After many months at home, I finally took my camera out for a stroll in the city. The destination was Roosevelt Island, with the intention of seeing the last breath of the cherry blossoms. All images were taken with the combo Fujifilm X-T2 + Fujinon 16-55mm 2.8
Best Album Covers: April 2021
Continuing the new series of posts where once a month I’m sharing some of my favorite album covers from music released on the previous month. Here are the one released in April of 2021:
💽 New Music Friday: Duda Beat, Flying Lotus, Manchester Orchestra, Royal Blood & more!
Happy Friday! Here are some albums being released this week that I’m personally interested in checking out, in alphabetical order:
» Amy Shark - Cry Forever (Spotify)
» Birdy - Young Heart (Spotify)
» Crumb - Ice Melt (Spotify)
» Dawn Richard - Second Line (Spotify)
» Duda Beat - Te Amo Lá Fora (Spotify)
» Flying Lotus - Yasuke (Spotify)
» Girl in Red - if i could make it go quiet (Spotify)
» Julia Michaels - Not In Chronological Order (Spotify)
» Julia Stone - Sixty Summers (Spotify)
» Kalouv - A Medida da Distância (EP) (Spotify)
» Manchester Orchestra - The Million Masks Of God (Spotify)
» Metronomy - The English Riviera (10th Anniversary) (Spotify)
» Rag'n'Bone Man - Crossfire (EP) (Spotify)
» Royal Blood - Typhoons (Spotify)
» Róisín Murphy - Crooked Machine (Spotify)
» Shelley FKA DRAM - Shelley FKA DRAM (Spotify)
» Sufjan Stevens - Celebrations (Spotify)
» Tame Impala - InnerSpeaker (10 Year Anniversary Edition) (Spotify)
» Teenage Fanclub - Endless Arcade (Spotify)
» The Coral - Coral Island (Spotify)
» Toth - You and Me and Everything (Spotify)
» ZHU - Dreamland 2021 (Spotify)
Follow my 2021 playlist on Spotify, updated weekly with new music releases.
📺 Headspace Guide to Meditation
Everybody knows that meditation (or breathing exercises) is one of the most popular ways to slow down and fight anxiety nowadays, so I’m not here trying to sell you the benefits of it. Instead, I’d like to recommend a tv-series created by the people behind the already popular meditation app Headspace.
Everybody knows that meditation (or breathing exercises) is one of the most popular ways to slow down and fight anxiety nowadays, so I’m not here trying to sell you the benefits of it. Instead, I’d like to recommend a tv-series created by the people behind the already popular meditation app Headspace.
Each episode explores how to use meditation for specific purposes, including negative things like stress, pain, anger, but also some more positive ones, like achieving your limitless potential and falling in love with life through gratitude, all through a lecture-like narration followed by a guided meditation at the end. I know this all sounds unrealistic and hard to believe, but even if you’re still not convinced by the benefits, I still highly recommend watching, if only for the beautifully animated illustrations throughout the whole series.
Here are two extra pieces of content related to the topic:
📚 How to do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy, by Jenny Odell
Doing nothing is hard. — Jenny Odell
Yes, it is... I feel you, Jenny!
I came across this book early last year, while I was diving deep into watching Notion videos on YouTube and kept seeing this book at Marie Poulin’s workspace over and over. Not only the title was intriguing, but the book cover also caught my attention. So I added it to my anti-library (forever thankful to Anne Laure for this concept), like I do to any book recommendation that comes my way, and picked up to read in May while trying to adjust to quarantine life.
I originally thought this book was going to be about mindfulness, the ability to be able to just "be", enjoy the present moment without feeling any pressure, any guilt, without the constant feeling of always having to feel and be productive. But instead, it was an interesting journey about living as a community, learning with the past, reconnecting with nature, being a part of something bigger.
When overstimulation has become a fact of life, I suggest that we reimagine #FOMO as #NOMO, the necessity of missing out, or if that bothers you, #NOSMO, the necessity of sometimes missing out. — Jenny Odell
Here's to more #NOMO or #JOMO (joy of missing out) in our lives!
💽 New Music Friday: BaianaSystem, Dinosaur Jr, Porter Robinson, Sir Sly & more!
