Vanessa Daou

Playing With Code, Breaking the Grid

noreply@blogger.com (VISITING ARTISTS) — Sun, 07 Jun 2015 17:29:00 +0000

Playing with code, text & image . there's so much yet to explore with HTML & Javascrip.

Code is, indeed, Poetry ~

I explored creative applications of HTML & Javascript on my album Joe Sent Me.

Hover over 'Love Lives in the Dark' and watch the words disappear:

Drag & Drop the text / words to create new combinations:

Jonathan Bewley of Snapshots Foundation | Creative Destruction in Music

noreply@blogger.com (VISITING ARTISTS) — Thu, 12 Jun 2014 15:47:00 +0000

I came across this essay by Jonathan Bewley of Snapshots Foundation which discusses the devaluation of the music distribution economy that has unfolded over the last 12 or so years.

While new methods for distributing & sharing music have taken root, such as the Creative Commons, the predominant structure is still based on hierarchy: a top-tier model structured much like Wall Street where money rules what most people hear.

There's a lot yet to be imagined, to be sure, and perhaps the future will embrace possibilities that are neither black nor white, but somewhere in between these two models ~

For more background, read my interview with Jonathan at Snapshots Foundation, 'Future States of Music.'

V

____________________________________________________________

CREATIVE DESTRUCTION IN MUSIC

Introduction

This article aims to support a discussion about the causes and effects of the dismantling of the music industry and it’s fan base over the past 12 years. Today we see an unhealthy picture in music that bears little resemblance to the vision many shared as we crossed from the 90’s into the 21st century.

With a decades hindsight it could be said this is a time of creative destruction in music that fans of music, artists, and industry types should acknowledge as we work together to bring music back to a place of prominence in the culture.

100 years of innovation to present

Over the last 100 years the musical arts have benefited greatly from the invention and marketing of recorded music. People collected music, supported artists, and learned about past and present music with care and interest in what was a lifetime investment.

Throughout this period, innovative competition fueled a search for talent in music to present talent that formed a multi-billion dollar recording industry. Prior to this time the musician was a servant to merchants and kings. Later, the music industry made artists loyal to their record company and manager.

Although record companies were known for their exploitation of artists, many benefited, including instrument and sound equipment manufacturers, concert venues, promoters, media outlets, and countless groups who found creative ways to latch onto the artists production of music.

The system worked so well that no one predicted the coming collapse that would restructure the business and future of music. As we look back over the past twelve years, both popular and traditional music has gone through a period of creative malaise, economic struggle, drifting public attention, and implosion ofthe prior business model.

This chain of events on the creative and business side has formed a period where the future and health ofall music is uncertain. This period could be called a time of creative destruction in music, where old ideas, cultures, and practices are destroyed before a new culture is formed. Most artists acknowledge we are ina period of transition, but little is known as to where music is headed creatively.

“Be courageous. I have seen many depressions in business.” Thomas A. Edison, inventor

A new generation to continue the last’s work

Each generation produces great composers and performers to fill the ranks for artists who make up the community of performers in music. From Romantic orchestral composer Richard Strauss to jazz composers like Duke Ellington to modern bands like Tool, each composer/group provided new original songs that fueled the culture of music.

However, over the last decade a creative glass ceiling has been struck producing little in popular music or other genres to fill this tradition of the new replacing the old. Instead of experiencing new composers andgroups who are moving music forward, revision of the past is the standard for much music created today.

This environment teaches the public to expect less and only what is familiar from the past, but stifles creativity and the chance of a new life for music. Collectively we see a lack of new artists leading the way forward in music, for the opportunities to be recorded and promoted have dramatically shifted with two camps: 1) The super pop act backed by great investment 2) Artists funding their own recordings and publicity; i.e. everyone else.

“It could be another decade till music comes back in the culture” Jojo Mayer, musician

Public involvement and education

In the past century music and arts education was seen as a staple of life in schools and communities and it entertained and enriched our culture. Through this tradition, many came to know what a life with music was.

The effects of three decades of cuts to public arts programs since the 1980’s set the stage for immersion in mass-entertainment. If schools created a central place to learn then the cutting of music and arts education formed a loss of involvement with music. This picture draws questions of our societal values when certain state programs are funded but the arts in schools are cut for budgetary reasons. Scarcity and the search for stability in music have been amplified greatly in the last decade.

“We lost a whole generation of young men as music buyers to video games” -Russ Solomon Tower
Records founder

Technology and a new industry model

In the early 2000‘s the ‘age of technology’ was born with the idea of free content becoming standardized.

For over a decade free media was popularized, shaping public opinion that musicians lived richly as
depicted in music videos and marketing propaganda.

Two events occurred that shaped music: 1) Music piracy became common, ending the existence of record stores and causing ticket sales to spike through handlers such as Ticket Master (now Live Nation).

2) Palpable disappointment from the music buying public in record labels for marketing the lowest common element of entertainers like Back Street Boys and Britney Spears was redirected at the industry, causing many to exit in droves. This event dismantled the interest of two generations of music listeners in just a decade.

What was left became nostalgia that has fueled past music acts to form reunion tours, as the industry had failed to invest, cultivate, and market new bands. In effect the recording industry, headed by a small group of executives, committed business and creative suicide, damaging the culture of music for years to come.

Today the artist has to pay for their own recordings, marketing and touring. It could be said music today is a business with less music and more business than in the past.

