New Music- John Mayer
I don’t know when I became a John Mayer fan. I think it was actually during the chappelle show when he did a guest appearance. I like him and I like this album. I once again bought and LP off of Itunes. This one wasn’t as cool as the Jay-z album but it was good. It had a couple of videos and of course the lyrics. Ok this is going to be real short. I may give a little write up later but for now give it a listen give it a try.
I’m going to let this speak for him. One of my favorite michael jackson songs.
New Music Friday-Brett Dennen
The album pictured isn’t actually the album that I’m listening to. The album I have is called Hope for the Hopeless by Brett Dennen. I think that was the first thing that attracted me to this guy the title of the album. I know nothing about him other than what Jeremy Maxfield, a dude at my office knew about him. Which was more about how the artist made him feel. and if you knew Jeremy you would know that his music is…. lets say a little… well he likes Phish so well yeah. Anyway. Brett. he has a kind of a folk kinda thing going on . Real smooth though. There is a song called Heaven that has the word of album title in it. I’ve been listening to it in my office for the last couple of weeks and its that song that really has a cool message. He explains what that message is in the video bellow so enjoy.
New music friday-M.I.A.
OK so it was one of those days so this is going to be real quick. I think this goes without saying that New music Friday isn’t really about new bands and artist that have just made it. What it is, is an introduction to my music. You can take it or leave it. Let us begin. I was introduced a little over a year or so to M.I.A. through an Invisible children video and then again with the movie Slum dog millionaire. She is now a staple when I’m working out. Great sound and a great story, one in which I will not retell but copy and paste her story. I know really lazy. If you had the week I’ve had you would know understand. Get off my back.
(From MTV)
If you read a lot about new music on the Web, odds are pretty good that, at some point between the September 2004 release of “Galang” and the March 2005 release of Arular, you were struck with the urge to turn your computer off or maybe even heave it out of a nearby window. If you don’t read a lot about new music on the Web, the preceding sentence indicates how bewildering and draining the chatter about M.I.A. became. Arular, M.I.A.’s first album, leaked well before its official release, allowing journalists and downloaders plenty of time to dissect it and bat ideas back and forth — taking in the sounds, words, and absolutely all of the context — before average music fans were able to develop their own opinions.
Maya Arulpragasam spent the early years of her life in a number of places. She moved from London, England, to her parents’ native Sri Lanka at the age of six months, only to relocate to Madras, India. During a return stay in Sri Lanka, the civil war taking place within the country escalated to the point where Arulpragasam began to lose family members and friends. She didn’t see her father — a devout and active separatist as part of the Tamil rebellion, which has clashed with the Sinhalese majority — often throughout these years, but her life stabilized once she and the rest of her family were able to make it back to London.
As a student, Arulpragasam became involved in the arts and published a monogram book of her paintings — titled M.I.A. and heavily influenced by the Tamil rebellion. She later connected with Elastica, providing the photography and graphics for the group’s second album, and she shot footage during their American tour. Elastica’s support act, Peaches, introduced her to the Roland MC-505, a sequencer she became familiar with after returning home. Steve Mackey (Pulp) and Ross Orton became involved after hearing a demo; they made adjustments to “Galang,” a song that was then pressed into 500 copies and released, under the name M.I.A., by the Showbiz label. It didn’t take long for the song — a bold, righteous amalgamation of hip-hop, electro, dancehall, grime, and baile funk — to make an impact with DJs. She wound up signing a contract with XL, which re-released the single and, eventually, debut album Arular in 2005. Anticipation for the release was considerable, only heightened by the Piracy Funds Terrorism mixtape she put together with DJ Diplo. Her second album, Kala, was released in 2007 and was recorded while spending time in numerous countries. M.I.A. produced most of its tracks with Switch; Blaqstarr, Diplo, and Timbaland also contributed. One single from the album, “Paper Planes,” became a surprise hit in summer 2008 after it was used in trailers for the film Pineapple Express; it eventually reached the Top Ten. ~ Andy Kellman, All Music Guide
Joss Stone Colour me Free!
