Simon Green goes by the stage name Bonobo. He recently released his fourth album, Black Sands. Every album is an impressive, well crafted work of art and Green’s development and growth as a musician and producer is on full display. As I’ve gone through his catalog, each album seems better than the preceding one. It’s especially fun [...] Read More…
I have a couple of friends whose musical tastes and opinions I really respect. The one who showed me Foster The People’s “Pumped Up Kicks” expects it will explode on the blogosphere becoming a hit and there’s good reason to believe him, it’s just starting to happen now. BlackBookMag.com compares their sound to MGMT and [...] Read More…
Clearly, I haven’t been paying enough attention to Yo La Tengo. At least, not until their latest record, Popular Songs. A friend needed only to play me the first track, “Here To Fall” and I instantly realized the folly of my ways. The combination of heavy rock and strings is irresistibly cool. The song is [...] Read More…
When I heard about the upcoming collaboration album between Nas and Damian Marley, I wasn’t expecting much. They’re both great artists but I thought a collaboration between the two wouldn’t amount to anything substantial. I have to admit, “As We Enter,” the new track and first single from Distant Relatives, is kind of impressive. Nas [...] Read More…
Under the name Four Tet, Kieran Hebden creates art with music. There Is Love In You was just released on January 25th, over four years since his last full length album. Rich, unique sounds and melodies are designed and arranged into luscious electronic symphonies but the music itself is experimental and mostly donwtempo. The new [...] Read More…
Fyfe Dangerfield is the front man of Guillemots. His debut solo album is called Fly Yellow Moon and it was released on January 18th in the UK. I’ve only heard two of the tracks off the album. “She Needs Me” perfectly embodies all of the soft, pop qualities that were already bothering me [...] Read More…
On January 1st, The Knux announced via twitter the release of a new 5 song EP. The Fuck You EP can’t strictly be called hip hop. It’s a blend of many genres and styles which is what gives The Knux they’re distinctive gritty, alternative electro-hop sound. ”Floozy” and “Fuck You” are classic Knux style skateboard [...] Read More…
Danger Mouse and James Mercer of The Shins teamed up to create Broken Bells. Danger Mouse was a big fan of The Shins and the duo first met on the Dark Night of the Soul collaboration album. Their self-titled debut will officially be made available in March of 2010 but the album has been leaked [...] Read More…
If you love hearing Christmas songs around Christmas time, you’ll love AM’s new EP, Holiday Happiness and Cheer. AM’s voice sounds strikingly beautiful over a soft and comforting version of the Charlie Brown Christmas classic, “Christmas Time is Here.” AM’s take on “Home for the Holidays” is irresistibly fun and features playful sounding orchestral strings [...] Read More…
Back in March, DJ D Sharp put together a mix tape for Lateef the Truth Speaker but it wasn’t released on any major online distributor like Amazon or CD Universe until November (it’s not available on iTunes). Truth Is Love is a collection of songs featuring Lateef taken from albums released in the last 10-15 [...] Read More…