Martin Sexton.

EDITED (9/07/11): Found this amazing video of Martin performing his song "Hallelujah" live. Please watch. His voice makes my heart feel things.

Last night we had the pleasure of seeing Martin Sexton play a solo show at the Iowa State Fair. I haven't seen a show as good as his in years.

I've known about Martin for a long time. I think my first exposure was probably about 10 years ago, when a cool older kid in youth group who liked weird music introduced Joel and I to the song "Candy." I've listened to him on and off since then, never really falling in love a particular record but enjoying a variety of his songs. This concert opened up a whole new side of his music that I'd never really caught before.

This guy has absolutely one of the most soulful sounds around. His stuff is very Americana without crossing over completely into just straight folk music. I don't want to call it "rock," but that seems most fitting. It's like heartland rock and roots rock and blues rock all jumbled with just the slightest pinch of jazz (he scats from time to time). A lot of songs are very anthemic, but not Coldplay anthemic, more like pre-Born To Run Springsteen anthemic. Very everyman music, like music you'd listen to driving in a dusty old pickup truck, driving towards the Rocky Mountains on a lonely two-lane highway as dusk sets in. It's stuff to sing along to.

He pulls this sound off perfectly in concert. It is incredible to see him perform; he transforms his guitar into the most rhythmic machine and pulls sounds out of it I can't describe. The first thing I noticed when he started to play was just how percussive he was able to make his guitar. He didn't need anybody along with him because he made his one instrument sound like seven instruments. And this was no convoluted guitar pedal manipulation, he just manages to coax an insane array of sounds, both rhythmic and melodic, out of his guitar, as he's singing some crazy lyrical rhythms. With just his voice and guitar, he creates these incredible musical atmospheres that pour over you. Really amazing stuff.

I've never heard a guy sing like this. He has almost a Jack Black-ish voice, but if Jack Black was about seven times better and had the most incredible falsetto ever. Seriously, I don't know how Martin does it, but his falsetto is just so solid. Not a hint of waver, he is as solid singing falsetto as he is singing with his gut. A fitting example would be the song "The Way I Am." In this song, he does this part that is very nearly a yodel, but he transcends into this stirring amalgam of breath and melody, hitting notes just shy of lederhosen. He's actually released two recorded versions of this song, one on his debut album In The Journey and another on his 1998 album The American. I enjoy the earlier version better because you can hear less production on it. He went into a booth and played his guitar and sang into a microphone and behind him you can hear the silence in the studio. He turns a great song into a chilling performance.

I would absolutely recommend going to see him if you get the chance. Something else I noticed in his show was how socially minded he seems to be. A lot of his lyrics have a slight spiritual undertone, and they seem to be very much pro-love. Only a few of his songs hit a bit of a political tone, but without getting overtly pro-left/right he hits more on this social theme of making the world a better place. Depending on what side you fall on, you can interpret it as either right or left. But rather than taking sides in a futile debate of "Which party is better?" his songs promote love and peace and the well-being of humanity. In a society where that worldview might be often touted but rarely acted out, it's refreshing and inspiring to hear these songs.

Martin is phenomenal. I hope you get a chance to see him, or buy a record, or somehow get his music in your head. And I'll leave you with this song, which was his encore at the show we saw. As much as I hate fan-made videos, this song is too good to pass up.

Enjoy.

-Jon

?uestlove.

Another blog courtesy of "drinking" and "driving." Pitchfork recently interviewed ?uestlove and as always, it is an entertaining and incredibly informative read. The guy is an absolute music genius, one of the few of our generation whose music references I take very seriously and view as must-adds to my music collection. He's got this intense knowledge of music; today's various music scenes as well as a deep intimacy with soul music of the '60s and '70s. It blows me away.

This blog is inspired by two interviews with ?uest that I read today. One is from 2003, and one is from yesterday (8/19/11). The guy is this mad scientist/chameleon/jack-of-all-trades of music. I certainly would not want to restrict him to a hip hop box because he clearly knows the world outside of it, even though his band (The Roots) is a hip hop group. He makes music references like all he does all day long is listen to music. It's amazing. I want that job. I want the music research job, where you listen to records all day long, read liner notes all day long, figure out who played drums on what record while producing another record, how music connects, how musicians align, continually grow the big picture view of this giant web of music of the last 100 years. It's obvious by how he talks that ?uestlove has this kind of over-arching, encyclopedic knowledge of music.

But what I love the absolute most about ?uestlove is when he talks about D'Angelo. ?uestlove was integral in the creation and production of D's landmark album Voodoo and all I've ever wanted is for a musician to put out something as good as Voodoo in the last ten years. I think some have come close, possibly even matched it, but so, so few. This album is just out of control good. I am talking a kind of good that percolates. Good that sneaks up on you. Good that shows up after the fifteenth listen and gets better every single time. I still hear stuff on this album that I haven't caught before. I've never heard anything as layered as this.

But this isn't the time to actually write about Voodoo in a review sort of way.* What I want to highlight here is how important ?uestlove is to the current music scene. The first interview is eight years old now. ?uestlove and the interviewer chat about the then-current state of black music and how sociopolitical aspects of the day play into black music, but the good stuff comes when they start to chat about working with D'Angelo during the recording of Voodoo. It's such a cool concept; Voodoo was made on the principle that music is art and should be made with the utmost respect to those pioneers who have come before and the unknown visionaries that are to come and always with respect to the art itself. All of these incredibly musical people came together and made this mind-blowing album. It wasn't about money or gaining fans, it was about releasing a product, this work of art that could change how someone listened to music. "If creating music were a political party, then we were sort of being socialists." Why can't more artists think this way?

What I love is how he reinforces this ideal. He mentions going into the studio to record with John Mayer around the time of the interview (?uestlove played drums on "Clarity" off of the Heavier Things album in 2003). And ?uest actually says it was the most fun he'd had playing since recording Voodoo. He said he went in to record the one tune and they ended up jamming out like six new songs. That's incredible. It makes me so excited to know that these two musical brains have collaborated in the past and they are both still making music today, albeit not together. It is a giant relief to me, and it's one of those moments I have so infrequently nowadays when I think "Oh yeah, John Mayer used to be make amazing music and still has the potential to put out a completely life-altering record." Here's to hoping.

Also equally as interesting in this interview is how he profiles the breakdown of D'Angelo. How releasing "Untitled (How Does It Feel)" as a single off of Voodoo contributed to a very sexualized public persona that D'Angelo found hard to overcome. How the tour to support Voodoo quickly unwound because of all of this public hype. It's a sad story, but one that is pretty common in genius artistic circles, as ?uestlove puts it, "...they sabotage their shit."

Fast forward to August '11. In this interview with Pitchfork, ?uestlove speaks a lot more about The Roots and where they are, what it's like to be a house band of a late night host, etc. He does delve into the Soulquarian era a bit at the end, but overall this whole interview shows less his involvement with D'Angelo and more his ground-level view of rap over the last 20 years and how it has changed. This guy has been an integral part of hip-hop for over two decades now, and he has been in various circles as that time has gone by. This is a really interesting read for anyone who likes music, and especially anybody who likes hip hop.

I'm happy we still have ?uestlove around. I desperately hope he continues to coax D'Angelo out of semi-retirement, but at the very least, I hope he keeps collaborating. That is where I think he comes up with the greatest stuff. He has this uncanny ability to pull real music out of artists; he is our generation's Quincy Jones and D'Angelo is his Michael Jackson. I just hope they eventually reconnect and make their Bad.

-Jon

*Not sure I ever will, only because it's hard to write about something that good. All it seriously would be is me repeating over and over how awesome the whole freakin' album is. Each track, "Wow this one is amazing." Doesn't make for the best read. What I should do is accumulate every time I've mentioned it in passing in another post and you'd have basically my every thought about the insanity and genius that is that album.

Reception Dances

What makes a good wedding reception dance? Not the reception itself, but specifically the dance. I have attended two weddings this season, and only have one more before the summer is over, but it's been something that I've thought about at every wedding I've ever been to (that had a dance) and I want to try and dissect what exactly makes or breaks a reception dance.

I see a few very fundamental factors that need to be considered: audience, atmosphere, and the music itself. Let's take a look at each.

1. Audience

This is where you need to start because these are the people who are going to be doing the actual dancing. If you are not putting out material that pleases them, you'll lose them and subsequently, you'll lose the dance. So you've got to read the room a little, see what age brackets are really represented, and even more importantly, what age brackets will get up and do the most dancing. This is a tough one because while weddings can skew younger or older, you're guaranteed to have at least somewhat of a variety of people to satisfy. And you won't be able to satisfy them all. Tough stuff. Also, you've got to read what sort of music your crowd will groove on. Is it a country crowd? Is it an old swing crowd? A very religious crowd? All this needs to be taken into account when choosing songs. More on that soon.

