Best Of 2006: Top 5 Portuguese Albums

1. Double D Force - Enforce The Funk

2. Sam The Kid - Pratica(mente)

3. Buraka Som Sistema - From Buraka To The World E.P.

4. Cool Hipnoise - Cool Hipnoise

5. Wordsong - Pessoa

Best of 2006: Top 10 Movies

1. A History Of Violence (dir. David Cronenberg)

2. Miami Vice (dir. Michael Mann)

3. The Squid And The Whale (dir. Noah Baumbach)

4. Inside Man (dir. Spike Lee)

5. Match Point (dir. Woody Allen)

6. Lady In The Water (dir. M. Night Shyamalan)

7. Dans Paris (dir. Christophe Honoré)

8. V For Vendetta (dir. James McTeigue)

9. Volver (dir. Pedro Almodóvar)

10. Happy Endings (dir. Don Roos)

Best Of 2006: Top Tv Moment

1. Final moments of Six Feet Under



After ending the series proper plot, Alan Ball spends the final 6 minutes making a time travel to the future and, on its way, killing all the main characters he created, ending with the death of Claire in 2085 . I doubt that in 2006 there was anything more intense and emotional than this in television. (Soundtrack: "Breathe Me" by Sia Furler)

Carl Hancock Rux - Good Bread Alley

With only 3 albums in his curriculum, Carl Hancock Rux has already a place of his own in today's world of music. Giving everything of him in what he does, it's easy to feel the love he puts in his work. His voice seems to come deep inside him, sounding so personal and powerful, while his interventional lyrics reflect the feelings of a black man living in the USA society of today. A preacher? It's actually difficult to think of someone expressing his anger in such a beautiful and intense way as he does. Music-wise, his main influences could only come from black music history: mainly blues and gospel, but also jazz and soul, all serving the ultimate purpose of illustrating his feelings and messages. The gospel reference doesn't come lightly, as Good Bread Alley seems like a soundtrack to an intense religious ceremony. Music as an ultimate form of catharsis.

T.I. - King

This album couldn't better represent the best and most visible side of american hip-hop today: a bunch of super-producers (Just Blaze, The Neptunes, Swizz Beatz, DJ Toomp, Mannie Fresh, Travis Barker and Khao) and a rapper so self-consciously cool and naturally confident that he's not afraid to call his album, just simply, "King", and actually getting away with it. Such strong ambition to create the ultimate hip-hop-piece-of-art could blow things up but this is definitely not the case, thanks to a huge sense of efficiency that is not afraid to take risks. Touching so many sides of his personality using his warm and fluid flow (a bit of gangsta talk in here, some romantic stuff there, coolness and confidence everywhere), over innovative beats, groovy samples, loud horns and strings, soul flutes, jazzy pianos or lush synths, there's a larger-than-life feeling from start to end that, more than not sounding ridiculous, is actually convincing. This ends up creating something that could only be described in two words and shouted loud: monstrous and epic.

Prince - Ultimate

Prince's legacy is one of a genius. He made (and still makes, I may add) fundamental and revolutionary pieces of musical history throughout his career, in the almost 30 years that he's been around. And, on a personal side note, he's also the author of my all-time favourite album - Sign 'O' The Times, from 1987. So every opportunity to be reminded of how great his work is, can only be welcome. This new greatest hits package has the extra interest of a second CD featuring rare extended versions of some of his classics, where his own interpretation of funk-pop using minimal resources is taken to the extreme. Proof of his genius: listenning to his music still makes me gasp over its excellence, while his influence nowadays is stronger than ever. Can you imagine how the music of today would be without him?

Some (non-Christmas) music for Christmas time

Post Industrial Boys - Post Industrial Trauma


From the most unprobable place (Tbilissi in Georgia) comes my soundtrack for this Christmas. Elegant, delicate and sober electronic-pop songs that seem to hide more than they actually show, with a nostalgic and decadent feeling that makes them timeless. Just perfect for the season.


Koop - Koop Islands


Five years after their suberb last album "Waltz For...", Koop make the impossible which is to release another album almost as good. This time they go even further back in time, to the 1930's, in 10 luminous songs full of swing that make us travel to a warm place somewhere else.


East - 13 Tzameti


Side project of french duo Troublemakers, East finally make what their cinematographic music has always suggested: a soundtrack, using jazzy-funk-electronic sounds to design musical landscapes, full of narrative suggestions and dramatic atmospheres, constructing once again elegant aural poems.


Kieran Hebden + Steve Reid - The Exchange Sessions Vol. 1 and Vol 2



After collaborating in last year's "Spirit Walk" by the Steve Reid Ensemble, they once again work together to give new paths to jazz. In this demanding but compensating music, Kieran Hebden provides the electronic textures and Steve Reid adds the wisdom of his large experience accumulated as a jazz drummer. Together, they can't hide their main goal, which is to reach the cosmos.


