SOUL'd OUT

SOUL'd OUT is a one-of-a-kind band, and also one-of-the-best as far as I'm concerned. Hailing from the Land of the Rising Sun, which is a fancy way to say Japan, their eccentric musical style is a fusion of hip-hop and disco. The group consists of Diggy-MO', the main MC and the one in the middle of that picture there, Bro. Hi, the MC, human beat box and the one on the left, and Shinnosuke, the trackmaster and the one on the right. In many songs Diggy-MO' has a voice unlike any other I have ever heard, a sort of nasal chorus. Bro. Hi is truly a human beat box, once in a while making sounds I couldn't even begin to attempt to immitate. Shinnosuke never says anything but has the loudest and most impressive voice of all through the music itself. Most of SOUL'd OUT's lyrics are in Japanese, with a few bits here and there in English. For me this enhances the music even further, as the sound of the Japanese language is very pleasing to my ears, probably a result of having lived in that country in the days of my early youth. But then again, I enjoy the sound of the Hungarian language far more, and I only went there for about six days.

Anyway, a few of my favorite SOUL'd OUT songs:

• Dream Drive
• To All Tha Dreamers
• 1,000,000 MONSTERS ATTACK
• ALIVE ~Wall5 Remix~
• Love Peace & Soul
• Flyte Time
• Master's Groove
• Diggy Diggy Diggy
• Wekapipo
• Magenta Magenta

I first found out about SOUL'd OUT from the TV show “Yakitate!! Japan”, a cartoon about bread and one of the best shows to ever exist. One of the end credits tracks for the second season was this crazy thumping disco hip-hop sort of song with a CGI rendering of one of the main characters dancing on a pedestal. That song was “To All Tha Dreamers”, and thus SOUL'd OUT was discovered. “To All Tha Dreamers” is an epic song with absolutely fabulous string, brass, and piano, colored whitish-green, a blossoming purple-pink, and pale blue respectively, all accompanying the energetic vocals. It also has a higher percentage of English lyrics than most SOUL'd OUT tracks. Although the song is about five minutes long, it feels much longer yet doesn't get tiring because of its many sections with quite varied styles and feelings. A veritable smörgåsbord of rhythm and sound that fills the listener with an unexplainable sense of energy and goodness in the world, “To All Tha Dreamers” is a truly legendary song and strongly represents the sound of SOUL'd OUT.

You can listen to “To All Tha Dreamers” here.

You must remove the downloaded file from your computer within 24 hours. It is only a sample of a track which you can purchase on a CD. The author of this site cannot be held responsible for the misuse or copyright violation of this song as enforced by any given country's laws.

Mark Schultz-Walking Her Home

These New Guys!

Well I have been out of the loop for awhile about getting you some new music so I have searched the depths of myspace once again and came out with a guy from Greenville, South Carolina. His name Corey Crowder and he might not be all that new, after all he did make his debut on the reality T.V. show Real World. Even so he is really good. His song "Here's Looking at You" is a sure love song that could be played over and over again when you are with that special girl or guy of your choice. The soft-souled acoustic singer has been plucking at the heart-strings in his songs and with a little bit more light could probably make it into the hall of heart-throbs along with Jack Johnson, Ben Harper, and John Mayer. Check him out at his myspace, just type in Corey Crowder in the music section.

How about this guy who is nowhere near as popular as Corey Crowder his name is Mark Webb. He is actually from the same town as Corey, so I am assuming that they are somehow connected, but anyway he is kinda doing the same thing with his music but he is a little bit more upbeat with his songs. They are still love songs and everything but with a little more pep to them. Still a good guy to listen to so check him out also and see what you think. Just search Mark Webb at myspace in the music section.

Now the song I like best, "Walking Her Home", by Mark Shultz. I am going to put this video on the site and you are probably gonna cry if you listen to the words. Yep it is another emotional song and a real tear jerker, too. I don't know much about this guy but I do know that this song is awesome and really true. It shows love in a song and not just the summer love but the unconditional love that you see in the eyes of your grandparents or the old couple on the park bench. This song is just a solid song that shows the true meaning of life and what it is all about. I give this song a solid ten and I hope you guys like it as much as I do.

These are my new guys. Maybe they will soon be your new guys, too.

More Crispy (Crispier?)