Happy Friday! Here are some albums being released this week that I’m personally interested in checking out, in alphabetical order:
» Alfa Mist - Bring Backs (Spotify)
» BaianaSystem - OXEAXEEXU (Spotify)
» Dinosaur Jr - Sweep It Into Space (Spotify)
» Houston Kendrick - Small Infinity (Spotify)
» Porter Robinson - Nurture (Spotify)
» Rob Frye - Exoplanet (Spotify)
» Sir Sly - The Rise & Fall of Loverboy (Spotify)
» Sufjan Stevens - Revelations (Spotify)
» Topaz Jones - Don't Go Tellin' Your Momma (Spotify)
Follow my 2021 playlist on Spotify, updated weekly with new music releases.
🎬 In & Of Itself
The first time I’ve heard about “In & Of Itself” was through Austin Kleon’s newsletter, where he recommended this movie to be watched knowing as little as possible about it. In an act of trust, I followed his recommendation and hit the play button without watching any trailers or even reading the synopsis.
It was an unusual experience, I must say, but I was so glad I did it that way. I was so hypnotized and enthusiastic about it, that as soon as the credits started rolling up, I started calling friends to recommend the movie! I wanted them to have the same experience I just had, and I also wanted to have people to talk about what I had just seen.
So, assuming that you enjoy my recommendations, I urge you to follow Austin’s (and now mine) advice. Watch this movie without looking for any information beforehand. If you do that, I’d love to hear about your experience!
How I use Notion to Curate Content for my Newsletter
I've been using Notion to collect and curate most of the content I've been sharing in my weekly newsletter, and I'm finally in a comfortable place with my workflow. Thought I'd share here in case it may inspire someone to do something similar. My workflow basically happens in 4 steps:
1: Daily Journal
My daily journal pages are directly connected to my content databases, through the use of relations, and every day I am tracking the things I'm watching, listening to, reading, or playing. Note that I use one separate database for each type of media. Some people prefer one database for all, it's just a personal preference here.
2: Recent Content
About once a week I visit a dashboard I call "Recent Content", which shows me all the content I consumed within the past month, all contained in toggles organized by type of content. It serves two purposes: a reminder of things I consumed, and a chance to mark the content as "to share", meaning that it's something I may want to share in a future issue of the newsletter.
3: Content to Share
Similar to the one above, "Content to Share" is another dashboard that shows me content I consumed organized in categories, but this time filtered to show me only content that I previously marked as "to share" and have not yet shared in any issue before. Being able to look at all the content in a visual way, on one single page, allows me to notice possible themes, ideas, connections, that otherwise may not happen.
4: The Newsletter Template
Inside my newsletter dashboard, I have a database that stores all the ideas, upcoming issues, and the archive. As part of my housekeeping routine, the day after I publish the latest issue, I go back to its page and make sure I link all the content shared in the respective fields, again through the use of relations, since all my content databases are also related to my newsletter database. This not only makes it easier for me to remember what I shared on past issues but also ensures that this content won't be visible on the "Content to Share" dashboard.
I hope this was helpful! Let me know if you have any questions or even ideas on how to improve the system!
💽 New Music Friday: London Grammar, Needtobreathe, Norah Jones, Selton & more!
Happy Friday! Here are some albums being released this week that I’m personally interested in checking out, in alphabetical order:
» Andy Stott - Never The Right Time (Spotify)
» Jon Hopkins - Piano Versions (EP) (Spotify)
» Lewis Del Mar - BOUQUET (EP) (Spotify)
» London Grammar - Californian Soil (Spotify)
» Lucas Vasconcellos - Teoria da Terra Plena (Spotify)
» Masabumi Kikuchi - Hanamichi (Spotify)
» Murais - Murais (Spotify)
» Needtobreathe - Live From the Woods Vol. 2 (Spotify)
» Norah Jones - ‘Til We Meet Again (Live) (Spotify)
» Paul McCartney - McCartney III Imagined (Spotify)
» Selton - Benvenuti (Spotify)
» Sharon Van Etten - epic Ten (Spotify)
» Son Lux - Tomorrows III (Spotify)
» Sufjan Stevens - Lamentations (Spotify)
» The Offspring - Let The Bad Times Roll (Spotify)
» Zoé - Sonidos De Karmática Resonancia (Spotify)
Follow my 2021 playlist on Spotify, updated weekly with new music releases.
