My Recommendation

Ariane Moffatt - In Your Body

2012-05-18T06:00:00.000-05:00

To end the week on a lighter note today’s recommendation comes from Saint-Romuald, Canada a suburb of Quebec City by this sweet and sultry francophone Ariane Moffatt who dishes out a wide variety of audio treats ranging from Electronica, Jazz and Folk to Pop and Trip-Hop.

Ariane shot to fame after releasing her debut album Aquanaute which went platinum in Quebec and won her a plethora of nominations and awards, she hasn’t looked back since then and kept on accumulating awards one after the other. Till 2010 most all of her work was in French, she had conquered the French world and her obvious next target was the Anglosphere and she obliged by contributing twelve tracks (all covers of English songs) to the Radio Canada medical show Trauma which were later released as a soundtrack album and became such a hit, that they reached gold status in Canada.

The song I’m recommending, In Your Body comes from her latest album MA. This song is a synth drenched bass heavy delicacy that you get to taste very rarely, like some exotic food you get to enjoy when you travel to faraway places, to unknown corners of the world, her vocals add the perfect balance of mysticism and seduction to the song and get you stuck on repeat. The song though a work of beauty landed her in a lot of controversy when she got carried away in an interview in an effort to develop the back story for the song so much so that she was labeled a sex-addict in her native Quebec, here’s what she said about the song at its debut

" … short movie-like journey of an obsessed and skin-addicted character for the object of her desire. Circling her prey on her old bicycle, spying it to find the entering doors of it's body and hide between the flesh and the bone. Poor mad Aphrodite, she can't seem to control her sexual compulsions. When the sun comes out, you decide if she won or not."

This caught wind and everybody thought that she was talking about herself and expressing her own feelings and emotions, but she later clarified,

"I wrote a quote inventing some kind of story about the song, because it's not personal stuff. But I said that it happened in my neighborhood, so it looks like it was for real.

Everybody in Quebec afterwards talked to me about this sexual album and this sex dependence thing! I was like 'Oh man! Why does it always have to go with the first degree?' I thought I could just fly with the story, but after that, I had to answer all of these questions about sexual dependence. And it's not even as if it was a personal story!"

Controversy or not the song is still a beauty and in my opinion it didn’t even need the back story to begin with, anyway, here’s the song

If you like this song you can get it from the link below

If you’d like to know more about her, here’s the link to her Wikipedia page

Ariane Moffatt

Here she is live @ Belle Et Bum, Quebecian TV show

Still wanna know more about her, here’s the link to her Official Website, don’t forget to sharpen your French skills before visiting her website or maybe just use Google Translate, the website is in French

Ariane Moffatt (Official Website)

Enjoy!!!

Ida Maria - Bad Karma

2012-05-17T06:00:00.007-05:00

This week is turning out to be the week of vengeful angry women, on that note today’s recommendation comes from Nesna, Norway by the singer songwriter Ida Maria, a self taught guitarist known for her fierce, energetic songs and tongue in cheek lyrics.

Ida shot to fame after winning Zoom Urørt 2006 & Urørtkonkurransen 2007, national competitions for unknown artists in Norway. After gaining considerable airplay in Norway she broadened her horizons to UK and beyond, later on she remixed one of her songs with Punk Rock legend Iggy Pop.

She has a powerhouse of a voice with some sort of a gravely quality especially when she tries to hit the high notes, reminds me a lot of Joan Jett or Courtney Love from yesteryears or Brody Dale (The Distillers, Spinnerette) of more recent. Her music ranges from Punk Rock to Power Pop to Pop though she tries hard to distinguish herself from current breed of female pop artists. Her compositions generally are simple but pack quite a punch in the vocals and lyrics, she has covered quite a ground in a matter of two albums in the subject department from God dating prostitutes to stigma of sexuality to going the whole nine yards in pleasing her man in bed, here’s how she puts it

“I used the simplest kind of melody to get my message across, so that people would sing the words out loud, and then maybe discover the message later.”

The song I’m recommending, Bad Karma comes from her sophomore album Katla, the song is a lyrical embodiment of the phrase Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, the song is about a vengeful woman serving up all sorts of warnings to her ex for doing her wrong or so I thought but according to her the song had a much wider pool of inspiration,

“Money people! People who do not care about life, love, music, art, summer, winter, our planet, our nature, our forests, our oceans, our animals, our collective soul.”

It has been featured in the movie Scream 4 and the TV shows Gossip Girl, Teen Wolf and Being Human. It starts with a loud riff, thumping drums, crisp loud vocals and bursts into this gorgeous chorus which for some reason makes me smile as if she is relishing the bad things that she thinks will befall on the poor guy and that I think is the beauty of this song, along with masterfully crafted lyrics her vocals make you start cursing that guy or cheering for her and I can’t think of a time when I had cheered for someone who was wishing someone such bad luck. The video of the song in my opinion is a distraction or maybe I'm unable to get the concept behind it anyhow I will put up the song without the video first and then with the video and also throw in a couple of live performances don't forget to check out the Facebook page for an interview of hers, here's the song

If you like this song you can get it from the link below

If you’d like to know more about her, here’s the link to her Wikipedia page

Ida Maria

Here is the official video of the song, go figure

Here she is live at some Norwegian TV show

Here is an acoustic performance for Slacker Radio in Sandiego, CA

Still wanna know more about her, here’s the link to her Official Website

Ida Maria (Official Website)

Enjoy!!!

Those Dancing Days - Fuckarias

2012-05-16T06:00:00.005-05:00

Today’s recommendation comes from Nacka, Sweden a suburb of Stockholm by the all girl band Those Dancing Days, I have already recommended one of their songs in one of my previous posts, if you haven’t checked that out yet you can do so by clicking on the link at the bottom of the page.

Since the last post the band has officially split at least temporarily to pursue other things in life, some chose to complete their education while some are pursuing other endeavors in the music world. Those Dancing Days were Linnea Jönsson on Vocals, Lisa Pyk on Keyboards, Rebecka Rolfart on Lead Guitar, Mimmi Evrell on Bass Guitar and last but not least Cissi Efraimsson on Drums.

I’m sad they decided to pursue other callings in life only after two albums I think they were a talented bunch of musicians and they should’ve gone on to make many many more albums. Like I said before all of them are talented but I think Cissi really stands out and for the sake of music I hope she doesn’t give up on music completely, she is one of the fastest young drummers I’ve seen in a long while and I think she is sure to reach new heights if she continues on. Here’s their official statement about the split

“We have decided that we will be putting Those Dancing Days to bed for a while. We have been together as a band for almost six years now and have had such an amazing time – we have grown up together, created together, seen the world together. We have been so incredibly lucky and feel so honored that so many have appreciated our music. As a young band we have had the pleasure of being role models for other young musicians – something we have found incredibly fulfilling and important – and especially to young female musicians like ourselves. Go girls – never doubt yourselves and never stop dreaming!