“Music is a pay-as-you-go system now” T. Michael Crowell, writer

Exposure from radio and live venues

For years radio was a staple in marketing and learning about new music. Radio DJs and hosts were the voice that broadcasted music taste to the masses. Radio stations fiercely competed for listeners and drew advertisers though ratings. Emerging from a time of prosperity, deregulation laws allowing vast consolidation were passed in the 1990’s allowing corporations such as Clear Channel to acquire regional radio stations. Today, Clear Channel is eliminating over half of its music DJ slots for lack of revenue, leaving college radio as a last resort for listeners.

Venues have long been an issue of art meets commerce. A great opportunity missed in the last century was building public venues for art performance that were managed as public institutions or non-profit entities. The offer of small clubs with little acoustic support or patron interest are the dregs found in mostcities, while quality venues struggle to keep identity and support alive.

“Talent is cheap, and many talents treat themselves cheaply.” Bill Evans, musician

Creativity in Music

Traditionally most artists have adhered to the practice of reaching deeply for their best ideas to create great music. The image of the artist as a solitary individual came from the investment made by composers to create our best music. As Joseph Campbell said: “The artist reflects the times and speaks to what is happening at this moment”.

If we look to current pop-music then we should see a picture of society itself, drawing parallels between what is disposable and what is lasting. The lesson from past innovators was that the craft of music takes time to bear fruit. Perhaps we have lost this practice and music has suffered at the hands of lacking artists who present their work as great creations to a weary public. Great art takes time and doesn't come in a tin can.

“Music is a moral law. It gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, a charm to sadness and life to everything.” Plato, philosopher

Looking Ahead

Simply stated, we have never experienced the combination of dismal economics, poor business decisions, lack of public education, and investment in music in such a scale ever before. Although most predict music will survive all obstacles, we are seeing what the effects of pulling the economic and culturalrug out from under artists are.

Although creative musicians continue to work, collectively we have ended with greatly diminished amount of new original music to hear, with artists spending time doing other things to survive than make music.

On one hand ‘creative destruction’ may have benefits of shaking out a bloated system that controlled artists for decades. On the other we see near chaos and a lack of direction in the music community tocreate a new model or vision of the future. As in past times when industry innovators like Norman Granz
packaged and presented great jazz artists by forming Verve Records, new innovators and creative artists will have to work together to shape the future of music.

Public education and involvement will also be key to replenishing the ranks lost to video games, as human attention is the premium sought in the digital age. To understand what made the music industry work, able to produce volumes of great records, artists and creative business people will have to embrace risk, investment, education, and physical/media infrastructure to support a dynamic thriving culture and business of music again.

“Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything.” Plato, philosopher

Reflections

It does not matter what kind of music one enjoys as all music is affected in this time of creative destruction. From economics to the structure that support its whole, we are connected to music in every way. What music needs is true innovators, an invested public, and a business model fitting a new era to rebuild an excitement about the art of music that cannot be manufactured.

Music is a relationship between the artist, a public, and the support of an industry. Those who create a streamlined channel to deliver music will prosper as people respond with demand.

Creative Destruction in Music.

www.snapshotsfoundation.com

By Jonathan Bewley. c. 2012 Snapshots Music & Arts Foundation

10 Artists Who Would DEFINITELY NOT Make The Finals on 'The Voice' (the 'TOP TIER RULE', and why we should worry)

noreply@blogger.com (VISITING ARTISTS) — Thu, 05 Jun 2014 15:14:00 +0000

Billie Holiday
Leonard Cohen
John Lennon
Lou Reed
Bob Dylan
Neil Young
Grace Jones
Tom Waits
Suzanne Vega
Bjork

The subject of timbre is much-discussed by Daniel J. Levitin in his book 'This Is Your Brain on Music'. The importance of timbre cannot be overestimated: it is the one factor that gives an artist that uniqueness which no other artist can claim.

Yet, shows such as 'The Voice' and 'America's Got Talent' would have us believe that music 'talent' can be measured & divided into blocks and units, where vocal range, showmanship and self-confidence are the only, driving factors. As we become a more diverse society, one look at the top tier of the HOT 100, you'd think we were becoming less. This is not to say that there is no diversity of race, rather, diversity of sound.

In his PopMatters column 'All Things Reconsidered', Imran Khan has a brilliant piece on Suzanne Vega: 'Ordinary Magic: Suzanne Vega's 'Days of Open Hand'. I remember hearing stories at Barnard, also Vega's alma mater, about how she would play her guitar & sing so quietly, everyone had to gather closely around her to hear. The intimacy was real & palpable for her listeners.

In his Scientific American article 'Is Pop Music Evolving, or Is It Just Getting Louder?' John Matson discusses the devolution of both timbre & pitch, and how this results in an overall homogenization of the music at the top tier. As cultures & ethnicities merge, mix and mingle, our world is becoming more colorful, more complex, more interesting. So, why is it that what most people hear on the radio & on streaming services is the same songs, over & over, ad infinitum?

Hypebot has a great discussion: "Why Radio Plays Same 20 Songs: The Sad Truth Of Media Consolidation [INFOGRAPHIC]". The crux of it is:

"only six companies control 90% of the media."

And further:

"Consolidation of media has lead to far less diversity in programming and ownership, with far fewer voices being heard. Media consolidation has heavily affected the balance and diversity of today's music on terrestrial radio. This is great news if you’re Drake, Lil Wayne, Lady Gaga and the like, but not so great if you’re just about anybody else."

