My name is Russell Slater. Sometimes it’s just Russ Slater. I write about South America and about music, and especially about the combination of both of these. I have also worked as a music consultant, providing expertise on contemporary Latin American music for a variety of clients.
This is the general gist of what I do on a day-by-day basis:
- Founder/Editor of Sounds and Colours
- News Editor of Songlines magazine
- Music Consultant for Oba! Sounds of Brasil!
- Music and Budget Travel Editor for UruguayNow
I have written articles for:
- Time Out São Paulo
- The Wire
- fRoots
- The Quietus
- Long Live Vinyl
- Songlines
- PopMatters
- Latineos
- Drowned In Sound
- American Express Travel
- JungleDrums Online
- Revivalist Magazine
- Red Hot Organisation
- Brazzil
These are some of the people I’ve interviewed:
Eblis Alvarez (Meridian Brothers), Jeremy Barnes (A Hawk and A Hacksaw), Blick Bassy, Aloe Blacc, Rodrigo Brandão, Karina Buhr, Céu, Michael Chapman, Chicha Dust, Cibelle, Olivier Conan, Gal Costa, Criolo, John Dieterich (Deerhoof), Becó Dranoff, Jorge Drexler, Family Atlantica, Mario Galeano (Frente Cumbiero, Los Piranas), Gilberto Gil, Lulina, Marcelo Machado, Rob Mazurek (São Paulo Underground), Paddy McAloon (Prefab Sprout), Helado Negro, José Padilha, Quantic, Tulipa Ruiz, Gustavo Santaolalla, Mauricio Takara (Hurtmold, M. Takara 3, São Paulo Underground)
Hi Russ,
I’m an ethnomusicologist working in Colombia – big fan of Sounds and Colours. I’m also international manager for Mama Julia y los Sonidos Ambulantes.
Just wanted to say a big thank you for the positive review of their album “el rebusque” in this month’s Songlines. It’s great that a Cali-based band can get coverage in such an auspicious world music mag, and I’m sure your complementary analysis will tempt some new potential fans to buy the album.
I disagree with your critique of “Gris” – for me it’s not a delicate marimba track ruined by the distortion, it’s an indie rock dirge about the dark topic of child labour which just happens to use marimba (as well as tabla, harmonium etc) to give it flavour. But, as a Brit, I would fight to the death to defend your right to a different opinion.
Wanted to let you know we’re working on translations of lyrics from the album, which should be on the band’s website soon. And we’ll hopefully get them over to Europe next year.
All the best, and again, thanks,
Ian Middleton