After we played the Propaganda festival this last weekend we felt it was the perfect ending to the summer and a good time for us to say good bye for a while. We want to explore things on our own for a change; some of us will go back to school, some of us will be taking jobs – and without a doubt all of us will explore new musical settings.

To all our fans – thank you for being wonderful! We hope to see you again in the future and until we do – live and love! xxxx ~ TDD”

The song I’m recommending, Fuckarias, comes from their second album Daydreams & Nightmares, I made a mention of this song in my previous post but I think this song deserves a post of its own. First off the title of the song should not be confused for profanity, I’m not sure how accurate this is but I found this explanation on the web

“'Fuckarias' pronounced in Swedish sounds somewhat like 'Fooh-kah-ree-as' which again sounds like the name of a male person (similar to Swedish boy’s names such as Zacharias, Elias, Mattias, Tobias etc.). So Fuckarias is a witty slang term for the really annoyingtype of guy that you just want to get rid of by all means”

The song opens with a loud riff and pounding drums which continue on a frenetic pace to knock the socks off of anybody not paying attention, I’m not a big fan of the synths used in the song but everything else is pitch perfect, especially the drums are near flawless, I don’t think you have to be a music critic to realize that the speed at which this young girl is playing is awe inspiring, plus it portrays to perfection the angst ridden anger of a teenage girl who just wants this annoying person to disappear. I’ll throw in a few live performances here along with the song, don’t forget to checkout the Facebook page for a pre-split interview of theirs, here’s the song

If you like this song you can get it from the link below

If you’d like to know more about them, here’s the link to their Wikipedia page

Those Dancing Days

Here they are live @ DIY Sessions, and to prove that her display of skill on drums was no recording magic, Cissi is again wreaking havoc on percussions

Here they are live @ Nyhetsmorgon, Swedish TV show

Here they are live @ ON3 Festival

If you like this posting, you might enjoy this recommendation too

Those Dancing Days - I Know Where You Live Pt. 2

Enjoy!!!

Leiana - No Going Back

2012-05-15T06:00:00.002-05:00

Today’s recommendation comes from Philadelphia, PA by the band Leiana, a punk outfit with visible traces of The Runaways and Joan Jett And The Blackhearts, formed around the singer / songwriter Leiana Grasso with a revolving cast of session players and friends for the instruments.

Leiana started off playing piano and drums as a kid but soon picked up a guitar and started writing songs, she got her first licks in local rock cover bands but found her love in the British Punk and 80’s SoCal Hardcore bands;

“These bands spoke to me. As time went on and pop music got more and more horrible, I would dive deeper into a particular scene from the past.”

She moved to LA briefly for a stint at the Musician’s Institute and several LA based bands but returned to Philadelphia to release her debut album Page on her own label.

The thing that stands out most for me is despite having the face and the body to fit perfectly in the generally over-sexualized persona of a “Rock Frontwoman”, she hasn’t taken the plunge and held her own to let her body of work speak for herself rather than her body, here’s what she said about that;

“There is no need in trying to be who people want you to be. Music allows you to be true to yourself and hold your ground. It is the most powerful catalyst for positive change and energy … I believe in music’s ability to speak to people, make them want to take action. I also believe anyone has the power to make a real change. Women, specifically, should be able to become who they want, hold their ground and be strong for all the right reasons”.

The song I’m recommending, No Going Back is the title track from her sophomore album, I love the bare bones composition of the song, the base thumping start, the intense riff delivering the pitch perfect message of doom, the megaphone vocals also add the all hope lost vibe to the song and makes it even darker, here’s the song

If you like this song you can get it from the link below

If you’d like to know more about them, here’s the link to their Official Website

Leiana (Official Website)

Enjoy!!!

Kerli - Strange Boy

2012-05-14T06:00:00.003-05:00

Today’s recommendation comes all the way from Elva, Estonia, by this alt / punk rocker Kerli, I have already recommended one of her songs and in my book she is good enough to earn a second one, if you haven’t checked out my first recommendation by her don’t forget to click on the link at the bottom of the page.

She grew up in a small town of 5000 people and shot to fame by winning a Baltic song competition, she then moved to Stockholm and then later on moved to US. On face value she looks like a Lady GaGa wannabe, but to her credit she has been maintaining this stage persona since even before Lady GaGa shot to fame and became a worldwide phenomenon.

The song I’m recommending, Strange Boy comes from her debut album Love Is Dead and is a wonderful Alt / Punk Rock song with just the right amount of bass to make it the perfect club track, the song is written from the point of view of an older woman seducing a young man, I love the guitar play in this song, it’s noticeably present throughout the song but never overpowering the vocals or trying to take over the song but above all I love Kerli’s swagger and attitude in this song and how well this has been conveyed through her vocal maneuvering, here’s the song

If you like this song you can get it from the link below

If you’d like to know more about her, here’s the link to her Wikipedia page

Kerli

Here she is live in an Estonian summer festival back in 2009

Still wanna know more about her, here’s the link to her Official Website

Kerli (Official Website)

If you like this posting, you might enjoy this recommendation too

Kerli - Creepshow

Enjoy!!!

Bad Lieutenant - Twist Of Fate

2012-05-11T06:00:00.004-05:00

To wrap up the week, I have one of my favorite songs of 2011, though this song came out in 2009 but I only stumbled upon it in 2011. On that note today’s recommendation comes from Salford, England by the band Bad Lieutenant which comprises of Bernard Sumner, Phil Cunningham (former members of New Order) and Jake Evans, with guest appearances from other members of New Order and Alex James of Blur.

The band came together when New Order started falling apart and Peter Hook left the band, Bernard tried to hold the band together briefly but later decided to move on and formed Bad Lieutenant. The name of the band is taken from the 1992 Harvey Keitel crime-drama masterpiece of the same name.

The song I’m recommending, Twist Of Fate comes from their debut album Never Cry Another Tear. I am a big fan of Bernard Sumner’s past bands Joy Division & New Order, so I had a soft corner for Bad Lieutenant from the get go even though their album has mostly received mixed reviews. I think people are trying to compare the music of Bad Lieutenant with Joy Division & New Order, which in my opinion is not fair because; a) Both these bands are established names in the industry especially Joy Division being an influence on a long list of very successful acts to follow and b) In Bad Lieutenant I think Bernard Sumner is trying to do something new, he moved away from the electro sounds of New Order which seem to have ticked a lot of critics, he has taken a backseat in vocals department and shown a lot of trust in Evans, the result is a fresh crunchy sound with all the melodies intact. There are quite a few remixed versions of this song available, I’ll throw the official version here don’t forget to checkout the Facebook page for other remixed versions, here’s the song

If you like this song you can get it from the link below

If you’d like to know more about them, here’s the link to their Wikipedia page

Bad Lieutenant

Here’s the Koishi & Hush remix of the song

If you like this version you can get it from the link below

Still wanna know more about them, here’s the link to their Official Website

Bad Lieutenant (Official Website)

Enjoy!!!

