Posted: November 18th, 2009 | Author: Brian | Filed under: Chicago, Electro | Tags: BURNS, Chicago, congress theatre, dance, Deadmau5, Electro, Fred Falke, free mp3, house, Matthew Dear, techno | 1 Comment »
BURNS photo courtesy of TheCultreOfMe.com
BURNS PLAYS THE CONGRESS THEATER THIS FRIDAY 11/20.
In the club world, getting your song remixed by Fred Falke is the equivalent of Jesus himself descending on your warehouse party and licking your eyeball in appreciation of good electro.
Such is the honor bestowed on BURNS, who’s track “First Move” off of the Tecknique EP, received the Falke-First-Ask-Questions-Later treatment earlier this year. BURNS is doubly-blessed by touring with Deadmau5, whose reputation for killer beats was substantial enough to draw Lollapaloozers away from Sunday night headliners this year to the consistently impressive DJ Tent.
But BURNS himself is no Extenze — that is, all hype with questionable results — he has a killer feel for club music. He deftly swaps genres with a turgid middle-finger to dance label snobs. “Tecknique” starts the EP with loops you’d expect from a Matthew Dear track, while the bass and obligatory femme vocal sample fit it squarely in modern House. Two tracks later “In My Eyes” illuminates its thumps with enough funky clips and cuts that make you think he threw his turntables out the window and bought a laptop… because he wanted to make something real.
MP3: “Teknique” - BURNS
MP3: “First Move” - BURNS (Fred Falke Remix)
Posted: October 28th, 2009 | Author: Brian | Filed under: Folk, Superficial Music Project, arts | Tags: Argentina, Argentinean, contralto, free mp3, la negra, Latin America, Mercedes Sosa, nueva trova, spanish music, superficiality | No Comments »
We Can Tell How Good A Band Is Without Listening to Them!
Probably not. But we’re going to try. Last Friday we blindly chose a band off of Last.FM’s “Hype List”. We will now judge (from 1 to 10) how good a band is based soley on their name and photo. After harsh (empty) judgment, today we’ll actually listen to their music to see how wrong/right we were.
(Joining us is L.A.-via-Milwaukee’s Adam Lovinus )
The Band We Are Judging Today:
Mercedes Sosa
And now… the moment of truth… feast your ears on THIS! (Last.Fm, MySpace)…
MP3: Mercedes Sosa - Sabiendose de los Descalzos care of food & music blog Muscial Pairings.
Brian: Well shit, now this experiment has made me feel like a fat, conceited American-centric jerk for not knowing what she’s saying, or who the hell she is. (Listening to “Mi Cajita de Music”). Very nice… a lovely slightly-hefty voice. Definitely 60s era folksy latin classical acoustic. I very much enjoyed those tracks, though, I won’t be guilted into giving her a 10 because I know nothing about the Argentinian Folk Tradition, or what the hell she’s saying. Final Rating: 8 (Previous Superficial Rating: 7)
Lille: I knew this had something to do with my grandmother. It’s exactly the kind of music I’d hear in her souped-up Lincoln. At first I wasn’t incredibly impressed by her songs, but I started listening to her whole catalog, and for some reason she reminds me of Leonard Cohen, but Argentinian and female. It’s perfect early morning listening; it transports me to a place that’s foreign, sad and beautiful at the same time. I googled her after listening to a couple of songs and found out she just died. I am humbled by the fact that Mercedes Sosa is not, in fact, a drain cleaner. And while I have an excuse not to like world music (I’m ethnic, give me a break), I think I would like to put this on my iPod in a playlist with the Buena Vista Social Club (heh). (Superficial Rating: n/a)
Adam: Indeed, she sounds as authentic as she looks. She’s NPR World Cafe all the way. The fine Spanish guitar work scores high on my nerd index. But it’s nothing I haven’t heard before, and it’s hard for me to get too excited about traditional music. As an unapologetic American, I can’t fully appreciate anything sung in a foreign language that’s not produced by Ry Cooder. My rating remains an 8. (Previous Superficial Rating: 
And there you have it. We were relatively on-the-mark with this one. Tune in soon when we take on a much more terribly named artist. Oh, and if you’re curious (via Last.fm):
Mercedes Sosa (born 9 July 1935, died 3 October 2009 in Buenos Aires) was an Argentinean singer inmensely popular throughout Latin America. With her roots in argentinean folk music, she became one of the preeminent exponents of nueva trova (new song). Sosa is greatly admired for the depth and beauty of her contralto voice. She is nicknamed “La Negra” by her fans for her long, jet-black hair.