CrammedBlog

Crammed Discs Remix Contest

Creative Commons weblog and Crammed Discs anounced the Crammed Discs Remix Contest.

The Creative Commons remix contest is organised in conjunction with Crammed Discs over at the Creative Commons community remix site, ccMixter. Crammed artists Cibelle, DJ Dolores, and Apollo Nove—some of Brazil’s most innovative contemporary musicians—are offering new sounds online under a Creative Commons BY-NC license, so people throughout the world can legally use them in remixes, mash-ups, and new compositions. Nine winning remixes will appear on a Crammed/ccMixter EP project to be sold online through digital music stores.

Participating is easy: read the official rules of the contest. (Also available for download as a PDF), download the audio sources, make your remix and upload your mix to ccMixter under a CC BY-NC license between April 26, 2006 and May 24, 2006.

Go to the Crammed Discs Remix Contest pages for all details and separated audio elements downloads of Cibelle’s “Noite de Carnaval,” DJ Dolores’s “Sanidade,” and Apollo Nove’s “Yage Cameras”.

Check the artists view on remixing content on the Crammed Discs Remix Contest pages:

“The whole process of making music has changed. The very concept of composition now extends to the creation of sounds and textures. I’m very curious to see how other people will use and manipulate my sounds and how they will use them as tools to create new music.” — Cibelle

The nine winning remixes will appear on a Crammed/ccMixter remix compilation, to be sold online through digital music stores. Your chance to engage in a creative dialogue with Crammed Discs artists Cibelle, DJ Dolores, and Apollo Nove and get your mix of their work on the Crammed/ccMixter remix EP!

Tags: creative commons crammed discs cc mixter cibelle dj dolores apollo nove remix

'06 SPRING FEVER AT CRAMMED !

Think Of One ‘Tráfico’

The ebullient Belgian combo see themselves as musical explorers, and have previously travelled around the globe to record with Moroccan, Brazilian and Inuit artists, blending ‘exotic’ elements with their own jazz/funk/punk/reggae roots to create new, original and always very festive music. Tráfico is a collaboration with 4 musicians from the Brazilian Northeast, including veteran cocô singer Dona Cila do Cocô. Brazilian rhythms abound, yet this is really a trip to Thinkofone-land… T.O.O. have previously released albums on their own tiny label, managing along the way to garner a devoted international fan base, and to earn a BBC Award for World Music. “Like Manu Chao, they have their own distinctive sound, but are able to create music built around openness and collaboration” (UK magazine fRoots).

Tuxedomoon ‘Bardo Hotel Soundtrack’

A “Road Movie Of The Mind” by the mythical band which so successfully reformed to put out the superb Cabin In The Sky album in 2004. Last Spring, Tuxedomoon traveled back to San Francisco (where the band was formed in the late ‘70s) in order to start writing material for their next album. But the atmosphere of the place had unexpected effects on them, and drove them to record a series of “spontaneous compositions” (as Mingus would have put it) instead, which soon formed the basis of this side project, intended to be the soundtrack for a film the band is currently shooting with Greek visual artist George Kakanakis. Consisting of inspired instrumentals interspersed with various vignettes and found sounds, the album will be released under the Made To Measure imprint, Crammed’s legendary instrumental/soundtrack series from the 80s/90s, which is symbolically being resurrected just for this occasion….

Cibelle ‘The Shine of Dried Electric Leaves’

Like nobody else you can think of, Cibelle makes use of a variety of elements to create unique, imaginative and enchanting pieces of music. Combining rootsy acoustic instrumentation & electronic processing, noise guitars & children’s toys, fascinating textural soundscapes & pure melodies carried by her unmistakable, moving voice, her second album is a masterpiece. 14 songs ranging from limpid, simple gems (such as her rendition of a Tom Waits song) to genuine mini-symphonies bursting with ideas. Produced by Cibelle, Mike Lindsay (from UK folktronica act Tunng) & Apollo Nove, and featuring appearances by Devendra Banhart, Seu Jorge (of ’City Of God‘ and ’The Life Aquatic‘ fame), and CocoRosie human beatboxer Spleen. 

