fade into you

Over the last month, I owe all of my discoveries of new and not so new music to a pale little person from my hometown of Maracaibo, whose knowledge and open mind about personal stuff is amazing me by the minute. It is someone that's becoming to be very special to me.

Enough sappyness...

One of his best kept secrets, which i'm going to reveal just this once (sorry dear) is Mazzy Star, a dream pop outfit from Santa Monica, California, made up mainly by guitarrist David Roback and vocalist Hope Sandoval. My friend and I played a little game of making mixtapes for each other, showcasing one of our favourite artists. I chose the Supremes and went all intense by making an almost 70-track mixtape. Then this friend sent to me some songs of Mazzy Star and it was instant love. These are songs that aren't meant to be hard and sweaty, these are profound songs of longing, acceptance and adoration, evoking nostalgia, due to the heartfelt voice of Hope and the overall arrangements.

Since next weekend i'll be on a trip to Maracaibo, i'll be sure to make Mazzy Star a part of the soundtrack to it. Enjoy this one as well.

MP3: Mazzy Star - Fade Into You

poet

Last night I had the pleasure to enjoy a documentary on Patti Smith called "Dream of Life". God bless Patti Smith, really. I've written her off for so many years, mainly because she didn't sound like all my favorite artists. For that, I'm ashamed. But since life makes so many twists and turns, I was able to make up for all the lost time of not listening to her impressive work.

Recently I got a hold of most of her well known records (Horses, Radio Ethiopia, Easter and Wave) and now I can honestly say that I couldn't go through the day without listening to at least one song from Patti. She's rebellious, reflective, loving, revolutionary and artistic all at the same time. All of those facets are reflected on "Dream of Life", one doc I truly recommend. Apart from her runarounds with famous and fashionable people, she's a force to be reckon with, as far as I'm concerned.

"Life is an adventure of our own design, intercepted by fate and a series of lucky and unlucky accidents"

MP3: Patti Smith - Rock'N'Roll Nigger

the return of cool

I have been a fan of Roxy Music from not too long ago. Always acknowledged them but never really took them seriously until I found the "Best of Roxy Music" compilation and then I was hooked and got me their entire discography. They have a song for any situation: whether I feel like trashing the house, or feeling glamourous and sexy or feeling reflective about my life and actions, Roxy has been there.

They are currently in the works for a brand new tour next year, one which me and a zillion people are dying to attend and experience. In the meantime, we'll have to sit back, wait and enjoy Bryan Ferry's thirteen solo album, "Olympia", which hit stores just recently.

If there was ever an ingredient for Roxy's slick sound, is Ferry. He was born slick, that's why he ended up with supermodel Jerry Hall in the late 70s before Mick Jagger won her over. He's an elegant man in every way and it shows on every song he makes, and the 10-set "Olympia" is no exception. His voice sounds current and gets even more improvement with the help of the record's numerous contributors: Dave Stewart of Eurythmics, Flea, Groove Armada, Scissor Sisters, Nile Rodgers, David Gilmour and his old Roxy bandmates. And to top it off, Kate Moss graces the cover of the CD, talking about an all star colaboration.

This is a total must listen, if you are long running Roxy Music fans, or just curious ears who want to know what cool sounds like.

nothin' but a teengirl fantasy

Nick Weiss and Logan Takahashi seem to be two young americans who are just about to graduate and have a profound love for music. In reality, however, these are geniuses whose dark imagination travels them to the worlds of R&B, hip-hop, club music and even strange psychedelic nostalgia. Their sound is truly an unique trance-like experience where the body and the mind are forced to react to such explosion: they can be as tender or reflective as they want to be, but they can also turn the record upside down and create house bangers that will most likely to be the soundtrack to young girls (and boys) fantasies everywhere in the upcoming year.

MP3: Teengirl Fantasy - Cheaters

ps: please make sure to find their "7AM" EP, visit their official website and also follow them on Facebook and Myspace

how I learned to love blondie's debut

Many people I know tend to recognize Blondie from their most popular work, from 1978 onwards ("Heart Of Glass", "Call Me", "The Tide is High" and 1999's "Maria"). That's ok, but still a bit unfortunate 'cause deep in its core, Blondie was an underground punk rock band with modern and tropical influences. Four male musicians, masters at their work, fronted by one hot blonde (with really dark roots), whose voice evocated sassyness, anarchy, sensuality and even vulnerability.

All the greatness of Blondie's catalogue should be traced from their 1976 selftitled debut on Private Stock Records. It's quick and fast (only 33 minutes long), with some intervals of slow jazzy tropicalia ("Man Overboard") and love magic ("In the Flesh"). Nevermind the lyrics, they are infused with remaniscent of the past, longings, romantic challenges and just pure crazyness: words from songs like "Kung Fu-Girls", "X-Offender" or "The Attack of the Giant Ants" would make a great example on how mental but how genius Debbie Harry & co could be.

With such fun, it would be a no-brainer to place this album into my list of favorites, just close to "Parallel Lines" or "Eat to the Beat" but not far away from "Autoamerican" please.

MP3: Blondie - X-Offender

introducing my (dusty) record collection

Before my love for cassettes, CD's and mp3's, there is my love for vinil. There's something special about them, about the way the needle is set in the first track, the hiss and dust creating a unique sound. We don't expect high quality, we expect the essence, the rawness, the elaborated design of the sleeve, that's why vinils have a strong, special place in my music heart.

One of my favorites albums these days is Mark Ronson & The Buisness INTL's "Record Collection", and Tashen's "Extraordinary Records" is a must in my night table. Taking that into consideration, I've taking the chance of digging out some dirt and look out for my own record collection, one that's filled with spiderwebs but also holds a cute little spot in my closet. It's been curated by myself ever since I moved to Caracas, and has been nutered thanks to my constant trips to a urine-smelling bridge with old books for sale and of course, old records.



One of my proudest achievements would be discovering most of Donna Summer's original releases. I hardly knew her before that, I guess only the basics, but never the album-only songs, nor the layout of the gatefold designs. One fine day, I decided to buy em all, it costed me like 200 Bs. each, as cheap as it was possible, I didn't care, I had to have them. So far, they are my favorites among the 120+ discs in my collection

Some downsides to my rack? It might be the "poor" state of some of the LP's like Diana Ross & The Supremes' "Love Child". I had to buy it coz I love the Supremes, but this one is pretty shitty. The sleeve is deteriorated and so is the vinil itself, it wouldn't be possible to hear it without skipping and hissing. Other downsilde would be me preffering a Milli Vanilli album over some cool looking ones from Michael Jackson or other 12 inchers. God, really, Milli Vanilli? I mean, I do think they made good songs, but they are not worth passing by some MJ goods.

Anyhoo, I hope you've enjoyed this post, I sure will try to update regularly, since apologies are few far in between. Till then...
x

Mark Ronson & The Business INTL - "Record Collection" Feat. Simon Le Bon (of Duran Duran) and Wiley by Some Kind of Awesome