Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta james. Mostrar todas las entradas
Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta james. Mostrar todas las entradas

jueves, 10 de diciembre de 2009

Minutos Musicales: Atlas Sound



Bradford James Cox

Este chaval de 27 años es el miembro único de Atlas Sound, y compatibiliza su labor en solitario con la de ser lider de la banda de Atlanta de nombre Deerhunter.

Nunca he prestado atención a Deerhunter porque su música no coincide con mi estilo (aunque con algo de reposo en el tiempo esto puede cambiar) y los discos de Atlas Sound no me han trasmitido lo que esperaba de ellos en una primera escucha.

Sin embargo, Bradford sabe como transmitir sencillez y emoción sin necesidad de subterfugios de colores en el escenario. Es un creador innato de atmósferas, que maneja de forma sutil a base de sonidos yuxtapuestos.

Capa tras capa y sin nada de presuntuosidad nos acaba conquistando. Convencen sus comentarios, su figura sin acabados artificiales, su presencia tan peculiar y unas ganas enormes de manifestarse que son fruto del esfuerzo personal y creativo de este gran artista.

Os dejo un par de muestras, más que suficientes para darse cuenta de la sutileza de las composiciones:





Y aquí os dejo parte de su historia personal, que hace entender aún más a un artista con un pasado y un futuro muy triste... dejemos este adjetivo para calificarlo.

"Cox was born in 1982 in Athens, Georgia with the genetic disorder Marfan syndrome. As a child he was sexually abused; as a teenager, he dropped out of high school (although later earned a GED) and his parents divorced, leaving him "to live in my childhood home alone. I literally lived in this large suburban house by myself." Cox has called his changing music taste growing up reflective of his life and mental state.

Around the age of ten, Cox's disorder began to affect his body in more visible ways; this is the point at which he "first started looking awkward." With no friends, Cox became interested in how music could sound "heartbreaking or nostalgic or melancholy"; he identified with the character Edward from the film Edward Scissorhands, and especially enjoyed the soundtrack, which was composed by Danny Elfman. Cox has characterized himself as a stoner while he was a teenager; here, his tastes shifted to music that was more "monotonous or hypnotic", such as the Stereolab album Transient Random-Noise Bursts with Announcements.

Around twenty years of age, his life situation brought about "a real druggy period", during which he became "only interested in this certain sort of suburban psychedelic pastoral thing. It was escapism. I didn't want as much emotional manipulation. It's kind of the opposite of Edward Scissorhands." As a professional musician, Cox says he makes "just enough [money] to get by." He considers himself "asexual", in that he has no desire to get married or start a family."

martes, 1 de abril de 2008

Minutos Musicales: Fleet Foxes

Estimados,
el disco que hoy os presento me tiene totalmente embelesado: Fleet Floxes
Desde que esta mañana comencé a escucharlo no me lo he podido quitar como banda sonora.

Ellos mismos se definen de la siguiente manera:

"We're a group of five from Seattle that sing for the fun of it and are into all kinds of music. We'd call this stuff baroque harmonic pop jams. Our names are Skye, Robin, Nicholas, Casey, and Christian. We'll make some mistakes along the way but we hope you enjoy our little family business. "

Os dejo un post del blog 'Flaming Milk' (http://flamingmilk.blogspot.com/) que me ha parecido interesante al respecto de este grupo y este disco.

"El martes pasado fue el lanzamiento de Sun Giant, EP del quinteto de Seattle Fleet Foxes y a los pocos días invadió la escena con una velocidad sin precedentes. Los blogs no paraban de hablar de ellos, así como tampoco sitios como Stereogum. Incluso los ultra-exigentes críticos de Pitchfork le dieron un alto 8.7 de calificación colocándolos en su sección de Best New Music. De la noche a la mañana, Fleet Foxes estaba en boca de todos.

Imaginen la sorpresa este fin de semana cuando empezaron los rumores de que su álbum debut, Ragged Wood, programado para el 3 de junio, ya había leakeado. De pronto la banda que nadie conocía (en serio nadie, los detalles de la banda son vagos; wikipedia afirma que existe un EP antes que Sun Giant, allmusic.com afirma lo contrario; hay debate en varias paginas sobre el título del disco ¿Ragged Wood u homónimo? Y bueno, nadie tiene idea si esa en verdad es la portada) empezó a sonar en iPods alrededor del mundo.

