Wednesday, September 24, 2008

That's Not My Name - Who Did It Better?


"That's Not My Name" by The Ting Tings has been a guilty pleasure of mine for the last few weeks. It's up beat in an off beat way, and it builds to more than it begins with. 

The rest of their album, "We Started Nothing," is ripe with a few good songs. "Shut Up And Let Me Go" is a great song, and I believe it also provides the soundtrack to one of those ultra hip ipod commercials.  "Great DJ" is another good song, but nothing has stuck in my head like "That's Not My Name." It's clearly the gem.

I was looking for a place to download it for free so that I could share it, and stumbled across a cover by Dizzee Rascal, a crazy British rapper who I love. I think I like the original better for it's almost cheerleader like spirit. What do you think?

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Rhymefest Hearts Michael Jackson


It's true. Rhymefest loves Michael Jackson. He's his biggest fan. He says so himself in his tribute to the man behind the germ mask, Man In The Mirror. Now I like to poke fun at Michael Jackson as much as the next guy, and don't get me wrong, there is plenty of fun being poked in this album, but it's all out of the respect that Rhymefest has for someone who was obviously a big influence in his own life.

I didn't know what to expect from this album. I did notice that it was produced by Mark Ronson, the man at least partially responsible for the fame of acts like Lily Allen and Amy Winehouse, so my expectations climbed a bit. I didn't know I was in for a heartfelt, fun, and sometimes hilarious mix tape. I became of fan of Rhymefest instantly. 

Now the best part is that he's not making a dime off this, which explains why he gets away with using Michael Jackson's voice and likeness. Any man doing this shit strictly for the love of it is okay in my book. Check out this album, (go here to download it all for FREE) and be sure to listen to the last track "Man in the Mirror," the original song is great but Rhymefest's take updates it and takes it to a new level.

Friday, September 19, 2008

Music Mission

There have been a lot of things that I wanted to write about that just didn't seem to fit into what has been turning out to be a very political leaning blog, Contrary To Popular Belief. This is the space I have devoted now to music and album reviews. I don't know where I'm going to get the time to do the many things my mind wants to branch out into right now, but I can try at least!

The music on my mind right now is all from Rock Band 2. I just downloaded all the songs from the game that I'm not familiar with. I have to learn "Round and Round" by Ratt better for our next big gig! Watch out for Doughboy and the Nail Bunnies coming to a digitally rendered stage near you!