Music Video: Miraculous - ยังเสียใจ (Still Sad)

There's something that I always enjoy about really hip-hoppy/poppy reggae.  If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you'd know that I love artists that combine upbeat melodies and hip-hop influenced vocals with syncopated Caribbean and African rhythms.  So, artists like Seeed, Afroreggae, Irie Révoltés, and Culcha Candela get a lot of play here.

Well, just because I am going all the way to Thailand today does not mean that I will break with this tradition.  In fact, if you replace the German and English of Seeed, or the French and German of Irie Révoltés, or the Spanish and German of Culcha Candela with the Thai and English of Miraculous - as you do on their song ยังเสียใจ (Still Sad) - you will not feel overwhelming culture shock.

Unfortunately, like much of the music that I find from Asia, I am having a difficult time finding information about Miraculous that I can actually translate.  Bing Translator does yeoman's work of attempting to translate the band's bio on Last.fm from Thai to English, but the result is largely an unreadable garble. This is made even more difficult because, like a frustrating number of bands from around the world, their name is neither terribly unique or easily searchable.  That having been said, if you know anything about Miraculous, please post to the comments.  I'd love to know more.

News: Seeed Releases New Single

For the past several months, the website for my favorite German band Seeed has contained little news beyond the simple note that they are working on their new album.  Every few weeks I check back to see if there are any updates.  This morning, I planned to check their website again, but Seeed beat me to it.  Waiting for me in my e-mail box was a note from Seeed titled "Neues von Seeed".  Much to my joy, after a 5 year hiatus and 4 separate solo albums by its members, Seeed has finally released a brand new single titled Molotov (available for free download from the Seed website).

Having trouble with the free download link, I initially went to the Seeed website to see if I could find the new single there.  I made the mistake of first listening to an instrumental version of Molotov.  Frankly, I was unimpressed.  It was all electric guitars, drums, and synthesizers, closer to the style of metal than the dancehall infused reggae that has made Seeed so popular.  Was this really what I had waited so long for?  After spectacular solo albums from Peter Fox, Boundzound, and Dellé, was this really the best they could do?

Eventually they fixed the bugs on the download site, and I was able to finally listen to the song they are actually releasing.  Thank heaven they included the vocal track that had been removed for the website.  It makes the song at least 85% more listenable.  That's not too bad, but still not nearly what I had expected.

Perhaps the greatest potential problem with Molotov is that it strays so far from built up expectations.  Seeed has always been known for their powerful vocals, smooth and complex rhythm section, rollicking horns, and even a DJ to add some auditory spice.  This new track lacks all but the familiar vocals.  Standing by itself, Molotov is a decent enough tune.  Standing together with the rest of Seeed's body of work, it just doesn't fit.  I understand the need for bands to musically grow and evolve.  If Molotov is any indication, Seeed hasn't just grown or evolved; it's not even the same band.

Music Video: Marteria - Sekundenschlaf

I am a huge fan of the German dancehall band Seeed (trust me, this is going somewhere), and have been biding my time while its various members follow their solo side projects before returning to record a new album in 2011.  Well, imagine my delirious joy when I saw on their website that they had just released a "remix" of German rapper Marteria's song Sekundenschlaf.  Well. . . it's actually not all that different from the original version, but it is enjoyable nevertheless.

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.