Charivarious: Music Mosaic

A Hip Hop Odyssey

2007-01-06T01:00:00.000+01:00

DJ Jaguar Skills & Lord Basis Supreme
"1979-2006: A Hip Hop Odyssey":
800 classic hiphop joints
in order of release,
from 1979-2006
in 48 minutes.

Check out this ultrasweet site with mp3, tracklisting & info.

It'SOULright

2006-10-21T23:00:00.000+02:00

Sam Cooke

"The Best Of"

Category Index

Untitled

2006-10-07T19:06:00.000+02:00

Dj Shadow "The Outsider"

Peanut Butter Wolf "Tale of Five Cities EP"

Robots and Wrestlers
Check out this blog, it's about naked wrestlers ;)

Jazz Legend: Django Reinhardt

2006-07-22T13:00:00.000+02:00

Jean Baptiste "Django" Reinhardt (January 23, 1910 - May 16, 1953) was a Belgian Gypsy jazz musician who descended from the Sinti, a Roma related tribe of nomads living in Northwest Europe.

Reinhardt spent most of his youth in Belgian gypsy encampments, close to Paris. As a youngster he was already performing at dance halls in Paris. He played the banjo, the guitar and the violin. At the age of 18 he was injured in a fire, though he survived the accident pretty well, the third and fourth digits of his fretting hand were burned badly.

In 1934, Louis Vola formed the Quintette du Hot Club de France with Django, violinist Stéphane Grappelli, Joseph Reinhardt and Roger Chaput on guitar, and Louis Vola on bass. The concept of lead guitar (Django) and rhythm guitar (Joseph and Roger) was first used with the Quintette du Hot Club de France. Without percussion instruments, they used the rhythm guitars to serve this purpose.

During the Second World War, the Quintette toured in the UK. While Grappelli decided to stay, Reinhardt returned to Europe and reformed the Quintette. Clarinetist Hubert Rostaing replaced Grappelli.

At that time, the Nazis were systematically persecuting jews, gypsies, handicapped and political opponents, in order to deport and eliminate them. Unlike many other gypsies, Reinhardt did not perish in concentration camps (Never Forget!). He was helped by Dietrich "Doktor Jazz" Schulz-Köhn, a Luftwaffe official that admired Django's music.

When the war was over, Reinhardt rejoined Grappelli in the UK and they went on to tour the USA, opening for Ellington and playing at Carnegie Hall. However Reinhardt toured with Ellington, he didn't get the attention he was hoping for, so with broken dreams he returned to the continent.

After returning to France, he formed a new band with sax, trumpet, piano, bass and drums, and continued composing.

In 1951, he retired to Samois sur Seine, where nowadays the Festival Django Reinhardt is held (vids). He was one of the first internationaly known European jazz musicians.

Django Reinhardt "Django et Compagnie" (JiP 11)

Django Reinhardt "Swing from Paris" (JiP 12)

Django Reinhardt "Swing 39" (JiP 13)

Django Reinhardt "Swing 48" (JiP 58)

Django Reinhardt "Solos, Duets, Trios and Quartets"

!!Check out the comments for more!!

Category Index:
Jazz Legend Miles Davis

The Mugs Rock

2006-05-27T15:00:00.000+02:00

Charivarious presents The Mugs. This Brooklyn-based band just released their first full-length album, entitled Paper Scissors Rock, on SkinnyFat Records. Aside from jazz and reggae influences, their music is a blend of various styles, however raised to a very specific sound.

'Firm Ground', being one of my favourite tracks on the album, heads off with a nice bass riff and uptempo drum rhythms, then a zigzagging guitar joins in and the vocals burst open the song in the chorus. 'Reunion' contains some Air-ish rhodes moods. 'Many Times, Many Ways' is like a great alligator-sharp wawa riffing trip through the swamps...

If you're in the mood for alternative rock, with great melody and dito rhythm sections, you gotta check these promising songwriters out. Definition of Charivariety!

Small e-mail tête-à-tête

(Donwload this song while reading)

Fist off: who are you and where are you from?

Brett: “We're The Mugs. We've been playing around NYC for about 4 years now and we've built the band into something we think is ready to take to the streets. So far we've gotten a lot of good feedback and recently some regular airplay on KEXP. I hope you enjoy it. If you'd like, feel free to share it. We're our own label, and we're proud of it.”

What is the band's setup?

Jeremy Gough: vocals, Rhodes/keyboards
Brett Tieman: bass
Nick Moy: guitars, vocals, keyboards
Ryan Raffa: drums, percussion

What are your major influences and what was the first album to make an impact?

