I haven’t listened to any feel-good Sudanese Hip Hop in a while.
Emmanuel Jal blends socially conscious lyrics, catchy rock licks, and some complex African style drum beats to create a unique sound.
What makes his accomplishments even more impressive is his personal background. Born in Sudan, Emmanuel’s mom was killed by civil war fighting at the age of 7, and his dad joined one of the ‘people’s’ armies. He was then forced into becoming a child soldier in Ethiopia before running away, and then found by a British aid worker who smuggled him into Kenya.
Freakin’ Huge in the UK, the Arctic Monkeys have yet to take over American airwaves and venues, though they came close a couple of years ago with the release of their first album.
The Arctic Monkeys formed in 2002, while still in high school, in a suburb of Sheffield.
This jam is one of their lighter ones, though still featuring their trademark dueling distorted guitars. Supposedly, they only learned to play guitar a year or two before their first album. That should give hope to any aspiring musician, especially one with no history of playing instruments.
Cut Copy loves remixing all their buddies’ songs from Modular Records. This remix is one of my favorites. The original Presets song Girl and the Sea is great too.
Cut Copy is playing a show in San Francisco in March, but don’t expect many remixes. They got plenty of original material to perform.
Pinback formed in 1998 in San Diego, and have had a revolving door of members including all of the following: Terrin Durfey, Eric Hoversten, Ryan Bromley, Cameron Jones, Kenseth Thideau, Gabriel Voiles, MC, Dmitri Dziensuwski.
My favorite holiday song, by my third-favorite Irish rock band, after Drop Kick and Flogging Molly.
The Pogues play a perfect blend of punk rock and traditional irish music. They were formed in North London in 1982, and surely have influenced most of the irish rock bands of today, including the aforementioned Drop Kick Murphy’s and Flogging Molly
I’ll admit, while I really enjoyed the original Friendly Fires track, I couldn’t help but feel something was missing. Fortunately, Aeroplane had a similar opinion, subsequently lining up Au Revoir Simone for what is a gem of a remix.
I’m still torn between the angelic vocal track of the Brooklyn trio – Au Revoir Simone, and the heavy break that Aeroplane drops after the final verse. If you’re a fan of Aeroplane’s MGMT – Electric Feel remix, you’ll find this track equally as pleasing, albeit a slight bit more on the banger side. As far as Friendly Fires is concerned, this is likely a departure from their core sound of tracks like “On Board”, but certainly appreciated. Enjoy.
String Cheese Incident, also known by the acronym SCI, is a bluegrass jam band from Boulder, Colorado. They were formed in 1993, and have some of the most die-hard fans in contemporary music. SCI has recognized this by filing a lawsuit against Ticketmaster in 2003 for allegedly dropping blocks of tickets for their most die hard of fans.
I’m still skeptical that there are more cheese heads than panic heads, but I could be wrong.
A song about Sunday that can be listened to pretty much any day of the week, Sunday Morning is a popular track by singer/MC/rapper K-OS.
Pronounced ‘chaos,’ K-OS can stand for either ‘Knowledge of Self’ or ‘Kheaven’s Original Sound.’ K-OS has offered both explanations in interviews, such as this one.
Born in Toronto, Canada in 1972, K-OS was the son of Trinidadian Jehovah’s Witnesses, and spent some of his childhood on that Island.