At first I found “Licky Licky” to be a decent song, but after a couple listens it began to grow on me. It is a song about tasting exotic fruit, but we all know what this standard metaphor is really about. Of course, because Crispy is a bubblegum dance artist, they just go ahead and slay what would otherwise be relative subtlety with lines such as “Would you like some coconuts? / I got a pair already”. The fruitfulness of the song is furthered by the fruit-salad of the music, carefully creating a delicious bowl of heavy baseline plums, string-counter melody honeydew melons, watermelon synth bits, and apple slice vocals. The awesome computer-flute thing sounds like frozen tofu, except that's not really something one typically puts in a fruit salad. Also, the little fruit men dancing on the table in that video there are kickin' rad and clearly Licky Licky Lady wishes she could dance like that.

A wise man once said, “Songs are ways to say things that sound absolutely stupid when you just say them outloud.” My favorite Crispy song, “Happy King”, is a perfect example of this great truth. For example, the line “I am happy as a king” is the cornerstone of this song. But what does that mean? Can one really assume that to be a king is to be happy? Never mind that since the singer is female, she should be happy as a queen. Nevertheless, the idea of complete happiness is conveyed perfectly. What I also wonder about is why every single line that the male accompanist sings is ridiculously amusing and amusingly ridiculous. Why does he say “and me still get no kiss”? And then he goes on to tell us “I never get no kiss kiss / Kiss kissy, never ever”. Whatever the reasoning behind this, it's lyrics like these that give this song and many others like it their addictive charm. This is especially true with “Happy King” because of its sugary upbeat nature, employing all manner of white and tan synthetic instruments to make a great song with masterful melodies in all the right places.

You can listen to “Happy King” here.

You must remove the downloaded file from your computer within 24 hours. It is only a sample of a track which you can purchase on a CD. The author of this site cannot be held responsible for the misuse or copyright violation of this song as enforced by any given country's laws.

Radiohead's big move

Whenever Radiohead makes any sort of announcement, it is a big deal. The news the British band announced Monday is no different. The band announced its plans for one of the gutsiest moves in the music industry ever. The band will be releasing their seventh studio album In Rainbows on October 10th. The album will only be available for download on the bands website. According to a website made for the release of the album, the only required fee of the album is a credit card processing fee. When I first heard of this news, I immediately pre-ordered the album. Upon checking out, there was a blank next to the album price, with a linked question mark. Upon clicking on the link, I was brought to a page that simply read “It is up to You”, with another linked question mark. I clicked the link again, and was brought to a page that said “No really, It is up to You”. In other words, Radiohead will be releasing their new album ABSOLUTELY FREE!

With the release of their previous album Hail to the Theif, Radiohead completed their contract with EMI-Capital records. The band is releasing In Rainbows entirely on their own, with no label or company. I believe that this is a very good move for the band, and releasing the album for free is a concept that will end up helping the music industry as a whole. Having one of the largest international fan bases, Radiohead will without a doubt turn a profit despite having fans choose how much they want to pay for the album. Almost every track on the upcoming album has been performed live by the band, and can be found on YouTube or multiple bittorrent sites. The success of In Rainbows will prove to the RIAA and record labels that digital downloading is not hurting albums sales. While releasing a new album for free is nothing new, it has certainly never been done at this caliber. Most new and upcoming bands release their albums for free simply to gain exposure, and to get their name into the market. Radiohead, however, is one of the most popular international bands of today. Radiohead is simply paving the way for the rest of the music industry.

Crispy

This afternoon a package arrived for me, a package containing the CD I ordered the other day. This CD is “The Game” from 1998 by bubblegum dance artist Crispy. Crispy is a band from Scandinavia, containing the members Mads B.B. Krog, Mette Christensen, and Christian Møller. “The Game”, like all out of print CDs, is rare and hard to find, which is why I had to buy it used (but still in like-new condition) from a man in an undisclosed military location in the Pacific. I was also fortunate enough to obtain the Japanese release, which has sixteen tracks versus twelve on the original. However, this CD in particular is different because instead of the band making one or two albums and then breaking up like nearly all bubblegum dance artists did, Crispy made this one CD and then the lead singer Mette died of cancer a few years later. Anyway, the purchase was admittedly rather risky since I had heard only one song by Crispy ever, “Licky Licky”, but luckily my expectations that others would be just as good or better were correct. “The Game” is easily one of the best CDs I have ever purchased. With just about every track, the music is amazing and the song expertly captures that elusive perfect melody. It's the combinations of great music, enchanting melodies, and creative lyrics that make this album so magical.

My favorite songs:

• Licky Licky
• Kiss Me Red
• Lover On The Line
• Enchanment
• Banana Bay
• Happy King

Tune in next time for more about a few of the songs on an individual basis!

