KiD CuDi – Man On The Moon: The End Of Day

You might have heard his voice in the club remix of “Day N Night” by the Italian duo Crookers. Before becoming this dancefloor classic, the song “Day N Night” was soaked in a certain melancholia with the voice of KiD CuDi. Quite far from the excesses of partying, it’s about a depressed man. Like this track, the album is about the introspection of a lonely guy, a dreamer. This makes it hard to classify this album next to other Hip Hop/RnB album wich have more to do with big cars, plastic beauties and drugs.

Another surprise in this album are the different collaborations KiD CuDi make on this album: Kanye West of course since he kind of discovered KiD CuDi, Common and also unexpected artists such as MGMT and Ratatat. The track he made with MGMT is “Pursuit of Happiness”

Lady Gaga also makes an appearance but a bit against her will it seems. Kid CuDi and Kanye West sampled an acoustic version of her “Poker Face” to make her say “I poke her face”. The title being changed to “Make her say” for the radio, it sounds more naive maybe but the lyrics are anyway a bit controversial…see here.

“Man On The Moon: The End Of Day” tells the story of a guy who dreamed of becoming famous but is actually rotting alone in his flat, he starts taking drugs and finally become a superstar. Is this destiny true or just a hallucination due to the drugs? It’s unclear and the story of this guy (KiD Cudi himself?) allows to divide the album in different parts, jumping from one atmosphere to the other and still keeping a red line through the album.

Throughout this album, there are numerous references to other RnB and hip hop lyrics, I could spot some Jay-Z, Jackson Five and there certainly are others.

As I wrote earlier it is hard to classify this album as RnB, it contains electronic music (but which production doesn’t nowadays?), some nice guitar strumming making the sound almost pop (Up, Up, And Away).

This is a concept album which is not so common these days, it mixes genres and is interesting enough to be put between your ears.

Radiohead won’t record another album

Never  where you expect them, it seems that the Oxford quintet has decided to stop making album in the future. Preferring the release of songs, one by one, rather than full length recordings. As Thom Yorke said to US magazine The Believer , another album might actually “kill” the band.
More info on: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8194778.stm

Being a fan of… Radiohead

Continuing our series of interviews for “Being a fan of…”, we meet today with Sarah, a Belgian girl studying in Boston. One of the major rock band of the 90’s and of this decade is definitely Radiohead, impressively improving the quality of their music from Pablo Honey to OK Computer, radically changing direction with Kid A and followers, distracting even more the well established music industry. The following interview recalls great moments of the bands through the experience of a Radiohead fan: the importance of a brother to discover new bands (as for Linkin Park), the misunderstanding of other generations and the amazing feeling of following a band in the most unsafe corner of its career.

When did you first hear of them?
My brother had bought ‘the Bends’, and he made me listen to it. He was a very big Nirvana fan at the time, but I wasn’t so much into this ‘dark’ music. But then when he let me listen to the Radiohead album, I was sold right away. I even made a deal with him that I exchanged my CD of ‘the Verve’ with ‘the Bends’ so that it became mine. I am not sure whether he regretted the exchange in the long run, but I at least didn’t!

What is the craziest thing you’ve done for that band?
Well, I have always been on the phone or internet early enough to get tickets to their show, except for the first time they were touring with OK Computer. I really wanted to go to that show but I was actually a little bit too young (16 or so). Either way, my mum found it pretty funny that it was sold out (because that would stop me whining from wanting to go). But I did not give up and sent an ad to a magazine forum to ask for tickets. I put my phone number in that ad and some random people started calling us for the whole week, just to have fun, but there was also one person that would drop by the two tickets at my home, so that I could go. I was of course very excited to go, so I really wanted to buy the tickets… but then my mum found another excuse: ‘you don’t think that I will drive you and your friend to that gig, do you?’. So then in the end I had to turn down the tickets and I did not manage to see the concert. I did of course not forget the incident , after all the trouble I had gone through to get those tickets.. My mum was quite surprised by me not forgetting the incident, and she ended up feeling a bit bad about not letting me go in the end. So bad that the next time Radiohead was around with Kid A, she actually also booked a ticket and went with me

