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.
This band is supposed to be a side project for the drummer, Aaron Gillespie of Underoath (never heard of that band before either). This band is supposedly Christian rock group. Their debut album was recorded in Seattle (though the band is from Florida).
Arcade Fire’s second album, Neon Bible, debuted at #2 on Billboard when it was released. They are from Quebec, Canada. This album has been getting a lot of rave reviews from music publications.
Boys Like Girls is another typical emo band, except they are from Boston. This self titled album is their debut album, and it was released last year, but somehow they suddenly became popular this summer (someone told me they were popular on TRL. Is that true?) It’s a decent song, but it’s a little forgettable.
Cashis was featured on numerous songs on Eminem Presents the Re-Up album. This Chicago based rapper is one of Eminem’s new protégé. Eminem lends a hand on this track by rapping and producing for Cashis. This is just an EP release, but Cashis is supposed to release a full album sometime next year.
Earlier this month, Chris Cornell released his highly anticipated second solo album, the first since breaking up the super group, Audioslave. On this CD you can find “You Know My Name” the theme song from James Bond, Casino Royale. But everyone’s been talking about this Michael Jackson cover. When I first heard that he is covering this song, I thought that sounded weird, but Chris Cornell changed the tempo significantly and it actually really works. I love when the cover is more than just a cover and does something different.
I have never heard this song on the radio or at the club, but it was ranked fairly high on the iTunes most downloaded list, so I had to check it out. It reminds me a bit of songs you would hear at a wedding. Cholo is supposed to mean working class Mexicans.
Eve has been busy with TV, movies and rapping on a couple of Gwen Stefani tracks and finally she is releasing her new album, which would be her fourth album. The beat is pretty good and so is her rap, but I still liked her second album, Scorpion better.
I wasn’t a big fan of their first single, “The River” or the forgettable second single, “Keep Your Hands Off My Girl” but I’m really digging this one third single off of their fourth album, Good Morning Revival. The rumor has it that Joel Madden is dating Nicole Richie and she may be pregnant.
UPDATE (2008-Mar) So, that rumor about Nicole Ritchie being pregnant was true, and now rumor has it that Joel’s twin brother Benji is dating Nicole’s best friend, Paris Hilton.
Huey is a 19 year old rapper from St. Louis. This song was featured on Stomp the Yard Soundtrack, and slowly became popular on MTV. This month Huey released his debut album, Notebook Paper. There is also a remix version of this son the album featuring T-Pain and Bow Wow.
The beat of this song is good. If you have a good stereo system in your car, the beat would sound great with the volume pumped up (except for the embarrassment of admitting that you are a Justin fan). This is the fourth single from FutureSex/LoveSounds album.
The former member of Destiny’s Child, Kelly Rowland is working on her second solo album (the release date keeps on getting delayed), and this is head lead off single, featuring Eve. It’s a lot more up-tempo than the tracks on her previous albums which were mostly slow R&B or ballads.
I don’t quite remember how I heard of them two years ago, but I have their debut song, “Pressure” from 2005 (maybe it was a free song somewhere or on some compilation album). Now they are releasing their second album, which has more mainstream potential. They covered Foo Fighters’ “My Hero” for the Sound of Superman soundtrack last year, which is also worth checking out.
How does Rihanna do it? She is not even that great of a singer, but every summer, she comes out with infectiously addicting songs. This one is slower paced than “Pon De Replay” or “S.O.S.” and it sounds more mature. Jay-Z starts off with a couple of verses, and I waited for him to do something else in the middle, but he doesn’t. Actually this song is good enough that it doesn’t need Jigga’s verse in the middle. I heard that this song was initially written for Britney, and then it was passed to Mary J. Blige (I would love to hear her version sometime), and finally landed on Rihanna.
Rogue Traders is an Aussie dance-pop group, led by a hottie, Natalie Bassingthwaighte, who surprise, surprise, became famous after acting on Australia’s popular soap opera, “Neighbors.” It seems like every Aussie female pop star comes from that show (Natalie Imbruglia, Kylie Minogue, Delta Goodrem, just to name a few).
