polysics + new int'l
comrades! new polysics has arrived! we at international genre central cede power over this disc to alt-indie land....it appears to be getting CMJ 200 interest, which trumps the New World chart, best as I can tell....also, four add'l int'l discs, including a celtic rock/punk compilation, a disc you may have already seen at Starbucks, and two others that you didn't....Artist: Polysics
Title: Now is the Time!
Label: Tofu
Genre: alt-indie / techno-punk from Japan
Grade: A
They stole the show on every Japan for Sale compilation in memory, and now their fourth full-length release is out to fully stake claim to the obvious: Polysics rule the universe. Everything you liked about 70s-era Devo, brought to you by your friends in Tokyo. Essential.
Reviewer: bjorn “Q: Are We Not Men?” ingvoldstad
Artist: v / a
Title: Shite’n’Onions Volume 2: What the Shite
Label: Omnium
Genre: int’l / celtic punk in time for St Paddy’s
Grade: A- / B+
John Murphy has outdone himself yet again with this compilation. Vol. 2 has great artists like Blaggards (01), The Porters (19) and Larkin (08) mixed with some newcomers to us like Jug O Punch (07) and Warblefly (17). This 20-track disc is full of great high powered drinking tunes that will get you introduced to some of the artists that are making a buzz now on the international Celtic Rock & Punk music scene…
Reviewer: paddyrock.com
Artist: Sergio Mendes
Title: Timeless
Label: Concord / Hear Music
Genre: int’l / latin
Grade: B / B+
It's easy to think that since Santana made his big comeback using a lot of contemporary pop stars it would become the formula for the artists of yore to edge their way back into the limelight. Sergio Mendes, the best-selling Brazilian recording artist of all time, hasn't made a platter in eight years. He plays piano on a Black Eyed Peas track -- "Sexy" from Elephunk -- and the jam's a smash. Will.i.am of the Peas decides to hook up for a full-on collaboration with Mendes, because he's a huge fan. Being the hotshot producer of the moment, will.i.am recruited everyone from Q-Tip, Justin Timberlake, and John Legend to Jill Scott, Black Thought (the Roots), and Stevie Wonder (just to name a few) to sign on. Recorded in both Brazil and the House of Blues in Encino, the set revisits many Mendes and Brazilian songbook classics and reworks them in the modern beat-driven idiom. The end result is entertaining, if mixed—Timeless is a mixed bag, but it's not because of Mendes. His own playing and arranging is utterly elegant. As a producer, will.i.am means well and in general does a fine job -- though he is, as would be expected, a tad overzealous in working with one of his idols. ( 3 stars )
Reviewer: Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
Artist: Bombay Dub Orchestra
Title: Bombay Dub Orchestra
Label: Six Degrees
Genre: int’l / caravan electronica
Grade: B / B+
Bombay Dub Orchestra as a high concept is par for the Six Degrees course: two electronica dudes (in love with their hats—see sleeve photo) hook up w/ a four dozen-piece Indian orchestra! Amazingly enough, the results are tepid to mixed. My favorites on Disc One (“Bombay”) tend to be atmospheric instrumentals that wouldn’t sound out of place on Hearts of Space. Disc Two (“Dub”) is a bit more adventurous, but seems to just confuse the larger project. BDO apparently consider themselves punsters—“The Berber of Seville,” anyone? “Beauty and the East”—get it?! You betcha.
Reviewer: bjorn ingvoldstad
Artist: Oscar Castro-Neves
Title: All One
Label: Mack Avenue
Genre: int’l / Brazilian light jazz!
Grade: B
“Oscar Castro-Neves is a gifted Brazilian musician settled in the U.S. since 1966. (He made an) important contribution to the movement usually known as bossa nova…”
--All Music Guide
“All One is somewhere between the Caravan and that light jazz station you check out now and again as a guilty pleasure. Luciana Souza makes a welcomed guest appearance on “Morrer De Amor” (04) and “Não Me Diga Adeus” (06)…”
--Caravan Curmudgeon
Reviewer: bjorn ingvoldstad
posted by Anonymous @ 1:30:00 PM
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