The Airborne Toxic Event - All At Once

2012-05-10T06:00:00.002-05:00

Today’s recommendation comes from Los Angeles, CA by the band The Airborne Toxic Event, a five piece rock band which fuses rock with orchestral arrangements to produce some fist pumping anthemic songs as well as some real mellow tearjerkers and comprises of Mikel Jollett (Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards), Steven Chen (Guitar, Keyboards), Noah Harmon (Electric Bass, Upright Bass, Backing Vocals), Daren Taylor (Drums) and Anna Bulbrook (Viola, Keyboards, Tambourine, Backing Vocals).

The band started to take shape when Mikel an essayist and writer by profession then started writing songs with an acoustic guitar following an emotionally traumatic week during which he broke-up with his girlfriend, found out that his mother has been diagnosed with cancer and was himself diagnosed with a genetic autoimmune disease. Soon after he met Daren and they started rehearsing his songs, later on Anna, Noah and Steven were also brought on so that the band took its final shape.

The band has been named after a section of the famous book White Noise by Don DeLillo, with his background in fictional writing Mikel found similarities in the circumstances after which the band took its shape and the events dubbed in the novel as the “Airborne Toxic Event”, both being life altering, here’s what he said about that

“I first read the book about three years ago, and was completely blown away. It’s just so funny and sad and absurd and odd. I think the fear-of-death theme hit me. Everything in the book changed when Jack thought he was going to die; he was already obsessed, but it made him think about his life differently. I also dig the random bits of static and advertising; it’s the medium through which our stupid lives flow. It’s sort of pathetic and funny and sloppy and human.

Some of our fans get it, and those people are always very excited. Some don’t and they wonder what the hell? But the name is also kind of a big middle finger to the idea of names. Like, who cares what your name is? Let’s call ourselves this odd thing.”

The song I’m recommending All At Once, is the title track of their second album and deals with feelings of loss and perspective in life, it’s a beautifully arranged song with an anthem like high, starts off with a nice bass line sets off from there riding on the bass drum and a faster bass line with the lead also kicking in to a full on crescendo, here’s with Mikel said about the song

“I came home and in my own family, a bunch of stuff had gone down. I had a bunch of family members [who] had died - but not like from some tragic car wreck or anything, they just each were really old, like my grandparents. That kind of thing changes your perspective. I sort of locked myself in my room for, I don’t know, 3 or 4 months and just wrote and wrote and wrote. I think that when so many [people in your] family die, your perspective on life changes, and things you thought were really important turn out to not have been that important.”

Noah added,

“Maybe being cold on the tour bus is not quite as big an issue as you thought before...”

There are many good live performances of this song available, I’ll throw in a few here, don’t forget to checkout the Facebook page for more, here’s the song

If you like this song you can get it from the link below

If you’d like to know more about them here’s the link to their Wikipedia page

The Airborne Toxic Event

Here's an amazing acoustic performance

Here they are live @ Webster Theatre in Hartford, CT

Here's another acoustic performance for Radio 94.7 in Sacramento, CA

Still wanna know more about them, here’s the link to their Official Website

The Airborne Toxic Event (Official Website)

Enjoy!!!

Young the Giant - My Body

2012-05-09T06:00:00.003-05:00

Today’s recommendation comes from Irvine, CA by the band Young the Giant formerly known as The Jakes. The band started coming around in 2004, went through some personnel change and towards the end of 2009 decided to change their name and settled on the following lineup Sameer Gadhia (Vocals), Jacob Tilley (Guitars), Eric Cannata (Guitars), Payam Doostzadeh (Bass) and Francois Comtois (Drums).

The band is literally a melting pot of cultures and traditions with one first generation Indian-American, one first generation Persian-American, a French Canadian and two Brits. They bring together all their influences and infuse it with the Pop Rock sound which gives it an exotic taste. Sameer’s all four grandparents were classical singers in India and you can hear a lot of that in his vocals also if you have ever had the chance to listen to Bollywood music you can hear some of that too in his songs, here’s what he said about their music

“We draw on different experiences and influences and it really comes down to our backgrounds , what we listened to, the lyrics that affected us, the stories that affected us.”

I was intrigued by the name of the band and was looking forward to a bit of a story but just like yesterday it turned out to be a dud, here’s what Francois said about that

“Young the Giant came with a good two months of us banging our head against the wall. Anytime we had a name we thought we liked we’d have a huge downpour of negative criticism from everyone, friends and management, the label didn’t like it. It got to this point that we were so frustrated, eventually I think Sameer, it kind of popped out of his mouth, “Young the Giant.” And then, “Yeah, I like that. Let’s tell everyone else to go f*** off and do it.” Basically that’s kinda what it was and what we ended up liking was that it was something spontaneous that we could all get behind. As far as any real meaning or context apart from that, there’s really not all that much.”

The song I’m recommending, My Body comes from their self-titled debut album, its their most successful song to date, starts off with a deep base line but quickly converts into this melodic number with a subtle riff that reminds me of Tears For Fears and then bursts into this anthemic chorus which is quite a treat, the song talks about the struggle within between liberation and one’s inner instincts to stick to the known, here’s what Eric Cannata said about the song

“The dynamic between tension and liberation came from the very basic literal interpretation of the struggle we experienced directly before the creation of the song. It was a stroke of inspiration, and later appreciated insight, that cut through a relatively frustrating time for us as writers. As mutual writers, it can be both smooth and rough to create songs together, and it all depends on the daily dynamic.

The specific day of My Body‘s creation was one of those rougher days for us. We had opened sail on a relatively stale wind, and had caught on to a mellower vein of overly contemplated writing. In a bout of frustration, we just decided to try something absolutely different; something based on instinct and spontaneity rather than meditation and patience. The song started just as a quirky joke; a release of tension. The riff, melody, and lyrics formed in a matter of ten minutes. At the end of the album writing process, My Body stayed the most pure to its raw, original, form.”

Like I said this song has been a very successful venture for them, it has peaked on the US Alternative Songs charts at number 5, has been featured in a handful of TV shows and commercials and caught my ears when I heard it in the TV ad for the Dolly Parton & Queen Latifah starring movie Joyful Noise. There are so many live performances available of this song, I’ll throw in three of them here along with the song, don’t forget to checkout the Facebook page for some more live performances and a recent interview of them, here’s the song

If you like this song you can get it from the link below

If you’d like to know more about them, here’s the link to their Wikipedia page

Young the Giant

Here they are live @ Sunset Sound Studios

Here they are live @ Austin City Limits Festival in 2011

Here they are live @ Later... with Jools Holland

Still wanna know more about them, here’s the link to their Official Website

Young the Giant (Official Website)

Enjoy!!!

