Selecting 20 songs each month - Rock, Pop, Hip-Hop, R&B, etc (with big 500x500 pixel album covers)
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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.
Fran Healy may not be a common name in the US, but he is the lead singer for the British band, Travis who are huge in Europe. Wreckorder is his first solo effort, and for this track, he gets help from Neko Case.
Scottish singer/songwriter KT Tunstall’s first two studio albums have both charted top 3 in UK, but this one peaked at #5. Although I consider myself to be a moderate fan of KT (I’ve been to her concert), I didn’t particularly like her first two singles. When I was checking iTunes, for some reason, this was the most downloaded song from her latest album, even though it’s not listed as a single. I did enjoy this track though.
Sheryl Crow’s seventh album, 100 Miles From Memphis is a very soulful album. You might be surprised, but Sheryl Crow has never had a number 1 album. This latest release came out as #3 (following Eminem and Rick Ross). Crow’s latest album includes tracks which features artists such as Keith Richards, Justin Timberlake and Citizen Cope, as well as cover of Michael Jackson’s “I Want You Back”.
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.
Founding member and lead singer of Canadian rock group, Barenaked Ladies, Steven Page left the band to pursue a solo career (his drug arrest is rumored to be the reason). Page did most of the songwriting for the band, but co-vocalist, Ed Robertson stepped up and took the lead vocalist and songwriting duties. The first single, “You Run Away” is supposedly about Steven Page leaving the band. It’s a sensitive song, which is rare for Barenaked Ladies choice for a single.
Twin sisters Tegan And Sara’s sixth album, Sainthood continues to deliver catchy songs, and Alligator is the second single from the Canadian indie girls. In the music video which features bunch of colorful trashbags, they even try to do a playful dance routine.
Actor Jeff Bridges, who is probably most well known for portraying “The Dude” in The Big Lebowski, recently won his first Best Actor Oscar Award. He received it for portraying Bad Blake, a fictional country singer songwriter. He actually does all of the singing in the movie, and he sounds pretty good. But of all the songs on the soundtrack, Ryan Bingham’s “The Weary Kind” which stands as the theme song for the movie, is the most sincere song. This track also took the Best Song Oscar award.
Vedera has recently signed to Epic records and is lead by vocalist Kristen May from Kansas City. Her voice sounds a lot like Natalie Imbrulia from her “Torn” days. I think the song is catchy, and I’ve read that it was used on one of the teen drama shows, but I wonder if their sound is unique enough to break any further.
I hadn’t heard much about Beck in the past year, except for his Record Club (where bunch of musicians record a cover of certain chosen album in one day), and it turns out that he had been working with French actress/singer, Charlotte Gainsbourg (daughter of British actress Jane Birkin & French singer, actor, Serge Gainsbourg). I had never heard of Gainsbourg, but Beck had written and produced her entire third album titled IRM, which was released recently. Beck also lends his backup vocal on this track, “Heaven Can Wait.”
There are a lot of great songs on the charity album, Hope For Haiti Now, but I decided to narrow it down to just three songs for this blog. I chose Jay-Z and Justin Timberlake’s songs as those two were America’s top 2 choices. For the third one, I debated between Madonna’s inspiring cover of “Like A Prayer” with choirs or Sheryl Crow’s acoustic take on one of the most covered songs in the universe, Lean On Me. Sheryl Crow and Kid Rock have performed together on numerous occasions (notably for a duet single, “Picture”), and add country superstar, Keith Urban (who is married to Nicole Kidman) and the track sounds amazing.
In the late 90s, Train came out with “Meet Virginia” and became a well known band. But it was “Drops of Jupiter” that made them into a huge band. Since then soothing rock acts such as Maroon 5, Jason Mraz and The Fray have come out to great success. Looks like Train learned a lesson or two from those new comers because their latest effort sounds like a good mixture of Maroon 5 and Jason Mraz. It’s happy. It’s upbeat. And it’s catchy. But who is Soul Sister?