2. Atmosphere

What kind of wedding is it? Religious, younger, older, traditional, alcohol, modern, big, small, dance floor, or a mix of some or all? All of these types and some extra ones will certainly affect how the dance goes. As I think about it, it's kind of hard to actually qualify how exactly each of these components fits into making a great dance. In the most general sense, I would say the best fit for a killer dance is going to be young, mildly-liberally religious, big, and I'm going out on a limb for this one, no alcohol. Call me crazy, but all too often alcohol takes away from the good-natured vibe of a great dance. It makes non-drinkers uncomfortable, and there is nothing worse (for me) than dancing around/with people who have drunk themselves into the sleepy-eyed phase. I've only once seen alcohol at a wedding done with class and taste and it contributed to the overall party feeling of the dance.

Another important aspect that falls under this category is the DJ. Is it a professional wedding DJ or a friend of the bride or groom? For a couple that wants their dance to go a specific way, this is a very important thing to take into account. There is no right answer here, and there are many pros and cons to each. Quick list:

Pro DJ Pros:

1. Equipment - Any pro DJ worth their cost will provide an excellent sound system that should not give you any problems during the dance. No feedback, killer song transitions, etc.

2. Pacing - Almost every pro DJ I've ever seen keeps the whole reception moving so much better than friend DJs. Not to say it can't be done by friend DJs, but for the most part, pro DJs seem to have a better sense of how to keep things from getting awkward. Announcing the bridal party, announcing what's coming next (cake cutting, first dances, garter/bouquet toss, etc.)

3. Song selection - Any pro DJ worth their cost will have an extensive song collection that will include an array of genres, years, artists, etc. Any guest can make a request and it will almost certainly be available to play (unless it's on the bride/groom's don't-play list).

4. Groovin' - This relates to the pacing point but more specifically to the dance itself. Almost unequivocally, a pro DJ will have more experience than a friend DJ in terms of what songs will keep people interested and on the floor. Most friend DJs (with few exceptions) don't know what to play next to keep the floor busy and that's a detriment to the flow of the dance.

Pro DJ Cons:

1. Price - ALWAYS more expensive than friend DJs. No exception.

2. Familiarity - Pro DJs should be just that: professional. They will almost certainly not know the marrying couple personally, and for that reason, won't have an intimate knowledge of the reception and the potential guests that will be there. They have to go completely off the must-play/don't-play lists the couple makes beforehand and then read the room once they arrive.

Friend DJ Pros:

1. Familiarity - A repeating point from before, but this is the biggest draw that I can see to having a friend do the DJing. Friends know what kind of music you like, you can implore them to play exactly what you want when you want.

2. Price - Way cheaper than a pro DJ. Obviously.

Friend DJ Cons:

1. Skill - All too often with friend DJs, there are far too many uncomfortable song transitions, and it's almost always due to the fact that the friend is working off either the bride or groom's laptop connected to the PA system, probably playing songs off a playlist made in advance by one of the two that is entitled "Wedding playlist." Friend DJs are usually doing it for the first (and possibly only) time and this lends itself to a fair amount of poor song selections and bad transitions. Doesn't make people want to dance.

2. Equipment - Most friend DJs are first-timers and won't be bringing more than a laptop/iPod to plug into the PA system and going off a pre-made playlist. This won't always be a big deal but if there is a technical issue, they probably won't know how to handle it.

3. Pacing - More having to do with the reception overall than the dance specifically, friend DJs don't often do announcing in a way that makes things flow the best. Wedding guests prefer to know what's going on rather than guessing what's happening when.

4. Groovin' - While I have seen exceptions, most friend DJs just don't know what songs are good dance songs and what are not. It's a very complex art to play songs that will get into people's heads and make them get up and dance and overcome the fear of being judged by other people not dancing, and most friend DJs are first-timers and haven't had practice playing different songs to get people dancing.

So it's obvious from my list that I would go for a pro DJ over a friend DJ. Duh, we had a pro DJ at our wedding and while he wasn't without mistakes, I was way happier with his performance than I would've been with a friend DJ. Not to say I've never seen a friend DJ kill it, but it's such a rare occurrence.

3. Music

Probably the most important aspect of the whole event, because barring a few crazy exceptions, almost any audience can be moved to dance if the right music is played. Great wedding tunes are hard to pin down, but there are some tunes that I've seen fail more than once, and I doubt could ever really work. This is in no way a comprehensive list of songs about which I can opine, but these are the only ones coming to mind this second.

- Party In The U.S.A.

One of those weird songs that is an absolutely great tune, one of the best hooks around when it came out, but I don't personally think it makes the best dance tune. It will certainly get people dancing, which I guess is the ultimate goal of any song played at a dance, but rather than having a killer beat that facilitates fun dancing, it's just a little too slow and ends up leaving the people on the dance floor basically moving slowly and singing the song to each other in order to not feel uncomfortable. So it's not my favorite. But it is a good song to play to attract people to the floor.

- Mambo No. 5

I love this song. Good rhythm, fun melody, it's a great dance tune. And as it's a one-hit wonder, everybody knows it and it will both draw people to the floor and keep them there.

- She Bangs

This is a weird song, because I love it, and I just wish more people enjoyed dancing to it as much as I do. I think it's just barely too fast for its own good.

- Cupid Shuffle/Cha Cha Slide

I've got both love and hate for these tunes. They are reception dance staples, and for that reason lots of people hate them. But they hold so much merit because of how easy they are to pick up and dance along with. People who would never dance will get up and dance because they are being told exactly what to do and can copy everybody else. There is no sense of "everybody's watching me" that often keeps more reserved people off the floor. And if you are a good dancer (Meredith Bell), man these ones are fun to play around with.

- I Gotta Feeling

Another reception dance staple. Not in love with this one, and I think it might have even been played twice at our own reception dance (bad form DJ Tony). But again, the merit is there because it pulls people onto the floor. And it's got a fun kind of message for a reception dance. I'm mainly just annoyed everybody gets excited to dance to a song featuring vocals by Fergie.

- Don't Stop Believin'

I despise this song, and I have always wondered why it would ever show up on a DJ's playlist. I get that everybody knows it and can sing along, but it is, in no imaginable way, a good dance song, and is not even a good closer. People just have to sing it to each other and can hardly move around the floor in an awkward way with this one. So bad.

- Hey Ya!

Another solid hit that's not often thought of to play. Who doesn't love to shake it, sh-shake it, shake it, sh-shake it, shake it, sh-shake it, shake it, shake it, sh-shake it, shake it like a Polaroid picture?

Who the heck knows how to make the dance great? A DJ could play a string of just the best songs you've ever heard, and not get a single butt off their seat and onto the floor. On the other hand, the songs could all suck, and with the right crowd, they will fight through it and enjoy themselves on the floor (see: us at the last wedding we were at). Whatever the case, reception dances are so much fun and a great way to celebrate happy nuptials. I'd only ask for She Bangs to be played more often.

-Jon

Musical Connections

Uncovered a new gem in my music collection last night. As is my custom with the new year, I am currently listening through my entire collection in a systematic fashion. I have two different playlists I choose from: all albums with 0 play count (just ones to which I haven't listened), and albums with a "last played" date from the year 2010. I was getting ready to read in one of my class books so I went to my jazz section to choose something light. I stumbled upon Cannonball Adderly's classic Somethin' Else. I've listened to this one quite a bit, it's a really great album featuring Miles Davis. I've had this album in my library for probably five or six years, at least since 2005. And originally, I only got this album because the cover art for John Mayer Trio's album Try! was essentially an exact copy of the cover art for Something' Else. Cool connection there. Thanks John.

Anyway, I play the first track, entitled Autumn Leaves. Again, nothing special, I've listened to this tune quite a few times and have enjoyed it. But this time, I hear the melody kick in right around the 1:30 mark. Normally with jazz tunes, my ear isn't good enough to actually know what the melody line is unless I've heard the tune in some other context (i.e. John Coltrane's cover of My Favorite Things, as that's a famous song outside of Coltrane's recording, I know when he plays the melody line). This was the case with this song. The previous times I'd heard it I wouldn't have been able to pick out the melody line. This time, however, I heard something familiar around the 1:30 mark that pricked my ear. I couldn't figure out where I'd heard it before. I checked the song title (I hadn't really thought about what I was listening to other than the album title) and realized this was a song I fell in love with a few months ago after I got Eric Clapton's latest album, Clapton.