Wolfmother - Joker And The Thief

2012-05-08T06:00:00.005-05:00

Today’s recommendation comes from Erskineville, Australia a suburb of Sydney by the band Wolfmother. The band has gone through many lineup changes since its inception in 2000 with the only constant being Andrew Stockdale around whose talent the band revolves.

First off, if you have a curious bone like me you’d be thinking where, why or how the heck did they came up with this band name Wolfmother, I was hoping for a good story but it wasn’t much, here’s what Andrew said about it

“Chris just texted it through to me before we got our first show and I was thinking, ‘What the hell is that, it sounds like a death metal band, are you serious?' But nobody came up with anything else. He got it out of a book called Skinny Legs and All, a Tom Robbins psychedelic book. So we told the people who offered us the show we were Wolfmother and from there everyone was like, ‘so have you heard of those Wolfmother guys?' And it kind of stuck, it's grown on me now and I think it suits us in a way.”

Listening to Wolfmother it seems the time somehow turned back to 1970s, and the days of Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin have come soaring back as Wolfmother refuses to part ways from the pounding drums and raw guitar riffs of that era. Some people might take up an issue with this as lack of artistic creativity but I don’t mind it as not so many people are playing this brand of rock these days and the few who are trying to keep that era alive I say we should embrace them with open arms. They have been compared to Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath but in my opinion their sound is more Psychedelic Rock then Hard or Blues Rock.

The song I’m recommending, Joker And The Thief comes from their self titled debut album, the mentioned Joker and the Thief are a reference to the famous Bob Dylan song All Along The Watchtower, also listening to the song you can hear many of the old AC/DC arena anthems in your head too, Andrew has been forthright about it, here’s what he said

"I've totally ripped it off from Dylan. I was in a shop one morning walking into where we jam. I saw this AC/DC 'Thunderstruck' and I was like, 'I want to write a stadium rock song.' I went into the studio and said, 'Doo-duh-lee, doo-duh-lee. What's the best thing to do after that? Just do something cleaner - Doo, doo, doo.' Because, you know, you've got to have a big intro and then you have to have a balls-to-the-wall riff to knock it on the head in the next stage."

By the way, I could also hear a lot of The White Stripes, when I first heard the song I thought I was listening to Jack White. This has been one of their most successful songs it has been featured in almost all categories possible, movie soundtracks, commercials, video games, sports arenas you name it the song has conquered it already, to name a few the song has been featured in Jackass Number Two, Shoot ‘Em Up, Shrek The Third, The Hangover, Need For Speed: Carbon, MLB 07: The Show, Mitsubishi Ad, Rock Band, Rock Revolution and has been played in arenas all over like Madison Square Garden, Rogers Arena, RBC Center, United Center for teams like New York Rangers, Vancouver Canucks, Chicago Blackhawks and many more, if I try to name all of them it’ll become a very long post.

Loaded with a loud riff, thumping drums and screechy vocals the song starts on a high and maintains it throughout the song, slows down a bit towards the guitar solo which features some very clever distortions interlaced with keyboards. There are many very good live performances of this song available, I’ll throw in three of them here, don’t forget to checkout the Facebook page for a latest Wolfmother interview and some more live performances. Here’s the song,

If you like this song you can get it from the link below

If you’d like to know more about them, here’s the link to their Wikipedia page

Wolfmother

Here they are live @ AOL Music Sessions

Here they are live @ Rock Am Ring 2011

Here’s an acoustic performance live @ Spin Magazine

Still wanna know more about them, here’s the link to their Official Website

Wolfmother (Official Website)

Enjoy!!!

The Kicks - Hawk Eyes

2012-05-07T06:00:00.005-05:00

Hey guys I’m back probably for another one or two week run, let’s see how long this lasts. Today’s recommendation comes from Nashville, TN by the band The Kicks. Started back in 2007 in Little Rock, AR, they are a four piece band which came together when all the band mates were in college with Jordan Phillips on vocals and guitars, Adam Stark on lead guitars, Gabe Anderson on bass and Lucas Cummins on drums.

The Kicks produce a wide array of rock music which swings from Pop Rock to Rock to Hard Rock and touches onto Southern Rock with hints of Soul in it. Heavy on snare and toms they make upbeat songs with high octane energy, some loud guitars and delicious riffs but the feature that stands out most for me is Jordan Phillips’s vocals, he has this raspy voice with the right amount of nasal quality which is just perfect for their brand of music.

The song I’m recommending Hawk Eyes comes from their second album Sputnik Sessions. It’s an all out pop rock song full of energy and crunchy guitars, starts with a cool riff and takes off immediately, the pace and tempo of the song is such that you will immediately start bobbing your head, here’s what the band members said about the song

“I suppose it’s about a girl who has that ability to put you under her spell. It was written in a very specific kind of mood. Sometimes songs just kinda write themselves. One night “Hawk Eyes” just came out.” – Jordan Phillips

“Predatory birds. Despite popular belief, it has absolutely nothing to do with the state of Iowa or the University of Iowa. Sorry Iowa people I am a Golden Gofers fan!! One of 6 in North America.” – Adam Stark

Here’s the song,

If you like this song you can get it from the link below

If you’d like to know more about them here’s the link to their official website

The Kicks (Offical Website)

Here they are live in Nashville, TN, video quality is not that great though

Still wanna know more about them, here’s the link to their MySpace page

The Kicks (MySpace)

Enjoy!!!

Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zeros - Home

2012-02-03T06:00:00.003-06:00

We started the week with Alex Ebert and we will finish with him too. Today’s recommendation comes again from Los Angeles, CA by Alex Ebert’s other band Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zeros, a twelve piece travelling band which keeps expanding and contracting with a regular cast of additional personnel. In addition to Alex, Jade Castrinos also performs the vocals, other famous members include Nora Kirkpatrick on accordion known for her roles in the TV show Greek and Dorm Life, Anna Bulbrook on Viola from The Airborne Toxic Event.

The band came about when Alex after a breakup signed onto an Alcoholics Anonymous program and started writing a book about a flawed messianic figure named Edward Sharpe who was sent down to earth to save mankind but kept getting distracted by girls and falling in love.

