Meh...

I can't find a pic that I'm ok with posting right now, so you get all text...

I've been listening to three songs kind of on repeat for most of the night tonight.

This song has been in my head a ton in the last few weeks...I'm not quite sure why, cause it's neither new nor a song I consider to be stellar or amazing in any way, but it's been popping into my head frequently during the day for a while, and alot today.

Alicia Keys - No One


How cheesy right? Whatever...I'm allowed to be corny sometimes. I'm really feeling this song right now. I feel like a total sap for listening to it so much. I actually got kind of embarrassed and disconnected my speakers and have just been playing it on my headphones...I don't want my roommates thinking I'm a head case...

Second song is equally as cheesy.

The Cranberries - Linger


This makes me feel like I'm a deleted character from that movie Empire Records or something, like the dude that pissed off that girl that shaved her head and pretended to slit her wrists or something. I should buy some flannel, stop washing my hair, move to Seattle and get a gf who is like a 6, but becomes a 9 based on her music preferences or something...

Song #3 is more of a classic that I got put onto from Dj Eli's blog a while ago.
Candi Station - Victim


This one is more of a classic that has been in my head for a while. I just like it, theres not really anything else to say other than that. It's good, I like the words, it sounds awesome. end of story...

and since this post is kind of depressing, I'll post a song that sounds happy, but is still right down the same vein of the others...

John Dahlback - Sidewalk


thanks to the dude bushy for putting me onto the last one.

Also...

I fucking LOVE this song, I don't have an mp3 of it. Someone send it to me. I think this song should be featured in the hills alot this season...I just got an ipod shuffle...I'll put it on 40 times so I just listen to it over and over...I wanna be the only dude that knows the words to this shit.



Alright...now I'm listening to this...



I'm pretty sure i just made myself feel better.

Baby, Baby, Aw Shucks

So it's another day, and I've of course found another song that I think is the most amazing song ever in the history of the world.

I've had this on vinyl for a good amount of time but I just got an mp3 of it today so I listened to it a bunch and decided it fits the title of "most awesome shit ever". Sometimes I think it's so crazy that anyone would not like disco. It has to be probably the happiest music ever. I mean I'm probably wrong, but it's really fucking happy. Just listening to it brings an enormous smile to my face and makes me want to dance around with no care in the world.

This is a re-edit of First Choice's "Let No Man Put Asunder" done by storied dj Ron Hardy. What I know about Chicago is pretty comparable to what I know about quantum physics, but that city gets such a massive pass in my book for the whole "we invented house music" thing and when they have dudes busting out tunes like this it really shines quite a positive light on the windy city...also, Jordan was dope.

anyway...

Right now, listening to this song makes me feel like the happiest dude in the world...

Ron Hardy - Baby, Baby, Aw Shucks


Listen to that! So much soul and emotion in one 8 minute package. And the "Babaay, Babaay" loop OMG! Just kind of makes me want to get on a rooftop and start screaming about how much I love everyone...

here's the original in case you're curious.

First Choice - Let No Man Put Asunder

Summer, I See You...

So, I can feel it, Summer is almost here. Last week Thursday was the first day of Spring and thats comforting, but Summer is really where it's at. It's really funny though because I lived in a place that basically had two seasons, hot and not that hot, for 24 years and now that I'm in a place that actually has distinguishable seasons I kind of see how that affects people. The added Sun definitely has me in a much better, more positive mood as of late.

To combine all that with unexpected, but totally welcomed twists of fate. The last week or so has been kind of incredible.

It's actually really been affecting how I listen to music. I've had a really ecstatic feeling lately when listening to some stuff.

Last night before I went to bed, I was listening to this song.

Res - They Say Vision (Robbie Rivera Mix)


I must've listened to it like 30 times between yesterday and today. I'm actually listening to it as I write this. It was so weird though because I was listening and was actually on the verge of tears because of how I felt about the song. Like it's incredible, right now I feel like it's the best song ever made, and I know that next week I'm not going to think the same about it, but right now, it's top notch, nothing else I would rather listen to.

I have it on repeat and it's staying there at least through tonight. Point being though. Theres been like 2-3 of these songs in the last week that have made me feel like this. It's totally a new thing with me and music. I kinda like it.

This is so corny and lame. Fuck it whatever. I love this song. You should too.

Tambourine Dream pt. 2

A couple months ago I posted about the Tambourine Dream project that Cousin Cole and Pocketknife aka Flagrant Fowl had just put out on vinyl. They have since then put out a banging mixtape with 18 Tambo D tracks that has been getting praised by everyone from my boss to my friends in AZ. I've heard they have quite a buzz building in Europe because of Tambo D as well...

