A review about the concert bashes it saying:

Peter Gabriel has finally run out of new ideas.

I disagree completely. Anyone attending the concert expecting to see “classic” Gabriel in progressive rock mode was likely disappointed. But anyone going with an open mind, ready to listen true reinterpretations of classic Gabriel songs alongside covers from his Scratch My Back album, was in for a treat!

One of the first songs, “Wallflower” was beyond gorgeous! Here’s the video I managed to capture of this moment with my phone:

Other highlights of the evening for me were “San Jacinto” and “Rhythm of the Heat” along with “Darkness”, “Digging In the Dirt” and “Red Rain” which I leave you with:

Topping the performances were Peter’s voice, which continues to be rock solid along, his storytelling preceding each song and his incredible character that never takes his audience or the musicians that accompany him for granted.

Thanks for an amazing evening, Peter!

Incluyo el press release anunciando la campaña, para que apoyen este proyecto… TALENTO VENEZOLANO!

New York, N.Y. (January 27, 2011) – Ecuadorian musician Juan Miguel Marin recently launched a 30-day kickstarter campaign to raise funds to complete La Casa del Ritmo, A Film About Los Amigos Invisibles. The film includes revealing interviews with the Grammy-winning Venezuelan band and famous supporters including Talking Heads front man David Byrne. By Sunday, February 20th, 12:36pm Marin must raise $30,000 to help complete this documentary; if that goal is not met, Marin receives zero funding via kickstarter.

Kickstarter is an all-or nothing, community based funding website that encourages community involvement and support in order to help creative endeavors, while offering project “backers” rewards for their help.

Marin’s kickstarter campaign began on Friday, January 21st, to date has raised over $5,000 and has nearly 100 backers. The campaign offers different levels of support, starting at $5, all the way up to $5,000 and offers backers at each level rewards such as the full-length documentary, La Casa del Ritmo DVD, a bonus DVD, t-shirts, artwork by Marin himself, who is an artist with a graphic design background, and even a private screening with Los Amigos Invisibles members.

Grammy-winning Los Amigos Invisibles, from Caracas Venezuela, celebrate 20 years in 2011. Marin, whose band La Rua opened tours for them in 2005, was impressed with how hard-working and serious the band was about their music and their fans. Marin felt their story was a dramatic, emotional tale of passion and perseverance – the same six members, together for two decades, discovered and signed by Byrne for his Luaka Bop label. During that time they relocated to New York City and gained a strong global fan base.

Marin, with the help of Ecuadorian film director Javier Andrade, began interviews last summer with the band members, former managers and Byrne. The kickstarter campaign hopes to raise funds by Feb. 20th in order to finance a filming of Los Amigos Invisibles at the Highline Ballroom on March 11th, to intertwine all the interviews with live concert footage, and pay for the remaining post production costs.

By visiting www.kickstarter.com and searching for Los Amigos Invisibles, viewers can see a pitch video by Mr. Marin, and become a backer.

Updated multiple times on a daily basis is La Casa del Ritmo’s twitter feed @casadelritmo and their Facebook fan plage, La Casa del Ritmo.

Los Amigos Invisibles www.amigosinvisibles.com

La Casa del Ritmo blog: www.lacasadelritmo.net

Para que le agarren el tumbao, aqui tienen un sample de lo que viene:

• Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross – The Social Network OST was haunting me for weeks… it still does. Ironic I haven’t seen the movie yet!
• Other Machines: my friend Mike Olsen from Full Sail put out a new album of music this year. Impeccable stuff, just like his earlier album while I was still in Florida.
• Jónsi: his new album is a great continuation of his work with Sigur Ros and Riceboy Sleeps. Some moments in here that I keep going back to over and over again.
• Hans Zimmer: the Inception OST was another regular play in 2010. I am addicted to the music as much as I am addicted to the movie.
• Hammock: their new album and their December EP are brilliant. Check out their new collaboration with Matthew Ryan, released on New Year’s Day, 2011.
• The Candlepark Stars: these guys are my favorite discovery this year. They are right in the middle, between Explosions in the Sky and Hammock… LOVE THEM!

