Open Your Ears: Ya Boy

I just heard Ya Boy for the first time yesterday, but I guess he's been around a while. That's the story with a lot of rappers though. Especially for me. Wait, Snoop Dogg? Who's that? Well, it's not that bad, but I wouldn't say I have nearly the knowledge of the "indie rap" scene, as I will call it, that I do of the indie rock scene. But my friend Josh does, and that's how I heard about Ya Boy.

Anyways, Ya Boy has 3 albums, and is soon to release his first single to radio stations, called (of course) "Holla at Ya Boy". It's already on iTunes if you want to check it out. You can check out more about Ya Boy on his website too, which is pretty bad ass to be honest. He's got a great flow, and some really great beats, which is what rap is all about these days. But, they're not beats made for radio. The beats and the flow all sound authentic, which is equally as important in my opinion.

I personally love this song, "No Replacement", his remix of Beyonce's "Irreplaceable", which is really funny. I have to warn you though, it's definitely rated R. It doesn't show his talents, but I just think it's great. If you want to check out more about him, you should check out this playlist on imeem.

Hopefully this post gets Zach off my back about never posting about rap music. So take a listen below, and then anytime you want after that, as it's on the Blogarrhea playlist at the top of the page.

Open Your Ears: SXSW Music Blowout!

SXSW, the annual film/music/art festival in Austin, TX, just wrapped up on Saturday. There were a ton of bands there, and imeem was good enough to make playlists of all of them. So, today, I went through them and picked out some of the artists I liked and made my own playlist.

Below are all the tracks and artists I liked. I've also added my favorites to the Blogarrhea playlist in the corner. So listen through them and let me know what you think.

Open Your Ears: Dan Bern

Dan Bern is a singer/songwriter out of Iowa who's lyrics and vocal style are often compared to Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, and Bruce Springsteen. When you hear his voice, you'll immediately hear the Dylan influence, as well as in his lyrics. When asked about his apparent influence, however, he also shows that he has some of Dylan's humor, saying things like, "I guess Bob Dylan was sort of the Dan Bern of the '60's". If I had to make my judgments, I would say he's a little more mainstream sounding, more "poppy", than Dylan, even in his electric years. It's good, in its own way, but the comparisons are almost unavoidable.

He has been making albums since 1996, and put out his latest album, Breathe, in 2006. Also, a few of his previously unreleased works have been released on iTunes. Check him out at danbern.com, as well as on iTunes.

You can listen to two of his songs below, which will also be added to the Open Your Ears playlist.

Open Your Ears: The New Amsterdams

The New Amsterdams are by no means new. They've been around since 2000 when the lead singer of the Get Up Kids created them as a side project. Well, that side project turned into a great band, and with the release of their latest album, At the Foot of My Rival, it's time to take notice. I think this album is their best, and shows the evolution of the band. They finally sound like a band, not a side project.

The single from the new album, titled "Fountain of Youth", is a solid track, albeit crappy lyrics in my opinion. But it makes me think of summer, and in these cold days, that is a nice feeling. Check out the new single below, and then listen to it forever on the Open Your Ears Playlist on top of the sidebar.



PS: Thanks Dad for reviving them :)

Type rest of the post here

Open Your Ears: Band of Horses / White Williams

A Double Feature! I was originally going to just post about White Williams, a new artist with a sound that comes from laptops, drum machines, and synthesizers, more or less. But his song "Route to Palms", from his upcoming Smoke, shows just how melodic that can sound. It what really caught my ear when I first heard it. The melody grabbed me as very familiar, and then I realized it is basically the chorus from John Lennon's "Oh Yoko", a chorus I love. A very cool, mellow and melodic song.

But while listening to that, I stumbled across a new Band of Horses song, and it is even better! I don't need to say much about them, as they showed up on almost everyone's favorites of '06 lists, but this new single, "Is There A Ghost", from the upcoming Cease to Begin, is amazing. Another great song from this great band. Take a listen to both songs, which have also been playlisted.

Open Your Ears: Eugene McGuinness

Eugene McGuinness is a talented singer-songwriter from the UK. He hasn't really done anything yet, but with his first album, The Early Learnings of Eugene McGuinness, sounding so good and being released in early August across the pond, he's bound to turn some heads. His first single is titled "Monsters Under The Bed", and he's already made a video for it. It's my favorite song out of the 3 I've heard, but they're all really good. Check out the video for the single, then listen to the other two songs below, which have also been playlisted.

