A few weeks ago Belgium born and Australian based singer-songwriter Gotye unveiled his latest single, ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’, and it has become a huge smash in Australia. For over a decade the musician, also a member of indie band The Basics, enjoyed a successful solo career that has just peaked thanks to this collaboration with New Zealand singer Kimbra in a duet that goes through some soul baring lyrics, telling the aftermath of a broken relationship and packing an instant emotional punch with the listener.
The track got luckily endorsed by celebrities such as Ashton Kutcher and Lily Allen, both using their twitter accounts to recommend it to their millions of followers. The video became a word of mouth sensation hitting two million YouTube views in record time. Unsurprisingly, ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’ has ended Adele’s seven week residency on top of the Aussie charts, hitting platinum status. It doesn’t stop there, after recently reaching the top spot on Hype’s Machine global chart, it now looks like a strong candidate for an international crossover.
‘Somebody That I Used To Know’ is the second single from Gotye’s third studio album ‘Making Mirrors’, which was released this week.
You can watch the video here and listen to ‘Making Mirrors’ in full at Gotye’s soundcloud page.
Roberto Gonzalez Around the world Gotye, Kimbra
Our musical journey around the globe goes this time all the way to Mexico, where an former soap opera child star is shaping up as the next Latin sensation, on the verge of a crossover to international stardom. Ximena Sariñana began her career at the tender age of 11, through a number of roles in several popular Mexican telenovelas (soap operas). After a few acting years, she got involved in some musical activities and went to release her first album, ‘Mediocre’ (Average) in 2008; fully recorded in Spanish and for which Ximena wrote most of the songs. The record went Platinum in Mexico and gained her some international recognition, including two nominations for the Latin Grammys and support from a wide range of artists that shortly came to collaborate with the young songwriter –from UK’s Metronomy, who remixed the track ‘La Tina’, to US MOR star Jason Mraz, with whom she recorded a Spanish version of his hit ‘Lucky’.
Her second album ‘Ximena Sariñana’ could mean a complete game changer for the Mexican chanteuse. For starters, it has been recorded in English, produced by her boyfriend and regular collaborator Omar Rodríguez-Lopez – guitar player from acclaimed experimental rockers The Mars Volta- with an eye to break the North American market. First single, ‘Different’ is a radio-friendly slice of summery MOR that will certainly help building up the anticipation for the album’s release on August the 2nd.
The singer is currently touring the States to support the release of the album. You can check the video for ‘Different’ and get more information about her tour here.
Roberto Gonzalez Around the world ximena sariñana
Her name is AB and she’s currently enjoying a growing online buzz as Korea’s very own answer to Lady Gaga. But while the video for her recent hit ‘Slip’ generated a great deal of controversy in her country and ended up banned by many TV channels for being overtly sexual; AB comes across as a tad more conventional that Queen Gaga in the style department. Her major offence being to show up as scantily clad in leather and leopard skin as most other female stars around the world, ‘Slip’ also sounds much closer to Kylie’s ‘Slow’ than anything in Gaga’s catalogue.
Controversy aside, AB is an excellent representative of the phenomenon that Korean Pop music -or K-Pop as it is conventionally known- has turned up to be. A universe on its own populated by dozens of massive local artists that is spawning an internet craze with hundreds of internet pages dedicated to it. Some of them, such as kpop music or allkpop bring all the recent news to English speaking fans.
Roberto Gonzalez Around the world AB, Kpop
Shazam’s journey in search of the most popular sounds from every corner of the globe reaches this week the dunes of the Algerian desert; where Tuareg band Tinariwen have been recording their fifth studio album ‘Tassili’.
Their blues tinged, folk-rock fusion has helped the Malians become a world-admired phenomenon and their new offering is being greeted as a less electric return to their roots.
But despite digging deeper in their tradition, Tinariwen are not willing to lose any international appeal, as the first single ‘Tenere Taqhim Tossam’ cleary shows by boasting a high-profile collaboration with TV On The Radio’s Tunde Adebimpe & Kyp Malone; both self-declared fans. The album will also feature appearances by Wilco’s guitar wizard Nels Cline and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band.
Tinariwen have just embarked on a massive world tour that began in Paris a few days ago and has on schedule to visit some of the most renowned events of the festival season; carrying on well into the Autumn. Further details can be found at their official website.
‘Tassili’ will be released in August 30th via Anti.
Roberto Gonzalez Around the world tinariwen, TV On The Radio
One of Scandinavia’s best kept secrets; Ane Brun has been going from strength to strength for a decade both in her native Norway and in Sweden. After she relocated to the latter, so began a career paved with critical acclaim that has seen her collaborating with the cream of Nordic pop-rock in her own album of ‘Duets’.
With the world’s growing appetite for female vocalists, it’s not difficult to forecast Ane Brun as the next in line for global recognition. Following the steps of Fever Ray; Lykke Li or Robyn – just to mention a few recent examples coming from those latitudes. Brun’s truly personal vocals and unusually intricate compositions are her two most distinctive assets. Both of them are fully on display in the songwriter’s new track ‘Do You Remember’, a feast of percussions and afro-tinged chants courtesy of indie folk duo First Aid Kid. It’s the first taster from ‘It All Starts with One’, her fourth studio album (fifth if you count her acoustic album ‘Sketches’).
