Above And Beyond - Group Therapy

Sometimes, the eternal struggle exists between finding music to review and then having the time to listen to multiple albums in a day to get a proper review out to you guys. But some days my friends, something in the world aligns just perfectly and it all comes together in perfect harmony. Today is one of those days. Techno Tuesday and New Music Tuesday are combining in this post to bring you Above and Beyond's latest drop, 'Group Therapy'. I reviewed an album by them a while back, and gave it a very positive review. If you don't recall from a couple of months, they are a British trance group that starting dropping fat beats around 2000 or so. From the couple records that I've listened to now, they really lay over a ton of beat over a nice vocal. This record has a couple really spacey tracks that are pretty solid as well. This is a collaboration record of sorts, that is utilizing the skills of Zoë Johnston and Richard Bedford. If you don't know who those two are, they are both fairly well known singer/songwriters from Britain as well. They might even be doing some vocals on this album, I can't find all the credits - probably since this just dropped today. I'm trying to figure out how to compare this to you guys, and my best foot forward is telling you it's like Jamiroquai on steroids. That sort of vocal and feel, but beefed up to the nth degree in terms of production and sound. This is a great dance album, and so far, Above and Beyond hasn't been afraid to go - well, above and beyond to me. Check it out, and dance the day away.

TRACK LISTING:
1. Filmic
2. Alchemy
3. Sun & Moon
4. You Got To Go
5. Black Room Boy
6. Giving It Out
7. On My Way To Heaven
8. Prelude
9. Sun In Your Eyes
10. Love is Not Enough
11. Every Little Beat
12. Sweetest Heart
13. Thing Called Love
14. Only a Few Things
15. Eternal

Listen To Samples

Top 3 Tracks:
1. Sun In Your Eyes
2. Love Is Not Enough
3. Sun & Moon

FINAL RATING:
4.25 out of 5 stars

Kittie - Spit

Getting back into today is harder than I thought. I don't think I'm quite ready to not be in vacation mode. It's amazing how certain times you're very much ready to come back and face reality, and sometimes you simply don't want the trip to end. I'm in the latter boat my friends. But music and blogging should ease that pain, so here we go onto follower janis!'s recommendation of Kittie. Everyone probably knows by now they're going to be a metal band, since that's janis's forte. These ladies formed in Canada in 1996. I've never crossed paths with them in my years of life, and probably never would have. Two of the band members met while doing some gymnastics for school. Kind of an odd place to form a band, but we'll run with it. One of the initial members left abruptly in 2001, and started her own band. In the current time, only one of the originals exist in the band. Everyone else left. They talk about why they chose Kittie for the band name, and it's a pretty interesting story. Here it is: When we were thinking of names to call the band before our first show, we had decided that we wanted something completely contradictory to what the band and the sound of the band was. I think we chose Kittie because we wanted something totally unexpected, something that sounded weak, so that when you heard the band for the first time, it would be a total shock. I think there were a few other pussy sounding names...Like Swan or Swansong (which is what I remember really wanting to call the band)...But Kittie was chosen, and the rest is history. Pretty cool. Anyways, this was their first studio recording, and it dropped in 1999. Listening to it today, it's actually surprisingly softer than what I was expecting. It's pretty vocal heavy, which is a good thing. I like this, and I'd recommend checking it out. Don't expect the world, but it might be a good bridge from poppy music to metal stuff.

TRACK LISTING:
1. Spit
2. Charlotte
3. Paperdoll
4. Suck
5. Do You Think I'm a Whore?
6. Brackish
7. Jonny
8. Trippin'
9. Raven
10. Get Off (You Can Eat a Dick)
11. Choke
12. Immortal

Listen To Samples

Top 3 Tracks:
1. Immortal
2. Paperdoll
3. Trippin'

FINAL RATING:
3 out of 5 stars

Lupe Fiasco - Food & Liquor

We're back! I know it was a long hiatus from blogging, and I apologize for leaving you all without sweet, sweet music reading for a week. Alas, vacation called, and I couldn't pass it up. Regardless of all that, follower Ashley asked that I look into some Lupe Fiasco a while back. Now, I've heard some of his tuneage here and there over the years, and never really thought twice to look into more of it. Not because I didn't like it, just because nothing ever grabbed me by the ear and made me look into more. Lupe (aka Wasalu Muhammad Jaco) was born in Chicago, Illinois back in 1982. He initially got into the hip hop genre because of his dislike for all the vulgarity in the material. Being about the same age as Lupe, I can understand his disconnection. I never minded the language, but by the time I was old enough to really listen, pretty much all of it was incredibly vulgar. He started recording music in his father's basement, and started blending styles. The rawness of Ice Cube, the lyricism of Jay-Z and Nas. He then gained some notoriety be remixing some Kanye tracks...namely 'Jesus Walks' into 'Muhammad Walks' which was big in Muslim circles and then making 'Diamonds Are Forever' into 'Conflict Diamonds', which got the attention of Yeezy himself. Kanye then asked Lupe to be on his 'Late Registration' album. He talks about the title being from Chicago where you don't have bodegas or stores, you have a bunch of shops called Food & Liquor. Which is fairly common in the midwest. I like this album, don't love it, don't hate it. I certainly see the potential in the kid based on this record, I just think it wasn't all quite together yet. Sometimes blending styles and trying to make something totally new takes time for the listener to fully concept. This is a mix of rap, R&B, soul, pop, mood - a little smack of everything. I'll go around one more time with this, but I'll be anxious to get to the follow ups.

