Bossa Blog

Bebel Gilberto’s debut CD, Tanto Tempo became a world wide phenomenon, selling a million copies around the globe and captivating audiences with its mix of classic bossa nova updated with cool electronica. On her latest Grammy nominated release simply titled, Bebel Gilberto , Bebel collaborated with producer Marius de Vries (Madonna, Björk, Annie Lennox) and once again topped the World Charts.

Now, an international cast of the world’s best dance, hip hop and electronica producers have remixed the songs from Bebel Gilberto into a variety of fresh, modern styles. From well known masters like, Thievery Corporation, Tom Middleton, Guy Sigsworth, DJ Spinna and Grant Nelson to such fast rising new talents as, Spiritual South, Yam Who? and Telefon Tel Aviv, Bebel Gilberto Remixed surveys an impressive cross section of some of the dance world’s brightest stars.

Posted by Mike at 03:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

As pioneers of jungle and drum n bass, 4hero changed the face of modern music and made a huge contribution to dance culture. Forging ahead with fresh beats and techniques on their new album Play With The Changes, out today on Milan Records, the London-based duo of Dennis “Dego” McFarlane and Mark “Mark Mac” Clair have crafted genre-crossing stream of precious sonic moments entirely their own. Play with the Changes marks 4hero’s first album in six years in a prolific career that has gained critical acclaim, a Mercury Prize nomination (1998’s Two Pages), MOBO award and widespread respect from the music industry. Influenced by underground techno as much as Chicago soul, their music is a synthesis of past and future, artificial and organic, strange and familiar. Intertwining live and electronic sounds, 4hero create futuristic soul for real music heads. It’s an experiment where they ‘play with the changes.’ Suffused with a love of black music history (think Roy Ayers, Rotary Connection, Sun Ra, Minnie Riperton, Afrika Bambaataa), and technical innovation, After releasing the classic “Mr Kirk’s Nightmare,” they established Reinforced Records and unleashed Goldie onto the world, as well as material by Doc Scott, Photek Peshay and Grooverider. Using various pseudonyms--more recently Visioneers and DKD--and through their own labels, (Reinforced, Raw Canvas, 2000 Black, Omniverse and Twisted Funk) Marc and Dego continue to venture into hitherto unknown musical fields, create sounds that no-one else has imagined and work with diverse and talented musicians, poets and singers. New alliances have also been formed on Play With The Changes. Grammy Award-winning legend Jody Watley, hotly-tipped Angeleno’s Jack Davey (J*DaVey) appear on “Take My Time”, Darien Brockington and Phonte of Little Brother contribute to “Give In”, and Larry Mizell--who has written and produced for the Jackson 5, Marvin Gaye and countless others--join Talita Long amongst a host of new evolving talent for the album on the title track.

Posted by Mike at 09:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Back in October I was in Amsterdam for the ADE (Amsterdam Dance Event). It was three days of seminars and focus groups related to the dance music industry. Most importantly though, it was three nights of non-stop partying all over Amsterdam's best clubs with some of the top DJ’s in the world. On one of those nights I went to Paradiso to see Arling and Cameron perform in one of the upstairs rooms. The main auditorium was packed that night and the sounds coming through the doors was mesmerizing. It was the Barcelona band Ojos de Brujo.....they are one of the most strikingly original bands of the new millennia. The name Ojos de Brujo translates as “Eyes of the Wizard” and there is no one quite like them; not only because of their vibrant, seemingly supernatural musicality, but also because of their radical contemporary edge and strong collective spirit. They reflect their Spanish and gypsy roots, but travel light years beyond the traditional flamenco sound. Their live shows have become stuff of legend, and they have left a path of sold-out shows and stunned audiences in their wake since the European release earlier this year of their third, long-awaited album, Techarí. It is an ambitious, self-produced journey, recorded both abroad in Cuba and New York and in a studio at the foot of the Pyrenees mountains, close to the birthplace of Salvador Dalí. Full of innovative musical ideas developed on their celebrated Barí tour, when they were wowing crowds across the world at festivals like Womad, the Montreal Jazz Festival, and NY Summerstage, Techarí represents their maverick spirit and dedication to pushing the boundaries of their sound and experimenting with the awesome sonic power of collective musical freedom. They work with DJ’s scratching in flamenco rhythms, and on the flip side take flamenco into an urban arena. During their concerts they’d go from hip hop to jazz, to rock, ragga, funk, and all kinds of Latin, East Asian, and Hindi directions. Ojos de Brujo’s parameters are so wide they are able to create an incredibly infectious sound that crosses all borders. I was amazed that evening I saw them live in Amsterdam and rushed out and bought all the import material I could get my hands on. Now available Stateside through Six Degrees, Techari is a must have for anyone wanting to push their musical boundaries.