Y con justa razón, Ragged Wood continúa la promesa del EP: un sonido increíble y partricular que resulta una mezcla entre rock clásico, musica de iglesia y folk. La voz etérea del vocalista Robin Pecknold les recordará inmediatamente a Band of Horses, mientras que los arreglos folky probocarán recuerdos de My Morning Jacket. Pero la verdad es que el disco, de corazón, es puro breeze-pop, con un barniz sesentero que invita de inmediato a las comparaciones con The Mamas and the Papas o Simon & Garfunkel; y por supuesto a Brian Wilson y los Beach Boys.

El disco confirma el talento de la banda, que se encuentra a un grado de convertirse en uno de los grandes descubrimientos del 2008 a lado de Vampire Weekend. No dejen de darle una oportunidad (y de bajar de algún otro lado el EP también)."


"Fleet Foxes is a five-piece Seattle based band signed to the labels Sub Pop and Bella Union. The quintet describe their music as "baroque harmonic pop jams." On February 29, 2008, they received 8.7 out of 10 in a review by Pitchfork Media for their Sun Giant EP. Fleet Foxes began their spring tour with fellow Northwest band Blitzen Trapper on February 28, 2008."

Grupo: Fleet Floxes
Disco: Ragged Wood
Año: 2008
Web oficial: http://www.myspace.com/fleetfoxes
Canciones destacadas: Meadowlark, White Winter Hymnal, He Doesn´t Know Why, Oliver James, Your Protector y Tiger Mountain Peasant Song

jueves, 29 de noviembre de 2007

Minutos Musicales: Thurston Moore

Estimados,
hoy os ofrecemos a otro de esos artistas que debido a su creatividad se lanza a publicar temas nuevos en paralelo a grupos a los que pertenece y que tienen mucho más renombre que su carrera en solitario.

Este es el caso de Thurston Joseph Moore, lider del grupo Sonic Youth (cantante, compositor y guitarrista) que ha participado como solista colaborando con diversos grupos fuera de Sonic Youth e incluso se ha atrevido con la creación de un pequeño sello musical.

"In addition to his work with Sonic Youth, Moore has also released albums as a solo artist (one under the moniker David Adelmen), including 1995's Psychic Hearts. He and Gordon released a few songs as Mirror/Dash, a reference to their respective nicknames. ("Mirror" being an alliterative pun on "Moore," and "Dash" being a pun on Flash Gordon.)

Moore has collaborated with scores of musicians, including Lydia Lunch, DJ Spooky, William Hooker, Christian Marclay, Mike Watt, Loren Mazzacane Connors, Nels Cline, Cock E.S.P., Chris Corsano and My Cat is an Alien. Most of his solo/duo collaborations have been instrumental, and are generally improvised and/or noise based.

In the early 1990s, Moore formed the side band Dim Stars, featuring punk legend Richard Hell of the Voidoids. Moore performed solo on the side stage of the 1993 Lollapalooza tour.

In 1994, Moore teamed up with Greg Dulli of The Afghan Whigs, Don Fleming of Gumball, Mike Mills of R.E.M., and Dave Grohl of Nirvana/Foo Fighters, to form the Backbeat Band, which recorded the soundtrack album to the movie Backbeat. Additionally, Moore also contributed guitar work and backing vocals on "Crush With Eyeliner," which appeared on R.E.M.'s Monster LP.

Since 2004, Moore has recorded and performed with the all-star noise collective To Live and Shave in L.A., the lineup of which also features Andrew W.K.. He recorded with the band at Sonic Youth's former studio in Manhattan, and later performed with them at the George W. Bush "anti-inaugural" Noise Against Fascism concert in Washington, D.C., named in reference to S.Y.'s 1992 song "Youth Against Fascism." Moore curated the "Nightmare Before Christmas" weekend of the All Tomorrow's Parties music festival, in December 2006.

Moore directed the music video for Pavement's song "Here," from Slanted and Enchanted.

Moore is a member of director Jim Jarmusch's "secret club," The Sons Of Lee Marvin.

Moore also composed the score for the 2001 film Manic, which starred Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
On June 21, 2007, Moore revealed to Spin Magazine that he would be releasing a solo album titled Trees Outside The Academy. The album was recorded at J Mascis' studio in Amherst, Massachusetts. The album is made up of mostly acoustic material, it features Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley and violinist Samara Lubelski. The album also features collaborations between Mascis and Charalambides' Christina Carter, who performs a duet with Moore on the track, "Honest James." The album was released on September 18, 2007, on Moore's label Ecstatic Peace."


Grupo: Thurston Moore
Disco: Trees Outside The Academy
Año: 2007
Web oficial: http://www.sonicyouth.com/
Canciones destacadas: Fri/Emd, Honest James, Never Light y Wonderful Witches