Outsiders » Music

Cover Me: “Chiquitita”.

giovanealex — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 17:40:41 +0000

ABBA may be one of the most likeable music acts ever. Sinéad O’Connor is among the most controversial singers. Though they’re artists whose careers are separated by many years as well by their own behaviour, we can find them very close on their songs’ tunes, since their compositions and renditions are hugely based on emotions, be them happy or sad ones. So, it is no surprise to discover that the Irish composer and singer had made a cover of one of ABBA’s hits, “Chiquitita”.

yFeel the shiny and happy aura of the 60's! Well, Yeah, I know - not on this picture of them. But the guys are almost smiling (...almost)!

The original version of the song is quite beautiful already: starting with sorrowful guitar and piano harmonies, Anni-Fridi and Agnetha voices themselves are shown full of emotion, easily flowing from grief to joy without a hitch before the song melody becomes more intense with a really subtle feel of happiness added by drums and the piano and acoustic guitar harmonies themselves acquire that distinctive empowerment that leads to the song final trademark pulse.

ABBA – “Chiquitita” (from “Voulez-Vous” album)

She seems so peaceful that the irritating watermark they've put on the picture almost dissapears (...damn, almost!).

Sinéad’s version, released around 1998, does not change the original tune of the song, since it still relays on its pop mood, even starting with that emblematic guitar harmony. Maybe the most different feature here is the fact that it already starts with drums and a beat programing right after the guitar chords, besides adding a subtle DJ scratch to smartly point the famous “you’ll be dancing once again” verse. But, in my opinion, the best achievement of O’Connor’s version is the clearness present on the song’s lyrics: with Sinéad’s powerful and delicate voice, the song verses receive as much attention from the listener as the melody itself – they can be actually listened to, which is something that was somewhat eclipsed on the original version because of the wall of sound and overdubbing of vocals. Take a look for yourself and you will agree that on Sinéad’s voice, “Chiquitita” is quite an emotional improvement.

Sinéad O’Connor – “Chiquitita” (from “She Who Dwells…” double album)

WAIT!
The official video of Sinéad O’Connor version of “Chiquitita” is a must see – it transforms the song in a casual chat between two friends at a kitchen, in which Sinéad is the supportive and caring friend who is preparing coffee for the sad Chiquitita – simple and brilliant.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Cover Me: “Space Oddity”.

giovanealex — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 20:07:15 +0000

When people in the United Kingdom were watching the first steps of men on the Moon in 1969, the music which British television was playing on the background was a new rock tune, specially conceived to celebrate the event: David Bowie‘s “Space Oddity”. Though it is also interpreted as an allegory for drug usage, the song tells the story of Major Tom, who purposely abandons himself on space after feeling shattered by the beauty of the experience.

Think he's a bit strange? Well, you have to see what he wore on the cover of The Man Who Sold The World...

Bowie’s melody is based on sharp acoustic guitar, which softly gives it a raw sound, also reinforced by some saxophone notes and electric guitar riffs. But the song also floats with the sweetness and melancholy from the string arrangements and Bowie’s voice, whose singing starts on a very attentive tune and soon changes to fascination as the main character feels affected by that unique experience. The guitar riffs on bridge are possibly its most known melodic feature but I would say that besides that famous countdown on lyrics, it’s the anxiety effect craftily built by the reversion on string arrangements which makes the song so powerful.

David Bowie – “Space Oddity” (from Space Oddity single)

This image makes her seem sorta boring, but her songs are not like that - yeah, they are, sometimes.

On her show in New York in 1999 that was taped and later released as a her first solo live record, Natalie Merchant made a cover of this song that even resembling very much the rock flavour of Bowie’s version, has also its own identity since Natalie brought it closer to her stripped down folk-rock style. The major difference are surely its heavier use of guitar riffs and Natalie’s singing, which is warmer then Bowie’s and makes it fluctuate between subtlety and strongness.

