Johan de Meij – Symphony No. 1 (The Lord of the Rings)

I think our blog might be a little too sprawling but then again, I don’t necessarily consider that to be a bad thing either. But I feel entirely out of place if I don’t start bringing up classical music and jazz too – can’t ever forget about jazz. (If you ever meet anyone who tells you jazz is unimportant or inferior to classical music, please punch them in the face. Tell them I said it was OK too because they are way off base. And believe me, you will meet such purists who speak such horrible claims.)

Anyway, one of my favorite classical compositions for a band, or wind ensemble if you will, is Johan de Meij’s Symphony No.1, which is also known as The Lord of the Rings Symphony. Long before the massive films took to the silver screen, de Meij would compose five movements based on the novels and scored it for a wind ensemble. They aren’t the most difficult pieces of music to perform but they are infectiously gripping. And they color the books with magnificent music that is equally melodic and harmonic, with trumpets being at the frontline, there is everything from “Gandalf”’s fierce horses to the ominous cave found in “Gollum,” to the simply titled, “Hobbits.”

If I’m not mistaken, I think all three of us were in high school when we played “Hobbits” and it was a great feeling. I remember campaigning for us to play the first movement, “Gandalf,” but it would have been too much music. Either way, the entire suite is fantastic and below is a video for that aforementioned fifth movement, “Hobbits,” check it out. – Bryan

Let the Sunshine in

Today marks the first day of Spring, and for some reason its cooler and cloudier than it has been in a week or two here in the sun city. And since our banner at the current moment here at ODDGILA is a picture of my fair city El Paso aka The Sun City aka EL Chuco... I find it doubly appropriate for a “SUN” inspired post. With an average of over 300 days a year of sunshine, El Chuco residents are well accustomed to the bright yellow rays of our celestial power house. That’s why when I go a few days with out the warmth of sunshine in my life I start going a little crazy. With that said, some of my favorite songs about the SUN...
Bill Withers “Ain’t no Sunshine”
Sunshine=Girl=warmth=happiness


Bobby Hebb “Sunny”

Disco version anybody...Boney M “Sunny”

Lou Rawls "In the Evening When the Sun Goes Down"
When the sun goes down, you realize you're girl is gone.


Stevie wonder "You are the Sunshine of My Life"

5th Dimension "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In"

Buena Vista Social Club

I’m pretty sure I’ve said it before but we spend so much of our lives in a confusing haze: hardly living. Some of us are so severely entangled with bad decisions that each subsequent choice is another step in the wrong direction; other times we’re so heavily depressed that we move with lax undertone, as if nothing else matters. I can speak on both behalves and attest that neither is a way to live, especially when there is 1) So much to grasp and attain and 2) Things could always be so much worse.

But before I get too sentimental in my foolish statements, I can honestly say that if you continue to live life with that aforementioned, apathetic, outlook you will miss out on the greatest of greats. Music is still what unites as people: it’s the sole aesthetic art that can have a close family of twenty people sobbing and crying to “God Bless America” at a funeral and on the opposite side of the spectrum, have hundreds of strangers jumping for joy to “Lost Coastlines.”

When I first came across Buena Vista Social Club’s album, I was floored – to say the least. I remember just entering high school and hearing about this so called ‘special’ album that was recorded and made in Cuba. These musicians gave their entire lives to creating music that would only be heard by those in the Cuban clubs and streets. And they were talented musicians, gifted artists, that played piano, guitars, mandolins and that had voices so gorgeous they felt as if it was heaven speaking directly to you.

An American musician, Ry Cooder, found them and asked them to record their songs with him, on an album that would suit them justice. They would have done it for free but he gladly paid them and the ensuing result was not just the best album of 1997 (yes, the BEST album of 1997, better than Radiohead’s OK Computer) but arguably, one of the finest sets of music in the last decade. You see, these musicians poured their hearts and souls into their music; they gave absolutely everything to create breathtaking music. It covers everything from Cuban son, to soul, to samba, to jazz, to bossa nova, to whatever else they mastered – with a piano solo here and there. It’s a landmark album, one that is exceptionally above all else and as most members of this club have now passed (R.I.P.) they can rest assured that their legacy is set in stone with this prestigious club, the Buena Vista Social Club, don’t let it pass you by. – Bryan

UTEP Basketball Update/Ali Farka Touré & Toumani Diabaté – Ali and Toumani

First off, the UTEP basketball team ended up losing the C-USA tournament and Houston went on to pull off an upset to gain the automatic bid. I’d like to say that I had a feeling this would happen since we had one conference loss the whole season and it was against…wait for it…yep, Houston. But hindsight is 20-20 or something or other.

Either way, we got the shaft from the tournament committee. We received a #12 seed and play Butler in the first round; in fact, us and Utah State were the last at-large teams to get in the tournament. But not only is Butler a very good team but they were in the top 25 for most of the season and had quality wins against Ohio State, Xavier and Siena, to name a few. But hey, one of their four losses was against UAB, a team we beat twice during the year, except from the loss to Houston we were riding a hot streak and it’s the NCAA tournament and anything can happen. The game is this Thursday, March 18 at 2:55 PM our time – I smell a chance of leaving early from work this day?


Now onto music: please check out the new album by Ali Farka Touré & Toumani Diabaté, simply titled, Ali and Toumani. It’s the second and seemingly last album for these two guitarists as Touré passed away and is sadly, no longer around. Not only do they weave their way around these guitar-based instruments with superb ease but their strong sense of melody and harmonics is astounding. It’s refreshing to see them attempt slower, gentle tunes and then rip into highly-energetic jubilant songs: bottom line is that it is an amazingly beautiful album. Below is the digital single, “Kala Djula,” that World Circuit offered for the aforementioned new album. R.I.P. Ali Farka Touré

We missed the beginning of Surreal Week today but I should be there tomorrow to watch some shows but for those that were there for The DA’s show at The Garage on Saturday, was that awesome or what?

