Every summer, the city of San Francisco has a free concert series featuring noteworthy bands, and some that are yet-to-be-noted — at least in the United States, anyway.   Case in point, Bajafondo — the South American “electrotango” band whose members come from Argentina and Uruguay.  I had no idea what “electrotango” would sound like, but I was game, so off I went to see them perform live at a free concert. To my surprise, the place was packed with fans, and it was instantly understandable why: their music has a wonderfully cosmopolitan vibe that fuses a number of styles.  For those who are fans of Shakira, you might find some of Bajafondo’s electrotango sounding a bit like Shakira’s 2002 single, “Objection (Tango).”  Other times, the band has a kind of Russian sound with songs like “Hoy” that bring to mind Zvuki Mu.

However, Bajofondo is not a evanescent bit of exotica that screams “flavor of the week.” Their sound has certainly captured the heart (and ears) of artists like Elvis Costello and Nelly Furtado — each of whom contributes vocals on the album, Mar Dulce. Interestingly, the rather relaxed vocals of Furtado on “Baldosas Mojadas” makes her trademark nasally voice almost disappear–leaving the listener with a greater appreciation of her singing abilities.

Other guest vocalist, like Mala Rodriguez from Spain, add a nice flavor to “El Andén.” But really, the band shines on their instrumentals like “Pa’ Bailar” (the first single off the album) and “Grand Guignol” which has a kind of cinematic quality to it.

For a band that only has two albums under their belt, it’s clear that Bajofondo is comprised of some wonderfully talented and accomplished musicians who, as luck would have it, have a chemistry that keeps a signature sound fairly consistent throughout their genre-hopping fusion of styles.

“Baldosas Mojadas” (Download)
“El Andén” (Download)

I turned on the radio the other day for the first time in months and the first thing I heard was “more music, less talk,” so that’s what we’re going with this week. Well, okay, it’s the same amount of music but less talk. But you get my point.

NEW SOUNDS FOR THE COLLECTION:
Garland Jeffreys, Escape Artist
Krokus, Change of Address
Aleese Simmons, I Want It
Art in America, Art in America

We stroll on with our next-to-last week of artists whose names begin with the letter C, looking at songs that missed the first 40 slots on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the ‘80s.

Rita Coolidge
“Fool That I Am” — 1980, #46 (download)

Many times it’s just so much more interesting to talk about everything but the music. What can I say about a boring track from some movie I’ve never heard of called Coast to Coast? Coolidge’s personal life is the story here — she dated Stephen Stills and then Graham Nash right after him, leading to the initial breakup of CSNY. But my favorite tidbit about Coolidge is that she starred in some television specials called The Christmas Raccoons and The Raccoons on Ice in the early ‘80s, which apparently led to the Canadian TV series The Raccoons. Here’s a clip from Raccoons on Ice, narrated by Rich Little and also starring … Leo Sayer!

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The Police make me thankful The Beatles never had a full-fledged reunion.

It was a strange Sunday evening in the wilds of Holmdel, New Jersey. The PNC Arts Center usually allows patrons onto the property two hours before show time at 6:00 PM, and so I found myself on the Garden State Parkway with Elvis Costello’s Brutal Youth CD on the stereo and thoughts of scoring a sensible parking space bouncing in my brain. Little did I know that, as a courtesy to the weekenders, the venue let people in at 4:00. They dumped me out into the adjacent woods to park! This did not bode well.

I’ll freely admit I was more excited to see Costello and the Impostors and was not disappointed. Mixing older fan favorites like “Pump It Up,” “Every Day I Write The Book,” and the requisite “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding” with newer songs like “45″ from When I Was Cruel and “American Gangster Time” from the current and very worthwhile Momofuku album, Costello covered the necessary bases. Performing them with the gusto and spastic fire of a man half his age was wonderful to see, especially after hearing all the rumors that things would be toned down for those tender Jerseyan sensibilities. And just to give the set an extra dash of coolness, Sting came out to duet on “Allison.”

Now, had the evening ended there, I wouldn’t have walked away from this performance completely baffled. It would have been my shortest concert experience, but we all would have felt like we wanted to be in the same room with each other, band included. We’re all aware of the behind-the-scenes tensions purportedly happening in Camp Police. We’re also aware that even back in the early days, Sting commanded the majority of the attention, a position that could quickly irritate, and while hearsay shouldn’t color one’s impressions so early in the game, it was evident when Sting, Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland took the stage that they were plainly irritated.

The PNC Arts Center is a weird venue to start with. It is essentially a large, round coffee table where you and the stage are placed beneath. It is both an indoor and outdoor theater and, at the same time, neither. So there is a tendency to rig the electronics and the mix to accommodate all seats, including the uncovered lawn seats to the far back. The upshot is that the mix tends to be louder than it truly needs, causing all the music to come at you as a bass-heavy muddle. It can be compensated for. A few years back, Megadeth played the main Gigantour stage and the sonics were perfectly fine. An hour earlier, Dream Theater was on and the sound was that of a seal being clubbed (miked from the inside of the seal, no less). The Police, by contrast, were much louder than either of those bands, louder than any other show I’ve seen there this year, and easily the most sonically murky. (more…)

DOWNLOAD “Girls! Girls! Girls!” HERE

I have to thank Melissa at work for this mix. The two of us were talking about songs featuring female names and she said something like: “Sounds like a Mix Six to me.” Well, I knew I had one song locked in because of Melissa’s suggestion. After that, things started to fall into place very quickly. But it wasn’t until I finished the mix that I realized I happen to know women with all of these names.

“Julie”(Live), Marshall Crenshaw

This song is for my wife. I don’t know if you’ve ever done a song search for “Julie,” but most of the choices are pretty lame. Back in the day when there was a Jefitoblog, he posted this song on one of his Mixtapes (I believe). I had never heard Marshall’s song before, but was surprised to hear that it didn’t suck — you know, given the track record of songs entitled “Julie.” (”Julie” was, of course, originally performed by Bobby Fuller — referred to here by Crenshaw as “my favorite singer ever to have been murdered by gangsters.” –Ed.) (more…)

DOWNLOAD THE FULL MIX HERE

Cheers to you, you scurvy knaves! That’s my belated St. Patty’s Day toast to you — and I’m well aware that saying “scurvy knaves” is more English than Irish, but maybe I’m ready for a bare-knuckle brawl. No, really.

Actually, I’m ready to mix some musical goodness for your ears!

“Beat It,” Fall Out Boy featuring John Mayer

The fact that there’s seemingly a lack of humor in this version made me believe that Time magazine was right when they declared irony was dead. Then I saw a pic of John Mayer’s alter ego “Johnny Ballsac” in Rolling Stone and I realized Time was wrong. (more…)

Although released in late 1977, the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack would be impossible to ignore for much of 1978, with the Bee Gees’ “Night Fever” and “Stayin’ Alive,” as well as Yvonne Elliman’s “If I Can’t Have You,” all reaching #1. At several points during the first half of ‘78, the soundtrack album was selling over 1 million units a week.

Bee Gees - Stayin’ Alive
Bee Gees - Night Fever (w/ More Than a Woman) (more…)