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 song has been on the radio for quite some time, and I ignored it, but recently I seem to catch this song on the radio and it stays on my head. “Whataya Want From me…. Whataya Want From me…. Whataya Want From me…. Whataya Want From me….” Now it’s stuck in your head as well. I’ve always thought this song sounded like something Pink would put out, and I learned that it was written by her. What do you know.
I really dug Against Me’s last album, New Wave, which was produced by Butch Vigg. Their latest album (fifth one over all), White Crosses is also produced by Vigg, and has a similar rocking sound.
UK electronic music master, The Chemical Brothers are back with a new album, Further. It’s been three years since their last release. Further is the first album by the Chemical Brothers that doesn’t have any vocal collaboration with anyone.
Rolling Stone magazine labeled them as part Janis Joplin and part Norah Jones. When you hear songs like, “
Apologies”, you think Norah Jones, and when you hear songs like “Paris (Ooh La La)”, there is definitely Janis Joplin influence. This self-titled album (third one overall) has been their most successful one to date.
Kevin Rudolf had a surprise hit “
Let It Rock”, which turned into a huge sports anthem in the past couple of years. This month he released his sophomore album, To The Sky with this lead off single. It doesn’t have the bite, “
Let It Rock” had, but it did ok on the charts, probably mostly thanks to Lil Wayne’s rap.
I already have the original mix of this song, but hearing this song with soccer highlights always gives me goosebumps. I am officially hooked to the game, even though I don’t watch soccer any other time of the year. It’s been an interesting tournament so far with four years ago’s finalists Italy and France both being eliminated in the first round. Although a lot of people think that K’naan is from South Africa, but he is from Somalia, and grew up in Canada.
How long did it take for Lil Jon to release this Crunk Rock? Probably too long. Although I still like the guy for shouting, “What!” and “Oookaaaay!” in between verses on other people’s songs, when it’s all him, it’s tough to say that I like him all that much. To avoid that, he enlists a lot of guests on his songs including Ice Cube, R. Kelly, Pitbull and 3OH!3
It’s summer time, which is a good time to listen to reggae. Just in time for summer, Disney released a reggae version of some of their most famous hits, covered by famous reggae artists such as Matisyahu, Ziggy Marley, UB40 and Yellowman. It’s an interesting concept.
Swedish dance pop star Robyn hasn’t had a US hit since the late 90s pair of hits, “Do You Know (What It Takes)” and “Show Me Love”. “With Every Heartbeat” did ok on the dance chart two years ago, but it didn’t crack into top 40 at all. She is hoping that release of two part series might give her a better chance. It was the #1 album in her native country of Sweden, but she barely broke top 100 in the US. Still, this is a great single from Robyn.
Lilith Fair is coming back this year after a 10 year hiatus, led once again by Canadian vocalist, Sarah McLachlan. If you don’t include her Christmas CD, she hasn’t released a full new album since 2003’s, Afterglow. “Forgiveness” was released as a free download from Amazon MP3 a week before the official release of the latest album, The Laws of Illusion.
Recently I started hearing this song on the local rock radio station. I thought it was a little odd as it sounded, well odd, especially when it is played after Nirvana and before Kings of Leon. Edward Sharpe is a made up figure, but the band is really led by Alex Ebert, who used to be in a band called Ima Robot. Edward Sharpe band sounds nothing like Ima Robot, and it has folk, country vibe to their sound.
Jack Jonson is back, and he sounds cool and laid back as usual. His latest album, fifth one, titled To the Sea debuted at #1 in the US, selling over 240,00 copies in first week. This album was recorded in Johnson’s famous solar powered studios in LA and Hawaii.
Katy Perry’s new album, Teenage Dream won’t be released until end of August this year, but her first single from the album is already a #1 single in the US. Perry has mentioned that she wrote this song as a response to
Jay-Z’s “Empire State of Mind” which promotes New York city. I personally prefer West Coast better, but I have to admit that this song isn’t as good as “Empire State of Mind.” Maybe I need to listen to it a few more times.
Metric’s fourth album, Fantasies was released in spring of 2009, but it still has good life to it, as the recent single, Sick Muse is getting some airplays on the rock radio station. Most of the songs on the album was recorded just outside of Seattle (Bear Creek Studios). The MP3 album for Fantasies is available at Amazon MP3 for only $5.99.
Here is another indie band that has been getting a lot of attentions on blogs and music magazines. This California band is led by Chris Chu (and his guitarist brother Jon Chu), and has recently released their second album, Big Echo, which was produced by Grizzly Bear bassist Chris Taylor. This song has indie vibe, yet also has a Beach Boys-ish California fun feel as well.
Twilight series’ final chapter will be in theater soon. I’ve never watched or read any of the series, but am usually impressed with the collections of songs on their soundtrack. Paramore had the lead-off single on the first soundtrack, and Death Cab got the lead on the second series. For the third one, British rock band, Muse takes the lead. I think they were the only band that appeared on all three soundtracks.
I can’t get enough of Nas & Damian Marley’s collaboration album, especially during the World Cup in Africa (their album was recorded in dedication of Africa). I think this is the best rap CD of 2010 (so far), even though it hasn’t gotten much exposure. I was happy to see this video on MTV the other day.
I downloaded Neon Trees single, “Animal” for free from iTunes when it was available as the free single of the week. Neon Trees is a new band from Utah. They sound like The Killers mixed with a bit of Bon Jovi.
When I first heard this song on the radio, I thought it might be Avril Lavigne’s new song, but it was the other young female rock chick, Haley Williams. She’s been on the news a lot recently, thanks to the success of
“Airplanes” with rapper B.o.B (and not-so-thanks to her topless photo being hacked from her phone).
With this year’s World Cup taking place in South Africa, the official soundtrack to the most popular sports in the world contains some fun, flavorful songs with African influences. A lot of people might be wondering why K’naan’s “Wavin’ Flag” is not included on this album, but that song was Coca Cola’s World Cup song. I get goosebumps everytime I hear that song. On the contrary, “Waka Waka” by Shakira is just a fun, upbeat song.
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