Made in Brazil: 10 incredible women making music right now
If you are familiar with Brazilian music, you may have listened to big names like Elis Regina, Gal Costa, and Maria Bethânia. But if that’s pretty much what you know, it’s time to stir up some more contemporary artists into your playlist. So here’s a list of 10 incredible women, in chronological order from their first official release.
10 » Céu
With 5 albums on her baggage, Céu is one of those rare artists that are able to succeed no matter which direction she chooses to follow next. Her music includes many influences that go from samba, R&B, bossa nova, reggae, with lots of layers of minimal electronic beats. My favorite albums are Vagarosa (2009) and Tropix (2016).
9 » Mallu Magalhães
Mallu Magalhães started her musical journey in her teens when she recorded a few songs and decided to post on her MySpace page. She became an instant success, and it's been great to see how much she evolved and matured as an artist since those days, transitioning from folk-rock-inspired tunes (mostly sung in English) to more polished and well-produced albums heavily influenced by samba and bossa nova. My favorite albums are Pitanga (2011) and Vem (2017).
8 » Tulipa Ruiz
Even though I was already listening to Céu, Tulipa Ruiz's debut album Efêmera (2010) was the record that made me stop and start paying more attention to a whole new generation of Brazilian female artists that were starting to get more and more attention in the scene. Although I still enjoyed all of her future releases, the first one will always have a special place in my heart.
7 » Mahmundi
My first introduction to Mahmundi was while I was photographing her concert, back in Brazil, years before the release of her first full-length album. It was love at first listen, as her interesting mix of genres and stage presence grabbed me right away. My favorite albums are Mahmundi (2016) and Para Dias Ruins (2018).
6 » Bruna Mendez
With two albums equally acclaimed by critics, Bruna Mendez is already one of the most interesting artists to follow in the scene. While the first record was paved in organic instrumentation, the second one brought a more minimal (and modern) ambiance, through the use of electronic beats and melodies. My favorite album is Corpo Possível (2019).
5 » Luiza Lian
One of many names to introduce spiritual/ancestral themes in her compositions, Luiza Lian is not only an incredible singer and songwriter but also a visual artist, who uses her different talents to bring much more than just music to her performances. It's one of those artists that keeps growing immensely in between releases and only makes us get more and more excited about what's next. My favorite album is Azul Moderno (2018).
4 » Luedji Luna
If you enjoyed the spiritual content of the previous artists but thought the music was a bit too artsy, Luedji Luna may be just what you're looking for! Her second and most recent album, Bom Mesmo É Estar Debaixo D'Água (2020) was partially recorded in Africa, and brings lots of elements to her work, both musically and on the lyrical content. Her style is much closer to the bigger names of MPB ("Popular Brazilian Music"), compared to almost everyone else in this list, but no less enjoyable by any means. It's an album made to be listened to from beginning to the end with no interruption, as every other record should be. My favorite album is Bom Mesmo É Estar Debaixo D'Água (2020).
3 » Tuyo
Different from all the other entries on this list, Tuyo is a trio (instead of a solo artist) composed by one man and two women, who shine in front of the project singing most part of the songs. With only one full-length album released so far, they have become one of my favorite artists these days, mixing delicate and sentimental melodies with minimal electronic beats, extolling, even more, the beautiful and sad (at times) lyrics. Sem Mentir, the first single of their upcoming second album, was one of my favorite songs from last year. My favorite album is the only one released so far: Pra Curar(2018).
2 » Vivian Kuczynski
The youngest one on this list, Vivian Kuczynski is only 17 years old but seems to have incredible control over her music and art. Even though she's the youngest, Ictus (2019) may be one of the densest records that I'm recommending here. Mixing personal themes with socio-political criticism, the album is full of darker electronic ambients, that complement Vivian's unique vocal range. It's exciting to see someone so young producing something so extraordinary. Her following release, the 2020 EP 'N ENTENDI ND" is even more experimental, and I just can't wait for more! My favorite album is the only one released so far: Ictus (2019).
1 » Ana Frango Elétrico
If the last artists I recommended were a bit too experimental for you, Ana Frango Elétrico may be just what you need. Going completely against the minimal electronic production from the previous artists, here you'll find a lot of color and playfulness that will take you straight back to the tropical music Brazil was known for back in the day. Listening to her music is like taking a walk inside Ana's mind, where each and every little thing can become an idea for a song. My favorite album is Little Electric Chicken Heart (2019).
