Don't Forget To Dance

February 17

Chicha Libre - Indian Summer

I recently suggested to the boss that we should have a theme week again. This time, local (wherever you may reside) unknown bands. In this case, I’ve chosen a brooklyn band that plays every Monday night at Barbes in park slope. As one youtube critic put it, “This music is like being on a canoe staring at the sunset through the forest in the Peruvian Amazon river”.

“CHICHA is the name of a corn-based liquor favored by the Incas in pre-colombian days. Chicha is also the name of a South American music craze which started out in the late 70’s in the Peruvian Amazon. Cumbias amazonicas, as they were first called, were loosely inspired by Colombian accordion-driven cumbias but soon incorporated the distinctive sounds of Andean melodies, some Cuban son, and the psychedelic sounds of surf guitars, farfisa organs and moog synthesizers.” - CantolaoTV

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January 25

OK Go! - Skyscrapers

They’re back with a catchy little tune! From the Album: Of The Blue Colour Of The Sky. I just miss the treadmills. They should make a video on elliptical machines for this song.

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January 11
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Introducing The Mad Iranians! - Change My Ways

Quick to be named 2010’s hottest new act, The Mad Iranians have released their much anticipated first single of what is probably the most talked about EP release since Radiohead’s In Rainbows. Inspired by perfection, the band is truly a product of DFTD and includes members: Matt Gross (guitar, backup vocals), Joe Nisanov (Banjo, backup vocals), Victoria Abrami (lead celestial vocals), and Shawn “The Hammer” Mulder (ukulele).

Check in regularly on their homepage www.themadiranians.com for status updates on their self-hyped EP. It should be coming out sometime in the next while.

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December 23
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DFTD’s Top Albums of 2009: Andrew Bird’s Noble Beast

Andrew Bird and his signature whistling came back with a bang in 2009. Bird is one of those artists that one can easily “over listen” to, I know I over listened to Mysterious Production of Eggs (Matt, you may recall, that album was the subject of one of our first conversations at that awful place we used to work at together, no offense to present company). Bird’s music is both complex and yet very accessible, as always offering up magical and riveting songs. Some may find his lyrics to be “elitist”, as if listening to a history or biology professor or a meteorologist.

Beast is Bird’s 5th full length solo album and in my opinion his second best following Mysterious Production. Please enjoy this catchy tune.

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December 21

This goes out to all my gentile friends. Merry Christmas.

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September 25

Sufjan Stevens - NEW SONG - There’s Too Much Love

Here’s the newest from Sufjan, performed a couple days ago at the Castaways. In my opinion, after the first listen, this song is quite “un-Sufjan”, but it’s cool anyway. It’s no Seven Swans or anything, but had to be posted. Your thoughts?

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August 13
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Guizado - Miragem

Yes, it’s another Brazilian band that I have thoroughly been enjoying recently. Although this tune has no “words”, it is immensely “danceable”. Think Miles Davis meets Radiohead meets drum & base meets Ocean’s 12 Sountrack (which is pretty sweet by the way). Here is what’s written on the interwebs about Guizado, a VERY little known band:

Kaleidoscope of Babylon: Push the play button, and close your eyes: slides of urban landscapes will be projected in your mind in a kaleidoscope of signs and scents of the city, and hearing will unveil the musical nuances of each code, abstract or not, from the daily São Paulo life - the thermic chaos and poetry made out of concrete, a wall of graffiti in any corner, the smell of rain on the asphalt or espresso coffee pulled right away, the ice cold beer poured in short glass, the texture of pollution that tinge the blue horizon … The music of Guizado has this cinematographic effect and his first album, “Punx,” sounds completely drunk of the noisy aura of São Paulo. From a rhythmic gear full of electronic noise, the plant lays the timbres of the background for the sentences of a trumpet almost always disturbed that yells to be heard in the midst of the collective loneliness of the metropolis.

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August 7

Curumin - Tudo Bem Malandro It’s been a while for me as well, but luckily I haven’t been tossed from the site by the admin yet…phew. So, I’ve been listening to a LOT of indie music from Brazil recently thanks to last.fm and came across a few bands that totally get me dancing. One of those bands/artists is Curumin who’s style is sometimes called samba-funk, and it incorporates many jazz, bossa nova, and hip hop elements as well. Curumin and Quannum Projects first crossed paths when Chief Xcel, one half of Blackalicious and one fifth of Quannum, was on tour in Brazil. Happening upon Achados E Perdidos while in São Paulo, Xcel knew immediately that this was a record that could resonate with audiences outside Brazil as well. Oh, and he’s playin the uke, that’s for you matt. Dance like Emilio Estevez.

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July 5

Alright, so there are only 45 minutes left until this July 4th week is officially over. After a great weekend of hanging out with a few fellow DFTD’rs this weekend (spelunking ice caves no less), I was feeling the heat for not having posted yet this week. Due to procrastination, a few of my song choices were posted before I got to them. So, I saved the best for last, The Man In Black. Enjoy.

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June 10

URGENT NEWS STORY!!! - Free concert in Prospect Park tomorrow 6/11

I know I’ve posted a Goran Bregovic video before, however, I find it absolutely necessary to let all of you know of his show tomorrow at the Prospect Park Bandshell at 7:30 pm. I saw him and his Weddings and Funerals Orchestra perform at Lincoln Center a couple years ago and let’s just say that even in a place like that, they had the entire place standing on their seats and dancing in the aisles. Here are the details (I will be there at 5:30 ro 6:00):

http://www.briconline.org/celebrate/2009/week1.asp#0608

“Anyone that doesn’t go crazy, can’t be normal”

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