Around The World would actually be a simple pop album if it was not for el Señor, alias the inimitable Atom™ as he is simply not interested in the easy route! If you are going to cover the pearls of international pop, you really have to contribute a powerful idea of your own and you know you’ve made it when the musicians you are covering themselves take part in the recording, as happened with the three members of the Yellow Magic Orchestra, Haruomi Hosono, Yukihiro Takahashi and Oscar and Grammy winner Ryuichi Sakamoto on the Yellow Fever album.

On Around The World Señor Coconut has again conjured “Electrolatino” songs from international hits. Once more he’s recorded with the big band, with which he’s been bringing his concepts to the stage on rapturously received tours for many years, to then take the recordings apart in his own studio in Santiago de Chile, reassemble them, surgically process each track, and inject that special Coconut magic. Long serving Coconut vocal collaborator Argenis Brito steps up to the mic for the majority of songs along with the crooner Louis Austen (the Viennese Frank Sinatra!) adding his touch plus Stephan Remmler, the legendary head of 80’s electro-popsters Trio, stepping forth to top it all off.

Atom™ has again adopted the perspective of an alien who, from Chile, his distant orbit, perceives the world as a remote place and not as his place of origin. For this purpose, Atom™ uses the technique of mash up or culture clash: an Austrian crooner sings on a Swiss Cha-Cha-Cha (Pinball ChaCha), a Japanese, Toshiyuki Yasuda, programs the computer part on a Brazilian Bossa Nova classic (Corcovado – Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars), and this voice does a duet with Argenis Brito, a Venezuelan singer who lives in Berlin.

The theme that all Señor Coconut albums share is Mambo, which is in turn an artificial product developed by the Cuban Dámaso Pérez Prado who lived, worked and died in Mexico and produced for the American market. It was he who brought together stereotypes from the widest imaginable range of sources to make “Latino” marketable for the first time, leading in turn to Mambo making the crossover to jazz and turning up in popular hits in Germany in the 50s and 60s. In La Vida Es Ilena De Cables a Latino big band arrangement clashes with Reggaeton-Rap and the Aciton sounds developed by Atom™. Aciton is a hybrid of Acid and Reggaeton. The track Around The World by the French band Daft Punk provides the background for this exceptional production, it is the common thread that unifies the album: electronica which is put back on its acoustic feet, all because Señor Coconut’s creative process is not a one-way street!

Turn over for a track-by-track breakdown by Atom™

Press: Contact Lou @ Cypher PR – 0207 372 4464 / lou@cypherpress.uk.com

Around The World Track-By-Track Guide In His Own Words By The Maestro, Señor Coconut

