The Game - Jesus Piece

I have always respected The Game as an artist because in my early days of listening to rap I remember all of his old songs and how much I liked the grimy, tough, emotional beats. I really enjoyed his last album because it had great features and the rapping was outstanding. This new album called Jesus Piece has caught my attention once again from the distinguished beats.

Here is my favorite song from the album

Austin Music Map: Honky Tonk Revival At The White Horse

On KUT the other day I listened to the Austin Music Minute and they were talking about the rising of country music amongst young people in austin and how genres like country indie and bluegrass were blending together. I found the video and thought it related to some of the music that is found at Woodstock.

Here is the video
Austin Music Map: Honky Tonk Revival At The White Horse

Louis Vuitton - J. Cole

J. Cole is a young rap artist signed to Jay-Z's label RocNation. He has developed over a couple years making 3 mix tapes and a debut album all very successful, whenever he puts out a new single it is a must have for me. With his new single I like it because it resembles some of the songs on his old mix tape, with a relaxing and dazed feel. The single comes from another song that he did with fabulous on his mix tape. The tune is superb and I like the way the song progresses during each verse. It's a fun song that is satirically speaking about the designer brand Louis Vuitton.

The song is called Louis Vuitton

Music Festivals

When we watched the documentary about Woodstock I found it very interesting because I have been to Fun Fun Fun fest and ACL. It was definitely a lot different from the new festivals that we have in Austin, but at the same time it had a lot of similarities. When looking at the festival grounds, even though it was on a farm the grounds looked the same and the stages were very complex for just learning about the festival idea. The concept hasn't changed since the first try and thats something I liked seeing. The amount of people at the fest was also shocking and it was surprising to see that many people. When the camera was walking around it made me feel like I was at ACL just a less developed version.

A$AP, Big Boi

One of my new favorite songs is called lines. It is very well collaborated between A$AP and Big Boi. They each have very electric verses which makes me eager to listen to the whole song and with a solid unique chorus in the middle it makes the song flow.

Here it is:

Class Reflection Week 13

In Class when we listened to "The Band" I really enjoyed it because I'm not the type to single out certain genres as "bad" or "good" and The Band did a very good job incorporating all of the different genres that are out there. They had country, rock, folk, jazz, reggae, hip-hop, and probably a lot of others. I think whenever a band is able to do this it shows their skills as musicians because they are in touch with everything and know about what they do for a living.

A new band I discovered called "Kids These Days", that I referenced in a past blog is like "The Band" because they have a variety of performers in the band including a rap artist, a keyboard, drummer, and trumpet and trombonists.

Earl

A reemerged rap artist from Odd Future has come back from his punishment in Samoa and delivered some sick new singles and new verses on the latest odd future album. 

I recently found this new single called chum, that has a calm beat and heavy lyrics that are very clever. My favorite thing about this song is the fact that the chorus in the song is disguised and you only learn that it is a chorus if you listen to the song a couple of times. 

Here is the song

Class Reflection Week Twelve

When listening to Jimi Hendrix in class I enjoyed hearing how easy it was for him to play the guitar, because when I used to play the guitar I would always think about how little habits could make the motions of playing easier and how hard it was to make your muscles remember the simplest motions. Jimi Hendrix impressed me with his abilities and made me interesting in hard rock.

Asher Roth

Last week Asher Roth played beauty ballroom and I have been following his music for quite sometime and some of his best songs include Lark On My Go Kart, Party Girl, Cannon, and Gotta Get Up. The concert was a great experience because of how close the crowd was to the performers. He was very energetic and a good performer. Surprisingly the best part about the concert were the opening acts: Chuck English, and Kids These Days. Chuck English a grimy rapper, and Kids These Days a jazzy, rock band with a trumpeter, a trombone, a bass guitarist, a guitarist, drummer, a singer/keyboarder, and a rapper. I liked the modern take the band had and here is a video. 

Class Reflection Week Eleven

Simon and Garfunkel were a music duo made up of the artists Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel they started performing in 1957 and had many hits including "Hey schoolgirl" and "The Sound Of Silence". In class we were talking about the faults of celebrities and how it entertains us to see them fail and succeed and how it is interesting to see their interactions with other celebrities. Their group 'Tom and Jerry' broke up for the first time in 1965 and Paul went on to make hits and build his career and when they got back together it was clear that Paul was the one with greater talent. A second breakup in 1969 would be the bands last interaction for many many years. Garfunkel never wanted to see Paul again because of his jealousy that Paul had his own career.

The other night I was watching TV and a re run of the 25th anniversary of the hall of rock was on. When I saw this duo performing I figured out that it was their first time to ever make interaction for many years and thought of how silly it was to break up and never talk to each other again, and realized that celebrities do some crazy things.

