Minutos Musicales: Ben Weaver

Estimados,
mucho se ha dicho y escrito de este compositor con lo que prefiero no ser yo el que se haga el listo dando lecciones.

Lo que sí puedo comentar es que os vais a encontrar a un cantante de Minnesota que transmite delicadeza y ternura en unas canciones tranquilas y con un claro tinte de Americana. Me encantaría verle en el Auditorio del Primavera Sound el año que viene... veremos a ver si alguien recoge el guante.

"Ben Weaver nos lleva hacia las raices contry-folk a através de la tecnología. Despliegue de organos, sintetizadores, violonchelos, trompetas, banjos y multitud de pequeños y sutiles efectos para conseguir un acercamiento al blues más amargo.

Entre sus influencias Steve Earle y como no, Tom Waits; su voz grave y profunda y el resultado, uno de los mas destacados discos del rock alternativa norteamericano junto al The Devastations."

"Country-rooted Americana full of weary determination and aphoristic clarity." Jon Pareles, NEW YORK TIMES

“Not the kind of thing to play on a sunny Sunday morning, but it may be the best thing for a spooky Saturday night. Weaver pulls it off... out on the edge.” Bill Flanagan, CBS Sunday Morning

"like a hillbilly Leonard Cohen." - Sylvie Simmons, MOJO

musical postcards that recall a rural Tom Waits, or Greg Brown in his dark, bluesy moments. Hes like that spooky old guy who lives in a trailer but tells amazing stories. - Kieth Goetzman, UTNE

"...his raw, art-damaged vocal screeds are riveting, invigorating, illuminating." - Jim Musser, NO DEPRESSION

"Weaver's voice - which makes Lee Marvin sound like Aled Jones - lends biblical portent to the most mundane detail. A one-man Brothers Grimm with no happy endings. Enjoy." - UNCUT"

Grupo: Ben Weaver
Disco: Paper Sky
Año: 2007
Web oficial: http://www.benweaver.net/ y http://www.myspace.com/benweavermusic
Canciones destacadas: Plastic Bag, In November, Like a Vine After the Sun, Sorrow y Whatever You Want to Haunt You

Minutos Musicales: Stars

Estimados,
hoy llega hasta vuestros oidos una banda canadiense formada por Torquil Campbell (vocalista) y Chis Seligman (teclados). Actualmente están ubicados en Montreal aunque sus pasos empezaron en Toronto, luego en New York y finalmente recalaron en Montreal.

Su música ha sido catalogada como "beautiful, eloquent indie pop". Su sonido ha evolucionado de un pop-electrónico como el ofrecido en su primer album (Nightsongs) a una instrumentación más rockera en sus dos últimos albums, la cual se refleja en la incorporación del cantante y guitarra Amy Millan y el bajo Evan Cranley así como de Pat McGee en el disco "Set Yourself On Fire" (una auténtica obra maestra y referencia absoluta para un dj que se precie).

"The band's breakthrough single was "Ageless Beauty", from their 2004 album Set Yourself on Fire. Millan, Cranley and Campbell are also members of the indie band Broken Social Scene, with whom they currently share a record label, Arts & Crafts. Campbell is also an actor and has appeared on the television shows Sex and the City and Law & Order. Millan released a solo album in 2006. Several of the band's songs, such as "The Vanishing", "Your Ex-Lover Is Dead", and "The Big Fight", have appeared on the Fox Network's The O.C. and CTV's Degrassi: The Next Generation. Their single "Ageless Beauty" was also featured in a promotional trailer for Vh1's So NoTORIous.

On their website, the band has noted that their name was chosen without prior knowledge of the short-lived project by Syd Barrett. They have cited a wide variety of musical likes and influences ranging from Berlioz to Outkast, citing among others Barrett, Paddy McAloon, New Order, The Smiths, Brian Wilson, Momus, and Broken Social Scene. They covered The Smiths' "This Charming Man" on 2001's Nightsongs and The Pogues' "Fairytale of New York" in 2005. Other indie artists have been guest collaborators on many of their tracks, especially for an early period including the release of their first LP.

They recently surprised their fans by releasing their latest studio album (In Our Bedroom After the War), on July 10, 2007, a full two months ahead of its expected release date, onto iTunes. When Stars released In Our Bedroom After the War to online retailers weeks before the CD's actual release date to circumvent the album's inevitable leak, part of their reasoning touched on the increasingly blurry line between critics and listeners. The band believed indie-rock fans should be able to review and provide opinions of the band's albums similar in a way to the so-called critics, but soon realized that the outcome could be very far from their ideal expectation. Soon after the music site Pitchfork Media gave the new album a 7.4 out of 10, Torquil Campbell offered up a rant that not only tore into the music site and the reviewer but lamented the death of art and criticism, which as a result prompted much scoffing from some critics and bloggers, as well as approval from others. The band contributed a T-shirt design to the Yellow Bird Project. to raise money for Le Chainon, a women's shelter located in Montreal, Quebec."

Grupo: Stars
Disco: In Our Bedroom After The War
Año: 2007
Web oficial: http://www.arts-crafts.ca/stars/
Canciones destacadas: Midnight Coward, Take Me To The Riot y The Night Starts Here