ARTURO EN EL BARCO [PUERTO RICO]
raymond dotson
you may recall an earlier post on fat planet re: puerto rican trio balun, responsible for some beautiful downbeat compositions, mixing the organic and the electronic in a simple, yet stylistically emotive way. as a tangent to that project, balun member ang√©lica negr√≥n gives us arturo en el barco, stepping away from regular vocal duties and concentrating more on her role as a composer. at the age of 24, she’s currently working her way through a degree in composition at the conservatory of music of puerto rico (harp, cello, accordian and violin are her forte). if arturo en el barco is the equivalent to her dissertation, then she’ll start her post-college life with an incredible body of music to her credit. i adore the above track for the audacious opening use of a classic christian hymn, that morphs into a hypnotic piano repitition married with dust & scratches and a faint trace of broken beat – all combined, an original and stunning piece of music. her debut album is entitled ‘music for students and their friends’ and is described as “sound explorations inside and outside the piano”. download more tracks at the carte postal site and for more information on angelica, go to arturoenelbarco.tk.
COCOROSIE [U.S.]
noah’s ark
cocorosie appeared on fat planet’s first compilation cd back in 2004, and it’s therefore with some degree of anticipation that i cracked open the case on their second album ‘noah’s ark’. a great deal has been written about cocorosie since the release of their debut ‘la maison de mon reve’, a set recorded on lo-fi recording equipment in an apartment in paris. much like the above arturo en el barco mp3, the album had a misty, child-like quality; it could well have been recorded in a castle ballroom somewhere inside a nursery rhyme. for ‘noah’s ark’, sisters bianca and sierra casady have retained their trademark style, yet they’ve wisely opted to record in the studio this time around. gone is the lo-fi ambience, yet what now shines through is their inspired songwriting and love of leftfield production. one of the album highlights is the guest appearance of antony (he of the johnsons) for the track ‘beautiful boyz’ (a song that will remain in your heads for many days), and other guest appearances include a turn from devendra banhart. more info at touchandgorecords.com
SOME WATER AND SUN [JAPAN/U.S.]
all my friends have to go mp3 at download.com
the feature album on this week’s radio show was ‘all my friends have to go’ from some water and sun, a collaboration between hefty label boss, john hughes (aka slicker) and japan’s shin tasaki (spanova). described as “art bionic lover’s rock, part R&B braided microhouse, part quiet storm soul classicism”, the album drags the now-aging guitar / electronica relationship into the 22nd century, drawing on a far wider pool of styles and genres for a daring and original collection.