Do you owe all their albums? Any rarities?
I have bought all their albums, some of them also in record version. And from some of them I have the limited editions from the first press. I also have the ‘miss-press’ of ‘Kid A’. In the first press of this album, you can hear 40 seconds of noise before the first song starts. If you listen to the album at once, you don’t find this very disturbing, but the track numbers are also off by 40 seconds. So when you want to listen to the 2nd song, then you get the first 40 seconds of the first song first and so on. I didn’t know that I had that version until they made a campaign for people who wanted to have that album replaced with a correct print. Of course I was very happy that I had a ‘collectors item’ in my hands and I did not have it replaced

How many concerts of them have you attended?
6 times: 3 times in Belgium, once in Madrid, once in Berlin and once in Copenhagen

Have you ever met them personally?
I bumped into Thom Yorke and the band in the Reina Sophia museum in Madrid in front of the Guernica painting. This was an amazing moment for me because I travelled all the way to Madrid to go see their show. And this is how I also realised that Thom Yorke is pretty small. He came out of a corridor that led to the painting and I wanted to go passed that corridor when we sort of bumped. He was as surprised as I did, and I almost got a heart attack right there.. When we bumped, he looked at me, he looked at the text that was written on my T-shirt, and then passed by. I am happy I didn’t say anything, because it would have been something stupid anyways…
I wouldn’t mind having a beer with the Thom Yorke some evening, but since it is probably going to be one of these awful experiences, I might just rather not. Their music is all I need, although I sometimes wonder what is going on in the head of Thom Yorke.

Does the passion you have for this band has had consequences for your private life ?
Only good things there! I have so many memories to the band and their music, that I don’t even know where to start. They have been sort of like the soundtrack to my life almost.

What do you think about the recent projects covering Radiohead’s songs? OKX a tribute to OK computer, Easy Star all-stars, Songs With Radio Heads, Brad Mehldau, Richard Cheese…
I know that Radiohead supports all these project, so I am fine with it. I am not very interested in these projects because covers or remixes of Radiohead are usually worse than the original.

What was your opinion when they announced the album In rainbow could be downloaded for the listener’s price?
Great! Even me, as the great fan got it for free (shame on me). Either way, I made up for it by buying the album later on when it came out on CD. I think it is a great initiative and I think that most bands already know that they earn more on their tours than on selling CDs anyways. So I think it was a nice statement!

Soundtrack of summer 09

Here are a few tracks that would probably be my soundtrack this summer. Hard to tell in advance but I have the feeling these songs will be on repeat for some weeks. Here’s the list and descriptions int the order you could play them starting late afternoon and going through the night.

Grizzly Bear – Two Weeks

Simply because Grizzly Bear are getting better and better, first single of their latest album “Veckatimest”. Just like a summer breeze over your shoulder.

The Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band – Pimp

Here’s the song from where 50 cents got his sample. Nice Caribbean feeling, chill out, better appreciated with some ice cubes in your glass, sun glasses, straw hat and a cosy chair.

Empire of the sun – We Are The People (The Golden Filter Remix)

Speaking of summer, here are the people from the sun. Australian duo “Empire of the sun” sent us their first album “Walking on a Dream” during the austral summer, offering us a warm sunshine at the toughest of the winter. Now seasons have changed, time for remixes, Here’s a remix by the Golden Filter from the second single “We Are The People”, nice relaxing at the beginning but still with a dancing feeling. Good for early evening soundtrack.

Passion Pit - Sleepyhead (Neo Tokyo Remix)

A bit later in the evening when it feels more like dancing, this remix of the Passion Pit’s hit will deliver the perfect combination of uptempo beats and nice mood.

