No they do not sound like the Eagles, or death metal. But they are awesome, doesn't that count for something? I have to admit I hate the cherry cola video...I can't watch it and listen to the song, but besides that they remain one of my favorite bands.
Solange Knowles has to be one of the coolest people ever. Yeah sure she gets compared to her big sister Beyonce alll the time about voice and sex appeal but I think Solange is just the more awesome one. Maybe Beyonce has the "stronger" voice but Solange has the quirky personality unique non-diva like voice and she has AWESOME music taste! So awesome that she got both Beyonce and husband Jay-Z interested in Grizzly Bear (they attended a concert) did a Dirty Projectors cover has cool indie rapper collaborations with the likes of Theophilus London and she is "friends" with Wale. She's like the cool older sister I always wanted...damn please adopt me?
Honestly they have made some of the greatest under-appreciated music of the 2000s. they are as understated as they are dramatic from sweeping guitar riffs and strong vocals to great lyrics. In my opinion they are one of the most "romantic" bands in my collection, just based on the mood their music creates.
Yes they are called Fun, and they are in a cheesy sort of soda shop 1950sesqe way. I am just waiting for everyone to break out into song and dance when I play this on my mp3 at Spot coffee...I have strange fantasies.
YES!!! a second list! I thought there would only be one list I swear...but then I just kept thinking of songs I despised sooo much that I had to make a second list, and I can't promise you this will be the last one...
J Futuristic I first mentioned this man in a post titled "J Futuristic, Chingy Called He Wants his Career Back" and I am ASHAMED I left this off the first list, it is THAT BAD. not only can I not under stand what he's saying at all between "Blurr name Last name blee blur blah SWAGG! Bleee Blur Blah BALL!" But the song has one of the dumbest titles (besides T.T Dance of course) out any song I've heard all year.
Justin Bieber It's not that Justin has a bad voice...he doesn't at all (honestly) it's just that no matter how old he says he is this song will never be age appropriate for him mostly because he reminds me of the 4th chipmunk if there was a 4th chipmunk in Alvin and the chipmunks.
Crocodiles Is it just me or do you think they take themselves too seriously? Yeah the lyrics sure are "deep" I'm gonna go take a nap.
Millionaires And the award for the least amount of talent and most obnoxious video goes to....
LMFAO How could I neglect them? I have no idea...I don't even think I need to explain why they are on this list.
Spencer Pratt Need I remind all of you that unfortunately Spencer Pratt DID make a music video...in fact I wrote about it...unfortunately. Yes the flesh bearded one made a song...and oh he wants to be known as "Great White" now you know for "street cred" purposes.
Heidi Montag And don't you think about me the way I think about you? No Heidi I'm sorry I don't...but you definitely are OVERDOSIN on something...lay off the white powder for awhile.
Nipsey Hussle What do you get when you combine a Snoop Dog look alike with some pirated beats? My second least favorite rapper of 2009!
Stereos Yeah this is a fail.
Suckers Do you know why they're called Suckers? Cuz they...do I even have to finish this joke... if Homor Simpson moved to Williamsburg to start a band, and enlisted Moe and a bunch of his other hungover buddies they may sound like this.
Natalia Kills (formally known as Verbalicious) is trying to penetrate the US market. I think I liked her better when she was Verbalicious (you may recognize her from the M Pokora song "They Talk Shit About Me"). I dig the new song but the video is too close to Rihanna's latest effort and Kanye West's 808 and Heartbreak for comfort. I am not sure this will get a lot of air play when it's too close to the styles of Kanye and Rihanna, regardless I'm enjoying it.
Soooooo I have already complied 5 best of lists and there were plenty of awesome songs that weren't on the lists that were also very good. However, now it's time to have a little fun and unleash my inner hater which I am really not ashamed of...I like to think of it as my inner "critic" but I know I'll get some heat for this list...as I have in the past when I rant about someone's favorite rapper.
So let's get started:
HAM (Heart And Mind) Look k-pop artists are given some really messed up names...but this one took the cake. I was hoping this group would redeem themselves with a kick ass first single and then they gave us T.T. Dance...
Girls If you have been following this blog for a while you already know my undying hatred for this band especially after Spin proclaimed that it was one of the best new bands of 2009!....huh?! And now they have announced that it has the 5th best album of 2009 on their list of "The 40 Best Albums of 2009"...WHAT???? These guys couldn't sing or write songs if their lives depended on it!!! "I wish I had a boyfriend, I wish I had a loving man in my life, i wish I had a father maybe then I would have turned out right, cuz now I'm just crazy" Of course you have to imagine those lyrics sung by a congested 14 year old who hasn't hit puberty yet. It's pretty bad...honestly dudes go back to the commune.
