The story behind this podcast began last year, when I was planning a flight to the city of Guadalajara, Mexico to witness one of the most important music events of my lifetime: Björk’s only performance in Mexico, the verminous organizers named that festival Sonofilia in which also played Ratatat, MSTRKRFT, Jay Jay Johanson and Claude Von Stroke.

The odyssey to share with Björk, just a couple of hours was really an ordeal, at the end, through the poor organization and the fact that the “venue” was located on middle of nowhere, the episode culminated as one the most exciting and enjoyable experiences that I have ever had, Björk definitely enlightened the audience… but how is this event related with this podcast?, well, is difficult for me to confess that I’m a little nervous when I’m on a plane, so before I started my trip, I decided to make my flying experience truly comfortable by making a playlist for me in such a way that I would focus my attention entirely on the music instead than on the physics involved in the flight process.

The musical spectrum that I’ve selected here is relaxing but I think at the same time it’s bright and ethereal and, in some tracks, cacophony and abstraction prevails, in fact, I tried to design a concept through which the whole tracklist would reach, in some way, a complete journey of frequencies in order to let the listener enjoy those magnificent landscapes that the windows of an airplane may offer.

If you are going to fly somewhere this podcast could be your perfect companion on your flight, if you are scared to fly …and also if you’re not.

01 - Boards of Canada - Over The Horizon Radar
02 - Sidsel & Bugge - Out Here. In There
03 - Plaid - Ralome
04 - Yanokami - Owari No Kisetsu
05 - Rei Harakami - Come Here Go There
06 - Trentemøler - Snowflake
07 - Nils Petter Molvær - The Beginning (From The Film Edy)
08 - Hiroshi Watanabe - Sui-Sei
09 - Cornelius - Sleep Warm
10 - EKP - Leaving You Wondering

 

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Since such a long time I was planning to write a post about one of the most enigmatic voices of Latin America: Ymac Sumac. She was born on the 13th of September, 1922, in Peru. Apparently she was a direct descendant of Atahualpa, the the last emperor of the Incas. In her prolific singing career she had extensive achievements, including her performance at Carnegie Hall and other prominent efforts. I would suggest you to read her complete story or you can also watch this French documentary film and find out how her simple life was quickly turned into a worldwide phenomenon.

But this time we are going to focus on her uncommon voice, although she had no formal training, neither could she read musical notes, she was able to stagger her voice through 5 octaves, starting from a real low tone, almost like the tones on Barry White’s voice, up to high frecuency tones, just like a bird, in fact, in one interview she claimed that she learned to sing by trying to imitate the sounds made by birds, and certainly her voice, on some of her recordings, sounds like made by something other than a human, she was able of producing such tones, so clean and so deep, that today she continues being a mystical legend.

After listening to all the available Sumac recordings, I got very intrigued about those singers that exceed the standard of 80 Hz to 1100 Hz for men and women altogether that translated on a musical scale means from E2 to C6, this graphic will help you to identify the values between Hertz and a common piano scale, remember, one Hertz is equal to one vibration (one cycle) per second, therefhore for a regular singer it is really challenging to make so many vibrations per second.

According to the Guinness Book of Records these are the current records:

For Females:
Eight octaves, G2 to G10 (25,087 Hz), Georgia Brown, from Brazil. Picture this: how can she made a note so high producing an ultrasound, that she can’t even listen to? maybe she was trying to comunicate with dolphins or trying to see through complete darkness like a bat, anyway, you must watch this video of a TV presentation, some notes are so high and long that we could presume that there is a synthesizer sounding along.

For Males:
Greatest range: Six octaves, Tim Storms, from the USA, watch this video and discover why he is also an internet phenomenon.
and finally the highest male vocal note, a C#8 by Adam Lopez, from Australia.

Nowadays there are so many talented singers that they prefer singing for pleasure and to integrate their vocal spectrum on a fine made recording than competing for a silly world record, nevertheless we think that both options are just fantastic.

Rock is the term used to describe an extra wide category of music that has always been defined by energetic moods and appealing hooks. The genre is old enough to name one of its numerous divisions as Classic Rock, this subgroup may be one of the most eroded kind of music in recent history. A quite large but very limited playlist of songs ranging from the 60’s through the early 80’s can be heard over and over, leaving in obscurity some excellent cuts that sometimes are better than the A-list works by the same bands. Outside the Box tries to bring you some of these less known and underexposed gems inside these classic Rock’n'rollers catalogue.
Enjoy this issue!

Tracklist:

01 - The Mamas And The Papas - Once Was A Time I Thought
02 - Dire Straits - Water Of Love
03 - Blondie - The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game
04 - The Doors - Unhappy Girl
05 - Paul McCartney - Write Away
06 - The Rolling Stones - Heaven
07 - U2 - Sixty Seconds In Kingdom Come
08 - Van Halen - Big Bad Bill (Is Sweet William Now)
09 - Pink Floyd - San Tropez
10 - Elvis Presley - Fever
11 - Fleetwood Mac - Not That Funny
12 - Peter Gabriel - Intruder
13 - The Police - Contact
14 - Iron Butterfly - So-Lo
15 - The Kinks - I Gotta Move

 

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Last march we had an incredible amount of traffic in our site, in fact our servers were in the verge of bursting, Caffeine exceeded our expectations becoming the most downloaded podcast so far, we used our imagination to keep the files up. For this reason we had no time to create the April issue, but thanks for your support, we will not let you down and we will continue with our unstoppable research for outstanding music, to make this possible we will try to add some strength to our servers to endure the permanence of the files and to improve the download speed.

