Get wild

I just discovered Wild Belle. They came out with their first two tracks on itunes in february and they are completely unique and terrific. I thought their first track, Keep You, was going to sound like a complete reggae jam, it turned into a psychedelic electronic masterpiece. Their second track, Take me away was nothing like the first one, it had a totally walkable beat and Motown sounding horns playing in the background with their signature electronic vibe. I am really excited for this Chicago band to come out with their first album, what I have heard so far is terrific.

We be jahmmin mon

So I heard some Marley on the radio earlier today and it just reminded me of how great reggae is in the summer. Rebelution just came out with a new album in January and I really wasn't feeling it then but now that its mid 70s and sunny its perfect reggae weather. I really like the new album "Peace of Mind" it's pretty poppy for a reggae album and sounds similar to artists like The Dirty Heads, who actually came out with a new single two on tuesday, more on that later. I really like the new album it has some very mellow tunes as well as the classic boomchakaboomchak sound. I think this album has a lot more range than most of their old stuff which seemed to just be a bunch of drums and piano beats. Here's my favorite off of that one.

I also like "Good Vibes"which is more like their usual stuff. The Dirty Heads, however, aren't really changing things up that much. Their new single "Spread Too Thin" has pretty much the same beats and chords as "Lay Me Down," their most popular one. I'm still excited for their new album to drop cause their first one had some great stuff on it. So here's a good one from their 2010 album, enjoy. 

Gettin back into the summer groove

So it was almost 70 degrees in Chicago today, and granted it is still march but I can feel summer on the way. Last summer was a big one for mashups and mixes and I just wasn't really feeling it over the winter. But now that its warm out again I'm ready to start blasting them again. First of all, C2C's "Down the Road," which I posted yesterday,  is a great summer jam with its mix of blues and electronic. Second, mashups. I decided to start searching today and I found a new mixtape from Super Mash Bros, some of my favorite mixers. This got me really pumped for summer:

Also lots of new mixes from Kap Slap, The White Panda, and The Hood Internet. I also really like Milkman's mashups but he has recently chosen to start producing some of his own electronic/dance music which I'm not really a fan of but it's got some catchy beats.

Genres-Continued

Ok so I left off with pop. I am usually not that much of a fan of super overproduced and auto tuned sounding music so most of the pop music I listen to is kind of acoustic sounding. I do however really like fun., which just came out with a new album. I'm also into Gotye, which really more indie sounding but has become very popular lately. I also really like Andrew Bird, who just came out with a new album as well. He has more of a folk sound, but very poppy tunes and vocals. So here's my current pop favorite:

In my mind there are three kinds of hip-hop. 1. Hip-pop: This kind of music usually has some kind of catchy pop sample playing in the background-think Chiddy Bang, Wiz Khalifa, a lot of Eminem. 2. Chill-hop: This is real rap that usually has some down tempo beat with some female vocals or something else low-key. 3. Their's straight rap: basically anything hardcore no poppy beats just rhymes or freestyle. This is very simplified and there are many kinds that cross line and blend like ghetto rap and so on... My current favorites are all pretty chill raps like Atmosphere, The Roots, and several Gorillaz songs.

Folk. I really don't listen to that much real folk, so I guess I'm not really gonna talk about that but I do really like rock sounding music played acoustically. Anything from Fleetwood Mac to Bright Eyes and Blitzen Trapper. I've been listening to these all the time since they are terrific spring music, but just now folk music. I also really like Bob Dylan's "Highway 61 Revisited" which has a lot of great actual folk songs.

Ok in terms of experimental, ambient, and trip-hop I really love The Glitch Mob, Phantogram, Hooverphonic, Circadian Eyes, and Cloud Nothings. I'm also really enjoying the slow and calming beats of El Ten Eleven who I am going to see in two weeks. This stuff is pretty great and not very well know so I'm really enjoying it. Most of the experimental music that I listen to is really chill and ambient but I also like some more up beat stuff like C2C. Here is one that I just discovered by them which is just awesome as well as one of El Ten Elevens older songs. 

I don't really wanna cover DJs and dubstep that much but I really like some stuff by Draper and other chill dubstep. I like some Avicci, but I really like that kind of music a lot more when it's played at parties than just listening to it for fun. 

About metal. I think I could maybe listen to it if I was at a concert and in a really angry mood, but alone  just can'e handle it at all. Country I just hate. 

Genres

So lets talk about the kinds of music that I like. For the most part I listen to rock, indie, classic, and folk, but I can really get into just about any genre. Except country. And metal.

Ok So lets start off with Rock. I can never get enough of some classics. I love the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, and The Who, just to name a couple. But in particular I am into the really chill stuff. Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" is one of my favorite songs, slow and acoustic sounding, with terrific vocals. Recently I have been listening to a lot of the Rolling Stones. Here's my favorite of theres.

Ok so Indie. I never really know where to start with this genre since it's pretty much anything that isn't well known yet. I'm really not into anything extremely obscure but some of the Indie style music I like includes Bibio, Yellow Ostrich, The xx, Spoon, and the Decemberists. So those are all fairly well known so I really just wanted to share a great new song by the band Yellow Ostrich which I recently discovered and then they just came out with a new album. So this is one from their newest album.

Ok so next is R & B. I'm really into stuff like this right now. I was listening to a lot of Earth, Wind & Fire a couple months ago as wel as bands such as Fitz and the Tantrums, Mayer Hawthorne, Amy Winehouse, and Ben L'Oncle Soul. I really just love this stuff it has so much soul and some pretty great beats. I've also listened to some stuff by The Weeknd which is sort of R & B esque but also sort of ambient sounding. So here are two of my faves from this genre. 

Ok so that's it for now since I should probably go to sleep but I'm going to try to cover as many more genres as I can. I will definitely get to pop, hip-hop, folk, and experimental...and DJs...Let me know if you have any other suggestions. 

     

Old Music

I recently had the realization that no matter what I do I will never be able to listen to all of the music in the world. So how can I possibly have a good balance of music, between classic old songs and great new hits that are coming out every day?

So new music I've usually got a handle on I see it when it comes out and I see recommendation on my last.fm account for similar bands with new music, so that's all good.

Then there's music that isn't new but is still from the last five or ten years. That stuff is pretty much in the same category as new music it's easy to find and some of my favorite albums are a few years old, but they still feel pretty new to me.

Really my only issue is old music. It's really hard to discover old bands when they aren't coming out with anything new, so I only really know classic old bands. Recently I've been listening to a lot of Pink Floyd and Tom Petty. But I'm sure there are some great old bands that I'm not going to discover. Solution: there needs to be a music site to promote great old music that isn't very well known. Anybody know about a site like that?