Even though I've moved on to bigger and better musical interests, there's really a void left in me by the absence of bands like these in today's contemporary music landscape.
Sure some of them are still making music. But it sucks (not to mention some of the lead singers got fat).
But, I think that Twin Atlantic to some degree fills this void in a similar way that they did, while still appealing to our more "mature", or "educated" or "hipster" sides.
Twin Atlantic has a similar rock-out, rhythm guitar type style. The Scottish origin/accent is, musically speaking, a turn on.
They're a pretty talented bunch. Even stripped down to acoustics they sound good (not fantastic though IMHO).
But if you too miss the day when FOB, MCR, and Paramore were culturally significant check these dudes out. And also my previous post about "Dreamember".
I've had this song in my iTunes for a while. But I've been neglecting it.
Purity Ring is awesome. This electronic duo does this shit soooo well.
This song is from the future. A future with robots, flying cars and awesomeness for all (kind of like Samurai Jack except not evil)
These guys were in town for SXSW and I unfortunately missed them (sad face). But just close your eyes and pretend. See yourself at the concert like I have been. Or in an alternate future world where music is generated by thought and this song is a newly released hit.
The original is probably one of Kid Cudi's best songs ever. This rendition is awesome. Totally different feel to it. The main feeling of the song is still maintained while giving it a total makeover instrumentally. And that it's live makes it that much more awesome.
I know Minutes to Midnight was a terrible departure from what made Linkin Park cool.
I know it's super uncool for me to say this but here goes.
I'M STILL A LINKIN PARK FAN.
Now that that's off my chest...
Linkin Park's most recent album A Thousand Suns was for me, a particularly unexpected sound. Yet, after a few listens, I found this album awesome. The reason? Because much like in Hybrid Theory (by far their best album) they're making cool music that is (conceptually speaking) new... At least in the mainstream...
Think about it. Hybrid Theory was an amazing, top-selling album because of it's new sound. In the context of music back then, music sounded super boring and overly pop-y. At least as far as mainstream music on the radio goes. Then came along Linkin Park, mixing rock, rap, hip-hop DJing, into one, oddly coherent sound. And it stuck. That simple.
They didn't make it big because they were the first ones to have this style of music. They made it big because they were able to make it work well and have it be consumed by the masses.
The influence they had on changing the way people thought of music. That's what's important.
Similarly with their newest album, Linkin Park does a great job of mixing a more contemporary style of music. Much more synth heavy, with undertones of rock and hip-hop. Today they're just as much a rock band as Lil' Wayne is a rock musician... (okay maybe a little more than Lil' Wayne)
"Waiting for the End" starts off with what sounds like a guitar riff, and as the song progresses it feels as though there is more and more progressively layered on to it. Harmonies, bass lines, melodies.
It's definitely my favorite song on the album. It has a great mixture of both synth and instrumentals that I love. Kind of like "Breaking the Habit" but not so sad. (By the way watch that music video if you haven't. Who else recorded a live music video of themselves performing, shipped it to Japanese artists and released a music video in anime style? Linkin Park that's who.)
Being an aesthetically oriented person (I'm a photographer for those of you that don't know) I find that the video editing and processing does a fantastic job at complementing their music. I almost feel as though it's a visual manifestation of their audible style.
Again, I know these guys aren't pioneers. I just find their music cool. I'm sorry for liking Linkin Park, but no matter how much you may hate, or tell me how unoriginal they are, I'll almost always like their stuff...
....Unless it's Minutes to Midnight...Fuck that album...
I just found out about her through an interview from Seattle based advertising photographer, Chase Jarvis.
On her website bio Zoe Keating's described as a "one woman orchestra. She uses a cello and a foot-controlled laptop to record layer upon layer of cello, creating intricate, haunting and compelling music."
She's a classically trained cellist that makes great music using not only her cello but also her computer.
Using her computer in conjunction with her cello is really cool because it shows that she has a level of digital proficiency that some musicians in the classical realm don't really possess.
For some reason she's sometimes called an "avant cellist", I assume because of her avant-garde style.
