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.
Christina’s third studio album Back to Basics is a double disk containing 23 songs, and was released in August of 2006 (it feels like she has released more albums). This single has been getting airplays for a long time, and I wasn’t particularly a huge fan when I first heard it, but the more I listened to it, I began to appreciate the production of it
A lot of people may recognize these hip-hip duo from Memphis, Tennessee as the guys featured on Three-6-Mafia’s big hit, “Stay Fly.” Their seventh album, known as Ridin High, will be released sometime in March. For this lead off single, they sample Biggie’s “Dead Wrong.”
Her first single, “London Bridge” became an instant hit on the radio across the nation. And now she hits with this second single where she spells her name along with her partner from Black Eyes Peas, will.i.am. My only concern is that when you listen to will.i.am carefully he spells “tasty”, “T to the A to S T E Y.”
Kirsten Price is a British born singer songwriter. When I first heard about her and googled her name, I discovered more links for Kirsten Price, the porn star who bears the same name. This track is being used on the popular Showtime TV series, The L Word.
I have never heard of this band before, but recently I started hearing this song on the radio. It turns out that their album, The Best Little Secrets Are Kept, with seductive shot of a woman’s back and upper half of her ass, was released in early 2005. I’m not quite sure why I started hearing this song all of a sudden, but it was catchy and I liked it. I was surprised to find that they were an American band (they sounded British or possibly even from other European nation.
He sounds a lot like Coldplay to me, even though he is from Nashville, Tennessee. Several of his songs have been used on Grey’s Anatomy TV series, as well as other popular American TV shows. This song will be contained on his second album with the same name.
I didn’t think too much about this song when I first heard it on the radio, but then I saw the commercial for the NBC show, Heroes, using this song, and it sucked me in. Nickelback has announced that all the digital sales from this song will be donated to the Amnesty International. So, buying this song is a good cause.
With a name like that, you would think Paolo Nutini might be Spanish or Italian, but he’s actually Scottish and a talented singer songwriter. These Streets is his debut effort, lead by his single, “New Shoes” which sounds like it could be used on a lot of shoe commercials in the future (if not already used somewhere).
This third single off of Pink’s fourth album, I’m Not Dead, is causing some controversy. The chorus goes, “it’s just you and your hand tonight” referring to a guy having to masturbate as he couldn’t pick up a girl to do it with. Despite the controversy, it turned into her biggest single thus far from the album.
This Nashville, Tennessee band creates catchy garage pop rock songs, reminiscent of Weezer from back in the days. Last summer, they released their major label debut, “Teenage Graffiti.” The single, “Little Razorblade” has been getting some airplay on MTV and radio.
This is her fourth single off of her successful (thanks to the lead single, S.O.S.) second album, A Girl Like Me. I liked S.O.S, but didn’t like “Faithful” (she sounded terrible) or “We Ride” (too cheesy). At least this song features Sean Paul and is a good dance track.
no sample
Ronnie Day is young. He’s not even 20 yet (born in 88). I came across this song on one of the record label compilation album. He reminds me of Dashboard Confessional. With his young age, he was able to market his music on Myspace to gain a big fan base.
This Memphis hard rock band had a big hit with “Always” in 2002. Their last album, “Survival of the Sickest” didn’t generate much singles, and I’m not sure if their latest album, Blood Stained Love Story will do much either. This lead off single is a bit catchy, but after a few listen, I was a little bored.
Silversun Pickups is one of the most talked about indie rock bands right now. A lot of the people have been comparing their sound to Smashing Pumpkins, which I can hear, especially from this song. This is the second single from their debut album, Carnavas.
Thanks to “Chasing Cars”, Snow Patrol has now become one of the elite rock groups. Hailing from Scotland, Snow Patrol released their fourth album, Eyes Open in May of 2006. This song was released as the first single in UK (but not in the US). I saw them perform this song live last month, and I really liked it.
Sparta is a band from Texas, and this album, Threes, is their third album which was released a couple of months ago. Their music reminds me of 30 Seconds to Mars but with much stronger vocal.
A lot of us may still remember one of the most memorable moments on Oscar history when Three 6 Mafia performed AND won an Oscar for their song from Hustle & Flow soundtrack. I don’t know if that had to do with it, but now they have been asked to contribute a song to one of the most famous movie franchise, Rocky. They cleverly sampled the boxing ring bell, and created a song that would be perfect for the Rocky-training-montage (though I haven’t seen the film, so I don’t know where the song gets used).
Similar to Young Love’s, “Disotech” this song has electro-dance beat to the song. This band is based in California. Their self-titled debut album came out in summer of 2006, and was #1 on the Top Heatseeker’s chart.
Not to be confused with the American day time talk show, this Scottish rock band has just released their debut album, Hats Off To The Buskers, in the UK. This single was actually released as a single in late summer of 2006. Since then they have released two more singles, including “Same Jeans” that’s getting a lot of airplays in UK. Still no word if they will get a US release.
Billboard magazine listed Young Love as “2007’s Best Bets”. Young Love is a rock band from New York, but since the “band” consists of one guy that handles most of the production, they are hardly a band. This single was released in October of 2006. It has a bit of 80s dance pop rock sound. Young Love’s debut album, Too Young to Fight It will be released at end of the month.
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