Here’s another pretty awesome music website that let’s you create playlists you can share with you friends. It’s called GrooveShark.com and it’s got a pretty big library of music. It allows you to upload your own songs so you can login from anywhere in the world and have all of your music. It also allows you to search for and play full songs and albums. The way this works reminds me very much of Napster (the original Napster) since it seems like the search results are based on what people have uploaded. This is probably why GrooveShark has a very respectable library of music to find. There were a bunch of songs I wanted to add to the playlist below that I couldn’t find in their library but it’s still got much more than I expected. The site also has a great custom widget builder that allows you to embed songs and playlists on any website. The one I made below is a poor example because I’m colorblind so you can’t really see how fancy you can make it look. The playlist is based on a mix I made a couple of years ago called Beat Juice.
I really had this Pete Rock track on the mix instead of the one included above but GrooveShark didn’t have it. And it’s too good not to link here… MP3: Pete Rock – Pete’s Jazz
Copy and paste this into your browser if the link above isn’t working:
http://www.flexx.org/blog/pete%20rock%20-%20pete’s%20jazz.mp3
About a month ago, a great remix album was released- Nat King Cole: Re: Generations. It features classic Nat King Cole songs remixed by a number of great artists like The Roots, Cee-Lo, Bebel Gilberto, Stephen and Damien Marley, Cut Chemist, Brazilian Girls, Nas & Salaam Remi, and TV on the Radio. It’s an unbelievable remix album. When I talk with people who think classic songs should be left alone, I’ll be sure to bring up this album to show them why I disagree.
Speaking of great remixes, how about a great cover song? Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings released this soulful version of the Shuggie Otis song “Inspiration Information” for the Red Hot charity compilationDark Was The Night. The original album, Inspiration Information (1974), was one that I found at the USC radio station, not too long after it was reissued back in 2001. I instantly fell in love with the album and started collecting as much Shuggie Otis material as I could. I was thrilled to hear a new take on what I consider an unappreciated classic.
Mos Def did a 12 minute cover of Kanye West’s “Say You Will” when he played the Blue Note in NYC back in January. I’ve said it before and this MP3 is just another example of how Kanye is a better producer than anything else. He’s so much better when he’s behind the scenes than when he is in the spotlight. I don’t think he could ever handle that though. After seeing his response on his blog to the “Gay Fish” episode of South Park, I don’t think Kanye could ever be happy with just being behind the scenes. Anyway, Mos Def has a lot of soul and he’s got a great common man’s voice in my opinion. He’s not an incredibly talented singer, he’s not even a great singer, but his voice is really good. I was skeptical when I first heard about the cover but, after hearing it, I love this song now. And usually I don’t like live recordings but this is a good one, the recording reminds me of a live version of Curtis Mayfield’s “People Get Ready” I have…
When I first heard about a Beatles‘ “Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” remix, I thought it had to be terrible. But I quickly changed my mind after I listened to Streetlab’s remix. Streetlab gives the song a whole new feeling and it’s a lot of fun. I think it’s great but I’d be willing to bet most Beatles fan’s hate it… I checked out Streetlab’s other material and I thought a lot of it was really good. Check out these other cool remixes:
Once again, a recommendation that I got from Ushkow has turned into a great listening adventure. He suggested I check out Manchester Orchestra’s new material on their myspace. At first, I didn’t think it was anything special. I listened at work though, so I didn’t have the volume up and wasn’t really able to get into it. After checking it out again at home, I loved it and I’ve been listening to it all day. Here are some of the tracks from their new album released last week, Mean Everything To Nothing.
A ton of really cool Beastie Boys-theme artwork by a bunch of different artists is being displayed and sold by Gallery 1988 (gallery1988@aol.com / (323) 937 – 7088). Some of the pieces are pretty inexpensive while others are priced relatively high. You can check it all out at the Beasite Boys blogspot page.
All over the internet, people are asking questions like, “What happened to the Beastie Boys?” and “Are the Beastie Boys still together?” The Beastie Boys new, instrumental material is seriously getting slept on. They’ve been coming up with some really rocking, funky, hip hop beats that are awesome and very satisfying. It’s a serious departure from their older work and even still, it’s great. The most recent album,The Mix Up would still be a great album even if it wasn’t released under the Beastie Boys name. It’s a very cool instrumental album that Beastie Boys fans should know about. I saw them perform at The Greek Theater back in 2007 after the album was released and they did both old and new material. They put on an awesome show. Check out one of my favorite tracks off of the album, it’s called “Off The Grid“.
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