W♥M

Costanza

 07/06/2008 16:42:30  ♥ written by vu ()

Costanza - Silence Costanza Tour Dates 07/13/08 Eboli (Salerno/Naples), Italy 07/18/08 Arezzo Wave - Livorno, Italy 08/09/08 Carpi/Modena, Italy 08/29/08 Burning Man - Black Rock City, Nevada Discography [2003] Tricky: Vulnernable [2006] zerOKilled [2008] Sonic Diary See Also Portishead http://weheartmus... Portishead, the band that helped pioneer trip-hop, is back with their new studio album, Third, d...

Costanza Francavilla, or simply known as Costanza is an Italian singer, has a full length album out on July 8^th called Sonic Diary. After putting the album in to listen, I instantly think of electronica and trip hop, but with a dreampop quality, as her singing style is often breathy, sexy, and deamlike.

Looking at the very impressive/see-through press material, it looks like her music's been licensed out to a variety of television shows (CSI, L Word) and movies (.45, starring everyone's favorite Milla Jovovich). It doesn't surprise me, as this type of electronica music (think Moby) works well as background music.

However, I think the one thing people might know her from is her collaboration with British electronic artist, Tricky (and, sure, you might know him from another Jovovich film, The Fifth Element).

Apparently, Costanza who was a fan at one of his show gave Tricky's drummer a three-track demo CD and that was passed onto Tricky, who absolutely loved it. So all the songs on his Vulnerable album in 2003 featured Costanza's vocals with two songs co-written by her ("Stay" and "What is Wrong").

Tricky - Dear God

VS

XTC - Dear God

One of the most bizarre and interesting song from their collaboration is their cover of XTC's "Dear God". I wouldn't go so far as to pronounce their version equal or better than the original grand epic song in three and a half minutes, but I will have to admit that it's "different". I think if I didn't know about XTC, I would really love Tricky and Costanza's version. (Side note: their cover of The Cure's "Love Cats" is better).

Now, if you thought "Dear God" was weird, the very original electronica take on Fugazi's "Promises" and Johnny Cash's "God's Gonna Cut You Down" must be heard to be believed. The way she sings "promises are shit", with her Italian accent, it doesn't sound bad or naughty at all.

Other songs I thought were interesting is the opening song, "Just Another Alien". Not so much a song, but a series of questions that she was probably asked when she was applying to live and work in the USA. The Italian song, "I Tuoi Occhi Sono Pieni Di Sale" (featuring Riccardo Sinigallia) was also interesting, it made me want to learn Italian. I did use babelfish and it tells me that the title translate to something like "Your Eyes Are Full Of [knowledge?]", so I'm assuming it's a personal/love song?

The one song that I think everyone will really enjoy is "Silence". This is such a dreamtronica song, full of child-like and innocent singing on a very lush music background. I feel like the song belongs to a soundtrack to a movie.

Fans of electronica lounge music, made famous by such compilations such as OM: Chilled and Lounge Experience series, should really enjoy this. These songs are perfect for either laying around the house or at a small party, really good for any occasion.

It looks like she'll be playing a few dates in Italy with Marco Messina. If you aren't lucky enough to live in Italy, her album Sonic Diary is out this Tuesday. For convience, you can actually get high quality MP3 from Amazon right now.

PS, Usually we just have one or two releases on Tuesday that I need to do coverage on. So I normally check on Sunday and work on the review that very day or, at the latest, on that Tuesday. I thought I was sitting pretty as I've already taken care of two releases already that was meant for July 7^th (Connected) and 8^th (Matt Keating), but we still have these that's being release this week: Wire's Object 47, The Coke Dares' Feelin' Up, Son Ambulance's Someone Else's Deja Vu, Patti Smith/Kevin Shield's The Coral Sea, and Costanza's Sonic Diary. If I have missed anything, please accept my apologies and contact me right away.

Links: costanza.tv myspace.com/costanzafrancavilla

CD Releases (4/29/2008)

Today is Tuesday, and you know what that means: new CD releases. Here's some music that's expected to hit stores today, April 29th.

Portishead - Magic Doors

Sarah Mclachlan - Into The Fire

Madonna - Hard Candy
The New Frontiers - Mending
Portishead - Third
Jamie Lidell - Jim
Robyn - Robyn
The Roots - Rising Down
Sarah McLachlan - Rarities, B-Sides 2 And Other Stuff, Volume 2
Nerf Herder - Nerf Herder IV

Okay, the big album is obviously the Madonna's Hard Candy. I believe this is her final studio album for Warner Brothers Music. I don't make a habit of listening to music on myspace because I hate 'space and their flash player really mess up my audio on Firefox, but I did randomly listen to some of her new songs. It sounds like it's a mashup of some techno, some R&B, some dance stuff... basically if you like Madonna, you'll probably like this album.