It was a pretty good album; I'd given it a few listens but didn't go nuts over it. Except for the closing track, Autumn Leaves. I didn't know when I first heard it that it was a cover, I just thought it was a beautiful, heart-breaking, gorgeously-played tune written by Clapton. It didn't seem like an off-base assumption; many of his songs feature chords that fit so well together iced with breathtaking guitar lines. I listened to this song over and over when I first got the album, I could not get over how simple and how beautiful the chords sounded. And his solo at the end just blew me away. More than anything the tone of his guitar sounds so rich.

So I loved the song. I had no idea the song was 65 years old. It was originally a french tune written by Joseph Kosma entitled "Les Feuilles Mortes" ("The Dead Leaves") and English lyrics were written by Johnny Mercer, a stalwart contributor to the Great American Songbook. It has been recorded by a variety of different artists, and is a fairly common jazz standard due to its simple yet creatively beautiful chord progression.

This was mainly an exciting find to me because of the potential that still lies in my music library. I've been listening to it, adding to it, trimming it, editing it for years now, and still, I just now found a new musical connection that blew me away between two completely unrelated albums. What other awesome links are waiting for me to find?

Here's what I found:

-Jon

Rap Doc.

So...this looks awesome.

The audio is off, and it's directed by actor Michael Rappaport, which is unexpected. But other than that, this whole documentary looks super interesting. Tribe is almost certainly my favorite hip hop "group" versus single rap artist, and getting to hear thoughts and interviews by the group members themselves along with other prominent members of the hip hop community is bound to be very interesting. Sign me up for anything where ?uestlove talks about music. I'll keep my radar up for this thing on DVD.

-Jon

The Ghost Inside

This is awesome. Continuing the tradition of DJ Danger Mouse flipping conventional music media on its head, here is the latest video from Broken Bells, the pairing of Danger Mouse and Shins lead singer James Mercer.

The song is The Ghost Inside off of their self-titled debut album. This is the second video released for this song, and this one is far cooler in terms of being really off-the-wall zany. The whole thing is basically the entire video of Private Eyes by Hall & Oates, with Mercer's mouth interposed over Daryl Hall's. So you're watching what was a terrible video from 1981 co-opted to make a cool video from 2010. Very reminiscent of Danger Mouse's video mash-up from The Grey Album. The result is a little creepy looking, but man is it unique. This probably breaks several copyright laws of some kind. Danger Mouse rules.

-Jon

Lonely Avenue

Music review time. I recently acquired the new collaboration between Ben Folds and Nick Hornby, an album called Lonely Avenue. It has a different feel than previous BF releases, but that's a given as it's a collab. Still absolutely worth a listen.

I'm assuming most readers know who Ben Folds is. He has been releasing records for the last fifteen years, some under the moniker Ben Folds Five and later on a few solo albums. He has gained a niche among college-aged and young adults with his heinously catchy melodies and heartbreaking lyrics. And he is a whirlwind live performer. If you ever have the chance to see him, TAKE IT. It will be one hell of a show.

Nick Hornby is an artist not generally corollated with writing music. He has written about music his entire career as a writer, but this is his first instance of actually collaborating on a musical album. He is most well known for writing several popular novels, including High Fidelity, About A Boy, and Juliet, Naked, as well as the screenplay for the 2009 movie An Education, which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. So the dude's got chops. I am not in love with every single thing he's ever done, but on the other hand some of his work is the best written material I've ever read. This guy knows how to pierce your heart through writing about normal people with real problems. He can capture dialogue so incredibly well and make you feel heartache you've never had.

So how do these two collaborate on an album of music? Hornby writes words, Folds writes lyrics. Sounds weird but potentially awesome. And in my opinion, it turns out to be mostly awesome. The interesting part is that it clearly sounds like a Ben Folds album, but the disconnect happens as he starts to sing. The lyrics are not Ben Folds lyrics, and you can tell. It feels more like a Nick Hornby book than a Ben Folds album. And on some songs that's amazing, some it doesn't completely work. I don't think Hornby has his complete songwriting chops down yet, like on songs like Your Dogs and Picture Window. The songs have great feelings communicated but they don't feel natural to me. And that's just me. The majority of the album works great. And I think the biggest reason it's great is because they chose the perfect pairing of artists. Nobody could've pulled this album off but Ben Folds. His music is the ideal vehicle for Horby's writing. Hornby writes in such a familiar way, with stories about real people, and that's how Ben Folds has always written his music. It doesn't feel totally like a Ben Folds album, but it's as close as you can get. And the off-kilter feeling you get isn't bad, it's just not totally Ben Folds.

One of the best examples is the song Password. It uses a really unique songwriting device, spelling of words, and at first listen it seems a little cheesy, but after a few listens and the songs sinks in, holy cow it just rips you apart. You stop listening to the spelling of the words and you feel the pain in the narrator. That is unique and weird songwriting. But it's awesome. The song changes gradually the more you listen to it.

Final verdict? Great album. Not the best Ben Folds album ever but that's because it's not purebred Ben Folds. What it is is a great listen for fans of either artist.

-Jon

P.S. The album comes with killer liner notes. A quick blurb written by Hornby about each song, and then four different short stories written by him as well. Super great. Cool photos too.

I love Michael McDonald's voice.

One thing that's great about my wife is that she loves Time Life Records Classic Music collections. Especially their infomercials. The other night as we were flipping TV stations, we stumbled across the Classic Soft Rock collection. Now all their collections truly are really good, whether it's the Classic Soul Ballads, Classic Rhythm & Blues, Midnight Soul, Flower Power, etc. But we started watching the Classic Soft Rock infomercial, because each infomercial has clips of the artists performing their hits while a clip of the song is played. One of the clips was The Doobie Brothers playing "What A Fool Believes." Colleen says, "Oh I love this song!" and I reply, "Hm. Never heard it." She responded with such incredulity that I immediately felt a little embarrassed but determined to get a hold of the whole song. I grabbed my computer, loaded up Youtube and away we went. This is what I found:

Holy crap. What a great tune. This is why Colleen is great. While I know lots and lots and lots of music, there is a lot of music from the last 50 years that most people know that is just absolutely awesome, like this song, but that I never heard or was ever exposed to because my parents listened to a lot of Michael Card while I was growing up. No old Chicago or 5th Dimension or Doobie Brothers or Paul Simon or Stevie Wonder or anything. So I missed tons of this good stuff. Music that I would absolutely love if only I knew about it. Thankfully, Colleen does. And she is educating me, little by little. So enjoy this tune if you haven't heard it in a while. It's incredible.

-Jon

Top 25 Albums of the 2000s

I was hoping to get this one done closer to the beginning of the year, but this list is so freakin' long that it took me awhile to write. So here we go.

25. Rockin' The Suburbs - Ben Folds (2001)

This album became a go-to album during my first year at Iowa. I remember standing at the bus stop right outside of Burge after dinner, waiting for the bus to get back to my room in Mayflower, and listening to The Ascent of Stan over and over. The harmony starting right around minute 3:00 and especially at 3:10 just floored me, and listening to it now still hits me in a crazy way. There was just so much great stuff on here, and I hadn't heard the piano used in such an effective, pop way before.

Top 3 Tracks:

1. Not The Same

2. The Ascent Of Stan

3. Still Fighting It

24. Feed The Animals - Girl Talk (2008)

Watch out boys and girls, this one's definitely not one you play on a family vacation. Girl Talk is just one dude, a computer, and the most brilliant mind for mash-ups ever. Greg Gillis has taken samples of music from the last 60 years and mashed them all together in a way that makes me want to start riots. This whole album is the most high energy thing I've ever heard; it's basically just straight club gangster rap over samples like The Carpenters, The Band, Chicago, Earth Wind & Fire, etc. The beat never stops. It just goes, and goes, and goes, and the listener is just happy for the seemingly endless onslaught of pure rhythm and movement that is shot like a heroin syringe right into your musical arm vein. Awesome.

Top 3 Tracks:

1. Set It Off (the Bubba Sparxx's Heat It Up over a sample of Dexys Midnight Runner's Come On Eileen is pure brilliance)

2. In Step (the Earth, Wind, & Fire sample of September underneath Ludacris rapping in Fergie's Glamorous sounds SO good here)

3. Give Me A Beat (when Ice Cube's AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted starts over Daft Punk's Face To Face, it makes me want to dance for seven years straight. Unbelievably great.)

23. The Odd Couple - Gnarls Barkley (2008)

Their first album was good, but man this one was so awesome. It is such a bizarre album; I have no idea how exactly to describe it or label it because it has so many different sounds. It's like soul electro pop cartoon circus music. Whatever you want to call it, it's awesome. Cee-Lo's voice over the production of one my favorite producers, DJ Danger Mouse, fits so perfectly.

