This year’s Free Press Summer Fest has been announced, and, wow, I must say I am impressed. Snoop Dogg, The Avett Brothers, Primus, Big Freedia, Danny Brown, Jeff the Brotherhood, Willie Nelson, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Flaming Lips (performing Dark Side of the Moon), Wavves, Diplo, Best Coast, Major Lazer, Turquoise Jeep! I’m gonna have a hard time avoiding the miserable Houston heat this summer!
Every Saturday, I post a 15-20 minute podcast featuring some tracks I’ve been jamming the previous week, as well as some commentary and random musings from yours truly. Enjoy!
Tracklist:
Kendrick Lamar feat. Busta Rhymes – Rigamortus (Remix)
Escort – Makeover
The Dodos – So Cold
Wiz Khalifa and Snoop Dogg – Young, Wild, and Free (feat. Bruno Mars)
A$AP Rocky – Peso (Star Slinger Refix)
Once every three months I list the best of what I heard in albums/songs/remixes for the quarter. I do this to personally keep up with all the awesome music I hear, as it ultimately helps me at the end of the year when I do my overall listing for the previous twelve months. I also do it to introduce you cool cats to tunes you may have missed independently.
Occasionally I browse the pop music world/charts/blogs and see what the kids are listening to. Sometimes I am pleased with what I find, most of the time I am not. This is a journal of my discoveries.
Catching Up On: Wacka Flocka Flame
Although Pitchfork gave the album an 8.0, I really don’t understand the appeal. Â This guy’s lyrics are unintelligible, and frankly, when I can understand them, they’re pretty simple. Â And while that’s not necessarily a dealbreaker for me (I did give Wiz Khalifa a thumbs up several days ago), the melody and production don’t really add any plus signs for me. Â This radio hit, which I’ve been unable to avoid lately, is jawdroppingly atrocious.
Catching Up On: Big Time Rush
Apparently this is a tween sensation that’s been around for years on Nickelodeon, but this is the hit that will cross them over to the pop radio masses, Bieber style. Â The tune itself is pretty catchy, it’s good for a Friday night club run, though I could do without the continuing destruction of the legacy of Snoop Dogg.
Catching Up On: Mindless Behavior
Another R&B-based boy band, they all look 14 years old and are produced pretty slickly and whathaveyou. Â Watch the video, and you can tell they all think they’re Usher, but it doesn’t hide the fact the melody is straight-up Disney. Â And the lyrics, a romantic homage to texting your honey, are just pretty damn hilarious.
Catching Up On: Fabolous
Now to the good stuff: while I’m not necessarily “catching up on” Fabolous, who has been awesome for years, this new single is banging. Â This is what the rap radio game needs right now, an elder statesmen showing everybody how it’s done.
Catching Up On: Swizz Beatz
Hardest beat on the charts right now, and it needs to be on the radio more. Â In the same vein as his collaboration with Jay Z in “On To the Next One” (even the video is similar), Swizz keeps it simple and LOUD. And remember Eve? Yeah, she’s on here too.
Today I continue my ongoing feature showcasing my personal picks for the best songs of the past decade, posting ten songs at a time.
110. Queens of the Stone Age – No One Knows
This band has always been awesome. Go back in time and take a listen to the self-titled debut or Rated R if you don’t believe. But I suppose it was this song (and video, and album Songs For the Deaf) that put Josh Homme’s brilliant stoner/stripper rock concoction on everybody’s map. Probably because everybody recognized the temporary drummer (isn’t he in Foo Fighters?!). But still, these guys bring the rock.
Once every three months I list the best of what I heard in albums/songs/remixes for the quarter. I do this to personally keep up with all the awesome music I hear, as it ultimately helps me at the end of the year when I do my overall listing for the previous twelve months. I also do it to introduce you cool cats to tunes you may have missed independently.
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