musicblognamehere - Tumblr blog

[musicblognamehere]

#ThrowBackTrackThursday

On my drive in this morning I decided to hit the #ThrowbackThursday mix Spotify provides.  I was swiftly greeted with Erykah Badu’s classic ‘On & On’ immediately followed by ‘the Spice Girls – Spice Up Your Life.’  Just as I was starting to lose hope I was greeted by tracks from two of the best albums to be released in the past 20 years. Coincidentally, both albums turn 20 this year and both would absolutely be relevant if released today.  

When I listen to music I like to dissect meanings, and feelings, and what the artist was going through, and all that nonsense but I think above all else I’m trying to find the music that is timeless. I’m trying to find the albums that are going to stand the test of time – that you are still going to listen to if you put them on 20 years later, and not ironically.

It’s not always the easiest thing to do, especially when it’s so easy to fall in love with a particular group or song if they are speaking directly to you at the time. When I was 15 I thought my mother was loony telling me that KoRn was going to be irrelevant in 10 years. Little did I know.

After ‘Spicing Up My Life’ which honestly did get me going for whatever reason, maybe it was the coffee, ‘No Surprises’ off of arguably Radiohead’s best album ‘OK Computer’ came on. I know what you’re thinking, yes. ‘OK Computer’ turns 20 this year. We’re old now, and in 10 years, ‘OK Computer’ will turn 30… think about THAT! ::Mind Blown::  

You can pick ANY song off of ‘OK Computer’ and I will listen to the whole thing through, it’s probably the most important album of 1997. There was nothing like it at the time; it pretty much blew everyone away. However, I don’t think at the time people realized the classic they hand on their hands at the time.  People still wanted to hear ‘the Creep Song’ until ‘Paranoid Android’ with one of the coolest videos ever at that time came out.  Do we even need to talk about ‘Karma Police’? Nope. Let’s not even get into 01 and 10…. That’s a whole different can of worms. This set the table for Radiohead to be the uber huge Rockstar/Coachella Headlining/legendary band that they are today.  So take a look back at ‘OK Computer’ – maybe not where it all started for Radiohead, but along with ‘Kid A’ definitely shaped them into what they became and what we all know and love.

How can it get better right? Immediately following ‘No Surprises’ I get my favorite track off of another one of the most important albums of the late 90’s, ‘Homogenic.’  ‘Jóga’ is the gateway to Björk.  I did not understand her for the longest time, and I’m honestly not sure I ever will fully.   Björk is truly a timeless musical treasure.

While ‘Homogenic’ is by no means Björk’s debut – I believe that like ‘OK Computer’ it’s where she starts to come into her own and write her own tale.  This is her path less traveled, and I believe that countless others have her to thank for this path in the woods. I think that without ‘Homogenic’ there is less Regina Spektor, Grimes, M.I.A., Lana Del Rey, CHVRCHES, Lorde.  This is possibly the most important alternative, indie, experimental female led albums of all time, alongside Tori Amos’ wonderful ‘Under the Pink.’  I would hate to imagine a world without those two albums.  Their influence on female led independent music is long felt. Revisit the timeless ‘Homogenic’ or give it a spin for the first time, you’ll have no idea it came out 2 decades ago.

After these 2 timeless classics took me back a piece and inspired me to write this, I got to listen to ‘MMMbop’ by those Hanson boys… Can’t win em all I guess.  Ba du bop, ba duba dop.

[musicblognamehere]

The homie @Soulphysicist told me to check this out and it show it to you all.  Sounds nice... What do you think?

[musicblognamehere]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DESI; how are you already 3?! I hope you have a good day playing games and watching vidjios on jer fone. LOVE YOU BUDDY!

[musicblognamehere]

This Force Field doesn’t want to keep anyone out…

The Force Field - Sleepy Owl - 12-17-16

After a later dinner, last Saturday night in honor of my wife’s birthday – we decided to pop in to Sleepy Owl Brewery for some delicious brew.  I knew that “the Forcefield” was playing but though that their set would be long over by the time we arrived. Fortunately for us, this was not the case.  After a switched set we got to see Justin and Drew do their thing on stage and we were ultimately delighted to do so.  

For those of you who don’t know the Force Field is, it’s what I’d affectionately refer to as some of if not the best local hip hop you can get your ears around in East Tennessee.  Their style is reminiscent of “A Tribe Called Quest” in the vein of “Jurassic 5”, and would fit right in between your “Blackalicious” and “Deltron” LPs.  Smart wordplay intersects with mid 90’s to 00’s Just blazey inspired beats to put out your favorite party go-to album that you haven’t heard about yet.

Justin and Drew turned the Sleepy Owl stage into their world and let us peep into it for a set of good times and solid jams.  The two look to truly enjoy what they are doing and have no doubt that most absolutely do.

It was refreshing to see smart rap in such a setting but fear that their anthems are not able to garner the attention and crowd support they truly deserve in this area – and hope by and large that I am completely wrong about that.

If you see the Force Field is playing near you, go see some of the finest hip hop East TN has to offer.

[musicblognamehere]

Another Attempt...

A music blog. We’ve been here before.  We NEVER keep up with it.  It’s the trying that counts though right?  An introductory post?  Sure.

First off if you’re taking time out of your busy schedule to read this, THANK YOU!  I know that listening to an early 30’s music nerd lament about 4-6 minute snippets of noise is not everyone’s cup of tea.  Especially if you don’t normally value my opinion to begin with.  With that being said I’ll do my best to play “Pitchfork”, “Rolling Stone”, and or “SPIN” in my free time because I think it will be fun.

I’m going to put together my top 25 albums of 2016 and post that before the new year.  (some of you may have already seen this on Facebook but I already have changes.) I’m hoping to review at least one mainstream album, and one local and or musician I know personally from my travels album a week. (So send those my way!)

I hope to get something similar to what my good friend Zach Marcotte started in San Antonio with FLOORED magazine.  I wouldn’t mind for this to eventually be what he calls “A Community Support Magazine”, but I’m going to throw a little more mainstream review on top of that.

I hope everyone has a great holiday season, stay tuned for my Top 25, and if you want to contribute or suggest reviews or anything of that nature; hell if you think you can just do it better. Let me know and let’s make something together.

Your Pal,

Dave