The video for the song is also the first of four chapters taken from the film ‘ONE’, directed by Magnus Renfors, to be launched in the fall when the singer will also be headlining a two-month European Tour. In the meantime, Ane Brun is touring with Peter Gabriel and helping the ex-Genesis singer to complete his latest work.
Roberto Gonzalez Around the world Ane Brun
Our trip around the world goes all the way to Ghana in order to get a taste of the African country’s current popular music. A growing number of Ghanaian urban artists are displaying in equal parts a strong connection to Caribbean rhythms and western Hip-Hop and R&B – mixing an Akon-esque use of autotune with native Afro beats.
One of the biggest hits of 2011 so far is the infamous ‘Shashee Wowo’, an infectious number currently exploding in dancefloors across the black continent. In contrast to the majority of western pop music, ’Shashee Wowo’ features monogamy promoting lyrics that work as a cautionary tale against the perils of sleeping around. In the word of its writer, “It’s just an advice song to abstain from dirty girls and boys, stay with your loved one and not jumping from Kwabena to Kojo.”
The man behind this huge floorfiller is a young star called Stay Jay, who in just two years has generated a couple of nationwide smashes – the former one ‘Sue‘ was a total breakthough- and now he’s about to complete his imminent debut album. ‘Shashee Wowo’ has also helped establishing Jay as the poster boy of Twi Pop, the musical genre born in Tema – a city with a buyoant music scene that features Sarkodie, R2Bees, and Nana Boroo as some of its most notorious musical representatives.
Claiming as influences the songs of international urban stars and local artists as D’Banj and Reggie Rockstone; ‘Shashee Wowo’ is a perfect example of a musical melting pot that merges both global and national elements to amazing result.
Roberto Gonzalez Around the world Stay Jay
The latest female knocking at the doors of R&B superstardom doesn’t come from the States or the UK; not even fromany other English speaking country. Melissa Nkonda is French, with a mixed Algerian and Cameroonian background. Her CV tells a history of talent contests; reality TV shows (the well established in the Gallic nation ‘Nouvelle Star’, whose 7th season she was part of) and auditions, the latest of which earned the young singer a contract with a major’s subsidiary.
The first fruit of her debut album, ‘Nouveaux Horizons’, is already storming Shazam’s most tagged chart in France. The record’s title track, sang half in her language and half in English, is a refreshing mix of soul; hip-hop (popular Gallic rapper Soprano brings some rhymes) and world music influences that nicely reveals Melissa’s vocal talents to the world. Just by looking at the list of featured guests, which includes surprises such as British pop starlette VV Brown; some of Amy Winehouse’s live band musicians and the mighty RedOne (the man behind the biggest hits of Lady Gaga; Enrique Iglesias and Jennifer Lopez’s recent comeback) producing some of the tracks, is not hard to guess her success could shortly expand all across Europe and it might not stop just there.
More details of Melissa NKonda’s career can be found here.
Roberto Gonzalez Around the world Melissa Nkonda
Until recently, many of us could only place Colombia on the global map of pop as the birthplace of Shakira. The popularity of the singer turned international phenomenon has become an unexpected cultural ambassador for her whole country. This may be about to change thanks to Bogota’s finest Electro bunch, Bomba Estereo, currently enjoying an international profile boost after being highlighted last year as one of the 25 best new bands in the world by the trend setting MTV Iggy’s, alongside an eclectic batch of newcomers that included Surfer Blood, Far East Movement and Sleigh Bells.
Bomba Estereo began their career at the turn of the century and in a decade they have managed to spread their contagious vibe north and south in the American continent. Last year they were invited to be part of Levis’ Pioneer Revival Recording Sessions, where such groundbreaking artists such as The Roots and The Shins covered a favourite classic. Their rendition of “Pump Up The Jam” was so well received that the band decided to return to the studio and work on it properly. The final result, named ‘Ponte Bomb’, kept the catchy spirit of the original intact, while adding a touch of tropical heat to its celebrated electro beat, as well as a cheeky Spanglish spirit to the lyrics. Released as the title track of the band’s latest EP, which also includes new mixes of their most popular tracks to date “La Boquilla”and “Fuego”; “Ponte Bomb’, has been gaining the attention of the hippest blogs and it wouldn’t be surprising if it ends bringing the popular one hit wonder back to the charts. You can watch the video here.
The ‘Ponte Bomb EP’ is already available via Itunes. Bomba Estereo are currently in the middle of their “El Alma Y El Cuerpo (The Body & The Soul) Tour” around the States. Details of which are available at their official website.
Roberto Gonzalez Around the world bomba stereo
Our look at the artists making waves in every corner of the globe has a stopover in Thailand, where four piece rock act Bodyslam are currently one of the most popular acts across the country’s live arenas.
The band came to life after winning a competition for high school students under the name La-On (it means “Kids”). They later changed their name to BodySlam and shifted towards a harder, metal-infused sound that has taken them all the way to their current status as Thailand’s coolest band; with lead vocalist Athiwara “Toon” Khongmalai also being recognized as one of the most charismatic frontmen around the Asian continent’s rock scene.
Since the release last June of their acclaimed fifth album ‘Kraam’, which included such anthemic stadium-rock friendly moments as ‘Kid Hod’; ‘Kwan Rak’ or the title track; Bodyslam embarked on a non-stop sell-out tour, a highlight of which can be seen in the above video. For more details as well as many other audiovisual treats you can head to their official website or the more international friendly YouTube page.
Roberto Gonzalez Around the world BodySlam