💽 New Music Friday: Boogarins, BROCKHAMPTON, Sufjan Stevens, Yukika & more!
Happy Friday! Here are some albums being released this week that I’m personally interested in checking out, in alphabetical order:
» Ballaké Sissoko - Djourou (Spotify)
» Benny Sings - Music (Spotify)
» Boogarins - Manchaca, Vol. 2 (A Compilation of Boogarins Memories, Dreams, Demos and Outtakes from Austin, TX) (Spotify)
» BROCKHAMPTON - Roadrunner- New Light, New Machine (Spotify)
» Cehryl - time machine (Spotify)
» Febem - Jovem OG (Spotify)
» Max Richter - Voices 2 (Spotify)
» Miguel - Art Dealer Chic 4 (Spotify)
» Mon Laferte - Seis (Spotify)
» Sheep, Dog & Wolf - Two Minds (Spotify)
» Small Black - Cheap Dreams (Spotify)
» Sophia Chablau e Uma Enorme Perda de Tempo - Sophia Chablau e Uma Enorme Perda de Tempo (Spotify)
» Sorry - Twixtustwain (Spotify)
» Spirit of the Beehive - Entertainment, Death (Spotify)
» Sufjan Stevens - Meditations (Spotify)
» Vijay Iver Trio - Uneasy (Spotify)
» Yoshinori Hayashi - Pulse Of Defiance (Spotify)
» Yukika - timeabout (Spotify)
Follow my 2021 playlist on Spotify, updated weekly with new music releases.
💽 Dua Lipa - Future Nostalgia
If you paid any attention to mainstream music in the last few years, and especially in 2020, there’s no way that you’re not familiar with British singer Dua Lipa at this point.
But if her 2017 debut album wasn’t already one of the most interesting things that happened to pop music in recent years, her latest release was the definitive proof that she wasn’t going to be just another name in the industry to fade away. Future Nostalgia goes back to the 70s disco music to draw a lot of inspiration, taking everything to the next level by adding a flawless contemporary production in an album packed with instant hits ready to take over the dance floors around the world. Little she knew that we would all be dancing to her songs in our living rooms instead… An album that was instantly born a modern classic and we’ll be jamming for a long time!
If you can’t get over listening to the album and want to go a bit behind the scenes, here are 3 extra pieces of content worth consuming:
Selton
Originally from Brazil, now based in Italy, Selton has slowly become not only one of my favorite bands but also one of the most interesting ones to follow. And a lot of that has to do with their ability to blend so many genres (and languages, since they sing in Portuguese, Italian, English, and Spanish) together and create their own style without sounding fabricated or unoriginal.
photo: Mario Zanaria
Even though you could easily classify them as an indie/pop-rock act, they are so much more than that. With 4 studio albums on their baggage, and a new one coming this year, it’s truly joyful to whiteness their evolution as a band. If you’ve never heard of them, a good introduction may the song “Loreto Paradiso”, the opening track of the 2016 album by the same name. It’s an ultra-fun and short song that captures a lot of the diversity in their style. A few of my other favorite songs include “Across The Sea”, “You’re Good”, “Cemitério de Elefante”, “Sampleando Devendra”, and “De Volta Para o Futuro”. I love how you can catch a glimpse of influences in their sound, from bands like old-schoolers The Beatles and The Beach Boys to more modern acts like Vampire Weekend. And to think that my first introduction to their music was while I was photographing them live in Brazil many years ago, I had no idea what I was getting myself into, and what an amazing surprise it was!
💽 New Music Friday: BaianaSystem, Demi Lovato, Flock of Dimes & more!
Happy Friday! Here are some albums being released this week that I’m personally interested in checking out, in alphabetical order:
» 5 a Seco - 5 a Seco e OCAM: Outra Noite No Ibirapuera (listen on Spotify)
» BaianaSystem - ATO 3: América do Sol (listen on Spotify)
» Demi Lovato - Dancing With The Devil…The Art of Starting Over (listen on Spotify)
» Flock of Dimes - Head of Roses (listen on Spotify)
» Iglooghost - Lei Line Eon (listen on Spotify)
» Nils Frahm - Graz (listen on Spotify)
» Ryley Walker - Course In Fable (listen on Spotify)
» The Natvral - Tethers (listen on Spotify)
Follow my 2021 playlist on Spotify, updated weekly with new music releases.