Drake Another artist whose popularity I will never understand, am I the only one who seems to think he's talentless? Spin also put him on their 40 best albums of 2009 list....but Drake really hasn't made a song yet that I consider a great artistic endeavor. He is great at half assed rap lyrics and stupid songs catered to the ladies and of course reminding everyone that he is affiliated with "Young Money Entertainment." I still don't get how "You The Best" can be considered one of the best rap songs of the year when Wale, Pac Div, Mos Def, Wiz Khalifa and Skyzoo have all been negelected. This kid needs to get himself some substance.
Taylor Swift Look I get it, everyone felt bad for Taylor at the MTV Music Awards when Kanye West slighted her in public, but after the media spectacle which should of lasted a month AT THE MOST everything should have gotten back to normal. And I do give the girl credit for writing her own songs, but do I think she should be crowned artist of the year by various music publications and websites..cough cough YAHOO MUSIC! Hell no! Seriously the girl is my age and is still writing about HIGH SCHOOL. Her fan base consists of 13 year old girls because she writes songs about castles and princes and unrequited love, add to the fact that she still makes fun of her ex Joe Jonas in public (seriously get over him) and I want to take her aside and tell her to grow up. I know she is still very marketable and little girls love her so she can sell albums but let's take quality over quantity and please cutesy little songs about not being popular in high school and crushes get old, real fast. Develop some range as a song writer, you're reproducing the same Disney theme songs over and over again.
Miley Cyrus Yeah yeah bet you could see her on this list too. Mostly it's just because I don't get it, unlike Taylor who actually writes her own songs and can carry a decent tune, Miley can do neither one!!! And if I have to endure "Party in the USA" one more time in public I may just break down and cry...even the Auto-Tune can't cover up how crappy her voice is.
Lovvers Were you ever curious to see what a cat being run over by a lawn mower sounds like? Me neither.
Vivian Girls This song explains perfectly why I hate noise punk...perfectly.
Tech N9ne Ohh god..there is SO much wrong with this song...from the verses to the chorus. Believe me we won't bother you if you keep rapping this song...seriously. It's not that the content of the song is messed...there is a good message, but whoever produced this joint along with the guy singing the chorus...seriously it ruined the track.
I just recently "rediscovered" his music on my mp3 and i had forgotten how much I loved it! Besides finding great new music one of the greatest feelings is rediscovering why you loved old songs you already own. Mike Doughty makes jangly pop rock in the spirit of Dave Mathews but with a bit more soul.
Yeah yeah so you might have noticed that my Guilty Pleasures list came VERY late this month but there are reasons! I started making them because EVERYONE has songs they are embarrassed they like...you know you do. But this month I spent most of my time listening to indie folk (as you can probably tell from my recent posts) and making my end of the year lists (which YOU SHOULD check out). Anyways here you go...
After School - Because of You Essentially they are the South Korean version of the Pussycat Dolls, but at least everyone gets a chance to sing (seriously Nicole maybe you guys should try that...). The video is kind of weird...it's supposed to be about a boy (like all Kpop girl groups sing about) the video makes it look like it's about a girl...
Dashboard Confessional - Belle of the Boulevard I'm a sucker for Dashboard Confessional but I still feel weird listening to him from time to time, because sometimes his songs sound too personal...almost like a letter to a loved one.
Brown Eyed Girls - Sign Yeah my friend Emily got me addicted to this song. The track is equally as cheesy as the first After school track, but the video is way more disturbing.
Big Bang - Koe Wo Kikasete This is from Big Bang's Japanese debut and is more ballad "like" than a lot of their K-pop stuff, it definitetely showcases the guys vocal talents especially Taeyang's and Daesung's.
The rawness of the drums/guitar/voice can sometimes be lost in the age of synthesizers, however the Mountain Goats bring back the emotion, and intimacy of the "traditional" rock instruments on their latest album 'The Life of the World to Come" and this song in particular.
This song is beautiful, musically and lyrically, a real gem. It has hints of Elliot Smith, the Band, The Allman Brothers, Creedence Clearwater Revival and all the other musical greats of song writing. A great country tinged folk rock track.
Punk is one of those genres that goes through phases of rebirth and then periods of public indifference and although there are still some class punk bands still around (The Bronx, Against Me!, Bad Religion) Gallows is the punk band from the UK that may put punk on the map once again for 2010.
