Now Playing
Posted by hope on January 3, 2009
Here are some things I have been listening to recently.
Radio Friction, Shane Barry and The Distractions. First album from this Irish band with a great take on power pop. The whole album is pretty strong, but the songs I like best are “The Strangest Hours”, “Kites”, “Let It Be Known” (named one of the best power pop songs of 2008 at Absolute Powerpop), “The Finest Line”, and “Stop”, roughly in that order.
Under The Radar, The Goldbergs. Another power pop album that is pretty strong overall. The song “Water Line” is also one of Absolute Powerpop’s best songs of 2008, and while I like it alot, I think “I’ve Had Enough” gives it a run for its money as the best song on the album.
“I’m Outta Time”, Oasis. (I promise, my list is not all power pop.) I have not yet listened to all of Dig Out Your Soul, but I really like this song – it is standard Oasis, but standard Oasis is pretty solid power pop, IMO. I also like “The Shock Of The Lightning”.
As I said, my list is not all power pop. I have also been listening to alot of neo-soul/R&B recently:
“Work That” and “Til The Morning”, Mary J. Blige. I predict Work That will be a radio and club hit. It has a good beat, you can dance to it — and it has a positive message, what’s not to like? Til The Morning has a 70s feel to it.
“Bust Your Windows”, Jazmine Sullivan. I suppose she will be categorized as another Winehouse wanna-be. But this a catchy song. And I love that the video shows her tossing out his 45s. I also like her song “My Foolish Heart“.
“Weekend Girl” and “Iminluvwichoo“, Eric Benet. Benet is the artist formerly known as Halle Berry’s boyfriend. Both songs sound like they might have been recorded in the very early 80s. Weekend Girl has an Earth Wind & Fire vibe, while Iminluvwichoo apparently borrowed the Wikki-Wikki guys from Jam On It. I plan to listen to the rest of Benet’s album Love & Life at some point, there’s at least one other song on it (“Love Patience and Time”) that I like.
“Hate On Me”, Jill Scott. This woman’s voice is a freaking force of nature. And this song has joined David Naughton’s “Makin It” on my list of Songs For Kicking Ass And Taking Names. So shall it be.
“Rocksteady”, Remy Shand. You hear this song and think “white boy who likes Al Green”. His voice doesn’t bring much to the song, but the song itself is pretty good.
“Got 2 Be Down”, Robin Thicke feat. Faith Evans. I have listened to Thicke’s newer album, Something Else, and don’t like any of the songs on it as much as I like this song from his previous album, The Evolution of Robin Thicke. The song is really and surprisingly good. Of course, his voice is just eh. But Evans is good and the song is good, so eh works well enough here. Off his newer album, I quite like “Magic” and “Ms Harmony”, but as I said before, I would like his songs better if Justin Timberlake sang them. Something about Ms Harmony makes me think of Paul Weller.
“Words”, Anthony David feat. India.Arie. David’s voice has that nasal quality that sometimes annoys me, but it also has a roughness and strength to it that balances the nasal-ness (is that a word??). He and Arie sound good together. This is a nice slow jam.