The Wall Street Journal's recent article by Hannah Karp "Radio's Answer to Spotify? Less Variety Stations Create More Repetition, Fearing Listeners Will Tune Out Unfamiliar Tunes" sums it up:

"Faced with growing competition from digital alternatives, traditional broadcasters have managed to expand their listenership with an unlikely tactic: offering less variety than ever. The strategy is based on a growing amount of research that shows in increasingly granular detail what radio programmers have long believed—listeners tend to stay tuned when they hear a familiar song, and tune out when they hear music they don't recognize."

Great radio still exists, but listeners must do some digging: the combination of information overload & attention deficit makes this impossible for most. The 'TOP TIER RULE' still governs most people's habits: whether in advertising or finance, what we see (or in this case, hear) is what most people get.

At a time when independent artists are still making the most progressive, vital & important music, the equation hasn't changed, where their efforts & ideas serve as grist for the major label grill. Most people don't realize that many of the ideas they hear at the 'top tier' are actually re-packaged, re-processed ideas that bubbled-up from the underground. It's not that the majors do it better, they do it bigger.

While there's KEXP in Seattle & WDET in Detroit (The Progressive Underground With Chris Campbell), most listeners tune in to what is easiest, most accessible, and in the final analysis, most advertised. It's 'might makes right' on the FM dial.

GREAT MUSIC used to be the Holy Grail of the A&R Executive, but, sadly, that is no longer the case. It's an only the strongest survive, winner takes all mentality which guarantees air play & ratings.....

Or does it?

BloombergBusinessweek

Q&A With Legendary UK DJ & Writer Greg Fenton

noreply@blogger.com (VISITING ARTISTS) — Thu, 05 Jun 2014 13:27:00 +0000

Read full Q&A @ MAGAZINESIXTY

Best Eurodance Bands/Artists #1 — via Ranker

noreply@blogger.com (VISITING ARTISTS) — Tue, 03 Jun 2014 14:25:00 +0000

Ranker

The Best Trance Artists #9 — via Ranker

noreply@blogger.com (VISITING ARTISTS) — Tue, 03 Jun 2014 14:23:00 +0000

Ranker

Best Spoken Word Artists/Bands #9 — via Ranker

noreply@blogger.com (VISITING ARTISTS) — Tue, 03 Jun 2014 14:20:00 +0000

Ranker

TROUBLE COMES featured on iTUNES UK Electronic Page

noreply@blogger.com (VISITING ARTISTS) — Tue, 03 Jun 2014 14:13:00 +0000

iTUNES

'TROUBLE COMES' #1 on Traxsource Lounge Essentials for this week!!!

noreply@blogger.com (VISITING ARTISTS) — Fri, 16 May 2014 16:43:00 +0000

'TROUBLE COMES' #1 on Traxsource Lounge Essentials for this week!!!XO

TROUBLE COMES — Feat. on Traxsource 'Lounge | Chillout' main page

noreply@blogger.com (VISITING ARTISTS) — Fri, 16 May 2014 16:42:00 +0000

TROUBLE COMES EP featured release on Traxsource's Lounge / Chill Out' main page!! Get it here, prior to its worldwide digital release:

"Trouble Comes", the 2nd single from my 7th studio album 'Light Sweet Crude - Act One: Hybrid'. More than a simple remix release, the expansive 'Trouble Comes' EP features two mixes of the single by producer Lem Springsteen (Mood II Swing) and a chill samba-infused mix by moi – Plus two new and previously unreleased tracks: the left-field hip-hop inspired "Love and Kameras" produced & co-written by Kahari Mays and the smoky jazz-hued "Welcome To My Blues". The set closes with 'Scrap Processors' sultry, minimal deep-tech rework of "Welcome To My Blues"

XOV

'TROUBLE COMES' EP — Pre-release on Traxsource

noreply@blogger.com (VISITING ARTISTS) — Fri, 16 May 2014 16:39:00 +0000

"A wolf howls in the canyon / Obeys some ancient rule / No echo to follow / The sound's beautiful and cruel..."

TROUBLE COMES:::: The second single lifted from my latest album 'Light Sweet Crude: Act One - Hybrid' is available for pre-release on Traxsource
The EP includes a remix by LEM (Springsteen), plus two new tracks - "Love and Kameras", a collaboration with Kahari Mays, & "Welcome To My Blues" w/ a remix by Scrap Processors.

℗&© 2014 Kid Recordings, LLC, in association with Daou Records. Distributed by Believe Digital

www.soundcloud.com/vanessadaou
www.kidoutsider.com
www.facebook.com/kidrecordings
www.soundcloud.com/outsider-music

The 'Demise' of the Music Busine$$ | What's Missing from the equation?

noreply@blogger.com (VISITING ARTISTS) — Wed, 30 Apr 2014 16:00:00 +0000

"I'm the guys honest truth / they decide the lie / they just divide they legs, I divide the pie"

— Iggy Azalea, 'Murda Bizness'

The 'Demise' of the Music Busine$$ .... What's Missing from the equation?

Greed.

There have been countless articles postulating on the so-called 'demise' of the music industry. I say 'so-called' because - unbeknownst to most - the Music Busine$$ is alive and well.

While pre-internet, artists would pull in most of the earnings from their shows & merchandise while on the road, that pie has grown significantly smaller. Post-internet, the record labels saw a prime opportunity. They began to perceive artists' songs as lost leaders, in a sense, making the shows the focus of their profiting. The 360 deal was born.

While it's true that digital music sales have suffered, what's missing from the oft-discussed 'demise' of the music busine$$ equations are all of the profits on back-end.

In the pre-internet (hence, free download) days, the record labels would make most of their earnings from the sale of records. But those sales took a nose-dive as the rise in illegal downloads soared, and those once-robust sales now experienced an inverse relationship with the rise of those free downloads.