Top 3 Tracks:

1. Charity Case

2. Who's Gonna Save My Soul

3. A Little Better

22. Back To Black - Amy Winehouse (2006)

Aside from her decadent lifestyle filled with drugs and alcohol abuse, Amy Winehouse belongs in 1968. Or maybe with that stuff too. The reason I loved this album so much is because it has so much Dusty Springfield/Aretha Franklin/etc. soul with just the right pinch of '00s beat. It's really just Motown for Generation Y. And while Winehouse has got one hell of a voice, I have to give credit to Mark Ronson for that incredible production. He pulls some favors here, as you can hear the rich sounds of the Daptone Horns playing on most of these tracks. No wonder there is so much Rhythm & Blues on this record.

Top 3 Tracks:

1. He Can Only Hold Her

2. Back To Black

3. Tears Dry On Their Own

21. Room For Squares - John Mayer (2001)

I loved this album when I was in high school. Listening to it now, it's still good, but certainly a first record. I will say this though, I'm really glad I found this album when I was 16 and not 23. If I heard this record for the first time this last year, I would've probably set it down right away and not even gotten to the good stuff. On it's own, it's a fine album, but compared to his later work, it's pretty bland. Far more poppy than anything else. But if nothing else, it's really a great indication of what a great artist John Mayer is. This was his first album. How does a guy write a song like 3x5 on his first record? Impressive.

Top 3 Tracks:

1. 3x5

2. City Love

3. 83

20. FutureSex/LoveSounds - Justin Timberlake (2006)

This is one of the best second records I've ever heard. Justin Timberlake went from the bubble gum pop of 'NSYNC to pop with a bit more of a hip-hop edge (thank you Neptunes) on Justified, and then holy cow did he upped his game with this one. I didn't get into this album at first, mainly because another of my very favorite records (spoiler alert, it's #1 on this list) came out on the same day (my bday coincidentally). But once I really dug into this, it had so much to offer. There are layers upon layers of sexy, soulful, electro-pop on this album. The interludes alone are worth the purchase price.

Top 3 Tracks:

1. LoveStoned/I Think She Knows Interlude

2. Until The End Of Time Feat. The Benjamin Wright Orchestra

3. What Goes Around.../...Comes Around Interlude

19. 19 - Adele (2008)

I don't want to sound sexist here, but I don't groove on female vocalists as much as male vocalists. Maybe it's just cause I can't sing along. Adele is a grand exception (to the me liking her, not to the me singing along). She has one of the most beautiful voices I have ever heard. Period. And to hear a voice of this caliber in our age of auto-tune and paint by numbers pop starlets is just astounding. Adele has such control in her voice, it's remarkable. And on top of being floored by her voice, the music on this record is really great. It's great modern British pop sounds with lots of homage to late '60s soul. Plus one of the best Bob Dylan covers ever.

Top 3 Tracks:

1. Hometown Glory

2. Tired

3. Right As Rain

18. Alive 2007 - Daft Punk (2007)

I had a hard time not putting this one higher on my list, but in reality, I only truly fell in love with the first half of this record. But holy cow what a first half it is. I think going to a Daft Punk show would be the best way to burn calories, EVER. They put on a hell of a live show which really just equates to one colossal dance party. This show consists of just a mash-up of killer Daft Punk songs. My only beef with this is my normal beef with Daft Punk: they give us too much of a good thing. Some of the later tracks are too long and too monotonous to stay focused and into the music but that is not the case for tracks 3-5, the most glorious continuous seventeen minutes and thirty-seven seconds in music I think I've ever heard. The triumvirate ofTelevision Rules The Nation / Crescendolls, Too Long / Steam Machine, and Around The World / Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger is breathtakingly and relentlessly awesome. Awesome the way my grandparents use the word. The whole time I'm just filled with wonder at how incredibly cool these songs sound. It is just an onslaught of sound and beat and melody and robots and guitars and cheering and beauty. Probably great for working out.

Top 3 Tracks:

1. Around The World / Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

2. Television Rules The Nation / Crescendolls

3. Too Long / Steam Machine

17. The Black Album - Jay-Z (2003)

If you ever want to hear an artist at his zenith, listen to this album. One might argue that The Blueprint is Jay's best work, but I have to stick with The Black Album. The Blueprint was the game changer for Jay-Z, and this one is the one that solidified his status as King of the Rap Game. First off, the production on this thing is just insane. He's got Kanye, Just Blaze, Timbaland, Eminem, the Neptunes, even Rick Rubin produces on this record. What a line-up. And then on top of some of the sickest beats I have ever heard, you've got Jay at the top of his wordplay. This is like watching Michael Jordan play basketball in 1996. His verses are just crazy good. Jay's got swagger cause he knows this is his "last" album and he's going out on top. You can hear a bit of sadness on December 4th when he says "Goodbye to the game, all the spoils, the adrenaline rush." This album was truly Jay's "grand closing."

Top 3 Tracks:

1. December 4th

2. Encore

3. 99 Problems

16. Ray Guns Are Not Just The Future - The Bird And The Bee (2009)

I heard the first single from this album back on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno (the original, not Part Deux) and it absolutely blew me away. I even blogged about it I think. Yup I did. This woman's voice is just perfect, so soft and pretty and melodic and overtaking. Her harmonies are gorgeous. The chorus on Diamond Dave has some of the prettiest vocal layering ever. And the music production is so weird, it's like jazz/pop rooted in electronica. It sounds like an odd mix, but the sound combinations produce such a huge wall of breathtaking music.

Top 3 Tracks:

1. My Love

2. Ray Gun

3. Diamond Dave

15. Try! - John Mayer Trio (2005)

Who knew John Mayer could play the guitar? I did. And so many of his fans did too, but this album, along with the arrival of the Trio was the moment we could hold our heads up high and no longer be reviled for being fans. This is a powerful album from the guy whose record company had released Daughters as his previous single. He breaks out of that mold completely though, introducing his young fans to hits by Ray Charles and Jimi Hendrix, as well as showing them what Daughters was originally written as (slow soul tune). And a seven and a half minute slow blues tune too? From the Wonderland guy? John Mayer effectively avoided getting pigeonholed with this album and started to dictate his own career rather than having it dictated to him by his record label. And in the process, you gave us a pretty bad ass record. Well done, John.

Top 3 Tracks:

1. I Got A Woman

2. Wait Until Tomorrow

3. Gravity

14. X&Y - Coldplay (2005)

The Joshua Tree for my generation. Coldplay had had a small hit with Parachutes, gained some notoriety with A Rush of Blood to the Head, but this was the album with hype. Everybody wanted to see where they would go next and they took it to another dimension with this one. A dimension where bands only play arenas. Every song on this album seems like it would fit a giant stadium better than anything else (coincidentally, Coldplay just performed an acoustic version of A Message on the Hope for Haiti TV special months ago, and it was SOOO great). I fell in love with this album. So many immense sounds and instruments and melodies and harmonies and it's just so great. No one can write emotion that bursts out of your soul into song like Coldplay. And this album proved that.

Top 3 Tracks:

1. What If

2. Fix You

3. The Hardest Part

13. Miles Remixed - The Apple Juice Kid (2008)

This one is maybe the least well known on my list. Okayplayer.com (The Roots website) featured this album as a free download by kind of famous producer The Apple Juice Kid. I had never heard of him but the album cover looked sweet and I had a fairly large Miles Davis collection, which I enjoyed listening to from time to time so I thought I'd give it a try. Glad I did. This is one of the smoothest sounding albums ever. It combines the jazzy melodies of Miles Davis from the '50s and '60s with some beautifully smooth hip-hop beats. AJK has just taken bits and pieces from some of Davis' seminal works and cut them up, rearranged them, and mashed them together in a way that is just so easy on the ears. That's one reason I liked this so much. I listened to this when I studied, I listened to it playing darts in our duplex garage, it was perfect mood music. There were so many nights that Kevin and Colleen and I would stay up late, throwing darts, drinking a bit and just talking while this was playing in the background. It creates a very tranquil atmosphere in which to hang out. Jazz often turns lots of people off due to its grand or seemingly pompous nature. This is an album that takes jazz and makes it completely listenable.

Top 3 Tracks:

1. SnapMusic

2. Masco

3. ViolinGreen

12. Catching Tales - Jamie Cullum (2005)

This album finds its strength by being very catchy pop, but rooted in something that isn't ubiquitous in today's music scene. Jamie Cullum has the jazz piano chops to pull this album off super well. He's got crazy chords all over the place and sexy progressions and melodies, it's just so much fun to listen to. His voice can be a bit grating at first listen, but with time, one comes to realize how much control he's got and how easily he can manipulate his voice. And hoo boy can this guy scat!