J Dilla - Donuts


J. Dilla, also known as Jay Dee, was one of the most creative producers in hip-hop, one that knew the word "groove" intimately and seemed to turn the act of sampling into art. Having passed way in February this year, he leaves us with a legacy that never stops reminding us of his brilliance. Just try hearing Donuts, a collection of instrumentals, and not be taken aback by it.


The DFA Remixes Chapter One and Chapter Two



Still New York's most fashionable producers and remixers, everybody wants to collaborate with them and these two collections of remixes show us why. Projects such as Gorillaz, Goldfrapp, Tiga, The Chemical Brothers or Nine Inch Nails see their music turn into disco-punk-funk infective epics and we all dance along like there's no tomorrow.


Gossip - Standing In The Way Of Control


Ten simple and raw punk-garage-rock tracks with the distinctive element of singer Beth Ditto's powerful voice, so full of soul, adding that extra thing that puts The Gossip over your average indie band.


Gwen Stefani - The Sweet Escape


Mixing anthagonic elements and putting oddity into the mainstream, Gwen Stefani knows how to take risks and use the most doubtful things to make sure-fire hits of addictive proportions. Most of the times succeeding, some (few) times not, one thing is for certain: this girl has so much potential.


Sam The Kid - Pratica(mente)


Portuguese hip-hop finally reaches its maturity, with an MC that is also one of the country's best producers and writers. 17 addictive songs with intelligent lyrics, surprising samples, interesting narratives and a rare intuition to use other's influences, building his own inventive language.

The Departed

Martin Scorsese doing what he does best: exploring the doubts and convictions of gangsters and criminals, showing the other side of brutal violence and the consequences of our acts and choices. And doesn't this sound a bit religious? Basically a catalogue of its director's trademarks, The Departed may have nothing really new, but coming from Scorsese, those aren't really bad news. Bonus: The Departed is also a breathtaking ballet between two men, playing a game of hide and seek until the final confrontation. And then there's the suberb acting of everyone and his directing, nervous and confident...

Marc Mac presents Visioneers - Dirty Old Hip Hop

Marc Mac is mostly famous for being part of the electronic-jazz duo 4 Hero and with Visioneers he joins forces with Luke Parkhouse (4 Hero drummer) and Brad Somatik. About this project, Marc confessed his main goal was to make an homage to the producers that made him become interested in hip hop, like the late Jay Dee, Jazzy Jeff or Pete Rock, but the title "Dirty Old Hip Hop" can also be mischieving. With a sophisticated production, vintage samples and an organic sound, it must be added that inspiration was also taken from musicians such as Isaac Hayes or Quincy Jones, making this a beautiful symbiosis between hip-hop, jazz and soul. However, the most important thing about Dirty Old Hip Hop is that it's clearly a labour of love where you can totally feel the pleasure put in its creation, making the final result a rare one: so simple yet sounding so special and luminous as few other things these days.

Music Videos # 23

Gwen Stefani - Wind It Up



I still can't decide whether i love or hate this song, but i'm kinda addicted to it.

Spektrum - Fun At The Gymkhana Club

In 2004, with the release of their first album "Enter The...", Spektrum instantly became one of my favourite bands. Coming from nowhere, here was a band with a daring attitude and an unique sound, somewhere between electro, post-punk, funk, r&b and pop, only vaguely inspired by the 1980's and fronted by a charismatic singer full of lascivious attitudes. And now with their second album, we're again taken aback. Fun At The Gymkhana Club is pure infectious hedonism, and if their trademark mutant sound is intact, there are still lots of surprises, as they seem more willing to experiment than ever. Challenging like not many other records these days, there are so many sounds and details in here that you'll need a few listens to fully understand what is going on, but it will be worth it. To put it straight, this is physical and even horny music to make your speakers/headphones blast with orgasmic sounds. The conclusion can only be one: to our luck, the Spektrum definitely have balls.

Various - The World Is Gone

Various Production is a mysterious project of two London producers and their debut album, The World Is Gone, is the strongest proof so far that dubstep, besides being the hottest musical genre nowadays, is also starting to become a vyrus and infect other styles. Basically, this album is doing with dubstep in 2006 what "Dummy", by Portishead, has done with trip-hop in 1994: grabbing an emerging musical style, so far largely used in instrumental music, and constructing songs with melodies over it, sang by tormented voices. This results in something literally never heard before, making the listener first gasp with surprise and then gasp again, but this time with enthusiasm. A symbiosis between many extremes, uniting the past (folk songs) and the future (dubstep digital rhythms), The World Is Gone is perfect music that could also be the soundtrack to ancient rituals performed in an advanced technologic civilization. Dark, luminous, scary, beautiful, haunted and bloody good.

Music Videos # 21 and # 22

The Knife - Marble House



Directed by Björn Renner.


The Knife - Like A Pen



Directed by Andreas Nilsson.