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The Matthew Herbert Big Band

There's me and There's you

(2008)

Acabar um dia e receber uma noticia como esta é, certamente, um belo final de dia. Sou fan do Herbert, não é segredo e então deste projecto The Matthew Herbert Big Band sou o que se chamaria um maníaco.

Portanto acho que soarei um pouco suspeito quando digo que este novo album "There's me and there's you" é seguramente o mais sedutor, o mais sofisticado mas também o mais subversivo conjunto de canções de protesto que já ouvi em um mesmo album.Como escrevi atrás, pode até soar suspeito, mas é mesmo isto o que me apetece escrever.

A mistura de instrumentalizações jazzisticas, vozes carregadas de soul, ritmos perfeitamente fascinantes e um arsenal de samples reunidos, seguramente, da arca mais secreta, marcam de forma genial esta segunda colaboração do Matthew Herbert com a sua Big Band.

Texto da editora:

An electronic innovator, sonic explorer and prolific collaborator, Herbert has released a huge catalogue of critically acclaimed music under his own name as well as Doctor Rockit, Wishmountain, Radio Boy and others. He has also produced and remixed artists as diverse as Björk, REM, Quincy Jones, John Cale, Yoko Ono, Dizzee Racal and Roisin Murphy, as well as working with highly regarded original thinkers such as the chef Heston Blumenthal and playwright Caryl Churchill. However, There’s Me and There's You marks a new chapter in his career as it is Herbert's debut recording with revered and versatile London-based artist Eska whose vast array of past collaborators includes David Sylvian, Lewis Taylor, Anthony Tidd and Afrobeat legend Tony Allen.

Herbert’s albums always closely interweave medium with message, surface beauty with political subtext. Effortlessly wrapping deluxe avant-jazz arrangements around polemical lyrics and artfully selected noises, this album’s dominant theme is power and it’s abuses in the 21st century. Recurring motifs include the war in Iraq, the power of monarchy, religion, media, wealth inequalities, state-sponsored torture, the hypocrisy of climate change politics and the evils of rampant consumerism. 

For example, the album contains a memorial to the victims of the Iraq war in “One Life,” which samples the incubator system which kept Herbert’s prematurely born son alive. Each beep represents 100 people killed in Iraq, from the start of the war in 2003 to October 2006. The disturbingly beautiful collage track "Nonsound" is made of ambient recordings from Palestine, including the sound of protestors being shot against the wall that divides the territories. He wanted to record both the favourite and most hated sounds of ordinary Palestinians, and this is what was sent back.

Additional samples include the sound of 70 condoms being scraped along the floor of the British Museum, a match being struck in the Houses of Parliament, one of a 100 nails being hammered into a coffin, vocals recorded at a Kent landfill site, a Kensington branch of McDonalds, a “stop and search” document issued under the Prevention of Terrorism act, 100 credit cards being cut up and 70 people blowing over water bottles, shaking US election badges and squirting bottles of Britney Spears' "Curious" perfume in the grand entrance hall of the British Museum. This is an album, in many senses, of extraordinary renditions.

There’s Me and There’s You is full of playful melodies and deceptively joyous music paired with dark and angry themes. Throughout, Herbert’s message is deadly serious, but ultimately a hugely optimistic statement of people power. In the months ahead, Herbert plans to tour the album with an 18-piece orchestra, taking his Trojan Horse of sophisticated subversion directly to the people. This is democracy in action, a musical resistance movement, speaking truth to power in defiantly hopeful ways.


Artista:The Matthew Herbert Big Band
Album:There's Me and There's You
Data de lançamento :28-10-08
Editora:!K7
Genero:Jazz, swing, orquestral, lo-fi, soul 

Faixas:
01. The Story (6:25)
02. Pontificate (2:54)
03. Waiting (5:37)
04. The Yesness (4:49)
05. Battery (6:14)
06. Regina (5:35)
07. The Rich Man's Prayer (4:05)
08. Breathe (7:28)
09. Knowing (2:07)
10. Nonsound (3:14)
11. One Life (5:33)
12. Just Swing (5:30)

Ligação para pré-escuta:

Estado Sonoro

Pass: estadosonoro

Para comprar:

Amazon

Até já.

