Keane’s New Cover Revealed
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Cover art is often considered important for music, and many times some covers will be labeled as classic as modern art. No wonder some cover art revealing is news to many people.
OK, let me keep it simple and clear. Keane’s new album’s cover is unveiled and it sucks. It’s the worst cover from Keane and one of the worst cover this year so far. It looks like a badly-photoshopped cover from the 90s. What are they thinking? Are they going to surpass the London Olympics mascots?
Let’s hope that their album won’t suck as much as the cover.
SOTW: Gym Class Heroes Ft The-Dream - Cookie Jar
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I do have the notion that hip-hop is not as alive as it was a couple of years ago, but I also notice that there are more alternative hip-hop acts at the hip-hop scene of today.
Gym Class Heroes came to the public’s attention in 2006 when Cupid’s Chokehold became their first mainstream hit. Two years after, Gym Class Heroes comes back with a very promising album titled The Quilt. I call it promising because the new EP Patches From the Quilt is very good, even though the music is not very groundbreaking. It is actually a sampler of the new album.
The leading single Cookie Jar is a mid-tempo r&b styled hip-hop track. It is smooth and easy-listening. It is, so far, the most radio-friendly single, although I do find some similarity in Khia’s My Neck My Back. The hot-tipped The-Dream did his bit for the song as well making it much tender and nice.
Tags: Gym Class Heroes, hip-hop, indie, SOTW, the-dream
Be Right Back
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As you may notice (Anybody?), I have been updating the blog this week. Well, I was truly busy this week. I was preparing my business/leisure trip to Germany this month and German proxy consulate (They outsource their business visa section) was torturing me. I had to go to there 3 days in a row. I didn’t really see the reason. Honestly it’s totally bureaucracy. I never had such bad experience with visa application. US is so far the most generous when it comes to business visa.
I’ll be back this weekend or next week.
xoxo
SOTD: Does It Offend You, Yeah? - Dawn Of The Dead
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Does It Offend You, Yeah?’s image has been dreadful since their album came out in March. Their previous singles have all failed to chart inside top 75 of UK Chart. Album only achieved number 48. Their latest attempt is this Dawn Of The Dead with a most horrific cover. I have to admit that it fits the title very well.
Like many other bands, DIOYY’s music style is so 21st century with a mix of rock/indie/electro. They are even compared to Daft Punk. I don’t really understand that, to be frank. Their music is rock tinged with electro at its best. They certain don’t fit the dance act pattern.
Dawn Of The Dead, fortunately, will be among the few songs to crack this week’s UK Chart. It will be the highest-charting for this Reading-based band. The beginning is quite grand. It sounds like windpipe to me at first, which then turns out to be only synthesizer. The beat is quite normal to me, not surprising or innovative, but truly decent. The song can also be found in the soundtrack of American Teen. I guess that’s kind of the must that is popular among the teenagers in the US now.
Tags: electro, indie, punk, SOTD
Notes On A Few Impression On New Music
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Writing a review for every album can be a very tedious task, but not saying anything would constitute a silence consent, which is not true. I just simply scribble down some comments. Here it is.
The Cheetah Girls is back, but even worse without Raven-Symoné. The made-for-TV movie soundtrack is full of mediocre songs, but that’s not the very problem. I have a problem with its name One World. I think they left One Dream Out.
Ice Cube’s new album Raw Footage debuted this week on the album chart. The name is quite confusing. It can be easily considered as B-side album or live. Actually one track on the album is live. It’s Why We Thugs from his previous album. In general, the quality is way worse than the last one. Too much political elements are put into the music, but the music suffers.
Staind’s new LP is interesting, to say the least. I find them having lost many edges during their career in a very nuetral way. The Illusion of Progress is, by far, the best one after the first listen. Staind seemed to make the album sound like So Far Away in every possible way.
The Academy Is … scored a first top 20 album with their new LP, only one year and 4 months after Santi. This pop punk kind of music always amazes me. There are so many similar bands out there and you can’t really say whose music is whose. The Academy Is … is not unique (Sorry guys), but behind all this ordinariness, I find their music OK to listen to and not bad if you look for some rock party material.
