Customer Reviews

Island Life

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'm not sure what the Amazon reviewer is talking about. Maybe he doesn't like Islands. This record is so good I don't know where to begin.

I have been playing this at every backyard cookout and once it's on, people don't want to hear anything else. The crazy thing is that everyone likes the whole record but they all have different favorites.

The special guests are great but anyone who has seen this band live knows that the core band is what makes this thing tick.

Buy this album and get your summer party started!!!!!!!!!!

I first heard of Yerbabuena, while listening to NPR's "The World", and immediately knew that I had to get the CD. Yerbabuena is explosive, witty, and well executed. I'm not sure what other reviewers are referring to... the album is a gem in my opinion, catchy lyrics, great fusion, good instrumentation...not to mention contributions by Diego "El Cigala", Orishas, and others.
It's a shame that Yerbabuena does not get airtime play in broadcast stations (yet), they are certainly a cut above the overplayed reggeton, salsa and repetitive ballads in Latin radio. If you are tired of all the above, this album is for you. Enjoy.

I am not sure what the principal reviewer for Amazon is talking about!!!. I have been listening to the last two Yerba Buena CD's and the music is contagious, you automatically start dancing and singing if you can catch the song. The mix of all things Cuban, cumbia, flamenco, sounds great. And what about the little rap here and there?

BTW - I just saw them in concert, they had EVERYONE dancing!!! Get the CD I highly recommend it.

Well, OK. I can think of one motivation that might be better. But this CD is amazing, even for a white boy that knows no Spanish. It's a big island where all you need to do is love the rhythm and the music!

This is a concept album that works because it is all about fun. Andres Levin takes us on a tour of the island that seems to move from funky to hip hop to Cuban to god knows where. It pokes fun at itself and some easy targets (Pres. Bush).

So don't miss out. Even if you don't speak spanish, you will like this one. But as they say, two tongues are better than one, baby.

Yerba Buena's ISLAND LIFE
a. g. santini

"¡¿Yerba Buena, dije, de qué yerba hablas?! No sé si quiero escribir un artículo de ese nuevo disco compacto". Eso fue lo primero que pasó por mi mente... pensamientos erróneos. Al hacer mi investigación me enteré que hierbabuena es una planta aromática de sabor dulzón y se usa para aderezar y decorar platos. Es de verde obscuro y hojas bonitas, similar a la menta, y tiene usos curativos y medicinales.

El 26 de julio del 2005 salió al mercado el nuevo disco compacto Island Life de Yerba Buena. En su portada, se encuentra una mujer de medio cuerpo en mahones cortos y a la cadera con un cinturón con broche de una palma de coco. El disco consiste de una colaboración de artistas que es como una caravana musical con invitados de todas partes del mundo hispano parlante y del Caribe.

Esta caravana consiste de grupos tales como el grupo cubano rapero, Orishas, el rumbero español Peret y Ile Aye, el grupo francés de Les Nubians con nuestra querida Celia Cruz y John Leguizamo, y el ídolo flamenco Diego, "El Cigala". Estos artistas con ambiciones eclécticas le ofrecen una idea de los grupos afro-latinos con música como la cumbia colombiana, música árabe, jamaiquina, gitana, española y caribeña en este nuevo disco compacto, Island Life.

Este segundo trabajo nos demuestra como el productor y director de orquesta venezolano, Andrés Levín, absorbió la intensidad del flamenco después de haber convivido por un tiempo en España. Levín, que ha producido luminarias roqueros latinos, tales como: Aterciopelados, El Gran Silencio y Los Amigos Invisibles, compartió su gran amor por la ciudad de Nueva York y las realidades poéticas de músicos y artistas bilingües.

Las diferencias entre el primer disco compacto versus el segundo es que éste tiene un sonido más gitano, ya que contiene influencia española además de ecos de los moros y las vibraciones del medio oriente que se encuentran en las interpretaciones de música flamenca.

En una entrevista hecha por Ernesto Lechner del LA Times a Levin, nos dice creer que hay un paralelo entre los artistas flamencos y artistas caribeños en las cuales ambos mundos se entrelazan. Al uno vivir en Nueva York, se le desarrolla una sensibilidad bilingüe. Hay una mezcla de jóvenes de toda América Latina y la esencia individual es diluida y el lenguaje un tanto de apariencia degradada, pero considera que el idioma es original, poético y de profundo sentimiento. Spanglish es definitivamente una gran parte de lo que somos los latinos en los Estados Unidos de América del Norte.