This unexpected success would never mean that we will get stucked in one musical genre and every podcasts will be in that same tone. And a proof of that is that are going to make a drastic change, we’ll jump from the stimulant effect that caused our energetic drink with Caffeine to the next issue that is closer to a relaxing tea. We named our new podcast Avant Bossa, maybe because it is a mix of languages that means the same thing: a new music trend.

I tried to figure out which tracks could represent a new wave, but, I found out that a new trend nowadays doesn’t necessarily mean electronic synthetizers or psychedelic remixes, the true enchantment of bossa nova is the sweet voice and the simple sound that the strings of an acoustic guitar make when they’re been plucked, in fact this genre is considered as a refined version of samba, de-emphasizing the percussive aspect of its rhythm and enriching the melodic and harmonic content, so any variation of the basic structure will loose the true essence of bossa nova and the intention of João Gilberto when he developed this particular style that grew and spread in such way that it created a new genre.

Our selection doesn’t include those popular compositions like the Girl from Ipanema or Desafinado, this selection is, as our repeated goal, a worldwide gamma of artists from Japan, France and obviously Brazil. I have selected these original tunes for the emotive and melancholic sensations that they cause on me, in particular Aeromoça, that song, even though it’s a happy tune, somehow mysteriously drives me to tears, I hope that you share the passion for this music that is on a constant fight to stay alive on an audience that apparently values more the power of volume than the tenderness and sophistication of bossa nova, maybe in a world oriented to the consumption we are loosing our ability to simply listen carefully.

01 - Intro
02 - Pecombo - Respire
03 - Akiko - Chega de Saudade
04 - Tom & Joyce - Un Regard, Un Sourire
05 - Katia B - One More Shot
06 - Les Nubians - Que Le Mot Soit Perle
07 - The Dining Rooms (featuring Rosalia De Souza) - Mais
08 - Nu Braz - Aeromoça
09 - Sabrina Malheiros - Terra De Ninguém (Nicola Conte Rework)
10 - Anvil FX - Sambinha Do Piscapunga
11 - Mosquitos - Boombox
12 - Democustico - Pira

 

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Our monthly podcast saga continues, our issue for March is Caffeine and it could be quite different from our previous podcasts, but I think that it’s intersting to find out great artists and offer you a huge range of genres, so this one is focused on dancefloors, is kind of our way of compiling tracks that you would listen on a crowded nightclub, in addition the tunes are mixed as a DJ set, so it is a great way to unceasingly wake you up or just make you dance furiously to get rid of your drowsiness.

I would specially like to thank Electro Premium Choice, which is a great French blog without whom I wouldn’t have been able to create this fantastic mix. Enjoy!!

Tracklist:

01 - DSL - Invaders (Djedjotronic Remix)
02 - Alex Gopher - Aurora (Riot In Belgium & Knightlife Remix)
03 - Etienne De Crécy - Punk
04 - AutoKratz - 1000 Things
05 - Yelle - A Cause Des Garçons (Tepr Remix)
06 - Digitalism - Jupiter Room
07 - MSTRKRFT - Street Justice
08 - Hostage - Gluttony (The Bloody Beetroots Remix)
09 - The Presets - My People
10 - Death From Above 1979 - Romantic Rights (The Phone Lovers Remix)
11 - Justice - Waters Of Nazareth
12 - Goose - Bring It On

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From a long time now I had this persistent idea of making a Tropical Music podcast, so I started creating a selection of tunes of Salsa, Merengue and all kinds of Latin rhytms and after listening to them like a thousand times, and obviosuly after an extensive research, I discover that the majority of my set consisted of artists from outside Latinamerica, therefore I decided to take advantage of this situation and name it Odisea Mundial Tropical which in English means Tropical World Odyssey, Enjoy.

P.S. As a Latinamerican it’s truly a shame that I can’t dance to these rythms, but maybe you can, do it please.

