Quantic and his Combo Barbaro

At times the internet acts as a quest, of sorts, to stumble upon gems hidden from the masses yet available to all. When it comes to music, these discoveries yield happiness, especially for someone with a love for the sounds of the world.

Music is a story, from the artist to the delicate beat of the drum...and in some ways, the fact that individuals from all walks of life cultivate rich stories gives me faith in our sometimes wavering generation.

This brings me to Quantic, originally William Holland, from Bewdley, Worcestershire. In 2007, Holland moved to my father's hometown of Cali, Colombia, and subsequently began to mix all of the elements of my favorite types of music, notably salsa, bossa nova, jazz, hip-hop, funk and soul, into eclectic and contemporary dance floor rhythms. It's simple, perennial and fun...music you don't need to strain yourself to enjoy, a vision of several loving slices of life.

His 2008 track Mi Swing es Tropical was recently featured on HBO's 24/7 program. I loved it. Luckily, HBO remains courteous enough to treat it's viewers to lists of the fantastic music featured in their programs, a feature they debuted with the Entourage series on hbo.com.

When I went to look into Quantic I found several things out. First, what can turn into a simple search for a groove can lead to the discovery of a story told though beautiful music. As you'll see in the videos, this man loves the country he moved to, and his videos feature real people. He samples less than most. And every song on his latest release, Tradition in Transition, is better than most. Quantic is signed to the independent U.K. label, Tru Thoughts. Look up their website for motley crew of artists each with their own style. I will be researching and bringing more to you as the weeks go by.

Until then, here is the video for it's single Un Canto a Mi Tierra featuring folk singer Nidia Gongora, filmed near her hometown of Timbiqui, Colombia. I'll also toss in Mi Swing Es Tropical, which is verry chill. Throw that one on while you're out by the pool.

Un Canto a Mi Tierra:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5_Fusasy2s (copy/paste...embedding disabled)

Websites/articles:

http://www.quantic.org/

http://www.tru-thoughts.co.uk/artists (read the about section)

http://bongohead.blogspot.com/2009/09/working-with-quantic.html (blog, featuring the album artist. The artwork is great)

Out