About This Site
Each month I select 20 songs (10 songs twice a month) that I am either hooked on or am curious about. Most of the music I select are rock, hip-hop, R&B and pop songs.
My song selection comes from 20-30 CDs I get from various sources each month, as well as recommendations from iTunes and Amazon. I also check out the charts in US, UK and Japan.
When I first heard this song a month ago, I thought she was singing kind of off key and not in tune, especially because on her previous albums, she had more classic soul/R&B sound to her voice. On her third album, she does something different, and it took me a few listen, but I now like it (though nowadays this song is kind of overplayed). Between her last album and this one, she even made a big-screen debut in the film, Smokin’ Aces (I never saw it though, but it looked interesting).
For those of you who don’t know yet, Angels & Airwaves is fronted by former Blink-182 vocalist, Tom DeLonge. I saw them live last year, and they sounded good, but each of their songs were really long. I think they played for about an hour, but from what I can recall, they only played four or five songs. DeLonge also talked a lot in between songs, almost preaching about how to be a good person. I guess that’s better than telling the teenagers to get messed up and destroy stuff. This is a decent song, but when I compare it to Blink-182’s, it lacks the catchiness and the fun feeling. I guess everyone needs to grow up.
They may not be that famous in the US yet, but the star of this band, Pete Doherty (formerly from The Libertines), is covered on UK tabloid magazine on the same level as Britney is in the US. Doherty’s drug love has been causing lots of scandals (plus he was dating Kate Moss) which is getting more attention than his music. I liked the rawness of The Libertines, and Babyshambles still has the similar sound. This song in particular sounds like they stole the guitar riff from Kinks “You Really Got Me” but, hey, it sounds good.
They are a Scottish rock group that has been around for about a decade now, but their fourth album, Puzzle is what did it for them (at least in UK so far). When I heard this song for the first time, I thought it was the latest song by Foo Fighters. The guitar and the singing style are very similar. If you like Foo Fighters, I recommend getting their album.
When I listen to this song, I somehow picture Beavis and Butt-head going crazy (screaming “Yes! Yes!!!!”) It’s that kind of classic hardcore rock-n-roll. This song makes me want to be in the sweaty mosh pit, shaking my head. The Blakes is a band from Seattle, and a lot of the locals are saying that they are going to put Seattle on the rock-n-roll map once again. I would put one more vote on that.
“It’s Britney bitch” she starts out. When I first heard this song on the radio, I thought it was some kind of joke, or parody. In fact, it wasn’t. Britney doesn’t sing much (but did she ever?) and the beat is infectious. Thumbs up to producer Danja for that. It’s unfortunate that her performance on MTV Video Music Award was a flop (possibly the most embarrassing performance on VMA history, according to some). Apparently a lot of girls named “Britney” are downloading the ringtone that repeatedly says “It’s Britney bitch.” That…. could get annoying.
Another Myspace miracle story. She was born in Malaysia, and I believe she is part Chinese, Indian, Dutch and Malaysian. She posted some of her songs on Myspace and some radio DJ heard it, and she was flown to LA, and she signed a deal with Virgin Records America. But for some reason, her album was only released in Japan and Australia (this song is doing well, too), but there is still no set date for the US release.
I wasn’t that impressed with his first single, “Wall to Wall” from the second album, Exclusive, but when I heard this song, I could tell immediately that it was going to be a hit. T-Pain must be working hard because his produced tracks are everywhere on the radio nowadays. I actually couldn’t tell that this was T-Pain because he didn’t use his vocoder this time.
When I read about this remix of Daddy Yankee and Fergie, I thought it was an interesting match up. But it actually works. Who knew that Fergie could bust some rhymes along with fast talking Daddy Yankee. Although this song is not turning into a hit as big as “Gasolina”, it’s still catchy enough to make it into my selection for the month.