While it's true that the success of the mp3 brought with it a certain malaise amongst listeners, free downloads are still taking a huge bite out of the potential for profits amongst independent labels. The majors, however, at this point have little incentive to fight the illegal download battle.

The Music Busine$$ responded to the inescapability of lost album & single profits by contracting, combining forces by merging and forming huge, conglomerate, monolithic entities. I myself was caught up in the drama of those early merger days with the Seagrams takeover of MCA. (for more see here & here) And with that joining of forces came a new approach: a new mentality was borne from that paradigm shift. The new guard saw new opportunities for profiting, not from the sales of music, but from the sales of ancillary events & items: performances, merchandise, etc.

So when we talk about the reasons for the demise of the music business, we're really talking about a Trojan Horse. If we look inside, what we'll find is a Music Busine$$ that has learned to adapt, one that has shape-shifted, reconstituted, and risen to new lows.

For more on the 360 deal read Digital Music News, and Disc Makers Echoes.

LOVE is (not) Black & White

noreply@blogger.com (VISITING ARTISTS) — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 13:51:00 +0000

Love! So closely aligned with regret & too often, revenge!

I prefer the quiet, personal kind, by re-grouping & re-calibrating yourself & rising above the remorse & turning the negative into positive creative energy.....

Write a song, sing it, dance, and remember : time is wasted looking back & regretting....! XO

Vanessa Daou - Black & White (Jori Hulkkonen Dub)

Black & White

Black & White

Here's the pen you gave me
To write my poetry
I said I'd give it back to you
The day you stopped inspiring me
Here's my glass it's empty

When the burning comes
When the liquid numbs
We go on to say
"Hey isn't Hell fun?"

When Salome said 'No'
The first to ask had to go
When the second tried
She just kept on dancing

All night with her boots on
All night, all night long
All night 'til we can't go on
All night long

Here's your portrait I painted
It's in black & white
"There is no in between for you."
I said when you ask me 'Why'
We ***k through the night

When the burning comes
When the liquid numbs
We go on to say
"Hey isn't Hell fun?"

When Salome said 'No'
The first to ask had to go
When the second tried
She just kept on dancing

We live in a dream
No reality
We who believe in Love
Life goes on without you
Love always, V

Il Quotidiano : Review of 'Light Sweet Crude | Act 1:Hybrid'

noreply@blogger.com (VISITING ARTISTS) — Mon, 03 Mar 2014 14:26:00 +0000

Voci nella nebbia

di Paolo De Bernardin

VANESSA DAOU

Light sweet crude

Immaginate la voce di Yoko Ono fusa con quella di una tipica ninfetta francese in stile Françoise-Hardy-anni-sessanta, oppure uno strano incontro tra Sade e Laurie Anderson ed avrete la rappresentazione artistica concreta di Vanessa Daou, matura artista proveniente dalle Isole Vergini, ormai newyorkese a tutti gli effetti giunta con questo lavoro al suo settimo disco.

Vanessa Daou non è ossessionata dalla produzione discografica se ha realizzato gli ultimi tre album in 15 anni ma il suo stile è perennemente legato alle tendenze più fashion della Grande Mela. Il suo mix di musica ambient, di sofisticato technohousing e di pop sussurrato su una base elettronica è davvero originale e fa pensare ad un moderno Brian Eno in gonnella che si introduce in un club di jazz. Basterebbero brani come "Brunette" oppure "Revolution", che chiude l'intero disco, per rappresentarla col suo crescendo ossessivo dal raffinato sapore esotico che fa convivere Maurice Ravel con i Kraftwerk ("Love is war"). Di certo non si può ascrivere l'arte vocale della Daou al bel canto o alla perfezione formale delle grandi voci della storia perché a lei interessa più che il respiro diventi strumento e che si mescoli alle atmosfere di Jamiroquai e di Jazzmatazz, tra un testo poetico di Erica Jong e selezionate pagine di Gertrude Stein. E' il risultato della frequentazione e dello studio alla Columbia University con il poeta Kenneth Koch (e di recente col poeta spagnolo Bruno Galindo) mescolato agli elementi coreografici di Eric Hawkins che le ha insegnato la postura del corpo in un movimento armonico che faccia diventare il suo concerto uno show visuale complesso, lontano dalla staticità di Laurie Anderson e più apparentato ad una sofisticata sfilata di Alta Moda.

Con la sua musica Vanessa Daou ha reso omaggio al femminismo e a John Coltrane, ai Depeche Mode e ai Cocteau Twins in una esplorazione sonora che non ama le barriere e diventa continuo crossover esplorativo che la trasforma in una modernissima Frida Khalo della musica contemporanea. Il percorso sonoro di Vanessa Daou è una continua navigazione a vista nell'oceano della poesia tra sinuosi movimenti del corpo e un tappeto sonoro penetrante. Brani come "Trouble comes" , "Just for you", "Break me", "Camouflage", "Bar D'O" (in stile Satie) hanno quel potere di una nebbia avvolgente e ossessiva che gli inglesi traducono nel termine "sultry" nel quale la passione è un'afa da cui non ci si può liberare.

Il Quotidano

_______________________________________________________

A finessed Google translation:

VOICES IN THE MIST

By Paolo De Bernardin

Imagine the voice of Yoko Ono merged with that of a typical French style nymphet - Françoise Hardy - year 1960, or a strange encounter between Sade and Laurie Anderson and have the artistic representation of the real Vanessa Daou, a seasoned artist coming from the Virgin Islands, now a New Yorker, currently out with her seventh disc.

