be Like Me”.
And is it any good?
It just had to be.
Casablancas, my half-blood brothers from the Merseyside. I’m going to write a movie script about the time I spent with the core of them when I was younger, maybe someone at Disney buys it for the next “Star Wars” trilogy. For chrissake, they hired Billy Ray Cyrus to do a show! It can’t be that difficult…
This EP (download it for free) was recorded by the band and their producer, Álvaro de León. Casablancas comprises Martín Rela on voice and guitar, Syd Jay on guitar, Nacho Lorenzelli on bass and Seba Moroni on drums. Álvaro de León added guitars, piano and Hammond to several numbers.
In case you want to put faces to names, there you go. Yes, I know. It would be delightful to have one of these magnificent photographs in which the whole band is featured in a clockwise manner. But I never learned to use Photoshop, I was too busy learning how to write movie scripts, OK?
Martín Rela
Syd Jay
Nacho Lorenzelli
Seba Moroni
The guys define themselves as a group of friends who love making music and having a good time on the liner notes. But that doesn’t mean they are doing things by half measures. No, not at all. They’re a true example of commitment, and a firm reminder that anything can be accomplished by sheer strength of will and devotion.
“Please Don’t Be Like Me” features five different compositions, all penned by the band. You have the two songs they had recorded when Casablancas came around a couple of years ago, and the band played their first “Pepsi Bandplugged” competition amidst pussy-willows, cattails and fluorescent adolescents. They are “0800 Casablancas” and “Liverpool”. They have been revamped, and their present selves are a lot beefier thanks to the fuller-sounding production.
But the new cuts are the ones that make more of a lasting impression, for the simple reason that these songs reveal a sense of dynamics that I just didn’t know the guys had in them. Besides, Martín’s voice has grown different – there’s more of a gruff in it. Time doesn’t go by in vain, I guess. It’s only natural that the moon and the sun will change places, as if in a race to meet the ribbons of the morning first.
And cigarettes can fuck up one’s voice in no time, also. Whatever. Martín’s vocals now suit the material a great deal better. Continue reading →
(English version of an article first published on Cooltivarte.com. You can read the original post here)
A young Uruguayan singer and composer, Nadia Costa started studying music formally in 2004. That year, she began learning how to read and write music, and how to play the guitar. She started penning her own compositions soon afterwards, writing a series of ballads and pop rock numbers (the genre she relates the most to).
By now, she has already been a member of several bands such as Sadirban (2005), Sueños (2009) and El Cardenal Sebastián (2010). With these bands, she’s taken to the stages of venues like El Tartamudo, Apartado Bar, Bluzz Bar and La Comuna. And she’s also played the Hotel Sheraton, and many shopping centers in the country. In early 2012 she was chosen as a contralto singer for the choir Coro Fermata.
Nowadays, Nadia Costa is recording her first solo album. This will include 13 original compositions, and this interview is a way to bring you closer both to that specific project, and to Nadia herself.
Q: Tell us a little about who you are and what you do, so that people who are completely new to you can have an idea what to expect from your art.
My name is Nadia Costa. I’m a musician, singer and composer. I’m a girl that’s full of dreams, eager to share my songs with the world, and to do what I love most of all: to sing, and to be on a stage, giving my heart to people.
Q: How old were you when you first started writing songs?
A: It’s a bit crazy, you know, because when I was a kid I didn’t play “normal” games – I used to pretend I was a singer, and when I was 7 I “wrote” my first “song”. And that was the coolest thing in the world. But writing songs was just a game then. It all changed when I was about 15 (when I had gone through all the different experiences associated with growing up) that I started writing in a more heartfelt and thorough way. By then, I had begun studying guitar, and I started having more musical ideas. It was then that I came to realize my first song wasn’t the one I had written when I was 7. No, the ones I began penning when I was 15 made me become aware that I truly wanted to devote my life to music.
Q: What’s your creative process like? How do you write a song?
A: Personally, what I aim to do is to touch people’s hearts, to reach out to others in a special way. I want people to take my lyrics to heart, and to be moved by my songs’ melodies. When I write, all that I want is to come up with a phrase, a note or a melody that would be of use to others. I want to make them ponder on anything that’s bringing them down, so that they can overcome such difficulties. That’s the kind of thing I find truly fulfilling.
Q: Which national and international musicians do you look up to?
A: I’m keen on many international artists, for the fact that I like to dip my feet everywhere, and learn a little from everything. Stevie Wonder is someone I’m really fond of. I’m taken by the sonority of his voice and the way in which he sings, that man will never cease to amaze me.
John Mayer is also someone I hold in very high esteem. He’s got a very distinctive way of writing, and I love his musical style, the romantic rock he plays.
Then, Shania Twain and Taylor Swift are two female artists I really admire. I love the country pop they play, they’ve both got lyrics which tell stories that you don’t know how will end until the very last verse. As a writer, these are the kind of lyrics that turn me on.
Yet, my biggest musical reference is Luis Fonsi. He’s a complete artist. He’s got just everything: technique, feeling, emotion, humility and a very characteristic voice – it can be both sweet and aggressive.
And as far as Uruguay is concerned, Rada is a true touching stone for everybody, and someone I had the pleasure of meeting in person. Other artists that I listen to include Fernando Cabrera, Alfredo Zitarrosa, No Te Va Gustar… these are just a couple. There are actually many artists that I listen to and which captivate me. I’m very open-minded in that sense. I listen to pretty much everything.
Q: You’re recording you first album, what’s the experience been like so far?
A: I’m bringing all of my illusions into that process. I’m enjoying each and every step of it, I’m trying to enjoy it to the full. It’s a lengthy process, and it’s easy to get anxious along the way. But I’m doing my best to take it calmly. I want the album to shape itself in the way it should, these things take time. And I want everything to turn out as it should, I’m too much of a perfectionist (hehehe). Ideally, the album should be out in early 2014. And live dates should start being added soon. Continue reading →
Uruguayan popular music is enjoying a whole new lease of life, with a generation of singer/songwriters that are updating its idioms and gestures. Influenced by artists such as Eduardo Mateo, Fernando Cabrera, Jorge Drexler and Mauricio Ubal, these young performers are bringing popular music to an audience that was previously strange to it.
And Ismael Collazo is one of the most emblematic singer/songwriters of such a movement. Born in 1980, he plays a healthy mixture of traditional Uruguayan music. Murga, tango, candombe, chacarera… his repertoire includes all of these, in equal measures.
His first album was titled “Rincones” [Corners], and it was issued by Perro Andaluz in 2009. As of the time of writing this, Ismael is recording his second album.
I’d like to share a couple of live performances with you, along with the links to his MySpace and Facebook pages. The videos are for the songs “Todo Alguna Vez” [Everything Sometime] and “Río de Tambores” [River of Drums].
(English translation of an article originally posted on Cooltivarte.com)
Josefina Martino is a young singer/songwriter. She has studied guitar, singing and piano, and when she was 17 she fronted her first band, Mama’s Sound. With Mama’s Sound, she played a blend of rock and blues. She went solo in 2009, and by now she has played the wide and length of the Eastern coast of the country, and also many restaurants and venues in Montevideo.
In 2010, she traveled to Spain. She worked as a pianist and solo singer at the restaurant Café Casino in Santiago de Compostela, where she played some of her first compositions.
Back in Uruguay, Josefina became the pianist and singer of the restaurant “Rara Avis” (Centro cultural Teatro Solís). And now, she’s about to issue her first album, “Tiempos Libres” [Spare Times]. The album includes ten original compositions, and a Rolling Stones’ cover. It was recorded with Nacho Mateu as arranger and artistic producer, Federico Navarro on guitar, Gerónimo De León on drums, Herman Klang on keybards, Nicolás Arnicho on percussion and Camila Ferrari on backing vocals.
This album is characterized by a combination of pop and rock, and also of styles such as country and ballads. This clearly reflects Josefina’s musical journey, and all the styles she’s gone through in order to arrive at her very own.
Q: What can you tell us about your upcoming album? When will you present it to the public, and where?
A: My first album (“Tiempos Libres”) is the fruit of a collaboration I started with Nacho Mateu in 2010. It includes 10 original compositions (which have been arranged by Nacho Mateu), and a Rolling Stones’ cover. In all likelihood, the album will be presented to the public on the 8th and 9th of November, in Lindolfo.
Q: What are your expectations?
A: I hope my work can be spread as much as possible. I’d like to reach people with my songs. As with any other first album, the idea is to begin gaining visibility, and to elicit a response.
Q: Which song should we necessarily listen to, and why?