Around The World
With Señor Coconut I receive a whole lot of ideas from outside – from friends, fans, and other musicians. My friend and valued colleague, Original Hamster, once mentioned “Around the World” by the French band “Daft Punk” and since then this track had been stuck in my head. But in parallel with this, there was another completely separate development which, however, coincides with “Around the World”: Thomas Baxter, the son of the legendary exotica musician and composer Les Baxter, asked me in 2006 whether I would be interested in remixing one of his father’s tracks (VOODOO DREAMS is included on this album as a bonus track). While I was getting absorbed in Les Baxter and listening to him closely, I discovered an album of his entitled “Round the World with Les Baxter”. The theme of “Around the World” began to take hold of me. It can certainly be said that “Around the World” – whether interpreted by Les Baxter, Señor Coconut, or anyone else – always reflects only a subjective view of the world, at best the view of a particular culture or cultural context. The world of Les Baxter is just as incomplete as that of Señor Coconut, defined by the time and place of our respective existences. After the title of the Señor Coconut album had been decided on, it was of course clear that Daft Punk’s “Around the World” would have to be the leitmotif. The track therefore appears three times on the album: as introduction, interlude and finale.
Sweet Dreams
Once “Around the World” had been established as theme and motto of the album, it was clear what the selection criteria for the songs had to be: the first prerequisite was that every track had to come from a different country. One track which had been in my thoughts for years for a Señor Coconut production was “Sweet Dreams” by the British band Eurythmics, purely and simply because it is rhythmically and melodically a perfect Cha-Cha-Cha. The ultimate criterion with Señor Coconut is always purely musical: “Does that give me any interesting ideas?” With “Sweet Dreams” the answer was “Yes”. Interestingly, I suddenly heard very clearly lines of the lyrics which I had not noticed at first, and which provided a curious cross-reference to “Around the World”: “I travelled the world and the seven seas… Everybody’s looking for something”.
Da Da Da
A few years ago I had the pleasure of doing a remix for Stephan Remmler, so we were already in contact. For one thing, Stephan likes Señor Coconut, and for another, the work on the remix reminded me of “Da Da Da”. I realised that “Da Da Da” was virtually crying out to be done as a Cha-Cha-Cha. Rhythmically and melodically it was clear where the musical journey should go. I asked Stephan if he would be interested in singing and he agreed immediately. I think that hardly any other German track from the 80s was as emblematic or as German as “Da Da Da”. In my opinion, the brilliant simplicity of the song makes it THE representative of Germany on “Around the World”.
Kiss
Again, it was Original Hamster who brought “Kiss” to my attention. Together with Argenis Brito, I translated the lyrics into Spanish and the decision was made to include this song on the album. The real fascination of this song is that, one the one hand, the original has no bass line and that, on the other, its charm lies in its simplicity (and that was the connection to “Da Da Da”). At the musical level, the challenge was to convey these two aspects in Señor Coconut style.
Corcovado
In Tokyo, I met a musician called Toshiyuki Yasuda (aka “Robo Brazileira”), who gave me a couple of his CDs. When I listened to them, I discovered parallels between his productions and my album “Midisport” from 2002, on which I took Brazilian music to pieces and reassembled it back to front. When I got into contact with Toshiyuki later, he said that my album had in fact influenced him greatly, and given him the idea of making synthetic Brazilian music. I liked his extension of my idea so much that I asked him to create a synthetic female voice for the Señor Coconut version of the Brazilian classic “Corcovado (Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars)”.
Que Rico El Mambo
In the original by Perez Prado is quite simply THE Mambo track par excellence. It was also high time to have Perez Prado appear on a Señor Coconut album, not just as a guiding spirit but directly. His influence on this project was very significant from beginning to end. There are Prado references on all the Señor Coconut albums, and he is probably my most important source of inspiration. It is interesting that Perez Prado is in no way a representative of Latin American “standards” but is characterised much more by having continually rejected these standards (apart from those which he himself created). Perez Prado compositions are remarkable not only for their unconventional arrangements and playing styles but also for their wit and simplicity.
Pinball ChaCha
Just as on “El Baile Alemán” and “Yellow Fever!”, a track which was originally electronic is here reinterpreted acoustically. This song is by the Swiss band Yello and was always a Cha-Cha-Cha. This is already enough to explain why it ended up on the album. Produced by Yello at the beginning of the 80s using one of the first samplers, the original version plays with elements which are typical of “exotica” such as sampled bird calls and forest sounds.
White Horse
And here again an idea was suggested to me. This time it was Argenis Brito who turned me on to the track. When I found myself short of uptempo tracks, and it occurred to me that “White Horse” in the original by the Danish combo Laid Back would be perfect as a Merengue, I knew that I simply HAD to cover it. “White Horse” is in fact a reference to cocaine (“If you wanna ride, don’t ride the white horse…”) a substance which is very popular in the Merengue scene and is without doubt responsible for the nervousness of this rhythm.
La Vida Es Ilena De Cables
With this track of mine I am falsifying history and arrogantly representing Chile on “Around the World”. “La vida es llena de cables” (Life is Full of Cables) appeared around 2001 on an album by “Los Samplers”, a Latino-Fake combo. The band, consisting of five Latinos, came together to make music which they had in their heads but which none of them could produce alone because they didn’t have the equipment. The original version, in the style of a digital Son (i.e. a downbeat rhythm) here becomes an uptempo Guaguanco (related to Cha-Cha-Cha and Mambo), while the central section is kept in the Aciton style. Aciton is a hybrid of Reggaeton and Acid, an artificial creation dreamed up by the Surtek Collective. This at least really does come from Chile and is the result of a meeting of minds between Original Hamster and me.
Moscow Discow
We return to the starting point: a journey around the world. The Belgian formation Telex produced “Moscow Discow” at the start of the 80s. Interesting here are the parallels, both thematic and in terms of sound, with Kraftwerk’s “Trans Europa Express”, which had already been covered on Señor Coconut’s “El Baile Alemán”. It is related in terms of time and space not only with Kraftwerk but also with Yello, up to and including the musical approach: original and fake. This track was selected by reason of all the interrelationships and for the fact that it is a fine Cha-Cha-Cha/Rumba.

