The best online music "recommend-er" would be the equivalent of a good buddy-aware of all of your music tastes along with your personality; able to think of how the nuances in who you are which would match up perfectly with X new band or Y new rapper. That's why no Pandora will be as good at giving great music recommendations than friends. Luckily one of Moo's buddies passed us an album by this unique Mexican duo named Rodrigo y Gabriela way back sophomore year. Since then I've seen them twice (both times sharing a magical high five with Gabriela) and have consumed their live albums and studio tapes.
Their newest release Area 52 is perhaps not the long-awaited album of new material some of us were looking forward to; but maybe it's something even bolder. RodGab collaborated with a group of young Cuban musicians along with some other noted artists to essentially recreate some of their most loved jams. From the looks of it, the recording sessions must have just been sublime jam sessions, and the new album is simply incredible-fusing the intense flamenco/metal guitars of Rodrigo and Gabriela with the inclusion of a whole host of new sounds and flavors. This version of "Ixtapa" is a rollercoaster eight-minute long monster of a track that wears many different hats and wears them all incredibly well. Featuring a sitar solo by Ravi Shankar's daughter Anoushka, this song really shows that the duo aren't afraid to share their music with others. In the end, bringing the crew along just makes their music that much sweeter.
Buy Area 52
