Monday, March 15, 2004
Speed round, all-music edition:
Some blokes named 424 Sound Monster have made the must-hear mix of the year (so far). They've taken the acapellas of a slew of R&B and hiphop hits and laid them over these songs' own ringtones. You've assuredly never heard "Crazy In Love" or "WOO-HAH!! Got You All In Check" quite this way; it sounds like the likes of Missy and Wu-Tang are rapping over Casio presets! It's titled "Blazin' Blip Blop and Blar & Blee," and the downloads are over at Boom Selection.
Depending on your perspective, Jamie Cullum is either the savior or devil of UK music right about now. Think Harry Connick, Jr. without the smarm factor (and younger), or Michael Bublé without the Sinatra factor. His album Twentysomething has been locked into the top 10 of the UK album chart for, seemingly, months now, and now he's released his first single. It's a live cover of Pharrell's "Frontin'," and I find it sublime. He sounds so cool, so self-assured, and he's nearly a decade my junior! Bastard.
My favorites radio station, period, is only online (or on digital radio, if you're in the UK). It's BBC's 1Xtra, a station representing - and I mean truly repping - the entire diaspora of black music(s), from hiphop to drum'n'bass to gospel to garage to reggae to house to soca to R&B. 1Xtra is absolutely slamming, nailing it in every genre. I'm especially fond of Aaron Ross's Soulful House show (just what the name implies), and Panjabi Hit Squad's Desi Beats (bhangra-tastic!).
I've yet to address Courtney Love's solo debut, America's Sweetheart, mainly because I've not figured out exactly what I want to say about it. I can tell you this much: to my ears, it's the best album yet of 2004. It rocks and roars and Courtney is on point - and surprisingly, the songs written by and with Linda Perry (a/k/a the "hip" Diane Warren) are pretty good. "Julian, I'm A Little Bit Older Than You" and "All the Drugs" are my current faves.
311 have released the first good single of their career - so go figure, it's a cover. They've taken on the Cure chestnut "Love Song" for the soundtrack to 50 First Dates, and succeed, largely because they play it straight, being very faithful and respectful to the original. It won't change the world, but it's a decent listen.
Some blokes named 424 Sound Monster have made the must-hear mix of the year (so far). They've taken the acapellas of a slew of R&B and hiphop hits and laid them over these songs' own ringtones. You've assuredly never heard "Crazy In Love" or "WOO-HAH!! Got You All In Check" quite this way; it sounds like the likes of Missy and Wu-Tang are rapping over Casio presets! It's titled "Blazin' Blip Blop and Blar & Blee," and the downloads are over at Boom Selection.
Depending on your perspective, Jamie Cullum is either the savior or devil of UK music right about now. Think Harry Connick, Jr. without the smarm factor (and younger), or Michael Bublé without the Sinatra factor. His album Twentysomething has been locked into the top 10 of the UK album chart for, seemingly, months now, and now he's released his first single. It's a live cover of Pharrell's "Frontin'," and I find it sublime. He sounds so cool, so self-assured, and he's nearly a decade my junior! Bastard.
My favorites radio station, period, is only online (or on digital radio, if you're in the UK). It's BBC's 1Xtra, a station representing - and I mean truly repping - the entire diaspora of black music(s), from hiphop to drum'n'bass to gospel to garage to reggae to house to soca to R&B. 1Xtra is absolutely slamming, nailing it in every genre. I'm especially fond of Aaron Ross's Soulful House show (just what the name implies), and Panjabi Hit Squad's Desi Beats (bhangra-tastic!).
I've yet to address Courtney Love's solo debut, America's Sweetheart, mainly because I've not figured out exactly what I want to say about it. I can tell you this much: to my ears, it's the best album yet of 2004. It rocks and roars and Courtney is on point - and surprisingly, the songs written by and with Linda Perry (a/k/a the "hip" Diane Warren) are pretty good. "Julian, I'm A Little Bit Older Than You" and "All the Drugs" are my current faves.
311 have released the first good single of their career - so go figure, it's a cover. They've taken on the Cure chestnut "Love Song" for the soundtrack to 50 First Dates, and succeed, largely because they play it straight, being very faithful and respectful to the original. It won't change the world, but it's a decent listen.
# posted by Thomas : 10:23 AM
