Selecting 20 songs each month - Rock, Pop, Hip-Hop, R&B, etc (with big 500x500 pixel album covers)
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 Jacksonville, Florida band found success thanks to their debut single, “Face Down.” They have now released a second album, Lonely Road, featuring this first single, You Better Pray. It’s a great rock song without depending on screaming too much.
Rehab had a moderate hit with “Bartender Song” on the country chart last year. They sound like a mixture of Limp Bizkit, Kid Rock and Stone Temple Pilots, especially on this song. They incorporate rock, rap and DJ in their songs. I haven’t heard this song on the radio yet, but hopefully they will choose this as their next single.
I love Radio 1’s Live Lounge series. I’m a huge fan of the program. I used to be able to stream it online, but I am no longer able to. The program invites current popular bands, and ask them to perform their hit, and a cover of another popular band. Normally the bands cover current hits, but The Script chose to cover Eminem’s “Lose Yourself.” The Script is a new band from Ireland. Last year their debut album, The Script became multi-platinum. What’s impressive about this cover is that the lead singer Danny O'Donoghue actually sings through this song in melody.
Originally U2’s twelfth album was to be released in end of 2008, but they postponed in order to work on more songs. Now their album is to be released in end of February. The first single, “Get On Your Boots” (which was used for Gatorade commercial during Super Bowl), has cool bass from Adam Clayton. The cover photo was taken by Japanese photographer, Hiroshi Sugimoto.
I started hearing this song on the local rock radio station. It reminds me of the early 90s grunge days. Dead Confederate is a rock band from Athens, Georgia that recently signed to the major label. It took me a long time to actually find this song as I thought the title of the track was “Bang Bang” and kept on searching with that name. Not quite sure why it is called The Rat.
A little bit of Stevie Wonder and bit of Jason Mraz, this singer-songwriter hails from New York (though he is originally from Maryland). I had never heard of him until recently when I heard this song on the radio, and caught my attention. He was one of VH1 You Oughta Know artist (I normally check that, so he must’ve slipped under my eyes). Great upbeat pop song.
This Texas born singer songwriter is now based in Nashville, Tennessee but she doesn’t sound country at all. If you like Sara Bareilles or kind of music Grey’s Anatomy likes to put on, you would probably enjoy her music. This track was featured on iTunes free single of the week earlier this year.
This song was available for free download from their MySpace page. It reminds me of their debut hit song, “Take Me Out” mixed with some disco vibe. Tonight is Scottish rock band, Franz Ferdinand’s third album, which was just released at end of January. So far the album has been getting great reviews.
This Australian singer doesn’t sound 17 years at all. Her vocal style is similar to Amy Winehouse, and this particular track definitely puts her on the same map as recent throw-back artists like Winehouse and Duffy. This track has been burning up the chart in her native country Australia and UK. There is still no US release date of her album, but Universal Republic has been pushing this track out on their monthly sampler.
Sounding very much like part of Quentin Tarantino soundtrack, this duo (Suzanne Santo and Ben Jaffe) creates music that mashes up rock, blues, jazz, and country. Their debut single, “Little Toy Gun” music video was directed by tv show, 24 star Keifer Sutherland. I had never known this, but he owns a small record company and honeyhoney belongs to the label (also Lifehouse).
Jay-Z’s record rep are denying that his new album is coming out soon, though other reports suggest that his new album, The Blueprint 3 is coming out in February of this year. This collaboration between Jay-Z and newcomer Santogold was featured on the soundtrack to Notorious, a movie about the rapper, Notorious BIG. This track is only available to purchase if you buy the entire soundtrack, which is ridiculous considering most Biggie fans probably already owns most of the songs on the album.
I’ve always felt that Left Eye and Missy Elliott were the only good female MCs. It was such a tragedy to lose one of the best rappers in the game. For some odd reason, her solo album never got released in the US (though it did decent in Japanese market). With some leftover material and previously released songs remixed, TLC’s rapper will finally get to release her stuff to the US audience (though I don’t think it’s getting much publicity).
Embodying the rags-to-riches rap dream, Jay-Z pulled himself up by his bootstraps as a... 