www.senorcoconut.com
www.myspace.com/atomtm
www.myspace.com/senorcoconut

Download link “Flawless”, by Adam Faz

Please leave some feedback on the track…

Dark Globe shares their latest DJ Mix for you all! Big ups to Faze2agency UK,

Download DarkGlobe MIX JUNE 2008.mp3 Free download

Download Dark Globe last mix here (right click to save to your hard drive 80mbs)

DARK GLOBE
Recent – Current – Upcoming Releases

Break My World – 2006
Re -released – GlobalUnderground
B- Listed Radio One
A- Listed MTV Dance

Mixes by
DARK GLOBE
KEVIN SWAIN
HARD KISS
CAGED BABY

Nostalgia For The Future LP
Released via GlobalUnderground 2006/07
CD and Digital release, + Limited black cover edition CD (includes album remixes)
Reached Top Ten iTunes Electronica Chart

Atoms – (feat. Boy George) – GlobalUnderground 2007
Digital release and Limited edition 12” vinyl remixes

Mixes by
DARK GLOBE
HENRIK SCHWARZ
DEADLY AVENGER
ARIYA

UP COMING IN 2008 – Futures Coming – (feat. Silja)
Digital and 12” vinyl release – GlobalUnderground 2008

Mixes by
DARK GLOBE
DJ FEX
JAY LUMEN
(more to be announced)

Dark Globe featured shows on U.K and U.S networks 2007/08
BBC6 – “6Mix” (twice),
XFM – John Kennedy “X-Posure”
XFM – Eddie Temple Morris “The Remix”
Kiss – Ali B show
Galaxy Manchester / North East
Grooveradio.com – Swedish Egil show
“Powertools” – Power 106.1FM (Los Angeles)
“Area 33” Sirius Satellite Radio (NYC)
Proton Radio – Strongarm Session
Proton Radio – Exclusive 3 hour mix

Collaborations and ongoing antics 2007/08

As well as recording, remixing and starting projects with known artists like, Cass and Mangan, Kevin Swain, Liquid, Earl 16, Underworld, Trafik and mixing Deadly Avengers latest album, Dark Globe have also been producing and writing for many up and coming artists like Imogen Andrews (Julie Andrews niece), Silja (Nouvelle Vague), folk artist Jac Amidy from Berlin and chosen sound designs for commercial’s here in the U.K and U.S. Chrysler and O2 being the most recent.

Something good that came out of signing to Island records back in 2004 was a radio show presented by Dark Globe called the De Facto Sessions. They bought airtime on Pure 94FM and did a twelve week 2 hour show from 7-9pm every Saturday night with guest mixes from DJ Shadow, Hard Kiss, Kasabian, Meat Katie, Elite Force, Athlete, King Unique, Radioactive man and Ben Castle plus a few others they can’t remember.
Now in 2008 the De Facto Session is a major featured show on electronic music’s Internet station, Proton Radio.

You can hear their selection of current eclectic-ness live, every last Tuesday of the month 6:30am EST / 11:00am GMT

http://www.protonradio.com/show.php?showid=340

Dark Globe saw out 2007 DJing their Dex & FX sets on the GU world tour along with Layo & Bushwacha, Trafik, Deep Dish, Dub fire and Richard Dinsdale, They also gave the live show a test drive, with appearances at Jay Hannan’s ‘Lazy Dog’ (Notting Hill Arts Club) and Longest Day festival Brighton.

Dark Globe in 2008
The new record is electronic based with a dark bluesy feel to it, similar in structure to “Nostalgia For The Future” but less commercial sounding, it will include both songs and the popular instrumentals they are known for.
Collaborating again with Imogen Andrews, and new faces Jac Amidy, Jonathon Donahue (Mercury Rev) and other surprise guests TBC.

Dark Globe biog 2008

Some things happen for a reason. What may initially seem like a setback can actually turn out to be a leap forward, as Dark Globe know all too well…

Back in 2003, a demo of the sledgehammer number that is ‘Break My World’ caught the ear of Island Records’ top dog who, on the strength of those unmistakable strings, signed them to the major league. A balmy headline slot on Pete Tong’s live-from-Miami WMC show in early 2004, simultaneous top-spot hoggings of the Cool Cuts and Buzz Charts and hot Ibizan nights followed.