Top 3 Tracks:

1. 21st Century Kid

2. My Yard

3. Nothing I Do

11. Parachutes - Coldplay (2000)

It's remarkable that Parachutes is a debut album. Coldplay writes and sings and plays with depth, emotion, and some real sexy piano music. Chris Martin might not have the most technically perfect voice ever, but he does exactly what he needs to do song after song here. Listening back to it, it's amazing to hear how much depth these guys wrangle out of their acoustic guitars. One of my favorite records ever.

Top 3 Tracks:

1. Trouble

2. We Never Change

3. Sparks

10. Late Registration - Kanye West (2005)

Another great sophomore album. I liked The College Dropout fine enough, but this is when I knew for sure that Kanye could deliver and his debut wasn't a fluke. There are so many great tracks here, and the music is insanely eclectic. Kanye brought in an outsider not really known for producing hip-hop, Jon Brion. He is known for scoring movie soundtracks such asMagnolia, Punch-Drunk Love, Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (one of my personal favorites), and Synecdoche, New York, among many others. And his influence on this record is key. Kanye is great but pushed the boundaries of his own style with Brion's help. This is a bizarrely eclectic albums with sounds you'd never expect from a huge hip-hop star. Also, Kanye lays down some amazing samples all over the place here, including, but not limited to, Otis Redding, Ray Charles, Curtis Mayfield and Bill Withers. How much more soul can you fit onto one record?

Top 3 Tracks:

1. Gone Feat. Consequence and Cam'Ron

2. Crack Music Feat. The Game

3. Gold Digger Feat. Jamie Foxx

9. Heavier Things - John Mayer (2003)

There is so much growth between this record and Room For Squares. He went from writing pretty run of the mill pop songs to songs with some punch to them. Sure, these are mostly all pop songs again, but with just enough soul hidden inside that they can catch you off guard. One of the strengths of this album is that it matches sonically with what he's singing about. The feelings evoked by the words of Wheel is exactly the feeling evoked by the music of the song. And many of these songs just hit bullseye in that regard. Clarity, Something's Missing, Split Screen Sadness. There is emotion that lines up just perfectly between music and lyrics. It is a very satisfying listen.

Top 3 Tracks:

1. Clarity

2. Wheel

3. Something's Missing

8. Discovery - Daft Punk (2001)

I know I've written about this album somewhere else. Thinking about it now it might be in an unpublished Top 5 Favorite Artists blog somewhere. Anyway, this album rules. For me, it's the sum of everything good about Daft Punk's strengths. In their older stuff, the "techno" sound of their music overtakes everything and they don't use any restraint. On this album, they take the techno sound and turn it into songs that are listenable. Real songs, not just seven minute club tracks. Songs with different parts, verses, choruses, the occasional bridge here and there. It's that complex of a thing, but when they start writing real songs in their crazy robot sounding style, it's so awesome.

Top 3 Tracks:

1. Digital Love

2. Something About Us

3. Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

7. Fly Or Die - N*E*R*D (2004)

This album is the summer of 2004 for me. There is hardly anything that makes sense on this album musically, considering who N*E*R*D is and the kind of music they made before this. Since some of N*E*R*D's members make up the hip-hop production team The Neptunes, you'd think this album would be rooted in hip-hop. Not at all. While there are some flavors of hip-hop throughout, this is far more of a crazy pop-rock album than anything else. Am I supposed to dance to these songs or "rock out" as the saying goes? Who knows. You listen and you love it.

Top 3 Tracks:

1. She Wants To Move

2. Maybe

3. Breakout

6. Once - Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova (2007)

Most soundtracks are comprised of songs from which clips were featured in the movie. This one is different; almost all the songs from the soundtrack are performed in their entirety in the movie. Which, now that I think about it, makes the movie more of a musical than anything. Tangent. These songs are breathtaking. The voices are simple; his voice warbles from time to time, but you can tell he means every word he sings. That is truly a rare trait in music today. Her voice is beautiful; so simple and it fits right where it needs to. She doesn't overpower him and only adds to him. It's perfect. Their combination is so well-matched. It might be such an emotional album for me because it's so intimately tied to the movie. When I hear these songs, I think of the relationship between these two characters and that they are really singing these songs to each other. They are singing about hurt, about loss and pain and failure and love and hope. When The Guy really lets his voice loose in Say It To Me Now, it is chilling because you hear what he is feeling. That is where the strength in this album lies. There isn't anything technically out of this world, it's mainly just two simple voices over simple instruments. The beauty lies within the feeling behind each voice and how much they can communicate with just their voices. Amazing.

Top 3 Tracks:

1. Say It To Me Now

2. Lies

3. Once

5. Graduation - Kanye West (2007)

Highest ranked rap album on my list here. Kanye reached his zenith with this album. He had a great sound on The College Dropout, tweaked it just enough with Late Registration and hit the nail on the head with this album. Just great production here, all the way through. The craziest samples ever. Steely Dan, Daft Punk, Elton John, Curtis Mayfield, and one of my absolute all time favorite samples ever, Michael Jackson's P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing) samples in Good Life. Maybe the hottest sample ever. So clever too. P.Y.T. is such an incredible pop song, and Kanye just took it and slowed it waaaay down, until it's almost unrecognizable. It took me lots and lots of listens before I realized he was even sampling anybody, and then I had to really focus to catch the sample. So subtle but man the end product is just so hot. And can I talk aboutFlashing Lights for a second? I don't even think I should. This is definitely on my Top 5 Hip Hop Songs list. It is undeniable how great the beat in that tune is. This album isn't perfect (Drunk And Hot Girls and Big Brother are two huge blemishes), but where Kanye gets it right, he REALLY gets it right. Beats and rhymes both. He was completely on top of his game here.

Top 3 Tracks:

1. Flashing Lights Feat. Dwele

2. Good Life Feat. T-Pain

3. Homecoming Feat. Chris Martin

4. Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends - Coldplay (2008)

It has to be hard to release albums each better than the last. Coldplay has pulled it off for the last decade. Impressive. I had a lot of high hopes for this album and was totally blown away by it. The sounds here are just crazy. The intro song, Life In Technicolor, just starts with the craziest sounding weird piano instrument and opens into a huge rolling sea wave of sound that overtakes you and doesn't let you come up for air until the end of the album. The band paints so many landscapes with the songs. If I was to make a music video for Cemeteries Of London, I would have the band playing the song amidst a giant Revolutionary War battle. Cannons firing all around them, soldiers bayonetting each other. The song just sounds like a colossal battlefield to me. And how about Viva La Vida? Maybe the most inspirational sounding song I've ever heard. Really though, this whole album boasts songs that are just big. They belong in another universe. Just like X&Y, I feel like the only place they could ever truly live is in a giant stadium arena. I can't imagine Death And All His Friends any other way than the whole band performing it in front of tens of thousands of fans. All the way through, this album just sets my heart on fire.

Top 3 Tracks:

1. Lost!

2. Viva La Vida

3. Life In Technicolor

3. Voodoo - D'Angelo (2000)

Remember that sexy music video from about ten years ago of that super buff black guy singing the song with no clothes on? The camera rotated around his whole body, just showing his insanely ripped torso? That was D'Angelo. And that video basically communicates what this album is all about. SEX. But it really is so much more than that too. But the sexy is the most obvious element of this album. I'd never heard music made of silk before this one. Each song is a study in not just how to get a certain feeling behind the music, but how that feeling can be communicated by the musicians. True, the feeling here is sexual/sensual soul, but it's so well communicated by how the instruments are played. The bass is pushed so far back behind the beat, it's like a game between the musicians to see how off kilter they can take the music without completely tearing everything apart. Imagine musical notes dancing around each other like they know some sexy business is going down soon. That is this album in a nutshell. Reading over that again, that's the worst comparison I could come up with but it's the only way I can communicate how much soul this album has. So much.

Top 3 Tracks:

1. Greatdayindamornin' / Booty

2. One Mo' Gin

3. Feel Like Makin' Love

2. Al Green - Lay It Down

Al Green is one of those classic artists that has enough credibility from the last fifty years that basically most anyone you ask would say "Oh yeah, I love Al Green!" when really the only songs they know are Let's Stay Together, Love And Happiness, and if you're lucky, Call Me (Come Back Home). I used to be one of those people, at least until two years ago. And then he released this album. After the opening bass riff of the first track, I was sold. Not only on this album, but on Al Green as a musician in general. This was the album that did it though. Produced by ?uestlove and James Poyser, both from The Roots, this album is like the incarnation of the '70s Al Green soul imputed into the R&B of today. Holy moly is it fun to listen to. Soft guitar, bass lines that are just out of this world, horns that could only have come from James Brown's band, and all of this lays the setting for that silky falsetto of Al Green. A few great guest spots too, John Legend, Anthony Hamilton, and Corinne Bailey Rae. And the songs are just good songs. Songs about love. No politics here. No messed up relationships. Just simple love songs, of which good ones are very hard to find nowadays.