Surreal Week

One of the things about El Paso that I can’t stand is the shoddy promoters who do a terrible job of promoting shows. Usually, they fall way behind and don’t get enough support or exposure to get a good crowd and often, they simply slack off. It’s the biggest confusion as to why a concert for a local band like The Royalty can get a packed Take II and then a show for Abe Vigoda and No Age gets like 40 people at an old Club 101 venue. The same attendees, these cool hipsters, should be at all the indie shows and yet, they show up in tiny margins. Personally and I hate to admit it but I’ve missed shows by bands Neon Indian and the first time Deerhunter came around because I didn’t even know about them.

So you wonder, “Then why don’t you promote shows?” Trust me, I think that if I had $10,000 in spare money to lure bands and connections with clubs and bars, I’d be doing that. Fortunately, every now and then, we get some decent shows to come by and a local promoter has put together Surreal Week. A spin off the South by Southwest ceremonies in Austin, they plan on having over 20 bands play at three different venues: The Black Market, Hideaway Lounge and The Percolator between March 14 – March 22.


Some of the bands I plan on seeing for sure are local band The DA (Nick mentioned them in a previous post) on Sunday, March 14; the St. Patty’s free show with Ty Segall which I have heard a lot about; and the March 21st show where Nice Nice, Pivot and Titus Andronicus will play. I think that, in my head, I might head out every night just to get some new music in my blood and to hear these great bands but that seems like a daunting task because I still work all week. But for those three shows, they will be for sure RSVPs.

If it’s anything like previous SXSW-inspired gigs then the stages will be set up to allow for bands to play simultaneously and that would be great. Titus Andronicus alone is a great band to check out because they are riding the tails of a successful sophomore album and are an awesome band – here is the review I wrote on DOA for their album and below is the ‘trailer’ for the new album, The Monitor. The flyers are there (click on them to see full size), check it out and support the music if you can go. – Bryan

I ♥ Brazil

So I had this post I never got around to putting up accompanied by an ill mix I made for Carnival. It had some amazing Brazilian cuts on it that, well you just can’t miss out on. Instead of getting into a lengthy discussion of how amazing the beaches are in Brazil, or how the beautiful game is played with more beauty then anywhere else in the world, or how the women are gorgeous …. I mean I’m not even gonna mention how the next world cup is gonna be in Brazil, or how the world’s lungs are located within its borders, or how delicious caiperinhas are, or how the women, oh the women….I’ll just let the Brazil’s music speak for itself.
First up we got Sergio Mendes and the Brasil ‘66 with the classic tune entitled “Mas Que Nada” which translates roughly into, “What’s with that”. The song is basically about a dude trying to get to the dance floor cause some real live ass shit is playing and everybody’s in his way. So he’s like “Mas que nada, Sai da minha frente, eu quero passer, Pois o samba esta animado ,O que eu quero e sambar” which translates roughly to “ What’s with that, Get out of my way, I need to pass, Cause the samba is moving me, I want you and I wanna samba!!”

Sergio Mendes made “Mas Que Nada” famous, however it was actually written by Jorge Ben in 1963. Another tune of Ben’s that I absolutely love is “Eu Vou Torcer”. It appears on one of my favorite Brazilian albums of all time, “A Tábua De Esmeralda”, which is one of those special albums you can play beginning to end with out wanting to remotely skip a track.

If Isaac Hayes, Barry White or any of the other American soul brothers of the 70’s had a contemporary in Brazil it was dude right here. Tim Maia started his musical career in ’70 and kept making records up into the late 90’s. The emotion he put in his voice and funky soulful compositions he sang on are an amazing example of how soul and funk reached almost every corner of the globe. This is Brazilian Soul-Funk at its absolute best!

So like all great musical styles there are magnificent occurrences when great minds come together and make amazing records. For the neo-soul there’s the SOULQUARIANS and for Brazilian music aficionados there is Clube da Esquina. Basically a creative musical outfit headed by Milton Nascimento, it’s also the title of Nascimento’s 10th studio album. On the album there is a track that has to be one of my all time favorite songs. I’m grown man, a father, whatever, but every time I hear this song, my eyes start welling up, it’s that powerful. It’s even more powerful after learning the meaning, which is basically about not giving up on your dreams, not looking back and knowing what you were really capable of.

The Souljazz Orchestra – Rising Sun

Label Strut Records has been putting out some consistently amazing music for the past few years. Last year, they really rocked my socks off with their third edition in the Inspiration Information series, an album by the legendary Mulatu Astatke and The Heliocentrics. They’ve got a new Astatke album (his first studio album in over 20 years) coming out at the end of March which will be great but they also have a fantastic new album by The Souljazz Orchestra, out now, entitled Rising Sun.

A largely acoustic album, the sounds on this brilliant release are rooted in African rhythms, gorgeous jazz and varying styles. The musicianship is where it’s at with musicians that easily travel into different modes and keys before always finding their way back home – even when it isn’t exactly to the tonic. And that’s just the thing, even when they’re all over the place, there is still a richly warm tone to their sound and in every sense of the word, this is an exceptional album.

The artwork is astounding as well and the label took to it so much that they decided to make a video inspired by it. Here is that video for the song “Agbara,” off that aforementioned album – Bryan