Being able to loop what she plays creates a really deep, orchestral feel to what she plays. She's really good at this style of playing and I particularly enjoy it a lot.
I think I like her music a lot because she brings together great classical music with technology in a cool way, making it her own.
My parents are both from Cuba, and my family came to this country in 1969 after the communists, led by Castro, had stripped them of everything that they had worked so hard for just before that.
My parents came when they were super young and assimilated into American culture but still held on to their Cuban identities, imparting some of that on me.
Thinking about this I wanted to do a post on Celia Cruz, who many of you may know as a salsa singer who wore really bizarre outfits like this one or this one and especially this one. But throughout my life she was a lot more than that.
She was nominated for, and won 5 grammies (yes, I know, she's a beast) and Celia Cruz was at the forefront of not only Cuban music, but Latin music as a whole for years before the Cuban Revolution. When she was exiled, she only became even more famous. She caught on in the Unites States not only because of pockets of Cuban exiles like my parents living in Miami, New York, and L.A., but because people throughout Latin America grew to love her and her music.
I grew up with this music throughout my childhood so there's an element of nostalgia in it for me, but for anyone else interested in different kinds of music you should definitely give Celia a listen. Try making a Celia Cruz Pandora station, so far I love my results with it and have studied, danced, and even worked out to that station.
She's made God-knows-how-many songs over the years and it's hard for me to pick just one to feature right now, but I decided on this song because it's an awesome adaptation of an American classic, Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive"...and most of you are familiar with that song.
Rather than singing about moving on from a past relationship, Celia sings about how, even after her death, she will live on through the music that she's made over the years.
"En el alma de mi gente, en el cuero del tambor, en las manos del conguero, en los pies del bailador yo viviré, ahi estaré"
"In the soul of my people, in the skin of the drum, in the hands of the drummer, in the feet of the dancer I will live on, I'll be right there"
(That's the best translation I can give)
She goes on to sing about leaving Cuba and how painful it was, and again how she'll live on through her music, it's an amazing song. Give it a listen:
If you haven't seen this video yet, prepare for sheer awesomeness.
As if this album alone didn't kill the rest of the hip-hop industry this video is like the icing on the insanely delicious cake (which was probably made by Louis Vuitton or Hermés, covered with Hublot and Rolex watches for kicks)
This album (and this song) has redefined the hip-hop "baller" and changed it, from the pimp fashion faux pas such as Pimp C with large fur coats and canes that look ridiculous, to literal high-fashion of Europe achieving the fashion heights of Marc Jacobs among others.
Kanye definitely led this reshaping over the span of his career much more than Jay-Z. For example, in his song "Champion" from the album Graduation, West says "I don't see why I need a stylist when I shop so much I can speak Italian," (probably the best line in all of Graduation) arguably promoting European fashion even back then and before.
All that aside Kanye and Jay-Z's re-definition of "baller" can be seen here in this video in which they make the sickest frankenstein-car ever, while completely destroying a beautiful $350,000 Maybach.
If you haven't heard about this music video (let alone this song) then you've probably literally been living under a rock.
If you're one of those people than you're probably still living the secluded life under your rock, and if so I doubt you'll be reading this but I'll explain anyway.
Drake's mother is Jewish, hence he had a bar mitzvah, and in this video he's "re-bar mitzvah'd" with his new "family" (YMCMB)
That being said, this music video is cool but the hype behind it is a tad overrated in my book.
The only unique aspect of this video is Drake owning up to his Jewish heritage. Aside from that, it's really just like any other rap video.
I think reactions to this video are annoyingly overhyped.
I like the video, and I like the song. It had a lot more potential and critically has been received way too well by blogs (especially by pitchfork who liberally shit on anything that tries to be cool).
Lil' Wayne should wear that panda beanie/mask and slam skateboards into tables more often.
Spanish musician Pablo Díaz-Reixa (who is apparently "an expert lullaby-singer for small children throughout Spanish-speaking countries") AKA El Guincho has released an awesome/super-catchy album titled Pop Negro.
El Guincho's music resonates with me particularly as a Spanish-speaker yet I would argue even if you don't understand a word of what he's saying, you will still enjoy it immensely, as most people I know have. There is a lot of melodic subtlety that goes into his music that I find to be awesome.