TRACK LISTING:
1. Intro
2. Real
3. Just Might Be OK
4. Kick, Push
5. I Gotcha
6. The Instrumental
7. He Say She Say
8. Sunshine
9. Daydreamin'
10. The Cool
11. Hurt Me Soul
12. Pressure
13. American Terrorist
14. The Emporor's Soundtrack
15. Kick, Push II
16. Outro

Listen To Samples

Top 3 Tracks:
1. The Cool
2. Daydreamin
3. Pressure

FINAL RATING:
3.25 out of 5 stars

Vacation!

Well hello there! I'm going to be out on a vacation the next couple of days, so I won't be posting. =( I know, I know. Normally I'd take the time to post while on break, but I'll be without a computer for a couple of days. I'll be sure to jot down what I listen to while I'm out, and hit the posts hard next week again!

In the meantime, jot down what you're listening to also! I'm getting a bit low on Suggestion Box items, so hopefully you all can drop a couple in there for me when I get back!

Hope you all get through the week with a breeze! See you on June 6th!

B Side

My Morning Jacket - Circuital

There were a few New Music Tuesday albums to choose from today, including a neat looking ukulele album from Mr. Eddie Vedder. Maybe I'll get to that next week though. I decided to go with MMJ today - frankly because of my lack of knowledge about them. I did an album by theirs a while back titled, 'Evil Urges' - which I really enjoyed. That album came out all the way back in 2008, and this is their first drop since then. I haven't really heard anything else by them, as it's pretty hard to hear anything by them in pop culture. At least nothing in my pop culture world. I'd like to get to know more by them, as it seems to be a style of music I could really jam with from time to time. So here we are. The band was doing something pretty cool, releasing a free track once per week leading up to the release date of the record. Which is pretty genius, because it slowly leaks tracks so people retain interest for a number of weeks, and then it builds hype for the actual release. Sure it may cause a slight drop in total sales, but with this crazy internet based system nowadays, I wonder how much bands really care. You're seeing more and more groups give away tracks at no cost or much smaller cost. For some reason, MMJ and the tv show 'American Dad' have teamed up a few times, and they were featured recently again with a track from this record. Overall, I'm not sure how often I could listen to this, but I enjoyed it. I've ran through it twice now, and both times I've found myself singing along. I'd encourage those others followers who've heard of MMJ but don't know a bunch by them to check this out. I think it's something everyone can enjoy.

TRACK LISTING:
1. Victory Dance
2. Circuital
3. Day Is Coming, The
4. Wonderful (The Way I Feel)
5. Outta My System
6. Holdin' On to Black Metal
7. First Light
8. You Wanna Freak Out
9. Slow Slow Tune
10. Movin' Away

Listen To Samples

Top 3 Tracks:
1. Movin Away
2. Slow Slow Tune
3. Circuital

FINAL RATING:
3.75 out of 5 stars

Bassnectar - Cozza Frenzy

Hopefully everyone had a nice, long holiday weekend. And hopefully everyone stayed well out of trouble and listened to some of their favorite tuneage! I decided to bump the latest Kanye album over the weekend, which was a nice little gift to myself. Anyways, it's Tuesday, so Techno Tuesday is back in full effect. And today we get to a DJ named Bassnectar - real name Lorin Ashton. He's from Santa Cruz, California, and has been dropping phat, funky beats since the 90's. I think any beatnut would know by know, but the casual fan probably doesn't - but dubstep is all the rage right now. What is it you ask? I'll tell you. It's basically very tight productions with really sick bass lines and then reverbed drum patterns with usually sampling over the top or lyrics over the top. While I wouldn't necessarily call Bassnectar dubstep, he employs the wobble bass that many dubstep producers use. He's fairly well known for some sick shows, and performed a greatly reviewed show in Broomfield, Colorado last year. That's cool for me, because a friend of mine lives maybe 5 mins from the First Bank Center. He uses a lot of light based stuff and supposedly interacts with the crowd well. I'd love to see a show someday, I'll have to keep posted to the CO scene now. Anyways, this is a pretty solid record. If you're into dance music, this is beyond solid. There are some really great tracks individually, but as a whole this really stacks up too. Well worth a go today if you're in that beaty mood.

TRACK LISTING:
1. Boombox
2. Cozza Frenzy
3. Cozza Frenzy (Mega-Bass Remix)
4. The Churn of The Century
5. Love Here (Remix)
6. Backpack Rehab
7. Teleport Massive
8. West Coast Lo-Fi Rides Again
9. When I Grow Up (Remix)
10. I Am A Laser Feat. Double You
11. Window Seat
12. I Wish I Was A Hipster
13. Are You Ready
14. Boombox (Remix)
15. Before We Dissolve

Listen To Samples

Top 3 Tracks:
1. I Am A Laser
2. Window Seat
3. Boombox

FINAL RATING:
3 out of 5 stars

Happy Memorial Day!

Happy Memorial Day B Siders!

Remember to take some time out today and thank all the amazing men and women that serve to protect our country and make frivolous things like music blogs possible. Defending our freedom is something that I firmly believe Americans don't understand in full how tough and arduous the work really is.

Keep it safe today and don't go overboard with the celebrations. Listen to your favorite music while having some fun in the sun. Don't hesitate to wear your american flag sweatpants or t shirts out to your events!

We'll be back to normal tomorrow, hope everyone enjoys the extended weekend!

B Side