Top 3 Tracks:

1. Just For Me

2. Lay It Down Feat. Anthony Hamilton

3. What More Do You Want From Me

1. John Mayer - Continuum

It might be a while before Mayer tops this album. This one came at just the right time; he was at just the right spot in his musical timeline to coalesce so many different genres and influences into a modern masterpiece. He touches on blues, jazz, funk, lots of pop, and in general just music that can be enjoyed by such a wide range of humans. And that's just the music. Lyrically, he reaches into the deepest depths of anything he had done (and even stuff he's done since this album). There are truly universal themes here, themes that at some point or another, everybody thinks about this stuff. Everybody has issues with seeing their parents age. Everybody has issues with dealing with the good and the bad in life. Everybody deals with the concept of belief in one form or another. Everybody deals with fighting off the world in order to hold onto their confidence. There is genius writing all over this one. And back to the music again, every song can be traced back to its influence if you listen closely enough. This album sent me on a hunt to find what inspired it. Here's a short list: Curtis Mayfield, Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, George Harrison, Steely Dan, Coldplay, and Ray Charles. And that doesn't even cover all of the songs. It's hard to find things that aren't really, really great on this album. And that's why it's on the top of this list. It's so difficult to pull together such a great mix of elements and pull it off so perfectly as Mayer does here. Great album art too.

Top 3 Tracks:

1. I Don't Trust Myself (With Loving You)

2. Slow Dancing In A Burning Room

3. Stop This Train

Spring Music Preview '10.

Rolling Stone has published their annual Spring Music Preview, giving its readers a sneak peek at new albums coming out through the summer. Here's what I think.

1. Erykah Badu - New Ameryikah Part Two: Return of the Ankh (3/30)

Weirdest title ever. What is the deal with Erykah Badu? Do I like her or do I not? It's a tough one. Sometimes she's like a female D'Angelo, sometimes her music is just a tish too freaky for me. But I'll probably get my hands on this album eventually. She seems like one of a few truly creative and free-thinking minds in R&B today, and that goes a ways with me.

2. Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - I Learned The Hard Way (4/06)

This one actually isn't profiled by the Rolling Stone article which is weird because it will almost certainly be better than most of the other albums on their list. There are not many groups these days with such an authentic, old-school sound. They are straight soul/funk/R&B. They sound like the JBs have time-warped fifty years and connected with Sharon Jones to make just the purest sounding soul music. I'm sure this album will be no different.

3. Keane - Night Train (5/11)

Another one not profiled by RS. I'm iffy on this album because I haven't even heard Keane's last album, Perfect Symmetry, back from late '08. So I should probably pick that up before getting excited about a new Keane album. That's sort of how Keane is for me though. I don't get excited about their albums, I get them months (or years) after they are released and then I have a quiet appreciation for them. It'll be the same with this album I'm sure.

4. Jack Johnson - To The Sea (6/01)

Considering the change between In Between Dreams and Sleep Through The Static, I can only imagine this is going to be a killer album. And Jack Johnson has long hair now. Weird.

5. Sara Bareilles - Title TBD (Date TBD)

Remember how great Sara's first album was? Word on the Wikipedia is that ?uestlove and James Poyser (both of The Roots) are helping her out with this one. Enough said. It's going to be incredible.

6. Maroon 5 - Title TBD (Date TBD)

Oh wow, Maroon 5 is coming out with a new album? Forget it guys, you released a totally phenom first single, a decently good debut album to back it up, and followed it up with kind of crap. It's going to be hard to redeem yourself after taking like four years between albums. Who do you think you are, Sade?

7. Mark Ronson - Title TBD (Date TBD)

One of the best producers around. Whatever he does with this album is going to be awesome. His second album was great, Amy Winehouse's Back To Black was great, the stuff he does with Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings is great, Rhymefest's Blue Collar was great. It doesn't matter what direction he goes in because he can do great stuff in any genre. Bring it Mark.

So those are the albums that stood out. None of my favorite artists have stuff coming out, but man is this year already looking miles better than last year's spring preview. And so far, this year has been waaaay better than last year. Already, we've got new albums from OK Go, Sade, Jamie Cullum, Daniel Merriweather, Corinne Bailey Rae, and in the next month, Broken Bells, Gorillaz, and Jimi Hendrix. While none of these are Top 5 Favs for me, the number of albums I'd like to get is way bigger than normal. Awesome. Cheers to 2010 huh?

-Jon

Another one about music.

First, I know it's been nearly three months since I wrote last. Yikes. I'll see what I can do about it.

In a week, Jamie Cullum's fourth album, The Pursuit, is released in the US. I'm crazy excited, because Jamie Cullum is awesome to begin with, but yesterday I finally listened to one of the songs off this upcoming album. I hadn't heard any cuts yet, and holy cow did this one blow me away. You will almost certainly recognize this song by Rihanna:

OK, so that's a great pop tune, killer MJ sample in the middle, great beat, fun to dance to, the whole bit. It's a fun song. Now, here is one facet of Cullum's genius that blows me away. He can take a song from basically any genre and make it incredible in his own specific way. He takes Rihanna's great song and turns it into this:

Why can't Youtube write embedding codes that work well? I'm not savvy enough to get this video to fit inside the parameters of my blog. Anyway.

Gosh. Hear how he builds into the chorus? It feels so huge. And his chords, oh man does he nail this song. He turns this great pop tune into the most beautiful, jazzy anthem. Unbelievable.

The last album I bought was JM's Battle Studies; before that, Jay-Z's The Blueprint 3. I hardly ever by CDs anymore, and this is one that I am definitely making the trip out to Best Buy next Tuesday to get. You should too.

-Jon

Battle Studies.

Well, that's an embarrassing way to start this review.

Quite an event last Tuesday. John Mayer finally released his fourth studio album, Battle Studies, and I got to experience hearing brand new, non-live, studio-made, John Mayer-written music for the first time in three years. Pretty exciting stuff for me. And admittedly, I was a bit nervous, as John's become quite the douche in the last three years, but it turns out my fears were unwarranted.

JM hasn't branched too far out here. If nothing else, he's taken a few steps backwards in regards to his other music. But this isn't a bad thing. His pre-Continuum music is great, so these new songs are really just a nice addition to his body of work. Most of them are anyway. As a whole, Battle Studies isn't as cohesive as Continuum, in terms of musical style and song quality. The only thing that really does bind most of the record together is a general (I use that term loosely, see Crossroads, Who Says, War Of My Life, none really pertain to the ->) theme of breaking up. Musically, he definitely dabbles in quite a few areas, but as a whole he's stepping back towards the pop scene. Continuum was just so soulful; soul emanated from every part of that album. Not so here. Overall it's much more of a pop music, radio-ready type of feel.

OK the songs. If I had my way, I would cut three songs off the record, completely retool one song, and leave the other seven exactly how they are. That's not the best percentage, but still alright. It's the middle stretch that is just plain bad. The triumvirate of Who Says, Perfectly Lonely, and War Of My Life really pains me, and Crossroads might be one of the most disappointing covers I've ever heard. Who Says sounds like an extension of his a-hole lifestyle set to a pretty little acoustic ditty, which is catchy enough that it's annoying how bad the song is. Sorry John, but very few of your fans relate to planning trips to Japan by themselves and canceling them at will. Perfectly Lonely is one of those empowerment songs that I find so inane. It'll be the one at concerts that all the lonely people pump their fists to and sing along too loudly with, trying to fool themselves and everybody around them that they're so happy they're alone. Annoying. I know this might seem like a dumb thing to say since I'm married but why can't he write one song about actually finding love or being in love where there aren't any negative little asides, or "this is great BUT..."? Just one John. I only want one.

Crossroads is a real bummer for me too. When I saw this on the track list I was psyched because of how great his Hendrix cover was on Continuum. This cover sounds like he pulled it directly from Guitar Hero. I seriously think Steve Jordan sat down to a drum kit with four parts, each a different color. And the guitar tone is so awful, which only makes the solo worse than it already is. This is just a really uninspired cover, which bums me out because usually JM does covers so well (see Free Fallin', Bold As Love, Kid A from the old days). He chooses awesome tunes, not always the most well-known, and makes them even better, injects them with something unique. This is just sonic mush. Wish you could have a re-do on this one John.

