I’ve been absent recently and I feel bad. I’ve started a new job and I’ve been training for the marathon and those two things combined have left me with a major lack of time for sitting at my computer being a blog nerd. But that doesn’t mean i haven’t been listening to some sweet new tunes.
BUT, since i feel like i’ve been gone so long, i’m gonna start off at the beginning again. With Genesis, of course. I bought Genesis’s “Invisible Touch” album recently because it was on Amazon’s daily deal and holy bajeezus. This album is so fucking good. In fact, i’d go so far as to call it GREAT. Phil Collins and Peter Gabriel on one album. It was like a supergroup before they were individual super stars. They went backwards. Why doesn’t that happen anymore? You never see the Eric Clapton’s of the world break off from their role as guitarist and create music just as good if not better on their own. You never see the Paul Simon’s of the world leave their partner and make groovy tunes. All you see are people like Fergie leave the Black Eyed Peas and make average pop music. Bring back the pre-supergroups!!!
Seriously, listen to these songs and tell me you aren’t happy as all hell.
Elan is playing at The Roxy tonight and I may or may not go, but either way, he has such a rad voice.
Elan is a Jewish guy who somehow mastered the art of Reggae and became the lead singer of The Wailers in recent years. I’m no reggae dude, but he’s just awesome. I really recommend his album if you are looking for a great summertime album.
It’s been an interesting decade and I think its pretty clear that hiphop had the greatest impact on top 40 radio in the past 10 years. It’s changed a lot though. It’s not a format that has been around for very long and it quickly changed in the 00′s from being something “from the streets” to being something from the studio. There is no more NWA. It moved slowly from music about a simple beat and a message (whether thats a message you enjoy or not) to being music made for the club and for pop music stations. So, let’s look at a few of the hit songs from the past decade.
Eminem released his masterpiece, The Marshall Mather’s LP in mid 2000. To this day, Eminem still places more emphasis on his lyrics and his rap rhythm than on dance beats. He probably has the most recognizable voice in the rap industry, or at least top 5, and it’s simply a joy to listen to him rhyme over a simple beat.
Eminem – Stan (released in May 2000)
In 2001, Jay Z released one of his greatest albums, an album that spawned two sequels. The Blueprint. While this record definitely had club hits on it, it was still a lyrical album. But the hooks were clearly becoming more about dancing than rapping.
Jay Z – Izzo (H.O.V.A) (released September 11, 2001)
Now let’s jump ahead a couple of years. This isn’t a rap record, but it is HipHop. Usher dominated the airwaves in 2004 with help from the incessant shouting from Lil John on his track “Yeah.” This song was inescapable. I’m surprised it ever wore out. This song is for ladies in the clubs, frat guys on a house boat and everything in between.
Usher (feat Lil John and Ludacris) – Yeah (released in 2004)
To save us, slightly, in 2004, was the man who would eventually become inescapable…Kanye West. He debuted with an album completely different from the one that will be mentioned further down this list. It was lyrical, it was fresh, it was awesome.
Kanye West – Jesus Walks (From ‘College Dropout’ released in 2004)
In 2005, this happened.
Black Eyed Peas – My Humps (from “Monkey Business”, 4th best selling album of 2005)
In 2007, T-Pain created a phenomenon that would continue until today. He used autotune to help him sing. And we all thought it sounded pretty damned cool.
T-Pain feat Justin Timberlake – Can’t Believe It (remix)
2008. The year where T-Pain continued to dominate the world with the autotune concept, but through a zillion other hip hoppers. The radio was dominated by two men. Kanye West, back with his 808′s and some heartbreak, and a little man with as many baby mama’s as he has tattoos, Lil Wayne. They did two different things really. Wayne is a lyrical rapper (though he is on a zillion dance tracks as well) and Kanye is just weird.
Lil Wayne feat Jay-Z – Mr. Carter (August 2008)
Kanye West – Amazing (November 2008)
And of course, one of the top tracks right now on iTunes, a cool sample, super hot production and autotuned average singing by Jason Derulo. What a combo!
Owl City stands out from the rest, both lyrically and production-ally, but that whole post-emo electronica pop punk seems to be the hottest way for unsigned teenage singer/songwriters to get their music to the masses besides singing with their acoustic guitar on their webcam. It definitely isn’t an easy production concept to master, but it is the ultimate in digital technique. Just goes to show that one day more artists will be endorsed by Apple than by Gibson.
So here are a couple of other unsigned artists who have that type of sound and you might like to dig deeper into.
LA is back to being a rainy place. it was actually kind of beautiful last night as it began to rain just a few moments after i got in my car on my way home from downtown, just after 10. It was just late enough in the day and just early enough in the rain that there wasn’t any traffic and I could just coast down the highway with my music on, enjoying the peaceful combination of a lonely drive and the sound of falling rain. Made me wish I lived out in the country where you can just sit on your porch, bundled up, sipping on a glass of whiskey, watching the rain fall down. So, for today’s rain installment, we’ve got some country songs involving rain. Hurray!
owl city write’s some sappy songs, but he does seem to have a gift for lyrics. and in the middle of the night, after a few beers, sometimes they just need to be listened to. so, to those of you who are awake, and needing a song. enjoy.
Today is Thanksgiving and that is a fact. I’ve got a pretty great life and I think every person who is and has ever been involved in it deserves a thanks. So to my family, friends, enemies and and anyone who used to be family friends or enemies, I thank you.
For those who don’t know, I’m heading to Europe tomorrow. I’ll be on a whirlwind trip for 10 days, visiting Paris, Rome and Brussels. I’m quite excited for this adventure and can’t wait to come home with some great stories. I doubt i’ll be wasting much time sitting in internet cafes updating my blog while i’m there, so you’ll just have to live without the greatness of brocofly for the next 10 or 11 days.
Until then, I leave you with a photo of what i’m possibly most excited about and some tunes to enjoy.
If you don’t know what that is a photo of, google it.
In honor of the weather forecast for the majority of the cities i will be in:
Sister Hazel – Vacation Rain
In honor of Michael Jackson being rad and this being an underplayed song kinda about traveling
Michael Jackson – Ease On Down The Road
I think we often forget that one of the coolest things about hip hop music at its finest is that it can be about taking one song and mixing it up to make it completely different and unique. There are still some artists out there who do such things, and apparently Wale is one of those artists. He has taken a quick line out of Mayer’s “3×5″ and written a very topical song on top of the “writing you a letter” idea. He writes to Obama and he writes to Tupac and actually has some interesting things to say opposed to other rappers who just talk about money and bitches.
so who wants to take Oct 15th off of work and drive to SF with me to see Manu Chao and then drive back for the Cal game on Satrday at noon.
please note that all music posted on this site is for promotional purposes only. all viewers are encouraged to purchase any songs that you enjoy through a valid retailer such as Amazon MP3 or iTunes. without legitimate music purchases, the music industry will cease to exist, so please lend a hand and do it legally.
