Top Ten Tuesday: Pitbull featuring Ke$ha "Timber"

I will readily admit that this song is on here today because it's the only song on the Top Ten that I haven't already featured.

I'm not a huge fan of either artist but I'll concede that the song is pretty catchy. I heard a statistic that this song is like 80% chorus, 15% instrumental, and 5% verses. Which is interesting. It means that the song is catchy because it's basically a chant of the catchy Ke$ha chorus over and over, spiced up with a couple of short verses by Pitbull. And yet she's only a featured artist. Interesting.

This isn't the worst song I've ever heard. I wonder how close to the release and popularity of Avicii's "Wake Me Up" this song was conceived. It could be a coincidence, but I think it's interesting to see another example of the dancification/hiphoptimization of the culture of country music.

2013 Year-End Countdown!

Fitz and the Tantrums

Well here we are again at the Year End Countdown. It feels like we were just doing this last year. Not a lot of surprises here, but it's a very enjoyable show! Happy New Year everyone!

2013 Year End Countdown

***Featuring***
Avicii
Bastille
Cage the Elephant
Capital Cities
Fitz & the Tantrums
Imagine Dragons
Lorde
Muse
The Neighbourhood
Of Monsters and Men

One Year, 100 Albums: #53 Blood, Sweat, and Tears - Blood, Sweat, and Tears

Blood, Sweat & Tears Blood, Sweat & Tears, 1968

Fitting for this week, this album was a gift from my Dad for Christmas, I believe, if I'm not mistaken. It took me a little while to get into it, but by the time I was graduating from High School, this album was a classic in my mind.

The parts that initially appealed to me were the more rockin' parts like "More and More" and "Spinning Wheel" and the end of "Blues -- Part 2" but now I really appreciate the sheer instrumental skill of this band. They're equal parts jazz band and rock band I just love it.

This album is comfort food to me. It also introduced me to the works of Erik Satie (or, well, one work)

I'm really happy that YouTube had this video on it. Dig those retro video production values!

This song always reminds me of the credits to the Mary Tyler Moore show. I've never been quite sure why.

Blood, Sweat & Tears - Sometimes in Winter

You can buy Blood, Sweat & Tears at Amazon, Amazon MP3, and iTunes

Throwback Thursday: 1992

10. Mary J. Blige - Real Love
9. The Heights - How Do You Talk to an Angel
8. Shanice - Saving Forever For You
7. Bobby Brown - Good Enough
6. Snap - Rhythm is a Dancer
5. PM Dawn - I'd Die Without You
4. Boyz II Men - In the Still of the Nite
3. Shai - If I Ever Fall In Love
2. Wreckx-N-Effect - Rump Shaker

On Thanksgiving, I posted a Throwback Thursday from 1996 for a song by BLACKstreet featuring Dr. Dre called "No Diggity". It starts with Dre's verse wherein he refers to "BLACKstreet and Teddy, the original Rump Shakers". And that's because Teddy Riley, the driving force behind BLACKstreet was also in Wreckx-N-Effect, whose biggest hit was the above video: "Rump Shaker".

You may ALSO remember the chorus from the song I played for Throwback Thursday 2008 (9/5/13), M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes" where the "Boom Boom Boom"s were replaced with gunshots and the "Zoom Zoom"s were replaced with cash register sounds.

Just to hit the song truly out of the park, the verse that Teddy raps (I believe he comes second. He says his name in the first line) was written by a young Pharrell Williams who was on Throwback Thursday 2003 (10/10/13) for his song featuring Jay-Z called "Frontin'"

So this song is like the Rosetta Stone for Throwback Thursday on this blog. Click the Throwback Thursday tag at the bottom of this post to see ALL of the songs featured so far!

1. Whitney Houston - I Will Always Love You

One Year, 100 Albums: #54 Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning

Bright Eyes I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning, 2005

I was introduced to Bright Eyes by the girl that appears in a lot of these posts. She was very influential on my music education because she was not shy about telling me what was great and what sucked. And her taste was pretty fantastic. I can't even count all the times when she would tell me about a band that would be HUGE 6 months later. It was very impressive.

The album she played me was Lifted, or The Story's in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground (which is just the kind of title that ropes me in. It's actually astounding that I'm not a bigger Fiona Apple fan) and specifically the song "Waste of Paint" which I still love and which my friend Andy, who was my roommate at the time time, almost certainly still hates (we played it a lot).

That girl graduated college and I started dating the girl that would become my wife and then Bright Eyes released their/his follow-up album. Actually, they/he released TWO follow-up albums. One, Digital Ash in a Digital Urn, had some interesting stuff on it, some really good songs, and one FANTASTIC song ("Arc of Time (Time Code)").

And then there was the other album. It was called I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning and it was eye-opening. This was Conor Oberst showing that everything you thought he'd mastered about making music, was only the beginning. He went for more of an alt-country sound (which he would continue to develop on subsequent albums) and it was amazing. It seemed almost..happy?

Of course there was still a lot of sad, and a lot of angry there, but it was filtered through a really beautiful screen and all the emotions were strengthened by it.

On the one end of the album's spectrum, you have the song I featured for the video. On the other end, you have the song I posted as a sample track from the album. And in between you have songs with and without Emmylou Harris. It all adds up to 10 tracks of a glorious rebirth for Bright Eyes. This album never fails to put a smile on my face.

Bright Eyes - Road to Joy

You can buy I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning at Saddle Creek Records, Amazon, Amazon MP3, and iTunes

Top Ten Tuesday: One Direction "Story of My Life"

Ok, before you leave the blog forever, give me a chance to speak my case. 

I think that this song is pretty good, for starters, but I certainly recognize that it might not connect with a lot of my readers. 

So, maybe the follow-up point will: I think this is a cool music video. I love "Past/Present" pictures where people recreate old photos with the same participants and locations. And this does that in a very sweet way. I've included the Making Of video because some of the techniques were really interesting to me.

And, really, if you're going to leave the blog forever because of something I play on Top Ten Tuesday, then you really don't understand why I do Top Ten Tuesday.

New Countdown: Jingle Bell Alternative Rock

Cage the Elephant (Christmas Edition)

I don't think it's possible to convey to you how excited I was to be able to find a picture of the band on the blog post's "cover" (which, as always, was randomly selected) with a Christmas tree on it. I guess miracle really do happen.

This was a fun one. What am I saying? They're all fun!

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you get everything you wanted. And I'm not just saying that with regards to Christmas.

Countdown #179

***Featuring***
Arctic Monkeys
Barenaked Ladies featuring Michael Buble
Bastille
Cage the Elephant
Fitz & the Tantrums
Imagine Dragons
Linkin Park x Steve Aoki
Lorde
The Neighbourhood
Panic! at the Disco featuring LOLO
Pearl Jam
Wilco