El concepto de esta creación artística, Island Life, fue establecido en Manhattan. Levin lleva a Nueva York en su corazón. Había vivido en una isla en Brasil donde, para viajar, tenía que esperar a que bajara la marea. Al igual que en la ciudad de Nueva York, uno no se atrevería aventurarse durante la hora de congestión de personas y tránsito, pero al igual adora la mentalidad isleña. Tan pronto uno se da cuenta de que esta en una isla rodeado de diferentes culturas, uno comienza a tomarse en serio.

Ciertamente Yerba Buena nos lleva a un viaje por las islas del Caribe curando nuestras penas y llevando la alegría que nos caracteriza. Así es que "a gozar la vida" y a bailar la cumbia con `El Burrito', el guaguancó con `Bilingual Girl', una salsa con `Bla, Bla, Bla' y, mi favorita, `Sugar Daddy', un reguetón con sabor jamaiquino interpretado por Las Nubians con Celia Cruz, presentada por John Leguizamo. ¡Azuca!

I love the CD and recommend it to anyone! President Alien (Yerba Buena) is the BOMB as well.

Andres Levin is a genius ... behind the console. When put in front of a band, he's merely ok. He is a great producer and sound engineer, yet his two efforts w/ Yerba Buena somehow fail to grasp my imagination the way other latin and spanglish bands do. For an excellent example of music PRODUCED but not performed by Mr. Levin, I recommend our countrymen (yes, both Levin and me are venezuelans) Los Amigos Invisibles' first american published album "The new sound of the Venezuelan Gozadera.

- "the ultimate urban tropical party"- VIBE
-"Yerba Buena's New York is a cosmopolitan hub where anyone can meet and everyone is ready to dance. The songs make more connections than the city's subway system... For Yerba Buena, Latin American identity is an exhilarating work in progress: proud of its roots, fast on its feet, laughing off obstacles... every idiom Yerba Buena touches on gets hybridized, and that's the point." - NY Times
- "a Truly Stellar Sophomore Album" - NY Post
-"Island Life is a sizzling jam session." - Wall Street Journal
-"Yerba Buena is uniting the polyglot of New York City into a joyful, partying, sexy and smart voice. What could be more American" - AP
- "cutting-edge music for urban sophisticates who have tropical fever rushing through their bodies"-Newsday
-"(4 Stars) Yerba Buena's sophomore effort is even funkier, funnier, hipper and more exhilarating than its debut.. something so new all you can do is smile and ride the beats. It's a global party, papí" - Miami Herald
-"When you're talking multi-culti, you're talking Yerba Buena. masterful... terrific... the summer's most fun disc." - Providence Phoenix
- "If a secret fountain of fun exists, producer Andres Levin has found it and is hoarding it for himself and his band Yerba Buena. . Every song enters your veins, raises your heart rate, and spurs your feet to movement " - Miami New Times
- "shows how deep the Latin roots of the Big Apple really are. Yerba Buena's latest endeavor is perfect summertime listening"- BBC "The World"
- "What Yerba Buena has achieved over the span of three years is nothing short of breathtaking... , Island Life boasts a dizzying array of dance rhythms like cumbia, funk and salsa, but it's how they're brought together under one roof that is so impressive,,a freewheeling, boisterous record" -Eye Weekly (Toronto)
- "thick with a funk that never lets up...The concept that runs through the record: maintain one's dignity within the urban jungle while still remaining relevant and sexy as hell".- NY Press

I am a middle aged, white guy, living in Salt Lake City. That being said, Island Life is one of the finest tastes of diverse Latin sounds. If you only have one Latin party album (God help you), this would be a good bet. Two tongues are always better than one.............

Having heard & read of Yerba Buena I had high expectations and was NOT disappointed. Haven't stopped playing this whole CD from song 1 all the way through to the end is excellent. Salsa-flavored Spanglish-Nuyorican Hip-Hop & great vocals from Cucu Diamantes is perfect for this bi-cultural Boricua.