Mayer Hawthorne- A Strange Arrangement

   Sorry for the delay! College and the rest of life leaves me with little to no time as of late. For this post I wanted to talk about someone I just heard earlier on the radio (in Winter Park, FL where I live, Rollins College has an awesome student run radio station. it can be pretty hit or miss, but for the most part they play sweet tunes). The guys stage name is Mayer Hawthorne and if you heard him, you would've sworn that you were listening to some delicious motown from the late 60s and early 70s. His influences range from Smokey Robinson to James Brown and you can definitely hear it in not only his voice, but the instrumentation. I'm not sure how much of the actual music he writes, but it is swoon-worthy for sure. If you are into Al Green, James Brown, and other soul, you will really dig this album.

Nujabes- Metaphorical Music

   Nujabes, recently deceased, is probably best known for his work on the Samurai Champloo soundtracks. Well if you liked that you will most likely love his actual albums. Japanese hip hop beats under lots of his friends providing vocals and lyrical content. The whole album is definitely danceable while maintaining that sweet smooth jazz hip hop sound. I heard he used some samples of Miles Davis songs for this album. Each song has a certain charm to it, and on last.fm it climbed it's way into my top 10 most listened to albums in a mere two months. If you are (and even if you aren't) a fan of hip hop, please check this out and I guarantee you won't be let down. For fans of Guru, Mos Def, Fat Jon, Tsutchie, etc. etc.

Dilute- Grape Blueprints Pour Spinach Olive

       Dilute is one of those legendary musical acts that gains a quick cult following after a permanent hiatus. Their second album which came out far too long ago now, Grape Blueprints Pour Spinach Olive, is an amazing combination of excellent songwriting, math rock/post rock timings and visions, and technique. The tones of the guitars totally got me hooked before I realized how genius the minimalistic songs actually were. Apple and Alphabet are my two favorite songs on this album (sans the beautifully done intro, where the drums are at a slower tempo than the rest of the band which sounds just incredible). There is something almost alien about these musicians that separates them so much farther from any math rock influenced band. Any musician will appreciate the quality of these songs. They also end the album with a three part instrumental creation reminiscent of an extended jam session with varying time signatures (they go into 11/8 at one point which means that you lose half a beat each measure. sounds so good!), perfected guitar tones, and raw emotion. Please listen to this album, it has been one of my favorites for over 2 years now.



Edit: some of you guys were asking for links to Dilute songs to give it a listen. here is the song "Alphabet"



so beautiful!

Fripp & Eno- Evening Star

   Alright I posted this earlier but for whatever reason it didn't show up. Robert Fripp and Brian Eno are both musical gods in their own right. For those who don't know Brian Eno was the first to be called ambient and in my opinion he is one of the best to be called ambient. This album is not only a perfect mixture of ethereal soundscapes, but it also combines awesome concrete noises to create an interesting blend of sound that makes you feel as if you are floating in space. This is easily one of my favorite albums. If you are into ambience I suggest it.

Jefferson Airplane- Surrealistic Pillow

   Jefferson Airplane's Surrealistic Pillow was one of their earlier releases, coming out of 1967 and it is easily one of their best. Each song contains intense psychedelic rock vibes as well as catchy melodies and harmonies. They go from quiet to loud and back again creating a blur of beautiful sound going through your ears. The song "How Do You Feel" definitely has a special quality to it, throwing reverb on the vocals and making you feel like you are sitting against a tree at noon in a field doing absolutely nothing! The entire album is very powerful stuff, I recommend it whole heartedly!