“I’m not gonna write you a love song…” Sara Bareilles sings in this song. It was one of the free download song on iTunes this month, and thanks to that, her album has been on iTunes most downloaded album. This catchy piano pop song is a great summer drive song.
September is a 24 year old girl from Sweden. She’s been cracking several dance hits in the past couple of years, especially in Europe. This song, “Cry For You” became a number 1 hit in the US Dance chart just recently. Her album, In Orbit, was actually released in her native country in 2005, but hasn’t found a release date in the US yet.
This song is annoying, but it’s a number 1 hit in the country, and it is being played everywhere from radio to clubs to even sporting events. Shop Boyz will most likely be remember for this song only (so many one hit wonder from the south nowadays). The group is from Atlanta and there are three rappers in the group.
The Pumpkins disbanded in 2000, and this is the first album since then (7th in total). But this reunion only brings in the drummer, Jimmy Chamberlin (him and Corgan briefly started a band called Zwan in 2001). Where’s D’Arcy and James Iha? I’ve been listening to rock music since the early 90s, and I wasn’t that big of a fan of the Pumpkins, but they were one of the few bands where I knew all of the band members names. I’m not quite sure who else is in this new Pumpkins, but something is just not the same. I know it was always Billy Corgan that made all of the music, but this album was disappointing one for me.
I have no idea what this song is about. Does he sing, “Big shit poppin’ little shit stepping?” Whatever he is talking about, it’s catchy and the beat is really cool. The radio version is called “Big Things Poppin’”. This song is the first single from his fifth album, TI vs TIP. T.I. actually used to be called TIP as his childhood nickname was “Tip.”
The similarities between this song and Justin Timberlake’s SexyBack is pretty close. If SexyBack was a brother, this song would be its sister. Although the chorus is not as catchy and simple as “get your sexy on as Keri Hilson sings several lines, the rap part is simply done by D.O.E (“baby girl, I don’t got a huge old house…”). This is one of those songs that brings lots of people on the dance floor.
This band is supposed to be a side project for the drummer, Aaron Gillespie of Underoath (never heard of that band before either). This band is supposedly Christian rock group. Their debut album was recorded in Seattle (though the band is from Florida).
Arcade Fire’s second album, Neon Bible, debuted at #2 on Billboard when it was released. They are from Quebec, Canada. This album has been getting a lot of rave reviews from music publications.
Boys Like Girls is another typical emo band, except they are from Boston. This self titled album is their debut album, and it was released last year, but somehow they suddenly became popular this summer (someone told me they were popular on TRL. Is that true?) It’s a decent song, but it’s a little forgettable.
Cashis was featured on numerous songs on Eminem Presents the Re-Up album. This Chicago based rapper is one of Eminem’s new protégé. Eminem lends a hand on this track by rapping and producing for Cashis. This is just an EP release, but Cashis is supposed to release a full album sometime next year.
Earlier this month, Chris Cornell released his highly anticipated second solo album, the first since breaking up the super group, Audioslave. On this CD you can find “You Know My Name” the theme song from James Bond, Casino Royale. But everyone’s been talking about this Michael Jackson cover. When I first heard that he is covering this song, I thought that sounded weird, but Chris Cornell changed the tempo significantly and it actually really works. I love when the cover is more than just a cover and does something different.
I have never heard this song on the radio or at the club, but it was ranked fairly high on the iTunes most downloaded list, so I had to check it out. It reminds me a bit of songs you would hear at a wedding. Cholo is supposed to mean working class Mexicans.
Eve has been busy with TV, movies and rapping on a couple of Gwen Stefani tracks and finally she is releasing her new album, which would be her fourth album. The beat is pretty good and so is her rap, but I still liked her second album, Scorpion better.
I wasn’t a big fan of their first single, “The River” or the forgettable second single, “Keep Your Hands Off My Girl” but I’m really digging this one third single off of their fourth album, Good Morning Revival. The rumor has it that Joel Madden is dating Nicole Richie and she may be pregnant.