Miss me? School has been taking up a lot of my time...in fact this is my first day of FREEDOM!!! (My last paper for school was due yesterday). So today I bring you a nifty little indie band called The Clientele, they sound a bit like The Velvet Underground, and they will be touring the US soon. It's shoegaze at it's best!
Kelis may be engulfed in legal battles with her (now) ex husband NAS but she still has time to be featured on a song or two for DJ gods "Crookers." I am pretty excited for their new album "We Have Tons of Friends" especially for the songs featuring Yelle, Roisin Murphy, Miike Snow, and Rye Rye...I just wish the videos weren't as weird.
My friend Jenny who I met at school and just left for Japan...I may never see her again in person and that does bum me out, just turned me on to this song, and it is pretty awesome. She also has a blog check her blog out! Schemes n' Dreams
Drake was the false alarm (although Drake, J Cole and Jay Z were all on Dead Presidents 3), but everyone in the record industry jumped on him anyways, but J Cole is the real deal. J Cole actually makes lyrically driven tracks that MEAN something, with a flow that is nonchalant and robotic he can still conjure up images and feeling. I just hope that people don't call him the new Drake or brush him aside as "been there done that" because his verses are too good, although it's questionable whether top 40 radio will be ready for a guy who actually has something to say. It would be awesome if Lupe Fiasco and this man collaborate on something.
The band I'm watching in 2010 is definitely this one! They have such a sound rooted in nostalgia, they sound sort of like a mixture between Crystal Castles (on the instrumentals) the Psychedelic Furs and New Order. I am pretty excited for this album, whenever it comes out.
So Under The Radar has just featured them in the "Pleased to Meet You" section of their website, and mehhh I tried to listen to them...TRIED. When something takes EFFORT for me to sit through and listen to I know that it's not the right music for me (Animal Collective, Deerhoof, Drake) this is one of those cases...plus the whisteling is uber annoying. It sort of sounds like they are half serious, and half trying to see how strange they can be to get attention. The singer sounds hungover and who knows maybe that's the effect they were going for, because the noises they conjure up are the same sounds I get in my head when I have woken up from a night of drinking...
They actually came to [Buffalo] last night [December 12th] and no they are not from Buffalo New York! They are actually from Trumansburg New York, but they make really great country tinged folk rock.
Although 2009 was a crappy year for me personally, it was a great year for music. Underground hip hop has made an awesome comeback, and [finally] seems to matter again! The UK has had another amazing year, producing another great crop of indie artists (although they have also seemed to have a great decade). Canadian indie acts continue to innovate, and even though Auto-Tune still dominates the top 40, musical experimentation in pop is becoming a more accepted art form. I think the most important lesson to take from 2009, is originality and authenticity are in, and imitation is out. Artists like La Roux, Wale, Lady Gaga, and Florence and the Machine (as well as countless others) have developed musical reputations not just for their talent and innovation, but for being themselves. This is the last installment of my "Best of 2009" playlist series, enjoy.
Mr Hudson - Supernova Kanye West may be an asshole but the guy has some serious musical talent...even with the Auto-Tune, this Kanye laced track is addictive. Although listen for Kanye feigning an English accent. Pay attention as he pronounces the word "chance" c'mon man...
Chester French - She Loves Everybody And I sure do love this song.
Mumford and Sons - Little Lion Man As promised, this song is a requirement on this list...best song of the year? That is debatable, although it's definitely one of my favorites.
Keri Hilson feat Kanye West and Ne-Yo - Knock You Down you have to hand it to Miss Keri she writes and sings her own songs, and they are pretty catchy.
Tiesto feat Tegan and Sara - Feel it in My Bones After every Tiesto post I had, I think at least one of his tracks is expected. And I must say Tegan and Sara are pretty hot lesbians...it's too bad I don't swing that way.
Grizzly Bear - Two Weeks Yeah so the video is super creepy...as I mentioned before. But the voice! The instrumentals they sure as hell make up for it...this song is too superb.
The Dirty Projectors - Stillness is the Move Yeah another seriously strange music video (what is it with indie bands and bad music vids?) although again...the voices and instrumentals are great.
Pac Div - The Mayer 2009 has been the year of the hip hop underdogs (Big Sean, Wiz Khalifa, Skyzoo....etc) and I couldn't be happier.
Wiz Khalifa - Name on a Cloud Let's hope this man turns hip hop on it's head, 2010 just may be his year.
