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.
Madonna is releasing another greatest hits album titled, Celebration. The album contains the brand new track, also titled “Celebration.” Both the greatest hits album and the single is perform well in Europe, but in the US, the single seems to be only noticed in the Dance song chart. Madonna gave away the music video for this song for free on iTunes upon its release. I think it’s another great club track out of Madonna.
Paramore hit big time with their previous album, Riot! They have just released their third album, Brand New Eyes, produced by Rob Cavallo (who produced Green Day’s “American Idiot” and My Chemical Romance’s “Black Parade”). The lead off single, “Ignorance” is quite similar to “Misery Business” where the lead singer Hayley Williams sings fast angrily.
Seattle grunge band, Pearl Jam is back with their ninth album, titled, Backspacer. This album reunites them with producer Brendan O’Brien since Yield in 1998. The album was only sold at their official website, large retail chain, Target, iTunes and small independent record shop. Despite that, the album managed to debut at a #1 spot, which they haven’t done since 1996’s No Code.
There is still no US release date for this new British sensation teenage girl, Pixie Lott’s debut album, but she’s already had two #1 singles in her home country of UK. Following the style of Duffy and Amy Winehouse, Pixie Lott, still only 18 years of age, sings beyond her age. Mama Do was her first single which was a big hit in UK back in June. Her follow up single, “Boys and Girls” is currently a hit, but I was finally able to get a hold of this “Mama Do” with the release of her album.
Chevelle, Breaking Benjamin, The Used and Three Days Grace are all good hard rock bands, but I have a hard time telling their songs apart, especially when all four of them released a new album within weeks of one another. Canadian band, Three Days Grace’s third album, Life Starts Now actually takes them on a slightly different direction, as some of the songs are much softer than their previous efforts.
Michigan native, Uncle Kracker hasn’t had a major hit since “Drift Away” in 2003. He’s back on the chart with this laid back tune that would put a smile on your face, appropriately titled “Smile.” This song comes from Uncle Kracker’s fourth album, Happy Hour. It is a well known story that he was a child friend of Kid Rock, and even played turntables for his shows. And now he is doing quite well just on his own.
While the Followill brothers in Kings of Leon are taking over the rock chart, another brothers-in-group, Chevelle has released a new album, their fifth album titled Sci-Fi Crimes. Chevelle used to consist of three brothers, but the youngest (bass) was fired and replaced by brother-in-law. The single, “Jars” is currently #4 on the rock chart.
Australian rock band famous for “Are You Gonna Be My Girl” has just released a new album, Shaka Rock. Japan had the first release date in mid August, and US a week later. The first single from the new album, “She’s A Genius” is a catchy rock song, and was available for free download from AOL Music upon the release.
Ever since Avril Lavigne proved to be a global phenomenon, record labels has been looking for another punk rocker wannabe teen girl. There has been several one hit wonders, but so far nobody. Add Just Kait as another challenger on the bill. Kait is 17 years old, and she can play the guitar, bass, drum and writes her own song. She doesn’t have a debut album yet, but her EP, Being On TV features the track, “Sick” which has been getting some airplay on MTV. But despite that exposure on MTV’s Discover and Download, she hasn’t really cracked the top 40 (or has a page on Wikipedia yet). I’m not a huge fan of her voice, but I thought the track was very well produced (especially the addicting keyboard beat). We’ll see if she will get a debut album release in the near future.
UK rock band, Muse has been compared to Radiohead since their debut (but I’ve always personally preferred Muse). The Resistance is their fifth album, and they are hoping that they won’t be compared to other bands and can stand on their own. This is also the album that the US label is hoping to make Muse into a major star (as they are still not headlining level in the US).
Latin American rapper, Pitbull is enjoying the success this summer. “
I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho)” was a huge hit in the club and singles chart this summer, and the succeeding single, “Hotel Room Service” has also cracked the top 10. Like “I Know You Want Me” this track samples techno music, this time from Nightcrawler’s hit song from 1993, “Push The Feeling On”
If you’ve never seen Rodrigo y Gabriela perform live, you are missing out. Rodrigo and Gabriela are acoustic guitarists from Mexico, and the way they play is amazing. Similar to Yoshida Brothers, the duo just plays the instrument and don’t provide any vocal, but who needs vocals when they can play like that. Every track from the new album titled, 11:11 is dedicated to musicians that inspired Rodrigo y Gabriela. The first track on the album, “Hanuman” pays tribute to fellow Mexican musician, Santana.
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