Saturday, February 6, 2010
Artist of the Week: Mono and Nikitaman
With a great driving dancehall beat, Mono & Nikitaman represent Austria and the Netherlands respectively. Check out their videos on my "Artist of the Week" video link on the sidebar to the left (when it's not cluttered by advertisements). If you're interested in finding out more, check out their official website.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Video Review: Peter Fox and Cold Steel "Live aus Berlin"
Anybody who has spoken with me about music over the past year has discovered that I have an obsession: Peter Fox. No, I haven’t gone peculiar, but I have fallen in love with the music of an artist who has set the German music world on fire for years – first as a singer with the dancehall group Seeed, and more recently as a solo artist. For me, Fox’s 2008 album Stadtaffe was a revelation. Brimming with emotion and vigor, Stadtaffe seamlessly blended elements of hip-hop, reggae, jazz, rock, and even the sounds of a classical ensemble and the North Carolina based Cold Steel drumline providing percussion, to create a hybrid that is both danceable and thought provoking at the same time. So powerful was Stadtaffe that it peaked at Number 1 in the German and Austrian charts, and in the Top 10 in Switzerland and the Netherlands, with the single Schwartz zu Blau even winning the Bundesvision Song Contest for 2009. So deeply did this album impact me, and so surprised was I both by its success in Europe as well as its complete lack of exposure in the United States, that I felt compelled to search out other artists creating great music in other parts of the world that are never heard in the English speaking world and to write about them in this blog.
Being the inveterate consumer that I am, though, one album is never enough. That is why I was so excited to hear that Peter Fox released the perfect thing for those of us craving more: a live album along with an accompanying live DVD called Live aus Berlin. Well, I should qualify that. He released three different versions: the live DVD only; the live DVD with the live album; and for the fan with spectacular amounts of money, the DVD, the live album, a book of photos of the concert, and a second CD of instrumental versions of the songs on the original album. While I am, by my nature, obsessive about getting everything I can possibly get my hands on, I generally find instrumental versions of songs to be unappealing to all but the karaoke aficionados out there (you might as well release an album of songs without drums or bass). Therefore, I opted for the DVD/CD version of this release, and it was well worth the investment.
First, the live album is a real treat. While there is nothing new or novel about the presentation, it is an excellent recording of most of the songs off of the Stadtaffe album, plus a few classic Seeed songs for good measure. Fox’s backup band is huge, including the usual guitar/bass/drums triad plus two keyboardists (one presumably to mimic the sound of the orchestra on the original recording), a two-man horn section, three backup singers, and five members of Cold Steel, and their musicianship is flawless. Not only do they play the melodically and rhythmically complex songs with remarkable precision, but they inject a level of energy and vitality that is what makes a live recording special.
The real prize in this offering, though, is the live DVD. In addition to playing through the songs on the live album, the main DVD feature also includes outtakes from the tour, a brief description of how Fox found Cold Steel and involved them in the project, and a mind blowing drumline sequence involving Cold Steel and every other member of the band. But the true value is watching this band play live is, true to his roots in Seeed, so much effort and energy is put into the visual as well as the aural aspects of the show. For this, most of the credit goes to Cold Steel, who do things with percussion that make your heart race. The DVD extras add the live version of the song Zucker (which is on the Stadtaffe album, but was for some reason excluded from the concert feature), the music videos from the various singles from the Stadtaffe album, as well as a handful of tribute videos created by Peter Fox fans. While my collection is full of videos of live performances, many of which have only collected dust since I first watched them, I can watch Live aus Berlin over and over again.
Unfortunately, if my rather elementary German skills haven’t failed me, Peter Fox will not be putting out another solo album. Instead, he will be returning to Seeed, and will presumably turn his abundant talents more toward production, which is where his true love lies. But, if Stadtaffe and Live aus Berlin remain as his entire body of solo work, Peter Fox will be remembered as a unique and uniquely engaging artist.
Being the inveterate consumer that I am, though, one album is never enough. That is why I was so excited to hear that Peter Fox released the perfect thing for those of us craving more: a live album along with an accompanying live DVD called Live aus Berlin. Well, I should qualify that. He released three different versions: the live DVD only; the live DVD with the live album; and for the fan with spectacular amounts of money, the DVD, the live album, a book of photos of the concert, and a second CD of instrumental versions of the songs on the original album. While I am, by my nature, obsessive about getting everything I can possibly get my hands on, I generally find instrumental versions of songs to be unappealing to all but the karaoke aficionados out there (you might as well release an album of songs without drums or bass). Therefore, I opted for the DVD/CD version of this release, and it was well worth the investment.
First, the live album is a real treat. While there is nothing new or novel about the presentation, it is an excellent recording of most of the songs off of the Stadtaffe album, plus a few classic Seeed songs for good measure. Fox’s backup band is huge, including the usual guitar/bass/drums triad plus two keyboardists (one presumably to mimic the sound of the orchestra on the original recording), a two-man horn section, three backup singers, and five members of Cold Steel, and their musicianship is flawless. Not only do they play the melodically and rhythmically complex songs with remarkable precision, but they inject a level of energy and vitality that is what makes a live recording special.
The real prize in this offering, though, is the live DVD. In addition to playing through the songs on the live album, the main DVD feature also includes outtakes from the tour, a brief description of how Fox found Cold Steel and involved them in the project, and a mind blowing drumline sequence involving Cold Steel and every other member of the band. But the true value is watching this band play live is, true to his roots in Seeed, so much effort and energy is put into the visual as well as the aural aspects of the show. For this, most of the credit goes to Cold Steel, who do things with percussion that make your heart race. The DVD extras add the live version of the song Zucker (which is on the Stadtaffe album, but was for some reason excluded from the concert feature), the music videos from the various singles from the Stadtaffe album, as well as a handful of tribute videos created by Peter Fox fans. While my collection is full of videos of live performances, many of which have only collected dust since I first watched them, I can watch Live aus Berlin over and over again.
Unfortunately, if my rather elementary German skills haven’t failed me, Peter Fox will not be putting out another solo album. Instead, he will be returning to Seeed, and will presumably turn his abundant talents more toward production, which is where his true love lies. But, if Stadtaffe and Live aus Berlin remain as his entire body of solo work, Peter Fox will be remembered as a unique and uniquely engaging artist.
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