But if you listen to the good parts of this record, he really starts to shine again. The strongest element of this whole album is his voice, but only when it's bolstered by the melody lines he sings. He has seemed to hit on really quality melody lines, that are not only gorgeous, but fit his voice perfectly. Assassin and Heartbreak Warfare are the two I'm thinking of most here, but also listen to All We Ever Do Is Say Goodbye, Edge Of Desire (anybody else think this song sounds like Jimmy Eat World circa 2004?). All beautiful melodies.

Assassin is shaping up to be my favorite song off the album, and thank goodness it's smack dab in the middle to break up all those crap tunes. This one really demonstrates the little things that put John Mayer above most pop artists recording today. Just like 95% of popular music, the first chorus of this tune is underlined by some pretty simple power chords. It's at 3:41 when the second chorus starts right after his guitar solo, holy cow he adds just the second note of each chord to each chord he plays and it elevates the foundation of the song to a whole new level. It's a subtle addition but it really distinguishes it from the humdrum music that we hear so often.

And I have to note the bass playing here. Bassist Pino Palladino is out of this world. To get the full effect of his playing, throw on some headphones, turn them up just a bit more than you normally would, and listen to the introduction up through the first chorus. Listen to the bass. Pino is the most controlled bass player I've ever heard. No matter how many notes he seems to bounce over, every single one fits within each chord and leads the listener along without them knowing where we're going. Listening to this song for the first few times, I could never predict what was coming next in the bass line. So great. Pino kills it here.

One quick note about Half Of My Heart, almost certainly coming to a radio near you very soon. The song is fine, nothing too special, but the back-up vocals are sung by freakin' Taylor Swift. Alright JM, I've got beef with this. She's got a fine voice, clear and pretty, but she's hardly even in this song, and the only reason I can really see that you added her in this is to grab a few new country music fans and tween fans who weren't at music-purchasing age when Mayer released Wonderland eight years ago. At the writing of this, Half Of My Heart was at #7 on the iTunes Singles chart. And I guarantee it's only because the title is followed by (with Taylor Swift). And with all of his clout, all of his street cred in the music community, he gets Taylor Swift to guest on his record? The man has worked with Billy Preston, B.B. King, John Scofield, Herbie Hancock, is friends with Buddy Guy and Eric Clapton, and he gets pop-tween-queen Taylor Swift to guest on his record. Just kind of a bummer to me.

Other random thoughts: War Of My Life wins the award for gayest John Mayer song title, while Friends, Lovers Or Nothing is definitely a great track and it will be a great show/encore closer. In very much the same vein as I'm Gonna Find Another You, just more Beatles-ish. Bold move too, leaving out that ol' oxford comma.

So I don't think it's not his best work, but overall it fits well into his canon. And now that I've had a week with it, I can say that it's worn well already. The first two days I gave the songs I didn't like five or six listens to give them a chance and then started skipping them, the last few days they've all definitely grown on me. So go buy it. Support good music, because the month of November will have seen album releases from Weezer, 50 Cent, Bon Jovi, Fall Out Boy (a greatest hits compilation, are you kidding me?), Lady GaGa, Adam Lambert, Rihanna, and Lil' Jon. When the music scene is that bleak, you've got to stand up for what's right and good in this world. John Mayer might not completely fit those two adjectives, but he's far better than all of the other stuff I just listed.

-Jon

Countdown.

The wait begins. John Mayer has put the first single off of "Battle Studies" up on his website. (If you want to give it a listen, it's right here.) With his last two albums, I managed to wait until the release date to hear the entire thing for the first time (excluding a few listens of the single, which is hard to avoid due to the radio, music TV, etc.), and it definitely paid off. I grew to know each album as a whole rather than The Single and then The Rest Of It, commonly known as The Good Stuff. I don't want the single living in a different space in my head than the rest of the album. This almost always pays off for listening to most full albums for me, and I don't want to make Battle Studies any different.

That being said, 1 month and 22 days until the album is released. Good grief.

-Jon

fall music preview '09.

just noticed that rolling stone has again released another seasonal music preview. let's do it. artist name followed by album title in italics and release date in parentheses.

1. mika - the boy who knew too much (9/22)

this is almost certainly going to be the most fun record this whole season. now i'm not crazy for mika; his last album was great, and i just never really got into it. it's just a good one to have on reserve in your ipod just in case you're ever driving and want to start a party in your car. he's got pop music down to a science, big sounds, colorful melodies, hooks like you wouldn't believe. and he's got the voice to sell it perfectly. he sounds like freddie mercury dashed with just a hint of gay. good joke jon.

2. the roots - how i got over (10/20)

torn on this one. i've got lots of roots records, but i've never fallen in love with any of them. and since i've never seen them perform live, i can't actually lend any weight to the "best live band ever" title that they get all the time. i didn't really give their last two albums more than a few listens as they seemed very dark and very unhappy about white people in general. their beats have always seemed pretty raw and not meant to draw the listener in by being easy to digest. that being said, i saw them perform their single "how i got over" off album of same name on late night with jimmy fallon, the show on which they are the house band (and really make the show watchable in my opinion), and it was super great. lots of fun, high energy, just a great tune. i've also heard the album version on okayplayer.com (the roots flagship website) and while it is different than their performance, it's still a good tune. so i have no idea about this album. could be great, could be a pass-over for me.

3. creed - full circle (10/27)

hahaha. remember how awful these guys were back in 2001? when i mock a song by singing in a ridiculous "rock" voice, scott stapp is who i'm emulating. can't believe they got back together to make more music. a real shame.

4. the swell season - strict joy (10/27)

looking forward to this album more than all of them except jm's. the swell season are glen hansard and marketa irglova, the two actors/musicians from the 2007 movie "once". i've never really written about this movie or it's soundtrack, and i'd like to sometime because it is incredibly affecting to me. suffice it to say that both the movie and the music from it are real beauty, and what i've heard from this new album is very, very good. i've heard a few live versions of a couple tunes and the record version of the tune "low rising" and it completely blew me away. this album is going to be a year-end favorite for me.

5. john mayer - battle studies (11/17)

last and the one i'm most excited for, without a doubt. what's up with jm releasing all his studio albums in the fall? he's got a thing for autumn i think. as of yet, i haven't heard a single thing except background snippets of tunes off this album, and i'm excited and anxious to hear where he's going after one of my very favorite records ever continuum. it's been three years since that album came out and lots has happened in his life since then. mainly he's become a douchebag in the public eye. we'll see how that translates to music. hopefully something great.

there we go. loads more albums were on the list, just nothing that really excited much more than these. and i'm probably only going to buy the last two when they come out, the rest i can wait awhile to hear.

i was looking back at my previous "music preview" posts and noticed that i said lots of things about albums i was excited about and then they let me down or they totally blew me away. i think what i'm gonna do from here on is every time i go over a new music preview, i'll take a look back at the most recent preview and take stock of what i actually liked or didn't like. that being said, i'm gonna do the last two spring previews from this year and last year to catch up. album title first followed by artist in parentheses.

- hard candy (madonna): didn't even listen to it. heard the single with justin timberlake, thought "eh."

- rising down (the roots): like i said earlier, very dark and raw. hard to listen to for me. didn't love it.

- lay it down (al green): without a doubt one of my Top 5 Favorite Albums. of any genre. any artist. of all time. fantastic, brilliant, luminous album. can't say enough good.

- we sing. we dance. we steal things (jason mraz): never really digested it. but it sounded alright.

- viva la vida or death and all his friends (coldplay): another brilliant album from coldplay. totally love this band, and this album, along with al green's, was for sure my most played during 2008. such a great, great record.

- weezer (weezer): didn't even bother. i wrote about it just to make fun.

- seeing sounds (n.e.r.d): definitely let down by this one. i loved the single but the rest was just too off-kilter for a n.e.r.d record. i was hoping for much more along the lines of fly or die and i got just something weird.

- way to normal (ben folds): loved it. listened to this a ton. really fun, great melodies, great hooks, great tunes overall. awesome album.

so those were all from the spring '08 preview, and the four albums i wrote about for the spring '09 preview were all duds, as in i didn't listen or buy any of them so i have no follow-up at all.

have to mention one album that almost fell through the cracks here, since it wasn't on the spring '09 preview and it was just released so it missed the fall '09 preview too. jay-z just released the blueprint 3 a week ago and i must say he has another winner. i am in love with this album right now. great beats, great rhymes, great collabos, everything on here is awesome. jay's still got it. such a great record. definitely will tide me over until october 27th, which will then suffice until november 17th. come on autumn!

-jon

gigs #3 and #4: the hub and the hydrant.

we kind of need to find a new place to play.