Wiseintime ‘The Ballad of Den the Men’

A highly inebriating mixture containing equal doses of jazz tangents, folk guitars, electronica and captivating vocals, Wiseintime is the new brainchild of the prodigious Ian Simmonds (the visionary UK artist whose previous, largely-instrumental nu-jazz albums as Juryman were unanimously acclaimed). To create this new project, Ian has moved to the easternmost part of Germany and settled in the small town of Jena (which, appropriately, was both the cradle of the German Romantic movement - Goethe and Schiller lived there - and of precision optics), where he recuited four very young & talented musicians to form the Wiseintime band.  “One of Britain’s most vital talents” (Mojo, UK) - “A glimpse into as-yet-unexplored worlds” (Les Inrockuptibles, France).

Tartit (tba)

Nothing is more evocative of the fascinating expanses of the Sahara desert than the music of Tartit, a Tuareg band consisting of five women and four men residing in the Timbuktu region (in northern Mali). Unlike the other renowned Tuareg band, Tinariwen, Tartit play quiet, hypnotic music: the women sit down, sing, and play cyclic rhythms on their tinde drums, while the men accompany them on string instruments. uThe men are veiled, the women aren’t. Tuareg society is one of the few throughout Africa in which women are allowed to choose (and divorce) their husbands. Tartit have already toured Europe (a.o. as part of the Desert Blues shows alongside Afel Bocoum & Habib Koité). The album was recorded in the desert by Vincent Kenis on his mobile studio.

Various Artists ‘Roots of Rumba Rock: Congo Classics 1953-55’

The long-deleted, essential collection documenting the early days of Congolese pop is finally being re-issued, this time as a double CD including both of the separate, original volumes. Lovingly put together by (Congotronics man) Vincent Kenis, Roots of RR contains 40 delightful tracks and chronicles the birth of what was to become Africa’s most popular musical style. The origins of Congolese rumba, its strange links with traditional music, with salsa piano styles, French crooners and Belgian brass-bands… the social context, the lifestyle of early Fifties Congolese musicians, all of that and much more is extensively described in the liner notes written by Kenis and based on interviews with musicians from that era.

News From The Studios!

CIBELLE is putting the finishing touches to her second album, due for release in April 2006. The tracks were recorded mostly in São Paulo and London, and were coproduced by Cibelle, Apollo Nove and Mike Lindsay (from up and coming UK folktronica act Tunng). Final takes and mixes are taking place in Paris with engineer Yann Arnaud.

TARTIT: Crammed are about to start recording the new album by this Tuareg band who live in the Sahara (in northern Mali), and recently took part in the Desert Blues shows alongside Afel Bocoum & Habib Koité. The album will be recorded in the desert by (Congotronics man) Vincent Kenis on his mobile studio, and in collaboration with Michel Winter, who has been looking after the career of Tartit (with his management company Divano, which also takes care of Taraf de Haidouks, Mahala Rai Banda and Konono N°1 among others).

BEBEL GILBERTO has been writing and recording songs for her 3rd album.

TUXEDOMOON are working on a largely instrumental soundtrack album.

THINK OF ONE: the ebullient Belgian combo have just signed a recording agreement with Crammed, and are working on their new album, due out in late March 2006. Entitled « Chuva em pô 2 », the album was recorded with several musicians & vocalists from the Brazilian northeast, including legendary veteran singer Dona Cila do Côco. Their first « Chuva em pô » project had come out on their own, tiny label, yet had managed to obtain a BBC Award for World Music. Think Of One think of themselves as musical explorers, and have previously travelled around the globe to record with Moroccan and Inuit artists.

CONGOTRONICS 3 : watch this space for more news on the recording of the forthcoming volume in the series !

Exclusive video preview of «Congotronics 2 - Buzz'n'Rumble In The Urb'n'Jungle»

The KONONO N°1 album (Congotronics 1) has started giving worldwide exposure to the strange and spectacular electro-traditional mixtures which are being concocted in the suburbs of Kinshasa, Congo. World music, electronica and avant-rock aficionados have been equally amazed by this otherworldly music, which has driven the international press to come up with extremely surprising comparisons (from Can and Krautrock to Jimi Hendrix, Lee Perry and proto-techno !...).

