The Music that I Like

Bought this vinyl record, sealed, the same day I wrote this article I've been a fan of the vinyl record since I remember. I'm not that old at 34 years old but I remember these big black things weren't sold anymore circa 1991. The other popular media at the time was the compact cassette, or just cassette as we used to call it. Awful technology. Always hated how it sounded. It was handy but the sound quality was so terrible that I preferred not to carry music with me. Then the CD was popular and it sounded good but, I don't know... It never was the same. So I started buying vinyls in 1996 to start a collection. Many years passed and at least in my side of the world no one even remembered them. I actively started looking for good printed music like five years ago. I came across a marketplace called DiscoGS which is very much like eBay but just for records. Awesome place. Easy to start your online inventory, look for records, mark them in a want-list so you can check

One of the best new disco albums has come from two venezuelan producers. There's a musical connection to the band Los Amigos Invisibles, also from Venezuela, which happen that these guy have worked with on some tracks. If you heard "La Pregunta" from the 70s with the song "Shangri-La", featured in the legendary album from Dimitri From Paris called "A Night in the Playboy Mansion" you know what I mean. Best tracks: 1, 4 (five stars), 5, 6 (five stars), 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14  (five stars). Shangri-La:  http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/shangri-la/id349276280?i=349276323

This is the second album release of this amazing band. This album sounds so romantic - even sensual, so clean, so sentimental, so organic... I love it. It's in the slower side of the metronome. There's a much darker, mellow sound comparing it to "Simple Things" which used a little bit more 60's-ish recording techniques. This one sounds very 21st century. On a scale of 1 to 5 all songs are four stars except for track 3 (Sommersault) which is a five.

So, if you want to feel high on music, if you like wooden instruments, if you like warm harmonies, you will like this. There are no lyrics here. Just beautiful string progressions accompanied by acoustic upright bass, a nice drum set, a Fender Rhodes electric piano, and some incidental atmospheric synth sounds that never bit into the rest of the music. Track 1 and 2 are a waste. Track 3 is where the album actually starts.. You'll only hear a very melancholic progression of strings. Very mellow, very sad. And it continues for several minutes until track 4 where it cheers up. The sound is very much like Sonar Kollektiv Orchester, like if it was recorded live in a tall studio. All goes well until track 6 where reminds me more of a Thelonius Monk composition. Track 7 goes back to a delicious funky-rhythmed harmony. Track 8 gets eclectic combined with a mission-impossible-ish melody in a hip-hop mood. All acoustic. Track 9 is another waste. 10 is a somewhat boring piano solo, then 1

There's a movement I follow very closely, and it is the one that carefully represent the best of those either loved or hated disco years. Currently it's very complicated to know when's a new release out but once I found something, it's the next best thing the world. I'll post the complete catalog of these too. For now we have: Cada Vez - Guy Robin Classic Disco Mix This version, the nth of the same song, succeeds on the lushness department with a very alike sound to the one famously made in the Sigma Studios, back in 1973 in Philly. The famed Philly sound -no less. The drummer, Derrick McKenzie , the same from Jamiroquai, captured the ghosts (notes) of Prof. Earl Young, not anyone else but the inventor of the 4 on the floor - open sock cymbal rhythm I love so much. The strings arrangement, from Pete Whitfield, are a little bit mechanical but very melodic. I like them too: Buy at Traxsource

Moving on to lush ballads and eclectic sounds (mainly acoustically produced) I recommend today an oldie: Simple Things by Zero 7 . The usual lineup: Electric Bass, dry drum sets, Fender Rhodes electric piano, strings ensemble, some brass, analog synths, strong presence of nylon-stringed and steel-stringed acoustic guitars... A total sound fest. Recommended tracks: All of them!