This song greeted my ears one cold(ish) morning this week and made me want to take a break from my love of all things gritty and rainy (England) for some pure, unadulterated sunshine. Which is exactly what that track is. I fell in love with the sunny, Puerto Rican flavored sounds of the original when I saw the brilliant, dance inspiring iPod commercial. It was to my delight when I found out that it was by none other than the good folks over at Wonderwheel - Nickodemus and his buddy Quantic, who has a knack for making world beats for white people. The original is stupidly cheerful enough, but the remix, which kicks off a highly enjoyable 10th anniversary CD drove it home for me.
What inevitably happened was that a bunch of talented musicians were listening to music and smoking far too much weed and came up with the brilliant idea of adding some reggae flavor to the already summery beats and somewhere, in a borough in Brooklyn, this solid remix was born. Blissfully ditching the dubby in favor of classic rocksteady reggae beat good enough to stand alone, Zeb manages to make the tune his own, while still maintaining the unfailingly cheerful vibe as well as commercial appeal. The bright horns get muted a bit, and the song takes on a reggae soul vibe with Latin flavor, kind of like what might happen to Fat Freddy's Drop if they went and took a vacation somewhere in Latin America.
I find it's never just about the song - it's about the whole chain reaction of events that lead up to the song and are triggered by the song. In the case of this remix (and with a little help from the release of the new Femi Kuti record), that dormant love of reggae and world music that usually only surfaces when I have the good fortune of traveling and getting away from the city has reawakened. It reminded me that amidst the routine, humdrum and stresses of everyday life there are little things that make you smile and take you away.
In the spirit of passing the cheer (the holidays are upon us after all) I've just published my first iMix with a bunch of reggae tunes to get you through the gloom - enjoy!!
Have a listen to the Zeb remix of "Mi Swing Es Tropical" here.
Friday, December 12, 2008
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Slumdog Millionaire - Music from and Inspired by. .
So like a good Danny Boyle fan and like most of the people who saw Slumdog Millionaire I fell in love with this film and its soundtrack. Using A.R. Rahman as a composer was a brilliant move; Rahman got to parody the Bollywood format of music that he's so familiar with, and quite successfully explored the gritty and urban in addition to his classical repertoire.
The other touch of brilliance that some seem to be overlooking however, is the use of M.I.A. The use of her breakthrough single "Paper Planes" caused a knee-jerk reaction to immediately dismiss it as Pineapple Express was released.
And that's fair enough - "Paper Planes" has exploded to a cross genre popularity not heard since Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy." That being said the song was used twice - the original, as well as a chilled out funkafied, 70's style DFA remix, which made me pause and and listen to it with new ears, refreshed by the context. Sure the lyrics talk about weed, but they're just as much about livin' in the streets (which, as a Jewish girl from LA, I'm all about) and a level of materialism that can be found in third world countries and likely among the drug dealing population. If you haven't committed "Paper Planes" to memory, you can read the lyrics for yourself here.
The music from Slumdog Millionaire whet my appetite for more urban India meets London influenced sound that's like a late night drunken kebab with curry sauce. So I started listening to M.I.A. again to try and remember why I liked her in the first place despite the lack of gunshots and registers in her other songs. I found surprising satisfaction in some tracks off of the recent Kala with the boisterous, vaguely garage and old school hip hop influenced "XR2," which makes me want to dig out my gold hoops and wreak havoc on a bus somewhere cold and rainy. The other one that just plain makes me feel just a bit cooler than I actually am is "20 Dollar." It's laid back and rhythmic in a way that nods at the blunt smoking hip hop greats, and is actually a rude-girl interpretation of the Pixies' "Where Is My Mind," which goes to show you just how gangsta I actually am.
If this has inspired you to listen to a lot of MIA, you might also be interested in checking out the weirdly wistful remix of "Boyz" by Brazilian remixers The Twelves.
The other touch of brilliance that some seem to be overlooking however, is the use of M.I.A. The use of her breakthrough single "Paper Planes" caused a knee-jerk reaction to immediately dismiss it as Pineapple Express was released.
And that's fair enough - "Paper Planes" has exploded to a cross genre popularity not heard since Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy." That being said the song was used twice - the original, as well as a chilled out funkafied, 70's style DFA remix, which made me pause and and listen to it with new ears, refreshed by the context. Sure the lyrics talk about weed, but they're just as much about livin' in the streets (which, as a Jewish girl from LA, I'm all about) and a level of materialism that can be found in third world countries and likely among the drug dealing population. If you haven't committed "Paper Planes" to memory, you can read the lyrics for yourself here.
The music from Slumdog Millionaire whet my appetite for more urban India meets London influenced sound that's like a late night drunken kebab with curry sauce. So I started listening to M.I.A. again to try and remember why I liked her in the first place despite the lack of gunshots and registers in her other songs. I found surprising satisfaction in some tracks off of the recent Kala with the boisterous, vaguely garage and old school hip hop influenced "XR2," which makes me want to dig out my gold hoops and wreak havoc on a bus somewhere cold and rainy. The other one that just plain makes me feel just a bit cooler than I actually am is "20 Dollar." It's laid back and rhythmic in a way that nods at the blunt smoking hip hop greats, and is actually a rude-girl interpretation of the Pixies' "Where Is My Mind," which goes to show you just how gangsta I actually am.
If this has inspired you to listen to a lot of MIA, you might also be interested in checking out the weirdly wistful remix of "Boyz" by Brazilian remixers The Twelves.
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