Sp-oooooooon

Spoon is a great (former)Austin band(lead singer Britt Daniel has moved to Oregon). I've seen them on a few occasions and put on a pretty cool show. Even though their latest, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, has given them more acclaim than their previous records, I feel like the last record, Gimme Fiction, was their strongest. 

My favorite track is the rocker, Sister Jack, followed closely by The Beast and Dragon, Adored.(what a cool title) However, you pretty much cannot find a bad track on this album. The album has a cool tone to it that you don't find in overproduced alt music today. It has some soul to it. Check it.

Until Whenever,

BD

Fa-Rell and the Yeah-zurs

This CD has been on repeat for the last four days. It is sooo funky. Here is the breakdown of the album: Pharrell released In My Mind in 2006. It was a decent album but lacked that "something." The legend named ?uestlove was approached by Pharrell to remake the album. Over the span of about 3 weeks, ?uest redid every song and funkified the hell out of the record. The new album was going to be called Out Of My Mind by Pharrell and the Yessirs(lol). However, Pharrell's label didn't think the companion album would sell. You gottta peep this album. Torrent it, do whatever you have to do. It's some great stuff.

Here is a video of great 22-year old bass player Adam Blackstone( Kanye West, Jay-Z) and keyboardist extraordinaire James Poyser(everything that came out of Electric Ladyland in 96-03: D'Angelo, Common, etc) laying down "Take It Off". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GcWhIb7Hpw

Check out the full version of the track: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ge32Cz7PIPE

Pretty much everything ?uest touches is gold in my opinion so I may be a bit biased, but this album is ridiculously cool. Check it out.

Until Whenever,

BD

Will-Koh

First off, sorry I haven't posted in the past few days. Been busy, my bad

Wilco is one of my favorite bands of all time. I've seen them live countless times and they are one of the tightest bands around. Their masterpiece album is entitled Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. It is chock full of atmosphere and feel.

The story behind the album is pretty legendary amongst indie music fans. In fact, there is an entire movie(I Am Trying To Break Your Heart by photographer Sam Jones)dedicated to the story of the album(peep it, it's pretty hot). 

Here is the short rundown: Jeff Tweedy(singer/songwriter) and co. went about making their most ambitious and artistic album yet. The chief(and big supporter of Wilco) of their record label is fired during the recording due to a buy out of their record company by AOL Time Warner. The new prez decides he doesn't like the sound of the record and doesn't hear a single. He refuses to release the CD. The band asks out of their record contract and gets their masters back for free, yet have no label to release it on. After this, they decided to stream the album for free on their website. The response is huge. They start to get huge attention from all kinds of labels. They end up signing with another subsidiary of AOL Time Warner who ends up paying them big bucks to release the album. SO, AOL Time Warner releases them for no fee, and then buys them back for 10 times what they originally figured they were worth. These guys did the online  Radiohead experiment before Radiohead ever thought about releasing an album online. Bet ya didn't know that.

My favorite track on the album is the opening track, "I Am Trying To Break Your Heart." This song was drummer Glenn Kotche's audition to the band. He knocks it out of the park with such a cool drum part/melody(Melody in a drum track?? YUP). His use of crotales, effects, and a broken-up beat really take an ordinary song and make it uniquely amazing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHGy3DJyDmY

Their CD's since YHF have been great but none have(or probably will ever) live up to it. Their latest, Sky Blue Sky, feels like a mix of The Band and The Grateful Dead. It consists of their most straight-forward songs which can get stale at times, but still is full of substance. 

Until Whenever,

BD

V-an Unt

Van Hunt is an Ohio-born soul musician. On his latest album, On The Jungle Floor, Hunt brings the funk, rawk, and everything in between. Discovered by Randy Jackson(of American Idol fame), while living in Atlanta, Hunt released his first album, Van Hunt, in 2004. While very good, I preferred to listen to his newer album heavily a few summers ago. He reminds me of a heavy mix of Curtis Mayfield with a pinch of Prince thrown in.

My favorite track is entitled, "Daredevil, Baby." Hunt's vocal stylings and lyrics on this song make it super cool. Give it a listen:

 

Van Hunt has yet to release his third album, Popular, due to problems with his label, EMI. Scheduled for a January 2008 release, the album never came out. The masters are owned by the record company and Hunt has gone on record saying he has no intentions of buying it back from the label for the price they are asking. In the meantime, Hunt has been working on a collection of short stories that should come out in the fall. Hopefully he gets his label stuff worked out so we can hear some new stuff.