Hot on the footsteps of Congotronics 1, here comes a fresh selection of even more amazing sounds, courtesy of no less than seven electro-traditional bands from Kinshasa, which have all been especially recorded and produced by Crammed’s Vincent Kenis

Included here are excerpts of videos by the following bands :

Basokin

Sobanza Mimanisa

Masanka Sankayi

Technorati tags: Congotronics Konono N°1

New Zuco 103 Video

“Na Mangueira”, the video for the new single by Zuco 103, has just been completed.

The single is extracted from the band’s latest album “Whaa!“.

tags:
Brazilectro Crammed Crammedblog Crammed Discs Musicblog Ziriguiboom Zuco 103

APOLLO NOVE

‘RES INEXPLICATA VOLANS’
The amazing young producer/musician/singer from São Paulo who produced Cibelle‘s first record has come up with an exquisite album: modern yet retro, electronic yet folk, and definitively Brazilian, groovy and sexy. He has invited some seductive voices to sing with him: Cibelle, Céu, Tita Lima and Seu Jorge.

More information soon.

Technorati tags:
4hero Apollo Nove Bebel Gilberto Bossacucanova Carl Craig Celso Fonseca Cibelle Congotronics Crammedblog Crammed Crammed Discs DJ Dolores Konono N°1 Made To Measure Mahala Raï Banda Musicblog Suba Sussan Deyhim Hector Zazou Taraf de Haïdouks The Honeymoon Killers Tuxedomoon Zap Mama Ziriguiboom Zuco 103

CONGOTRONICS 2 - BUZZ'N'RUMBLE FROM THE URB'N'JUNGLE

After the explosive KONONO Nº1, the Congotronics series presents 6 other astounding bands from the suburbs of Kinshasa, including Kasai All Stars, Masanka Sankayi and Basokin. More heavily-distorted sounds, more DIY amplification… but also a whole array of different rhythms, buzzing drums, swirling guitars and hypnotic balafons. A DVD will be included to show it all.

More info soon here on Crammedblog.

Preview of new Bebel Gilberto video

After her successful Brazilian tour, Bebel Gilberto is touring the USA in September. Tour dates here below:

08/09 - SAN DIEGO, CA - HOUSE OF BLUES
09/09 - LOS ANGELES, CA - HOLLYWOOD BOWL
10/09 - LOS ANGELES, CA - HOLLYWOOD BOWL
29/09 - NEW YORK - BLUE NOTE
30/09 - NEW YORK - BLUE NOTE
01/10 - NEW YORK - BLUE NOTE

Check also the exclusive preview of her new video of the fine remix of Winter by Finland’s Nuspirit Helsinki.

For more details on "Bebel Gilberto Remixed", go to the Crammed website

INDIAN SUMMER

While you’re still enjoying diving, climbing, walking, escaping and doing other exciting summer things, the little bees at Crammed are preparing a beautiful Indian Summer for you…

APOLLO NOVE, the amazing young producer/musician/singer from São Paulo, the man who produced Cibelle’s first record, has come up with an exquisite album: modern yet retro, electronic yet folk, and definitively Brazilian, groovy and sexy. He has invited some seductive voices to sing with him: Cibelle, Céu, Tita Lima and Seu Jorge. His album is called “Res Inexplicata Volans”.

We will also release THE NOW SOUND OF BRAZIL 2 , the new Ziriguiboom compilation. Great songs, unreleased tracks & exclusive mixes from our adored Brazilian artists incuding Cibelle, Zuco 103, Celso Fonseca, Bossacucanova, Bebel Gilberto, DJ Dolores and more… and last but not least the compilation will be sold at a nice price.

Ahhh! HUGO and his album "La nuit des balançoires" : if you don’t understand French, you will miss some of the content of his Twin-Peaks-meets-Conan-Doyle-on-a-surnatural-sarcastic-tip stories, but then again you’ll feel it simply by hearing the atmosphere of his arrangements (ranging from limpid to quirky), his high-pitched voice and his wonderful melodies....

TARAF DE HAÏDOUKS: you were probably wondering when we were going to make a DVD with our lovely honourable brigands? Well, it’s almost done! 2 young directors are working on it. It will include a program with the Tarafs in concert in the UK, when Neacsu was still alive, very touching, and Johnny Depp telling the world why he loves them so much, filmed by UK director Marc Allen. Also, a documentary about the Band of Gypsies playing in their country, Romania, for the first time on their 10th anniversary, shot by Elsa Dahmani. There will also be several bonuses, interviews, video postcards of the Tarafs playing around the world etc.