Natalie Merchant – “Space Oddity” (from Live in Concert album)

I don't get the painting or her face and the I-wear-machinery-stuff but she is certainly not that crazy.

But it is not from an English-speaking musician that came the most heartwarming version of “Space Oditty”: It’s with her pop seasoned with electronic elements that French singer Emilie Simon accomplished the task. Emilie’s version fulfils Major Tom journey to his glorious death with delicate touches of sparkly sounds, subtle percussion, stunningly bright string arrangements and a comforting voice, even when she uses the full extent of it to improve the emotive features of Major Tom’s adventure, which is then converted to a fable – it’s a challenge not to cry listening to Emilie’s rendition to one of the most brilliant rock classics ever.

Emilie Simon – “Space Oddity” (from Bowiemania single)

Cover Me: “Red Right Hand”.

giovanealex — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 00:32:35 +0000

On their last album, Humbug, british band Arctic Monkeys enlisted a cover of “Red Right Hand”, a song originally written and recorded by Nick Cave for his album Let Love In.

Nick Cave: you can still be cool smoking cigarettes.

I discovered Cave’s song many years ago because it was selected to be part of The X-Files album that was made of songs featured on the TV series or thematically aligned with it. The track was not chosen to be featured on one of the most important episodes of the series by chance: the song has a disturbed atmosphere, not only built by the dark melody of a theremin, a bell and an organ which reminds soundtracks of old horror movies but also by Nick Cave’s voice, tossed by the Australian musician in a very painful, gothic tone, as if he was reading aloud a classic ghost-story like “The Raven”, by Edgar Allan Poe.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – “Red Right Hand” (from Let Love In)

Arctic Monkeys: the adolescent features are vanishing for good.

Though it also makes use of an organ with gothic features, Arctic Monkeys version is completely different from Cave’s: the band gives it a fast and anxious pace, fueling it with a furious drum beat and lots of guitar riffs. The subtle nasal pitch of Alex Turner‘s voice also helps to differentiate it from the original version of the song providing more energy and vibrancy to its melody.

Arctic Monkeys – “Red Right Hand” (from Humbug)

Like, Not Quite like and Dislike: Menomena, Klaxons and Animal Collective.

giovanealex — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 02:30:30 +0000

Shake, shake, shake, Menomena, shake your body line!

Like:
Menomena, the trio from Portland is one of the most creative on the indie scene, beautifully crafting songs dealing with a reasonable level of wild experimentalism without losing the grip on musical appeal. Though Menomena’s songs feature a fair amount of synth and keyboard and the extensive use of percussion, drums and guitar is frequently built on loop samples (using a computer software programmed by one of the band’s members), their songs feature that essential rock feel which seduces not only your ears but also your entire body, since when listening to some of their songs you may feel an incredible desire to shake yourself loosely to their uber-addictive groove and phenomenal rhythm. It was not by chance that they were invited to write music for an experimental dance company of their hometown.

Menomena – “The Monkey’s Back” (from I Am The Fun Blame Monster!)

Menomena – “The Pelican” (from Friend and Foe)

Klaxons wearing quite ordinary clothes - it's often quite different.

Not Quite Like:
The three boys from British band Klaxons love combining a little bit of rock with tons of glowing electronica on their songs, which have as a result some exciting tunes crowded with sparkling guitars riffs and sci-fi like keyboard chords. But most of the time this unceasing excitement on the melodies composed by them is just too much. It seems they can’t control their eager desire to put just about everything which may produce sound on a melody at the same time: guitars, drums, bass, keyboards, synthesizers and even the voice of the three guys is often splattered together on more than half of the lenght of every song released on their debut album. I hope they develop a sense of balance on time to write new songs for their second album because if they keep their music the way it was done on the first release, people will get tired of them way too soon. Meanwhile, while we don’t discover what will be of their schizophrenic style on this yet-to-be-released album, make sure you have a good amount of aspirin pills at home if you decide to listen to Myths of the Near Future for two or three times in a roll – specially when wearing headphones.

Klaxons – “Two Receivers” (from Myths of the Near Future)

Klaxons – “It’s Not Over Yet” (from Myths of the Near Future)

It's a good idea to make some fun of yourself when your music is everything but fun

Dislike:
Higly praised by the indie music press as one of the coolest things on music scene, the guys from Animal Collective are often labeled as experimental, and sure they are. Problem is that they are specially skilled on always turning their experimentalism into drowsy, liveless, anemic music. Virtually all melodies composed by the music group is made of a cyclic melodic motif that sounds as if it was recorded while the band was uncontrollably floating on the air surrounded by synthsizers and keyboards constantly babbling swirling sounds on the course of their destiny to, I don’t know, some dream-like land, not like Alice‘s or Dorothy‘s but Michael Jackson‘s. It’s psychedelic, nostalgic, minimalist daring music made by avant-garde musicians, the band’s admirers would say. I dare to say that it is just bad psychedelic, nostalgic, minimalist never-end music made by nerdy boys. It’s like masturbation, folks – without the orgasm.

Animal Collective – “Brother Sport” (from Merriweather Post Pavilion)

Like, Not Quite Like and Dislike: Emily Haines, (Frederik) Sioen and Broken Social Scene.

giovanealex — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 22:38:45 +0000

Emiy Haines showing her elegant beauty

Like:
Since I had first listened to her songs, Emily Haines has become one of my music idols. She is not only deeply talented, she is hugely versatile: on her solo project Emily Haines and The Soft Skeleton she has showed her most sensible, quiet, melancholic side, sometimes even reaching a sort of existentialism that gently covers some of her compositions; on her band Metric she has revealead a musical persona that swings sharply between pop and rock tunes which are often fuelled by a more vibrant and wild use of her vocal range.

Emily Haines and The Soft Skeleton – “Winning” (from Knives Don’t Have Your Back)

Emily Haines and The Soft Skeleton – “The Bank” (from What Is Free To a Good Home?)

Metric – “Love Is A Place” (from Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?)

Metric – “Handshakes” (from Live It Out?)

Frederik Sioen is really cute, isn't he?

Not Quite Like:
I have been trying to put Belgian singer Frederik Sioen (mostly known simply as Sioen) on my favourite artists list for some time. I guess I will keep trying to do it but I sense he will never get promoted since most of his songs are considerably boring. Actually, he has composed very beautiful songs on each of his albums but even some of these songs show quirky melodic shifts and obtuse lyric verses. Besides, his voice, which usually sounds beautiful with its husky softness is also quite strange as it seems to belong to a guy much older than he in fact is. Still, he deserves a place on my music library since he has a reasonable amount of beautiful songs and because he has showed a taste for musical versatility – his last album, Calling Up Soweto has proved it fairly well.

Sioen – “Reign” (from Ease Your Mind)

Sioen – “Son Of A Gun” (from Calling Up Soweto)

Broken Social Scene ensemble (are all of them here?)

Dislike:
When I watched “Half Nelson” some years ago I had a slight impression that Broken Social Scene‘s songs (which are featured on the film’s soundtrack) would be of my interest but when I gave the band a try the impression completely vanished. Though I adore Emily Haines so much, in my opinion on her involvement on the Canadian ensemble she wastes most of her musical qualities. Not only the somewhat (supposedly) intended amateur and raw sound of the band diminishes the power of her warm, beautiful and deeply emotive voice but the excessive number of musicians also causes her gifted abilities as a composer and musician to be mostly undermined.

Broken Social Scene – “Anthems for a Seventeen Year Old Girl” (from You Forgot It in People)

Last Note: while Emily Haines said last June she has some inspiration floating for another solo album, Sioen has left the following message on his Twitter and Facebook profiles: “Sioen is having a co-writing session in Williamsburg, Brooklyn (NY)… Exciting!”