While we’re getting all world-music, check out the new official video from Nigerian-German (how’s that for mixing your motherland metaphors?)  Nneka for her song Valley (off of her third album, Soul is Heavy, released earlier this year).  As we have written before, Nneka is sweet music to our ears.

Puerto Rico band Calle 13 recently appeared on our radar screen, and we of the Calle (Granada) are now deeply engrossed in the band and their innovative/moving videos and songs.  We admit that our allegiance to lyrics (in our native English) and their emotional sway has caused us to frequently skip over wide swaths of music primarily because we did not comprehend and appreciate the featured foreign tongue (mais, pas la langue Francaise).  Shame on us.  In the case of Calle 13, with the aid of their powerful videos and songs, we now completely comprehend their messages and the weight of their songs.

We were introduced to Calle 13 initially via their harrowing, UNICEF-endorsed video (immediately below) for their song La Bala (The Bullet).  The song speaks specifically to violence in Latin America, but the video follows an invisible bullet that shatters lives not just in Latin America, but around the world.  Through this song, the band’s René Pérez Joglar (aka Residente) and Eduardo Cabra Martínez (aka Visitante) argue against the heart-rending violence that surrounds them.  The band has said this:  “La Bala has stopped being a song within our musical production to become an instrument against violence and the use of firearms around the world,” said Visitante. ”This is a battle for peace, and throughout history, music has been a fundamental element that sways the emotions of those who can identify with the message. We trust the music, once again, will help to achieve such an important goal for all humanity”.  Hear, hear!  The video supports with vignettes of devastation from around the world.

Check out La Bala below, followed by the bilingual lyrics, and then followed by a few more superb videos/song-gems from Calle 13.  Make no mistake:  Calle 13 are seriously serious.  But as you will see it’s not all heaviness and political as you will see.  If you want to hear more in the genre, or be better tuned in to the alternative Latin scene, check out NPR’s Alt-Latino program HERE.

La Bala:

“El martillo impacta la aguja.
La explosión de la pólvora con fuerza empuja,
Movimiento de rotación y traslación,
Sale la bala arrojada fuera del cañón.

The hammer hits the needle.
The explosion of gunpowder pushes forcefully,
Movement of rotation and translocation,
Out comes the bullet shot out of the canon.

Con un objetivo directo,
La bala pasea segura y firme durante su trayecto
Hiriendo de muerte al viento, más rápida que el tiempo,
Defendiendo cualquier argumento.

With a clear objective,
The bullet crosses its trajectory with certainty and firmness,
Mortally wounding the wind, faster than time,
Defending whatever argument.

No le importa si su destino es violento,
Va tranquila, la bala no tiene sentimientos.
Como un secreto que no quieres escuchar,
La bala va diciéndolo todo sin hablar.

It does not care if its destiny is violent,
It goes calmly; the bullet has no feelings.
Like a secret that you do not want to hear,
The bullet says everything without speaking.

Sin levantar sospecha, asegura su matanza,
Por eso tiene llena de plomo su panza.
Para llegar a su presa no necesita ojos
Y más cuando el camino se lo traza un infrarojo.

Without warning, it ensures its kill, [*lit. Without raising suspicion, it ensures its kill]
That’s why it has its belly filled with lead.
To reach its prey, it does not need eyes,
Especially when its path is traced by infrared.

La bala nunca se da por vencida.
Si no mata hoy, por lo menos deja una herida.
Luego de su salida, no habrá detenida,
Obedece a su patrón una sola vez en su vida.

The bullet never gives up. [*lit. The bullet never gives itself up as beaten]
If it does not kill today, at least it leaves behind a wound.
After its exit, there is no stopping it,
It obeys its master just once in its life.

Chorus:
—————————————-

Chilean Nicolas Jaar is amongst our favorite mischievous mood-masters.   The electronica/dubstep/dance guru has killed it repeatedly in song, and his 2011 album Space is Only Noise was amongst our favorites of that year.  Over the Thanksgiving holiday Jaar and “Theater Roosevelt” released a new track entitled The Ego that is guaranteed to get you movin’ like Teddy (huh?).  Enjoy the Jamaican-accented call to “a-let Detroit go bankrupt.”  Check it out below.

Following up on their critically-acclaimed and popular first album, Gorilla Manor, LA’s Local Natives will release their second album, Hummingbird, in January.  We are fans of the band (read more HERE) and are anxious to hear the new album in its entirety. Check out below the official video for the lead song off the album, Breakers.

We know it’s unfashionable in certain circles, but we continue to be fans of Ben Gibbard in his various guises.  Whether as a part of Death Cab for Cutie, The Postal Service or with others, Gibbard and his surroundlings always craft memorable melodies with lyrical lines that frequently linger longer than limitless others. Gibbard has now released his first solo album, Former Lives, which he’s said is a collection of songs that didn’t fit with Death Cab for Cutie.  Check out his Tiny Desk Concert (the 250th) for NPR below, in which he plays a song from Death Cab’s last album, a song off Former Lives, and of all things a song from the Arthur soundtrack.

