WILB

Life Imitating Art...

2012-01-11T13:52:00.000-08:00

...imitating life.

The best songs are (in my opinion) drawn from artists' personal experience.

As a result, the audience is more likely to connect with the tune given the subject matter's closer proximity to reality.

I don't own a quarter million dollar automobile (yet), nor am I in the habit of "snatchin' your chick", or busting caps into anything or body. I can see how shooting ranges could be fun though. Next USA trip I'm down!

I can get down with this song though, one of my favorites for a number of years running...

Raphael Saadiq ft. D'Angelo - "You Should Be Here"

80's Baby pt 2

2011-12-12T15:15:00.000-08:00

Had an amazing night out this weekend which further brought out my love for "older" music. Namely the 60s, 70s, and 80s.

Here's a song I came across randomly going through YouTube's suggestions after I listened to an earlier song I posted (Love Come Down.)

I'm considering abandoning this blog for one dedicated to creating an archive for the older tunes I like... It's hard to make blogspot blogs look good. If anyone know's how to easily migrate blog content, I could use some advice. Would hate to have to manually transfer my posts over to another platform.

Anyways back to the song. Just a "feel good."

Listen to this on a rough morning lol.

Enjoy!

Sweet Sensation - "Hooked on You"

Little Dragon x Drake

2011-11-24T14:36:00.001-08:00

Wildfire remix, this is nothing new but I just like how it's the fusion of two of my favorite artists right now. I see it as a similar move to what Drake pulled with remaking Lykke Li's "Little Bit"; I like that Drake has his ears open to overseas talent.

Enjoy.

I always play it in tandem with this song for some reason.

Enjoy x 2.

M83 - "Midnight City"

No clue what that thing is btw.

Champagne King

2011-11-17T15:58:00.000-08:00

As in Evelyn Champagne King. I think it's kinda hilarious that this video has been posted by a user named "sunmanpatoo" who has uploaded 395 videos, lol. What an age we live in. This song precedes our times to say the least.

"Love Come Down", a funky tune from the early 80's. This is a feel good beat for sure; I think the soul guitar is my favorite application of the instrument.

Enjoy.

The Motto

2011-11-03T15:56:00.000-07:00

I have to write a quick post about the amount of fake versions of Drake's the motto I'm seeing on YouTube.

Here's the real version:

Come up the legit way, sheesh! Going nowhere with that approach.

Heroin Chic Part 2

2011-11-03T15:38:00.001-07:00

As a follow up to the first post. Take a look at this video by The Weeknd. This probably won't see the light of day on the TV, but it's making the rounds on YouTube. It's the video for the song "Wicked Games." I have to give a warning here that this video contains depictions of drug use, sexual content and female nudity. So don't let your kids watch this!

The Weeknd - "Wicked Games"

For what it's worth, although its strong content, I think that video was amazing. It captures the vibe of the song to me.

Along these lines was a video by Theophilus London, which was actually the first music video from an artist I knew that featured nudity on YouTube.

Theophilus London - "Oops Oh My"

Never Mind the Title

2011-10-28T14:49:00.000-07:00

It's a great live rendition:

Kanye West - "Harder Better Faster Stronger"

Heroin Chic

2011-10-24T15:10:00.000-07:00

Oui-oui mes amis, Heroin Chic, what does that refer to? Heroin Chic was a term coined in the 90's when interest groups were up in arms about new modelling practices that had models appearing strung out and uber-thin. Kate Moss is an example. It refers to a practice that is meant to create a strong image and shock the observer, but also comes off as "cool". Toronto artist (or group, depending on who you talk to) "The Weeknd" gives us what I'd call a musical iteration of this concept. His songs are dark and usually are either about drugs or sung from the perspective of someone who is always on them. This darkness and strong content are what gives The Weeknd an edge, what makes it cool. The song "Gone" is a perfect example, and happens to be one of my favorites by this artist.

