Track of the Week

"Free Latin" on Italuba by Horacio "El Negro" Hernandez. Hernandez, drums. El Negro is one of the brightest of a remarkable galaxy of trap drum stars to emerge from Cuba and emigrate to the U.S. Hernandez has been featured with Santana as well as Michel Camilo, Paquito D' Rivera, and other Latin heavies in New York and on an endless number of world tours. On this cut the first thing you hear is a deep El Negro Son/Timba Funk groove kick in, with Horacio tying the thing together with his deft left foot clave method on woodblock and tasty cowbell/tom accents. Horatio's tightly choreographed arrangement is high-lated by an explosive solo. El Negro's tom fills are "sick", and his polyrhythmic fireworks brilliant. The album starts strong and maintains the energy until the end. This same group of musicians has apparently released a followup disk, Italuba 2, so I'm leaving now to go pick it up. Hasta luego, muchachos.

Percussion Discussion

TORONTO (CP) - The Police reunion tour may be the hottest ticket of the summer, but an early show is getting panned by drummer Stewart Copeland as "unbelievably lame."

Just days into the global comeback tour, Copeland complains on his website of a slew of missed cues, off-key gaffes and a general all-round lack of synchronicity at their sold-out show Wednesday in Vancouver.

He derides frontman Sting as "a petulant pansy instead of the god of rock" when the singer misses a jump cue at the end of "Synchronicity."

He says '80s hits "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic" and "Don't Stand So Close To Me" got botched when bassist Sting and guitarist Andy Summers each took different keys, resulting in "avant-garde twelve-tone hodgepodeges of both tunes."

Copeland acknowledges that he, too, floundered at points, noting he made "a complete hash" of his rhythms for "Walking on the Moon/Footsteps."

Despite it all, Copeland says the trio enjoyed the night nonetheless, and end the show by falling into "each other's arms and laughing hysterically."

The Police are scheduled to play Edmonton on Saturday.

from Yahoo Canada