Links for 15/04/08

In lieu of blogging, here's a list of things i've been linking to on various social networks or instant messengers over the day.

-Elio e le Storie Tese on TRL, yesterday (no music, just talking. Sorry, non italian-speakers)

-Of my recent articles on Tracklist, the London one is i think the one that turned out best.

-Takeshi from YMCK interviewed. They're one of the best bands currently active worldwide, and that's not just a personal opinion, and deserve to be checked out. I particularly liked this passage:

Unlike the real 8bit consoles, you can have as much polyphony with my plug-in as you want, so always have to be aware not to overdub it too much, so that the cheapness isn’t spoiled.

(Via JeanSnow)

-Latest work from Banksy. He's been sort of repeating himself over the past five years or so and no longer thrills me like when i first found out about him, but the accomplishment on such a grand scale is still impressive. Perhaps we should stop considering his works only physically and rather also take in account the risk factor involved. Or even only consider him an artist who works with risk and efforts not to be caught, and stop considering the painted result altogether. (Tnx to Ceci)

-A new cure to cancer - featuring hot dogs! (via RStevens)

-BIGGEST KEBAB EVAR (Tnx to Pelo)

-Adult Swim soft vinyl blind assortment from KidRobot.

-Motionportrait: an example of what can be done with Flash. (What can't be done with Flash?)

-Massive 16giga will-eat-your-parents nineties eurodance torrent. Haddaway, Dr.Alban, Corona, the whole lot. (Raw torrent file in link - beware)

-Groovisions official website with work samples. Lots of them. I don't even know what most of this stuff is but i know i want all of it. Also, it's interesting how their Warhol exhibition design is so similar to certain work they've done for Pizzicato 5, like the International Playboy&Playgirl album boxed set (both are visible in the "Works" section). Ah, but i digress.

-Tostoini plugs Gato (Grazie Roberta!)

-Suggested listening: Neil Gaiman - instructions. (128kps 4.7Mb right-click to download) A poem about what to do if you find yourself in a fairy tale.

These are all things i discovered, linked to, was directed towards, read and/or enjoyed in one day, whilst desperately attempting not to think about the results of the italian elections, and what to do about them.

a sort of big sort of update

I've felt like blogging for ages - and still have plenty to tell - but haven't had the time for, well, about two weeks now.
Much has been going on, often with my involvement, sometimes even successfully.
So this is just a much-delayed what-i've-been-doing update, hoping to be able to post more of the usual amusing ephemera sometime later (maybe in an hour, maybe next month).

I've been working for a band called Mariposa for the past three or four months. I'm doing online publicity for them of some sort, helping them out with their myriads of projects such as Magazzeno Bis, the concert/talk show/radio show they host every two weeks, and Indipendulo, their minifestival held within the annual independent label meetup of Faenza (MEI).
I'd been aware of them for some time, a listener for about a year and when i finally managed to see their live show two weeks ago i realized it was the closest i'd ever seen to the original Mothers of Invention from the late sixties. Hopefully we'll have some video online soon to give further proof to that comparison.

I'm still working for Elio e le Storie Tese, doing various unmentionable and ultimately minimal background stuff including but not limited to pissing the fans off on their forum. With a new album out and a week-long high profile late night tv show in the past month, things have been rather hectic on that front but luckily for me it was my longtime associate Pelodia who had to do most of the actual work while the rest of us sat around on the sidelines, boasting about our involvement to our real-life friends.

In addition to all that, i've been busy with a third much more ambitious project which launched at th end of last month. I've been invited to co-edit and write for a new online magazine called Tracklist. It's about music, about different tracklists based on our various moods or past experiences(hoping not to get too nickhornby-ish), about cool music stuff found online, and just about anything else that meets our fancy. The rest of the team and myself have put a great deal of energy into the project, so it's a gigantic satisfaction to have things up and running smoothly, at least at the moment (fingers always crossed).


A snapshot of what the site looks like as of this blogpost.

Considering all this stuff i've been doing just over tha past month or so, it's time for an arguably well-deserved break. I'll be in London and Oxford for a week from tomorrow, chilling with friends and visiting what i refer to as the Three D's: Duchamp, Doctor Who and Derf.

As always, updates will be present if and when time and unashamedly stolen wifi connections are available, and when i'm back i will hopefully manage to update with more pictures of the cat, girls kissing computer screens and myself on stage with one of my favourite bands. In that order because cuteness has a priority ticket here.

Weekend Download: Ominira

I had quite a surprise -and a pleasant one- the other day whilst listening to Vinicius Cantuaria's new album, Cymbals, when i realized one track was most familiar. And no, i'm not talking about the new Jobim cover he records for each new album (this time around it's Vivo Sonhando).
The song was Ominira, which i'd heard before on Lisa Ono's wonderful 2004 collection of lusafrican songs Naima ~meu anjo~. A little bit of research made me discover the song was written by Vinicius in 2002, with lyrics co-written by Angelique Kidjo for her Black Ivory Soul album.
Romero Lubambo, who was the guitarist on that album, brought the song into Lisa Ono's repertoire when working on Naima. And now Vinicius Cantuaria rerecorded his own version, complete with new portuguese lyrics.
Why so many versions? Easy: Ominira is one lovely song. And i've decided to share all three versions here.
(As always, right-click to save)

Vinicius Cantuaria - Ominira (2007) (320kps 10Mb 4:21 Mp3)

Lisa Ono - Ominira (2004) (160kps 5Mb 4:20 Mp3)

Angelique Kidjo - Ominira (2002) (192kps 6Mb 4:23 Mp3) (credits here)

There, now you can decide which version you like best. I already know which one's my favourite!

One last little thing i was wondering: Ominira is the Yoruba word for Freedom, yet this website says the lyrics are in Fon. Can anybody out there confirm or deny this?