Sexy Boy

It's late at night here in Gogginland, and the perfect time for the soothing and altogether mind-deepening music video of “Sexy Boy” by one of my favorite artists, Air. The two members of this French band are Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel. Their music is pretty much all a smooth blend of resonating electronica, tranquil melodies, and light rock that reminds one perhaps of the seventies. I have never heard any other band quite like Air, a band whose music carries a steady flow and has a feeling both otherworldly and intimate that makes one think of how things will be two million years into the future. They also created the soundtrack for the movie “The Virgin Suicides”, which I have never seen.

My favorite songs by Air:

• Kelly Watch The Stars
• Alpha Beta Gaga
• Sexy Boy
• Cherry Blossom Girl

Now about the music video. The song itself has that fascinating baseline that acquires a captivating overlay of rough resonance between light and dark metal, and the powerfully repeated and eponymous line of “sexy boy”. It is the kind of song you might listen to while falling asleep in order to be taken to a place far out in deep, deep space, where the place you came from looks no different than all the places around you, and so you contently continue your amazing journey to another world far away while thousands of years go by. The music video obviously has a different take on the song, of course based on the words that are mostly in French and so have no impact on my interpretation because I don't know what they mean. But Sexy Boy goes to the moon, so clearly the outer space feeling is strong. The use of drawings and basic animation instead of live action represent the peacefulness and simplicity of the song very well. Although a music video that centers around a stuffed monkey wearing a shirt that says “sexy boy” on it has an inherent humor about it, the video and music together have a strange kind of rare beauty.

Just Who I Am.

Undoubtably one of the best country stars in modern day times, Kenny Chesney has given the world a warm and summer feeling inside. Having six albums with at least one track going to the number one spot, Kenny has dug a pretty deep home within the country world. As one of the top artist in the country music industry many other artist look at him as a guide but no one can match this singer/songwriters ambition and love for the music. I dont want to sit here and bore you with numbers and how great he is because personally I cant speak for everyone. I want to explore the music and the artist that creates it.

I am a huge Kenny fan to say the least! So I can be maybe a little deep or favorable to this artist.

Who knows why this artist can make a song about summer and summer loves? What is the feeling you get when you listen to a track produced by this guy? I can tell you what I feel, I feel warm, like I am back at the beach and care-free agian. Like most of Kenny's songs they have to do with the beach or summer. I think that everyone can relate to this heart-throbbing summer beach bum. The lyrics make you think about life and how you may take things for granted, like his new song "Dont Blink". If you have ever been in a relationship then you can definitely relate to his songs. The songs make you go back, funny because that is actually one of his songs (I Go Back). They make you reminisce of the love you had for the summer and the love you had that summer. The feelings almost make you relive the past that you so much want to get back. It gives you that summer sun and that summer feeling all over again. Not to mention the non summer songs that have to do with life and decision making. The wild teenager that cant wait to get out of that small town but ends up right back in that small town, or the pissed off boyfriend that takes a trip to the neon lights looking for the good stuff. All these scenarios take place within everyone and the songs are here for that lonely car ride just clearing your head. The music this man produces is a cornerstone to almost everyone that takes a breathe. Through the hard times and the great times Kenny has got a song for that. So dont blink and make the most of memories.

Foo's Rock Again

Back in the summer of 2005, the Foo Fighters released their fifth studio album In Your Honor. Dave Grohl pronounced that the album is the “ultimate” Foo Fighter’s album. The album came as a double disc album, with the first disc being hard rocking songs, and the second album featuring soft, acoustic driven songs. Guests on the second album included John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin, Norah Jones, and Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age. In Your Honor is one of the Foo Fighters’ most successful and highly publicized album to date.

While many critics gave the album rave reviews, I was not one of them. The rock album drew thin, with the only enjoyable songs on the album being the singles “Best of You”, “DOA”, and “No Way Back”, with the rest being completely unbearable. Despite all of the guest appearances on the acoustic disc, as a whole it was a complete mess. To date, I believe that I have given the entire acoustic album a complete listen-through only once.

Ever since the beginning of the summer, when I first heard news that the Foo Fighters were releasing another album, I couldn’t wait for it to arrive, mostly because of my disappointment in the last album. When I discovered that Gil Norton (who produced their second album The Colour and the Shape, which was re-mastered and re-released this year as the 10th anniversary of the original release of the album) was producing the album, I was certain the it would be a success. On September 25th, the Foo Fighters released their sixth studio album, Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace.

