Eclectic Vibes - February 2010
by Andrew Frey
DJ Rekha
THE NEW DEAL WITH DJ REKHA
We got to the Majestic Theatre in Madison on 1/30 soon after the posted time of start and true to their media, DJ Rekha was already mid set as we got settled. I was excited to see her because she is one of the initiators of the bhangra sound into the Western culture and we don’t get to see such things around here often. What a delight to experience live and bask in the ethnic vibrations at club volume. Nothing much for a stage show; just a well versed DJ doing her thing.
Since she was just one performer on stage, the show was set up to seamlessly and quickly transfer over into The New Deal’s set. When this inevitably occurred, the seasoned Canadian trio pounced on the stage and tore into their song list, ushering forth wave after wave of cosmic grooves that titillated our senses and caused our bodies to gyrate in continuous effortless fashion. Spacey ambience flowed into funky rock only to end up the butt of a magnanimous jam. The crowd was generally young and sparkly but the moon was full and managed to electrify the evening for all involved.
As the energy swelled, so did the crowds, reaching what appeared to be peak capacity by the time The New Deal took a set break. In short order, DJ Rekha seized the down time opportunity to spin another set during the band break. This allowed for the extra motivated to continue dancing and soak up the pleasurable Punjabi driven ambience.
When the second set for The New Deal arrived, they really spun up the beats to once again enmesh the attention of those in attendance. Their sonic Monet’s played sensationally to the assembled friendly masses of writhing bipeds.
Spotting bar time on the horizon, the music came to a crowd pleasing climax and we expressed ourselves in directions various through the temperatures severely frigid. Until we meet again then… www.djrekha.com www.thenewdeal.com
LOTUS ANTICIPATION
Gravitating to the bigger letters on more and more festivals, these tough yet versatile instrumentalists are set on bringing forth many facets of the greater musical whole together. This 5 piece meldings dance, jam, rock, techno and a plethora of ambient juxtapositions in-between. They can be found touring through our area showing off their simultaneously released EPs“Feather On Wood” and “Oil On Glass” which are revisioned extensions of the acclaimed Hammerstrike studio sessions.
As there are two releases, so will we be treated to two blissful nights with Lotus at the beautiful Majestic Theatre in Madison, WI. Also, two of our local faves open the shows; Steez on 2/19 and Bhagdad Scuba Review on 2/20. Also appearing Basic Physics. www.lotusvibes.com
MICRO REVIEWS:
This Month's Rating Scale is from 1 is Red thru 10 is Green
Eli August - I Was Already Too Late
Eli August
Album title: I Was Already Too Late
Record Label: Self Released
Rating: 8
Fermata guitarist (aka Jon Koschorek) simplifies and strikes out on his own. Keeping with the melodramatic and introspective gothic time period music that seem to effortlessly stream from his musical muses, he stalwartly funnels forth a brief splash of somber memories and distant emotions for your inspection.
(3639) Page Views
Eli August online:
• Website
• Download I Was Already Too Late from Amazon
Gabriel Johnson - Fra_ctured
Gabriel Johnson
Album title: Fra_ctured
Record Label: Electrofone Music
Rating: 9
Born on the whims and whimsy of quirky electronica, this phenom trumpeter has found liberating fields of instrumental bliss through jubilant ProTools antics and his own “fractured jazz” notions. He bids you to enter this new frontier and play with him.
(3944) Page Views
Gabriel Johnson online:
• Website
• Download Fra_ctured from Amazon
• Purchase Fra_ctured on Amazon
Lovewhip - Love Electric
Lovewhip
Album title: Love Electric
Record Label: Self Released
Rating: 7
These inviting new wave tinged electro pop anthems are synthesized for your dancing pleasure. Specially delivered with a sleek and sexy, booty moving undertow the songs are delicately spiced with the fun, frisky and retro elements of disco, reggae, and rock.
(3365) Page Views
Lovewhip online:
• Website
• Download Love Electric from Amazon
• Purchase Love Electric on Amazon
Robots In Boxes - From Outer Space
Robots In Boxes
Album title: From Outer Space
Record Label: Self Released
Rating: 6
What starts as a clever techno diatribe on the philosophical aspects of robotic integration into our human existence spins out into somnambulistic industrial ambience. The initial quirkiness and bracing samples flush into minimalistic urges and tendencies with little reward.
(3346) Page Views
Robots In Boxes online:
• Website
SambaDá - Gente!
SambaDá
Album title: Gente!
Record Label: Self Released
Rating: 9
Brandishing a percussive Afro-Brazilian music palette this 7 member Santa Cruz, CA spawned pulse pounding sensation emerged from a Brazilian dance group and has transformed into a wild and engrossing groove stomping treat. Further energized with musical elements of surf rock, funk, reggae and a variety of other tropical rhythms allows for the sweet interplay between the male and female vocalists to swing this party into epic form.
(3632) Page Views
SambaDá online:
• Website
Robert Soko - BalkanBeats
Robert Soko
Album title: BalkanBeats
Record Label: Piranha Music
Rating: 9
Encapsulating the energy, excitement and amazing confluence of various Balkan dance grooves that erupt once a month at club Lido in Berlin thanks to this renowned DJ. A trailblazer since the early 90s, Soko hosts this international dance party friendly to both his fellow Balkan expatriates as well as the vibrant Berlin club crowds. Current and contagious!
(3319) Page Views
Robert Soko online:
• Website
• Download BalkanBeats from Amazon
• Purchase BalkanBeats on Amazon
Souljazz Orchestra - Rising Sun
Souljazz Orchestra
Album title: Rising Sun
Record Label: Strut Records
Rating: 8
As the name aptly implies, this is a very jazz centric soul filled multi instrumental offering. Capturing the vibrant emanations from the 60s and 70s and melding Afro and Latin rhythms to their base, this Ottowa, Canada group feeds your ear with the traditional while stoking the contemporary fires of innovation and pizzazz.
(3250) Page Views
The Souljazz Orchestra online:
• Website • Wiki
• Download Rising Sun from Amazon
• Purchase Rising Sun on Amazon
Spy From Cairo - Secretly Famous
Spy From Cairo
Album title: Secretly Famous
Record Label: Wonderwheel Records
Rating: 9
This Spy (aka Moreno Visini aka Zeb) is a prolific musician and producer with hundreds of songs and over 10 albums to his credit. Here, each song is smartly woven with a specific and concentrated Middle Eastern groove to represent the many facets of this wonderful musical panorama while being diffused through a danceable contemporary dub electronica template.
(3290) Page Views
The Spy From Cairo online:
• Download Secretly Famous from Amazon
• Purchase Secretly Famous on Amazon
U-Melt - Perfect World
U-Melt
Album title: Perfect World
Record Label: Harmonized Records
Rating: 10
Invigorating the tricky elements of a wide progressive rock and jam landscape that allows the musical fauna to each be finessed into servitude combining so many diversities. In the end these livened elements becomes a wildly bountiful harvest of musical plenty, displaying unbridled textures, spectral dynamics, existential lyrics and bold song structures which are quite compelling and memorable.
(3194) Page Views
U-Melt online:
• Website • Wiki
• Download Perfect World from Amazon