However, big isn’t always better, and the boys were soon to discover that teeny-bopper pop-rockers held more sway at the label than their underground sound. An amicable split followed in the summer of 2005, along with a determination to keep things simple next time around.

There’s no stopping the Globe’s flow though; despite this hiccup the music was coming thick and fast. New vocalist Silja, of Nouvelle Vague fame, as well as collaborations with Television’s Tom Verlaine and old accomplice Boy George, delivered a breath of fresh air and it became clear they needed a suitable outlet for their re-energised musical vision.

Global Underground, with its history of dance music pioneers, was an obvious first choice and quickly snapped the boys up. They got straight down to business, with the “moody brooding” (Music Week) ‘Break My World’ getting the remix treatment from Caged Baby and Gavin Hardkiss in his Hawke guise amongst others in September 2006. Hot on its heels came Dark Globe’s long-awaited album proper ‘Nostalgia For The Future’. Entering the iTunes Electronic Album Chart at No.7, it showed off “the thing that really sets Dark Globe apart from other electronic based acts – their songwriting. Simply put, Nostalgia For The Future is something you need to hear.” (Jive Magazine)

Not ones to rest on their laurels, whilst promoting ‘Nostalgia…’ – most recently during an energetic live performance at Jay Hannan’s Underdog night at the Notting Hill Arts Club – the boys continue to work on new music. With lots more exciting collaborations up their sleeves, plus the Global Underground world tour to look forward to, keep your eyes – and ears – peeled. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves…how about a little history.

The Dark Globe story began somewhere in the early 90s – in a musical climate where the baggy scene was swinging its collective flares and crusty rock was dying a deserved painful death – when Pete Diggens, drummer in psych punk band Electric Sex Circus, decided enough was enough. Touring with the likes of Blur and giving the Manic Street Preachers an early support slot (“seeing them in their make up lugging equipment about was hilarious,” he laughs) was no longer musically fulfilling.

Meanwhile, over in the North Kent suburbs, childhood friend and future fellow Glober Matt Frost had started producing and releasing electro records. Reuniting through a love of noise, sampling and Public Enemy, the two formed the musical partnership that we know today. “Public Enemy’s message was cool but the thing that we both connected over was Terminator X’s industrial funk,” recalls Matt. “Everyone else was into Stone Roses and Soup Dragons and we’d be trying to be North Kent’s answer to The Bomb Squad. Big, loud, Hank Shocklee noise: industrial, violent and aggressive.”

“I remember clearing the floor at loads of parties with the tracks we were making,” adds Pete, “we were just getting adrenaline rushes from making noise until we realised that you’ve got to form it into something and get some melody thing going.”

Under various guises (Some Other People/ Crowbar/ The Deep) for various labels (Matt’s Infinite Mass, Violent Drum) the pair made critically acclaimed, arse-quaking, speaker shattering, body moving experimental dance music. “Even the record shops would ring us up to say that they didn’t know what to do and where to put them,” laughs Matt.

Eventually the boys’ adventures in sound caught the attention of the burgeoning UK dance scene’s godfathers Leftfield and in 1994 signed to their label Hard Hands. But three years and five EPs later their musical ambition had once again put them at odds with their peers.

“By the end of the Hard Hands days we were doing stuff that was too big for the label and they didn’t know what to do with it,” Matt explains. “They were like ‘that’s a pop record’. We were gutted because that’s where we wanted to go. We wanted to do more than service DJs, we were getting too song-based rather than a sampled refrain like a Moby record.”

Bored of house music the pair hooked up with breaks label Whole Nine Yards and inflicted serious damage to the nation’s dance floors culminating in the Boy George vocalled ‘Auto Erotic’ and the story-so-far compilation ‘Tales of Dirt and Sparks’.

Inspired by “the ability of American R&B producers to make electronic music sound human” the pair spent time refining their formula for making perfect digital pop. Or as Dark Globe put it “epic pop made by twisted little fuckers”.

Pete’s love of melodies and Matt’s love of grooves is the essence of Dark Globe’s digital pop vision. As a classically trained guitarist and trombonist, Pete’s influences span English composer Vaughn Williams, Brian Wilson and legendary romantic Scott Walker. Matt’s childhood in Nigeria, meanwhile, has inspired a love of African drumming and he points to DJ Premier, hip hop grooves and Police drummer Stuart Copeland as key influences.

