Senor Coconut: New Album, Reissue

Chile-based German DJ/producer’s new album features Latin electronic and cha cha cha tributes to Daft Punk, Prince, the Eurythmics.

By Blurt Staff

On Nov. 18, Nacional Records will release Around the World, the new album by Chile-based German producer Señor Coconut (Uwe Schmidt), and reissue Coconut’s debut album, El Baile Alemán.

Around the World will apply a Latin touch to “classic club hits by… Daft Punk ("Around the World"), Prince ("Kiss"), Laid Back ("White Horse"), and the Eurythmics ("Sweet Dreams).” Track-by-track notes from Señor Coconut follow this post.

El Baile Alemán, Coconut’s Latin tribute to Kraftwerk, will be reissued on CD (with bonus tracks)—and for the first time, via download.

Track list:

1. Around the World (Intro)

2. Sweet Dreams

3. Da Da Da Ich Leib Dich Nicht du Liebst Mich

4. Kiss

5. Corcovado (Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars)           

6. Around the World (Interlude)           

7. Que Rico El Mambo                       

8. Pinball Chacha                       

9. White Horse                       

10. La Vida Es Llena de Cables           

11. Moscow Discow

12. Around the World (Outro)

13. Dreams Are My

14. Voodoo Dreams [Atom Remix]

Track-by-track:

AROUND THE WORLD - "With my Señor Coconut project, I receive a whole lot of ideas from friends, fans, and other musicians. My friend and valued colleague, Original Hamster, once mentioned 'Around the World' by the French group Daft Punk and since then this track had been stuck in my head. But in parallel with this, Thomas Baxter, son of the legendary exotica musician and composer Les Baxter, asked me whether I would be interested in remixing one of his father's tracks ('Voodoo Dreams' is included on this album as a bonus track). While I was getting absorbed in Les Baxter 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 take hold of me. It can certainly be said that 'Around the World' - whether interpreted by Les Baxter, Señor Coconut, or anyone else - always reflects only a subjective view of the world. The world of Les Baxter is just as incomplete as that of Señor Coconut, defined by the time and place of our respective existences. After the title of the Señor Coconut album had been decided on, it was of course clear that Daft Punk's 'Around the World' would have to be the leitmotif. The track therefore appears three times on the album: as introduction, interlude and finale."

SWEET DREAMS - "Once 'Around the World' had been established as theme and motto of the album, the first prerequisite was that every track had to come from a different country. One track that had been in my thoughts for years for a Señor Coconut production was 'Sweet Dreams' by the British band Eurythmics. It is simply rhythmically and melodically a perfect cha-cha-cha. The ultimate criterion with Señor Coconut is always purely musical: 'Does that give me any interesting ideas?' Suddenly I heard very clearly its lyrics which provide a curious cross-reference to 'Around the World': 'I travelled the world and the seven seas... Everybody's looking for something.'"

DA DA DA - "A few years ago I had the pleasure of doing a remix for Stephan Remmler, so we were already in contact. Stephan likes Señor Coconut and my work on the remix reminded me of 'Da Da Da'. I realized that 'Da Da Da' was virtually crying out to be done as a cha-cha-cha. Rhythmically and melodically, it was clear where the musical journey should go. I asked Stephan if he would be interested in singing and he agreed immediately. I think that hardly any other German track from the 80s was as emblematic or as German as 'Da Da Da.' In my opinion, the brilliant simplicity of the song makes it THE German representative on 'Around the World.""

KISS - "Again, it was Original Hamster who brought 'Kiss' to my attention. Together with Argenis Brito, I translated the lyrics into Spanish and the decision was made to include this song on the album. The real fascination of this song is that the original has no bass line and that its charm lies in its simplicity (and that was the connection to 'Da Da Da'). At the musical level, the challenge was to convey these two aspects in Señor Coconut style."

QUE RICO EL MAMBO - "The original by Perez Prado is quite simply THE Mambo track par excellence. It was also high time to have Perez Prado appear on a Señor Coconut album, not just as a guiding spirit but directly. There are Prado references on all the Señor Coconut albums and he is probably my most important source of inspiration. It is interesting that Perez Prado is in no way a representative of Latin American "standards" but is characterized much more by having continually rejected these standards (apart from those which he himself created). Perez Prado compositions are remarkable not only for their unconventional arrangements and playing styles but also for their wit and simplicity."

PINBALL CHACHA - "Just as on 'El Baile Alemán' and 'Yellow Fever!', an originally electronic track is re-interpreted acoustically. This song is by the Swiss band Yello and was always a cha-cha-cha. This is already enough to explain why it ended up on the album. Produced by Yello at the beginning of the 80s using one of the first samplers, the original version plays with elements which are typical of "exotica" such as sampled bird calls and forest sounds."

WHITE HORSE - "Argenis Brito turned me on to the track. When I found myself short of up-tempo tracks, and it occurred to me that the original 'White Horse' track by the Danish combo Laid Back would be perfect as a merengue song, I knew that I simply HAD to cover it. 'White Horse' is in fact a reference to cocaine ('If you wanna ride, don't ride the white horse...'), a substance which is very popular in the merengue scene and is without doubt responsible for the nervousness of this rhythm."