While it might not be his strongest work to date, “Nothing On You” should give B.O.B. the chance to leapfrog a handful of cats in the game right now. At the end of the day, hits get peoples’ attention, and the song is still smashing on most of the shit on the radio lately. Bobby picked the right director for the job though. Ethan Lader, the mind behind quality videos from Pac Div, Kidz in the Hall and my personal favorite, Rob Roy’s “Fur In My Cap”, put together some creative visuals to accompany the song. Expect to see Bobby and Ethan back soon.
This is pretty spectacular. Meet the PS22 Choir. A group of elementary and middle school kids from Staten Island who have found global fame by finding their voice. This song leaves a little to be desired, but kids are great so it’s all good. But what if this became the norm? Kids just started singing pop songs on the regular? Forget amazing grace, what if kids were singing some Lykke or Trey Songz in class? Ok, the Trey Songz is a stretch, but it’d be amusing to see nonetheless. Some 8 year olds singing out, “She gon think I invented sex!” Could you see it?
The folks looking for an easy, party-friendly follow-up to say, “Kids” or “Electric Feel”, might want to find a new trendy band to follow. The first two tracks let loose from MGMT’s sophomore album, “Flash Delirium” and “Congratulations” find the indie sensations rebelling against the instant pop appeal of the singles from Oracular Spectacular. “Flash” is a dense and exciting psychedelic pop song that recalls recent Flaming Lips and late-’60s Beatles, while “Congratulations” is more of a stripped down, acoustic slow jam. Congratulations is due out April 13, and will feature a grand total of zero singles. Interesting to say the least.
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Today, I’d like share one of my favorite movies with you. Sweet Elizabeth brought this into my life many years ago and it has been my answer to “what’s your favorite movie?” ever since. I can’t even begin to relate to you how wet this movie is. Kof & Lan know. I watched it over and over in Tendrich. I don’t know. It’s just my kinda shit. Reality will always outdo fiction, because that shit actually happened. And nothing is crazier than that.
Seven years ago, a little known trio from North Carolina dropped an album that made an extraordinary amount of noise. Within months of The Listening being released, 9th Wonder was being commissioned for a beat on The Black Album, and the album was drawing unsolicited praise from hip-hop royalty like Pete Rock and ?uestlove. A few years later, their soulful sound has led each of LB’s three members on different paths. Phonte’s Foreign Exchange is Grammy-nominated, Pooh is a few quality solo projects deep, and 9th, who bowed out of the group in ‘07, is a certified super-producer for everyone from Erykah to De La. Next month should see the release of Leftback, unfortunately billed as Pooh and Phonte’s final album together, with “Curtain Call” as the first single. Khrysis killed this one though, and if this a sign of things to come, we got one more quality album to look forward to.
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Last month, Max, Danny and myself had the privilege of being among a small group of folks who witnessed the first live performance of Broken Bells, the collaborative project put together by Danger Mouse and James Mercer. With a capacity that couldn’t have been more than 200, the show was a firsthand, intimate look at exactly what it was these two had in store. When this particular joint dropped, Max and I could already tell it was bad. In other words, it’s good. And “The Ghost”, like this song and this song, is nothing if not good. The album drops today, and to say I’m giving it a cosign would be a serious understatement. Cop that.
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Blockbuster collabs are a funny thing. Sometimes we get a classic, sometimes we forget they even happened. In my humble, this one doesn’t really fall into either category. The latest from Cudi, presumably off the upcoming Cudder doesn’t really deviate too far from the subject matter we’ve come to expect, but it’s not a major problem with the song. At the end of the day, we can always use more songs to smoke weed and drink to. The outro might just be the cleanest part though.
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Recently I had the opportunity to chat with Mykola Dosenko, also known as Myk Dawg. Born and raised in Kiev, Ukraine, Mykola’s inspirations paint an interesting portrait of popular culture in the late 80’s and early 90’s. A self proclaimed graphic designer, celebrity chef, comedian and stunt driver, it was not difficult to strike up a conversation about Myk’s interests and inspirations. With his graphic design work popping up on popular websites across the net, Mykola’s aesthetic is becoming recognized for it’s vibrant colors and retro influences. Touching on everything from Lebron James to zombie snails, our conversation was peculiar to say the very least.
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I’ll be honest. I don’t even fuck with Ok Go like that. At all. I saw them live once, and they were somewhere between mediocre and alright. However, this video is hands down one of the best music videos I’ve ever seen. Creativity knows no boundaries, and it’s unleashed the moment you start. Ok. Go.
This one was a long time coming. Suffice to say this is the first official album single from Drizzy’s Thank Me Later. At this point, my opinion on the track isn’t really that important. People will be slappin this one on repeat either way. But yeah, this shit is heat. You already know when the intro drops. Mr. Graham will be going from college to college on the Away From Home Tour starting next month, along with my favorite indie band of the moment. Album in May. This is Wine & Bowties.
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Cole asked me if this was going to become a regular thing. The short answer is yes, it is. I love music, and consequently, I like to blog about it. But folks like say, Talib Kweli & Hi-Tek, U-N-I or Sharon Jones (look below) just aren’t really sensitive to the fact that we like to post songs one at a time. We’re inspired by a lot of things at once. So my hands are pretty much tied here. For the record, Gorillaz kinda stole the show this week. Plastic Beach drops next week, so get you a copy.
Let’s not play ourselves. Slaps like this are important. Our generation doesn’t really have a Teddy P (RIP) or a Prince, so sometimes cats like Luda and Trey need to come through with the baby-making music. Despite the recent wave of flop decisions on Mr. Bridges’ part (a handful of weak singles, the Justin Beiber feature and one seriously hurt album cover), this joint caught my attention. Props to the big homie Sam, who’s been keeping me thoroughly entertained with the slaps and outta pocket shit of late. Oh, and in case you haven’t noticed, Trey’s been killin it for a while now. If this doesn’t hit the radio, it’d be a damn shame.
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“Oh I can see you standing there now,
And your the prettiest thing in the crowd…”
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When D.S. told me he had something for me, I knew I was in for something special. Little did I know I was in for some quintessential cruising music. Find an open road and slap this. It will surely add to the occasion. Add 3 scoops of piano laced synth, a dash of Toro Y Moi, and a generous helping of Daft Punk and you’ve got CFCF. This is the opening track off the debut album Continent. The applauded efforts of 21 year old Montreal based composer Michael Silver. This is the inaugural, so act accordingly. I think he’s just getting started.
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