On face value it’s easy to categorize them as a Hippie band, but that would be too simplistic, as much as Alex Ebert disagrees, to me they are a Hippie band to an extent but that’s not all who they are, they want to create happy uplifting music which pervades a positive energy and engages everyone it comes in contact with, and they are a bunch of very impressive musicians, their compositions are a mix of jangly uplifting music with a positive message almost all of their songs will have soothing and calming effect on you and you might start smiling for no reason, and that’s I think the sole thought behind the project, as in Alex’s words

“… Any ol’ schmuck can be a rock star in their own mind you know what I mean like fame is just a word for famous which means widely known that is fine to me, but we wanna spread the vibe of whatever it is and the music as long as it makes people happy and affects people in a positive way …”

The song I’m recommending, Home comes from their debut album Up From Below which came out back in 2009, this song has been featured in numerous TV shows and commercials, it depicts the story of a happy couple, still madly in love after so many years, going down the memory lanes through their joint memoirs and relishing their time together. The story in the middle of the song is a true story that actually happened to Alex & Jade, I don’t know if they are or were in a relationship, but I think they have to be, the love that oozes out of this song cannot be faked. I love the whistling, tapping start of the song, the southern twang in Jade’s vocals, the back n forth between them, this song always puts me in a very good mood. I’ll throw in a few live performances here along with the song, don’t forget to checkout the Facebook page for an interview of the band, here’s the song

If you like this song, you can get it from the link below

If you’d like to know more about them, here’s the link to their Wikipedia page

Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zeros

Here they are live @ Late Show with David Letterman

Here they are live @ a radio show

Here they are live @ a store

Still wanna know more about them, here’s the link to their Official Website

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros (Official Website)

Enjoy!!!

The Black Keys - Lonely Boy

2012-02-02T06:00:00.017-06:00

Today’s recommendation comes from Akron, OH, by this drummer guitarist duo who started back in 2001 and hit it big in 2006 after their third album, with Dan Auerbach on vocals and guitars and Patrick Carney on drums they are The Black Keys.

The Black Keys started taking shape when they were very young, growing up in the same town they were introduced to each other by their elder brothers who were friends. Patrick talks about the evolution of the band in the following words

“Yeah, our brothers were like best friends and they knew that both of us played music but we just have never played together, so they encouraged us to get together and jam, I guess this is probably when, may be when Dan was a senior, I was a junior and we got together a few times, we went away to school and then we came back to Akron and we were both going to University of Akron and that’s you know that was probably when we were like 19 or 20 and that’s when we both kinda started playing together more. When we first started playing like we could barely play our instruments I think, I mean I definitely couldn’t play the drums but, yeah may be yeah so we’ve been doing it since maybe like 1997 but it wasn’t until fall of 2001 that we decided to start the band, try to make a record."

The Black Keys make hook heavy songs with a tinge of blues and classic rock, over the years even after their massive success and name recognition they try really hard to stick to their indie roots and fan base, with that in view its funny they were called out by Steven Colbert of The Comedy Central show The Colbert Report for a competition with Vampire Weekend to decide which band has sold out for commercial success, it was all in jest however Patrick explained the episode in the following words

"A lot of people see a Nissan ad and they see a finished product in a record store or on iTunes and that's the face of the band. What they don't see is that we made [Brothers] in a cinderblock building in the middle of nowhere in Alabama, with five microphones and a guitar amp and a drum set. I don't know what that means, exactly, but I do know we didn't spend a lot of money making this record, and it's an honest way of approaching making music. And once the music is out there, when you're selling a record and selling music and people are going to do whatever they want with it, it's kind of hard to resist certain opportunities, especially in the record market now."

The song I’m recommending, Lonely Boy comes from their latest album El Camino. It starts with this raw edgy riff, takes it's elements from the music of yesteryear and picks up this anthemic feel in the chorus with smartly interlaced keyboards and guitars. The song tells the story of a lonely man madly in love but getting no attention from his lover, I think the song is a treat for the ears. The video of this song is also pretty interesting apparently they wanted a video where several different people would dance and lip sync on the song, but when they saw this one guy they thought this is it and he became the star of the video and has become quite famous so much so that Ellen DeGeneres invited him to her show, anyhow I think the video is a distraction so here’s the song without the video first

If you like this song you can get it from the link below

If you’d like to know more about them here’s the link to their Wikipedia page

The Black Keys

Here's the video of the song

Here they are live at Lotto Arena in Antwerp, Belgium

Still wanna know more about them, here’s the link to their Official Website

The Black Keys (Official Website)

Enjoy!!!

L.P. - Into The Wild

2012-02-01T06:00:00.004-06:00

Today’s recommendation comes from New York City, NY by this singer, songwriter who is well accomplished in the trade but not very well known to the general masses, but thankfully now because of an ad by Citi Bank she has broken through to the masses and caught on like wild fire, she is Laura Pergolizzi and goes by her initials L.P.

Her mother was a classically trained opera singer, which kinda explains the vastness of her vocal range, she can be fierce and on top of her lungs and then in the next verse can be vulnerable and sweetly melodic. She started back when she was in her teens and after going through several bands in high school she joined the band Lionfish for a while after which she went solo.

In 2006 she appeared on the SXSW and right away started a bidding war, eventually signing onto Island Def Jam records, but left them because of artistic differences and later signed onto SoBe Entertainment. She has written music for the likes of Rihanna, Christina Aguilera & Heidi Montag.

The song I’m recommending, Into The Wild comes from her upcoming yet to be named album, you must have heard of it on TV in the Citi Bank ad which created a lot of buzz since the day it aired and google was flooded with search queries about her. I love how the song starts with this sweet whistling melody and all of a sudden bursts into this loud chorus, her vocal range is amazing and this songs showcases it perfectly, and by the way is it just me or you guys hear some Melissa Etheridge too in this song especially in the verses. I’ll throw in a live performance here along with the song, don’t forget to checkout the Facebook page for a candid interview of hers, oh and by the way is it just me or you also think that she looks like a female version of Slash, I think all she needs is a top hat and a cigarette hanging out of her mouth and she is good to go, oh and don’t forget the black shades, here’s the song

If you’d like to know more about her, here’s the link to her Wikipedia page

L.P.

Here she is live at the East West studios, I think it’s an amazing performance

Still wanna know more about her, here’s the link to Official Website

L.P. (Official Website)

Enjoy!!!

TV On The Radio - Will Do

2012-01-31T06:00:00.005-06:00

Today’s recommendation comes from Brooklyn, NY by the band TV On The Radio, this is my second recommendation by these guys. They recently lost their bassist when Gerard Smith lost his battle with lung cancer, since then they haven’t hired a full time bassist and has been using session players for their tours.

TV On The Radio, is an acclaimed band, they have earned heaps of praises from all corners of the music world. The thing I love most about these guys is that their songs literally grow on you, you might not like the song instantly but they will grab your attention with some genius play of the instruments or a melody that catches you off guard or some lyric that demands your attention, after that you are helpless, you have nowhere to go but to fall in love with the song.

