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.
Sunday brings in mixture of indie rock musicians and hip-hop acts. All of the performers on the main stage this day have released 2 or more albums, and have tendency to appear on lots of summer festivals. Local hip-hop acts such as Dyme Def and Common Market will also be present, and so will the Canadian rap group, Swollen Members, but the highlight will probably be Jason Mraz closing the night. Here’s my review (or preview) of who I plan on seeing for Sunday, 9/6.
 | Cold War Kids - Hospital BedsI saw Cold War Kids at last year’s Sasquatch, and am excited to see them again this year at Bumbershoot. “Hang Me Up to Dry” from 2007 turned into one of my favorite songs of all time, and I’ve enjoyed their latest album, Loyalty to Loyalty as well (particularly the track, “I’ve Seen Enough.” They will be the opening act on the main stage. |
 | Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Heads Will RollYeah Yeah Yeahs has been busy this summer with tour and appearances in festivals. They even replaced Beastie Boys at this year’s Lollapalooza festival after Adam Yanch announced about his cancer. With their latest album, It’s Blitz!, they’ve moved into a new musical direction, but I still liked it. I’m looking forward to hearing songs like “Maps”, “Down Boy” and “Gold Lion” at the main stage. |
 | Swollen Members - PressureI had never heard of this hip-hop group from Vancouver, Canada until a friend pointed out that she was only attending Sunday to check this group out. Looks like they have a lot of credentials such as winning Juno Awards (Canadian version of Grammys) for best rap recording for four out of five albums they have released thus far. It will be interesting to see what the best of Canadian hip-hop crew can showcase. |
 | Common Market - Black Patch WarAlong with Blue Scholars, Common Market is one of Seattle’s favorite local hip-hip groups. Fronted by rapper, RA Scion, who has lived all over the world, including Zambia, and DJ Sabzi, who also makes beat for Blue Scholars, they have been active in Pacific Northwest since 2005. |
 | Michael Franti & Spearhead - Hey World (Don't Give Up)I’ve seen Michael Franti live, and I think he’s very talented and knows how to work up the crowd, but I was surprised to find that he was named one of the headliners over Yeah Yeah Yeahs. But in Seattle, I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised. The radio and music video channels are starting to play “Say Hey (I Love You)” and he’s finally getting some mainstream attention. “Hey World (Don’t Give Up)” is a touching song from his latest album, All Rebel Rockers. |
 | Jason Mraz - If It Kills Me This singer-songwriter recently broke the ultimate record on Billboard chart. His song, “I’m Yours” has spent 71 weeks on Hot 100, which nobody in history of chart music has ever done, and that record could continue to expand as it is still on the chart today. I’ve heard that he puts on a great show, so I’m looking forward to seeing him at the Bumbershoot since normally I probably wouldn’t go see his live show. |
A lot of hip-hop and R&B acts will be taking the stage on Monday, but there will be some serious rock and roll as well. Here’s my review (or preview) of the artists I plan on checking out for 9/7 Monday at Bumbershoot.
 | The Knux - CappuccinoThe Knux is not your ordinary hip-hop group. Formed by two brothers, they can play instruments as they used to belong in a highschool band. Their style has been compared to Outkast, and their live shows has been talked about from coast to coast. They will be the opening act on the main stage. |
 | Black Eyed Peas - Rock That BodyBlack Eyed Peas are coasting through the chart as they recently destroyed Usher’s record for most consecutive #1 by an artist (Usher lasted 19 weeks with “Yeah!” and “Burn”. Peas are currently #1 for 21 weeks, and could extend it longer if “I Gotta Feeling” continues to stay at the top. With that said, Black Eyed Peas not being the headliner was the biggest surprise for this year’s Bumbershoot, but who’s complaining? I haven’t seen them live for about five years now. Now that they are more pop and dance sounding, it would be interesting to see how they would bring the music to the stage. |
 | Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears - SugarfootThere is no doubt that Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears sound like James Brown. It’s one thing to be labeled as James Brown’s cover band or sound-alike, but Black Joe Lewis sounds really good. Unfortunately they are playing during the same time slot as Black Eyed Peas, but hopefully I can catch a bit of their show. |
 | Janelle Monae - Many MoonsJanelle Monae met Outkast’s Big Boi and was featured on their musical project, Idlewild, which wasn’t too successful. But people still noticed Janelle Monae, including Diddy, who signed her to his Bad Boy label. She has only released an EP album so far, and her full debut album has been delayed several times. Hopefully with more touring, she will get to launch her career with a full debut album. |
 | Franz Ferdinand - What She Came ForWhat a treat. I’ve been wanting to see Franz Ferdinand since their debut album, but have always missed them somehow. I’m probably most excited in seeing them live out of all lineup. “No You Girls” is still getting a lot of airplays on the radio, and with three albums under their belt with several hits, they should have plenty of songs to play for the Seattle audience. |
 | Modest Mouse - Satellite SkinI saw them live in the freezing rain at Sasquatch last year. Hopefully this time around I can actually enjoy their music (the forecast is calling for rain this weekend). Modest Mouse originates from a city called Issaquah, which is half an hour away from Seattle. They have recently released an EP with unreleased songs and B-sides. Included on the album is a track, “King Rat” which the actor Heath Ledger (played Joker on The Dark Knight), was in process of directing the music video before his unfortunate death. Seattle crowd would be excited to have local band such as Modest Mouse close this ceremony. |
UK rock band, Arctic Monkeys are releasing their third album this month, titled, Humbug. There was a rumor that they were going to turn this album into a metal album, but if anything, they have gone darker on their new set. The first single, “Crying Lightning” sounds like a mixture of Arctic Monkeys and the lead singer Alex Turner’s side project,
The Last Shadow Puppets, which had darker sound. I do like the track, and am excited to hear more singles from them. I’ve read that they will be focusing more on the US market this time around.