Along the way, their filthy breakbeat funk has soundtracked ‘Lara Croft: The Cradle of Life’, they’ve delivered inspired remixies for the likes of Orbital and Two Lone Swordsmen and if you profess to know your dance music history then you’ll know that Dark Globe are responsible for making the first ever breakbeat record, ‘Mondo Scurro’.

Either way, there’s little doubt that Dark Globe are hard-to-categorise electronic music pioneers and, right now, we’ve never needed them more…

www.myspace.com/darkglobeuk
www.darkglobe.co.uk

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Please leave your comments on the excellent Dark Globe Mix…

While the renaissance of jungle is filling the dancefloors and stereos of drum’n'bass lovers the globe over, there is still a more scientific or sinister element burning bright alongside the rewinds of the masses. More jump-up than jungle, and perhaps originally suggested in the early work of deep science pioneers like Krust, Matrix, TeeBee and Ed Rush & Optical, this deeply shadowy future tek drum’n'bass uses a relentless and complex collection of upfront dark beats and moody soundscapes to encase the ears and get the dancefloor ready to strike, but also carries an intricate subtlety of skill in production, perhaps witnessed more in the glitch genre, than those hailing a constant repetition of Amens. NOISIA, consisting of members Nik Roos, Martijn van Sonderen and Thijs de Vlieger from Groningen all from The Netherlands, are new forbearers of this more turgid sound, and use their FABRICLIVE 40 mix to run the gamut of dark shadowy delight in all things drum’n'bass. Featuring many Noisia tracks from their own two imprints Vision and Division Recordings, as well as labels Ninja Tune, Quarantine and Virus, this mix is a serious throttle to the senses, commanding dancefloors around the world to stand to attention.

But conjuring these much in demand DJ skills, NOISIA take no prisoners with FABRICLIVE 40, and create a mix that forces the ear and the feet to high alert from the word go. Moving through all manner of shadowy darkness with an almost light filled segue way touching on future breaks, FABRICLIVE 40 is not for the faint hearted, but will open up the ears of every listener who falls into its path.

Breakbeat.ca Review: “This should be the Star Trek sound track–no joke! Its a musical release full of rolling techy breakbeats, with obscure soundscapes, twisted textures, mixed with lovely grimey basslines…it even goes to electro–checkout track 4 Brown Time! Recommend for your listening pleasure…get ready to trip out!”

Listen to the audio samples on the Fabric site now…Please post your thoughts

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The Stanton Warriors and fabric records are pleased to partner for the next instalment of arguably the most revered breaks compilation series in action today – STANTON SESSIONS VOLUME 3.

Breaks genre pioneers, swathed with awards including Breakspoll Number One DJs, DJ Magazine’s Number One Breaks DJs, and DJ Magazine’s 50 Best Remixers Of All Time, the Stanton Warriors have had no time to hurry the hustle of the next in line in their low-end dancefloor breaks beatdowns. Their last edition, ‘Stanton Sessions 2’ was immediately voted Album Of The Year on Annie Nightingale’s BBC Radio 1 show which, added to the salutations following their FABRICLIVE 30 mix including Timeout Compilation Of The Year and Breakspoll Compilation Of The Year, meant the collective breakbeat breath was baited for Session number three. And while they’re still in the studio now putting the finishing touches on this highly anticipated release, come October, the wait will be over.

“Coming off the back of an absolutely mental worldwide tour schedule we thought it was the right time to drop another Stanton Sessions comp. It’s going to be the 3rd instalment of the series and contain all the unique tracks, edits and remixes that define our sound today. We have been playing and running our Sessions nights successfully at fabric for 8 years now, so it seems only natural to continue this partnership with the release of Stanton Sessions Volume 3.” –Stanton Warriors.

Stanton Sessions Volume 3 is due for release on October 27, 2008
(USA release date 11/11/08).

The Stanton Warriors will be supporting the release with a world tour, kicking off with the album launch at FABRICLIVE on Friday October 24, followed by a date at the Amsterdam Dance Event, before travelling through the UK, Europe, USA, Japan, Australia, and South America.

Full album press release to follow

Go back to www.breakbeat.ca