The Weeknd - "Gone"

A Song for Motown

2011-10-17T13:54:00.000-07:00

The recession hit places like Detroit, MI the hardest as far as the USA goes. Detroit had once been known as a boomtown but in recent history it has been known as a place where you can get a house for 13k. But out of struggle comes inspiration and if you add that to hard work you can maybe get some good music out of it. Which is precisely what Mayer Hawthorne does on his new single "A Long Time", a song about Detroit's come back after financial destruction. It's a soulful track that I hope you'll enjoy...

Mayer Hawthorne - "A Long Time"

Re-Invent, Re-Create, Re-Define

2011-10-12T18:00:00.000-07:00

As an outsider, the music industry is finally looking like it's settling in to its new reality. The explosion of sharing online initially hurt, but I think artists have adapted and are now taking advantage of their new environment. A byproduct of this appears to be the increased prevalence of remixed and remade songs. For the latter, this is now done sooner than before. Here is an example of a 2010 song that has been remade in 2011. The original is by a Montreal group named "Chromeo", and it's been remade by a Detroit artist named Mayer Hawthorne, whom I've written about in previous posts. He takes an entirely different approach to the song. I'm a fan of both and I think this is one of the wonderful aspects that has come out of the reformation of the music industry. Hope you love.

Chromeo - "Don't turn the lights on"

Mayer Hawthorne - "Don't turn the lights on"

Celtic Sounds

2011-10-05T17:49:00.000-07:00

Celtic, I guess as in Boston Celtic... but not really. The term Celtic is referenced in a number of ways, but to me it represents individuals originating from Scotland/Ireland and their accompanying culture.

I believe that there is such thing as a Celtic sound in singers' voices. You hear it in people like Sarah Mclachlan and La Roux. I feel like I hear a hint of it in Teagan and Sara, but I could be wrong.

I hear it in Florence from Florence + the Machine's voice. Here are some of my fav tracks of hers:

"Drumming Song"

"Shake It Out"

Florence is not Irish or Scottish, she's English. Celtic is just word that came to me when trying to describe how these singers' voices sound. The music they make has a folky vibe to it. Makes me think about kilts and people dancing around on green hills somewhere. Maybe I'm a little nuts. Either way, enjoy and love.

80's Baby

2011-10-02T01:44:00.000-07:00

I'm clearly still on Aussie time. 4:45 AM yeesh. Just watched the movie "Drive", which is out right now in theaters. This is the title track. It has a real 80's feel to it. So does the movie a bit for that matter. Ryan Gosling, who stars, has this old school jacket on the whole time which gets showcased from all types of angles. Even the art for the movie is 80's: Pink writing over a black canvas. The song, called "A Real Hero", gets played at select points in the movie. The start, finish, and at many other moments when Gosling's character is having romantic-ish moments with the female co-star. Hope you love. Where my 80's babies at?

College ft. Electric Youth - "A Real Hero"

From Down Undah

2011-09-13T23:33:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, they are pumping this song heavily in Australia right now, but I heard it first from one of my super fantabulous co-workers in Canada about a month ago. It's a song about break-ups. This song is an interesting and very real take on what happens when two people break up. We all know the "we can still be friends" thing sounds good, but never really works out, so why do we still bother saying it?

Give this track a listen. Cheers mates!

Gotye ft. Kimbra - "Somebody That I Used to Know"

G-Pass, First Class

2011-08-31T18:26:00.000-07:00

This here is my favorite track by Brooklynite Theophilus London. This is what I'm referring to when I'm saying I want rap that is not offensive. No N-words, no B-words. I might be giving my age away a bit when I say it, but this is grown music. Can be played with a lady in the car. We need more rap like this. On another note, the hook singer, Devonte Hynes, kills it. I'm going to look into this character to see if he has any solo material. Anyways, give this a listen.

TL ft. Devonte Hynes - "Century Girl"

Hope you love.

Sidenote: The 'layering' (probably not the technical term) I've described in other posts (see the Raheem Devaughn remake of "Motivation") is excellent at the end of this track.

