Afterglow

Afterglow by Wilkinson.
What a great video. I get lost in it and almost forget to listen to the track. :)

Lucius

Revisiting Lucius from my eMusic "save for later" list.
I first heard them on Radiolab where Jad featured their song "How Loud Your Heart Gets" which hadn't been released yet.

Fast forward a few months and it turns out they are the opening band as I get to the Grace Potter & The Nocturnals show here in Chicago at The Vic. I love the harmonies and the unexpected power of their band on some songs. 



 

Slippin

This is the stuff that they play in Starbucks or Cost Plus, so really...it's the stuff that critics pan as mindless muzak to lull you into continuing to be a "consumer"....but the groove is there, just a little bit behind the beat and shit...I liked it enough to track it down. 

I'll check through the rest of her records later...this is from 2006.



 

Mrs Isbell

I thought I had shared something about Jason Isbell, but I guess that was on Facebook.

His story was/is compelling enough that my mom heard it on NPR and wondered if I knew about him. I'm glad she shared. I bought a few things from Southeastern, but in reading the story, I skimmed over the parts about his new wife, Amanda Shires.

Thankfully, eMusic recommended her new record today and I've spent an hour or two making the connections back to Isbell, watching videos and listening to tracks from Down Fell The Doves. 

This is also one of those rare times that I was paying attention and found out a show BEFORE it happened here in Chicago, so I bought tickets to her show at Schubas...my first one there.

It's shallow, but I'll still say it: I don't know how intrigued I would have been if she wasn't so sexy.
This is weird for an album preview-trailer, but is super hot nonetheless.



 

Kenny? really?

I can't believe I'm posting this.

Let's chalk it up to the presence of the lovely miss Grace Potter in the video (2 weeks until the show!) and the song since that was how I discovered it in the first place. I am not a fan of Kenny Chesney and his weird looking head and hat combinations. Yes. That is a shallow reason to not like a singer...I know, but whatever.

regardless...this is a great song.

early Rhye work

I had this saved in my inbox for a while and just got around to reading and listening to it.
After purchasing a few Rhye songs (see this post regarding that) eMusic sent me a review on an earlier record (2009) that he was part of called Quadron.

http://www.emusic.com/music-news/review/album/quadron-avalanche/

I'm not feeling a lot of the nostalgic 90's tone of this, but a few tracks did stand out. The guy that posted these on YouTube has all the tracks up if you are curious about the rest (including a Kendrick Lamar collab)



 

Sons & Daughters

I don't know where I came across this but it doesn't matter. 



 

Him

It all started with Him. A song called "Him" that showed up on my Youtube recommendations since I follow the Majestic channel.



Love it, but couldn't figure out who the original vocal belonged to. One other track by Mitsu that I heard years ago was a remix of Dwele that was super dope, so I figured that this Him track was also a remix. I found Mitsu's page on Facebook and a comment on the posting of this same video there led me to look for a guy named Mabanua...who did the original version:



I went digging for more Mabanua. Found this dope video of him crafting a beat and realized that he has a great sound. More digging.I found a short track he did for an anime tv show soundtrack




I found his Dis-cogs page with a listing for a remix that he did of a song called Sweet Love by Opensouls ft Ladi6.
I couldn't find that song, but did manage to find another song they did with the same singer. The video is a bit morbid, but what a great soul song.



I recognized Ladi6's name from a house track that I have, so I dug further into her discography and found a fantastic drum & bass track by Shapeshifter (available here thankfully for purchase)



and a track off her album that reminds me of Fat Freddy's Drop (who is also from New Zealand and she has collaborated with in the past)



(There are so many Youtube videos on this post, it will never survive in it's entirety.)


 

Miss Jaye

Fun road trip to Nashville this past week, capped off with a fun night with Miss Courtney Jaye at her album release party at The Stone Fox.

I would normally have been speechless at the sight of a woman so beautiful, but since we had already exchanged a couple of emails, I introduced myself and explained that I had gotten a lei shipped over for her (she lived in Kauai for a short time) and proceeded to give it to her. She was amazed and excited. 

The new album came out last Tuesday and is a nice blend of pop and country. First video and one of my favorite songs from it.



and another new one, acoustic version 




A couple of songs have a throw-back 70's feel to them...a sound I think she was going for considering the Juice Newton "Queen of Hearts" cover at the show and the super lovely "Lotta Love" acoustic last song. 



I'm honored and still giddy at getting to hang out with CJ and her friend after the party at Santa's Pub for some Karaoke and then later to late night breakfast. I felt like an old friend. Hope we can continue to be that.

Rippin

Anyone who knows me might be sick of me talking about Andrew Ripp. Too bad. I want him to be famous and I want everyone to have the same reaction to his songs that I do.

I was telling him the other day at his ALoft hotel performance that I don't truly understand how his voice resonates with me. 

It's not about the lyrics: It's about the sound of his voice. It helps that he makes catchy and heartfelt tunes, but it's more than that. He also choose good songs to cover, like Mirrors by Justin Timberlake. (sorry embedding is disabled, but click on it)

I heard this before I heard the original and I just love it.



 

Pharrell

with all the recent talk about Pharrell's recent appearance with Nile Rodgers on the new Daft Punk, I kept meaning to come back to this track which I heard a few months back.