Huey is a 19 year old rapper from St. Louis. This song was featured on Stomp the Yard Soundtrack, and slowly became popular on MTV. This month Huey released his debut album, Notebook Paper. There is also a remix version of this son the album featuring T-Pain and Bow Wow.
The beat of this song is good. If you have a good stereo system in your car, the beat would sound great with the volume pumped up (except for the embarrassment of admitting that you are a Justin fan). This is the fourth single from FutureSex/LoveSounds album.
The former member of Destiny’s Child, Kelly Rowland is working on her second solo album (the release date keeps on getting delayed), and this is head lead off single, featuring Eve. It’s a lot more up-tempo than the tracks on her previous albums which were mostly slow R&B or ballads.
I don’t quite remember how I heard of them two years ago, but I have their debut song, “Pressure” from 2005 (maybe it was a free song somewhere or on some compilation album). Now they are releasing their second album, which has more mainstream potential. They covered Foo Fighters’ “My Hero” for the Sound of Superman soundtrack last year, which is also worth checking out.
How does Rihanna do it? She is not even that great of a singer, but every summer, she comes out with infectiously addicting songs. This one is slower paced than “Pon De Replay” or “S.O.S.” and it sounds more mature. Jay-Z starts off with a couple of verses, and I waited for him to do something else in the middle, but he doesn’t. Actually this song is good enough that it doesn’t need Jigga’s verse in the middle. I heard that this song was initially written for Britney, and then it was passed to Mary J. Blige (I would love to hear her version sometime), and finally landed on Rihanna.
Rogue Traders is an Aussie dance-pop group, led by a hottie, Natalie Bassingthwaighte, who surprise, surprise, became famous after acting on Australia’s popular soap opera, “Neighbors.” It seems like every Aussie female pop star comes from that show (Natalie Imbruglia, Kylie Minogue, Delta Goodrem, just to name a few).
“I’m not gonna write you a love song…” Sara Bareilles sings in this song. It was one of the free download song on iTunes this month, and thanks to that, her album has been on iTunes most downloaded album. This catchy piano pop song is a great summer drive song.
September is a 24 year old girl from Sweden. She’s been cracking several dance hits in the past couple of years, especially in Europe. This song, “Cry For You” became a number 1 hit in the US Dance chart just recently. Her album, In Orbit, was actually released in her native country in 2005, but hasn’t found a release date in the US yet.
This song is annoying, but it’s a number 1 hit in the country, and it is being played everywhere from radio to clubs to even sporting events. Shop Boyz will most likely be remember for this song only (so many one hit wonder from the south nowadays). The group is from Atlanta and there are three rappers in the group.
The Pumpkins disbanded in 2000, and this is the first album since then (7th in total). But this reunion only brings in the drummer, Jimmy Chamberlin (him and Corgan briefly started a band called Zwan in 2001). Where’s D’Arcy and James Iha? I’ve been listening to rock music since the early 90s, and I wasn’t that big of a fan of the Pumpkins, but they were one of the few bands where I knew all of the band members names. I’m not quite sure who else is in this new Pumpkins, but something is just not the same. I know it was always Billy Corgan that made all of the music, but this album was disappointing one for me.
I have no idea what this song is about. Does he sing, “Big shit poppin’ little shit stepping?” Whatever he is talking about, it’s catchy and the beat is really cool. The radio version is called “Big Things Poppin’”. This song is the first single from his fifth album, TI vs TIP. T.I. actually used to be called TIP as his childhood nickname was “Tip.”
The similarities between this song and Justin Timberlake’s SexyBack is pretty close. If SexyBack was a brother, this song would be its sister. Although the chorus is not as catchy and simple as “get your sexy on as Keri Hilson sings several lines, the rap part is simply done by D.O.E (“baby girl, I don’t got a huge old house…”). This is one of those songs that brings lots of people on the dance floor.
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