CONGOTRONICS 2: “BUZZ’N’RUMBLE FROM THE URB’N’JUNGLE” : after the explosive KONONO N°1, professor Vincent Kenis will present us 5 other stupendous electro-traditional bands from the suburbs of Kinshasa, including Kasai Allstars, Masanka Sankayi & Basokin. More heavily-distorted sounds, more DIY amplification… but also a whole array of different rhythms, buzzing drums, swirling guitars and hypnotic balafons. A DVD will be included to show it all.

NOW SOUND OF BRAZIL 2

Soon to be released…

Ziriguiboom/Crammed is widely recognized as one of the major sources of new Brazilian music, having signed and developed artists such as Cibelle, Suba, Zuco 103, Trio Mocotó, Celso Fonseca, Bossacucanova and of course Bebel Gilberto, whose debut album "Tanto Tempo" has become a worldwide success.

This second volume of the NOW Sound Of Brazil series showcases Ziriguiboom’s latest exciting signings Apollo Nove and DJ Dolores, and comprises album tracks and exclusive remixes by all the artists currently on the Ziriguiboom roster.

More info soon here.

4 Crammed albums in iTunes USA Top 10 World!

This week 4 Crammed/Ziriguiboom albums appear in the iTunes USA Top 10 World Music chart.

3 Bebel Gilberto albums ("Bebel Gilberto”, “Tanto Tempo” and her latest, “Bebel Gilberto Remixed") and “Uma Batida Diferente” by Bossacucanova.

More info on the albums and artist availble at Crammed website.

Direct iTunes links here below, you can also connect to your local iTunes store if needed:

Bebel Gilberto Remixed


Tanto Tempo


Bebel Gilberto


Uma Batida Diferent

Direct iTunes links to new Crammed releases

From today on we will integrate direct iTunes links to the Crammedblog with automatic links to iTunes online shop where you can preview and buy Crammed Discs songs.

Check the link (iTunes icon) below for direct iTunes acces to the new “Bebel Gilberto Remixed” album.

Cibelle 'About a Girl' Exclusive Preview

Exclusively visible on the Crammed Blog, this video is extracted from Cibelle‘s forthcoming "About A Girl EP" Dualdisc, which will include 4 new songs on the audio side and 4 video on the DVD side.

"About A Girl" is Cibelle‘s very personal rendering of an early Nirvana song. This video was directed by Elsa Dahmani.

For more details on the “About A Girl EP”, click here

ARTE Television teams up with Crammed to celebrate Brazil at the Cannes Film Festival

To celebrate the Year of Brazil in France, the Cannes Film Festival is organising a special screening of the mythical Marcel Camus film Orfeu Negro (which was awarded the Palme d’Or in 1959), followed by a cocktail party on the boat which hosts Franco-German TV channel ARTE, during which a documentary entitled Searching For Orfeu Negro will be shown in the presence of Brazil’s Minister Of Culture (and megastar) Gilberto Gil and of ARTE president Jérome Clément. This event takes place on May 18.

On this occasion, ARTE Television has teamed up with the CRAMMED DISCS label to produce a limited-edition DVD containing excerpts from a documentary by Simon Brook (Magical Jungle), an interactive map of Brazil, music videos by Bebel Gilberto and Zuco 103, and six audio tracks by Cibelle, Bebel Gilberto, DJ Dolores, Zuco 103, Celso Fonseca and Suba (*), who rank among the best exponents of the new wave of Brazilian music, and who have all been discovered and released by Crammed on its Ziriguiboom imprint.

(*) The Suba track happens to be “Felicidade”, a modernist version of a song taken from the Orfeu Negro soundtrack.

CIBELLE 'ABOUT A GIRL'

"About A Girl EP" is a DualDisc EP by Cibelle, featuring 4 new tracks and 4 videos. Her debut album established her as one of the most original and seductive young artists to come out of Brazil.

Out in May

Cibelle is about to do a giant leap forward with the new album she’s now working on. This limited-edition EP points to the new directions she’s exploring (more folk, more microbeats, more sonic inventivity...). The CD side contains four new songs, including the title track, a cover of an early Nirvana song. The DVD side contains four videos made by young filmmaker Elsa Dahmani (Tony Gatlif’s daughter) and by Cibelle herself.