As soon as I heard this song, I thought of Rihanna’s “Umbrella.” It turns out that both songs were written by the same guy, The Dream. It turned into such a huge hit that it was remixed by bunch of rappers such as Busta Rhymes, Fabolous, Ja Rule, Chingy and Plies (unfortunately all separate tracks). It would’ve been cool if all of those guys did one track remix together.
I always thought of them as a fairly new band, since I found out about them in early 2000 for their song, “The Middle”, but apparently they have been around since 1993. Their sixth album, Chase This Light was produced by Garbage drummer, Butch Vigg (famous for producing Nirvana’s Nevermind and Pumpkins’ Siamese Dream albums). It’s a well produced rock song.
The Killers released an album called Sawdust which contained B-sides, rarities and a few new songs. One of the new songs is this one, which covers Joy Division’s song from 1979. This song is somewhat famous since the singer of Joy Division wrote this song (which includes reference to suicide) and shortly after writing this song, he committed suicide. This song was also used in the film, Control, and the music video incorporates shots from the movie.
Last month, I introduced this band for the song, “Picture of You”. Since then I bought the MP3 album on Amazon.com (it was easy to use and after purchasing the songs were already in the iTunes playlist), and fell in love with this song. If they are looking for the next single to release from their debut album, I recommend this one.
Album: Can't Let Go (Single)
She is already famous in her native country, Hungary, and she hopes to crossover to UK and US. This song was produced by Rodney ‘Darkchild’ Jerkins, and was included in one of the compilation albums I received. I tried to find the single for it, but had a tough time locating. The song sounds Kelly Clarkson-ish and it starts out really slow and builds up to stronger beat in the middle. Hopefully she will get to release an entire album sometime.
How lucky is Mark Ronson. He got to work with two of the UK’s biggest female stars. Last month I introduced the song he collaborated with Amy Winehouse. Now this song with Lily Allen is going up on the UK chart. This song was originally recorded by Kaiser Chiefs. Apparently there is a remix version of this song featuring Busta Rhymes, which I haven’t heard yet.
Although a lot of people brush her off as one-hit wonder for her song, “Torn” from 1997. She’s released a couple more albums since then, but none has matched the commercial success of her debut album, “Left of the Middle.” Her latest album is mostly collection of her previous singles, but also contains a few new songs such as this one. Considering that she was not that big in the US other than her hit for “Torn” I’m not sure if this album will ever be released here.
Santana is also releasing a “best of” album, called Ultimate Santana. It has his old songs like, “Oye Como Va” and “Black Magic Woman” as well as more recent hits like “The Game of Love” and “Maria Maria”. A couple of new recorded songs are included such as this one with Chad Kroeger of Nickelback. I don’t think it’s a perfect match, but Santana’s guitar is always worth your time.
I tried to avoid putting this song on my selection this whole summer, but a free copy of this CD landed on me, and considering that it was an undeniable hit, I gave in and put it on my iPod. Soulja Boy was born in 1990 (90s?!), and he recorded songs and uploaded to various file share programs. His trick was naming these songs, “Justin Timberlake” or “50 Cent” and people accidentally downloaded them. That paid off, I guess. I still think this song is really annoying. Can it even be considered as a song?
A few months ago I reviewed their first single, “She Builds Quick Machines” which was more harder rock. This time for their second single from their second album, Libertad, they release a slower paced rock song. This song is apparently a tribute to vocalist, Scott Weiland’s younger brother who died of drug overdose. Even though it’s a slower paced song, Slash still nails the guitar solo.
The White Stripes rocks. They are on my list of bands I want to see soon. Their last tour was canceled because Meg White’s exhaustion (such a bummer). I thought this song was a cover since it sounded very familiar, but apparently it’s an original song by the White Stripes.
When I first heard this song a month ago, I thought she was singing kind of off key and not in tune, especially because on her previous albums, she had more classic soul/R&B sound to her voice. On her third album, she does something different, and it took me a few listen, but I now like it (though nowadays this song is kind of overplayed). Between her last album and this one, she even made a big-screen debut in the film, Smokin’ Aces (I never saw it though, but it looked interesting).
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