The Playlist Of The Week

Turn on you iPod, press "Shuffle Songs" and see what happens... 

"Bye-Ya", Thelonius Monk, Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane

Once again, Coltrane makes an appearance in the Playlist of the Week. The track begins with some hopping weird piano by Monk quickly joined by the drums and the brilliant sound of Coltrane. The rythm is ponctuated by different breaks then the sax takes of! Once again, I have trouble understanding the rhythmic of Monk but Coltrane's solo is pure and brilliant. The double bass and drum make a great job supporting it all. Monk seems to follow Coltrane and the mix of the two universe is unbelievable. Then that's the piano's turn. Once again, Monk plays a lot on silences and his solo is very complex. I've always had trouble with Monk's play but that one sounds haunted. We can even hear him humming while playing! The rhythmic section is ensuring a good work up till the sax comes back warm us up with the theme reprise. That's good jazz music folks.

"Transmission94 (Parts 1 & 2), Bonobo, Days To Come

Bonobo is a brilliant english DJ. His Days To Come is a magnificent soft electro music. I love the samples he uses and his sound. Here is a DJ that understands rythm and music. I've had the chance to see him perform once and no need to tell he was making some serious asses moving! This record is for me to be put aside great electro records of that kind that have had a commercial success such as Moby's Play or the You've Come A Long Way, Baby of Fatboy Slim. This is shaded electro music growing up, evolving. It seems almost orchastrated. 

"Vogliatemi Bene, Un Bene Piccolino", Maria Callas, Madame Butterfly

I have always been deeply mooved by Maria Callas' voice. She's way more than haunted and living the music she is singing. She IS the music, the caracter she is playing, the story she is telling. She had a power in her voice capable of mooving anybody: people knowing opera and people listening to opera for the first time. Her voice doesn't sound cliché as some other in the opera can. She feels true.That kind of music always makes me feel good. As if I was more awared that things go on, more relaxed about it...

"Growing Ocean", Fleet Foxes, Helplessness Blues

Here is a band I have recently discovered through their second record that came out few months ago. I've been struck by the maturity and talent of such a young band. They have known commercial and critical success without the help of a major label which make them even more interesting to me. This song as their album, is brilliant and beautiful. I can only invite you to listen to them more closely and read the review of their record here in french, soon in english : http://humeursurmusiquemoderne.blogspot.com/2011/05/fleet-foxes-helplessness-blues-ou.html .

"All I Want", Joni Mitchell, Blue

"All I Want" is one of my favourite Joni Mitchell songs. It opens her amazing Blue. As soon as she begins to sing, you are taken far away, in the warmest embrace ever, dazzled by the brightest smile and the most beautiful music. This album is pure gold. This song announces what comes next. You will find for instance people like David Crosby, Stephen Stills or Graham Nash taking part in the production of this record. There not much more to say... just to listen...

The Playlist Of The Weekend

Turn on your iPod, press "Shuffle Songs" and see what happens...

"Bahia", John Coltrane, Bahia
Coltrane is one of the greatest artists of all time. This track is a perfect example of his incredible sound at the saxophone. This is still tradiotional jazz in the sense he's not experimenting too much on this album and the structure of the song is quite common. But you can already hear some crazy stuff there. The sonorities are largely inspired by Eastern Arabic or African music. The rhythmic and this repetitive theme are wild and let room for more freedom in the solos. Trane's one is amazing and the piano goes on pretty well too. The double bass makes a weird solo with the bow just like on Blue Train but this Bahia was released a few time after that. The main attraction of this track remains the warm and bewitching sound of Coltrane... pure magic...

"Autumn Moon", Keziah Jones, Black Orpheus
This is one of the most beautiful and dark songs of Jones. He sings with two voices (one high and the other low) and both of them are just incredible... This is done perfectly and the biting acoustic guitar sound beautifully completes the voices. I've been lucky enough to see Keziah Jones live once and I can honestly say that even if I don't like all of his music (especially his studio works), this is one of the best live performances I've ever seen. He is a great artist with an incredibly powerful personality and this song will reach your soul and haunt it immediately. 

"Politix", Lone Catalysts
I don't know much about Hip-Hop. A friend showed me this band and I really love their sound and samples very often borrowed to some jazz tunes. This is some smart smooth Hip-Hop that will make you think. I really love their most known track "Renaissance". That one is good too. 

"The Passenger", Kings Of Convenience, Quiet is The New Loud
I've discovered this duet last year with "Ms Cold". They are two really good musicians both from Norway. I really love the way they are arranging the two guitars and voices on each song. They have some brilliant melodies as well. This one is not one of their bests though. Nevertheless, it is always nice to listen to them. One of them has also a brilliant band called The Whitest Boy Alive with some more groovy stuff, good stuff too. 

"Lonely Stranger", Eric Clapton, Unplugged
I've never really liked Clapton and his music. However, this Unplugged has been played all along my youth. I've always loved the sound of an acoustic guitar and I must admit the guy knows how to use one. He sings pretty well too but I've never really liked his songs in general. I don't find them extremely creative. I've also never like the fact that everyone called him "God" when Hendrix humiliated him once by playing with him on a stage before being famous. Clapton asked never to play at the same time as him after that... Hendrix is "God". 

The Shuffle Playlist Of The Week

Turn on your iPod, press “Shuffle Songs” and see what happens…

“Umfazi Omdala”, Johnny Clegg, Best Of Live at the Nelson Mandela Theatre

This is the typical African music played by “the white man”… the blackest of them though. Still sounds really good but a bit caricature of the black African songs but to be fair that’s what I like about this song: the fact that it doesn’t take itself seriously and assume that kind of burlesque aspect. The song is full of life and happiness. I really like the live version (that I haven’t found on youtube), less 80s like but still very kitschy. When the saxophone enters we have the feeling to listen the Cosby Show’s theme song or some TV show of that period. The voice arrangements are brilliant and the band is good and groovy. Good stuff…

“Don’t Stop ‘till You Get Enough” (Demo), Michael Jackson

To be fair, I’ve never really liked Michael Jackson’s sound. Sounds made up. The rhythm does move from the beginning till the end and it’s usually a loop so there ain’t no shades and everything sounds a bit alike. But on this demo version of “Don’t Stop ‘till You Get Enough”, recorded live, you get to hear what his music really sounds like and his voice as well and I have to admit it’s freaking amazing. This guy was really able to do everything he wanted with his voice. And the music sounds much better with that kind of live recording, much more human. This is really good.

“Ode To Billy Joe”, Bobby Gentry

This is a tube from the 60s. Quite cool and good. The singer’s voice is impressive. I like the weird rhythmic done with the guitar and the distant strings intervening here and there. Quiet and unusual song indeed…

“Not A Robot, But A Ghost”, Andrew Bird, Noble Beast

One of my favorite artists. This album is unbelievable. The song has been co-written by Andrew’s mad drummer Martin Dosh. His contribution is very audible since he’s the one responsible for the robotic weird rhythmic. The warm voice of Bird contrasts so well with the coldness of the rhythm here. The arrangements and recordings are amazing and endlessly delicate creating a very unusual atmosphere. This is music to listen to.

“Evidence”, Thelonious Monk, Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane

To be fair, that’s the first time I’m listening to that track. Coltrane seems to be at his best here. I’m less a fan of the weird stuff Monk does but still, this is brilliant jazz. As always, Coltrane’s sound enlightens the all track like a pure sunray. However the all track is hard to understand because of Monk’s play. Even his solo seems rambling and makes the whole track too experimental for me.