Mr. @AloeBlacc = #NeoSoul

2011-08-30T17:53:00.000-07:00

This post is going to feature an artist who is rapidly becoming one of my fav's. He's building a following and has had great success getting his music into some commercial venues, most notably getting the theme song for the show "How to make it in America" and a recent Tangueray commercial. Here are some choice cuts:

"Green Lights"

"You Make Me Smile" - my fav

"Tonight Downtown" - Tangueray commercial

More posts on this individual to come.

Hope you love.

"Sorry Ladies" :P

2011-08-29T15:51:00.000-07:00

This is my favorite track off of Music Soulchild's latest album. It's called Single, a song about a dude who see's a girl and feels a spark, but he brushes it off because he's taken. Musiq has always produced music with relevant subject matter (to me anyway) and is an artist you should all know about. He's made some very classic songs in a genre that does not have a lot of contributors in it...

Hope you love.

Musiq - "Single"

Saturday Selection

2011-08-20T08:38:00.000-07:00

An excellent remake of a classic tune by Jeff Buckley. Jon B went in on this cover on his last album (circa 07 I believe.) Enjoy!

Jon B - Everybody Here Wants You

@frank_ocean #onrepeat

2011-08-17T17:36:00.000-07:00

Like the title of this post says, this track has been on repeat all day. Frank Ocean can flow. He can sing, but he can flow. His verses are unique, albeit I have no idea what he means by wanting to sell the chick a home in Idaho or owning a fighter jet. That would be cool as shit to own though. His melodies are refreshing, often unexpectedly so, but I am coming to expect a unique melody out of this singer. That's a good thing in my book. The book about good music.

Anyways, that's enough outta me. Good night young world.

Frank Ocean - Thinking About You

Three dope tracks from Little Dragon

2011-08-05T22:57:00.000-07:00

Hey guys it's late and I'm tired so I'll keep this short. I came across this group after someone shared a link to their album to FB and got instantly hooked. It's funky stuff, it's soulful too at the same time. Uncommon traits in electronic music I find.

Ritual Union

Shuffle a Dream (My Fav)

Please Turn

I predict these tracks will hit in the millions of views. Album dropped July 25th 2k11. Enjoy!!

@TheWeekndxo

2011-06-22T17:44:00.000-07:00

Ok so I've been listening to the singer The Weeknd a lot lately. This guy is supposedly signed with Drake under his OVO imprint coming soon. He released an initial mixtape called "House of Balloons" which is getting a lot of YouTube play. Like 500k per song at this point. He usually makes laid back vibin' music but the song "Do it" is a departure from that style, and its good, so I've decided to post :) Its a different look for upbeat rnb... Enjoy!

Baby Making Music

2011-06-02T18:23:00.000-07:00

Its been a while so I'll start back again with my fav type of post, the Baby Making Music Post. I don't see a lot of these songs getting shared out there... so it makes me feel different, OK? lol Anyways, Raheem Devaughn is one of my fav artists, if not my fav, and he's also one of the best at remixing songs (see my previous post.) He has a mixtape out called "Jacking for Beats" where I heard his remix of Kelly Rowland's "Motivation." I really like what he does on the hook here, layering the vocals and whatnot.

Raheem Devaughn - "Motivation Remix"

If you like this check out the mixtape on www.DatPiff.com, he does a remix of Fabolous' "Killin Em" that's pretty good as well.

Enjoy + Peace + Love

Raheem x Young Guns

2011-01-17T18:48:00.000-08:00

Here is Raheem Devaughn over the Young Guns'- "Can't stop won't stop"

The intro runs a little long in this one so if it gets annoying just push it to 1:20 (just before his verse.)

Raheem Devaughn - "Soul in them hips"

Baby Making Music

2010-11-11T15:41:00.000-08:00

Not to be confused with Maybach Music, but you can listen to it in the back of one ;P.

Trey Songz - "Doorbell"

Goapele on Kanye's Beat

2010-11-06T08:49:00.000-07:00

This is the beat Kanye showcased at the MTV awards this year. Here is Goapele's take on it, "Nothing Compares to You." I'm a fan.

Goapele - "Nothing Compares to You"

Miguel

2010-11-06T08:47:00.000-07:00

Next single?

Miguel - "Sure Thing"

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