Apr 18
Music & Entertainment

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Sam Sparro - American Boy (Estelle Live Lounge Cover)
If you’ve been paying attention, you already know I’m a fan of Sam Sparro. I’m psyched about his first album schedules to be released in early May and this cover version of Estelle’s “American Boy” has enough packed into it to keep me on the edge of my seat for another few weeks. Sparro delivers quite a bit of diversity in just this one song, going from a soulful alto (or is he more of a baritone?) to an old-school hip-hop cadence with a splash of beatboxing, and finishes the song off in a Robin Thicke-esque falsetto. Very excited for this release!!!Check out video footage of this performance on BBC Radio 1’s Live Lounge

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Posted by scubaSteve on 04/18/08 at 12:08 pm.

Apr 17
Music & Entertainment

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The Cinematic Orchestra - Ma Fleur
The Cinematic Orchestra - Breathe
And now for something completely different: the unique blend of noir jazz and bluesy soul, film soundtracks and down-tempo electronic – that is the sound of the Cinematic Orchestra. With more than a decade of performing and recording experience under their collective belt, this London-based aggregation has knocked out audiences from Portugal (the European City of Culture festival) to California (Coachella Festival). In July, 2007, Domino Records issued Ma Fleur, the Cinematic Orchestra’s fourth full-length release. Don’t miss this special one-night stand by this unclassifiable ensemble, “capable of seamlessly blending soul, jazz and hip-hop into something truly beautiful and original.” (Pitchfork Media)Anyone interested in going?  $20/ticket

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Posted by scubaSteve on 04/17/08 at 2:27 pm.

Apr 08
Music & EntertainmentUncategorized

Check the clip, laugh out loud, and try out your own Christopher Walken impersonation.

Favorite line: “Wa-oow, it’s like ya lookin’ right into my nah-ggin’”

                       

Big ups to Eric for passing this along.

Posted by scubaSteve on 04/8/08 at 12:11 pm.

Apr 03
Music & Entertainment

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Jay-Z - Ain’t I
but, you already knew that.

Michael Schumacher, Alex Rodriguez, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg,… these are some of the highest paid, most famous people in their respective fields. And now the highest paid music artist is Jay-Z! Not just the highest paid rapper, the highest paid musical artist period (He beat out Madonna’s contract by $30M to hit $150 million). Live Nation just bought rights to Jay-Z everything from albums and ticket sales to merchandise. The contract also demands that Jay-Z keep it creative, guaranteeing we’ll see 10 albums in the next 10 years, meaning that Jay-Z will potentially be 48 by the time he fulfills his contract making him the future Frank Sinatra of Hip-Hop, continuing to be a force in the music industry in his middle age.

Congrats to the Great Hov. Here’s some new Jay-Z that will most likely make it onto his last Def Jam recording set to be released sometime this year.  Timbaland on the beat.  HOT ISH!!!

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Posted by scubaSteve on 04/3/08 at 12:53 pm.

Apr 03
Music & Entertainment

Guess which member of the band downed a bottle of soju just before the performance?

Posted by scubaSteve on 04/3/08 at 12:17 pm.

Apr 01
Music & Entertainment

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Ryan Leslie - Just Right (feat. Snoop Dogg)
This guy has a FRESH sound. Granted, this track is from ‘05, but has the futuristic off-beat timing of a Dilla track, but with killer hooks that make a track like this instantly likeable. I have to say a bunch of his numbers are blatantly influenced by The Neptunes or Timbaland, but a tune like Just Right and Diamond Girl (below) clearly show that this guy has something of his own to offer.Why did this not get any airplay back in ‘05? Or did it?  Either way, I’m obsessed w/ this guy’s work right now.

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Posted by scubaSteve on 04/1/08 at 3:21 pm.

Apr 01
Music & Entertainment

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Ryan Leslie - Diamond Girl (Remix feat. Kanye West)
You could be my first and leading lady
I’ma make you happy that you waited
For me to set-tle down”  

WHAT?!? cop this!!!

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Posted by scubaSteve on 04/1/08 at 12:48 am.

Mar 28
Music & Entertainment

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Beyonce - Beautiful Nightmare
New Beyonce. I actually just heard DJ Enough (Hot97) yesterday on my drive home from work
asking listeners for feedback on this track. I got home before I heard what people thought but so far, it sounds like an average track, but there’s
no doubt in my mind that it’ll be at least a 2.5 to 3 month hit for the sheer fact
that it’s Beyonce.What do you guys think?
Posted by scubaSteve on 03/28/08 at 2:05 pm.

Mar 27
Music & Entertainment

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Portishead - Machine Gun
Portishead - Silence
Portishead - Deep Water
New Portishead album, THIRD, is being released April 28th. Here are a few prereleased cuts to keep you excited until the official release. I’m not too sure how I feel about the new songs just
yet. Their last release was over a decade ago, which calls for somewhat of a departure from their original sound. On first listen, I think they’ve definitely maintained a decent amount of
their trademark style while making some updates, but again, still haven’t made up my mind on whether i like it or not… they weren’t an instant love ‘em kind of band for me the first time around, but on the strength of their previous work, i’m definitely going to give their new material a bunch of listens.Preorder yours here.

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Posted by scubaSteve on 03/27/08 at 5:19 pm.

Feb 12
Music & Entertainment

So, if you didn’t catch the 50th anniversary Grammy Awards last night, you missed a great show. Lots of nods to great artists of the past and many of the performances paired contemporary artists with those from yesteryear. Here’s some highlights for any and everyone who missed the great performances.

Kanye set it OFF along with Daft Punk with their full stage setup to perform Stronger and finished it off w/ a heartfelt tribute to his late mother. I thought it was dope that the Academy gave him the extra time to perform the song for his mom. He walked away w/ 4 awards including Best Rap Song for Good Life.

Foo Fighters (awarded for Best Hard Rock Performance) melted faces w/ their Pretender and full backup orchestra. Love the fact that they focused on the Asian violinist, which proves that Asians with violins can thrash as hard as David Grohl.

And nothing beats Amy Winehouse’s reaction to winning Record of the Year. You can see everyone cheering behind her and she’s just standing there in disbelief for a good 5 seconds before she starts celebrating. Amy was the big winner with 5 Awards and it was much deserved.

Couple notables:

2007’s DJ/Producer Mark Ronson took the Producer of the Year award. I’ve been a big supporter of his for a while and feel in a way that I’ve won the award myself.

Biggest surprise of the award show was Album of the Year winner Herbie Hancock. I was expecting them to cut to Kanye to catch his reaction, but Herbie who is so influential and even considered a cornerstone in Hip-Hop must command some respect from the notorious award-show slamming Kanye. All-in-all, it was a great awards show

Posted by scubaSteve on 02/12/08 at 12:55 am.