I'd like to take a moment to recognize an innovator who was taken from this world too soon.
Classically trained on the piano & accordion as well as in music theory & composition, Mitar Subotić first made a name for himself producing and mixing releases by a wide range of new wave bands in his native Yugoslavia. Under the moniker Rex Ilusivii (King of Illusions), he also regularly composed new music for the radio show 'Radio Novi Sad', though few of his early compositions were ever released. After receiving a UNESCO grant to study rhythms in Brasil, he fell in love with the country and relocated there shortly thereafter, where his considerable talents would only continue to blossom and grow. In 1999, it seemed as though he was finally hitting his stride when disaster struck. While he was finishing post-production on Bebel Gilberto's debut album Tanto Tempo, which would go on to become the best-selling Brasilian album outside of Brasil, a fire consumed his home. Subotić ran inside to salvage what we could of the recordings from his studio, was overcome by smoke inhalation, and died, just days after the release of his groundbreaking album São Paulo Confessions. If you are a fan of Brasilian music (and I have some trouble understanding how anybody could not be), São Paulo Confessions is an absolutely essential must-have album. Its meticulous-to-the-point-of-sounding-effortless blending of modern electronic production techniques with traditional bossa rhythms, vocals, and instrumentations opened up a world of yet-unexplored possibilities and set a standard which continues to influence the evolution of music to this day, both in Brasil and beyond. We can only imagine what heights he might have achieved had he not been cut down in his prime, but it's safe to say he has in some way survived far beyond his mortal coil, as his influence can even now still be heard echoing throughout the musical world.
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