Here is a video from that performance:

Fun Fun Fun Fest

From the two days I was there, I saw a lot of good performances, including Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Bun B, Run DMC, DMC, Kreayshawn, Danny Brown, Strfkr, and A$AP rocky.

Macklemore and Ryan Lewis put on a great show and kept the crowd interested by playing their two most popular songs at the beginning. I thought it was interesting but kind of a let down because I was excited to wait for those songs. They sounded even better live and I wasn't let down with their singing and rapping abilities at all, like I am sometimes with rappers. 

Bun B was someone I was not as familiar with but I knew a few songs and I really liked his stage voice. The crowd was pumped with his beats and heavy bass so that made the show more exciting. He wasn't super amazing but I am definitely glad that I got to see him. 

Here is a song he performed called Uptown.

Run DMC was very exciting even though I was towards the back of the audience. I loved the way that they appealed to all generations and I liked that they so easily performed together. I am excited to say I have seen them live and that I got to hear their song "my adidas". DMC, a spin off of Run DMC was also very cool because some of Run DMC's sons are in this band and it really shows how music can stay the same over time.

I also saw a girl rapper by the name of Kreayshawn. She is kind of off edge and pretty corky. She has a few decent songs and I was curious to see how she would perform. I predicted that her voice would not be as good live because of the auto-tune and I was right but it wasn't as strainful as I thought it would be.

Here is her most famous song "Gucci Gucci"

In a row I saw a techno band called Strfkr and they were very entertaining for a little bit with their light show and the way the music was rapidly changing. But after a while everything started to sound the same. I will definitely go look up some of their music. A$AP came on last and he was who I had been wanting to see. When he came out an instrumental was playing and he started to tell his story in a hushed and deep voice then all of the sudden I heard a gunshot and he started his first song. I liked the originality of the performance and he was also very close to the audience which was a nice surprise.

Overall the fest was a blast and is different from ACL because of how small it is and how easy it is to get close to the concerts you want to see. It is definitely worth the money. 

Class Reflection Week Ten

In class while listening to Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band It made me think and I liked having to follow and anylize each person's verses and alter egos.  I liked the wildness of the album and the new things the Beatles incorporated into it. I also favored the wackiness from the album that pulled it apart from everything else they made.
One album that relates that is kind of whack and crazy is.. I know overdose on Eminem similarities. but his album Relapse was crazy and showed his insanity and habits of drugs which set it apart from his other music.

http://www.last.fm/music/Eminem/Relapse

Alter Egos in Music

In class when we discussed how for the Beatles album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Paul Mccartny gave each band member an alter ego to use throughout each song. I thought that this made the album super interesting and helped the album flow with a playful tone. Some Artists that I can think of who have alter egos are prince and probably the most recognizable is Eminem.

Here is a song that displays Eminem's alter egos through a story told in the perspective of a supposed fan but it may also be taken as Eminem talking to himself and pointing out his own flaws.

Great Duos In Rap

One aspect that makes rap different than any other genre is the fact that many rappers can join forces on one track to make it the best as possible. Many times when one rapper features another they start to feature each other in many songs of the future.

Top 3 duos and their songs
Kendrick Lamar and Drake

Kanye west and Jay - Z

Wiz Khalifa and Big Sean

Class Reflection Week Nine

When listening to the heavy metal the other day in class I found it to be extremely annoying and it contained to much extraneous noise. I think that i could probably do without the genre and I think that having so many different variations of that genre is unnecessary. Although it made me think about the different variations of other genres that I like and I was thinking about if I liked that or not. And even for my favorite genres I don't find the other variations necessary. I like keeping the base genre alive.

Country should be known as Country
Hip Hop/ Rap should be left as one genre
Rock and its genres should be put together as one
and so forth...

John Mayer

Someone who has been on my list of good artists for a while now is John Mayer and like we have said in class I think he is an artist who has changed his style and it hasn't affected the way his records have sold.

From Room For Squares to Born and Raised John Mayer's 5 studio albums have been a mix of alternative to bluesy country. Here is a song from each album in order so you can see for yourself.

Room For Squares
"No Such Thing"

Heavier Things
"Clarity"

Continuum
"Dreaming With A Broken Heart"

Battle Studies
"Who Says"

Born And Raised
"The Age Of Worry"

Class Reflection Week Eight

Pet Sounds

The Good:
Listening to the album "Pet Sounds" gave me new opinions about the beach boys. Before I had always associated the beach boys with laid back style and happy tones and lyrics which made me not take them as seriously as i should have. When I heard the first song I was super happy to know that such a famous song came from such a sophisticated album. My new opinion formed after hearing all of the great lyrics and the way that they were able to change their sound and improve to sophisticated grown ups. I liked the way that the album flowed and the way they experimented with new styles of playing and new instruments to revolutionize the music industry.

