Nina Miranda And Chris Franck
Zeep is the new band from Nina Miranda & Chris Franck, the musicians formerly known as Smoke City (still remembered for their seminal `Underwater Love' track that was the soundtrack to a Levi's advert) - and Da Lata, signed to Chris Blackwell's Palm Pictures label.
Imagine Led Zep, The Meters, Joni Mitchell and The Beatles jamming in Brazil with Tropicalistas such as Gal Costa, Gilberto Gil & Os Mutantes and you're on the Zeep trail. Zeep is where rock `n' roll, funk and classic pop get spiced up with a little samba magic, bringing you an album inspired by the attitude of the 70s when music was live, urgent, right-on, scruffy, funky and folksy.
Whilst Zeep was mainly dreamt up in London, the beat of Brazil gives the music it's swing, as electric guitars, funky drumming and samba percussion all combine with shouts, whispers and random bursts of `collective conscience' to produce one of the freshest albums we've heard in a long time. "We made this record without having a record deal in place as we wanted to let the music dictate where it was going", says Chris, "this is music for music's sake, recorded with everyone playing together". "This" finishes Nina, "is why we christened it `Zeep', because we wanted a name that was born the same time as the music".
Opening track `Funny Old Song' sets the tone of the album - a snappy, uplifting, folky bossa where spoken interjections from various Zeepistas give the track a film-like quality, whilst second track `Super' is a blast of psychedelic folk-funk where our `super-hero powers can take us high'. `Come with me' features the velvety voice of Kenny Lynch - London's answer to Nat-king-Cole - and is a tale of two people down on their luck who find solace in each other. Lyrically it's classic samba and with the shuffling percussive groove and sing-a-long chorus it's undoubtedly one of the albums highlights. `Zeep Dreams' is a pacey baião featuring Senegalese djembe player Mamadou Sarr and vocalist Diabel Cissoko that connects Brazil to mother Africa.
Other obvious highlights are `Baby', that featuring Courtney Dennie, on backing vocals, is a romantic bossa with a reggae soul vibe. `Agua', the first ever Nina & Chris song, is a punchy baião inspired by the spirits of those passed away and the essential life-giving property of water. `Sem Pensar' is sung in Portuguese conjuring up the contrasting physical and socio-economic landscape of Brazil to a lilting rhythm in ¾ time and `Keep an Eye on Love', is a feel-good R 'n' B samba begging for daytime radio airplay. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
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