Tracklist:
01 - Esquivel - Esquivel Intro
(Mexico City, Mexico)
02 - S Tone Inc. - Con Mi Sombra
(Milan, Italy)
03 - George Shearing - Caravan
(London, UK)
04 - Orquesta De La Luz - Mambo De La Luz
(Tokyo, Japan)
05 - Quantic Soul Orchestra (featuring J-Live) - She Said What?
(Bogota, Colombia/Worcestershire, UK/New York, USA)
06 - Alex Wilson - Oh Kuri
(London, UK)
07 - EKP - El Salvador
(Stockholm, Sweden)
08 - Mo’ Horizons - Ai Mi Morena (Chocolate Restyle)
(Hannover, Germany)
09 - Ursula 1000 - Got Cha
(New York, USA)
10 - Beatfanatic - Cookin’ (Version)
(Stockholm, Sweden)
11 - Sidestepper - Hoy Tenemos (Boys From Brazil Remix)
(Barranquilla, El Choco, Cali & Medellin, Colombia/London, UK)
12 - Professor Angel Dust - Latino A Go Go
(Barcelona, Spain)
13 - Fania All Stars - Closing Theme
(New York, USA)

 

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On this occasion our La Suite 303’s Podcast episode is about the best songs of 2007 according to our personal perception and taste. The tracks are listed alphabetically since we don’t believe in numbering them as a countdown. You’ll find that two songs are missing from the podcast tracklist, this is because one of them was on our last podcast and the other will be very likely to appear in our next episode. Enjoy this issue! These songs are really great!

LaSuite 303 - Best Songs of the Year 2007:

23 by Blonde Redhead
(New York, USA)

A Rent Boy Goes Down by Apostle Of Hustle
(Toronto, Canada)

Amreik by Eluvium
(Portland, USA)

Atlas by Battles
(New York, USA)

D.A.N.C.E. by Justice
(Paris, France)

Fuzzworld by Lek
(New Jersey, USA)

Goodbye July/Margt Að Ugga by Hjaltalín
(Reykjavik, Iceland)

Guilty Rocks by Múm
(Reykjavik, Iceland)

Hope by Björk
(Reykjavik, Iceland)

La Tina by Ximena Sariñana
(Mexico City, Mexico)

Mad Monkey by Shitake Monkey
(New York, USA)

Melody Day by Caribou
(Dundas, Canada)

My Type Of Criminal by Elk City
(New York, USA)

None Shall Pass by Aesop Rock
(New York, USA)

The Perfect Me by Deerhoof
(San Francisco, USA)

She Said What? by The Quantic Soul Orchestra (featuring J-Live)
(Bogota, Colombia/Worcestershire, UK/New York, USA)

Stereo (Mono Mono) by The Brunettes
(Auckland, New Zealand)

Test by Little Dragon
(Gothenburg, Sweden)

Tiempo Pa Pensá by Mala Rodríguez (featuring Julieta Venegas)
(Jerez, Spain/Tijuana, Mexico)

Volver A Comenzar by Café Tacuba
(Ciudad Satélite, Mexico)

You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb (Altenative Version) by Spoon
(Austin, USA)

Young Folks by Peter, Björn & John (featuring Victoria Bergsman)
(Stockholm, Sweden)

01 - Intro
02 - Eluvium - Amreik
03 - Elk City - My Type Of Criminal
04 - Little Dragon - Test
05 - Mala Rodríguez (featuring Julieta Venegas) - Tiempo Pa Pensá
06 - Múm - Guilty Rocks
07 - Apostle Of Hustle - A Rent Boy Goes Down
08 - The Brunettes - Stereo (Mono Mono)
09 - Ximena Sariñana - La Tina
10 - Shitake Monkey - Mad Monkey
11 - Spoon - You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb (Altenative Version)
12 - Björk - Hope
13 - Café Tacuba - Volver A Comenzar
14 - Battles - Atlas
15 - Blonde Redhead - 23
16 - Deerhoof - The Perfect Me
17 - Caribou - Melody Day
18 - Aesop Rock - None Shall Pass
19 - Justice - D.A.N.C.E.
20 - Peter, Bjorn And John (featuring Victoria Bergsman) - Young Folks
21 - Lek - Fuzzworld

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The thing that I worship about James Di Salvio’s collective is the same thing that most critics crucify: A broad eclectic style, but that is just the key that unveils Di Salvio’s indisputable love for music. I rather listen to 20 Bran Van 3000’s albums in a row, than 3 by any other band with a “clearly defined style”, since I have always thought that listening to a same style for hours numbs your hearing and can produce brain fatigue, the tricky part is that, at BV3k’s current rate, 66 years must pass in order to produce 20 albums, but I wasn’t writing to lament on the low quantity but instead to focus on the high quality of their latest production: Rosé.

Their third album in a decade is a sonic collage that swings from tree to tree of genres with such a gracious method, nurturing mainly on reggae, hip-hop and electronic sounds but adding some guitar riffs, funk and the beautiful voice of co-producer Sara Johnston to the mix. The collectif montréalais use the same formula again and manage to deliver a carefully produced piece that came out on the last days of 2007 and was picked as our first selection this year.

I want to show you this amazing video on which the legend, Oscar Peterson (1925-2007) plays the piano in a magnificent way, it is just a excerpt of Peterson’s work, he was one of greatest and most prolific jazz musicians ever, in fact I’m convinced that he traced a whole new path for modern jazz.

With six decades of work and over 200 albums he left us a huge musical heritage, his best moments were as a supporting musician for singer Ella Fitzgerald, singer/trumpeter Louis Armstrong and trumpeter Roy Eldridge.

There is a vast list of facts from Peterson’s life, you might, as well, read his wikipedia entry.
Happy 2008 from LaSuite303.