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_________________________________________________________
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(__ ___)
\______________________________________________________/
._RELEASE_INFO_________
. \______________________________________.
. .
. Artist >> CΘu .
. Album >> CΘu .
. .
.______________________ .
. \______________________________________.
. .
. Style >> Latin .
. Date >> Mar-31-2007 .
. Street >> 000-00-0000 .
. Company >> Six Degrees Records .
. Media >> CDDA .
. Size >> 71,4 MB .
. .
. .
._RELEASE NOTES________ .
. \______________________________________.
. .
. Just when you think that Brazil must surely have exhausted .
. its supply of irresistibly jazzy, funky, sexy, soulful .
. electro-pop singer-songwriters, someone like CΘU comes .
. along and makes you think that maybe that particular well .
. is bottomless after all. .
. .
. Her full name is Maria do CΘu Whitaker Poτas, but she goes .
. by the simpler moniker CΘU. It's a name that can be .
. translated into English in a couple of subtly but .
. significantly different ways. CΘU means either "sky" or .
. "heaven," depending on context, and either translation .
. applies quite nicely in this case: think of her as "Sky" .
. when you hear the soft blue clarity of her voice, or .
. "Heaven" when one of her sweetly bubbling melodic hooks .
. takes you by surprise and makes you shiver with delight. .
. CΘU's U.S. debut comes hot on the heels of a Latin Grammy .
. nomination for ôbest new artistö of 2006. She is also .
. riding high on a wave of international success in France, .
. where the influential Les Inrockuptibles recognized her as .
. one of the top 5 musical revelations of 2005, Holland, and .
. Italy, as well as in Canada, where she was recently the .
. fourth highest-selling artist for the Archambault chain of .
. music shops while simultaneously holding the number 32 slot .
. on the pop charts. Originally issued in 2005 on the Sπo .
. Paulo-based Urban Jungle label Jungle and Beto VillaresÆ .
. Ambulante Discos, CΘU was picked up by Six Degrees when .
. members of the staff heard the album and found themselves .
. entranced by the warm, fresh sound of her voice. .
. .
. The momentum didnÆt stop there, as Starbucks Entertainment .
. selected CΘU as the fourth artist to be featured in the .
. innovative Starbucks Hear MusicÖ Debut CD series. Her .
. self-titled debut will be a co-release by Starbucks Hear .
. Music and Six Degrees Records and will be released .
. simultaneously at traditional retail and Starbucks .
. Company-operated locations in the U.S. beginning April 3, .
. 2007. CΘU is the first international artist featured in .
. the Starbucks Hear MusicÖ Debut series. .
. .
. CΘU's stateside release gives a whole new population the .
. opportunity to be equally entranced. The album opens .
. enticingly with "Vinheta Quebrante," a brief introductory .
. track that builds itself up in delicate rhythmic layers. .
. With "Lenda," the album's first full-length track, CΘU .
. stakes out her musical territory more assertively: anchored .
. by the juxtaposition of a subtly chromatic melody and a .
. lazy funk groove and ornamented with a gracefully .
. understated turntable scratch, the song sways seductively .
. like seaweed in a warm ocean current, hints of reggae and .
. dub lurking tantalizingly in the background. Next comes .
. the album's first single, a sweetly tuneful and more .
. explicitly reggae-flavored song titled "MalemolΩncia" (if .
. you're lucky enough to have satellite access to the TV .
. Globo network, then you may recognize it as a featured song .
. in the soundtrack to Cidade dos Homens, the television .
. adaptation of the celebrated film City of God). Then, as .
. if she's unwilling to let go of a good thing, she follows .
. up on that track with the slightly more muscular "Roda," on .
. which she delves deep into the rich soil of dub-funk .
. groovaciousness again. Yet despite its quietly chugging .
. and soulful rhythms and its insinuating touches of .
. turntablism, this song is actually quite spare in texture: .
. its basic structure consists of little more than turntable .
. scratches, a percolating bassline and a straightforward .
. drum lick, while guitars and keyboard are allowed to lurk .
. around the outside edges of the sound. .
. .
. But as intriguing as the musical arrangements are, it's .
. CΘU's voice that really grabs your attention and won't let .
. go. On "Rainha," a jazzy and more conventionally Brazilian .
. number, she delivers a beautifully cascading melody over .
. rich, thick layers of horns and percussion, while on the .
. drier and more bluesy "10 Contados" her voice whispers the .
. melody softly and warmly into your ear with an almost .
. unbearable sexiness. On every song, CΘU croons with a .
. warmth and sensuality that is much more interesting and .
. complex than the warblings of the sex-kittens-of-the-month .
. that perennially inhabit the American R&B charts; CΘU sings .
. as if she were imparting secrets. Her songs sound as if .
. they're informed by life as it is really lived, in all of .
. its emotional difficulty and complication, rather than by .
. gauzy romantic illusions or sexpot posturing. .
. .
. There are good reasons for the depth and complexity of .
. CΘU's songs. She was born into a musical family in the .
. artistically diverse city of Sπo Paulo; her father, a .