2008 is the tenth anniversary for Gomez’s Mercury-winning album Bring It On. A deluxe version was released by the company. Suffice to say that I regretted not having listened to it before. Maybe this kind of music is even popular these days.
Oh yes. Did you listen to The Game’s new album? Definitely better than the second one, and can be even said to be on par with the first one, but won’t sell as much as the first one. I heard so much negative news about The Game. I just want to say that no matter what, LAX is one of the best rap albums.
Tags: Gomez, Ice Cube, Review, Staind, The Academy Is, The Cheetah Girls, The Game
SOTD: Biffy Clyro - Mountains
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I still remember the first time I listened to Biffy Clyro, I thought they were too alternative for me, and then they went on hiatus for sometime. Last year’s Puzzle really opened my eyes. They went from alternative to mainstream (for me).
I don’t contend that the change was bad for the band. Their sudden mainstream successful after sign Warner Bros’ offshoot label 14th Floor Records seems a very good sign. Even their previous label hurriedly issued their greatest hits without the band’s consent.
Now Puzzle is a success. What’s next? There is no confirmed news on their new album, but the new single has achieved what they hadn’t achieved, top ten. Mountains is the first single to ever get into top 10 on the UK chart.
Mountains is another midtempo rock song, which sounds catchy and melodious. I don’t know if I should use the word pop to describe the song, but it’s undeniable that the song is popular. The cover art is purely divine and mesmerizing as well.
Tags: alternative, Biffy Clyro, powerpop, rock, SOTD
Body Parts in Lyrics
Posted by admin | Filed under Fun Stuff
Just a quick post. Here is a picture via Wired about the body parts in music, the most used parts in different genres. It pretty much says it all. Eyes are people’s favorite parts on the body, except hip-hip. Guess what? Go figure.
SOTD: Stereo MC’s - City Lights
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This single is long overdue. It has already past its shelf-time, but this track to too good to miss. It’s Stereo MC’s best in years and certainly a teaser for the new album.
City Lights was released as the opening track for the EP Hot Plates. It didn’t chart anywhere on the UK Singles Chart, which I think is due to the fact that EP is eligible on the chart.
However the track itself is awesome. Big beat-styled hip-hop of the song is unforgettable. If I were on a dancefloor, I would dance til I drop. This song is purely genius.
The album was released in July, though it wasn’t getting a lot of attention. Another track Black Gold will be the next single in a 12″ limited format. Stereo MC’s is so underappreciated that I would beg you to listen to their high-quality music for a whole reminiscing the 90s.
Tags: alternative, electronica, hip-hop, SOTD, Stereo MC's
SOTD: Absentee - Boy, Did She Teach You Nothing?
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Absentee, compared to many artists featured here, is not new to the music scene. Their major debut was in 2006. It was well-accepted, if not critically-acclaimed.
This five-piece band is another from London (They are kind of drowned in this crowded music scene). I got the impression that the singer is actually a 70-year-old crooner while the music is modern and chic. The melody is happy and uplifting.
Victory Shorts is the second album to released soon. Meanwhile their new single of the new LP Boy, Did She Teach You Nothing is not outstanding. It does showcase Absentee’s music inspiration and ambition. It is well-crafted and finely-polished.
Don’t get me wrong. I did enjoy the track quite a lot. They need a breakthrough. Will this song be the one or is the album going to do the trick? Let’s be patience.
Tags: Absentee, country, indie, pop, SOTD
Theme Changed
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OK. I changed the theme. I didn’t real,y want to at first, because I liked Foliage theme. It’s a nice theme, but not very practical and functional, so here it is, a new wordpress theme for this blog. I want to change the text typeface to Lucida Sans, but I couldn’t figure out how to make it in the CSS file. I have no idea what happened. Anyway I am still very content with the new theme. I will add more blog links on my page in the following days.
