CD Thoughts - Brownman Ali (Apr 2014) Eliana Cuevas - Espejo ====================================== Music ====================================== Track 01: Estrellita - love it! - propulsive and always moving forward - interesting arrangement - really like the subtle supporting backing vocals - one of my favs on the record - wise choice to start with this tune Track 02: Pedacito - very pretty - the use of electronics seems misplaced here (given what the rest of the record showcases and highlights (ie - an essentially organic sound) - I like the sonata at the end (though there were some tuning issues I heard) Track 03: Nacera - Lovely opening - deep groove when the band drops - fantastic background vocals during sax solo Track 04: Llego - tribal - nice groove... wished it was dirtier. - LOVE the kick drum pushing 3 & 4 (very Timba!) - very nice use of electronics on this tune (THIS is the tune to do that). - great piano solo! - very nice arrangement Track 05: El Tucusito - my favourite track on the record - the vocal gymnastics in the Venezuelan 6/8 is really captivating... the maraca and cuatro players almost steal the show - almost! - really killing contrast between long languid singing and the staccato melody. - LOVE the faster, break-neck outro. - So good! Track 06: Lamento - lovely, but a little too Latin rock-ballad for me (it's the drums really... they are, in my opinion, too heavy for the track). I would have liked to hear this track with no drums... maybe light percussion and bigger emphasis on the strings - great string writing Track 07: Agua, Cangrejo, y Sal - New Orleans... kinda blusey? Uh... ok. - Good tune, enjoyed the horns and the approach... but it feels very strange on this record (to me). Track 08: Nueva Vida - very Chick Corea sounding - I like the double-time cross-stick vibe a lot (off the top) - Funky - nice word-less vocal interlude against the piano Track 09: Melancolia - absolutely beautiful - gorgeous melody, exquistely sung - stunning layered harmonies - but the use of electronics here bothered me... the electric train in the background made me nuts by the end. And I found myself (as I did earlier asking - "why?". The use of electronics didn't add to the track... Track 10: Anitito - interesting arrangement ====================================== Overall comments on the music: ====================================== - not enough! A 42 minute record? Awful. We live in an age of people putting out CONTENT... A CD under an hour in this day and age (to me) is doing your fans a disservice. - I would have programmed the record slightly differently... For example: 2 slow tunes right after the bright Estrellita wasn't a good move... and I don't think Anitito was a great ending tune... melancolia would have been a better choice, and end low and soft (or end big and bold with Tucusito)... I know why you ended with Anitito -> because Leila's on it (and yes, she's adorable as fuck)... but musically, I feel it's not the best choice. In fact I think if that tune was second last, and then you end with Melancolia, it would be a much more powerful arc. - your voice sounds defined and strong... enjoyed particularly all the backing vocals that made appearances - lots of musical textures on this record... and I like that BUT I think it crosses the line into "too many" and gives the whole record an identity crisis. I'm not sure who I'm listening to sometimes... at moments it's a bolero record with strings... at other moments it's Brazilian... or Venezuelan... or funky... and as much as I like each of those tracks as individual tracks -- when I stand back and view the record as a whole, I feel like I'm not sure what the message is, or what the identity of the artist is. I don't have that problem when I listen to, say, Prince... or Sting... or even Diana Krall... they always sound VERY defined. This is the danger of having wide musical interests... on a single record it can dilute the intent. It's why I have separate bands doing separate things. ====================================== Packaging ====================================== - I *hate* that there's ZERO information about the tunes. No backstory, no discussion of how they came about, why certain choices were made. Nothing. Just lyrics. In an era dubbing "the information age" to not include such thing data is a failing. - wasted use of packaging -- back space under the disc - blank... wasteful. - the front cover image choice wonderful - it's vivid and alive... in stark contrast to the "mirror image" on the back, which looks like a bad watercolor painting. Inconsistent imagery. - personal taste statement -- not into the colour scheme - where are the english translations of your lyrics? Is this record for Spanish speakers only? 6 times I wanted to know what you were saying. My girl walked in while Melancholia was playing and asked what you were singing about (because she was so moved by the beauty of the melody), and I had to say "no idea -- no english translations either". In an ENGLISH country where you live you don't include english translations? Crazy. ====================================== Over-all ====================================== Songs individually - fantastic... all are 7s to 10s... but as an ALBUM... it doesn't hang together for me and feels confused as a whole. I could chop this record up into 3 or 4 different intents, add more of similar styled tunes, and you'd have 4 different records by the same artist all with different beautiful musical intentions... but all of them together on one record didn't work for me. It feels like a "best of" record. This is symtomatic of why I don't like young bands at the Rex... they're confusing their own sound by a vast palette of musical interests. The use of electronics also felt trite and unsophisticated. I think it would have been a much more interesting album without them in fact, but I get that your stretching your arms and trying to experiment. The problem is that you've put barely your big toe into that pond... when what you really should have done -- was dive the fuck in. In Llego - background vocals have a wah on them... AWESOME... sounds so good... BUT - they come out nowhere... and never come back... so what exactly was the point? That, to me, is meaningless use of electronics. Listen carefully to how Miles uses his Wah pedal... or Brecker... or hell - even me... I'm super conscious that it's a colour and texture and there has to be consistency with it's useage... it has to be meaningful. And 45 seconds of background vocal wah, is NOT meaningful to me. It cute... it's gimmicky... it's sensationalistic... but it's not meaningful. You know what would have been meaningful? Sing the whole god damn tune with a wah on YOUR vocal... turning it off for certain sections (like the bridge -- for contrast). THAT would have been some shit right there! Anyway -- as a collection of singles, I love it... great tunes if you treat them as singles... the album doesn't work for me... the packaging is functional, but you missed out on a lot of opportunities with it. So ironcially - I'd give it 6 of out 10 as an album AS A WHOLE, *BUT* I'd give each tune individually 7s, 8s, 9s and 10s... and you as a vocalist are a 9.5 on this record.