Vanessa Daou is not at all obsessed with the record production achieved over the last three albums in 15 years, but her style is forever linked to the fashion trends of the Big Apple. Its mix of ambient music, and pop of sophisticated techno-housing — whispered on a base of electronica — is truly original and looks like a modern Brian Eno in a skirt who is introduced into a jazz club. It would have songs like "Brunette" or "Revolution", which closes the entire disk, to represent it with her growing obsessive refined exotic flavor that makes live Maurice Ravel with Kraftwerk ("Love is War"). Of course we can not attribute the vocal art of bel canto to Daou or the formal perfection of the great voices of history because she is interested in more than just the breath and becoming a tool that mixes the atmosphere of Jamiroquai and Jazzmatazz, including a poetic text Erica Jong and selected pages of Gertrude Stein. And the result of attendance and study at Columbia University with the poet Kenneth Koch (and recently with the Spanish poet Bruno Galindo) mixed with the choreographic elements of Eric Hawkins, who taught her the posture of the body in a harmonic movement that gave a visually complex shape to her concert, away from the static Laurie Anderson and more allied to a sophisticated fashion show of haute couture .

With her music Vanessa Daou has paid tribute to feminism and John Coltrane, Depeche Mode and the Cocteau Twins in a sonic exploration that does not like barriers and becomes a continuous crossover exploratory transformation into a modern Frida Kahlo of contemporary music. The sound path Vanessa Daou is a continuous visual navigation in the ocean of poetry between sinuous movements of the body and a carpet of penetrating sound. Songs like "Trouble Comes ", " Just for you ", " Break Me," " Camouflage ", " Bar D'O" (Satie -style ) have the power of a fog, enveloping and obsessive, that translates into the English word "sultry", in which there is a passion from which we cannot be free.

Pop Matters | Music In Spotlight : 'Dark Days, Luminous Nights: An Interview with Vanessa Daou' — By Imran Khan

noreply@blogger.com (VISITING ARTISTS) — Wed, 15 Jan 2014 16:20:00 +0000

By Imran Khan

Vanessa Daou assumed her place on the dance music throne during the height of the cresting electronica scene in the 90’s rather reluctantly. The New Yorker’s music was never destined to be a staple of radio and, moreover, it required listeners to do two things at once: dance and think—two functions that don’t necessarily jibe well on a dance floor. Her heady brew of electronic beats and poetic implorations have both fascinated and mystified listeners alike; aiming at both the head and the feet, Daou’s music has never sought to be accepted as a genre defined by a playlist or the same marketing ploys used to sell lingerie. Instead, the singer spent her time and resources wisely, mining the library for books to feed and supplement her musical diet. Take Zipless (1995), her first solo outing into lounge-hopping culture, where she would spark the curiosity and desire of both the literati and club-goers. Zipless, her proper debut, was the congealed lava of still heated emotions, cooling slowly over the bedrock of smooth, percolating beats. The sonic dressing, courtesy of producer and then-husband Peter Daou, furnished the music with the sweaty, carnal atmosphere of two lovers locked in an overheated sauna and deliriously happy about it. At the core was Daou’s voice, a haunting, diaphanous whisper that divulged only the most clandestine secrets in the listener’s ear. Zipless was so over-the-top in its impassioned femininity and, yet, so understated in its approach and intent that you might have missed what was the album’s most sensual cue: Erica Jong’s erotic poetry, of which Daou’s lyrics were based upon. Her association with Jong alone made Daou the talk feminist circles amidst the album’s release; meanwhile, her tracks were doing time in the swankiest of underground cells, giving DJs a run for their wax and honey.

After the liquid fire of Zipless, Daou tuned into a lower frequency of sex, started reading again and discovered the lives of her muses on 1996’s Slow to Burn, a night out on the town in the lonelier corners of the heart. Bluer than Zipless but not as overheated with sexual magma, Slow to Burn showed listeners the right way a woman unwound for the evening hours—without a man and certainly without worry for it. Strange and fey feelings permeated the album and Daou, lost in the fog of deep regret and loneliness, ultimately essayed the personal triumphs of no longer being at the mercy and whim of a desired man. Her closing line on the album, “I’ll cross that bridge to you”, embodied the wisdom and spirit of a young woman finally learning the difference between simply having choices and actually making them.

After negotiating out of her major-label contract with MCA records following an internal shift of major players and talents, Daou opted to record independently and out of the ethers came the sex-in-space odyssey Plutonium Glow, released in 1997. A wondrous fusion of retro-electro beats, orbiting keyboard licks and dizzying sexploits, Glow took some of its inspiration from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s Le Petit Prince and fancied Daou a traveler through an emotional galaxy lined with debutantes, soldiers, lovers and hustlers. Transmitting from some strange universe of grandiose desires, the singer communicated all the pleasures and grievances of love in the long stretches of electronic reverb hovering in the mix.

Read full review @ PopMatters

'Light Sweet Crude | Act 1: Hybrid' makes top of 2013 list @ Pop Making Sense | Windy City Times

noreply@blogger.com (VISITING ARTISTS) — Wed, 15 Jan 2014 16:15:00 +0000

Many thx & much <3 to David Byrne for the inclusion in 2013's Best @ Windy City Times ~ I'm honored to be included........

XOV

"As another year passes, we saw noteworthy success stories, more mediocre music from certain pop stars and a return of beloved favorites in 2013. [...] I cannot pick just one album as a favorite. New releases from Vanessa Daou, Moby and Pet Shop Boys top my list."