There's really nothing that you can't enjoy about the song.
That being said this music video is a totally different creative undertaking that is absolutely awesome.
First off, the video starts with El Guincho reciting what I'm pretty sure are the opening lines to Carl Sagan's Cosmos translated in Spanish.
Carl Sagan is one of my most favorite people ever, and any of you that know me personally know that I have an almost creepy fascination with Carl Sagan (but how can you blame me? The guy talks like Agent Smith from The Matrix, not to mention he is one of the coolest dudes ever)
The part that's awesome is instead of exploring the cosmos in Sagan's "Spaceship of the Imagination", Guincho sits a a grassy pasture, loads a tape into a catapult gun-like thing, and fires it into the distance as the song begins.
Love this intro.
The rest of the video is a super-eclectic collection of bits of tape. There's really no other way to describe it. Just watch it for yourself.
My friend linked me this video to this dude's song on YouTube and I wasn't sure what to expect. The song opens with the beat from Paramore's "Decode". If you read my previous post about Twin Atlantic, you'll know that I used to be (...and I guess still am) a Paramore fan so this caught my attention. But the song takes a turn that makes it pretty sick as a hip-hop song.
This dude has a style like Drake with the singy autotuned voice and it fits him super-well, and his lyrics are pretty edgy and ambitious, as is his flow. In this song he also claims to be independent, and if that is indeed the case it'll add to my list of favorite rappers that are independent (like Macklemore).
The music video isn't badly done either. It's shot in Chicago and has some beautiful scenes of the city in it.
I love this song. I've been listening to Bonobo for a while now and I love his music. This song is "Black Sands" (from the album Black Sands). As far as the feel of the music is concerned, the album cover really does it justice; it's somewhat melancholic at first but as the song progresses it feels more pensive and thoughtful.
I envision someone walking through the cityscape of New York, or Chicago, or maybe London, in a soft rainy haze on a dark, overcast day. I see this person walking around aimlessly with no immediate obligations thinking about life and where he, and all of us fit in it. Perhaps that was the mood the artist was in when constructing this album.
Sorry for the melodramatic description. I let myself get carried away with envisioning the scenery within which music is constructed.
I love studying to this album, with it's smooth, melodic tones. The fact that he named himself after a cousin of the chimp throws you off a bit, but don't let that fool you, give it a listen and see what I mean..
I just started listening to these guys. Love them.
From around '06-'09 I was enthralled with bands like Fall Out Boy, Paramore, and anything that sounded remotely similar to them. Yet as the years went on, either the coolness of these bands in my young mind exponentially decreased or they just fell off the face of the Earth on a random hiatus (...FOB), yet Twin Atlantic has an eeriely nostalgic feel to them that I haven't felt in a while, almost exactly like how it felt to listen to these earlier bands.
I know that many people didn't fancy the emo/pop-punk/alt.rock scene as much as I did (if at all) but these guys really bring back that style of music for me without feeling super lame. If I listen to FOB now (which I do from time to time) I feel like I'm indulging in some guilty pleasure that I shouldn't even be thinking about. With Twin Atlantic it feels like they're a band I can be into without being ashamed. Maybe it's the fact that they are Scottish and the accent is cool, or maybe because their bassist doesn't say things like "if it's above the waist it's not gay".
I try to give classical music a listen. I don’t claim to be
a connoisseur by any means, but I’m definitely a fan. As cliché as it is, I’m
one of those people who are profoundly moved whenever they hear “Moonlight
Sonata”. Yet still, I’m not familiar with much classical music at all, when I
hear good things about a particular performer, then I look into them and give
them a chance.
I heard about Janine Jansen’s Tchaikovsky violin concerto in
a podcast called “On Being” by APM, in which Irish poet and writer, John
O’Donohue, mentions how moved he was by the performance; “Everywhere she went
on this violin, she got exactly what she was looking for… you could almost see
the music hurting her even when she wasn’t playing”
After I heard that, I absolutely had to find this
performance.
