First music post: Ciao Italia!
Ok, well I'm going to try this out anyway. Today I'd like to bring you two songs from Italy, one new and one old. I'll put them up as MP3s and you can download them for a couple weeks and then I'll take them down. If you like them, it's up to you to buy them. The first of these two songs is by Florence-based musician Alexander Robotnick, who despite being an Italian sings in French. It is possibly my favorite song of all time, and apparently the MP3 I play most out of all several thousand of them, according to iTunes. Possibly because my friends are always asking me to play it.
"Problemes d'Amour" is a classic song, and not all that obscure. It falls in the middle of the Italo-disco and Electro movements, not really fitting neatly within either genre but completely superceding both at the same time. You can find the song in remixed form on recent compilations like This Is Not the 80s and Disco Not Disco vol. 2, but the original was released in 1983, and the version appearing here, the 'Ah Ou Ah' version, dates from a year later. You'll see why it's called that as soon as you listen. The song itself is simple and funky in a Kraftwerk vein, but features the most ridiculous French vocals you have ever heard. To this day I don't know what it is that makes me love them so much. It's just that it's this Italian guy singing French really low. I can't explain it. Just listen.
Since we began with something old, I'd like to finish with something new. You may already know international music geek superstar Erlend Øye from his two-piece folk group Kings of Convenience, or from his excellent solo album in 2003, Unrest, or possibly even his excellent set in the DJ-Kicks series from last year. Erlend is a Norwegian wunderkind with a flair for finding breezy electropop to lend his vocals to, such as on 2001's collaboration with fellow Norwegians Royskopp on their debut album. Well, I've tracked down a bit of a hidden gem. Øye recorded a couple songs with Italian Marco Passarani for his new album Sullen Look, including this one, Criticize. The secret is that Erlend is credited under a false moniker, Orlando Occhio, or the Italian translation of Erlend Øye (Øye and Occhio both mean Eye apparently). The song itself is a bubbly Summery tune that somehow makes me feel like I'm near a runway, but also relaxing. It's great background music for transversing Switzerland by train or walking with a quick pace down the Champs Elyesees as the sun filters through green leaves across your back. At least until the old skool acid techno breakdown straight out of "More Energy" as the end of the song hits.
I had no luck locating either of these artists' recordings when I was in Italy, but you can purchase them on Boomkat here and here. If anyone knows of anyplace in the U.S. that carries these releases let me know.
"Problemes d'Amour" is a classic song, and not all that obscure. It falls in the middle of the Italo-disco and Electro movements, not really fitting neatly within either genre but completely superceding both at the same time. You can find the song in remixed form on recent compilations like This Is Not the 80s and Disco Not Disco vol. 2, but the original was released in 1983, and the version appearing here, the 'Ah Ou Ah' version, dates from a year later. You'll see why it's called that as soon as you listen. The song itself is simple and funky in a Kraftwerk vein, but features the most ridiculous French vocals you have ever heard. To this day I don't know what it is that makes me love them so much. It's just that it's this Italian guy singing French really low. I can't explain it. Just listen.
"Problemes d'Amour" (Ah Ou Ah version) - Alexander Robotnick
Since we began with something old, I'd like to finish with something new. You may already know international music geek superstar Erlend Øye from his two-piece folk group Kings of Convenience, or from his excellent solo album in 2003, Unrest, or possibly even his excellent set in the DJ-Kicks series from last year. Erlend is a Norwegian wunderkind with a flair for finding breezy electropop to lend his vocals to, such as on 2001's collaboration with fellow Norwegians Royskopp on their debut album. Well, I've tracked down a bit of a hidden gem. Øye recorded a couple songs with Italian Marco Passarani for his new album Sullen Look, including this one, Criticize. The secret is that Erlend is credited under a false moniker, Orlando Occhio, or the Italian translation of Erlend Øye (Øye and Occhio both mean Eye apparently). The song itself is a bubbly Summery tune that somehow makes me feel like I'm near a runway, but also relaxing. It's great background music for transversing Switzerland by train or walking with a quick pace down the Champs Elyesees as the sun filters through green leaves across your back. At least until the old skool acid techno breakdown straight out of "More Energy" as the end of the song hits.
"Criticize" (featuring Orlando Occhio) - Marco Passarani
I had no luck locating either of these artists' recordings when I was in Italy, but you can purchase them on Boomkat here and here. If anyone knows of anyplace in the U.S. that carries these releases let me know.
posted by Brian at 4:34 PM
1 Comments:
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Post a Comment
<< Home