Señor Coconut, also known as Atom™ and previously known as Uwe Schmidt, takes familiar songs and remakes them in a Latin music style. You might remember him from his infamous cover of Kraftwerk's "Autobahn" in the year 2000.
Coconut's explanation of each of the tracks on his latest album, Around The World, includes the following memorable line:
"My friend and valued colleague, Original Hamster, once mentioned 'Around theWorld' by the French band Daft Punk and since then this track had been stuckin my head."
He continues, "But in parallel with this, there was another completely separate developmentwhich, however, coincides with 'Around the World': Thomas Baxter, the son of thelegendary exotica musician and composer Les Baxter, asked me in 2006 whether I
would be interested in remixing one of his father's tracks ('Voodoo Dreams' isincluded on this album as a bonus track). While I was getting absorbed in LesBaxter and listening to him closely, I discovered an album of his entitled 'Round the World with Les Baxter.'
"The theme of 'Around the World' began to takehold of me. It can certainly be said that 'Around the World' – whetherinterpreted by Les Baxter, Señor Coconut, or anyone else – always reflects onlya subjective view of the world, at best the view of a particular culture orcultural context. The world of Les Baxter is just as incomplete as that of SeñorCoconut, defined by the time and place of our respective existences. After thetitle of the Señor Coconut album had been decided on, it was of course clearthat Daft Punk's 'Around the World' would have to be the leitmotif. The tracktherefore appears three times on the album: as introduction, interlude andfinale."
You can listen to free previews of each track on Señor Coconut's Around The World (tracklisting below) while playing an accompanying geography/music trivia game on Pias Records' site. With each question, you hear a sample of Señor Coconut's cover of the song the question is about – awhimsical and geographically informative use of the internet to promotean album.
01. AROUND THE WORLD (intro) Voc: Argenis Brito
02. SWEET DREAMS Voc: Argenis Brito
03. DA DA DA Voc: Stephan Remmler
04. KISS Voc: Argenis Brito/Louie Austen
05. CORCOVADO (QUIET NIGHTS OF QUIET STARS) Voc: Argenis Brito and Robo*Brazileira
06. AROUND THE WORLD (interlude) Voc: Argenis Brito
07. QUE RICO EL MAMBO Voc: Argenis Brito
08. PINBALL CHACHA Voc: Louie Austen
09. WHITE HORSE Voc: Argenis Brito
10. LA VIDA ES LLENA DE CABLES Voc: Argenis Brito
11. MOSCOW DISCOW Voc: Argenis Brito
12. AROUND THE WORLD (outro) Voc: Argenis Brito
Bonus tracks
13. DREAMS ARE MY REALITY Voc: Louie Austen
14. VOODOO DREAMS by Les Baxter (Atom™ Remix)