Open Your Ears: Roddy Woomble

Quite a name right? Some of you may actually have heard of him and just not have known it. Roddy Woomble is the lead singer of the Scottish band Idlewild, a group I picked up on last year, and I think they're great (Check out the song "El Capitan" on iTunes, it's my personal favorite). He's putting out a solo CD soon, and the title track sounds really good. He left the indie-rock for the band, and this album is more a bluesy, Scottish folk album. I like it, and apparently the album is really good. I'm sure I won't find it anywhere near me, but hopefully it will find its way to iTunes so I can hear it. Open Your Ears and take a listen to the title track "My Secret is my Silence":

Open Your Ears: Dr. Dog

Don't be fooled by the name; Dr. Dog is not a hip hop group, although they get that a lot. They are an indie band out of Philidelphia that is quickly rising in popularity, and they just put out their fourth album titled We All Belong. Aside from getting judged by their name, these guys have been compared to acts like The Zombies, The Band, and even The Beatles, and the fact is none of those comparisons are too far off. They are very talented singers/songwriters/musicians with eccentric personas and a 60's/70's sound to go along with it.

On first listen, I realized how true these comparisons I had read about were: the song "Alaska" could be mistaken for a track The Band put out in their early days, "My Old Ways" sounds like an early 60's experiment with key changes, and "We All Belong" sound like it could be a demo for The Beatles' "Fool On A Hill". All very reminiscent of that sound. I like everything I've heard from them, but I've posted my three favorites, and playlisted my favorite. Take a listen:

Alaska

My Old Ways

We All Belong

Open Your Ears: Ian Hunter

Ian Hunter has been in music forever, but I doubt anyone has heard of him. His flagship project was Mott The Hoople, but I doubt anyone has heard of it. He backed up a lot of good bands and wrote songs that many people covered. The one everyone will be most familiar with is "Cleveland Rocks", the theme song to the Drew Carey Show. He wrote it, the Presidents of the United States of America covered it, and they used their version as the theme song. He's also got musical connections to tons of other famous names in music, but I won't bore you, read his bio on Wikipedia if you want to know more. He has a new album called Shrunken Heads, and the first single is really good in my opinion. It sounds a lot like something you would here on Bob Dylan's Modern Times. It's called "Words (Big Mouth)". Take a listen.



(Notice, this song was also added to the Open Your Ears playlist at the top right-hand corner of the page.)

The 400th Blog Post Spectacular!

It's my 400th post on the Blogarrhea, and (coincidently) in honor of reaching this milestone, I'm introducing a media player to the top of the page. It's my Open Your Ears playlist, and it's where I'll be putting songs on it that I have on my Open Your Ears posts. So whenever you're reading my blog, you can have some music to listen to. So, Open Your Ears and enjoy! Here's the big player

Open Your Ears: The Frames

The Frames are an Irish band that have been around since 1990, but since we're in America, a lot of good European music doesn't make it over here for a long time. These guys are amazing though, and with the release of their sixth studio album (I'm pretty sure), and their new powerful single titled "Falling Slowly", they're sure to blow up in the States. This song is sure to make it onto a television drama's opening sequence, I just hope they don't go the way of The Fray. Anyways, the lead singer is actually the star of a music film called Once that came out last year, but should make it across the pond this year.

It seems like there is so much good music coming from the whole "English Island Area" as I'll call it. I'm not sure what it should be called, the UK probably, but Ireland, Scotland, and England are all putting out great bands that I love. Not sure if you remember The Twilight Sad, The Veils, and Locksley, but those were all great bands from that area that I had never heard of. Someday I hope to travel to Ireland, and hopefully I can catch some concerts while I'm there. But check out The Frames.

The Frames:
Falling Slowly

Sad Songs

When Your Mind's Made Up

Open Your Ears: Archives

Archives is one of those little indie bands that is made up of a bunch of guys from other small indie groups. One of those indie groups is Band of Horses, who put out one of the best albums of 2006. Well, this new band is really new, like, barely has a myspace page, no website, and only 2 singles. What I liked about their music though, was the lyrics and the simple guitar melodies. Plus, it's pretty catchy. Take a listen to "Sleepdriving" below (thanks P4K), and you can listen to the other song on their myspace if you are interested.

Archives:
Sleepdriving mp3

Open Your Ears: Jesse Malin

Jesse Malin just put out his third album today, called Glitter in the Gutter, and my god it is good! I hadn't heard of him before yesterday, and somehow I listened to one of his songs, and I loved it. You know what really made me like this guy though? After I heard some of his stuff, I went looking for info about him and this new album, and I guess he collaborated with Bruce Springsteen, Jacob Dylan, and Ryan Adams on this thing. Those are 3 musicians with loads of talent. Springsteen even sings on "Broken Radio" (which I couldn't find a link to, but get on iTunes and listen to it). I'm not sure I can say enough about this guy at the moment. Every song I've heard (about 18) I have liked a lot, and I pulled as many mp3s off the web as I could for you guys. If you like what you hear, check him out on iTunes or pick up his new album Glitter in the Gutter out now.

