ESL Web Site Redesign

So Thievery Corporation and ESL Music don't need any help with attention. But I just checked out their redesigned web site and love it. It really puts the ESL artists front and center, highlighting new releases and tour dates. Gotta help us see the artists we love.

In other news, posts have been slow b/c work has been extremely busy. Oh and my laptop blew up - literally. I'm sitting on my couch watching TV, writing some emails - and the computer goes ZZZZT! Geek Squad informs me an electrical malfuntion fried my processor and motherboard. Thank goodness my hard drive is okay, but like a schmuck, i didnt' back it up. So I'm not downloading any music until I get my new laptop -- Its painful.

Mika

Went to see Mika tonight at the Orpheum in Boston. Mika is a performance artist. He's a singer-song writer from Europe, very disco-pop and funk infused sound. very fun, very emotional. NOT CHILL. but inspires the same kind of feeling you might get from Sounds from the Ground or Thievery Corporation. Its organic in the sense that its such a natural feeling, and Mika's songs - about lovin' "big girls" and livin' life and not worryin about the love you long for, are so real and yet not tacky - fun songs that make sense, love songs that arent' so damn sappy.

Langerado Music Festival

Langerado Music Festival is 3 glorious days in the sun of South Florida's everglades from March 6-9.

Langerado features an eclectic variety of artists, including R.E.M., Beastie Boys, Phil Lesh & Friends, 311, Matisyahu, Ani DiFranco, Thievery Corporation, the Roots, and 80 additional acts.

I'd totally go to this but I probably can't unless I get free tickets, so I found a Sweepstakes that you can enter to win tickets. Glide Magazine is doing a promo, all you do is go to Glide's web site, click the title above, and enter the sweepstakes. I figure, why the hell not.

And if anyone is going to this, can I bum a ride?

Eno as Soundtrack

A few posts ago I brought up the idea of ambient and chill-out music as perfect movie and TV soundtracks. Film and shows often use the underappreciated mood music to set the tone of some scene or dialogue. I'm working on a video right now at work to convey a new philanthropy program to a client of mine, and the music is a major piece of what's making or breaking it. (In fact, in the storyboards i developed, I describe the ideal soundtrack as "ambient")

So skip to today, my buddy and I are driving home from a day snowboarding, and I put on the Trainspotting soundtrack. As Brian Eno's "Deep Blue Day" comes on, my friend immediately say, "oh!! this is from the scene where they get high on heroin for the first time!" The reason he remembered that scene? B/c of Eno's perfectly synced lullaby, a beautiful soundscape that makes you feel like you're floating, or high.

The Endorsement - Dancing

This weekend I danced, I found spots and events where i could dance to the downtempo breaks i love, and the house and techno that make me move.

Thursday night I started slow, going to Bar 10 in boston for a swanky warm-up: no dancing, just mingling and grooving to some euro-lounge for my friends birthday. Then to the Bee Hive in boston's south end. Very cool acid jazz spot where they don't really help you out unless you know what you're doing - where to stand, what to order, how to dress. Sounds pretentious, but it was not. Head downstairs to the cavernous bar and listen to live jazz with a cocktail, or get dinner reservations and spend an evening up close and personal with your date and the band.

Friday was when the real dancing began. Went to a live bossa nova show at Estate. I was expecting a pretentious Boston clubbing crowd, but was treated to a lovely, eclectic mix of people, art and music ranging from the promised bossa nova, to Brazilian drum & bass, and then to a beautiful mix of creative deep house - courtesy of my DJ friend, Enrique Florendo (www.deepboston.com) I danced all night and headed home exhausted.

Saturday was spent with Niressa, who introduced me to Underbar and the afterhours club Rise. This was truly a clubbing evening, mostly techno and house, and lots of water and Monster after the alcohol stopped flowing at 2. I hadn't stayed out so late in months, and i had a fantastic time, moving with the beats.

So it was an electronic, eclectic and electric weekend, of friends new and old, and me doing what i love and resolve to do more.

In Flight - Chilled Beats at 30,000 Feet

(My second album review for Properly Chilled - read it below or at the site www.properlychilled.com)

Water Music Records brings us another compilation to lounge and, well, fly to. "In Flight – Chilled Beats at 30,000" soothes flying nerves or stows away in your ears as the stewardess announces you've reached cruising altitude and portable electronic devices are now allowed. "In Flight's" elemental ambient and smooth jazz accompanies any journey, serving relaxing downtempo tracks from 25 international artists.

"In Flight's" two disks complement each other well. The first travels the world, as each ambient track charts a course from Paris to Rio to Rome and elsewhere. The second disk (previously released individually as "Sky Lounge: Chilled Beats at 30,000 Feet") is less a journey through countries as it is a more aggressive presentation of international approaches to nu-jazz and bossa nova.