Best Album Covers: March 2021
Continuing the new series of posts where once a month I’m sharing some of my favorite album covers from music released on the previous month. Here are the one released in March of 2021:
🎬 The King of Staten Island, by Judd Apatow
Did you ever watch a movie where you have a pretty good idea of what’s going to happen at the end, but you just keep watching because you are so attached to the characters that it doesn’t really matter? That’s exactly what happened to me while I was watching “The King of Staten Island”, the new movie by Judd Apatow.
It’s a comedy-drama with a storyline that we’ve all seen before many times, sort of a semi-biographical coming-of-age film, as an adaptation of the life of Pete Davidson, who you may be used to seeing more often at SNL. Don’t let the whole “he spends his days smoking weed and dreaming of being a tattoo artist” on the synopsis take you away from a really sweet and emotional journey.
📸 Women in Music, part IV
In celebration of Women's History Month, I decided to revisit my archives and highlight some of my favorite photographs I took of incredible women in the music scene over the years while working almost exclusively as a music photographer. This will be a 4 part post, with 10 pictures per post. Here’s the fourth and last batch:
Pia Salvia @ Rockwood Music Hall, NYC
Raye Zaragoza @ Irving Plaza, NYC
Regina Spektor @ Credicard Hall, SP
Rony's Insomnia @ Pianos, NYC
Rosemary Minkler @ The Bowery Electric, NYC
Shilpa Ananth @ C’Mon Everybody, NYC
Stalking Gia @ The Bowery Ballroom, NYC
The New Tarot @ Mercury Lounge, NYC
The TenFiveSixty @ The Bowery Electric, NYC
Valentina Blú @ Mercury Lounge, NYC
💽 New Music Friday: Ben Howard, Evanescence, Jadsa, Tune-Yards & more!
Happy Friday! Here are some albums being released this week that I’m personally interested in checking out, in alphabetical order:
» Ben Howard - Collections From The Whiteout (listen on Spotify)
» Citizen - Life In Your Glass World (listen on Spotify)
» Death From Above 1979 - Is 4 Lovers (listen on Spotify)
» Evanescence - The Bitter Truth (listen on Spotify)
» Fitz - Head Up High (listen on Spotify)
» Floatie - Voyage Out (listen on Spotify)
» Jadsa - Olho de Vidro (listen on Spotify)
» Noga Erez - KIDS (listen on Spotify)
» serpentwithfeet - DEACON (listen on Spotify)
» The Antlers - Green to Gold (listen on Spotify)
» Tune-Yards - sketchy (listen on Spotify)
Follow my 2021 playlist on Spotify, updated weekly with new music releases.
🎬 Umbrella, by Helena Hilario & Mario Pece
If you’re looking for a short and sweet piece of content to watch, look no further.
Produced by the studio Stratostorm, and directed by Helena Hilario and Mario Pece, Umbrella is an 8-min heartwarming short film that will make you emotional from beginning till the end — think Pixar’s UP, for example. Out of curiosity, this is the first Brazilian animated short to qualify for a chance to be nominated for the Oscars. Unfortunately the nomination didn’t happen, but you can still watch the animation on YouTube:
🎙 Grammys 2021: performances
On March 14th The Grammys held its 63rd edition in Los Angeles, in an in-person social distancing event, that worked better than many people were expecting. The live performances, that happened indoors but with no proper audience, were done in an interesting way with multiple stages set around a big circle, where the artists took turns performing their songs. Here are my favorite performances from the night, including names that I either didn’t know or was not familiar with their music until then:
Billie Eilish - everything i wanted
Taylor Swift - cardigan / august / willow
HAIM - The Steps
Roddy Ricch - Heartless / The Box
Doja Cat - Say So
Lil Baby - The Bigger Picture
Mickey Guyton - Black Like Me (Our Voices)
Harry Styles - Watermelon Sugar
Silk Sonic - Leave the Door Open
Dua Lipa - Levitating ft. DaBaby / Don't Start Now
Post Malone - Hollywood's Bleeding
And as an honorable mention, here’s an incredible performance that unfortunately happened during the pre-show instead: