I have a deep love for this groups music, so to say I am a big fan is putting it lightly. The group is Gotan Project and this particular song is entitled Tango Square. It's off their album Tango 3.0 which was released back in 2010. Now while their sound is primarily tango, they do far more than that which is probably why I have everything by them. Tango Square, in my opinion is one of their best songs.
It's a sultry song, seductive in it's groove. It wastes no time in luring you in and once it does, it doesn't let you go. This song is the perfect background music for...well you figure it out. There are no lyrics to the song but the it speaks volumes.
If you like this song, and it's hard not to like it, then you might also want to check out Santa Maria and Epoca (which is on the blog). Enjoy!
The second I heard this song Quickly, I honestly thought it was genius. I won't get to deep into it but it was something I wish I had written. I also marveled at how I hadn't heard this subject matter sung about in other songs. I'm sure it has been, I just never heard those songs, and I doubt they were this damn catchy. If there is one thing John Legend can do, it's write a damn catchy song.
Quickly which features Brandy is off of Legends 2008 release Evolver, which is in my opinion his most solid album. There aren't many missteps on Evolver and Quickly stands out amongst the collection. Brandy's husky voice playing off John's sometimey falsetto is a great blend. Add to that the throbbing beat and the great lyrics and you definitely have a hit. It was surprising that this song was never released as a single. This song is "album filler", if you can believe that.
Whenever this song hits my ears, I can't help but smile. It hits like a refreshing drink and I quickly turn it up (see what I did there?). You should turn it up and enjoy!
When I heard this piece of music, Flying To Compound, I honestly thought I had never heard such an imposing piece. The darkness and foreboding of this piece of music, by Alexandre Desplat, for the film Zero Dark Thirty is almost so frightening on it's own, it doesn't need any imagery. Needless to say, I FUCKING LOVE THIS PIECE!!!
I won't divulge where it is in the film, should you choose to see it. If you do, you will recognize it immediately and it will make what is going on onscreen, all the more intense. This is Alexandre Desplat like I have never heard him, and I've heard all of his stuff. I didn't know he had the kind of darkness within him to produce such a ominous piece and score.
You will probably hear this piece in other things in time. Someone may use it for a documentary, one of the cable news networks might use it to get a sobering point across, who knows? What I do know is that this piece of music is unlike anything heard in awhile for a movie score and it's pitch perfect. You may not like it, it may not be your cup of tea but it certainly is mine, and I had to share it. Enjoy!
I heard this funky piece of music in Oliver Stone's motion picture Savages and I couldn't get it off the brain. In fact I still can't and because it makes me bop my head and smile, I felt I had to share it. It's put together by the DJ Luciano Supervielle of the tango collective known as Bajofondo. The song, Miles de Pasajeros was released on the 2005 album Bajofondo Remixed, and while I have no idea what's being said, I love this song.
It starts off with a guitar piece that was lifted from the score of Babel, courtesy of Gustavo Santaolalla. It's accompanied by a percussive beat which then brings in the drums, once they hit, this song is off and running, kinda. It's got a great bass line and a pounding beat which fades out only to come back suddenly. The rap over the track is spit with passion and on beat which makes it even funkier. The vocals are like an added instrument almost. The tango element comes in briefly with the accordion but the key ingredient here is the beat.
Like I said, I have no idea what's being said but good music is good music, regardless if you know what's being said or not, and this is good music. This is the second time featuring Bajofondo on my blog so I'm a fan. Take a listen to this track and you may become one too. Enjoy!
Okay, you know that age old question asking which came first, the chicken or the egg? That's how I feel when I listen to Blue Sky Black Death's music. I ask which came first, Moby or BSBD? Of course Moby was around long before the team of Kingston Maguire and Ian Taggart teamed up together. and you can hear his influence in a lot of their music. I happen to be a fan of Moby so this is no criticism to BSBD at all, it's just my opinion that their sound mirrors his rather closely. In other words, they need to find their own niche.
Farewell To The Former World, a song off their 2011 release Noir is a step in the right direction. It's a mid tempo, chill out song good for that ever important background music to a dinner party. People will ask you "hey, who's that playing?" and you can introduce BSBD to someone new. They sample some vocals of Windmills of Your Mind from The Thomas Crown Affair soundtrack which I thought inventive. This is my favorite track by the duo because it's just so pretty and light.
BSBD has a bright future ahead of them (and a potentially prosperous one should they commercialize their music like Moby). I just think they need to find a foothold in sound, find their own signature sound that people can readily identify as BSBD. That is of course, they don't mind being compared to an icon in electronic music...which isn't bad actually. Enjoy!
**THIS IS A BIG BOY SPEAKER SONG, I REPEAT...THIS IS A BIG BOY SPEAKER SONG**
As you know by now, I routinely scour the internet for new music I've not heard before. I usually find some amazing music, well at least music I think is amazing, enough to share with you anyway. I have posted some audacious, bold, and ambitious pieces of music so far. This piece from the Two Steps From Hell production team however is the first piece to ever stop me in my tracks, literally.
The piece is called All Is Hell That Ends Well from the 2012 album Skyworld and there are four distinct movements to this powerful song. The first is a mournful melody of nothing but strings. It swells and gracefully glides along until a voice joins in. Then the percussion comes in and ramps up the intensity. The horns then come in and carry the melody along until the break comes, and then in movement number three, all hell breaks loose. This part of the song sounds like total chaos and is fit for one epic battle, even the slight respite of the break adds to the thunder. The piano joins in only to lead you, dear listener somewhat unsuspectingly to the dub step portion of movement four.
The piece rides out on the beat and you suddenly wish this song were longer. It's far too short at 3:52 once you realize you've got goosebumps racing up and down your flesh. This song is stunning and I think it may be right up there with Two Steps most popular song Protectors Of The Earth. It's THAT good. Enjoy!
Admittedly, I am not a Bruno Mars fan. Yep, I said it. I never saw what everyone else saw, never really heard the "talent" everyone else heard. I pretty much relegated him to the back of my mind when he got caught with cocaine on him and damn near busted a gut laughing at his reasons for possessing said drug, something about being an artist and this is what we do. Yeah, I was done with Bruno before I ever got started.
That was until this song. Off of his new album Unorthodox Jukebox comes the jewel When I Was Your Man and quite simply, it's amazing. It's a slow, mournful ballad of regret. With just him and piano, it's a song crafted in a way that allows you to hear and feel the emotion in Bruno's voice. I love the chorus, when he sings Too young, too dumb to realize...That I should have brought you flowers / And held your hand / Should have gave you all my hours / When I had the chance / Take you to every party / Cause all you wanted to do was dance / Now my baby's dancing / But she's dancing with another man, you can hear his pain.
We all have failed relationships in our past (and to those of you who don't then you're just lucky...FREAKS!), this song captures all that regret and sorrow of failing to get it right with that certain someone. It's truly a lovely song and while i am still not a fan of Bruno, I can now hear what everyone else was hearing. Enjoy!
When you click on the video below you will be listening to history, a first for music. That's the reason I'm posting it. Yes, it is a beautiful, mournful piece of music by Austin Wintory entitled Nascence but it is what this piece of music is attached to along with the honor it has been given, that has made history.
For the first time, in the history of music has a soundtrack been nominated for a Grammy. Now you'll probably think I'm wrong about that, you'll point to all the soundtracks over time that have received Grammy nominations and have won the coveted award and you would be right. What differs here though is that Nascence isn't part of a score to a movie, it is instead the music to the video game Journey.
It is the first of it's kind, it is the Barack Obama of video game music. The door that has often been closed has now been opened by Austin Wintory. His beautiful creation has paved the way for other video game scores to be given the respect they are due. The score to Journey is the first but I truly doubt it will be the last, especially if those that come behind it are this beautiful. Enjoy listening to history.
The first time I heard this piece of music, I was enraptured. It's hauntingly beautiful and extremely hard to forget. Which is probably why it's the music in the trailer for the movie Anna Karenina by Joe Wright (which is where I first heard it). It makes the movie look almost magical because the music IS magical. The piece is entitled Nero and it's off the 2011 album Two Steps From Hell: Archangel.
It starts off with a beautiful piano melody until it's joined by the strings (I really love strings). They pace the song as the piano plays the melody. The lone piano then rides along the strings as if on a roller coaster until the intensity begins to build. Then out of nowhere, the orchestra swells and the song builds in both scope and magnificence. It appears unstoppable...until it falls away and stops. Then the piano returns to play with the strings once more and the song picks up from the beginning, all over again.
This music is breathtakingly beautiful and it just had to be added to my blog, it just had to be shared. I really think you will come to love it as much, if not more than I have. Enjoy!
I saw these dudes in Washington Square Park maybe three years ago and they blew me away. So much so that I bought one of their CD's. I had never heard drum and bass live and thought that was simply a studio/drum machine thing. I couldn't have been more wrong. Sistine Criminals opened my eyes to the artistry that is drum and bass and how it's not just a studio thing.
I caught this video in my facebook feed, posted by the band (yes we're facebook friends) and I had to share it with you. I don't know the name of this song but google them, find out where they are playing and definitely check them out. They are amazing. I hope you enjoy this piece as much as I do.
I am NOT a big Boyz II Men fan, yeah I said it. However, I AM a big fan of this song and whenever it comes up on the trusty playlist, I sit back and enjoy. The song is Pass You By off of their 2000 release Nathan Micheal Shawn Wanya. This song was nowhere as a big of a hit as the group has had previously but it's one of my favorites from them.
To me this song is all about not wasting time. It's about not wasting your time on loving someone not worthy of you. It's about how precious time is and how if you are unhappy with someone you need to let that person and that poisonous situation go and move on. That point is driven home when they sing Don't have to stay with someone / that makes you cry / Don't be discouraged baby / don't let real love pass you by.
Have Boyz II Men had bigger hits, absolutely. Have they had better songs, that's debatable (in my opinion anyway). I think a good song grabs you and doesn't let you go until the very end which is what makes a song good. This is a good song (even though I'm not their biggest fan). Enjoy!
I'm going to let you in on a little secret so keep this just between us, okay? Pinky swear! Okay, today is my birthday and every year on my birthday I play the hell out of this song. Don't ask me why, I have no idea why but I do. It just makes me feel better (and younger maybe). The song is World's Famous which is off the classic 1983 album Duck Rock by Malcolm Mclaren.
It's a song that always puts a smile on my face no matter what I am going through, this year it's no different. And today I really need this smile. I won't tell you how old I am so don't ask :) What I will tell you is this song brings me back to a time when I had everything I could want. A happy, healthy, and complete family and friends, and the world ahead of me. Maybe above all, that's the reason why I play it.
More than likely everyone asscociated with the making of this song has passed on but they left me, us with a treasure. You may not like this song as much as I do but to me it's full of fun and joy and what birthday couldn't use more fun and joy? Enjoy!
