Nov 29, 2009
This week on Soulful Sunday, I am showcasing the 2009 album from Two Fresh – Baker’s Dozen.
It’s great to finally be back with this, I miss my beats! I found this great album from twin brothers Two Fresh – very reminiscent of Nujabes and definitely let me work the day away. The stream is below, enjoy!
Nov 27, 2009
This week on Featured Album Friday, I am showcasing the 2009 self-titled album from Miike Snow – Miike Snow!
(Yes, I’m actually back this time!)
Here is the description of Miike Snow from their Last.FM:
Miike Snow are Andrew Wyatt, Christian Karlsson, and Pontus Winnberg. Named after an acquaintance with an “i” added for extra flair, Miike Snow recently signed with Downtown records. Their self-titled debut was released May 12, 2009.
While you may not have recognized Karlsson and Winberg by their full names, you have surely heard their work as production duo Bloodshy & Avant. The duo has written and produced for Kylie Minogue, Madonna and Britney Spears and claimed a Grammy for their work on Britney Spears’ Toxic. Wyatt is fresh off co-production duties with Mark Ronson on Daniel Merriweather’s April release, Love And War.
I’ve had a taste for indie bands with an electro-pop feel as of late, and that is probably what you will be seeing for the next while. Either that, or slow love-ballad-y type bands that pull my heartstrings. Regardless, this is a great album and the stream is below. Enjoy!
Nov 6, 2009
Whew! After a brief hiatus, Featured Album Fridays is back! This week on Featured Album Fridays, I am featuring the 2009 album from Har Mar Superstar – Dark Touches.
Here is the description of Har Mar Superstar from his Last.FM:
Sideproject of Sean Tilmann of Sean Na Na fame.
Har Mar Superstar is an American singer born in Owatonna, Minnesota.
While remaining relatively unknown in his home country, he has found fame in the U.K. indie rock/dance scene. His musical genre is generally lewd R’n’B music, mixed with electroclash.
He made a cameo in the 2004 movie Starsky and Hutch as “Dancin’ Rick”, a disco dance champion who faces off in a contest with Ben Stiller’s Starsky character.
An interesting album, that’s for sure. I loved the beats the most, and hopefully you guys enjoy it as well. The stream is below, cheers!
Oct 11, 2009
This week on Soulful Sundays, I am showcasing the 2008 album from Ozomatli – Don’t Mess With The Dragon.
Very different direction from me today, just because! Interesting album, and I had never really heard anything like this before, but very latin-inspired music that seems to cross a lot of genres. Hope you enjoy, the stream is below. Happy Thanksgiving!
Oct 9, 2009
This week on Featured Album Fridays, I am showcasing the 2009 album from The Rural Alberta Advantage – Hometowns.
Here is the description of The Rural Alberta Advantage from their Last.FM:
Toronto-based trio The Rural Alberta Advantage (Nils Edenloff, Amy Cole, and Paul Banwatt) play indie-rock songs about hometowns and heartbreak, born out of images from growing up in Central and Northern Alberta. They sing about summers in the Rockies and winters on the farm, ice breakups in the spring time and the oil boom’s charm, the mine workers on compressed, the equally depressed, the city’s slow growth and the country’s wild rose, but mostly the songs just try to embrace the advantage of growing up in Alberta.
Wonderful album and gotta give it up to some local flavour! The stream is below and I hope you enjoy.
Oct 4, 2009
This week on Soulful Sundays, I am showcasing the 2004 album from El-P, High Water.
A pure instrumental album, jazz stylings with heavy hip-hop influence. If you’re looking for hip-hop, you’re going to enjoy this. And if you’re looking for some very creative jazz, you’re going to enjoy this as well. Regardless, you will enjoy it, the stream is below!
Oct 2, 2009
This week on Featured Album Fridays, I am showcasing the 2009 album from Zero 7 – Yeah Ghost.
Here is the description of Zero 7 from their Last.FM:
Zero 7 is a downtempo act comprising Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker from the United Kingdom. The band’s songs feature vocals from Mozez, Sia Furler, Tina Dico, Sophie Barker and José González.
On 23rd April 2001 they released their debut album, Simple Things, to wide acclaim. The album featured collaborations with vocalists Mozez, Sia Furler, and Sophie Barker.
On 1st March 2004 they released their second album, When It Falls. In addition to the three vocalists from their first album, it also featured a collaboration with Tina Dico. In the same year, Binns also co-wrote the Emma Bunton track Breathing from her second solo album,
Their third album The Garden was released on 22nd May 2006 and features José González and Sia Furler. It is a departure from the trip-hop sound that defined their first two albums, Simple Things and When It Falls. The Garden has much more of an acoustic rather than electronic flavour to it.
The Garden is also notable in that it marks the vocal debut of Henry Binns; and while he doesn’t want the record to be defined by such a fact, it does add another personality to the mix. He duets on PlayThrow It All Away, PlayThis Fine Social Scene and PlayWaiting to Die, and sings solo on PlayYour Place.
However, if there is one fact that Henry and Sam don’t want people to be confused by, it is the title of the album, The Garden. Taken from the album artwork, which is a series of collages designed by a friend of theirs, entitled, spookily enough, The Garden, the duo are keen for the album’s meaning not to get lost in translation.
It is quite a departure from their usual downtempo and chill music, but it is definitely a quality album. The stream is below, hope you enjoy!
Sep 27, 2009
This week on Soulful Sundays, I am showcasing the 2009 album from Kid Cudi – Man on the Moon: The End of the Day.
A wonderful album. Albeit a little bit on the emo side, especially for a hip-hop album, but you really have to appreciate the amazing songs on this track. My personal favourite is Pursuit of Happiness – mostly because of the involvement of MGMT, but every song on here is listenable. I hope you enjoy the album, the stream is below!
Sep 25, 2009
This week on Featured Album Fridays, I’m showcasing the 2009 album from Lights – The Listening.
Here is the description of Lights from her Last.FM:
Lights Poxleitner (born Valerie Poxleitner, 11 April 1987), known by her stage name Lights, is a Juno Award-winning Canadian singer-songwriter. She is best known for composing and performing heavily synthesized dream pop music such as the songs “PlayDrive My Soul” and “PlayFebruary Air” and has performed internationally. She recently changed her legal first name to Lights, which was formerly Valerie.
Lights was born in Timmins, Ontario. She was raised by missionary parents and spent much of her childhood in various parts of the world ranging from the Philippines to Jamaica. She is of German and Austrian descent. Lights currently lives in Toronto.
When she was asked about when she wrote her first song, Lights has said “I was eleven, and I learned three chords on the guitar. It was the first time I really learned how to play guitar and I wanted to write a song with them so I went down to my mom and I said pick a number between 1 and 150 and she picked 5 or something, I can’t really remember the number, but I went and opened up the Bible and there was 150 Psalms already written so I went to the number she chose and wrote a song with that and that kicked off the biggest thing of my life.”
Am completely in love with this girl, mostly because of her music! This album is everything I wanted it to be, so I hope you enjoy it – the stream is below!
Sep 20, 2009
This week on Soulful Sundays, I am showcasing the 2001 album from Bilal – 1st Born Second.
Oldie but a goodie, this album is very mellow and old school, with some interesting vocals laid on top. A couple of big names making an appearance (Like Common and Mos Def!) and it was a fantastic album to wake up to. The stream is below, hope you enjoy!