Posted by Mike at 05:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

We've been getting great feedback on the Bossa Automator. A lot of you are using the Automator function to let your music play on a schedule. We're hearing from people who are using Bossa in restaurants, retails stores, bars as well as at home. There are tons of different uses for the Bossa Automator and there are also lots of different ways to schedule your music in the Automator. You can really fine-tune your music schedule to play exactly what you want to hear 24/7....every minute of the day.

Schedule your music for every day of the week:

If you want to be in complete control of your music select the Daily Schedule in the Automator menu and program different music for every hour and day of the week. (You can even select music by the minute, but unless you're running a radio station, who really wants to get that detailed?)

Schedule your music for weekday/weekend:

If you want to run the same schedule during the week and a different one on the weekends, this is the menu setting you want to use. For example, if you have a retail store and want to play different music on the weekdays than your weekend or have different opening and closing times for weekday/weekend, this function makes scheduling in the Automator easy.

Automate your music for the same schedule every day of the week:

This one's really simple: every day the same schedule. If you're running a retail store/restaurant with the same opening and closing times 7 days a week, this is an easy one to program. Just program your time and the music/mix you want to hear and let Bossa take over.

Posted by Mike at 02:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Bossa Forums are live again. We had been getting complaints from people not being able to register to the Bossa Forums. We were getting hit with so much spam in our forums that we set the spam filter a little too high....high enough to exclude everyone from registering. It's all fixed now so when you have a chance visit the Bossa Forums for the latest in user posts about Bossa features, questions as well as tips and tricks.

Posted by Mike at 03:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

TAGGING YOUR MUSIC WITH BOSSA SELECTORS

We've been hearing from a lot of you who are really enjoying the multi-tagging feature that Bossa has with the Selector. Instead of having just one genre for a song, Bossa allows you to add tags or "Selectors" to songs. By adding additional Selectors to songs you can make a very refined playlist or mix. For example; if you have a Guns n' Roses song listed as "Rock" you can add Selectors like "Morning", "Vocal", "Guitar Solo"......basically, whatever you want. (If you need help coming up with names or categories, Bossa pulls other people's Selectors off the web for you. Just click on one you like and make it your own.) Then when you make a mix in Bossa you can specify Morning or Guitar Solo and it will pull that song into your mix. So this way you can make a mix of just rock songs with killer guitar solos, or rock song that you only want to hear in the morning. When you've made your mix, throw it into the Automator and set Bossa on auto-pilot so that your mixes play on a timer!

SEE WHAT YOU HAVE IN YOUR MIX

Another great Bossa feature is the ability to see all the Selectors that you have in a Mix. You can easily see what you have in a mix, add Selectors or take them out of your mix. Just click on the Lab icon on the left side of your mix and the Lab window opens showing you what you have in your mix. I want to add Reggae to my Mix, so I type "R" in the add new selectors box and you can see all the genres with the letter "R" that I have in my music folder. By clicking on the Reggae icon it's added to my mix.

SEE ALL THE TRACKS IN YOUR MIX

By clicking on the "Tracks" tab you can see all the songs you have in your mix. You can easily scroll down and dump any tracks you don't want to hear in your mix.

Posted by Mike at 07:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Darren Barefoot has published an interview with Bossa co-founder Barry Paul on his blog. It gives a bit more background about Bossa, where it came from and what we are trying to do with it.

Thanks Darren

Posted by Barry at 02:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A lot of you have been sending us feedback about all the features you like in Bossa. The Automator and Lab are at the top of everyone's list, but the one function I go back to on almost a daily basis is the Generator. The Bossa Generator allows you to make a playlist that you're able to download to your iPod on the fly. The other day I wanted to put some music together for a quick, one hour mountain bike ride through the hills behind my house here in Hood River. I made a quick list in the Generator that included 15 minute blocks of Latin, Reggae, Dance and Electro Disco. Within seconds Bossa put my playlist together in iTunes and from there all I had to do was load it to my iPod and off on my bike I was.

This is what the Generator looks like when I made my playlist:

Here's the playlist I listened to on my bike ride:

Morenito - Stephane Pompougnac
Latin Track - Thunderball
Maria Moita - Nicola Conte Apresenta Rosalia De Souza
Almighty4 - Vibronics
Three Little Birds - Bob Marley
Horny Dub - Rootical Sound
Darker Shade Of Black - Jackie Mittoo
808 The Bass Queen (Queen of Bass Mix) - Swayzak
Waterman (Radio Edit) - Olav Basoski Feat. Michie One
Look On The Floor , Hypnotic Tango - BananaRama
Johnny Cash - Get Rhythemz DJ Paparazzi
Tigertron (Feat Factory Aire) - Le Castle Vania
The Electric Lady - Steed Lord
Sister Self Doubt 2 - Get Shakes

We'd love to hear how you're using the Generator to put together your playlists. Share what you're doing on our Bossa Forums under the heading: Your Mixes.

Posted by Mike at 09:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)