The Way I Fell In, The Morning Of's 2010 Release
The best experiences are those that come by surprise and often never expected. The better a band's production, the more likely they will sound like a grown up band and maturity is a sign of knowing the industry in some fashion or another. I've heard all songs released on EPs and full-length albums by The Morning Of since their first EP. They're a pop rock band with piano-esque sound and a saturday morning approach to music.
Recommended: The National
Where Is My Mind Cover by Maxence Cyrin
This piano cover of the Pixies' "Where Is My Mind" is haunting and original. It gives words to a silent movie and gives life to the haunted genre it comes from.
Animal Collective's Album Cover is a trip
Exploring World Music: Qawwali
I'm proud to say that I'm not narrow minded when it comes to genres, especially metagenres. I try to keep my ears open for all types of music.
Besides English, I also understand Urdu, Punjabi, and Hindi. This of course opens doors for more music as well. I've grown up around a lot of Hindi music, largely due to films from Bollywood.
Recently, when I went over to Pakistan for 2 weeks, I discovered or actually rediscovered a genre and culture of music that redefines all aspects of music. Qawwali is an intense form of spirituality and expression. It involves more than half a dozen musicians to perform together. Usually the instruments include a harmonium, tabla or something close to that for percussion, claps from backing chorus singers, main vocals, and some times a string instrument. It's insanely beautiful and doesn't lack any art at all.
This is an early attempt at discovering very hidden and distinct music. I have posted about some punjabi music before but now I'm going to push for more music. If you're interested in giving me any suggestions, please go ahead and just comment those!
Eff Yes Instrumentals!
I just love instrumentals from all genres. Whether they're slow and piano powered or experimental and haunting, I listen to them if they're good! So because of this and also because there's this microculture of the Fuck Yes blogs on Tumblr that I decided to start my own. It's called Fuck Yes Instrumentals (http://fuckyesinstrumentals.tumblr.com).
It's fairly underdeveloped.
How The Industry Filters Money
The music industry is a very dynamic world, it doesn't really matter how much you sell or how popular you are. The only thing that really matter is who owns your music. Check the infographic.
Ian Curtis, Great Vocalist & Oh Today's His Birthday!
Ian Curtis is the most popular typical rockstar death but he did overdose and die while Joy Division was on tour. Today's his birthday, he would've been 54 years old.
Check out Joy Division's "She's Lost Control" below:
Drake finally debuts with Thank Me Later
Even though he's been on the radio and every hip hop outlet has been keeping their ears open, Drake released his debut just now. Thank Me Later comes after his periodical mixtapes have built up a dedicated following.
As almost all hip hop albums go, a rapper needs to have a few essential elements covered. The first being the production of the final release and also the production of the beats and their instruments. Drake's approach to the instrumentals has been a surprise to me. The mixtapes didn't feature much variety to start with, they were essentially contemporary beats from radio hip hop. Thank Me Later discriminates according to each track.
The record starts slowly with "Fireworks" featuring Alicia Keys. "Fireworks" without a doubt sounds more of an r&b track than anything close to hip hop. And then my favorite verse is contained within "Karaoke" mostly because the track is a personal and emotional feat achieved by Drake. It has an alley-like background sound with a highly produced end product. There's some of a plot when it comes to moods and beats throughout the album, it starts soft and escalates up to a climatic high end beats and eventually ends with the rapper for thanks on "Thank Me Now."
The middle of the album is straight hip hop with well rapped verses. "Light Up" is produced by Kanye West which definitely is different than the rest of the album. It also features Jay Z rapping about his internet dilemmas. At a point, if you pay enough attention to each track, a hint of J Dilla is present. The soft and piano-powered beats remind me (and probably you) of an r&b album. The influence is present. "Fancy" featuring T.I. is über catchy and the hook is perfectly done.
Although I've heard Drake for about 2 years now, the fact that this is his debut is almost unbelievable. It surely paves a strong path for future albums to be even better. Anticipation begins now! Out of surprise, I really recommend this album, it's one to be included for your summer listening.