The song I’m recommending Will Do comes from their fifth and latest album Nine Types Of Light, they took a much lighter tone as compared to their last album Dear Science in which they were all doom and gloom. This album also delves into less apocalyptic issues such as lost love and regret. The beauty of this song is the simplicity of lyrics which deliver the message in the most intelligent of ways possible. The song flows so fluidly in a kind of monotone with funky, base heavy keyboards and a subtle but ever so present base line, until the finale kicks in where the vocals and the instruments all pick up the pace for a rocking crescendo. I’ll throw in a couple of live performances with the song here, don’t forget to checkout the Facebook page for the making of the video and a remix version of the song, here’s the song

If you like this song you can get it from the link below

If you’d like to know more about them, here’s the link to their Wikipedia page

TV On The Radio

Here they are live @ The Late Show with David Letterman

Here they are live @ SXSW

Still wanna know more about them, here’s the link to their official website

TV On The Radio (Official Website)

If you like this song, you might enjoy this recommendation too

TV On The Radio - DLZ

Enjoy!!!

Ima Robot - Greenback Boogie

2012-01-30T06:00:00.009-06:00

I’m back, though I shouldn’t say I’m back, with work getting pretty busy I have decided I’ll do these recommendations in sporadic short bursts of one or two weeks whenever I get time.

On that note today’s recommendation comes from Los Angeles, CA by the band Ima Robot, the band started back in late 90’s when front man Alex Ebert’s band The Lucky 13’s fell apart. They have gone through several personnel changes since then.

The band caught flight in 2003 with the release of their self titled debut album and signed up with Virgin records, after releasing one album with Virgin records and having some major label headaches they got out of the contract in 2007 and took sort of a hiatus from Ima Robot, though not necessarily from music, here’s how Timmy (Lead Guitarist) explained it

“We were all a bit tweaked from our last year or so in the major label game – I’ll leave it at that! Some life happened, a lot of work and side projects went down … and we all just went off exploring other musical endeavors and interests.”

Ima Robot dish out modern rock songs laced with delicious beats and Alex Ebert’s eclectic vocals, the song I’m recommending Greenback Boogie comes from their third album Another Man’s Treasure, I stumbled upon this song while watching USA Network’s legal drama Suits. I love the combination of pipe organs and modern beats, throw in the subtle vocal variations of Alex and you have this awesome boogie which fuses old with the new, here’s the song

If you like this song you can get it from the link below

If you’d like to know more about them, here’s the link to their Wikipedia page

Ima Robot

Still wanna know more about them, here’s the link to their official website

Ima Robot (Official Website)

Enjoy!!!

Angie Mattson - In Violet

2011-12-09T06:00:00.002-06:00

To wrap up the week, I have this soulful, dark song which comes from Muskegon, MI by this free spirit of sorts with sultry soulful voice and a penchant for dark subjects and lyrics and looks that can kill. Named after the famous Rolling Stones’ song I guess she was destined to have a career in music, she is Angie Mattson.

She grew up in Muskegon, MI and left it for warmer temperatures since then she has lived in North Carolina, Florida, Maryland, Japan, The Caribbean and currently resides in Los Angeles, CA. She taught herself to play piano at a resort where she was working as housekeeping, she bought a How To Play Guitar book and learned to play guitar while living on a boat for two years. At one point in her life she owned a baby blue school bus with one of her friends and use to sell beer and their art out of the bus. In between all that she has also worked at a record store, done modeling on the runways of Tokyo and got a degree in Biology, talk about having a well rounded life.

Her favorite subjects to write music about are love, lust, following dreams, murder and strippers in Japan. She blends her southern soul styling with dark and mystical lyrics to create a folksy ethereal sound. Here’s how she describes her music

“ …… sort of a moody, alternative, rock, country thing …… you can’t really compare it to anything”

The song I’m recommending, In Violet comes from her debut album Given To Sudden Panic And Noisy Retreat, it’s a mellow song with haunting vocals and ghoulish backing vocals, the instruments compliment her strong vocals perfectly and never attempt to take the center stage giving her complete freedom to steer the song in any which direction she pleases, she obliges by skillfully taking it to a sweet crescendo and then to the climax, besides her vocals I really like how the guitars consistent presence intertwines with her and every now and then momentarily takes the lead and then fades to the background, I’ll throw in a live performance here don’t forget to check out the Facebook page for an interview of hers, here’s the song

If you like this song you can get it from the link below

If you’d like to know more about her here’s the link to her MySpace page

Angie Mattson (MySpace)

Here she is live in Tampa

Still wanna know more about her, here’s the link to her official website

Angie Mattson (Official Website)

Enjoy!!!

Spinnerette - Baptized By Fire

2011-12-08T06:00:00.003-06:00

Today’s recommendation comes from Los Angeles, CA by the alt. / indie rock band Spinnerette, fronted by the unmistakable Brody Dalle former front woman of the famous punk rock band The Distillers and wife of Josh Homme (Queens Of The Stone Age, Them Crooked Vultures, Eagles Of Death Metal and Kyuss).

During the peak of The Distillers days Brody was often compared to Courtney Love and PJ Harvey. After the acrimonious breakup of The Distillers, she laid low for a while, got married to Josh became a mother and finally returned back to her first love, music. Spinnerette pretty much revolves around Brody with Tony Bevilacqua from her former band helping out on the guitars, here’s how she explained who’s the boss

“…… Spinnerette isn't a band, it's me and whichever musicians I want to work with at the time…..."

With Spinnerette Brody widened her horizon’s to a much broader spectrum of music, you can still hear her gravelly vocals but the compositions are more melodious and at times danceable which shows how much farther she has moved from her The Distillers days, here’s how she explains Spinnerette’s music

“Spinnerette is the sound of a sweaty black leather glove holding a lollipop’s stick, shoving it into crushed glass before offering you the first lick. If that made any sense, it might be Spinnerette. There is sweetness and there is menace. You will have the desire in spite of the obvious danger.”

The song I’m recommending, Baptized By Fire comes from their self-titled debut album, I love the base heavy intro and her vocals are strong as ever and it’s a treat listening to her singing something other than the punk infused music of The Distillers, I’m not a big fan of the synth heavy chorus but overall I think the composition is compact enough that her strong vocals can carry the song successfully to the finish line, don’t forget to checkout the Facebook page for an interview of Brody & Tony and a rocking live performance, here’s the song

If you like this song, you can get it from the link below

If you’d like to know more about them, here’s the link to their Wikipedia pages

Spinnerette

The Distillers

Here’s an acoustic performance of the song

Here they are live @ Letterman

Still wanna know more about them, here’s the link to their Official Website

Spinnerette (Official Website)

Enjoy!!!

Those Dancing Days - I Know Where You Live Pt. 2

2011-12-07T06:00:00.004-06:00

Today’s recommendation comes all the way from Nacka, Sweden a suburb of Stockholm, by this talented all girls indie band who had their first album out before two of their members were out of the school, they are Those Dancing Days.