Read full post @ Pop Making Sense | Windy City Times

'Light Sweet Crude | Act 1: Hybrid' holding steady @ Amazon's top Pop/Adult Alternative MP3 Albums

noreply@blogger.com (VISITING ARTISTS) — Wed, 15 Jan 2014 16:09:00 +0000

'Light Sweet Crude | Act 1: Hybrid' holding steady @ Amazon's top Pop/Adult Alternative MP3 Album

Link to Amazon.com

Light Sweet Crude | Act 1: Hybrid — Andre Baum

noreply@blogger.com (VISITING ARTISTS) — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 13:40:00 +0000

Light Sweet Crude, Act 1: Hybrid

iTUNES

My new album 'Light Sweet Crude | Act 1: Hybrid" started out as a personal journey, like my previous ones. But at some point along the way, one collaboration lead to another which lead to another, and so on. The idea evolved into a collaborative one, where the songs I was writing took on other shapes and meanings. New songs developed through these creative comminglings. ‘Light Sweet Crude’ has been very much like a spiral starting from one point, moving outwards and opening into a dynamic and complex formation.

Each producer comes from such a unique perspective. At the same time, there’s a commonality that runs through all of their music, a sonic connection which translates into a philosophical one. I love how these connections create a thread which runs through the album, and how their differences lead to an exciting asymmetry and disambiguation. In a series of posts, I'll be discussing each Producer, in alphabetical order…..........

________________________________

André Baum is a master at sonic synthesis. His library of sounds is vast - finding the slightest hum of a fan fascinating, André can turn what might seem like an ordinary sound into an audible sculptural form, giving meaning to what would otherwise go unheard. His work emphasizes the inchoate aspects of existence, the immense importance of listening, of hearing - and beyond that - of tuning-in to the world. André’s ‘sound’ is in and of itself a Thesis Statement, that the world we live in is alive sonically, oscillating and pulsing invisibly, reminding us that verything is waiting to be heard, listened to, uncloaked, decoded.

André & I share a fascination with sonics, sounds which evoke and suggest transcendent, nameless things. While producing "One Thing I'm Missing", André tuned into the core of the meaning of the song, a bluesy rumination on the theme of missing the one you love, and the blazing realization that beauty & the bittersweet often reside in the same psychological & sonic space.

I love exploring new terrain with André who, like me, is always searching, pushing his own creative envelope into further liminal & untrodden realms. "One Thing I'm Missing" is a meditation on those unspoken achings which only music can express.

XVanessa

ONE THING I’M MISSING You're on time, I came early
Just to see if you’d keep your word
After everything I've heard
I'm surprised I still have faith
Your promise is so easy to break

Today was a beautiful day
There's just one thing that I'm missing
The bittersweetness of your kissing

You're the type to mix love with liquid
Stir it up into a troubling brew
Make me lose my way
Take the apple from the snake
A habit you taught me

Today was a beautiful day
There's just one thing that I'm missing
The bittersweetness of your kissing

Summertime, but nothing's easy
I'm out for Jazz and Cocktails without you
I hear fifty shades of blue
A color you’ve gotten me used to
And that’s when I realize

Today was a beautiful day
There's just one thing that I'm missing
The bittersweetness of your kissing

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Poetronics: Vanessa Daou's "One Thing I'm Missing"

By Imran Khan

A New York Times review of Chinese writer Can Xue’s work asserted that reading the author’s fiction is like “running downhill in the dark; you’ve got momentum, but you don’t know where you’re headed.” Such a sentiment could be said of Vanessa Daou’s newest work; much of her recent explorations with club culture incite the chancy, dangerous thrill of experiment. Daou has already made a name for herself with her astonishing mix of spoken word and electronic beats on her six previous albums. Her voice, an eerie, peculiar sigh which brings a yielding and sensual warmth to her sultry grooves, is equally noted for its unbridled femininity.

Not exactly an official single, “One Thing I’m Missing” is a taster for Daou’s upcoming release, Light, Sweet, Crude, an album that will delve into the further reaches of hip-hop and electronica after the heavily jazz-leaning offering of 2008’s Joe Sent Me. “One Thing I’m Missing” still trades on the downbeat tempos of her last album but fully engages in the atmospherics of digital paranoia, with icy sheets of synths layered upon a druggy, languid groove. Daou’s vocal, a strange, twisted call resounding from some Promethean netherworld, is essentially the hinge of which producer André Baum builds his rhythms upon, the cadence of his groove flowing with the awkward, elegant grace of a frozen river thawing. Sinuous, ghostly and poetic, this number heralds a return to Daou’s previous flirtations with DJ culture.

Read more & 'Like' @ PopMatters

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House Playlist: Lorde, Phantogram, Glasser, & Vanessa Daou

Vanessa Daou, "One Thing I'm Missing": Best known for a string of '90s club hits including "Near the Black Forest" (from her 1995 opus Zipless, which appeared on our list of the Best Albums of the 1990s), singer Vanessa Daou has dropped a trippy slice of chill-out called "One Thing I'm Missing," from producer André Baum's new compilation People People Volume 1, out now.