NASA - Whachadoin? NASA teams up with M.I.A. Spank Rock and Santigold on this crazy dance tune.
War Tapes - Dreaming of You I don't tend to like "love songs" in the traditional sense, but I dig this one. Even if it is a bit creepy...
The Noisettes - Don't upset the Rhythm The girl fronted group of my craziest dreams, combining soul, rock, rhythm and blues into one big grand mess of a sound.
Erik Hassle - Don't Bring Flowers Some have called him "the male version of La Roux" probably because they both have fiery red hair, but he makes completely different music...and it's awesome.
Ramona Falls - Meletric You know I like a band when I've mentioned them in three different blog posts (or really hate them...one or the other).
Miike Snow - Animal Dub, soul, and indie rock combine resulting in a combustible single.
White Lies - Death Released in 2008 but it didn't start to get any attention in the US until this summer...and it is a great song.
The Harlem Shakes - Sunlight My favorite song from this band (unfortunately I haven't found any other songs from them that I like as much) although it doesn't matter...it's a great track.
Dance hip hop tends to not be my thing, but the beat on this track is sick, plus Tinie can actually spit a decent verse or two. The UK really does have a ton of untapped rap talent.
Dan Black - Symphonies Originally a cover of a Biggie tune as I mentioned on my June Playlist (you can listen to the original song there) but this version is just as a good...and just as epic.
Park Ji Yoon - In Faded Memory I remember stumbling upon this by accident, but sure glad I did.
Bat For Lashes - Daniel The soundtrack of my summer had to be this album...it's that good.
So I sometimes dabble on to other people's music blogs. And I was looking at Yahoo's music blog called "The New Now" and sometimes I like his picks (sometimes I've already featured his picks) and sometimes I don't. However, I really digged these guys and he is totally right, the lead singer does have an Erykah Badu voice going on, it's pretty awesome.
Frankmusik - Confusion Girl Never mind the fact that I want to marry this man...please call me? But his debut album and this track are class all the way.
Girls Generation - Gee You may laugh at me...but this is one of the best pop songs I have heard in a while...ignore the cutesy video.
VV Brown - Shark in the Water Great song writing, great production, just all around great song. Seriously listen to this track! (If you haven't noticed both Frankmusik and VV brown were featured in my July Playlist.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPQlxHWsemI
Fanfarlo - The Walls Are Coming Down Another band I featured in a Month Playlist a while back, and for good reason.
2NE1 - Fire Another Korean girl group making catchy pop tunes!
Manchester Orchestra - I've Got friends They've got friends in all the right places.
The Asteroids Galaxy Tour - Around the Bend Danish band makes soul infused indie pop, catches the eye of Steve Jobs gets featured in an ipod commercial and ends up on this list.
Royksopp Feat. Robyn - The Girl and the Robot There are certain songs you know that you immediately like within the first 10 seconds...this is one of those songs.
Bloc Party - One More Chance Am I biased? Hell Yeah I'm biased! This is my list...Bloc Party is one of my favorite bands...DEAL WITH IT. Ok ok...I also put this on the list because the band is going on a long hiatus possibly even breaking up (I hope not). This will be one of their last new singles for a while.
The Filthy Dukes - This Rhythm One weird weird music video, but one seriously catchy tune.
Lily Allen - The Fear "I wanna be rich and I want lots of money, I don't care about clever, I don't care about funny..." Lily Allen's first album put her on the map as one of the best female pop singer songwriters of the 2000s but 2009's the Fear solidified her status. She really is a weapon of "Massive [musical] Consumption."
Florence and the Machine - The Dog Days are Over Florence started the year off with a bang, and this is the first song I heard from her back in March...and it's epic.
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Everything With You Probably one of my favorite new bands of 2009, and maybe the first Brooklyn hipsters that I actually like.
Metric - Sick Muse I am a die hard Metric fan...and this song explains why.
Lissy Trullie - Boy Boy Once I heard this song I knew she would be a big deal...and she is.
Phoenix - 1901 These guys have been around for a few years, but this song is the one thing that caught the attention of the American audience.
T.I. feat Rihanna - Live your Life Yeah Yeah roll your eyes...it doesn't make the song any less epic, admit it you were singing along to it too in March.
School of Seven Bells - Half Asleep Ok so this song actually came out in 2008, but the song was officially released in 2009, and it makes School of Seven Bells one of the best kept secrets of 2009.