The Bad:
Once I realized that there was a whole different side to the Beach Boys that no one had told me about before, It made me miss the stereotypes that the Beach Boys have displayed and while listening to the album I almost got bored with some of the more relaxed and complex music.

Overall I respect the album and am probably going to download it. Something that a lot of the songs reminded me of were a few of these songs by arcade fire. The tempo mostly and the mood of the music is very similar.

Class Reflection Week Seven

When we watched the Beatles "help" in class I was shocked that the video was so random but at the same time I was also shocked at the graphics and the color in the video. I thought it was very entertaining. Just a little hard to follow.

The ending scene reminded me of this album art from Kanye and a little bit from his music video "power". The native theme and the colors are kind of similar.

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

Ben Hagerty, formally known as Macklemore, a young white rapper who I think he has come a long way as an artist. From being on the cover of XXL in 2012 he has come out with a number of quality mix tapes and EPs. When it came time for an album he turned to his pal and 5 star producer Ryan Lewis. This duo has grown on me and has become one of my favorite combinations to listen to. With Ryan lewis's high quality beats and Macklemore's passion for rapping and his ability to make a statement these two give me something amazing to listen to. It's surprising they haven't formed a group yet. The new album is called "The Heist".


The most impressive song on the album and also one of the songs that was around before the album came out is called "same love". Macklemore uses this song to give his opinion on marriage rights, something that is a very heated topic now a days. The bravery of choosing this as a base topic makes the song more interesting to listen to. Also this is a great music video with really good actors and scenes that fit the music.

Another song that is pretty lively thanks to Ryan Lewis's beats is the song "White Walls" it also features Schoolboy Q and a girl named Hollis who gave the chorus a pop feel which made it one of my favorites.

My third favorite would probably be a song called "Wing$". It is a song 100 percent about sweet kicks that Macklemore remembers having when he was younger. I felt that it told a cool story about something that usually doesn't make a huge difference but for him it made his childhood.

Kendrick Lamar Compton

Compton is a song that will be on Kendrick Lamar's new album "Good Kid m.A.A.d City". He once again features Dr. Dre after he previously featured him on his first iTunes hit. I think once Kendrick releases his debut album lots of people will notice him and give him the respect he deserves. I like the west coast style rap and in the song Kendrick uses a interesting piano feature that gives the song alot of depth.

Here you Go

Class Reflection Week Six

The album "Help" by the Beatles was, I think my favorite album we have listened to so far. It brought back the most memories because it had a lot of songs i was really familiar with and I really like the order that the album is in, something we talked about in class. I think it is unfortunate that this element has changed in the album industry. When listening to an album I listen to the whole thing in order at least once, something that is not common now a days and I think all of the artists are shoving their music to the front of the album, the music that people will love the most. 

This got me thinking about how it isn't as common to push all of the popular music to the front in rap because in rap albums are used to tell stories and give a series of events and in a story the main event happens in the middle and at the end. 

It is common for there to be an intro or a song that starts a mood or a theme and believe it or not an outro may even be present. 

Here are some recent rap albums that present this pattern. 

Here are the first and last songs from Lupe Fiasco's Food and Liquor II

First and last for stoned immaculate by curren$y

These songs are neutral and don't really draw my attention and i think it is good that rap artists can still trust their listeners. 

Hate - Kanye West & Jay - Z

Clicking shuffle can be a surprising way to find old songs that you once loved. The other day I came across this song:

It may be an old one from these two artists but its hard for me to find a song more energetic.

The reason I like this song so much is because of the way they seamlessly go from person to person on each rap and the reference to Katy Perry was definitely a deal breaker. The beat is grimy and very innovative and something that a lot of rappers don't try.

Class Reflection Week 5

What makes a good intro in a great rock song? When we listened to the Beatles song "Eight Days a Week" and we talked about the fade in, in fact the first fade in the Beatles tried. I really started to think about intros to songs and when certain types of intros started to become popular and what made certain bands choose what intros went into each song. I went through my library and tried to find some interesting intros to compare to the Beatles' song.

This is runaway by the killers. A band that I talked about in last weeks post.

This is a song by Two Door Cinema Club called Cigarettes in the Theater

Here is a popular song that should be something many people have heard also with a faint intro to start the song

I really enjoyed the song by the Beatles and all of the bands I just listed were started prior. Is it a coincidence or did the Beatles and other bands from their era have an impact on the way songs sound and the specifics of how they are written.

Something to think about.