Read full post @ SLANT

Light Sweet Crude | Act 1: Hybrid — 'Pop Making Sense' review

noreply@blogger.com (VISITING ARTISTS) — Sat, 04 Jan 2014 14:48:00 +0000

Pop Making Sense by David Byrne with Tony Peregrin2013-12-25

Blonde divas Britney Spears and Beyonce have new albums out to add to the year-end rush. "Perfume" and "Now That I Found You" dare to shed the overproduced dance sound Spears has been favoring. But she sings as if clothespins are pinching her nose and her tongue during "Work Bitch." The club-ready tracks—ike "It Should Be Easy," the mindless "Tik Tik Boom" and "Til It's Gone"—surely will give her extended live engagement in Las Vegas an extra jolt of energy. Just be mindful of cliche-plagued fillers "Passenger" and "Don't Cry" on Britney Jean.

[...]

On Light Sweet Crude ( Act 1: Hybrid ), Vanessa Daou puts her music into motion. "Revolution" has strings with a groove that the body cannot resist. On "Danger Ahead," Daou opens with spoken word as if at a beat club, then steps next door to a lounge once the slick electronic beat sneaks in. Love is many things.

Daou creatively illustrates the powerful emotion and then silences the opposition by unveiling love's universal definition on the standout "Love Is War" by singing, "Love is peace, love is war. Love is what we're fighting for." "One Think I'm Missing" finds her mesmerizing and breathless over a drawn-out, hypnotic beat. Light Sweet Crude never loses its groove or sensuality. Whether it is her vocal's timing, her phrasing of lyrics or captivating me in her music's rhythm, once again Daou is simply spellbinding. The self-released Light Sweet Crude and remixes to "Danger Ahead" are available now digitally.

Read full column @ Pop Making Sense

A playlist inspired by 'X-Men: Days of Future Past' — Windy City Times

noreply@blogger.com (VISITING ARTISTS) — Mon, 23 Dec 2013 15:42:00 +0000

A playlist inspired by 'X-Men: Days of Future Past'

WINTER MUSIC SPECIAL

Special to the online edition of Windy City Times

by David Byrne

2013-12-12

When Twentieth Century Fox released the first trailer to X-Men: Days of Future Past, I was excited to get a glimpse at this anticipated sequel. The storyline has the franchise's key character, Wolverine ( Hugh Jackman ), traveling back to the '70s in an attempt to prevent a murder that leads to a horrific future, where his fellow mutants are hunted down. I was so moved that I decided to create a playlist inspired by the upcoming blockbuster.

Some of the music's themes are despair, hope, time travel and heroes. I wanted to stray from obvious choices like Madonna's "Bedtime Story," Tina Turner's "We Don't Need Another Hero ( Thunderdome )," Mariah Carey's "Hero" and The Rocky Horror Picture Show's "Time Warp." The next step was narrowing down the collection to under 20 songs.

The playlist kicks off with fiery rock anthems from Canadian artists. "Positronic" by The Pack A.D. salutes science-fiction icon Isaac Asimov and paints an image of the Sentinels, which are huge man-made machines used to hunt down mutants and protect humans in the X-Men universe. Jane Child is best remembered for her pop-funk hit "Don't Wanna Fall in Love." Here, I am including her guitar-heavy "Step out of Time" from her sophomore effort, Here Not There.

Vanessa Daou sings coolly on the dramatic "Manifesto," which has an absolutely marvelous version on her compilation Speak/Easy: The Moonshine Mixes ( Joe Sent Me Revisited ). The piece climaxes intensely, as her digitally enhanced voice proclaims, "Only I can save you." This captures how Wolverine solely is trusted by the leader Charles Xavier ( Patrick Stewart ) and his unlikely ally, Magneto ( Ian McKellen ), to accomplish this mission.

Read more @ Windy City Times

The Progressive Underground: Show 58 feat. TERENCE BLANCHARD

noreply@blogger.com (VISITING ARTISTS) — Mon, 23 Dec 2013 13:11:00 +0000

This episode of The Progressive Underground features an interview with multi-Grammy-award winning artist/producer/composer TERENCE BLANCHARD how he started scoring films for directors such as Spike Lee and George Lucas, the lineup he has put in place for the DSO's (Detroit Symphony Orchestra) Paradise Jazz Series and what it was like growing upbeing close friends with the iconic Marsalis family.

We also bump tunes from Vanessa Daou, Clara Hill, Robert Glasper, Norah Jones, Jneiro Jarel, Peven Everett, Roy Davis Jr, Underground Resistance, Pirahnahead & Diviniti, Brandon Williams, Modaji, Ricky Eat Acid, Jean Luc-Ponty and many more!

The Progressive Underground bumps the best in techno, electronica, future soul, nu-jazz, break beat, b-sides and rare groove with ALL music HAND-PICKED and CURATED by writer/producer/media personality/host Chris Campbell aka DJ Cambeaux.

Tune in from 8-11 pm (EST) on 101.9 FM WDET and wdet.org.

Light Sweet Crude | Act 1: Hybrid — iTUNES Bestsellers Lists

noreply@blogger.com (VISITING ARTISTS) — Wed, 11 Dec 2013 17:04:00 +0000

iTUNES, USA Homepag
Week of Dec. 3

iTUNES, USA : Music
Week of Dec. 3

iTUNES, USA : Music — Independent Releases
Week of Dec. 3

iTUNES Spain: Alternative

Week of Dec. 10

Light Sweet Crude | Act 1: Hybrid — The Updownsuite review

noreply@blogger.com (VISITING ARTISTS) — Wed, 11 Dec 2013 15:04:00 +0000

Light sweet crude, as a liquid, may be the world's most sought after form of energy but Light Sweet Crude…, as an album, relies on another universal version of energy: love. If Vanessa Daou's past works have largely been a cerebral exploration of love, lust, sex, and loss, then Light Sweet Crude | Act 1: Hybrid is a physical manifestation of those topics through voice and action. "Hybrid", contextualized in title, assumes many meanings. At once, it represents the multi-layered sonic landscape of the album while also representing linguistics acting as a catalyst for emotional reaction though the actions of desire. Daou is a poet by design and Light Sweet Crude… is her most lyrically ambitious project to date. The previously mentioned topics may not seem like anything new but Daou’s pro-sex, pro-female slant is refreshingly individualistic. Emphasizing text as power, Daou effortlessly moves from the simple: Did you get my note/"goodbye" is what I wrote ("Goodbye") to the more ambitiously broad: Use your pen as revenge ("Danger Ahead").