As a promotional bonus to the mix cd, Cousin Cole hit me with an MPfree of one of the tracks on the EP and mix. So I figured I'd pay it forward.

Joanna Newsom - The Book of Right On (Pocketknife's Scowling Owl Remix)

The Greatest Rapper of All Time...

Died on March 9th.



This is always an important day to me because Biggie is easily one of my top 3 rappers of all time. He was so important in hip hop history and his music still kills it anywhere I've played.

Growing up in Arizona there weren't that many dudes who were really feeling east coast hip hop that much but it's really what made me love rap when I was young. Lots of kids in my neighborhood would listen to tupac, dre, snoop and the usual death row fare, but I was always trying to get into biggie, jeru, gangstarr, jay-z, nas, mobb deep so I was in the minority.

The day I found out he died was one of the saddest moments I can remember. I was still fairly young (14) but I was a nerd and was always in my room listening to music and watching mtv so I knew what was going on and it was sad to see the east/west coast feud come to that.

But I always take today to reflect on the good things he brought. He really was a dude that changed the game. Him and diddy really created the formula of taking hood music to the pop charts and it was kind of a wrap on everyone else for a while. It's crazy to wonder what could've come from Biggie if he was still around, but thats a question that's kind of pointless to think about...

I'd rather just see how dude did it and be thankful we at least got to see a portion of his talent during our lifetime.

I feel like everyone has Biggie mp3s so im gonna post some videos...



this is Big at 17, it was easy to see he was going to be one of the greats. Slick rhyme style and loads of charizma. Please pay attention to the dude he's battling that just decides to walk away because he got owned.



before all the BS...



I remember watching this in '95 sitting at home and thinking how awesome it was that Biggie came to AZ to rap on the river. I thought it was amazing that he was only an hour and 15 minutes away from where I lived, but was then upset to find that you had to be over 18 to get into MTV spring break which was YEARS away for the 12 year old me.



This song came out after he died, but its one of my favorite biggie songs because this girl who was like my best friend back then bought it for me when I came back from some trip and she told me to come over cause she had a present for me, so my mom drove me over to her house and she gave me the cassingle. I think I listened to it about 900 times. I had to buy the cd single because I burned out the tape.

R.I.P. Biggie...

Best Show on TV right now

The best song ever (right now/this week)

This dropped on Tuesday and I scooped it up without even listening to it because DFA is killing it right now and have been putting out nothing but heaters lately...

Listening to this song kind of makes me want to cry. It's 13 minutes long and every second is better than the last. Like I'm willing to bet about 200 bucks that they play this song at the next Big Fun (Wed. March 19th!!!) and I'm fully anticipating melting into nothingness and balling my eyes out at the ill breakdown around 8:16. Ive listened to it probably 50 times since Thursday when I heard someone play it out and consequently lost my shit...

I'm pretty comfortable saying this is the best song I've heard this year. The way it opens up is like magic. Starting out disco-y and then dropping into house with added vocals from Nancy Whang which keep going through the amazing breakdown and then the full power of the track is unleashed around the 10 minute mark where everything gets acid and my brain goes into full meltdown mode.

If you don't already get my point...this shit is FUCKING INCREDIBLE.

Im posting shitty bitrate because you should buy it. Itunes, Beatport, vinyl...whatever. If you like music you should love this song and owe it to yourself to buy it.

The Juan Maclean - Happy House

Sorry again...

totally busy this week once again. Im gonna post a bunch of shit today. hopefully people read it all. I have some cool shit to share.

My favorite song today...

This shit is so hot. I think I listened to this 45 times today. The beat is straight fire, like I don't know or care what he's saying. It's just dope...

Busy Signal - Jail

New Justice Video

Re-upped.

So Me runnin' thangs

Soft Rock Sunday: 3/2/08

Heres a nice one from the wispy blonde-locked one himself... A sweet, smooth jam from the Dirty Dancing soundtrack that can only be fully appreciated with video accompaniment.



Hearing this song makes me kind of sad that P.Swayze didn't drop a full length gem on us because it could've led to some embarrassingly awesome soft rock. He digs deep for those feelings about the once cute Jennifer Grey and how their love is somewhat forbidden during the second verse when you really get to feel the deep pain they both suffered through the ordeal.

Patrick Swayze - She's Like the Wind


and since I said I'd double up this week.

here's a nice one I've been feeling all week. I've been having trouble tracking down an mp3 but I'll post it if I get one.

Guilty Pleasure Thursdays: 2/28/08

Since I wanted to make it up to everyone for missing last week's GPT I figured this week I'd traverse through a genre that I'm pretty embarrassed I ever listened to.