A few more albums I liked (nearly all from Canada):

• The Arcade Fire: The Suburbs
• Broken Bells: self-titled
• Stars: The Five Ghosts & The Seance
• The New Pornographers: Together
• Caribou: Swim
• Robin Guthrie: Sunflower Stories

Some tracks I enjoyed:

• Peter Gabriel: “Flume”
• Underworld: “Always Loved a Film”
• Belle and Sebastian: “I Didn’t See It Coming”
• Silvio Rodriguez: “Trovador Antiguo”
• Gorillaz: “Stylo (feat. Mos Def & Bobby Womack)”

Another Brick in the Wall Part 2:

Mother:

Goodbye Blue Sky:

Bring The Boys Back Home:

Comfortably Numb:

Run Like Hell:

An interview with Roger Waters, showing multiple moments of the 2010 tour and the 1980 tour:

From the video description on YouTube:

Watch arriving passengers be given a welcome home to remember at Heathrow Terminal 5. Big thanks to all our talented singers who feature in the ad. For updates, exclusive content and more info on our talented cast, join our new facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/tmobileuk

Since 2004, I have been writing about them. But in 2010′s Chasing After Shadows…Living With the Ghosts, the eerie cover showing floating bodies in water is carefully balanced with one of the most positively stimulating albums they have ever done. Very few vocal arrangements make their way into the sea of processed guitar sounds that lie at the heart of the Hammock sound. Their Sigur Ros influences can be felt here and there but their work is unmistakable and unique.

It’s hard (nearly impossible) to pick a favorite track: not only because the entire album is unbelievably great. But also because it has a unity to it, like the hand that moves the hair aside to let the light fall on the eyes that go with the smile… it’s simple but perfect, complex yet soothing, calming and elevating at the same time.

The best way for you to experience Hammock is to listen to it. Watch the video for the track “Breathturn” to get a feel for how these guys sound…

Hammock – Breathturn from David Altobelli on Vimeo.

Today, subscribers to the 5-year old service LaLa received this email message:

The Lala service will be shut down on May 31st.

In appreciation of your support over the last five years, you will receive a credit in the amount of your Lala web song purchases for use on Apple’s iTunes Store. If you purchased and downloaded mp3 songs from Lala, those songs will continue to play as part of your local music library.

Remaining wallet balances and unredeemed gift cards will be converted to iTunes Store credit (or can be refunded upon request). Gift cards can be redeemed on Lala until May 31st.

I have been writing about LaLa since it’s Used CD trading times and through their dramatic change in business model. Like many other LaLa users, I have been wondering exactly how would Apple incorporate the LaLa service (basically streaming music from the “cloud” for free once and unlimited if you pay 10 cents per track) into their iTunes strategy since they purchased the Palo Alto-based company back in December.

The news today gives SOME idea of what those plans may be. Here are my two cents:

• Not unexpected to see LaLa (as a separate entity) shutting down. No surprises there.
• What is a surprise is that they are crediting users for all web song purchases. I assumed that there would be “something” ported over into whatever incarnation there may be on iTunes in connection with any account you may have there, to extend the experience. Now, although I am not losing money on this change, I have wasted time… If I wanted to purchase the same songs for streaming (assuming that they are offered in streaming format and that they are offered at the same price through iTunes or whatever Apple’s new service ends up being called), I am going to have to scroll through my 9,000+ library to figure out which ones are web songs that I care about and which are downloads (that I keep anyway).

Why did they do things this way? Perhaps developing the technology to bring “in-house” the collections of current LaLa wasn’t worth it, in Apple’s mind (with Apple’s new role as the IBM of the 21st Century, it could be the case). Porting over data from a “handful” of fanatic users like myself wasn’t worth their time… and they may be right, sadly.

While I don’t feel “betrayed” as I did when Last.FM sold out to its parent company CBS, I do have VERY mixed feelings about this move. I know Apple will come up with something in June and that something will likely have its home in the “cloud” as FastCompany accurately assesses: think “web-based iTunes or something”.

I keep thinking: the only way you can REALLY control the way things work for you is you do them yourself. But then, you will find yourself spending time and energy developing/hosting solutions to make things work your way. Is it worth it? Probably no. Does it dissapoint me when I things change on me overnight? Still does… anyway… End of rant! Happy Friday to you all!