Language continually plays the lead throughout Light Sweet Crude… and at its most consistent, language exists between surrender and salvation. Daou is a woman who is wildly seduced by a married man ("Love Affair"), protective of her heart’s desires ("Camouflage”"), and vulnerability (“Dream”). While these all may be characteristics of a damsel in distress, Daou is no weak-hearted woman in love; she’s a self-aware figure who challenges the female archetype.

On "Just for You", even intoxicated, she realizes that her desire is being manipulated by a Lothario – a man who unabashedly seduces women. Elsewhere, standout tack “Love is War” finds Daou exploring the underbelly of love. Daou might be alluding to her own divorce(though the split was amicable) with the lines It"s your voice calls me ‘honey’/Then the lawyers, judge and money/It’s a mass delusion/An end with no conclusion. However, divorce isn't the central topic of "Love is War"; love, obviously, is on the front line of this battle. Hypothetically, it shows Daou as a defiant female who notes that "Lanchester got it right". The assumed impression is that Lanchester is Edith Lanchester – a Victorian era feminist who defied society by living with a man. The two remained unmarried and she bore two children out of their scandalous union. Additionally, she explores the process of a co-dependent relationship in a series of acts as if life were a play ("The Broken Hearted"). As the album concludes, Daou suggests a "Revolution" because "silence is a loaded gun you are tempted to shoot" and "nothing really matters if you don't want to speak from the heart". The exploration of language is all rather academic but what about the music itself?

Vanessa Daou has always had a strong hand in writing, composing, and arranging her music. Light Sweet Crude… finds Daou working with a handful of producers who bring a new found depth to the album. Daou’s signature breathy vocals are still present but exhibit a deeper, more complex range. The previously mentioned “Love is War” finds Daou's voice as pure and clear as a mountain stream and it runs over a landscape of soft piano, strings, and beats that would make Everything But the Girl proud. "Chances" flirts with reggae and the opening snare sounds pure and urgent. "Break Me" confidently steps into Portishead territory and several tracks are wrapped in veils of Massive Attack and Tricky. Daou's musical history may be steeped in jazz, urban, and down-tempo electronic music but Light Sweet Crude… sounds like Daou has made a full out trip-hop album.

Each track is richly textured with both warm, organic instrumentation and icy, bass-heavy beats. The strings (most notably on "Revolution") are dramatic and ever present but without ever being fussy or distracting and they lay over the beats like a warm blanket. This further explores the concept of "hybrid" as the album marries the warm and the cold, the organic and non-organic, the black and the white. While the influences are heavy, make no mistake – this is very much a Vanessa Daou album and it happens to be one of her very best.

Light Sweet Crude… may never soundtrack your top down summer drives and it’s unlikely that you will be humming any of the tunes in the shower but the album deserves attention. Like conversation following a moving cinematic experience, the exploration of feelings in relation to a work of art, or a round table discussion about literature, Light Sweet Crude… invites you to explore and process your own reaction. While it lacks the pop-minded nature of Make You Love, it’s the most consistent and engaging album of Daou’s since Zipless. Light Sweet Crude… isn't merely a collection of songs and much like V V Brown’ Samson & Delilah, it's a story that passionately unfolds - a visceral experience that just happens to exist in a world of brilliantly crafted music.

Equally sexy and empowering, Light Sweet Crude: Act 1: Hybrid is a bold step forward for Vanessa Daou and for an independent artist, that’s vital in regards to sustainability. In her own words: "We live in a time of love and cameras/It's not always the way it was/But we can't go back/I say cheers to that!"

A

Download Now: You really should just get the whole album but if you insist -- "Trouble Comes", "Chances", "Just for You", "Break Me", "The Brunette", "Love is War", and "Revolution"

Read original post @ The Updownsuite

Puchase on iTUNES

DANGER AHEAD | Beatport Minimal Top 100 Releases

noreply@blogger.com (VISITING ARTISTS) — Wed, 11 Dec 2013 15:03:00 +0000

Link to Beatport

Danger Ahead — The Updownsuite review

noreply@blogger.com (VISITING ARTISTS) — Wed, 11 Dec 2013 14:48:00 +0000

“Come along and walk among us / The polyglots, the derelict / The ones whose shoes never seem to fit…”

Underground poet/down tempo electro-goddess Vanessa Daou unleashes "Danger Ahead" as the official first single from her highly anticipated upcoming album Light Sweet Crude: Act One - Hybrid. Trading the gin and jazz soaked sounds of her speakeasy themed project – 2008's Joe Sent Me, "Danger" finds Daou flirting with early 90’s house a la Danny Tenaglia. Heavily layered and club ready, "Danger" is brimming with Daou's signature breathy and sultry vocals. Dealing with those who exist on the outskirts of society's norms, "Danger" is a welcome addition to Daou's already diverse character studies and by incorporating tribal beats and strings, it also recalls the sonic richness of Daou's earlier work.

B+

Read original post @ theupdownsuite