This endorsement wont be too long. Its been a rough and long week. Today’s musician is a 22 year old singer Joss Stone. The first album I had of Joss stone’s was her “mind body soul”. Good stuff. I pretty much bought it because of her single “You had Me” This album is a little different. If you are a gospel listener you will really like this. This thing is old school R&B kinda music you play for your girl after a nice dinner and you’re chilling on the couch. It has been my 4:00 music in my office to end the day. The song that gets me every time is Girlfriend on Demand. There is a story behind the cover art that I’ve been trying to research. This is what they say the album used to look like. My research brought me to this blog. You should check it out especially if you are looking for cover art. Joss Stone is a great artist that I dont think gets enough play. For me she is at the top of my play list. So take the time and have a listen enjoy and Happy Friday.
Jay-Z The Blueprint 3
I wanted to test out the new Itunes LP so what better album to try it out on. Fantastic. If you haven’t purchased one from itunes this may be the one you do. Let me just help you out with what you get. After you wait about three hours to download. It’s almost a gig on my computer and I’m in my office so the internet takes that long. You get a couple things….. Before I go on let me first be clear, I’m no where near qualified to review this other than I’m a layman. (protection to my ego complete) With that out of the way. I bought the new Jay-Z LP The Blueprint 3. I’ve got other Jay-Z “Im getting tired of writing Jay-Z he and it will be now know as J” albums like the live album from MTv unplugged and I’ve got the collision course album the one he did with Linkin Park. I wouldn’t even say that I’m a huge J fan. I like him fine I would say. I put him in the category of Kanye always changing and truly creating. They have a respect for Hip Hop which makes them an artist not just a rapper.
Ok well this was supposed to be part the album and part just buying an LP through Itunes so let me continue. I stopped buying CDs years ago so this was a good exercise for me. It reminded me what it was like to buy the whole cd. But what Itunes does is give you more than that. So… you wait to download. The songs come first….if you want to start listening immediately you can. The bulk of the download seems to be the interface that you get with the LP. The LP interface takes over your whole itunes and puts you in that environment. When you open the interface the logo does a slow fade until you get to the menu. On J’s album you have the option to play the whole thing or you can pick it by song. If you play it by song you get the lyrics to the song along with the song. Pretty cool since you don’t own the paper copy. This is pretty much what you were able to get before on tunes. Some print stuff as a graphic file. Its the button below it for me makes this pretty cool. The video button. On the video button for J’s album you get two music videos along with a bunch of behind the scenes, interviews and even a making of the album cover. It’s a crap load of content. After the the video button you’ve got Photos and then the credits. I still haven’t watched all the videos yet. I know that I wont be buying a ton of LPs just because of the size but this was well worth it.
As far as the sound. Fantastic. I’ve listened through Jay-Z Blueprint 3 a couple of times. My top songs are DOA, Off that, Empire sate of mind, Run this town. What I like about his is the music is its access. He knows he’s a multimillionaire. No hiding that. He knows his listeners are from both sides of the track and all parts of the city. This isnt exclusive music, he knows the way he got to where he is is by being an artist that loves his craft period. He is always willing to be a community of music. You hear him mention other artists some times to challenge them to be better sometimes to commend them on what they’ve done. So. on this new music friday. You can make this your next album. It goes without saying but I’ll say it anyway. this isn’t a gospel album so you’ll here language and lifestyles that you don’t like. Those are the breaks kid you can go to Pat Boone’s website if you are looking for that. peace look me up next Friday to see what I’m listening to.
Not so New Music Friday
A couple months ago I went to seattle. While there I was able to visit the Experience the Music Project. They had an entire exhibit dedicated to Jimi Hendrix. Before that I was kinda like most people. I thought he looked cool while playing the guitar. I never really listened. Wow. leading up to this woodstock was having an anniversary so I got a little taste of him. He was the closing act at the festival. I would now call myself a Jimi Hendrix fan. There is something about his music that takes music to a whole different level. Not just his playing but how he defined a generation. If there was any time period I would want to visit it would be that one. They seem to be a generation that still effects us today. It may also be the only album I can listen to in its entirety while running. Great sound great fun. So you may have one or two songs in you itunes I would challenge you to buy this album you wont regret it. Every once in a while you have to reach back to some of the people that have made music how it is.