Rolling Stone magazine placed this song as the best song of 2009. It was also placed on best songs of the decade list at #36 (the list was topped by Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy”). I hadn’t heard of this song from U2’s latest album, so I had to give it a shot. It’s over 7 minutes long. I didn’t think much of it at first, but after a few listen, I found myself diving into their sound more.
It might a little hard to tell from this new single from jazz-pop superstar, Norah Jones, but she has traded her signature piano for a guitar on her new album. But overall, the music is still nice and mellow and her core audience should still enjoy her music. I personally liked the track, “Even Though” which was cowritten by Jesse Harris who wrote Jones’ biggest hit, “Don’t Know Why”.
OneRepublic lead singer, Ryan Tedder has been busy the last couple of years. His band, OneRepublic took off like a rocket, after their song, “Apologize” (4th most downloaded song of the decade at 4,439,000 sold) appeared on Timbaland’s album. Since then Tedder has been asked to pen songs for other artists such as Leona Lewis (“Happy”), Kelly Clarkson (“Already Gone”), Jordin Sparks (“Battlefield”) and Beyonce (“Halo”). As a band, Tedder’s OneRepublic just released their second album titled Waking Up. So far the new songs hasn’t had similar success as “Apologize” but I get this “All The Right Moves” track stuck in my head.
Florence + The Machine is lead by singer, Florence Welch. This British indie band released their debut album, Lungs, in summer of 2009 and peaked at #2. She reminds me quite a bit of Sandi Thom (whatever happened to her?) and a bit of PJ Harvey and Jenny Lewis mixed together. A lot of her songs has harp instrument in it, which gives her music interesting sound.
Ten years ago, Pearl Jam had a hit with “Last Kiss” which was a cover song, but showcased slow and sensitive side of Pearl Jam. The second single from their recent hot album, Backspacer, is another slow track, which Eddie Vedder described "as close to a love song as we've ever gotten." It is already climbing up on the rock chart, and this song may prove to be the one that crosses over to top 40 chart.
I should start by saying that I’m not much of Death Cab For Cutie fan nor, am I a fan of Twilight series. I haven’t read the book or seen the movie, so I haven’t really experienced the phenomenon first hand just yet. But I did think that last soundtrack from the film had good compilation of rock songs. For the second series, the music supervisor went more indie, and brought in acts like Grizzly Bear and Bon Iver as well as Seattle’s (Bellingham to be exact), Death Cab For Cutie. Unlike last time, all of these songs were specifically written (or at least rewritten) for the film. As I don’t plan on watching the film, I could never say whether this lead single fits the film or not, but I was intrigued by the selection by the producers, so I thought I would give it a listen.
Canadian sister duo, Tegan And Sara are back with their sixth album, and returning for the producing job after a successful previous album, The Con, is Chris Walla of Death Cab For Cutie. Tegan and Sara normally write separately, but for this album, they apparently wrote together. I can’t wait to catch them on the next tour.
Brandi Carlile spent her early career in Seattle until she was discovered and signed to the label. Her previous hit song, “The Story” has been used on Grey’s Anatomy and General Motors commercial. This year she is back with her third album titled, Give Up The Ghost, produced by Rick Rubin. The first single from the new album is “Dreams” which has the similar feel to The Story.
Kate Earl is often compared to Jewel as they are both from Alaska, and great singer songwriters. Earl is actually half Filipino and very exotic looking. “Melody” is the first single from her second album, which was also available as a free download from iTunes. It’s a nice relaxing, soothing music. If you are a fan of Sara Bareilles, Ingrid Michaelson and Meiko, you would probably enjoy her songs as well.
In the late 90s, Train came out with “Meet Virginia” and became a well known band. But it was “Drops of Jupiter” that made them into a huge band. Since then soothing rock acts such as Maroon 5, Jason Mraz and The Fray have come out to great success. Looks like Train learned a lesson or two from those new comers because their latest effort sounds like a good mixture of Maroon 5 and Jason Mraz. It’s happy. It’s upbeat. And it’s catchy. But who is Soul Sister?
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