He heard it in live in New York, and I’m not sure where the
version I have was recorded but I’m sure it’s just as brilliant as that
particular performance was.
I’m not familiar with Tchaikovsky’s work at all, but this
performance is pretty awesome.
If you give even a part of it a listen, there is so much raw
emotion being expressed, in both the written music and the performance, it’s
absolutely spectacular.
Transitions between faster and slower parts are seamless and
create an attention-grabbing mood. Everything seems artfully and meticulously
planned and yet at the same time has an air of spontaneity and improvisation.
I know what I’m saying sounds somewhat vague and
abstract, and honestly you probably will have no idea what the hell I mean
unless you’ve heard it. Give it a listen.
I like most of Pitchfork’s choices (some are weird) they have a pretty good mix of genres and artists of all popularity levels. Yet, nowhere on pitchfork, or any popular music blog for that matter, do I see anything about the Seattle Hip-Hop scene. In my opinion what’s happening in Seattle has the potential to take over Pop Hip-Hop altogether.
Artists likeBlue Scholars have taken their time to settle into their style over the past decade or so. Filipino rapper Geologic (or Prometheus Brown) and Iranian producer Sabzi make a particularly effective Hip-Hop duo. Even from the get-go they have had a uniquely fresh style on their self-titled album. Catchy, almost vintage beats and edgy, anti-Bush/proletariat lyrics were their way of catching attention. And they did;
“And your so-called commander in chief, B, I’m telling you the man is a thief, in his hand he holds a plan to ban your freedom of speech.”
The Patriot Act, which he’s referring to in this line, was something particularly questionable, and made many afraid of the possibility of losing their 1st Amendment rights. Yet the best song on the album, in my opinion, is “Sagaba“, a story about an encounter with a beautiful, but distraught woman who is shown the beauty of life by the storyteller. This song is absolute poetry. It’s amazing and it took my breath away the moment I heard it. Blue Scholars have a tendency to make a few out-of-this-world tracks per album. This trend continued through on one of their following albums, Bayani. The song “Joe Metro“ is probably the most well-known song on the album, and it highlights how adept Geologic is at painting an image of the scene and the societal issues he can’t help but notice on a casual bus-ride. Yet again, absolute poetry. Even though Geo can go too far sometime, he does bring up legitimate political, societal, and cultural problems. Cinemetropolis, their most recent album, is toned down a bit, but carries the same style in beats and flow you’d expect from them.
Macklemore is another great example. His most recent work with producer Ryan Lewis is unbelievably powerful. He goes to places a lot of Hip-Hop artists don’t and raps with a purpose. Addiction, obsessive consumerism, and money are the most powerful themes in his most recent work. In “Otherside Remix feat. Fences” Ryan Lewis captures the macabre mood of the rappers account of addiction to lean almost perfectly using subtle and beautiful intertwining of acoustics and synthetic beats.
“Syrup, percocet, and an eighth a day will leave you broke, depressed, and emotionally vacant. Despite how Lil’ Wayne lives it’s not conducive to being creative”
The song is pure emotion. For me music is emotion, and for me the most powerful music, is music with a purpose. Another favorite by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis is “Wings,” a story about Air Jordan’s and giving into consumerism. This song also has a depth of emotion that is too rare in Hip-Hop today.
I hope the next Top 100 of ____ has at least one song by a Hip-Hop artist from Seattle. They deserve it.
L.A. musician Jeniffer Lee (AKA TOKiMONSTA) is definitely on my list of favorite electro-artists of the past year or so. "Sweet Day" has an extremely relaxed feeling to it, and is a very chill song, yet, unlike many relaxing songs, still maintains enough background elements to capture one's attention. I've listened to this song 3 times before posting and the layering she does on this track is pretty great.
Welcome to my music blog. There isn't much more me to say as an introduction. As you may have guessed from the URL and title of the blog, this is a site for me to post... You guessed it! The shit I like.
The aforementioned "shit" will usually be hip-hop, indie, dubstep/electronic, or just straight up rock. I'll try to make sure the album or song I post is somewhat contemporary (but there are no guarantees). The only one thing these songs/artists/albums/music videos will have in common is that they will all be shit I like.