I've already touched on Portishead on my previous article, but wanted to bring your attention that the third Third album comes out today.

Tour Dates April 29 Amarillo, TX@Amarillo Church May 1 Englewood, Denver, CO@Falcon Bowl May 2 Casper, WY @ American Legion May 3 SLC, UT@ olid Ground Cafe May 6 Anaheim, CA @ Chain Reaction May 7 West Hollywood, CA @ On The Rox May 8 San Diego, CA @ The Epicentre May 9 Temecula, CA @ The Underground May 10 Phoenix, AZ @ One Place May 11 Tucson, AZ @ Solar Culture

 

 

The New Frontiers - Strangers

Mending from The New Frontiers (thenewfrontiersmusic.com) is out today. What's most interesting is that they're selling their new album as a lost leader for $5.99 for 11 tracks on iTunes.

I think they're hoping to recoup their loss with live tour dates, which I believe is where most artists are making some revenue. They're currently on tour with Alive In Wild Paint.

Apparently, the band used to be called Stellamaris, but as they got more older and quieter, their music changed, and so did the name.

The two songs that stood out for me was "Black Lungs" (which you can hear on their myspace) and "Strangers". I liked Nathan Pettijohn's vocals against the indie guitars. Since both of these songs are more uptempo, it's not represented of the whole album.

The entire album is pretty mellow, and I hate to admit that I really need to be in that mood to listen to this album. Still, if you enjoy other slowcore bands, you need to check these guys out. They offered a few downloadable tracks on the ever popular daytrotter.com.

Tour Dates 05.25 Vancouver - Richards on Richards 05.26 Seattle - Sasquatch! Festival 05.27 Portland - Berbatis Pan 05.28 San Francisco - Bimbos 365 Club 05.29 Los Angeles - El Rey Theater 05.30 Los Angeles - El Rey Theater 05.31 Tucson - Rialto Theater 06.02 Denver - Bluebird Theater 06.04 Chicago - Abbey Pub 06.05 Toronto - Opera House 06.06 Ottawa - Babylon Club 06.07 Boston - Paradise 06.08 New York City - Bowery Ballroom 06.09 New York City - Bowery Ballroom 06.11 Philadelphia - World Café 06.12 Washington DC - 9:30 Club

 

Jamie Lidell - Green Light

British soul singer, Jamie Lidell (jamielidell.com), formerly of Super_Collider, has a new CD called Jim out today (actually, I think it was released yesterday in the UK).

I don't have his previous album, but this new album "takes a less electronica oriented direction compared to previous album Multiply"^[1]

Apparently since everyone seems to look to the television show Grey's Anatomy for the next big thing (it seems a few artists have broken out on this series), he did have his song "Multiply" on the show and on its second soundtrack.

I haven't listened to enough of Jim, due to lack of time and commitment, but I can tell you that Lidell has a very soulful voice and singing style. His songs sounds like it's early, slower Motown, especially on "Green Light".

He is going on tour in May, so I'll include his tour information here.

 

Kites - Easy Now

I also wanted to mention that there is an EP called You and I In The Kaleidoscope by Kites (myspace.com/kitessite) that's also being released today, at least that's the information I was given. It seems it was released as early as February 2008.

The main person behind Kites is really Jean-Philip Grobler and, according to his biography, it took three years to produce this four-track EP.

I wanted the four tracks on the EP to represent everything that to me is beautiful about pop music, and that took a lot longer than I thought.

- Jean-Philip Grobler

An interesting to note about this guy was that he grew up in South Africa and wasn't exposed to the same pop music that most people were fed. By high school, he had moved to Liverpool, England, to study music at the Sir Paul McCartney's Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, where he met some friends to start the band Kites.

The result after band members breakup and moving around, You and I In The Kaleidoscope was born. Grobler and Kites are currently based out of New York.

I thought easily the best song on the EP is "Easy Now", with its epic-sounding intro.

I couldn't find a place where you can get the physical CD, but the EP is available on iTunes ($3.98) and Amazon ($3.56). Alternatively, you can just buy Pepsi and get points to get the tracks for free on Amazon!

 04/29/2008 09:52:18  vu my♥posts www.weheartmusic.com

Portishead

Portishead - Magic Doors Portishead Discography [1994] Dummy [1997] Portishead [1998] Roseland NYC Live [2008] Third [2008] Third (Limited Edition) Sounds Like Massive Attack http://weheartmus... I was originally going to write about Portishead, and somehow I mentioned Massive Attack, and the...