Michael Jackson – Don’t stop ’til you get enough (1978 demo)

just discovered this very interesting tracks, this is the demo M. Jackson recorded in 1978 with sister Janet playing on cola bottle and brother Randy on keyboards, the recording took place in the basement of their grandparents’ house. So, this is what MJ’s music sounds like before the work of Quincy Jones, who will write some more songs for the album “Off the wall” (1979). Beware, this is extremely groovy! I really like this version, a bit more raw, I like the laughters at the beginning, I like the saturation on the mic, and the somehow chaotic end. It’s a bit like sitting with them in their basement and seeing them performing, like a private concert.
This version is available on the special edition of “Off the Wall”, released in 2001.

Dizzee Rascal and Armand Van Helden – Bonkers

When the party is on, this is the track to play. The crowd goes nuts and wants more. Seriously, what else could you expect when Dizzee Rascal meets van Helden? A dancefloor classic! Bonkers! Put on your dancing shoes and turn up the volume.

Gui Boratto – Beautiful Life

Gui Boratto is a Brazilian architect, musician, composer and producer. Here’s an a track from his album “Chromophobia” (Kompakt, 2007). If you had left out the techno/house scene, here’s a good opportunity to come back to it, with fantastic synthetic melodic waves, slowly growing until the voice delivers the repeated message “What a beautiful life”. And at this point you can only agree and you just wish this atmosphere would transpose into your real life.
Gui Boratto’s latest release is “Take My Breath Away”, out last March.

Dapayk & Padberg – Island Feat Caro (Noze Remix)

Perfect for an after, relaxing but still with a beat. Those who still feel like dancing can still move on that slow moves with their arms in the air, while others, more tired, sit back and enjoy the last moments of this long night.

Songs available on request.
I’ll keep you posted for more tracks coming, don’t hesitate to share your summer songs.

The king of pop passed away

Big shock this morning reading the news, Michael Jackson is dead!

Now most people will remember his fantastic career and just mentioning his “complicated” private life, without judging or giving too much details. Because if you want to tell about his private life, which in the past years had taken over his music career, then you need to tell it from the beginning, since he was about 5 years old. This is the story of a child that did not decide what he would to become. He didn’t know it was impossible for a black person to be a worldwide acclaimed star so he became one.

I’m trying to think how to introduce MJ to someone ignoring everything about him. Where to start? What to tell? Maybe starting by the end, the reactions that his death is generating: former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung said: “We lost a hero of the world”, “Lamentable news” according to Hugo Chavez (Venezuela’s president), TV programs being interrupted to announce the news, and the countless fans across the world spontaneously gathering when they heard the sad news. MJ was huge in Asia, in Southern America, in Europe, he was huge everywhere!. And now everybody remembers a concert, the craziness when he came to town, his impressive videos, his amazing way of dancing that inspired so many, the LPs bought in the 80’s… that’s for the reactions.

Now the career: started with the Jackson 5, aged 8, 1966-1984, huge hits with “I want you back”, “Can you feel it”, “ABC” and much more.

Solo career, excellent albums produced with Quincy Jones: Off the Wall, Bad, Thriller. MJ was also a lot about video clip, his solo career coincided with the emergence of MTV and the making of his videos were closer to big movies than to actual TV adds (both for their budget and the special effects involved). In the 90’s, despite still making music ahead of his time, his career became shaded by his commitment in various charities and his “complicated” private life.

Throughout the years, MJ became a monument of music, everything that had to happen in music went through him, he changed the way music videos were made, he changed the way live performance were given, with a special place for dance. Inspired by James brown, MJ is associated with famous moves such as the moonwalk.
I can’t think of another artist that performed as much as MJ did over his life span, he left us enough hits to remember him for a lifetime!
He’s inspired many artists in different genres and lately Justice wrote a song about him, the dancefloor classic D.A.N.C.E. “As easy as ABC, you were such a P.Y.T., under the spotlights, neither black nor white…”

The king is dead. Long live the king.