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.
Hawaiian producer/singer, Bruno Mars is on a super hot streak right now. He started out by being featured on B.o.B’s, “
Nothin’ On You” as well as Travie McCoy’s “
Billionaire.” His produced track, “
F**k You!” for Cee-lo Green is a hit as well, and Bruno Mars is about to release his debut album, which includes the #1 single, “Just the Way You Are.”
Ever since they performed at MTV Video Music Award, this song has been getting a lot of airplays, and it was on top 10 of iTunes download list. For those of you who caught on to the fever, they have been a popular act in their native country of UK for a couple of years now, including the single, “
You’ve Got the Love.”
West coast rapper, Ice Cube is starting to be known more as an actor or film director than a rapper nowadays, especially to kids, who didn’t grow up listening to N.W.A. Initially Ice Cube has mentioned that his fellow NWA star, Dr. Dre will be providing beats to a couple of tracks, but none made to the final album. But on this track, Ice Cube reminds us why he is still the king of West coast rap.
Arizona rock band, Jimmy Eat World’s seventh album, Invented was released in end of September. The lead off single, “My Best Theory” is already a hit on rock and alternative charts. For this latest album, Jimmy Eat World teamed with Mark Trombino, who produced their earlier albums including Clarity and Bleed American.
Although Taylor Swift and Kanye West both performed at this year’s MTV Video Music Award, there was no collaboration or opening skit including those two. I expected him to perform this single at the show, but instead, he performed a brand new song, “Runaway” which is still not available for purchase. I liked that performance, so for that, I’m recommending his latest single titled “Power” which samples King Crimson’s “21st Century Schizoid Man”.
Mark Ronson, who is famous for bringing the soul back, for producing for Amy Winehouse and his own hit album, decided to ditch horns for 80s keyboard sound. Since I enjoyed the throwback soul sound, I was disappointed to hear that, but as a talented producer, he had to move on. Not sure how successful his new album will be, as it’s not as catchy as his previous one. Perhaps for his third album, he may go back to the soul sound once again.
Guitar god, Santana has been asking famous musician friends to sing on his albums for the past decade or so. He uses the same formula again, except this time, covering famous rock songs that are known as “the greatest guitar classics of all time.” 90s rock fans should be excited to see the featured guest vocalists such as Chris Cornell (Soundgarden, Audioslave), Scott Weiland (Stone Temple Pilots), and Gavin Rossdale (Bush), as well as Chester Bennington (Linkin Park), Jacoby Shaddix (Papa Roach) and Chris Daughtry (Daughtry). Even rapper Nas makes an appearance.
With Chris Cornell’s “pop” album collaboration with Timbaland failing, rock fans around the world anticipated for the Soundgarden reunion. And here it is! They reunited to play for a couple of live shows, including a headlining gig at Lollapalooza this past summer. They released a compilation album, Telephantasm, which includes an unreleased track, “Black Rain” from Badmotorfinger recording session. They haven’t announced that they will record a new song yet, but since the guys looked like they had a blast playing together, fans can hope for a new album, hopefully within a year.
UK electronic musicians Underworld released their 8th album, Barking. Although the album failed to break Billboard top 100 album, they have been warmly welcomed in other countries, including Japan which boosted this single to #1. On the latest album, there is a collaboration track with Paul Van Dyk titled, Diamond Jigsaw.
Weezer decided to go indie for their 8th album, titled Hurley and signed onto Epitaph. As usual, they chose another silly looking cover, this time, using the actor, Jorge Garcia, an actor who played ‘Hurley’ on the TV show “Lost”. Weezer announced that they will play two consecutive nights of concerts in selective cities (so far San Francisco, LA, Boston and NY), with the first night playing the debut “Blue Album” in its entirety and “Pinkerton” the next night. Recently, Weezer was joined by My Chemical Romance during “My Name Is Jonas” performance.
While the Las Vegas rock band, The Killers take a break, front man Brandon Flowers will be releasing his first solo album. The first single, “Crossfire” is already a rock radio hit. In the bloody music video, Flowers managed to get Charlie Theron and bunch of ninjas to star in. I feel like there are a lot of “beating up” music videos nowadays, including this one as well as Eminem’s “
Love the Way You Lie”, Maroon 5’s “
Misery” and Filter’s “
The Inevitable Relapse.”
From the title, and how it became an internet sensation, you would think it’s just a novelty song, but this is a good song. Gnarls Barkley’s vocalist, Cee-Lo Green will be releasing his solo album this winter, and from the sound of this single, it’s going to be a good fun soulful record.
If you are a MGMT fan, you would know from the first few seconds of this song, that they sampled, “
Kids.” Philadelphia hip-hop duo, Chiddy Bang samples indie rock music in their rap songs (such as MGMT and Passion Pit). I have been waiting for them to release their debut album this Fall, but release date keeps getting pushed back. At least there is this EP to enjoy meanwhile.
Something about these two Canadian boys make them seem likable. Maybe because they joke about how one is Arab and the other is Jewish, but still get along great. Or maybe it’s their silly music videos. They will be releasing their third album, Business Casual this month, including, “Don’t Turn the Lights On” which sounds like a mixture of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” and bunch of other 80s hits mashed up.
The local hip-hop radio station has been playing this song a lot recently, and a week or so later, it was announced that this was Em’s third single from Recovery. Eminem lend a hand for Lil Wayne’s track, “
Drop the World” last year and in return, Lil Wayne guest stars on this track, which samples Haddaway’s “What Is Love.”
I didn’t realize that Filter had released an album. I was a big fan of Army of Anyone, when Richard Patrick from Filter and Stone Temple Pilots guitarist joined forces. The Trouble With Angels is Filter’s fifth album, and features the single, “The Inevitable Relapse.” It is a bit weird hearing them use auto-tune.
If you are a dance music fan, you may remember a song called, “Paradise” from 2001, sung by then 14 year old artist name, Kaci. Now, that Kaci has grown up at 22, she is singing (or more like moaning a la Britney style) “whip it up, lick it up, suck it down.” The music reminds me of Lil Jon rip off of club song, but not nearly as catchy. Ludacris tries to save the song, but you almost forget that he is even featured on this song. Kaci also had another dance hit last year with “Crazy Possessive.” Her latest album, Bring It On, is to be released sometime later this month.
Swedish pop star, Robyn is on a mission to release a trilogy. She released Body Talk Pt. 1 earlier in the summer, which had dance smash hit, “
Dancing On My Own.” On the second series, she releases, “Hang With Me” as her first single. On the album, she attempts electro-rapping along with Snoop Dogg on the track, “U Should Know Better.”
I was hoping to review this song, when his latest album dropped, but due to latest news about T.I., his album maybe postponed for some more. After spending 9 months in prison for weapons charge, T.I. is back with this official lead off single, “Got Your Back” featuring Keri Hilson. Although it has been a moderate hit, it didn’t reach top 10 like “
Whatever You Like” from two years ago.
These Aussie guys have an international hit with “We No Speak Americano.” It has reached #1 in numerous countries in Europe. The name Yoland Be Cool comes from a line in Pulp Fiction (when Samuel L. Jackson’s character tries to calm down the female robber). It is repetitive, but it sure stays in your head.
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