Set List
“St. Peter’s Cathedral”
“Teardrop Windows”
“When The Sun Goes Down On Your Street”

Tame Impala is another band that has not previously tamed us (and if we had to pick a muscle-car, we were always bigger Bel Air fans).  Leader Kevin Parker and band attempt to walk that fine line between enhancing the currently-fashionable mid-’60s psych-fuzz sound and merely rearranging the deck chairs on the H.M.S. Revolver or the SS Revivalist.  Having lived through the earlier era, we are predisposed to shrug off new purveyors of the old sound (Ty Segall, Thee Oh Sees, etc.) unless they really enhance the ole tropes.  And this is why we have heretofore resisted Tame Impala.  We just haven’t been “hearing it.”

But Tame Impala has been receiving near-universal raves for their recently released album, Lonerism (produced by Dave Fridmann).  With their Beatles homages and Parker’s Lennonist vocals and sway, it’s no wonder the British media in particular have been falling all over themselves to heap praise on the band.  But Tame Impala has also been at the top of the American college charts and indie-radio playlists (Lonerism was last week’s top-played album on KCRW).  So we’ve been forced to reassess.

And reassess we did when we caught Tame Impala on Later with Jools Holland this week.  We were completely taken aback (not just back) by their performance of high-and-lonely song, Feels Like We Only Go Backwards.  You can assess with us below.  Feels Like We Only Go Backwards sounds a bit of Grizzly Bear/Flaming Lips run through a Motown filter, with heartfelt, hurting lyrics and singing.  The band also performed Heaven off the new album (re-mixed thereon by none other than the master, Todd Rundgren), which to our ears is psych-fuzz circa late ’60s with some modest updates.  We prefer the former song, though we acknowledge the spot-on psych-signposts and fuzz-semaphores of the latter song, along with the instrumental acumen and adroit drum-fills thereon.

Check both performances below.  We’re going to pay stricter attention to this band and will report back our decision another day.  You do the same, and we’ll compare notes.  I’d say check them out on their North American tour (see the dates below the videos) that will begin in February, but yet again (WTH?) California has been passed over.  Likely because, you know, California just hasn’t really shown itself to be worthy in the music realm.  Lame Impala?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=DANmDX28jEo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwpVO7QMc0w&feature=channel&list=UL

Tame Impala Tour Dates:
February

19- New York, N.Y. @ Terminal 5
20- Washington, D.C. @ 9:30 Club
21- Carrboro, N.C. @ Cat’s Cradle
22- Asheville, N.C. @ The Orange Peel
23- Athens, Ga. @ The Georgia Theater
25- Houston, Texas @ Fitzgerald’s
26- Austin, Texas @ Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheater
27- Dallas, Texas @ Granada Theater
28- Tulsa, Okla. @ Cain’s Ballroom

March

2- Louisville, Ky. @ Headliner’s Music Hall
3- Milwaukee, Wis. @ Turner Hall Ballroom
4- Minneapolis, Minn. @ First Avenue
6- Chicago, Ill. @ Vic Theater
7- Detroit, Mich. @ St. Andrews Hall
8- Columbus, Ohio @ Newport Music Hall
9- Toronto, Ontario @ Kool Haus
11- Montreal, Quebec @ Corona Theater
12- Boston, Mass. @ House of Blues

Check out Montreal’s illuminating band, The Luyas, as they perform their mournful Talking Mountains for Out of Town Films while at CMJ. Perfect for a Sunday morning.  More about The Luyas soon.  The song’s lyrics follow the video.  Abientot.

Talking Mountains

I wasn’t waiting
I wasn’t looking for a face
I wasn’t dreaming of anything but space
I wasn’t repeating anybody’s name
I felt fine
Then you came along
Talking mountains
Talking horses
Talking nothing
Talking to me
You came along
Saying something
And the world was all in pieces
Talking to me
Do you want to kiss?
Are you curious?
I’ll let you come and see me
I’ll stand beside the window when you leave me.

The fresh-faced Swedish sisters, First Aid Kit, have come a long way (baby).  It was only a few years ago that the prescient John Hawkes (no, not THAT one) was attempting to entice Johanna and Klara Söderbergthem (while they were touring through Cali) to play a house-party at his Santa Barbara house.  Unfortunately for the neighborhood, the young sisters’ correctly-protective father was suspicious of the inquiry and graciously passed.  A couple years later now, and they have been killing the world quietly with their song.

What began as a pull-yourselves-up-by-your-You-Tube act, has garnered the attention of scene-makers Jack White and Conor Oberst, been produced by make-magic producer Mike Mogis, and gone on to regale at music festivals around the world.  Their 2012 sophomore album, Lion’s Roar, has also been a critical and commercial success.

Check out below their cherubic veneer and vocal liaisons as they conjoin with and quiet the Manchester crowd on Thanksgiving Day on their song Ghost Town (no, not THAT one) off their first album.  After, watch them honor Paul Simon by covering his song America at the 2012 Polaris Music Awards in August (we follow what Simon-“says” at the end). 

We were swept away by Sweden’s Jens Lekman’s first album, Night Falls Over Kortedala, in 2007.  While Lekman has put out an EP in the interim, his latest album, I Know What Love Isn’t, is his first album in over five years.  On the new album, Lekman again sounds like a cunning combo of Belle & Sebastian and Prefab Sprout, with themes of heartbreak and survival (with humorous leitmotifs along the way–it’s his Silver Linings Songbook).  Check out Lekman performing the title track and Some Dandruff on Your Shoulder off the new album below, all courtesy of Oregon Public Broadcasting and NPR.  Then go over and buy the Secretly Canadian album HERE.