I feel like everyone has a moment in their lives where they don't really know too much about music so they just absorb what's going on in the atmosphere around them...for me this was my pop punk era. I had just moved to Phoenix and started high school there. I played on the football team and the popular kids on the team listened to this shit, and I felt like for me to get accepted and infiltrate the popular crowd of kids I needed to befriend the "cool guys" on the team.

My gateway into the realm of pop punk came through punk covers which sounds so lame right now, but whatever. A New Found Glory (pictured above) put out a whole album of punk covers and I listened to that for a while, I found myself wanting more. So I hop on my computer and log into KaZaa (represent!) and type in punk covers and for the moment found myself in heaven. About 10 days later I had downloaded about 20 songs (thanks dial-up!). I had the best of what I thought were "great" bands at the time with punk covers from Pennywise, MXPX, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, and of course MORE NEW FOUND GLORY!!!

Once I got my fill of covers I progressed into original work, which I guess was a better move? I really went deep with it and started searching out bands for myself and soon enough due to my apparent gene for music nerdery I was probably the most knowledgeable person I knew about pop punk music(really nothing to brag about...).

The only real saving grace that I had was that I never started dressing like the douchebags who listened to this stuff, which had it happened, would've been the darkest cloud in my past...

The good news was I ended up being a fairly popular dude who was both revered by dudes, and loved by the ladies (I said that like Conan says it). And all in all, I'm not that ashamed by it, like it's totally lame and bad music for the most part but it reminds me of dumb shit from high school, which was mostly a good experience...I've also righted my wrongs and feel like I've moved onto much better music listening habits...Who knows though? Maybe in 6 years I'll look back on today and think Soft Rock was the lamest shit ever...even though it's totally amazing.

Anyway, here's some shit that I felt were bangers back then...

A New Found Glory - Boy Crazy

This was one of the first songs I really really liked like ALOT. I listened to it ALL the time. I felt like NFG was writing the song for me because girls totally sucked and were always sucking the life out of me...

One Man Army - Victoria

This song I found one day while looking through cd's at Zia Records and thought it was cool cause I knew a girl named Victoria and she was kinda hot so I figured "why not bring this up in convo and get things poppin'?".

It didn't quite work out that way...

No Use for a Name - International You Day

I put this on a mixtape for a girl one time. I was so full of angst and wanted her to know I really liked her but didn't want to say it in real life so I figured I'd use the gift of song to get her to fall in love with me, cause these lyrics are totes panty droppers.

Also, did not work out...

Millencolin - Fox

This was a fun song I used to listen to after school when I was driving around with my friend Stacie and we would talk about how much the opposite sex was fucking us over that day/week/month/year/for life.

as you can tell unrequited love/teen angst was a heavy influence on basically anything I've listened to from age 0 till umm...now...

I'm gonna cap it off there, but this post would've had about 80 more songs if I still had my old computer. I got rid of alot of gems from this era on my Mac switchover...

Also, I never listened to Good Charlotte because they are a total shitfest and utterly retarded.

LULZ

Soft Rock Sunday: 2/25/08 (SORRRRY!)

My blog lately has made me feel like Daniel Plainview on some "I've abandoned my chiiiiild!" steez, but I'm back, but my blog is now deaf...(god im nerdy...shouts to the last Mohican Daniel Day-Lewis for the Oscar win)

Alright so I'm sort of stretching the bounds of soft rock this week, but I feel like this song would definitely get some burn on a contemporary station (like best of 80's, 90's, and today! type thing). I've heard it on my cab ride home 3 times in the last week at like 4 in the AM so I figured I'd make it this weeks Soft Rock jam o' the week.

The Four Seasons - December '63

Guilty Pleasure Thursdays: 2/21/08 LATE PASS!

So in the past I've been fairly vocal about my distaste for U2. I find them to be one of the most repulsive and douche-y bands in the history of douching...

BUT

As it turns out I sort of like one of their songs...before anyone that knows me starts to berate me for going back on my word let me explain.

This dude Dj Eli makes some of the best remixes out there right now. Basically everything he has remixed over the past year or two has been a certified heater. He just so happens to have done an edit of U2's song "New Year's Day", and it's absolute fire. IMO it totally improves upon the original track and actually makes me like a U2 song which I previously found to be impossible...

I feel like I just outed myself at an AA meeting for also doing heroin or something...But it's also a giant weight lifted off my back, just don't expect me to be screaming "I Love Bono" at the top of my lungs any time soon...

Dj Eli - I Will Be With You Again


bad quality mpfree because you need to pay for it...