A: Well, it isn’t easy to pick just a single song. I obviously like some of them more than others, but I feel a special affection for each and every one of them. If I had to choose, then I’d go for “Flores” [Flowers] and “Correr” [Run], these are two songs that come to define the album, and they’re both very different. The former is a pop song with a little bit of country, and the latter is a ballad that’s rooted on milonga.
Q: How old were you when you began writing songs?
A: I became interested in music when I was 15. It was then that I started to learn guitar. At that time, I wrote the kind of song you write when you’re 15, and I sang them whenever I could. A couple of years later (and after having matured) I felt like writing songs again. I was about 20 then, I had a more defined personality. And I had a clearer set of goals. I wrote the first songs that would lead me to this album back there and then. Continue reading →
Escritos Circulares [Circular Writings] is a Spanish-language blog that covers art in all its manifestations. The contents of this blog are split evenly between music, literature and cinema, and new posts are published daily.
Although the blogger (Claudio, AKA “An Imaginary Boy”) is based on Argentina, Escritos Circulares deals with artists from all over the Spanish-speaking world. Some of the artists that have already been featured include Dënver (Chile), Todos Los Santos (Mexico), Scars (Colombia), Ferretría (Ecuador) and Mixti Fori (Uruguay). And that’s not counting all the Argentinean bands and artist that have been covered so far, such as La Mala Vida. Coming Soon, Adrián Juarez, Kill All Hipsters and Uma Totoro.
All posts come with pictures and videos, and you’re always told how to get in touch with the featured artists via Facebook and Twitter. (The Escritos Circulares fanpage itself is found here.)
The blog also includes a “Random Thoughts” section where you can read quotes that come from established artists and personalities, along with poems from authors such as Mario Benedetti. And every Friday, a new artist is specially highlighted on the section named “Recomendado del Viernes”. Plus, the “Artista Indie de la Semana” [Indie Artist of the Week] offers exactly what its name says. Oh, and an “English Section” is included, too. So far, it’s been the recipient of just a handful of posts, but give it time.
You are the one who creates the world you inhabit, and that world is going to be as peaceful as the eye through which you see it. The light that reigns in your reality comes from it, and it reaches everything as if it proceeded from a lighthouse that can cut to the very heart of the most hermetic of nights.
But in the same way that faith has got a diaphanous facet, it has also got a dark side that can thicken the world with demons, with fugitive shadows that can murk every new beginning and (eventually) envelop it in a terrible intentionality.
The frontier that separates one from the other is permeable, and what you see as radical can be deemed as insignificant by the person next t you.
And “Simplerio” moves along that mutable frontier, trying to elucidate what to believe in and what to leave alone. Issued by Perro Andaluz in 2011, “Simplerio” is the first studio album by Valentina Pecora, a young flute player that has been involved in music all her life. Her stage career started at age ten, and today she keeps a steady flow of live performances, at the same time she works as a flute teacher. Valentina wrote all the songs, designed the artwork of the album and she even produced it. Her main instrument is the transverse flute, but on “Simplerio” she also played several other flutes, guitars and many different types of percussion instruments. She was aided by Ney Peraza, Julia Melo, Gonzalo Reyes and Ernesto Díaz on guitars, Federico Pérez on bass, Rodrigo del Castillo on Peruvian cajón, Diego Revello on violin, Leo Giovannini on percussion and Guillermo del Castillo on bass and electric sitar. Led by Valentina, this ensemble created an album with a sonority of its own, and a very distinctive intellectual depth.
At its core, “Simplerio” (which could be translated into English as “the easiest of things”) tries to cast light on a series of questions that we all can relate to.
Where should we put our faith so that we can use it to build a new world, and not to destroy the one that’s already there? Where do we place our trust? How can we bring into being an “illusion that illuminates”? How do we close the distance that separates dialogues from reactions? How is the ritual of affection configured if (as it’s described on the lyrics) the way has got no handrails, and everything hangs precariously from a crane of crystal?
“Simplerio” poses all these questions, and it does so permanently, like a flood of thoughts that never relents. But even when the album has got such a thematic intensity, the overall mood is one of gentle caresses, not of heavy ruminations. Its songs are as sweet as the title of “Frutillas de Algodón” [Cotton Strawberries] suggests, and there’s no offhandedness on the lyrics, no matter how deep and thoughtful they are. Continue reading →
