Four years ago, the nation met Barack Obama in the 2004 Democratic National Convention Keynote Address. Near his conclusion, Obama made this statement:
"Hope -- Hope in the face of difficulty. Hope in the face of uncertainty. The audacity of hope! In the end, that is God's greatest gift to us, the bedrock of this nation: A belief in things not seen, a belief that there are better days ahead. I believe that we can give our middle class relief and provide working families with a road to opportunity. I believe we can provide jobs to the jobless, homes to the homeless, and reclaim young people in cities across America from violence and despair. I believe that we have a righteous wind at our backs and that as we stand on the crossroads of history, we can make the right choices, and meet the challenges that face us."
Rising musician, Benji Hughes is not your typical pop star – the hair, the music, the lyrics, etc. Sure he may sing songs about love gone awry and girls in tight t-shirts, but what makes him so appealing is the charm that comes out of his humor.
Check out "Why Do These Parties All End the Same Way." I found it free online and soon enough was buying his other songs. If he is instantaneously charming, his music is instantaneously catchy too:
Benji Hughes Why Do These Parties All End the Same Way
A great recent album I've discovered is titled The Greatest Hits So Far by Learning Music – a band whom I had never heard of.
What I learned is that Learning Music is a group of four to 20 musicians at any given time who began as a collaborative music-making project to create an album a month for a year (November 2006 to November 2007), which they recorded on a hand-held recorder thus being qualified to create a "greatest hits" album.
You can listen to their 12 albums in their entirety on the original band website, but I have picked out two songs off of The Greatest Hits that I particularly like. The first one is "Contagious"
Learning Music- Contagious
Listen to their other great track "CGGF" after the jump:
Three years ago I fell in love with Emiliana Torrini’s Fisherman’s Woman. Her lyrics were soft, mournful and pretty. The album, however, never got much press and its most famous song, “Sunny Road,” was the only one most people would recognize.
Her release last month, Me and Armini, has caused more of a stir. This album is more playful and experimental – hell, there’s even an electric guitar in this album, which is not something I’d ever imagine her diverting to after Fisherman’s Woman.
The song, “Jungle Drum,” is in my opinion, the opposite end of the spectrum than those tracks featured on Fisherman’s Woman. It’s the key song on the album that shows Torrini’s new found playfulness.
Emiliana Torrini - Jungle Drum
Surprisingly, Fujiya and Miyagi's latest album, Lightbulbs, was released rather quietly early last month. I say surprisingly because I find this album to be their best yet, and it took me two weeks after the release to find anything about Lightbulbs on the music blogs.
The album is easily recognizable as an addition to 2006’s Transparent Things – except that Lightbulbs has a little funkier and jazzier beats while maintaining a sly and sexy texture with lead singer David Best's hushed vocals. Listen to the track "Kinickerbocker:"
Fujiya and Miyagi – Knickerbocker
Perhaps in name alone, New Weird America and Freak Folk may be my new favorite genres. When I came across the terms, I searched my iTunes and Rhapsody libraries to see if I had any songs that were categorized as such. I didn't. "Didn't," however, is past tense.
Devendra Banhart and Greg Rogove's (of Power Mineral) side-project, Megapuss, was the assailant of my iTunes' regular "alternative" and "rock" genre listings. The Stroke's drummer Fabrizio Moretti is a tentative member of Megapuss, but since he's always playing with them I personally would call Megapuss a three-member band. My first introduction to the band was the song, "Duck People, Duck Man:"
Megapuss- Duck People, Duck Man
As I was going about the hustle and bustle of my day (surfing through music blogs) I came across an oldie: Leonard Cohen. I gave an affectionate sigh of, "aww" and pushed play. I can't say this for certain, but I want to trust my instincts that my favorite Cohen song, "Suzanne," is about my favorite musician, Joni Mitchell. I am aware of their love connection, to put it awkwardly, and because my obsession with Mitchell makes me feel like I know her, there's something about when he sings, "when she feeds you tea and oranges that come all the way from china," that makes me say that's Joni, that's Joni…
Though Joni's tyranny over my iTunes play count has been in place for the past four, maybe five years, Cohen is gradually creeping up to the top like a rebel with a cause.
Anyhow, in the bustle of your day, take a moment to breath a sigh of relief, and push play:
Leonard Cohen - Suzanne
I've never quite considered myself a Led Zeppelin fan. When I speak to people about my record collection the immediate question that follows is “Oh, what do you have?” I tell them mostly old, some new. I like my collection, I say. Then they ask, without fail, "Oh, so like Led Zeppelin and stuff?" If they're old, they'll say misty eyed, "Yeah, I listened to them in my day. I bet you wouldn't guess it now though, would you?" I say yes and figure they get the general gist of what's actually in my collection. I found myself, however, listening to this band named Kuroma, whose song, “Alexander Martin,” sounds like it could have come off of Led Zeppelin III.
Kuroma - Alexander Martin
And despite that noticeable similarity, I love this song. Sure, it's a little retro, but their EP, Paris, varies stylistically. At first I thought I wouldn’t have a chance to listen to the whole record because it’s only sold at shows, but recently the eight-track EP was put up to be streamed on the band’s website.
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