Named after the famous Led Zepplin song ”Dancing Days”, Those Dancing Days are a five piece girl band comprising of Linnea Jönsson (Vocals), Lisa Pyk (Keyboards), Rebecka Rolfart (Guitar), Mimmi Evrell (Base) & Cissi Efraimsson (Drums), here’s how they came together in Lisa’s words

“Me, Rebecka and Cissi had a band before, but we ended that band and wanted to form a new band. We needed a bass player, and Cissi knew Mimi, and Mimi knew Linnea – because we needed a singer too. So we all hung out together, and soon started playing together as a band.”

The song I’m recommending, I Know Where You Live Pt. 2, comes from their second album Daydreams & Nightmares, I’m not sure what’s the exact thought behind the added Pt. 2 in the name of the song my best guess is that in their first album In Our Space Hero Suits they had a song titled I Know Where You Live which spelled the story of a girl smitten by a boy, madly in love with him and wanting to paint the entire world in his image, this song seems like a natural extension of that song where the girl is now literally stalking him and even though she realizes it’s not healthy she still can’t stop professing her feelings for him. I love the pace of the song, I love how they all burst out in the chorus but above all I love the drummer of this band I think she is awesome and will go a long way, even though in this song she doesn’t get to show her complete arsenal but you can still get the glimpse of the speed at which she can play the drums, by the way if you’d like checkout their song Fuckarias for her insane drumming, here’s the song

If you like this song you can get it from the link below

If you’d like to know more about them, here’s the link to their Wikipedia page

Those Dancing Days

Still wanna know more about them, here’s the link to their official website

Those Dancing Days (Official Website)

Enjoy!!!

Brie Larson - Black Sheep

2011-12-06T06:00:00.004-06:00

Today’s recommendation comes from Sacramento, California by the young actress who also moonlights as a pop rock singer / songwriter. Best known for her roles in the hit comedy series United States of Tara, she is Brie Larson.

She got her start performing sketches on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno since then after being part of a string of cancelled or unaired shows she found some success in Disney Movies and finally landed on United Stated of Tara.

Her music career began in 2003 when she started promoting her songs on her personal website and was about to release an album before she signed a deal with Universal Records. Since then she has released her debut album Finally Out Of P.E. back in 2005 to moderate success and started her own indie record label Big Brass Stacks.

The song I’m recommending, Black Sheep has not been released in fact it’s not available for purchase anywhere, the song was featured in the movie Scott Pilgrim VS. The World where she covered Metric’s song Black Sheep. Even though they belong to entirely different genres it’s natural to compare the two versions, despite the fact that Metric is one of my favorite bands I still like Brie’s version better solely because she made the sound more pop compared to Emily who stuck to her trademark indie roots. The best thing about Brie’s version is that she kept the original riff intact but made the song more fluent through her vocals and got rid of the unnecessarily long intro which features in Emily’s version, but hey that’s just my opinion you decide for yourself I’ll throw in both the versions, here’s the song

If you’d like to know more about her, here’s the link to her Wikipedia page

Brie Larson

Here’s Emily’s version

If you like this version you can get it from the link below

Here's part of the video of the song from the movie Scott Pilgrim VS. The World with some additional clips

Still wanna know more about her, here’s the link to her MySpace page

Brie Lason (MySpace)

If you liked Emily's version, you might like these recommendations too

Metric - Help I'm Alive

Metric - Dead Disco

Enjoy!!!

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Phenomena

2011-12-05T06:00:00.005-06:00

Let’s start the week with some spunky indie rockers, today’s recommendation comes from New York City, by the band Yeah Yeah Yeahs. They started back in 2000 and comprise of Karen O (Vocals), Brian Chase (Drums) and Nick Zinner (Guitars & Keyboards)

The band started as an art project under the name Unitard by Karen and Nick, they later tagged in Brian as the drummer whom Karen had already met as students while in college. They play without a bass player and serve up a beautiful mess which is part punk, part groove and part new wave. Here’s what Karen thought of their music

“… I wanted this to be more than just a band. We had very specific ideas about what we wanted to be. We wanted to have an element of violence, an element of bliss, and an element of sexuality, that would all kind of fuse together and create a real goodtime good show that would knock people out of their self-consciousness."

They owe a lot to the garage rock revival driven by The Strokes and The White Stripes and early on before they changed their music to a cleaner, more pop sound, were labeled as a sound-alike of these bands too, much to Brian’s chagrin

“It pissed me off when people said we sound like The Strokes and White Stripes, It was just the laziest assumption, like people weren't even listening.”

The song I’m recommending, Phenomena comes from their second album Show Your Bones, they started changing their sound in this album from the trashy punk to new wave and pop and I think this song sits right in the middle of that transition. The song is drenched in sexual innuendos and I think some references to drugs as well, at times I feel that they will be better off hiring a full time bass player but for this song I think not having a bass player is working in their favor, I love the combination of drums and her raw edgy vocals in the chorus. I will throw in one live performance here, don’t forget to checkout the Facebook page for a detailed interview of theirs and some other live performances, here’s the song

If you like this song you can get it from the link below

If you’d like to know more about them, here’s the link to their Wikipedia page

Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Here they are live @ Reading Festival skip to 3:30 that's when Phenomena starts

Still wanna know more about them, here’s the link to their official website

Yeah Yeah Yeahs (Official Website)

Enjoy!!!

My Federation - What Gods Are These

2011-11-18T06:00:00.005-06:00

Well all this week I have been recommending the religious / faith based music so I think it’s only fair that I give one chance to the other side too, in that vein today’s recommendation comes from Brighton, UK by the now disbanded band My Federation.

My Federation was put together by the Iranian born Lee “Muddy” Baker who is a singer, songwriter, producer, performer, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist. The sound of My Federation is deeply grounded in heavy synths which ventures into various genres such as electronic, psychedelic rock, acid rock to name a few. They self described themselves as

“If The Who drove at high speed, crashed into a giant synthesiser and the whole thing turned into a supermonster that had sex with The Flaming Lips and The Beach Boys, then, as well as creating a mess, you’d come close to describing the awesomeness of My Federation.”

The song I’m recommending, What Gods Are These comes from their first and last album Don’t Wanna Die, I found this song in the soundtrack of the movie She's Out Of My League. The song is more an anti-war song than an anti-religion song, in that it bemoans how wars are now being presented to us as an evening show on our TVs and general masses have been desensitized of the horrors of war because of the media extravaganza, they further their query and question the justification of the war where both sides believe they are furthering their god’s message by an endless cycle of violence, where killing each other is justified in the name of god. Here’s the song

If you like this song you can get it from the link below

If you’d like to know more about them here’s the link to their Wikipedia page

My Federation

Here they are live on the BBC2 Culture Show

Still wanna know more about them, here’s the link to their MySpace page

My Federation (MySpace)

Enjoy!!!

