Groovy new discs from vacation

Usually I get to get up north to the Boston area, but this year things are really difficult. I have to settle with a recent (and wonderful) trip to Columbus. The Easton Center has a decent Barnes and Noble with a Best Buy close by as well. It isn't Newbury Comics I know, but sometimes ya just gotta take what you can get.


Perez Prado-Cuban Originals
There's no other way to say this: Perez Prado is a god. You faux-jaded hipsters may not even know who this cat was, but he was the charismatic cat of mambo. Some called him the King of Mambo, when in the mid-'50s he conquered America with Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White. Back when I was learning about this music, a fellow bandmate gave me a vinyl copy of one of Prado's records. That was it. It took a while to sink in, but when it did, it was like a time bomb. Wild, wild, enthusiastic arrangements played with tight discipline and the ever present grunting Prado throughout these dancey mambos. Mambo forever!

Dzihan and Kamien (Gee-hahn and kammy-en): Gran Riserva. Just when I thought that I could not get enthused about contempoary music, I discovered these guys. Actually it was Six Degrees, their label, that made me pick up their last one, Freaks and Icons, a year ago. This CD has a cut called Drophere that is a must. What do you call it? Downtempo? Lounge music for the 21st Century? How about: Electro-lounge? Hell. This is just great stuff. No need for names. I wouldn't get credit for any innovative tag anyway.

Magnetic Fields- i
There is something about Stephin Merrit's voice. There's a rawness that I really like. I first heard a cut by the Magnetic Fields on a Nonesuch sampler and I was hooked. This is a total contrast to all the hyperelectronic production and sound manipulation you might hear on my show, so why do I dig it? Good, honest songwriting I suppose.

From the website:http://www.houseoftomorrow.com/tmf.php
The Magnetic Fields are the music of songwriter- producer-instrumentalist Stephin Merritt, who lives and records in New York City. Adept at computer music programming and production, Merritt records his own albums and plays almost everything on them with help from cellist Sam Davol, banjo player/second guitarist John Woo, and percussionist/pianist Claudia Gonson.

Bought the new Tosca. This duo of Huber and Dorfmeister take great care with their music and even with the packaging of their Cds. What is the cover made of? Naugahyde? Smart writing, smart producing and great grooves uusally evolving from the bass guitar up. It makes these EMO turd bands look like the true posers they are. Why isn't this on every FM station in the country?

Well...we all know the reason for that.

Enjoy it kids.


-eclectic guy