Da1000's European Tour : Italy

Hey hey. It's day three of my european tour, and today I came to Italy. This country is very rich on pop culture, even though we don't know much of it, the italian music scene is quite huge. Anyway, for the tour I've chosen Tiziano Ferro. You may remember Tiziano from the 2002 hit Perdono. Quickly after that, he almost disappeared in front of our eyes, coming back later in 2004 with Jamelia on Universal Prayer, the anthem for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. Also in 2004, Tiziano was given another opportunity to perform for the european crowd, when he closed the MTV Europe Music Awards Rome 2004 with his hit single Sere Nere. This is also the track I've chosen for the tour. I really like the chorus, and the video is quite simple. Enjoy and meet me tomorrow!

Tiziano Ferro - Sere Nere

Monday, December 18, 2006

Da1000's European Tour : Spain

Day two of my European Tour. Today I came to Spain, which always gives us great beats... For the tour I've chosen Edurne. She was a contestant on the TV show, Operación Triunfo, kind of American Idol,where she came out as the 6th finalist. Her debut album, Edurne, was released back in March this year, and features today's song Despierta (Wake Up in English), which hit number 5 on the spanish charts. Her album also features a song written by popular spanish group La Oreja de Van Gogh, Amores Dormidos (something like, Sleeping Loves), which was also her second single. The concept of the video for Despierta is quite simple, it's basically the singer performing while the lyrics surround her in the background, on a similiar way the press is represented on music videos. The press concept is also on the cover of her album, which looks like a magazine cover. Meanwhile, watch the video! Enjoy, and meet me again on another european country ;)

Edurne - Despierta

Sunday, December 17, 2006

Da1000's European Tour : Portugal

Since today and until the end of the year, I'm going on an European tour. Each day I'll present you a cool singer, song, or video of each country. And I'm kicking off the tour on my homeland, Portugal. For Portugal I've chosen singer/actress Lúcia Moniz. You may remember her from the 2003 motion picture Love Actually, where she starred as Aurelia. Lúcia has a career of both music and TV series over here, and she released her latest album Leva-me P'ra Casa (Take Me Home in english) just last year. Her first album Magnolia was released back in 1999, three years after she scored the 6th position on the 1996 Eurovision Song Contest, and features the song I've chosen for my European Tour. Try Again is a duet between Lúcia and Nuno Bettencourt. Nuno has been quite busy in the US. In 1991 his band Extreme reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with their ballad More Than Words, after some bands he started, he is also presently the lead guitarist for The Satellite Party which Jane's Addiction's former front man and Lollapalooza co-founder Perry Farrell started. Also Bettencourt provided the guitar solo on Janet Jackson's song Black Cat. So I think that was a clever choice for Lúcia to work with. Also the video for Try Again is quite great, possibly one of the best Portuguese videos ever. Enjoy and meet me tomorrow on another european country!

Lúcia Moniz & Nuno Bettencourt - Try Again

Saturday, December 16, 2006

No Batteries Required

When Steps were around, I had no clue who Lisa was. Later in 2003, with the release of her solo single Lately, I got to know her a bit more, but I quickly forgot about her, until 2005, when Electric comes up along with the MTV's Totally Scott-Lee. I really dig the track, it's indeed electric, and the video is also very appealing. I first saw it on the british music channel the Vault, when brand new videos by Charlotte Church, Girls Aloud and Rachel Stevens were also playing; and I remeber to think that this Lisa's single would be a perfect top ten, or even top 5 hit, suprassed only by Girls Aloud and Rachel Stevens. Now, how wrong was I? Girls Aloud did reach the top 5 debuting at number 4, Charlotte Church almost missed the top 10, she dubuted at number 10, Rachel Stevens debuted at number 12, and poor Lisa Scott-Lee made a debut at number 13, missing the top 30 next week...

Now, it's not a bad song, so why was this? Nevertheless, I like it, so I had to made a tribute to Electric... Enjoy !

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Stop! Give Me a Beat!

I first met the work of Ms Jackson back in 1997 with her track Together Again, but as I was still very young (and the Spice Girls craze was on), I quickly forgot about her... Then in 2001 (my MTV wonder year), with the release of All For You, I got to know her whole portfolio, and she became instantly one of my favourites. I was loving That's The Way Love Goes, Nasty, If, Runaway, Got 'Til It's Gone, The Pleasure Principle, Miss You Much, What Have You Done For Me Lately, and the best video I've seen so far Rhythm Nation. After I got my copy of the All For You album, I got the chance to also get the Janet. album. I can't believe I didn't knew this album for so far. What a master piece! It's not actually the Janet album I wanted. I'm looking after Rhythm Nation 1814, but it's quite impossible to find it in this country... Anyway, after her "wardrobe malfunction", her follow up albums were not this good. Not because of the super bowl incident (all that national scandal was quite stupid), but the Damita Jo album didn't had the flow of her previous. 20 Y.O. though has a lot of flow, but unfortunatly it's not running the charts so good, So Excited is a great track paying tribute to her 80's sound. So, paying tribute to Janet's career today, here's the Rhythm Nation 1814 Film...

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

But if you're into just listening instead...

Rhythm Nation

Miss You Much

Tuesday, December 12, 2006