April 17, 2011

Nostalgia, Ultra.

by Frank Ocean: R&B has had an interesting turn the last few weeks. My cd player fell in love with Frank Ocean. The singer, song-writer, producer has delivered exactly what the music scene is missing. The words to one of his tracks, We All Try, got me hooked the first time I listened. More than the normal song topics of dating girls, going to the club, and popping bottles, Nostalgia, Ultra covers the controversial topics of abortion, sinning, and the not-so real fairytale American Wedding.

The super-creative type goes beyond traditional R&B chords to sampling songs by The Eagles, Coldplay and MGMT. The best sample, in my opinion, is B*tches Talkin which features Radiohead’s Optimistic. Although only a interlude, the track should have been a complete single.

The beauty of this album is that you can play it from beginning to end and feel something new everytime you listen. There are songs that you may only like and end up loving. Then, there are the songs that you think are a little weird and you find yourself singing allllll day. With a mixture of sounds and talent that reminds me of Ryan Leslie, Frank Ocean has a long future ahead of him. Check out one of my favorite tracks, Songs for Women, below and you can download the full album here.

P.S. Frank Ocan can never become first name status. “Frank” sounds whack. It sound’s like the name of somebody’s uncle. Frank Ocean is better. Frank O is dope :)

January 26, 2010

#MusicMonday – 1.26.10

I take it for granted that people follow me on Twitter and read my tweets. I should come back down to reality and conclude that the number of people who actually follow me is a very small number. I have to remind myself that there is a whole group of people that don’t follow me, and there is an even larger group that of people that are not present on Twitter. I want to use my blog as another outlet to share my #MusicMonday updates with everyone. On Twitter, Monday is the designated day for everyone to share music and use the hashtag #MusicMonday to the mark the update. You will likely find #nowplaying as an accompanying hashtag to the #MusicMonday hashtag, both of which typically dominate the number one and two top trending topics on Monday. Some people share new music. Some people share their old, favorite tunes. I choose to share whatever music is on my mind at the time.

This Monday, I posted:
Come Around by M.I.A. and Timbo
Calabria 2008 by Enur
Electric Feel by MGMT

I choose to blip my choices for #MusicMonday so they can all be viewed in one location at any time. You can go to my dj page on Blip.fm to listen to these and all other posts in a playlist. Visit this page throughout the week to get a glimpse into what I’m listening to or check back in on Mondays for my #MusicMonday selections.