The return of the "What are you listening to now?" thread

[Orange Crate Art]

Canned Heat- Future Blues

Such a great album!

[Lowbacca]

Elmer Bernstein buttering my childhood nostalgia :

[Ovi]

[Ovi]

Elton is so friggin' amazing. That's all.

[KarlheinzKloppweiser]

Burn Down the Mission is one of my favorite songs.



I'm listening to:

[Ovi]

Burn Down the Mission is one of my favorite songs.

It is a great one indeed. I also love this live version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFbCd-gGigM

He hadn't acquired that flamboyant stage presence yet, but he's still a pleasure to watch perform.

[seltaeb1012002]

Wayne Wonder - No Letting Go

Always loved the melodic elements as well as the rawness of this record. Sounds like it was recorded & mixed on a primitive set up. It's also possibly the last huge hit record to be mixed in mono.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noxfBCbq2HA

[halblaineisgood]

[Orange Crate Art]

THE DRIFTWOODS - BAMBOO BEDROOM
I bought this CD yesterday at the Driftwoods concert I attended in Woonsocket Rhode Island. The Driftwoods are a Beach Boys tribute band, but BAMBOO BEDROOM is all original material. And it's fantastic stuff! Of course it sounds like Beach Boy music. It's available on amazon. I recommend it! I couldn't find any links to any of their original tunes...but here's one from last night's gig. The Driftwoods doing Marcella http://youtu.be/oROiWD6-CxU

[rab2591]

[The Dumb Angel]

[JK]

Oooh! That's a briliant album. What an astonishing trip.

[RangeRoverA1]

Elton is so friggin' amazing. That's all.

Sign under every word. Elton John rocks!

[halblaineisgood]

Losing my sh*t and this is helping me get it back . 

[Rich E P]

Thanks for the Elton John recommendation.  I have never heard the full Tumbleweed Connection album.  Just bought the SACD and really enjoying it!  Sub topic for Elton fans - What are your top 3 Elton records? 

[halblaineisgood]

Willie Nelson's Stardust album. 

[seltaeb1012002]

"Girl Come Running" by The Four Seasons. So good!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Esj84Q6uNe4

Best parts:

1) The dense backing track. Minus a few touches, not too dissimilar to a BW instrumental circa '64-'65
2) Frankie's falsetto in the beginning of the last verse (key modulation)
3) Great tag!!

[halblaineisgood]

This whole 'collect some dissonant gangsta rap on cassette' thing has payed off handsomely - I really enjoyed this one. 

[halblaineisgood]

....slight geto boys-related hangover right now.

The Chuck Berry tape is like a total body cleanse in perfect synergy w/ my morning double dose of thaswiss kriss ...it's all been left behind, people 

[Ovi]

[halblaineisgood]

.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

I'm in a competition for indie artists, and one of the other competitors just really knocked me on my ass musically. I'm digging the hell out of this. The production, and the way the song just changes up...love the hell out of this.

http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=12851926

[halblaineisgood]

.

[Ovi]

Thanks for the Elton John recommendation.  I have never heard the full Tumbleweed Connection album.  Just bought the SACD and really enjoying it!  Sub topic for Elton fans - What are your top 3 Elton records? 

For me it's gotta be Tumbleweed Connection followed by Honky Chateau tied with Madman Across the Water. Now obviously Goodbye Yellow Brick Road has some of his best stuff (title track, Bennie and the Jets, Roy Rogers, Candle in the Wind, Funeral for a Friend etc.), but I find the aforementioned three more consistent throughout. I still have some catching up to do when it comes to his 70's stuff, but so far not one album I've heard from that decade has disappointed.

[MugginsXO]

Some things I have been listening to:  

Demarco – Bad Gyal Anthem (Explicit)



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VZ5KO8EcKY

The Dancehall guys rarely have good videos and this is no exception. There is something charming about how little they care to disguise the overtly sexual images and performances in fancy lighting or quality cinematography. Demarco has had a string of high quality tracks with great hooks and good production. I also very much enjoyed Allergic To Bad Mind Friend and his quite strange kind of cover of Lorde’s Royals, called Loyal. These videos for some reason or other reference the previous single before laying into the new one so skip ahead a bit for the track.

Shatta Wale – Everybody Likes My Tin



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48YW53TPbhw

This fellow from Ghana has more style. Very catchy song and a pretty friendly video.

The Weeknd – King of The Fall (Explicit)



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXBcwyMUrcU

Comparing this video to the Demarco ones above shows just how far R&B and Rap have come in visualising what can seem like a rather superficially sexualised world. The Weeknd is at the front of the new R&B for many reasons but one of them is how perfectly he expresses his world – or the world of his character – as equal parts seductive and terrifying. This is Noir. King of The Fall is as aggressive and hard edged a song as he has released, but it still has that great hook and a Michael Jackson level vocal. Unusual references to reality in the last verse, including a reference to the producer of House of Balloons and Thursday Doc McKinney as being the Quincy Jones to his Michael Jackson. A possible and amusing knock at PARTYNEXTDOOR on the following line. Filmed in Toronto.  

Gallant – Manhattan



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uPuY4y6rjA

There has been a lot of great new R&B in the last while. This includes a whole load of smaller folks making the same kind of atmospheric, fresh tone, genre-hybrid stuff that resurrected a basically dead genre. This has got that soaring chorus and   Along with Shy Girls, this guy is one of my favourite guys yet to drop an album. He has released an EP Zebra which is really rather good and worth your time.

Blood Orange – You’re Not Good Enough



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gtdpnKbT10

Not really sold on the album but this is nice.

Kelela – Bank Head



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0q9LcifnTV4

Her voice has got that Janet Jackson flavour. The whole album is brilliant. Hopefully going to be one of the best in the years to come. Excited to see what she does next.

Trey Songz – Cake



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-r9K_8CvorI

Trey Songz has kind of fallen between two eras of R&B and was unlucky to appear a bit too early to reap the new wave of artists and ideas. I always found he had it in him to do great single tracks but never quite got on board with his albums. While not a masterpiece I think Trigga is enjoyable from start to finish, with Cake being particularly good. I will also throw a recommendation for SmartPhones.      

Banks – This Is What It Feels Like



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naMvm2DUKiE

Co-written and co-produced by Jamie Woon. I saw her support The Weeknd the other year. Good live and good on this album.