Visioneros

Peter Gabriel announced his new album entitled “SCRATCH MY BACK.” The concept is that he does a cover of one of his favorite artists and the artist hopefully will return the favor by covering a favorite Peter Gabriel song. You can listen to this album at THE GUARDIAN UK.

I’ve been a fan of Ryuichi Sakamoto since his early (1979) electronic music days with Japanese tecnopop band “Yellow Magic Orchestra.” YMO are considered the pioneers of the tecnopop genre, a major influence to modern Japanese popular music and to British bands like Japan and Duran Duran. His participation in the 1983 movie “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence” (Dir. Nagisa Oshima) for which he wrote the theme song “Forbidden Colours” sung by David Sylvian vocalist for the band Japan, brought him major attention. His acting alongside David Bowie made the movie a memorable performance.

Most people would consider the beautifully nostalgic song “Forever Autumn” as a Moody Blues tune, but it was originally written by Jeff Wayne, Gary Osborne and Paul Vigrass and was originally released on the Vigrass and Osborne (1972) album Queues with moderate success in Japan. But it was until 1978 that it became most popular when Justin Hayward of The Moody Blues was asked to sing the lead vocal for Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of The War of the Worlds reaching #5 (UK Singes Chart) in 1978. I found this video of the Live Musical performance from the LIVE IK 2006 Tour of War of The Worlds.

One of my favorite music videos from the MTV golden era in the 80s.

Ok so we’re at Nature’s Express restaurant in San Diego, CA, eating a plate of delicious vegan preparations. I start noticing that the music they were playing was interesting, fresh and loopy with mantra-like melodies. So I get up to ask and the bright girl at the counter tells me it’s the Animal Collective. I get home and find this catchy piece “My Girls” which seems to me like The Blue Man Group on acid. They’ve got great video artists working with them and have more cool songs but this is my favorite song so far, I guess the lyrics hit home for me, enjoy…

Animal Collective - My Girls (Lyrics)

Is it much that I feel I need
A solid soul and the blood I bleed
With a little girl, and by my spouse
I only want a proper house

I don’t care for fancy things
Or to take part in a precious race
And children cry for the one who has
A real big heart and a father’s grace

I don’t mean to seem like I care about material things like a social status
I just want four walls and adobe slabs for my girls

Feeling a bit of separation for dear ol’ George. So glad we still have his wonderful music. I remember a godbrother telling me how our gurudeva AC Bhaktivedanta Swami once commented that his last name Harrison also meant “Son of Hari” and that stuck in my head since. I liked that when asked by strangers what he did for a living, George would answer “I’m a gardner”… and he did love taking care of his beautiful garden when he wasn’t busy with music.

When I first heard American harpist and singer-songwriter Joanna Newsom, I felt she had come straight out of a faery tale land. Her voice transmits a timeless playful innocence as she recites strangely beautiful lyrics, a product of her creative writing studies at Mills College in Oakland, California. Her first album “The Milk-Eyed Mender” (Drag City, 2004) is a must for fans of avant-garde music, Appalachian folk and “psych folk” styles.

For those of you who have not been swept off by Imogen Heap’s storm of creativity, I am posting this video of this live performance “Live at Studio 11 103.1FM” recording/playing multiple loops of her voice with the “Ableton Live” elastic audio program and making it look so easy. I first listened to her at the end of Zach Braff’s movie “Garden State,” with song “Let It Go” recorded with Guy Sigsworth while both performed as the electronic duo “Frou Frou.” She has done songs for the Narnia movies, Heroes TV Series and is presently working on her new album, you can catch funny personal video posts of her progress on her Official Imogen Heap Channel on YouTube.

I first heard singer/songwriter Freedom, guitarist Rob Peeler and band back a few years in Balboa Park, San Diego, CA, when they performed at an Earth Day concert. Freedom and band created a magical atmosphere. You can get more info, concert schedules and download MP3s or buy their CDs on the Freedom website. Found some good songs on YouTube, here’s a sample video with the new band:

Supersoul Connection is the very cool conscientious hip-hop band from Ljubljana, Slovenia. Their bright lyrics blast through the lies of media broadcasts and popular ignorance. They are elevating consciousness around the world with their tasty sound beats and creative videos. Have a listen, spread the word: