This song enttled Frozen Lake by one of my favorite jazz artists, Bob James and classical pianists, Kieko Matsui is undeniably beautiful. Upon first hearing it I thought these two talented people were playing their own individual pianos which would be amazing in its own right. The embedded video makes this song even more amazing when you see that they are playing the same piano.
Frozen Lake is off their joint 2011 release Altair & Vega, an album named after the two brightest stars in our galaxy which is most fitting. It is an album strictly for the piano lover, there is no other instrumentation on the album. Where you think that may get boring after awhile, there are only seven tracks on the album to keep that from happening. In my opinion Frozen Lake is the stand out.
I hope you enjoy this wonderful piece of music as much as I do by these two amazing musicians. And even if it's not your cup of tea, at least marvel at the fact that it's all played on the same piano by two of the brightest stars in our musical galaxy. Enjoy!
Back in 2007, this was my JAM! I couldn't get enough of this song and no matter where I was when I heard it, if I had access to the volume it was increased as much as those in the vicinity could stand. The song is Used To Be My Girl by the amazingly talented Brian McKnight and one of the reasons I loved this song I think, has a lot to do with Brian normally singing about how much he loves someone or how someone broke his heart. This song is a complete departure from that.
This song is all about an ex having a brief encounter with the new guy, simply warning him how while she may make you think you're the man, she's still mine. The chorus says it best when Brian sings She's still thinking about me / and I'll tell you why / She couldn't even hold her head up / when ya'll walked by / Don't go hatin' on me / It's just the game / You want her, you got her, take it you got her / To me it's all the same. This song stands out from almost every other B. McKnight song just by that chorus alone. Can I be honest with you and say I was shocked when I heard it? I was, seriously...jaw on the floor and all that.
Used To Be My Girl is off of his 2006 album Ten, this song was the first single released. In 2007, it was everywhere and while it only reached as high as 25 on the Billboard Hot R&B and Hip Hop chart, it was played in every club, radio station, house party, and ipod (well, the last one applied to me but I doubt I was the only person jamming to this song in their headphones). Take a listen, if you've never heard this song, you may end up jamming to it in your headphones too. Enjoy!
When I first heard this song, I saw it as the perfect music to a movie trailer. It has that cinematic feel to it. It's one part creepy, one part amazing. The song is entitled High For This by The Weekend and the sound/mood/tempo of this song is what all of the music offered up by The Weekend sounds like. It's ethereal and atmospheric, bordering on electronic. That doesn't mean it's not good stuff, that's just to say that if you like this song, you'll love his other stuff. If not, then don't even bother.
The Weekend aka Abel Tesfaye hails from Ontario and he's released a series of mixtapes before being signed to a major label a few months ago. The buzz generated around those mixtapes and the push from rapper Drake, who has worked on several projects with The Weekend has helped his release, Trilogy debut at number four on the Billboard top 200.
Trilogy is a remastered compilation of the three mixtapes The Weekend has put out spanning 2011 to 2012. The lyrics are pretty much all the same throughout but High For This is by far my favorite of the 30+ songs Trilogy has to offer. Enjoy!
This is undoubtedly one of the greatest songs ever written and ever recorded. It is by far one of the most recognizable songs and it's also one of my favorites. It's One Love by Bob Marley. Now I could have chosen any song from his massive collection of hits but it's One Love that touches me deeper than the rest. It's off of his iconic 1977 LP Exodus and no matter how many times I hear this song, I can't help but smile.
It's not even three minutes long but it's so profound. Bob is asking is there a place for sinners, those that have hurt mankind while trying to save his own beliefs. This song has been heard all around the world and has been used by the Jamaican Tourist Board in commercials to convince people to come to Jamaica for vacation.
Bob opens up his heart and offers up thanks and praise to the lord in this song. I will always love this song and will always be grateful to Bob for sharing it with me and the world. Enjoy!
I am just stating this clearly and upfront, this is a big boy speaker song. Dominos by The Big Pink simply rocks. The beat is ferocious, yeah I said it...ferocious. Don't believe me? Break out your big boys, sit back, and let this run you over. Now with that being said, it's also the playa anthem. When you get up after being run over by this track the first time, hit replay and listen to the lyrics.
The chorus should tell you all you need to know about the song. That's not usually how it goes, the first few lyrics hardly ever tell the whole story. They do here. When lead singer Robbie Furze sings These girls fall like dominos...dominos you should know what's coming. The first few lines of the song just brings it home when he sings As soon as I love her it's been too long / Talks of future with you caves me in / Swallow my sugar kiss and eat it alone / Hearts collide and smash any dreams of love. Like I said, Playa Anthem.
I heard this track in a car commercial and fell in love with the beat. From there I dug until I found the song and was not disappointed when I did. Dominos is off The Big Pinks 2009 release A Brief History of Love. To me they sound like a more melodic Depeche Mode with some Massive Attack sprinkled in for good measure but hey, you decide. Enjoy.
I recently became a fan of this man and his music back in 2010. I have been mining his songs ever since but I somehow missed this one. I was introduced to this song over the past weekend and it blew me away. The song is Let It Be Me by the very talented Ray LaMontagne. It's off his 2008 release entitled Gossip In The Grain. It's a really touching song about loyalty, unconditional friendship, and support.
This is the second time Ray has graced my blog and I am really not someone to repeat artists here. That being said, this song is just as good as the first song of his I blogged about, Jolene. When Ray sings the chorus That's when you need someone / Someone that you can call / When all your faith is gone / Feels like you can't go on...let it be me / If it's a friend you need / Let it be me...it feels like he knows about all the crap you're currently going through or dealt with. I know there have been times in my life when I would have fallen apart had it not been for some very close and dear friends so this song speaks directly to my heart in a profound way.
This song is for those that have no one and needs that friend they can lean on and rely on. It's a voice in the dark telling you to take my hand, that while they may not know the way out, at least you're not alone. For this song, I thank you Ray and to the one that introduced me to it, thank you from the bottom of my heart. Enjoy!
THIS is a big boy speaker song, just warning you up front. It's also one of my favorite songs by garbage entitled #1 Crush from the 1996 Romeo + Juliet soundtrack. The lyrics are every stalking victims worst nightmare as well as every celebrities. It's the ultimate song of devotion and while that sounds good, listen to the lyrics of this song, your opinion may change.
The song starts off with a moan of pleasure, enticing. Then the beat kicks in along with that dark bassline that rumbles along beside you. Then Shirley Manson starts to sing words like I will pray for you / I will pray for you / I will sell my soul for something pure and true / For someone like you / See your face every place that walk in / Here you voice every time that I'm talking / You would believe in me / And I will never be ignored and that's the light stuff. The lyrics go on to get much darker and twisted.
This song grooves hard and it's deserving of a spot on my blog, even if it did scare the shit out of me the first time I really heard it. I'm not going to lie, it still gives me goosebumps but a good song is supposed to do that, make you feel it. I feel this song and maybe you will too. Enjoy!
If you are a fan of Prince, a REAL fan of Prince then you should know about this band known as The Family. It was one of those groups that Prince assembled back in the 80's, much like The Time. In fact, The Family was born from the breakup of The Time. Morris Day, the one time lead singer of The Time left along with Jesse Johnson and Prince appointed Paul Peterson as lead singer of The Family.
Unlike The Time though, The Family was one and done. They only released one album and then Peterson, feeling constrained under Prince soon left to pursue a solo career as well. That was too bad because The Family, released in 1985 was a pretty good album. Of course every song was penned by Prince except this song, River Run Dry. This song was written by Bobby Z, Prince's then drummer.
The Family was the first group to ever record and sing Nothing Compares 2 U, the classic song Sinead O'Connor made famous, though I like The Family's version better. This song is a blast from the past, when cassette tapes dominated, vinyl was being phased out, and Prince was King. Enjoy!
From one of the most distinctive voices in a generation comes one of the most profoundly moving songs. The voice belongs to Annie Lennox and the song is the somber and beautiful Why which is off of her 1992 solo debut album Diva. It's an amazing song about love, true love, real love and many feel it's a song about her and her old music partner David A. Stewart. Whether that's true or not I don't know but I do know this is one amazing song.
It starts off so solemn and sweet, just keys and piano until Annie starts singing. From that very first line, you know this isn't what you thought it was going to be. Her lyrics are sometimes self deprecating, eviscerating, and at times brutally honest. Annie has always had a way with lyrics and on Why she flexes her songwriting muscles.
This remains my all time favorite song of hers because it never loses you. It's not at all flowery and "whoa is me" and neither is it "I hate you so much right now". Instead it's a mature song about the end of something that was once great and how it's just not anymore. Enjoy!
Okay, when I say I love something, there is no BS involved. Mainly because I don't throw that L word around all willy nilly, it means something to me. So when I say I love Pink Floyd, you can rest assured that I am a huge fan of their music. Their sound is unlike anyone other band and I think the biggest reason I love them is that they never tried to sound like anyone else. Take this song The Fletcher Memorial Home off of their last album The Final Cut released in 1983. It has a sound clearly all their own.
Written by the freakishly talented Roger Waters, The Fletcher Memorial Home is a place for the overgrown infants, those incurable tyrants and kings. Those that are out of touch with the hell they've put everyone else through. Roger runs down the list of names that were prominent on the political landscape back in the 80's and then suggests that once they are all in the same place, the final solution can be applied.
I know only a handful of true Pink Floyd fans like myself so this song and their magic may be lost on some of you. That's fine, Pink definitely isn't for mass consumption these days but I'm a fan and I miss their music. That's never going to change. Enjoy!
When I am not feeling my upbeat self and I am missing those that have gone away, this is the song I cue up on my ipod. It mirrors that mood like nothing else can and sometimes, it even brings tears to my eyes. The name of the song is On Every Street by Dire Straits and this is one song I am actually truly happy was written because there are days when I really need it.
There's gotta be a record of you someplace / you gotta be on somebodies books / the lowdown picture of your face / your injured looks...somewhere your fingerprints remain concrete / and it's your face I'm looking for...on every street tugs at my heart and gets me every time. There have been times when I've searched for those faces I miss on every street. This song is off of Dire Straits last album of the same name released back in 1991 and in my opinion they saved the best for last.
This song has inspired me in so many ways that I can't begin to even list them, I am just forever grateful for it and to it. The song rocks out at the end, seemingly trying to lift your spirits but I just hit replay and let it wash over me again as I check every street for those faces. Enjoy!
One of the greatest soul and R&B groups of all time, The Gap Band has released some amazing music in their day. From such classics as You Dropped A Bomb On Me, Early In The Morning, and Outstanding, The Gap Band has solidified themselves as icons in the genre but it's this song that stirs something within me. Yearning For Your Love is a smooth, groovy cut that I can put on repeat and leave it playing for the whole day and never grow tired of it.
Yearning is off of their 1980 album The Gap Band III which also featured another classic Burn Rubber On Me. Yearning starts off so easy and light until the bass line kicks with the beat. Then Charlie Wilson comes in with The time has come for us to stop messing around/Cause don't you know I like having you around and you know this isn't going to be your ordinary love song. Especially later on when he drops the marriage proposal.
Yearning For Your Love is one of those songs where the music doesn't match the seriousness of the lyrics which adds to its greatness in my opinion. The last lyrics are You can't keep running in and out of my life and those words have either applied to us directly or to someone we know, don't they? Don't lie, it'll make your nose grow. Enjoy!
This song is a bonafide classic and guaranteed to put a smile on every face at a party when the needle is dropped. Yes, I said needle because if you're a fan of this song, you know what an actual record looks like. The song is Juicy Fruit by Mtume off of their 1983 album by the same name. This is the kind of song where you can't help but bop your head to that memorable beat.
It's the first thing you hear when the song starts. No vocals, no keyboards, nothing but that beat and it rides with you all the way through to the end. Eventually lead singer Tawatha Agee's distinct voice comes in after the keys and guitar licks, singing about a lover is just so tasty that she can't get enough. Lyrically, the song is somewhat lacking but filled with sexual innuendos. Lines like Candy rain / coming down / taste you in my mind / and spread you all around and Do what you want / I don't care / I'll be your lollipop / you can lick me everywhere definitely tell the story.
Amazingly, this song sold a million copies without ever being a top 40 hit which is unheard of to this day. It may have something to do with it being so heavily sampled by everyone from The Notorious BIG to Fatboy Slim and everyone in between. That's because-quite simply-it's a classic and if you're throwing a party and you want to get it started, throw on some Juicy Fruit and crank the volume. Trust me on this!
This song is by one of my favorite bands of all time. To say I'm a big fan wouldn't quite cover it actually. I have always loved their sound but more than that, I loved the dark demons their lead singer faced throughout his career. While I wouldn't wish those demons on anyone and I don't want to make it seem that I am happy he went through his own personal hell, the music Depeche Mode put out at that time was amazing. This song is called Dirt and it's Depeche at their funkiest.
Dirt is on the B side of the single I Feel Loved which is off Modes 2001 Exciter album. The groove of this song is hard, the bass line rattles the windows and the drums will have the cops knocking on your door. The lyrics are minimal but they scream of someone who needs some kind of help and I can't help but think that song was inspired by David Gahan's demons. This song is addictive (at least it is to me, it's hard to stop listening to it). It just sounds raw, which is odd for Mode since their sound is usually so polished.
I think this song rocks in every way possible, from the beat to the bass line to the tempo. It simmers seductively and it just draws you in. Now if you put this song on the big boy speakers, please be sure to move the fragile items to the middle of the table. I don't want to be blamed for anything valuable smashing to the floor. Enjoy!
This song makes me smile every time it comes up on the playlist because it's so damn cool. I see this song as driving music. Picture it if you will, driving down the highway as fast as the law allows (or faster for you lead foots out there), this song pumping from your soundsystem and you just singing along to Rock With You by Michael Jackson.
This is the remix though, not the Off The Wall version but a remix by the great Fankie Knuckles, the preeminent house music DJ. He breathes new life and soul into what was already a damn good song. This remix is off Michael's They Don't Care About Us EP which came out in 1996. It's arranged immaculately and it never losses steam. Flat out, this song rocks.
I'm still stunned behind Michael's death but I am forever grateful for him and the music he left behind. It is here for us to enjoy over and over again and thanks to Frankie, this song stays in the rotation. Enjoy!
It's about damn time this group makes an appearance on my blog. Honestly, for me to have the nerve to call this a music blog and to only just be adding this group now, it's just criminal. The group is the amazingly talented Parliament Funkadelic and the song I have chosen to represent them on my blog is the downright groovy and funkalicious Flashlight. This was the song that went on when the DJ was trying to get people on the dance floor in their bell bottoms and platforms, it ALWAYS worked.
The first concert I ever attended in my life was a Parliament-Funkadelic show at Madison Square Garden. I was either ten or eleven (I had pretty progressive parents) and needless to say, my mind was blown. It was the most amazing thing I had ever seen or heard live and I was instantly a life long fan. Now there are no real lyrics to the song but the groove just grabs you by your neck and makes your head bop.
Flashlight is one of my favorite songs by P-Funk (I've got a few actually) and I blast it every chance I get. It's how their music is supposed to be played because that's what will get the party started and that's what Parliament Funkadelic was all about. I hope I am not too late in adding them to my so-called music blog and to all you true music lovers, my bad.
I never like live recorded music. Either give me the studio rendition or let me see it on stage. Don't package up a live recording, in my opinion they are very rarely as good as the in-studio recorded version. That's how I thought until I heard David Gilmours Live in Gdansk album and this cut, Where We Start. I honestly feel the live recorded version is FAR superior than the in-studio version. Rare, right? I know!
If the name David Gilmour sounds familiar or rings any bells it's because he was the guitarist in the iconic and one of the most influential bands Pink Floyd (of which I am a huge fan). Where We Start is off of Gilmours On An Island album released back in 2006, Live In Gdansk was released in 2008 and the live version fully incorporates that Floyd vibe/sound I love so much. Lyrically the song isn't winning any awards but musically it's a beast, especially when the strings come in towards the end.
I think David did something I never thought would be possible and that's make me rethink that whole thing about recorded live albums. Gdansk is so well down it sounds like it was done in-studio and that blows me away. If there was one person in this world that I thought would make me reconsider my previous stance, I wouldn't have said David Gilmour. Hell, he wouldn't have even crossed my mind. Enjoy!
This lush piece of music is from Veiger Margeirsson and it's entitled Mythical Hero. It's off his 2012 release Rise Above. It's epic in scope and grandeur as well as lush in sound. It's uplifting as well and I have grown to really admire it. My only complaint is that it's far too short. Another minute or two wouldn't have hurt, at least I don't think so. Tell me what you think. Enjoy!
I am so ashamed of myself. Why, you ask? Well simple, I completely forgot about this beautiful, melodic song by one of all time favorite groups, The Art of Noise. It's called Crusoe and in my opinion it's absolutely beautiful. I was listening to the ole ipod and this song came on and I instantly got chills. I also instantly realized TAON was not yet represented on my blog. Silly me. I felt it was high time to remedy that.
This lovely piece is off of Noise's fourth studio album entitled Below The Waste, which was released back in 1989. It was the last time the last two original members of TAON, Anne Dudley and J. J. Jeczalik worked together. While the album reflected the diverging musical interest between the two principals, they did dabble in world music for the first time, working with Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens from South Africa. Still, the album seemed disjointed, but the jewel in my opinion however, was Crusoe.
This is not Noise's most recognizable piece but I think it speaks volumes to their artistry. It's so beautiful and mournful at the same time that I wonder how I lost track of it. I won't lose track of it again and maybe you'll love it as much as I do to not lose track of it either. Enjoy!
I'll be the first to admit that the ending for this song sucks. it just leaves you hanging. It's got a great beat and cute melodies but the ending just flat out sucks. Maybe that's because it's supposed to be played in a club and it's supposed to be followed up by or blended in with another song. The main reason though why I chose to blog this song is because of who supplies the vocals.
Because we have an election coming up, where the country has a choice to RE-elect a Black man to lead the nation. Because of that I thought this would be timely. The vocals are supplied by none other than Martin Luther King Jr. Taken from his now famous I Have a Dream speech from the 1963 March on Washington, there are excerpts that bring into sharp focus just how far we've come. We still have so much to overcome but look at where we were just 50 years ago.
The music is supplied by a Netherlands DJ by the name of Bakermat and the song is entitled Vandaag(I also recommend his Mas Que Nada cut...banging). I am almost certain this song rocks in the club and gets the dance floor jumping the second the needle is dropped. Just hope the DJ playing it has another cut cued up to avoid that sorry ass ending
