(...another in an occasional series of reviews of "music you can't dance to without hurting yourself"...see Jim Black, Glen Branca and Mirakle)

Now here's a recording that's hard to label. Is it trip-hoppy bossa nova? Brazilian electroni-skronk?

Apparently, I had been listening to Arto Lindsay for years...it's just that I didn't know it. Here's a partial list of artists he's appeared with:

The Lounge Lizards
The Golden Palominos
John Jorn
Laurie Anderson
David Byrne
Bill Frisell

Lindsay sits right alongside fellow downtown New Yorker Marc Ribot in my noisy guitar hall of fame (check out Ribot's Rootless Cosmopolitains for more tangled guitarage).

Prize fits in nicely with Lindsay's bossa-related releases (the others that I own include Subtle Body, Noon Chill and Mundo Civilizado). While the use of electronics isn't quite as heavy as on the remix cd Hyper Civilizado, they are used to good effect and manage to seem organically integrated. The subtle horn lines, hand percussion and the soft, nearly whispered, vocals (in both Portugese and English) make for a pretty unique listen. And if you pay attention, you can even hear a little of his patented detuned guitar blast.

So it's looking like Arto's move to Ani DiFranco's Righteous Babe label is paying off.

Oh, what I wouldn't give to hear a Ani/Arto duets cd.....mmmmm

(First posted on Mark Is Cranky)