Banda sonora para o final de um dia estafante

Part-time Heroes - Meanwhile... (2008)

Este vai ser dificil de catalogar, mas já conto com duas audições e garanto que não apetece parar de ouvir. Perfeito para o final da tarde de um daqueles dias ou talvez para um domingo de manhã após uma noitada á antiga.

Artista:Part-time Heroes
Album:Meanwhile...
Data de lançamento :01/09/08
Editora:Dusty Groove America
Genero:downtempo, jazz
 
Faixas:

1. Intro 
2. Ready For Change feat. Pete Simpson 
3. Shadowlands feat. Liane Carroll 
4. Realise feat. Jono McCleery 
5. Stop, Fade, Blur feat. Laura Vane 
6. Angels Fly feat. Jono McCleery
7. Sun Will Shine feat. Bridgette Amofah 
8. What's The Noise? Pt ii / What It Could Be feat. Liane Carroll 
9. Method (Don't Say Goodbye) feat. Bridgette Amofah
10. Distance 
11. In My Soul feat. Laura Vane

Texto editora:

Sometime in the early 21st century, deep in the leafy suburbs of downtown Southampton, a mild mannered part-time shop assistant and unassuming sandwich delivery-boy were hatching a plan to rescue quality soulful music from almost certain oblivion. 
Ross Wakefield and Toby Vane (as they’re known to the taxman) harnessed their shared influences, ranging from Public Enemy and Joe Cocker to Elbow and Nick Drake, and began to create their own unique supersonic sound. They invited selected friends and musicians to bring more of a live element to their recordings, including newcomers Jono McCleery (Music Weeks ‘Best Unsigned Act of 2005’), Lucy Kitchen, Bridgette Amofah (Oi Va Voi), Pete Simpson (Elektrons), BBC Jazz award winner and Ronnie Scotts’ fave Liane Carroll (London Elektricity) and Laura Vane (MJ Cole, Hardkandy). 
2006 saw the duo release their debut recording, the ‘Realise’ EP, earning them global critical acclaim, and radio rotation from Zane Lowe, Mr Scruff, Ras Kwame, and Benji B, amongst others. Indeed, Gilles Peterson became the duo’s number one champion, inviting them to record a live session at Maida Vale Studios. By the end of the year the Heroes had landed themselves two nominations at the BBC Worldwide Awards and things were starting to hot up! 
Having turned out well received remixes for a plethora of artists, including Wallis Bird and N’Dambi, and having delivered some more dance floor focused cuts (under their PTH Projects guise) for Wah Wah 45s, the time had now come to unleash the debut LP – “Meanwhile…”. 
The Part-Time Heroes’ sound has often been compared to scene defining stalwarts like Koop, Zero 7 and Portishead, and “Meanwhile….” continues that legacy, pushing forward with a uniquely refreshingly, wholesome and honest style, complete with live instrumentation, deep jazz roots, folky flourishes and organic, soul nourishing goodness. 
The Heroes will be touring the album with their full live band throughout the latter half of 2008 and into ’09, following up road blocked gigs at The Jazz Café & Pigalle Club with a number of festivals over the summer and a huge album launch at Cargo on September 12th. Shop assistant and delivery boy RIP, these boys are on a mission, and won’t stop until their work is done.

Da página do projecto:

The first full album from Part Time Heroes -- a group who've done some remixes and singles over the past few years, but who really step forward strongly with this set! There's a depth here we never would have guessed from their clever cuts before -- a fuller, richer sound that draws from jazzy roots, but also inflects them with some soundtrack-like influences too -- putting things together in a careful blend of acoustic instrumentation and electric elements -- often with a warm feel that's strongly soulful. Keyboards really shine on the set -- there's a lot of Rhodes here -- but there's also work on trumpet, flute, and tenor that stands out too -- not used in straight jazz ways, but to inflect some organic colors on the tunes. Vocals are by Laura Vane, Jono McCleery, Liane Carroll, and Bridgette Amofah -- but a few of the tracks are instrumental too. Titles include "Stop Fade Blur", "Realise", "Shadowlands", "Sun Will Shine", "Method", "What's The Noise/What It Could Be", "In My Soul", and "Angels Fly". 
© 1996-2008, Dusty Groove America, Inc.

Ligação para pré-escuta:

Estado Sonoro

Para comprar:

Traxsource

Até já.