. locally renowned composer, arranger and musicologist, .
. taught her at a young age to appreciate the music of .
. Brazil's great classical composers, including Heitor .
. Villa-Lobos, Ernesto NazarΘ and Orlando Silva. By age 15 .
. she had decided to become a singer, and pursued music .
. studies in lieu of a college education; trained on the .
. violπo (a nylon-stringed Brazilian guitar) and in music .
. theory, she was performing onstage with major artists and .
. exploring the repertoire of the marchinhas .
. (turn-of-the-century carnival music) by her late teens. .
. Soon after that she relocated temporarily to New York City, .
. where she had a chance meeting with fellow Brazilian .
. musician Antonio Pinto, who became her flat mate while he .
. was going through some financial difficulties. She later .
. learned that he was actually a distant cousin, and their .
. relationship was renewed when he teamed up with lead .
. producer Beto Villares to help her record her album. Pinto, .
. who produced CΘU's song "Ave Cruz" is the composer of the .
. musical score for two Oscar Nominated films, Central .
. Station (1999) and City of God (2003.) .
. .
. .
. Following her stint in New York where she was influenced by .
. the sound of Hip-Hop, jazz singers Billie Holliday and Ella .
. Fitzgerald, Lauren Hill and Erykah Badu, she returned home .
. to Sπo Paulo, where the young up-and-comer fronted a samba .
. funk outfit and then an electro-dance group and caught the .
. attention of several major record labels before agreeing to .
. join forces with Urban Jungle, an indie label whose .
. managers promised her the respect and independence that are .
. clearly her due. .
. .
. That freedom has resulted in an album that is surprisingly .
. mature and fully realized for a debut effort from such a .
. young musician. On every track you find yourself being .
. pleasantly surprised by her delicate and elegant balance of .
. inventive experimentation and reverence for tradition, in .
. particular for the samba sound that is so beloved of her .
. countrymen (the sound which she sings on "Samba na Sola," .
. "sticks to the soles of my feet"). Note, for example, the .
. unique ambience she creates on "Veu da Noite," with its .
. wispy, abstract groove, blippy synthesizer warblings and .
. floating shreds of vocals and horns. Compare it to the .
. sturdy funk and hypnotically bluesy singing that power .
. "Valsa pra Biu Roque," and then skip over to the album's .
. most surprising track, her cover version of Bob Marley's .
. archetypal sufferer's anthem "Concrete Jungle." This is a .
. song that has tripped up many a cover artist in the past; .
. it's easy to accidentally turn it into simpleminded .
. political sloganeering or, even worse, some kind of .
. beach-party tune. CΘU avoids the first pitfall by .
. delivering the song's lyrics of searing despair in a somber .
. but gentle voice, thus nailing Marley's original tone of .
. understated heartbreak rather than turning it into a .
. caricature of political anger. She avoids the second .
. pitfall by taking the tune essentially out of reggae .
. territory altogether, shifting the rhythmic emphasis into a .
. swaying, swinging groove that would sound perfectly at home .
. in any Sπo Paulo club. CΘU feels that though this song was .
. written about Kingston Town it just as easily describes Sπo .
. Paulo. .
. .
. The album's most whimsical and charming moment comes on "O .
. Ronco de Cuica," a celebration of the cuica, a Brazilian .
. percussion instrument that looks like a drum and sounds .
. like an agitated monkey or tropical bird. Although CΘU .
. carefully avoids the drum'n'bossa sound that is so much the .
. rage in her native country these days, there are definite .
. hints of junglism in both the drum sound and in the .
. manipulated cuica samples that are layered throughout the .
. track; a messy guitar part lurks in the background, hinting .
. at an impending chaos that never quite takes over. .
. .
. Samba, reggae, dub, electronica, love, heartbreak, chaos .
. and sweet, sweet tunefulness û sounds like the perfect .
. recipe for an irresistible album by a thrilling new talent. .
. And so it is. .
. .
. .
._TRACK_LISTING________ .
. \______________________________________.
. .
. >> 01 >> Vinheta Quebrante >> 00:54 .
. >> 02 >> Lenda >> 04:19 .
. >> 03 >> Malemolencia >> 02:55 .
. >> 04 >> Roda >> 05:18 .
. >> 05 >> Rainha >> 03:39 .
. >> 06 >> 10 Contados >> 03:27 .
. >> 07 >> Vinheta Dorival >> 00:32 .
. >> 08 >> Mais Um Lamento >> 04:49 .
. >> 09 >> Concrete Jungle >> 03:32 .
. >> 10 >> Veu Da Noite >> 06:18 .
. >> 11 >> Valsa Pra Biu Roque >> 02:49 .
. >> 12 >> Ave Cruz >> 03:27 .
. >> 13 >> O Ronco Da Cuica >> 03:24 .
. >> 14 >> Bobagem >> 02:19 .
. >> 15 >> Samba Na Sola >> 03:08 .
. .
. >> 50:50 min .
. .
.______________________ .
. \______________________________________.
. .
. .
.______________________ .
\___________________________nfo_by_sp__.