Jeremy: "Violent Femmes’ Violent Femmes, purchased at Princeton Record Exchange. Brett turned me on to this when we were maybe 14, 15. Up until then I’d listened to all classical music, with the exception of Harry Connick Jr.’s Red Light, Blue Light. And I grew up with two older brothers playing early U2 in the house, which was nice, but my first real discovery was Violent Femmes. The frustration fit my quiet adolescent rage like a glove, sure, but the vocals had a pure quality where you understood immediately that: here was a guy turning himself completely over to the words, the music, the band, and the audience. The same vocal quality I recognized when I heard Neutral Milk Hotel for the first time. You can’t help but connect, sing along, and release."
Nick: “Michael Jackson's Thriller. I remember we had a basement with thick green shag carpetting and wooden panelling on the walls. One of the walls had a large console that was also wood panelling. In the center, one of the panels lifted up and inside was a turntable. We used to play Thriller real loud and dance all over the place on the green shag carpetting. That and Born in the USA.
Brett: “Bruce Springsteen's Born in The USA and the St. Elmo's Fire soundtrack, were the first tapes I ever owned, got them and a tape deck for christmas back in 1984. My first major listening experience was Billy Joel's Greatist Hits Vol. 1-2, on the first Sony Walkmen headphones.”
Ryan: “One of my dad's records that he bought when he was a kid. It's called Krupa and Rich. One side is Gene Krupa, and the other side is Buddy Rich. Battling at its best. The record still has the $1.99 price tag on it. I had this really cheap all-in-one phono/tuner/tape Panasonic thing, and it had a headphone jack. I'd try to fall asleep, and listen to two of the best drummers of all time freakin' lay it down. This was the first album that I copied to another format (i.e. tape cassette) so I could enjoy it whenever I wanted.”

You're called The Mugs, when did you come up with that name and what does it mean? The dictionary refers to 'a cup' , 'a photo for police files' or 'a silly face'? What does The Mugs really stand for?

Ryan: “No real secret meaning behind this one. We're pretty much a million light years away from when we picked the name, but I feel we still get some identity from it.”
Brett: “The name doesn't really mean anything. We like the open interpretation of all the meanings of the word 'mugs'. I would say that we most clearly allign ourselves with the idea of the mugs as being a collection of persons that are and can't help to be serious and ridiculous at the same time. Different personalities that work together.”
Jeremy: “It’s everything you think it means, and less, then more again. We came upon it after exhausting ourselves with 10,000 other names. It’s a face, it’s a vessel, it’s a derogatory term for someone that can’t be trusted, it’s being knowingly ridiculous without really caring if someone else plays along.”

What is Paper Scissors Rock about?

Brett: “From my perspective, Paper Scissors Rock is about finding one's voice and letting that voice enjoy itself. We all have things to say, don't be afraid to say and don't be afraid to be happy with what you say.”
Jeremy: “There’s a pretty clear sense of fate and chance in the album name, which would suggest a lack of free will, ego, and decisiveness on our part. If we had to name the album now, it would probably be: do it this way.”
Ryan: “I think it's about great tragedy, joy and celebration of the highest order, and love. Our lives are basically wrapped right around this thing, and we have all experienced some bit of all three life events since we started making music together. I'd recommend anyone who hasn't seen or met us to come out and see a show because you're going to understand the album much more after you've seen us.”

Download Album

The Mugs
Paper Scissors Rock EP
all songs © 2003/5 The Mugs
dropped with permisson of The Mugs

The Mugs Links

Gossip, glossy, paparazzi, nudity @ Myspace
Pics, bio, purchase, mp3, shows @ Official Site
More brilliant mp3's @ Mugs Miscellany
Photo credits & moody pics @ Sam's personal and flickr site

April

2006-04-15T13:00:00.000+02:00

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February

2006-02-01T13:00:00.001+01:00

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January

2006-01-16T13:00:00.000+01:00

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December

2005-12-01T13:00:00.000+01:00

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November

2005-11-01T13:00:00.000+01:00

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October

2005-10-01T13:00:00.000+02:00

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September

2005-09-01T13:00:00.000+02:00

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The Belly of An Architect

2005-08-25T11:40:00.000+02:00

Where Peter Greenaway's movies usually are accompied by compositions from Michael Nyman, "The Belly of an Architect"(1987) forms a remarkable exception. The score was mainly provided by Wim Mertens, containing three pieces which were personally selected by Greenaway out of Mertens' earlier work -4 Mains, Struggle for Pleasure and Close Cover- and four other compositions Mertens created for the film. Additional music was delivered by American avant-gardist composer Glenn Branca, providing some kind of obscure piece of mind to the listener.

Camille

2005-08-20T19:43:00.000+02:00

Franstalige pop, alhoewel, 't lijkt me iets te experimenteel om onder die noemer te vallen... "Pop" doet me trouwens veeleer aan wibra en goldprince denken dan aan muziek en zang zoals op le fil (de rode draad is de toon die doorheen het hele album kronkelt).
'Le sac de filles' loont ook de moeite. Video's enzo vind je op le sac des fans. Nouvelle Vague is een project met een aantal andere zangeressen, waarbij ze (oude) new-age versnijden tot de puurste bossa nova. Sesam wordt geopend met het woord "melting".