Rivera Rotation's "Sundowner" opens disk one with elemental pianos and classical guitar which makes the red eye to Paris feel like a lazy jaunt down the French Riviera. Alas, we must leave France, and Sepia's "Last Tango in Paris" keeps us in the realm of dreamy pianos and wavy instrumentals but introduces a jazzy dance beat that allows you to shift between classical melodies and funky downbeat bass. Leaving Paris, Giacomo Bondi seamlessly transitions on "Crossing the Ocean to Rio." Waves, seagulls and elemental ambiance create a cliched, but wonderful image of sandy Rio beaches.

We continue our journey – to Rome, India and the Far East. Timax's latin-inspired acid jazz on "Flight Over Rio" reminds us that in some parts of the world, movement and culture are more important than power and influence. Mazachigno takes us on "The Last Flight to Rome," a beautiful and almost melancholy track with a piano that demands emotion. In India, Mykej's other-worldly sitar echoes over rolling drums on "Sitar in the Sky." Gongs and muffled snares end our journey in the Far East with Hikkadua's "Sunsets."

The second disk transitions to popping acid jazz on Yonderboi's "Pabadam" and De-Phazz's "Jazz Music." Thievery Corporation's "State of the Union" is the only real taste of bhangra-infused dub on "In Flight." "Glider Girl" from Easy Access Orchestra is a Studio 54 inspired orchestral remix of jazzy dancehall that shows the other side of "In Flight's" beats – though they are not as chilled as the first disk.

Water Music features many "In Flight" artists on other compilations, including "Jazz Lounge" series, "Spa Sessions" "Tantra Lounge" "Breakfast Club – Milan, London, Paris" "Café Del Sol" and the "Chill Out Lounge" series. After releasing dozens of successful compilations with familiar artists, Water Music continues to explore themes to deliver elemental and ambient listening experiences, whether in the air or on the ground.

Just Jack - Overtones

(This is my first album review for ProperlyChilled, published Dec. 27, 2007; click the title link or visit www.properlychilled.com to see it on the site)

Just Jack is a moody story teller who vaults from one emotional extreme to another, with a disco-pop trip-hop sound that makes his new release, Overtones, swell with glee, disappointment, and bliss from the lovely and shocking surprises of everyday life. Overtones, Just Jack's second full-length album, is a collection of short stories sung to a soundtrack of underground British trip-hop, dub, disco, and folksy acoustic pop.

North London singer-songwriter Jack Allsopp is Just Jack. Taking root in hip-hop and house, Jack DJ'd for many years until he took his writing passion into his own hand, creating a sound that features his hip-hop DJ skills, English crooning, and acoustic guitars, among other live instruments. Two albums later, RGRecords (of Britain) has incubated Just Jack from house DJ to dance-hall storyteller. Now, his style can be heard here in the U.S. thanks to TVT records.

Overtones' tracks could very well be anecdotes from our own lives. We can dance or lounge to all of them and find inspiration and lessons in the lyrics. The tracks listen well as singles, depending on your mood, but fit together extremely well as an album.

On "Glory Days," Jack introduces his life philosophy on downtempo and fun-loving funk. The lyrics compare Jack's bliss to that of a dog digging up dinosaur bones. The music is inspirational, like many of Overtones's tracks, and might be too strong of an attempt to ride Cloud 9 for some. But, you can't help but grin at Jack's stories and proclamations: "I'm feelin groovy/ Kicking down the cobble stones / And there is music in every sight and every sound/ No need for headphones/ I'll tip my cap to the world/ Even though I don't wear one."

This "no worries" vibe is juxtaposed with wandering Alice in Wonderland jangles and horns on "Lost." This tune tells the story of a lost yuppie who stumbled into a superficial labyrinth. The track is reminiscent of a down-on-his-luck piano man, belting his story in a seedy jazz club with a cigarette burning his lips and a stained collar turned up underneath unshaven jowls. A sad upright bass and electric guitar provide slow jam riffs underneath his woeful tale. His eyes glaze over and we hear "It's been ages since he slept/ Properly, his sleeps now broken by these dreams of extra-marital activity/ Trying to recapture the rapture that he used to get from his material possessions/ And endless retail therapy sessions."

"Symphony of Sirens" and "Disco Friends" are other care-free tracks about people loving, bickering, and enjoying life one song at a time. "No Time" and the underground hit "Starz in their Eyes" remind us of exes and pop-culture misfits whose dreams are crushed by the same Hollywood moguls who made the Beckhams and exploit the Britneys. And "Life Stories" is an ode to YOU – "Forget me, this is all about you/ we're just a siphon the sounds come through."

Throughout the album, the music perfectly matches the mood and tone of the lyrics. Overtones is equal parts "Glory Days" and "Lost." Each song is a keenly observant tale of the mysterious mix of life's challenges and joys. If you are willing to ebb and flow with the emotions and melodies, you'll get a fantastic mix of beautiful, chilled trip-hop and dance-hall disco-pop.

~ Erik Dawson

[On the enhanced CD version you'll find videos for "Starz in Their Eyes", "Writer's Block" and "Glory Days"]