Diplomacy Through Music

Last year was the inaugural year of OneBeat, a monthlong residency program for musicians from around the world that some friends of mine from Found Sound Nation co-founded. In roughly a week's time the OneBeat 2013 fellows will begin their journey. What better time to reflect on the results of last year's experiment: the OneBeat 2012 Mixtape just dropped.

Its world music meets hip hop meets freak folk meets experimental meets noise. Its a feast of spontaneous creative energy. And its full of surprises.

Dr. Dog "The Truth"

Haven't spent much time with Dr.Dog (and don't particularly plan to). But this new track of theirs - "The Truth" - sounds so good and is deliciously apropos ;)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/05/arts/05iht-conway.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Still in a research mode and found this show.   Hope to put some of these creative juices into work soon...

As most of you know, I love this guy's work and consider him a major influence.  Good read, check it out!http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/06/magazine/george-saunders-just-wrote-the-best-book-youll-read-this-year.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

A strong lady.

Provincetown, Cape Cod  2008

Trailers

Both of these look good:
New Coen Brothers "Inside Llewyn Davis"
and new Michel Gondry "Mood Indigo":

Lucrecia Martel

Steve turned me on to Argentinian director Lucrecia Martel a few years ago. She's made three films: La Cienega (2001), The Holy Girl (2004) and (my favorite) The Headless Woman (2008). I was just wondering what wazzup with her and found some good info. Her next film has been announced: an adaptation of the historical novel "Zama" by Antonio di Benedetto (Hollywood Reporter says it's set to start shooting in July 2013). And then this promo/short film she did in 2011 for the fashion label Miu Miu. It's distinctly stranger and more stylized than her films though there's something of the psychological brink, conceptual sound engineering and quietly stunning beauty (like around the 4:40 mark where the models bodies become shifting planes) that winds through her work (especially Headless Woman). Let's do this, Lucrecia!

Four Tet, Grimes & Brandy

Have listened to this about 20 times the last two days - such strange bliss... Soundcloud. There's also a link to download the Four Tet radio session this is from (and it starts with an a capella version of Brandy's "Almost Doesn't Count") at FADER. I remember watching this Brandy performance on Leno while I was living in Somerville, MA and writing a poem about it, which I entered in to a Pavement poetry contest and won a signed poster. Love those lady-island moments like the rise of her voice singing "you'll come running back, baby, from the cruel cruel world."