Ida Maria - Oh My God I wrote about this woman in my first blog post ever and I still play this song at least once a day. Although this song really came out in 2007, her album hadn't gotten a wide distribution until this year.
Illa J - We Here His debut album was produced by his late legendary brother J Dilla, Illa J was also one of the first rappers besides K'naan that I covered on this blog.
Little Lion Man remains one of my favorite new songs of the year, although the band comes close to outdoing their debut single on this song. They may just be my favorite new band of the year, I'll have a "best of the year" playlist series coming soon...
An indie/ electronica band from Manchester, their debut album should be released in January 2010. This is their third single off the album, and I'm pretty much in love with it.
Debuted on allkpop.com it's not the full song, but it gives everyone a taste of what to expect for a US debut. One wonders though if the Wonder Girls could do what Se7en, Boa, Rain, and Utada Hikaru couldn't, and that's crack the American market.
I'm really excited about this guy. He sort of combines the laid back attitude of The Cool Kids with the wordplay of Lupe Fiasco...he is worth listening to. I'm definitely getting his album.
The Kissaway Trail are an indie rock band from Odense Denmark, they create jangly "Flaming Lips" laced indie tunes that sound epic and understated simultaneously. They have only released material in Europe, New Zealand, and Australia so North Americans have yet to gain much exposure to them.
Another quirky group making dance music beginning with "crystal" (besides Crystal Castles, Crystal Method...). I really dig how weird this song is...and its pretty out there.
Lately I have attempted to listen to music on the radio in Buffalo, however I was soon reminded of why I stopped listening to it in the first place IT SUCKS. The rock radio station (103.3 The edge) is the worst musical offender, besides "Mandatory Metallica", Trapt, Andrew WK, Chevelle, and Nickelback there is barely any air time for music that is truly alternative and groundbreaking. In fact I think the radio station caters to white men who vainly attempt to relive their youth through music they used to hear in smoke filled scummy bars as they binged drank and picked up chicks. Nothing wrong with that...but usually regional radio stations showcase how cutting edge and forward thinking an area is, so that must mean Buffalo is practically in the stone ages. Usually the more indie/alternative/cutting edge radio stations are located in the cooler, bigger cities. So its sad to think that Buffalo has the worst of everything...not surprising though, I mean I recently went to a party and the "playlist" was a steady stream of T-Pain's "Buy U A Drank" followed by Owl CDity's irritating sickeningly cutesy song "Fireflies" very classy (it was a fun night though...thanks Darien! ha). But getting back to the subject of radio stations, if the edge really does showcase the "pulse" of the city which I think all decent radio stations do...Buffalo is on life support. What we really need in this city is a decent independent indie/ rock radio station as well as a good underground/ indie hip hop station (don't even get me started on our hip hop station 93.7 WBLK). Radio stations like these are supposed to cater to the young but I think its obvious to see that everyone young, smart and hip is leaving the city if the radio is marketed to disheveled stupid and past their prime.
Ok so I have a MusicGeek Facebook page to add to TheMusicGeek Twitter account, yeah I know where this is going, I'm becoming a scary desperate attention whore!!! Well let's hope not...I think I still have my head on straight...hopefully? The Twitter and Facebook both just link back to my blog, although I do put up the occasional random tweet. I still don't have a cell phone so that makes it hard to "tweet" (although I honestly find it a little silly anyways)...I should get one of those newfangled mobile devices soon, but I like living like it's 1993, minus the wardrobe of overalls and flannel.
Silverclub - Answers Trippy mixture of lofi, shoegaze and trance. It conjures up images of smoke filled dance clubs occupied by lots of pretty drugged out disoriented people. I like it a lot.
Toro Y Moi - Blessa The track sounds like "Thieves Like Us" meets "Air." Toro Y Moi along with Neon Indian and washed Out (check out my "Acid Trip Playlist") are really turning electronica on its head right now. Mashing acid rock with trance and shoegaze to create crazy ear pleasing concoctions of sound.
The XX- Crystalized Modern day Pixies? You decide. Either way I dig the sound of this track.
The Drums - Let's Go Surfing I have to admit I hated this song when I heard it 4 months ago...and now I'm strangely attracted to it. It's like The Beach Boys meets Williamsburg hipsters and they have a jam session.
Dam-Funk - Mirrors funk meets lofi electronica? One strange mixture of sounds.
Nneka - Heartbeat My favorite song on the list, Nigerian songstress adds her sound to the mix. Very quirky but very original, this track is hot.
Malakai - Moonsurfing Awesome song. Weird guy...but who cares?