Buy Eli's Money Lotion EP at TTL

FUUUUUUCK

sorry, I'm the worst blogger ever this week...I will fix it tomorrow.

Soft Rock Sundays: 2/17/08

When I was a freshman in high school I took a class that was centered around Vietnam war history. One of the lesson plans in the class was solely based on the music at the time, which was interesting because we got to listen to alot of stuff that I had never heard before and got to watch some movies to drive the point home. After that lesson ended I still kept a decent interest with the anti-war music of the time and would always be really excited to hear something new.

I became obsessed with the time period for a while and used to watch Full Metal Jacket, Hamburger Hill, Good Morning Vietnam and the Woodstock documentary on repeat for a few months.

One of the songs that always stuck with me as one of my favorites loosely falls into the soft rock category so I figured I'd post it today.

Buffalo Springfield - For What It's Worth

Big L Rest In Peace...

May 30, 1974 – February 15, 1999

I wanted to post this yesterday, but my internet connection was sucking so you get it today.

When I was 16 years old there were two rappers that I thought were going to take over the world, Big L and Canibus. I was wrong about both, but for different reasons. Big L died before he had the chance.

He was set to sign with Jay-Z's Roc-a-fella records, but was shot a week before he was to do so. His album "The Big Picture" was finished after he died and bittersweetly ended up going platinum which goes to show that he definitely had a special quality about his music.

This was the first record I bought that I really thought I dropped alot of cash on. I bought it on ebay for 45 bucks. I may have gotten ripped off but when I heard this song it was just one of those things I had to have. I was so happy to have it in my hands when it finally came in.

Big L - MVP



After "The Big Picture" was released I was listening to the radio and heard "Flamboyant" and it had instant classic status in my mind. I knew the city dj's went to a certain record store in town to unload their promo vinyl. I found out Flamboyant was promo only so I figured thats where I'd find it. It was there with about 50 other Rawkus promos which was an amazing moment in my life as Rawkus was kind of ruling the game at the time IMO...

Big L - Flamboyant


And then there was the storied Wake Up Show freestyle session he had with Jay-Z.

Big L/Jay-Z Freestyle


and just for good measure.

Gang Starr - Full Clip

Guilty Pleasure Thursdays: 2/14/08

note: my internet isn't working so im posting video instead of the songs, but ill post up the music when I get a chance...

Alright, so the reason that I thought up Guilty Pleasure Thursdays was because of the post I wanted to make today. I knew that I could tear down the house with this story...

Let me begin with some back story...

There was a girl that I had a huge crush on from 5th grade until I was a freshman in high school, because I was a fucking schlub I never really told her even though she obviously had to find out from someone because who has trustworthy friends at that age? Not I...So fast forward from 5th grade to 7th grade I joined the junior high wrestling team and our first tournament was coming up. The girl whom I was smitten over told me that she would be coming to our match, so I'm like "holy shit! a chance to impress her".

The day of the tournament finally comes and I'm psyched and nervous for my first match. I get out there and basically get my ass handed to me by a dude that's a foot taller than me and probably outweighs me by 20 lbs. Embarrassed, I look around and realized the girl isn't there, so while I'm disappointed, that kind of stopped the bleeding...

I'm waiting around about an hour later and she comes to tell me shes there...I immediately am flooded with nervousness because I have another match coming up. I was thankful she didn't as any other questions as explaining why I'm in the loser's bracket would be awful...

Second match comes up. I get destroyed again...This time at the end of the match I look up at my crush and she's laughing with her friends and my life all came crashing down...I rushed off the mat and hurried to the locker room and immediately start crying and punching shit like lockers and doors...About 20 min later I regain composure and get dressed and go home. Once I get home, I go in my room and flip on the cd player and start listening to two songs on repeat...

The first is the guilty pleasure. This song I listened to allllll the time because it reminded me of the girl I liked and I felt that the more I listened to it the higher the likelihood of her dating me would be. I really liked the song back then, and would still listen to it now even though it's totally fucking LAAAAAME.



I sat in my room listening to that just crying for what seemed like hours upon hours because I thought my shot at dating this girl were just crushed by my inability to win a single match during the day she came to see me.

It wasn't THAT bad when I listened to Jewel's masterpiece, but when the second song came on, I fully lost it and the waterworks really started to flow...I felt like the lyrics were written specifically for me in that situation...



That may have been one of the saddest days in my life. I got minor vilification after I graduated college and curiosity got the best of me when I decided to look up her myspace only to find out she was fucking UGLY. I don't know what I was thinking...


Happy V-day.

Cuteness Overload

Cute girls having a ton of fun dancing on the streets of France...A+