These are the easiest kind of pieces to do because it's merely writing about music I already know and love. I want to do several of these per week with the ultimate goal of alerting people about new music. For those who don't know me well enough, I'm not trying to rub my music in your face; I'm trying to get you to listen to something new, something that you might not otherwise be interested in and something great. With that in mind, check out these songs.
1. Girl Talk – Jump on Stage
Starts a sped up loop of Portishead’s “Sour Times” under a verse from Big Boi. Pretty dark by Greg Gillis’ usual standards. Then it morphs into some sunshine synths that I don’t recognize but sound nice as they play host to hip-hop’s favorite one hit wonder, Skee-Lo. Eventually we get to the ODB/”Creep” mashup, which is just too perfect. RIP Big Baby Jesus. There’s some real danceable shit about wobbling and hustling before the Beastie Boys and Lady Gaga do a little dance. Besides how easy Girl Talk is to listen to I respect how Gillis makes it seem necessary to play almost song at max volume.
2. Gnarls Barkley – Who Cares
I didn’t get into soul music until relatively recently, which helps explain why I was so late getting into GB. Now that I'm broadening my horizons a bit, I can truly appreciate the chemistry between Danger Mouse and Cee-Lo. DM’s beats always seem so chaotic but they always make sense and I think he’s pretty special in that sense.
3. Murs – Belief’s Blues
Damn, I must be in a mournful mood today. The sample of the maddened wailing that is really the hallmark of the song is pretty brutal to listen to. I haven’t been able to track it down yet but it’s chilling to think of the kind of pain that would cause someone to sing like that. Murs is so consistently good and he really steps up on this song, off of his Varsity Blues EP.
4. Kendrick Lamar – Faith ft. BJ the Chicago Kid & Punch
I’m going to review Section.80 soon as part of a series of my favorite albums of 2011, which I started with Krit’s R4 release. This is such a rainy day song and it’s just so mellow. BJ the Chicago Kid and Frank Ocean were two of the main reasons that I decided to start investigating neo-soul and R&B and such. The man can flat out sing.
5. Danny! – Wanderland
One of the most underappreciated rappers of the last decade in my opinion. The drums are a little Kanye but the beat is all Danny! He has such a complex layering of sounds in most of his tracks and it really boosts the replay value. The first verse is about a failed rapper, the second is about a stripper and the entire song is about how people strive for things that are just so unrealistic. A little gloomy but honest as fuck, and it’s a nice way to round of the list.
Total time: 22 minutes
Mood: Contemplative
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