#3 was pretty standard, with a few interesting things to note. it was a benefit deal for one of the art groups we have on campus, which my friend paige is a part of, and she was the one that actually asked us to play. interesting too, we actually played last, this band called the beat strings opened, which was kind of funny because they were an actual band that sounded kind of like franz ferdinand, really upbeat, high energy, and then we took the stage. two dudes with an acoustic and one with an electric. weak sauce. but anyway. we played with bruce again and i played my electric, which really made a big difference in my playing and made me NOT want to play acoustic on stage again. i just feel so limited in what my hands can translate from my brain when i play the acoustic. it suits me a billion times better to play on my strat. so it was a lot more fun this time around and i got into my groove a lot faster than before. one thing that plagued our set was the lack of practicing though. eli and i had played quite a bit the week prior to this show and we worked a lot of cool things out on certain songs and even added a brand new song to the list, but we were unable to coordinate a time to practice with bruce so he came into the gig not on the same page as eli and i. we still played well i think but it definitely could've been tighter among all three of us. another cool thing about this gig: paige sang with us. that was cool to have a girl's voice amongst our sound. the most interesting thing about this show for me though was my process of relaxation on stage. i felt alright from the get go, a titch nervous but still ok. as we played on though, it got late, and people obviously got tired and started to go. as i watched people get up and walk out, i stopped thinking completely about the audience and just started to goof off and play what i wanted. that was a lot of fun, i almost just stopped caring about whatever eli and bruce were doing and started making jokes to owen and colleen and joel, who were all sitting at a table together. it was a lot of fun. less people = more fun for me. and we debuted our new song, "mess around" by ray charles. such an awesome tune, and i'm glad we have a ray charles cover in our set. super fun to play, with a chance for me to really dig into a 12-bar blues solo, which was awesome on my strat. problems: too freakin' short. we played it and out of nowhere the song was over. it's literally done in like two and a half minutes for us, which is just far too short. not good for our set and not fun for me. so overall the gig was fine. i can tell i'm getting better about being on a stage.

#4: best gig so far, by far. absolutely the most fun i've had on a stage, and i felt like i played my best so far and really got into it. started off the show with about 0.1% nerves, which is basically negligible for me. so that was great. it was just eli and i again, with me on electric. i was a bit wary before the show whether or not it was gonna sound good with just eli on acoustic and me on electric but i really felt like we found a good sound with this set up. the crowd was great, which to me means it was mainly our friends. it was the thursday before finals week so the hydrant didn't have many patrons, and i was kind of behind a speaker so most of the people who i didn't know i couldn't even see. that relaxed me a lot right from the get go. and i finally got to see how i performed with a bit of alcohol in me, which is not bad at all. around the middle of the set i started to get a bit of a buzz and instead of making me worse at playing it was just a lot of fun. it also helped me take the song omar bay on a lot easier. omar bay is the one tune where i've got a solo but i just haven't figured out yet how to make it a good solo; it's such a weird chord progression and trying to find a good melody to solo with over this progression has stumped me. but after having a few drinks, along with playing it later in the set after i've gotten comfortable, when eli looked at me and said "omar bay?" i was like "yeah....i'm gonna get you this time, omar bay." and it was awesome.

and my strat. gosh i love playing electric so much more than acoustic. it takes a ho-hum set list for me and turned it into something really enjoyable to be a part of. we played some really rockin' tunes too, the weight sounds great with me on electric, and we finished off our last set with hooch, and kevin actually came up and freestyled a little over this super funky groove we found. that's the kind of stuff i wish we played more of. stuff where i can really forget about being on a stage and just bob my head and play. it was super fun.

on top of that, a super fun one was mess around by ray charles. we ended our first set with it, and it's such a good set closer, except that it is just so short. solution is just to figure out how to medley it with another tune, preferably another ray charles tune if we could. i'm thinking i don't need no doctor, i got a woman, possibly what'd i say. figuring out how to medley a few tunes will be my project as soon as this week is over.

no more gigs on the horizon right now, but whatever else comes, i sincerely hope they are like #4. oh yeah i'm done with the semester too. awesome. two more classes and i'm out of college. holler.

-jon

p.s. my font changed for some reason unbeknownst to me. i tried for like thirty seconds to get it the same as the others but then i got lazy. so i guess just deal with it for this one post. sorry.

rashida jonz.

i am watching an old episode of late night with jimmy fallon, and he introduced rashida jones (most well known as karen from the office) and the roots played "jonz in my bonz" by d'angelo for her walk-out song. the roots are incredible.

-jon

gig #2: the hydrant.

well second gig has come and gone. it kind of came up much more suddenly than the first one and it was more of a hodge podge i guess you could say, but it was still a ton of fun. little back story, eli lets me know that he's playing on thursday night at the hydrant and bruce can't due to a prior gig the next day for which he wants to save his voice (bruce's actual band stable daze was playing friday night and recording the show for a live record) but eli asked me if i would be interested in playing with just him. the problem with all of this is that the week ended up being full of stuff and we weren't really able to practice at all until thursday afternoon. by "practice" i mean eli coming over at 4 pm (gig was at 10) and us talking about songs we might want to do and not actually playing any more than one song together. ironically, it was the song i flubbed up big time at the gig but i'll get to that.

in the end, we decided that since it was just two of us, it'd be better if i was just gonna play along since we didn't really have time to practice at all. not really a night for me to play solos since there was just the two of us. and that was a good plan, but it would've been better had i been able to play some of the songs first. anyway. fast forward to later, we go up to start playing. and let me tell you, the hydrant got packed quick. i had invited more people than i realized and i think every person i told showed up. there were school friends, work friends, church friends, old friends. even a professor. it was pretty nuts. so the place felt really packed. which didn't really make me nervous, and just the fact that i wasn't really nervous was great. so eli and i go up and i just say to him play whatever and i'll catch up and we start. and i don't catch up as fast as i had hoped.

this was the result of a few little problems. first, i should've asked eli to turn my guitar up louder in the monitor. i could hear it ok, but not great during the one or two solos that i had in the beginning and i'm not one to play my guitar loud anytime at all, especially when i'm playing along with someone else to a song i've never really practiced before. so that was problem number one, and probably the biggest one. secondly, we played the song omar bay as we had at the hub at our first gig, and boy did i suck. eli gave me a solo and it was like will ferrell's devil character trying to join in. i couldn't hit notes and i was just struggling to play anything that sounded remotely good. eli took the song back quick though so it was ok. but man after we ended i could feel the sweat on my forehead and knew i had ground to gain after that.

the bright side was, as far as i could tell, the night only got better after that first crappy omar bay. we played a ton of stuff, and for a long time. we started at like 10:15 and played for about a hour, then took maybe twenty or thirty minutes and went back on until like 1:15 or 1:30. and since it was just eli and i, when we were playing we were actually playing. no eli solo sets for me to take a break. by the end, my fingers were killing me and my hands felt like glue.

we played tons of stuff too. hooch, the weight, falling slowly, always lift him up and never let him down, gulf coast highway, arms of a woman, will it go round in circles, a few eli originals, what i got, candy, street corner preacher, sitting waiting wishing, more stuff. tons of stuff i'd never played and didn't even know he could play, like candy. that was super fun cause we had never talked about us being able to play it and then he started this little riff off and i was like "what's this?" and he was gonna walk me through the chords quick and he was like "it's candy" and i immediately joined in where he was at. and then we rocked it. it's a song very conducive to two guys on acoustic guitars in a bar. another one i really enjoyed was the weight. again, hadn't played it with him before, or actually ever, but since it's a total of three chords, i picked it up quick. and it's just a fun sing-along and we threw some funk into the last few choruses that eli wasn't expecting but liked a ton.

one reason it's fun to play for some of these new people is that they don't know all my old guitar tricks. i'm pretty good at guitar, but even more than being good, i'm really good at making it seem like i'm really good at guitar. and for someone who doesn't play guitar or doesn't know tons about music, it's not that hard to come across as good. for most of our audience at the bar that night, me playing the D chord as a 7th in the chorus of the weight makes it sound funky, and all i did was play one note differently than eli did. and yet people will cheer if i play that one note and bob my head like i'm really "feeling" the groove. i'm such a poser.

but it was still a lot of fun once i found my footing. what i really think would make me and eli sound better is a time to play and practice with no one else really around. a time where i could sing harmony loud, and we could go over songs multiple times until we got them down. not playing until showtime isn't good for me. we've got two gigs this week coming up too so hopefully we'll get to play soon.

gigs this week: wednesday night at the hub (benefit/charity type show for paige. i think bruce is playing with us? i definitely want to practice before this thing) and then thursday night at the hydrant. it'd be fun to have bruce but i haven't seen that guy since i think our first show so i have no idea if he still exists. so potentially a repeat of this second gig with just eli and me. and hopefully my name will be on the ad poster hanging up at the hydrant. that would be awesome. hope to see you out there!

-jon