Until Whenever,

BD

Tha Rooooo -ts

So, yesterday was a pretty great day because I got to see the legendary Roots crew live at UT. These guys are pretty much the quintessential live hip-hop band. Everything they do has soo much feeling and funk, it's impossible not to rock along. I had a perfect view from the side of the stage(props MEC), and if you saw that dude grooving the whole concert, that was me. 

The Roots have added a tuba player to the band recently, who they have named Tuba Gooding Jr.(lol). This dude is baaaaaad. If he's not rocking the entire stage, he's dancing like a mad man all over the place. So much infectious energy.

Of course, however, my favorite part of the show had to be watching the man, the myth, the 

legend, ?uestlove. If you didn't know, ?uestlove is basically my idol and if I could do everything musically that he does, I would. He's not the flashiest dude in the world, but his backbeat is just sooo mean and solid. Dayum. I also had the very fortunate opportunity to chat with ?uest backstage after the show(props MEC once again). This was probably the most nervous I have ever been in my life, I was literally shaking in my kicks. I asked ?uest about the new Al Green record that he produced and played drums on and when we could possibly hear a single. Welp, he reached in his pocket, and handed me his promo copy and said "Early Xmas." WOW! This CD doesn't come out til May 27 and I have ?uestlove's official copy. Ummm, pinch me now. The guy is probably the coolest cat around. He will get my support in every way from here on out.

So, with that being said, I am suggesting you listen to the Roots latest album, Game Theory. It has a darker feel to it than the older records, but it has some HOT tracks. Black Thought(MC) seems to just get better and better with each album.

The best track by far is entitled "Long Time." The song is about the Roots' hometown of Philly and is just super sick: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwb7t9X8pjM

Please, please, please check out the Roots. They on fire.

Until Whenever,

BD

Blaw-k par-tee

Bloc Party is an English indie band that mixes London dance and spiky guitar rock(The Cure) to create some crazy innovative music. Their debut album, Silent Alarm, showcases the band's ability to write interesting songs. There is a super cool franctic feeling to many of the songs. In today's music, I find that many of the songs lack that "feel", that little extra soul put into the song. This is not the case with Bloc Party. Bloc Party really lets their emotions take over the songs and give it that little something extra. Also, these guys aren't the best musicians at all but they always seem to do just enough to serve the song and give it what it needs.

My favorite song on the record is called "Positive Tension." It contains the coolest part of the record when lead singer, Kele Okereke, screams "you're so fu**ing useless," followed by an intense guitar line. So cool.

Bloc Party also has an azn drummer that is awesome, which is kind of an oxymoron.(Totally kidding).

Even though I can't understand much of what the lead singer says, it is pretty fun to mumble along to the songs as well.

Enjoy friends.

Until Whenever,

BD

Der-ick Truu-ckss

Dererk Trucks is probably the best slide guitar player in the world today. Dude is baaad. Trucks is from Florida and is the nephew of Butch Trucks, drummer of the Allman Brothers(one of two, the other being Jaimoe). Trucks got his start through the Allman Brothers in 1999 and has since become an integral member of the band. As of late, he has also been a member of Eric Clapton’s touring band. Along with Doyle Bramhall II, Clapton and Trucks make up a scary good guitar trio.

Although known primarily for his work with the Allman Brothers, Trucks has recorded five full-length solo albums, all of which are great. His latest, Songlines, shows Trucks at his peak. Full of guitar wizardry, Songlines has Trucks focusing on creating “songs” with structure instead of melodies and jamming.

Songlines mixes many different styles, rangin from funk to blues to soul. In the past, Trucks enlisted many different singers like Solomon Burke to contribute to songs, opting for a more discontinuous album feel. For Songlines, Trucks recruited vocalist Mike Mattison to join the band full-time. With Mattison on almost every track, the record feels more like an “album.” My favorite track on the record is entitled “Sahib Teri Bandi – Maki Madni,” a 9-minute Indian-influenced track that showcases Trucks ability to create amazing melodies on his guitar. Using no effects, Trucks plugs straight from his 61’ SG into his Fender Reverb, and creates vocal-styled melodies, also choosing to not use a pick and strumming with his fingers. How he creates this crazy effect? I have no idea. But, man, that tone is KILLER.

 

Trucks is married to blues singer Susan Tedeschi, and also rocks a pretty gnarly blonde ponytail. You may recognize Trucks from Rolling Stone, where he was recently featured in the cover article alongside John Mayer and John Frusciante. They were dubbed, “The New Guitar Gods.”

Trucks = Guitar god.

Until Whenever,

BD