Tinta Fresca

“Where others see no way out, we see art!” (Slogan on the back of AfroReggae’s van)

Tod Machover (Composer and Inventor, MIT Media Lab) talks about “the next big thing” in music…and I’m not sure how I feel about it. 

Jorge Drexler loves Austin and Barton Springs

Good piece from DFW on Jorge Drexler, an under-appreciated musical genius and a really nice guy too:

“Along with Brazil’s Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil and Argentina’s Fito Paez, he is arguably the best South American singer-songwriter of his generation.”  True that.

On the DJ Spooky tip, check out this fascinating documentary called “Copyright Criminals” about the copyright/sampling debate.  I learned about it during a SXSW Music panel called “Why hasn’t Girl Talk been sued yet?”, which featured a pair of lawyers (who seriously got into it on stage: tears were shed, no joke), DJ Spooky, and the filmmaker. 

Two large cups of coffee today…my apologies for the posting frenzy.

Beck’s “Record Club” is quality.  From his website: “Record Club is an informal meeting of various musicians to record an album in a day. The album chosen to be reinterpreted is used as a framework. Nothing is rehearsed or arranged ahead of time. A track is put up here once a week. The songs are rough renditions, often first takes that document what happened over the course of a day as opposed to a polished rendering. There is no intention to ‘add to’ the original work or attempt to recreate the power of the original recording. Only to play music and document what happens.”  Dig this jam with the one & only Jamie Lidell.

Free legit download of a great sampler of contemporary music from the bumpin' Brazilian town of Pernambuco

Click on “baixar” next to each track to download individually or “Baixar o álbum completo” to get the whole thing.