Catchy fun track and (in this case) hot models and bewbz in the video.



 

Imagine Dragons

It's hard to not compare them to The Lumineers with this intro, but this is better than Hey Ho

I think I heard this on the radio here in Chicago and Shazam'd it. Good stuff. 



I'm not signing up for the newsletter or anything, but the song Hear Me is also catchy

Jamey Johnson plays Hank Cochran

I posted this video a little while ago and am still in love with the song



I hadn't heard of Jamey Johnson before but this song is just so great in an old time country way. For some reason, I never got around to looking into the rest of the album...it just slipped my mind the way that things do these days, but yesterday I came across it at the library and it's just so good.

This video gives a good description of Hank and why the tribute record was put together:



Lots of great singers here; country legends even.

Beyond the Alison Krauss, the Merle Haggard stuff is excellent including the Patsy Cline classic.



and this more "uptempo" number which features Willie Nelson



Lots of other clips on YouTube if you're interested.

Rhye

I'm always skeptical when an artist is compared to Sade. In a way, I feel bad for this dude (YES DUDE) because it seems like any review of his tunes are just endless comparisons to the lovely Ms Adu and her band. 

I guess it's a fair comparison, especially if the first thing that you heard was 3 Days:




but it's not the ONLY group you could compare him too, right? Anyone?


 This type of moodiness isn't my forte really. I skipped right over Portishead when they came out and that super melancholy/haunting vibe is just too mellow for me, but this album has some nice moments and he is ripe for remixes:






(this shit needs an edit...the track doesn't breathe at all, but I do like the drums)

 

2 Raum...what?

 

I heard a cool song in Cost Plus the other day. Shazam to the rescue and determined it was this:

LA LA LA - 2raumwohnung from carla trachsler on Vimeo.

I think I dug it because it reminded me of Kimbra a little bit:



I went looking for the song on eMusic and couldn't find the album it's on (got it through Amazon here) but found some really great samba/bossa nova by them on their earlier albums. 

Radiolab

At some point, as I often do, I wrote myself a note on a piece of paper. There were songs to look up, books to find and then at the bottom I wrote Radiolab podcast.

I finally got around to downloading a few of the shows on iTunes and I LOVE IT.

In looking through the list (with barely any description readable) I grabbed this one first.

Radiolab: Pop Songs

Some songs have the nefarious power to stick mercilessly in our heads, and some songs have the transcendent allure to overcome cultural differences. We ask how songwriters create these songs seemingly out of the ether, listen in on the music a deaf man hears, and examine the timeless appeal of the Elvis of Afghanistan.

Just super crazyinterestingcool stuff. 

Subscribed. 

James Hunter

I discovered that James Hunter had a new album coming out the other day and after hearing some sound samples was pretty stoked. In a RARE stroke of luck, I managed to see that he was playing at Lincoln Hall here in Chicago BEFORE the show actually happened and went down to check it out. 

Now as the James Hunter 6 the band was super tight and super funky. Maybe it's the 5 years since his last album or the personal stuff he's had to go through but his sound is way "rougher" than I remember from his last CDs.

Case in point, these 2 covers which KILLED IT. By the age of these video posts, the band has had significant time to hone these tunes into the soulful funky goodness that I experienced this past Saturday.


Baby Don't Do It - The Five Royales
 




Down Home Girl - Originally The Coasters, but this is more a Stones cover tempo wise





 

Makana

Caught some Ki Ho'alu to warm up a cold Chicago evening tonight at Old Town School of Folk Music. Lucky to see Makana for the first time. Even though I have a few of his songs, I didn't know of his slack key knowledge or pedigree (Sonny Chillingworth) much less the extent of his talent.

Heard some familiar favorites like Hi'ilawe and Ku'u Lei Awapuhi along with a Led Zeppelin cover (Going To California) but his instrumentals were where he really lit it up.



This song, close to the end of the set, was really touching after he told the story of what it is about. The Waterfall of Nu'uanu and how Jay Kauka wrote it at 18 when his dad died.


 
 

Thanks Platurn

So Dj Platurn posed a request to his friends on Facebook asking for a new song to get stuck in his head. I'm digging on some of the suggestions he got. 

Oddly enough, I was familiar with two of the artists but not the songs shared.

I LOVE Beautiful World by JJ Gray and Mofro, but this is from their first album.
 


and I had downloaded a couple of songs from the Allen Stone record when it came out, but I missed this one



The last one, is something for the wish list:



credit is incorrect as the band is Mudie's Allstars (Harry Mudie as producer)

*** UPDATED 2 days later with more links! ***

super fun uptempo and catchy!




 

hip hop yo...




 

First show of 2013

How odd that my last post was of D'Angelo.

Went to my first show of the new year last night at Lincoln Hall and had a great time. I don't know if it's the James Poyser arrangements/production or his laid back vocal style, but Jose James invites all kinds of comparisons to D.



 I also wasn't familiar with Mister Joshua who dj'd an opening set but he played some nice groovy stuff to start. Amp Fiddler, Sade and I had to Shazam a couple of tunes:




 

2013

First post for 2013 and I'm thinking about when the hell the new D'Angelo album is coming out.

If it's got shit like this on it....I'm sold. Don't be fulled by the ridiculous "sexiest performance ever" tag and the How Does It Feel opening.