Rob Thomas - All That I Am

2011-11-17T06:00:00.001-06:00

Today’s recommendation comes from a famous Pop / Rock star, he was born in Landstuhl, Germany on Ramstein Air Base to parents serving in the US Army, his day job is being the front man for Matchbox Twenty and he also moonlights as the solo performer Rob Thomas.

Rob Thomas’ worldwide breakthrough came through the famous triple-platinum Carlos Santana song Smooth, which he co-wrote as well, he has also written songs for some industry giants such as Tom Petty, Willie Nelson, Mick Jagger, Mark Anthony to name a few.

The song I’m recommending All That I Am, comes from his debut solo album …Something To Be. Rob Thomas by the way is a very staunch gay rights activist which makes this composition drenched in faith and belief in a supreme being a contradiction of astronomical proportions from the conservative stand point, anyhow, this song was recommended by my sister when she found out about the theme of the week, she thought it to be a perfect fit for this week and I concur. I read on a website that Rob wrote this song after watching the Mel Gibson movie Passion Of The Christ and further explained that though he is not an overly religious person per say but the movie had a profound effect on him and moved him to write this song. I loved the melody of this song and the perfect use of exotic instruments some of which I couldn’t figure, the song has this calming effect which relaxes, soothes and sends you on an out of body experience in my opinion, here’s the song

If you like this song you can get it from the link below

If you’d like to know more about him, here’s the link to his Wikipedia page

Rob Thomas

Still wanna know more about him, here’s the link to his official website.

Rob Thomas (Official Website)

Enjoy!!!

Manic Drive - Walls

2011-11-16T06:00:00.002-06:00

Continuing on with the week’s theme, today’s recommendation comes from Toronto, ON by the band Manic Drive. The band revolves around the talents of two brothers Michael and Shawn Cavallo, they have had a few changes in their lineup but the brothers have been a constant.

The two brothers started in a kid’s band One Cross which morphed into Manic Drive back in 2004.

Here’s what they said about the name change and the thought behind the new name

“We wanted to change the name as a way of showing the industry and our fans that we were maturing and growing up as artists and not that kid band "One Cross" people use to identify us with. How the new name came about was just my brother and I (Shawn) loved the word "manic" just cause we thought it described the band's personality and music. We later added the word "drive" as in to pursue or to be driven in life. As Christians, we want to live radically and manically for Christ in our lifestyle and pursue Him always.”

They came out with their first album in 2005 which fetched them moderate success in the Christian Rock charts however they gained worldwide success with their single Blue title track from their 2008 album which features Grammy winning Kevin Max of DC Talk.

The song I’m recommending Walls comes from the same album, it falls somewhere between the Rock and Pop Rock genres, I didn’t even realize that the song is actually a Christian Rock song as I stumbled upon it on Pandora and liked the pace and beat of the song, it’s only after listening to it a few times I noticed the lyrics and realized it’s actually a Christian Rock song per say (not that it matters to me), I love the adrenalin pumping pace of the song plus it has a nice positive message, here’s the song

If you like this song you can get it from the link below

If you’d like to know more about them, here’s the link to their Wikipedia page

Manic Drive

Here they are live at Christmas Rock Night in Ennepetal, Germany

Still wanna know more about them, here’s the link to their official website

Manic Drive (Official Website)

Enjoy!!!

Newsboys - Stay Strong

2011-11-15T06:00:00.012-06:00

Today’s recommendation is again from down under though from a different region Mooloolaba, Australia to be exact by the band Newsboys. These guys have been around for a while, they started back in 1985 as The News but changed their name to Newsboys once they moved to USA to avoid conflict with Huey Lewis And The News.

They have released 14 studio albums, however they didn’t taste commercial success until their fourth album Not Ashamed. These guys are huge on the Christian Rock scene and that is in fact their bread and butter, they have belting out hits after hits in the Christian Rock / Christian Pop genre.

The song I’m recommending Stay Strong was one of the two new songs in their 2007 greatest hits compilation The Greatest Hits. The song is an uplifting message bearing good tides for the future encouraging the fallen that good things lie ahead if they persist and follow the good message. I love the intro piano piece, the gentle guitars the pace of the song and not to mention positive message of the song always lifts you up, it doesn’t matter if you are a believer or not. Here’s the song

If you like this song you can get it from the link below

If you’d like to know more about them, here’s the link to their Wikipedia page

Newsboys

Here they are live in Houston

If you like the live version you can get it from the link below

Still wanna know more about them here’s the link to their official website

Newsboys (Official Website)

Enjoy!!!

Sam Sparro - Black & Gold

2011-11-14T06:00:00.009-06:00

Ok guys the wait is over, I’m back and back with God’s music, don’t worry I’m not gonna put you through a sermon by a religious leader or something instead this week I’m gonna recommend some contemporary pop songs talking about God.

First on this list is an artist who was born in Sydney, Australia but later moved to London to claim bucket loads of fame and fortune, he comes from a musical family his father wrote music for shows like Star Trek & Queer Eye For The Straight Guy, his mother played organ at a Baptist church and his brother is also a professional guitarist, he is Sam Sparro.

The song I’m recommending, Black & Gold, comes from his self titled debut album, which came out back in 2008 and won him several nominations. This song is one of the rarest of rare combinations, in that it is a Dance, Electro-Pop song which champions the conservative or religious view of life and questions the theory of evolution.

He didn’t shy away from the religious branding either and openly confirmed his faith in the following words:

“…It is about God, yeah ... I do like to have faith in something that is bigger than me…”

The song starts with lyrics like

If the fish swam out of the ocean
And grew legs and they started walking
And the apes climbed down from the trees
And grew tall and they started talking

I will not delve into what’s right and wrong though I will admit he does make a compelling argument, and gives a rare voice to the views which are generally considered outsiders and often outright ridiculed in the music world which is crowded with the liberal ideology.

Musically speaking it’s a catchy dance pop number with decent enough vocals and has been covered by famous acts like Katy Perry, Adele, Chloe Warren and Gary Go to name a few. I’ll throw in the Katy Perry and Adele covers, don’t forget to check out the Facebook page for live performances by Sam Sparro and Katy Perry and a candid interview of his about the song, here’s the song

If you like this song you can get it from the link below

If you’d like to know more about him, here’s the link to his Wikipedia page

Sam Sparro

Here he is live @ Jools Holland

Here’s Katy Perry’s cover

Here’s the cover by Adele

Still wanna know more about him, here’s the link to his official website

Sam Sparro (Official Website)

If you liked this posting you might enjoy this recommendation too

Love Grenades - Young Lovers (Sam Sparro Edit)

Enjoy!!!