When surfer chick, Colbie Caillat came out in 2007 with “Bubbly” she was an instant star. She was cute, and so was the song. This month she releases her sophomore album, Breakthrough, which supposedly got a lot of help from American Idol judge, Kara Dioguardi (though not on this single). The music video for this song features Bobby Moynihan from SNL. It’s a cute song once again, but I think it lacks the charm “Bubbly” had.
90s alt rock is making a big come back. At least bunch of artists from that decade such as Better Than Ezra, Third Eye Blind, Sugar Ray, Fastball and Alice In Chains, just to name a few. Add Collective Soul to that list. Actually they have been consistently releasing albums for the past 15 years. Wow, it’s been 15 years since their debut song, “Shine” was an international hit. I wonder why they are not a major headlining band, despite having several #1 rock songs. Their latest release confuses fans by titling their album, “Collective Soul” which they have already done in 1995. To avoid confusion, fans and press are calling this album “Rabbit” since the album cover has a rabbit on it. “Staring Down” is another catchy song by Collective Soul, but will it be enough to place them as a big headlining rock band like the Chili Peppers?
This is my favorite clubbing song of this year so far. The beat and the hook is amazing, and especially when heard at a club with good sound equipment, it gets everyone crazed up. French DJ, David Guetta should be proud of the fact that this song is already the #1 track in the UK, and Black Eyed Pea’s track “
I Gotta Feeling” which he produced has been #1 in the US for a long time. Could he take the hottest producer title this year? A lot of artists are lining up to work with him now.
I started hearing their song on the radio since they will be opening up for Blink182/Weezer concert coming up next month. Great Northern is an indie rock band from LA, consisting of Rachel Stolte and former 30 Seconds to Mars guitarist, Solon Bixler. This track in particular sounds like something Metric would put out. I’m looking forward to seeing them live.
It’s nice to see Rihanna back in the music world after all the news about her incident with Chris Brown. Jay-Z continues to build momentum for his highly anticipated album, The Blueprint 3, by releasing another single, this time enlisting Rihanna and Kanye West, reaching #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. Looking through Jay-Z’s album track list, it seems like a lot of the songs were produced by Kanye West, and a couple from Timbaland.
Rapper from Cleveland, Ohio, Kid Cudi had a hit with “
Day 'n' Nite”, and he will be releasing his debut album next month. Currently, this track, “Make Her Say” which samples acoustic version of Lady GaGa’s “
Poker Face” is getting quite a bit of airplay on the radio and MTV. Considering that Kid Cudi has to compete time with Kanye, Common and Lady GaGa, it almost feels like Cudi wasn’t even on this track, but it’s still a good catchy song.
“Somebody call 911, Shawty fire burning on the dance floor, whoaaaa” the song starts out. This song has been on the charts and in the clubs for a while, but I never got into it until it was featured on Colbert Report. He claimed that song promoted “dangerous abuse of 911” because “you can’t call 911 every time Shawty starts fire on the dancefloor!” That one minute monolog changed my mind, and I began to appreciate the song. You can see the clip from
here.
It must be summer if Sean Paul has a song on the radio. Sean Paul released his fourth album titled Imperial Blaze this August, and the lead off single, “So Fine” is getting enough radio and club play. It’s been four years since his last release. Previously, Sean Paul has commented that he wants to do less clubbing songs, but this track is definitely for the clubs.
I was surprised to hear that Weezer will be releasing another album later in the Fall this year, even though they had just released an album last year (Weezer the Red Album). The first single, (If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To definitely has Weezer touch to it. It’s catchy, fun and makes you happy listening to it. The album is to be titled, Raditude, which according to the report was named by TV’s The Office star, Rainn Wilson (Dwight).
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