Having just witnessed Jamie Cullum perform on Brazils most popular and ridiculous variety show, the appropriately named 'Faustao', I felt a need to talk about the real Brazil. Honestly, his attempt to ingratiate himself with the population by morphing his latest easy jazz rock number into an all out samba fest with drums and dancing girls was quite revolting. It will probably work though. There is a popular image that Brazilians are cool, and while quite a few of them are, there is a significantly higher proportion who consider the worst dregs of 'western' culture as something worth co-opting.
This morning, while finally getting around to listening to Sufjan Stevens 'The Avalanche' (verdict: predictably, I loved it) I was treated to a full volume rave nation version of 'I Say A Little Prayer.' I don't know about you but i always thought that the one thing lacking from Aretha's tender classic was a 160 bpm gabba beat. And when I say full volume, I mean dub soundsystem at the Notting Hill carnival, headphones rendered useless, full volume. This was not the soundtrack you asscociate with Brazil, if you think it'll be bossa nova, tropicalia and samba all the way, you are sadly mistaken. Last week I was treated to Stoke's own Robbie Williams, also playing outside my flat at retina shattering volume.
Don't get me wrong, I love this country, and virtually every person I have met has been very friendly and helpful. I'm just saying that Brazilians are as lazy as everyone else when it comes to their culture, and if one offers to lend you a CD, you might want to politely decline.
"And where are these mp3's you promised us?" the kids (okay, kid) demanded. Well they begin right now. I have decided on my favourite ten downloads from the last month and I am going to put them up here all week, ending with my absolute favourite, just to make it exciting. Kinda.
I thought it would be appropriate to start with Brazilian Girls, as you know I'm like in Brazil and that. Also, this is a MSTRKRFT remix and i can't stop listening to their fantastic album 'The Looks', which if I was a lazy journalist I would describe it as the album that Daft Punk should have made after 'Homework'. However, I am not a journalist and I love both those follow up Daft Punk albums, so I am not going to say that.
Brazilian Girls - Jique (MSTRKRFT Remix)
09.04.06
Just looking around the internet I discovered that Stoplight Sleep has also given love to the MSTRKRFT album yesterday and posted a different remix. And Shake Ira Shake Ira has posted a DFA Remix of Arthur Russell which I can't tell you anything about because the blog is in Italian. Sounds great though.
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