The album starts off with a bang with the first single from the album, “The Pretender”. The track is a hard rocking return to the early days of the Foo Fighters. The chorus is very catchy:
What if I say I’m not like the others?
What if I say I’m not just another one of your plays?
You’re the Pretender
What if I say I’ll never surrender?
So who are you?
The first single also includes a very cool music video, with a SWAT team attempting to attack the band:

While the album starts off very strong with “The Pretender”, if unfortunately fades from there. It seems that Dave Grohl and Co. could not steer away from the half acoustic/half rock idea that was used on In Your Honor. Instead of having separate acoustic and rock songs, there are multiple tracks where both of these ideas are meshed together. The tracks “Let it Die”, “Erase/Replace”, “Come Alive, and “But, Honestly” all have a similar recipe; they all end with hard rocking guitars, and include a soft acoustic intro or bridge. While “Erase/Replace” uses the recipe with the most success, the for mentioned tracks become awfully repetitive and boring. There are some enjoyable filler songs on the album, including the acoustic track “Stranger Things Have Happened”. The more enjoyable tracks are ones that most listeners will casually listen through. “Long Road to Ruin” and “Summer’s End” are both upbeat, 90’s rock songs that the Foo Fighters are known for.

The end of the album includes some interesting experimentation. “The Ballad of Beaconsfield Miners” is a sort-of tribute to a man Dave Grohl met before he was involved in the Beaconsfield mine collapse in Tasmania, Australia. The instrumental track guests Kaki King, and is mostly acoustic guitar picking. Another experimental tune is last one of the album, “Home”. The ballad includes only Dave Grohl singing and softly playing the piano. The track includes a tie-in to the album title:
Echoes and silence, patience and grace
And all of these moments
I’ll never replace
While both of these are an interesting change from the Foo Fighters norm, they both come as awkward and out of place on the album. These would both have a better effect if they were included in some sort of B-side or bonus disc. Personally, I would of much rather seen some more upbeat rock songs at the end of the album, instead of these two head scratchers.

Before I bought Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, I hoped for a follow up album that was better than In Your Honor. Overall, the Foo Fighters put together a decent album. The album had a better structure than their previous album. Unfortunately, the album left me wanting more, for it did not meet my high expectations.

Key Tracks:

• Long Road to Ruin


• Summer's End


• The Pretender

SMiLE.dk

SMiLE.dk is a nice bubblegum dance band with songs in a good range of styles and colors. As of their last album release in 2003, the members were Malin Kernby and Veronica Larsson. The .dk tag at the end of their name is because although the band is from Sweden, they marketed themselves in Denmark. Like many bubblegum dance artists, they were also quite popular in Japan. I do not actually know if the name is supposed to be pronounced “Smile” or “Smile D. K.”, but I usually just say “Smile”. One of their earliest songs, “Butterfly”, is quite famous because it is not only a good song but it was in the original Dance Dance Revolution. Several other songs of theirs have been in later versions of Dance Dance Revolution, but none are nearly as well-known as “Butterfly”. One thing that I've noticed about SMiLE.dk's music that makes them stand apart from other artists of the genre is their impressive proficiency in making songs that are delightfully easy to sing along with and stick in your head for a long time afterwards.

Some of my favorite songs:

• Dancing All Alone (Kimono Mix)
• Dragonfly
• Boys
• Future Girls
• Come Chameleon
• Golden Sky
• Mr. Wonderful

“Dancing All Alone (Kimono Mix)” is both my favorite SMiLE.dk song and one of my favortie songs of all time. The original “Dancing All Alone” was basically the same song except that for the kimono mix they replaced the words “singing dum-dee-doh” with “in my kimono” which makes the song fifty times better. I don't know why they didn't just do it that way to begin with. My friend thought a kimono was a small wooden house, so I will tell you that a kimono is basically a traditional Japanese dress for women. Anyway, some of the things that make this track great are the beat and baseline that give the song its energetic feel, and the chorus that is easy to pick up and is strangely fun to sing. The song obviously has a sad connotation, but its melody has a kind of content beauty. I also like the instrumental side of “Dancing All Alone (Kimono Mix)”. It's quite a green song, with a dark greenish-black base, shiny green-gray plucky instrument things, and a light green string counter-melody to the chorus. My favorite color is green as well, so it's no surprise that I like this song.

You can listen to “Dancing All Alone (Kimono Mix)” here.

You must remove the downloaded file from your computer within 24 hours. It is only a sample of a track which you can purchase on a CD. The author of this site cannot be held responsible for the misuse or copyright violation of this song as enforced by any given country's laws.