Portishead, the band that helped pioneer trip-hop, is back with their new studio album, Third, due out on April 28th.

It's been 10 years since their last release, the live album PNYC, and since I have all their albums, I thought it would be cool to break down the albums for you.

 

 

Portishead - Sour Times

Dummy
I first saw Portishead's "Sour Times" video, which I'll have to say was probably the best music video I'd seen around that 1994 era.

I was later told that the video's actually a short story that some student had made, and someone at the Portishead camp had the bright idea to set their song "Sour Times" to the video. The video is still amazing, but I've never seen the original movie.

I've heard from Portishead, here and there, from time to time, but nothing really stood out for me.

 

 

Portishead - All Mine

Portishead
I bought this 1997, by accident, because I thought it was their first album - so to my horror, "Sour Times" is not on this album :(

Sadly, it's not one of the P albums that I listen to regularly - although "Cowboy" is excellent.

But my favorite song off this album is "All Mine", which sounds suspiciously like a James Bond theme.

 

Portishead - Glory Box

Roseland NYC Live
Possibly at the height of their fame, they did a one-time performance with the New York Philharmonic orchestra, complete with DJs, at Roseland Ballroom in New York.

I thought I read that there was a DVD that was released of this performance, but I only have the audio CD.

There's a few great tracks from this live album, including a wonderful live rendition of "Cowboy" and "Glory Box". Man, I just love when Beth Gibbons sings "temptress".

Third
Currently, only "Machine Gun" is available on their official myspace page, which isn't one of my favorite tracks. It's too noisy for me, I guess.

I'm more of a fan of their melodic songs, like "The Rip" and "The Magic Door" (which has some interesting can drummings).

The more experimental songs sounds as like that last few Radiohead albums, but on Third, they sound as if the various sounds were produced organically and not from a computer.

Also for the first time, there will be a special limited edition of their new album. It comes with a USB 1 Gig Flash drive containing the entire album and 5 videos. You also get a double vinyl and 12" single of Machine Gun and 1 print. It's £40, which is about $80 USD, directly from portisheadshop.co.uk.

So, just to sum it up: Portishead have not broken up and they are still awesome. Their third album, called Third will be out April 28th on Island Records.

 03/20/2008 00:28:58  vu my♥posts www.portishead.co.uk

Massive Attack - Man Next Door

I was originally going to write about Portishead, and somehow I mentioned Massive Attack, and then I started thinking about them, and I guess I'd much rather write about Mezzanine than Dummy. Now if that sentence just confused you, those respectively are the landmark albums of Trip Hop, a style of music that emerged out of the UK in the early to mid nineties. Instead of being influenced by the contemporary style of britpop, trip hop essentially took hip hop beats and slowed them down. It's kind of like Houston style Chopped and Screwed rap, except the vocals aren't slowed down with the music, and the whole result isn't as murky. Both genres are influenced by dub music, with sampling being essential. Somehow trip hop later became a subgenre of techno, which makes sense, considering that the UK at the time had a less vibrant rap scene than it does now.

 

 

Massive Attack - Man Next Door

So what do people think of when they hear Trip Hop? I first think of dark, and maybe slow songs. Uncompromising beats. This is, of course, not the way every song goes. There's some pretty vibrant stuff on Portishead's Dummy, like their song Sour Times, for instance. It's not a very happy song, but it is dynamic. And on Mezzanine, Liz Fraser of the Cocteau Twins contributes very pretty vocals. But the result with Liz is more eerie than upbeat, (in a good way!) and with the song Teardrop, I'm confused because it seems a little out of place and I can't help but not like it. I'm probably just odd, because that song is very popular. But anyway, I can't shake this stereotype I have of Trip Hop, probably because I first got into the genre through Portishead's second eponymous album, which is a bleak affair, and Massive Attack's Mezzanine.

When I think of Trip Hop, I think of Man Next Door. There's that dark loop of the beat and the break, that lighter sample that keeps popping up, like headlights on a dark road, and Horace Andy crooning paranoia and fear. Then there's the interlude, like day breaking, and while it's back to the same grind, the song carries it's finish like the sun slowly rising over a hopeless, shelled out tenement sqaure. You might hear other songs like this, but this isn't one that's easily forgotten. Maybe that's why I have to remind myself that there are lighter, silkier cuts on the record, and not all trip hop is morose and soulful.

ALBUM DISCOGRAPHY Blue Lines (Jun 1991) Protection (Sep 1994) No Protection (Feb 1995) Mezzanine (Apr 1998) 100th Window (Feb 2003) Danny the Dog (Oct 2004) Danny the Dog (2005) Collected (Mar 2006) * Discography courtesy of www.wikipedia.org