Class Reflection Week 4

The documentaries on the Beatles that we watched were comparable and also different. The first one was more fun and relaxed and i liked to see how much everybody loved the Beatles. The second (Hard Days Night) was easier to watch and flowed together easier and also my favorite because of the built in music and the scripted jokes. I liked both albums better and it made me get to know the young side of the Beatles. I liked knowing they are funny and act like kids in my generation.

The Killers: Battle Born

Battle Born, The Killers latest studio album released last tuesday is very impressive but I still need to listen to the whole thing through. From what i can tell they're are many good tracks and lots of them resemble their last album Day & Age and if you enjoyed that album you will probably like this one. The biggest similarity i found was this one:

Day & Age Vs. Battle Born 

All of the songs are good because I enjoy listening to the voice of the lead singer brandon flowers. I like the slower songs that the killers have had in the past and when there were only one or two on this album i was kind of disappointed but overall my favorite songs are:

Here with me

Battle Born

Flesh and Bone

Runaways

Heart of a Girl

Clique

After his popularity started to rise Kane West started a music group called G.O.O.D music and it has taken off with some pretty great artists such as Big Sean, Pusha T, John Legend, and Kid Cudi. I was relived when they finally announced the release date to their new album (Cruel Summer) because my expectations are very high when it comes to this group. They release songs with amazing music pairs and they all seem to pump me up. The only complaint would be the similarity to some of the artists verses in each song.

Here are some of the songs that they have released: Mercy and Way too Cold

The latest is called clique and is a great and clever song it hasnt got old yet and hopefully it never does

Class Reflection Week Three

After listening to the Beatles' first three albums I was shocked and I kept forgetting who I had been listening to because the Beatles first period of music is on a whole 'nother level than someone would expect.

My favorite album and the most memorable one was "Please Please Me" I liked it because I felt like the songs had better lyrics and were easier to follow. Some lyrics that stuck in my head were from the song "Anna" mainly because the singing becomes so catchy in this part of the song: "What am I, what am I supposed to do?"

The only thing I couldn't help but notice was the unessacary use of love songs and songs about one particular girl. I like those songs but not if they're are three albums about it.

Make Up Blog one

Lupe Fiasco recently stated that he will no longer continue to rap after his next album "food and liquor two" comes out. So valuing every last bit of music that he puts out has been one of my top priorities. Singles like "Lamborghini Angels", "B*itch Bad", and "Around My Way (Freedom Ain't Free)". My favorite of these (Lamborghini Angels) has been something I have played a lot on my iPhone lately. I like the fact that Lupe talks about the world and the problems that america has. Including our obsession with materialistic objects.

I love the set of lyrics when he says "I see diamond-flooded demons"referencing the rap game and all of the rappers who only care about riches and cars and clothes and women.

Lets make it A$AP

A$AP Rocky is by far the greatest upcoming rap star right now. He has a mix-tape titled "LiveLoveA$AP" and is releasing a good amount of new singles lately. Since A$AP is going to Fun Fun Fun Fest this year I have made sure to keep up with his new music. He performed his newest song at the MVA awards called "Cockiness". I'm still not too sure how I feel about the song featuring Rihanna but somehow the pop artist goes well with A$AP.

Big Sean Detroit

Big Sean just released his new mix-tape "Detroit" and the purpose was to give a tribute to his hometown Detroit.  Big Sean is one of my favorite rappers and is releasing quite a bit of good music lately. I can tell he really put his all into this mix-tape unlike some other rappers who release music half-hazardly. The beats are great and the rapping is unbelievable. Check it out!

Here is a download to the mix-tape: http://www.mediafire.com/?e2zot5ql3m2sd6i.

My favorite song on the mix-tape is "Gonna Be" i like it because it shows a side of big sean that i've never really heard before.

Trey Songz Chapter V

Last Tuesday Trey Songz released his fifth studio album called chapter V. This album is filled with smooth R&B tracks something very much expected from Trey Songz. I have learned to appriciate R&B much more lately and I've started to listen to The Weeknd and Frank Ocean. Trey Songz is no doubt my third favorite to these two. He has great vocals and the ability to rap. The best songs on the album include: simply amazing, hail Mary, fumble. I recommend this album to anyone who likes either of the other artists I talked about in this post.

Class Reflection Week One

Learning about some of the famous rock and roll stars that made rock and roll what it is today was very interesting. Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis have always been fascinating to hear about. I had never really listened to the song "Whole Lotta' Shakin' Goin' On" and I liked the way Jerry Lee Lewis played the piano to made it look like a completely different instrument and listening to elvis' classic song "Hound Dog" made me realize how much people valued his music. I learned that the time period is all together made way for new innovations for all categories of music.