Jesse Malin:
Don't Let Them Take You Down (Beautiful Day!) mp3
In The Modern World mp3
Prisoners of Paradise mp3
Black Haired Girl mp3

Open Your Ears: Voxtrot

Voxtrot is one of my brother's favorite bands, has been since he first heard them a few years ago, and is one of those bands you love to love because they are still totally indie. By that I guess I mean still under-the-radar as exposure goes. This band is king of the EP's. They released one just about a month ago, and there have been plenty before that. But I guess it's finally time for an LP, which will be released May 22. Below is a track from their Your Biggest Fan EP out now titled "Trouble", and then a bunch of songs (thanks Obscure Sound) and a demo off of their upcoming Voxtrot LP, including the first official release, "Kid Gloves". Enjoy

Voxtrot:
Kid Gloves mp3
Future Pt. 1 mp3
Steven mp3
Firecracker mp3
Sway (demo) mp3
Trouble mp3

UPDATE!
Found a few more songs from the new LP (thanks Born By The River)
Introduction mp3
Real Life Version mp3
Everyday mp3

This album sounds really good.

Open Your Ears: Arctic Monkeys

This post should be titled "Keep Your Ears Open" because everyone knows who the Arctic Monkeys are. Their album last year made my top 10 list, and their new album, titled Favourite Worst Nightmare, is set to come out April 24. They've just released a song from the album titled "Brianstorm," and you can check it out below.

Arctic Monkeys:
Brianstorm mp3

Open Your Ears: The Twilight Sad

These guys are from Glasgow, but I didn't have to tell you that, 'cause you'll notice when you hear them. Their lead singer has one of the thickest Scottish accents I've ever heard in music (just a little less than that guy from the Proclaimers though). Then again, I don't listen to much Scottish music, but whatever. Their music is very anthemic, but not in a Snow Patrol way. Each song seems to start out lightly enough, pulling you in, and then it explodes somewhere in the middle into a rock song, and it sounds great. Take a listen.

The Twilight Sad:
Cold Days from the Birdhouse mp3
That Summer, At Home I Had Become the Invisible Boy mp3
And She Would Darken The Memory mp3
3 Seconds of Dead Air mp3

Open Your Ears: Tunng

With lyrics that sound like they've come from a fairy tale and a "chill-out" sound, Tunng could put you to sleep. However, you did fall asleep listening to them, you might have some pretty messed up dreams. The music is weird, but in a very good way, I like them a lot. Not sure what else really I can say, you'll just have to listen.

Tunng:
Jenny Again mp3
Tale From Black mp3
Woodcat mp3

Open Your Ears: Julius Airwave

You know those bands that sing about robots and how they're going to take over the world and junk (Tokyo Police Club, etc.)? Well, Julius Airwave is not one of those bands, but rather a band that mocks those other bands. They even have this crazy robot on stage with LED's flashing everywhere and plastic tube arms, it would be pretty funny to see I'm sure. These guys are in that huge clump of post-punk revival bands, but the first song I heard made me like them for some reason. They have their second album coming out soon, called The City, The Forest, and they're worth a listen.

Julius Airwave:
Appley mp3
Glory Glory mp3
Broken Bells mp3

Open Your Ears: Hem

Hem has been out for a while, but it's just now getting exposure. It's through the medium that tends to ruin songs, commercials, but the song is great and the commercial is good too. They just released an album last September, and you can check out a song from that CD, a previous CD, and the commercial song below, respectively. Great for a lazy Sunday, with or without cupcakes.

Hem:
Not California mp3
Hollow mp3
Half Acre mp3

Open Your Ears: Locksley

Locksley is a band from Brooklyn that just put out a CD yesterday called Don't Make Me Wait, and pictured above. Their music comes strait out of the 60's pop era, and dare I say, sounds a lot like The Beatles did early in their careers. Like, a lot. And while some may call it unoriginal, I have a very special place in my heart for bands that aim to sound like The Beatles and come close. Regardless of what I think, there's no doubt that these guys are fun to listen to. But seriously, listen to them and tell me you don't hear Paul McCartney's vocals and the ever so pop-y lyrics of Lennon/McCartney. Hear a bunch of songs from their new album thanks to a bunch of different people below.

But first, folks, I know I have been posting a lot of music here lately, and I hope you know that it's all music that I would buy on CD. Also, I hope you all are taking advantage of the easy song links I'm posting that take you right into an embedded mp3 that take no downloading, it plays the song just like a YouTube video would play. Hope you're enjoying it! (And if not, tell me). Oh, and let me know what songs you like and don't too. Thanks, and here are the songs:

Locksley:
Don't Make Me Wait mp3
All of the Time mp3
She Does mp3
My Kind of Lover mp3
Past and the Present mp3