Song of the Day

" That boy needs therapy!" Where to start with this one. I was addicted to this song when I first heard it, which was on that same Sirius radio station called "Left of Center" I spoke about recently . I'll never forget being mesmerized by all of the different samples and soundbites that puzzle-pieced together into the collage of a song. I was left wanting more; wanting to break this song open and just explore it as much as I could. It was oddly eerie yet extremely catchy and fun. I had never heard anything like it. The Avalanches are a group of DJs from Melbourne, Australia. Their music is "sample based" meaning they make music out of...well...other music. They collect and search through all kinds of old records and literally build songs out of bits and pieces, or "samples", of what they find. "Frontier Psychiatrist" is probably the best example you can find if you want a better understanding of what "sample based" mus...

" I'm independent till I fuckin' die" You listen to podcasts? I love them. Especially podcasts that cover true-crime. I'm sure you've heard of Serial , if not I would highly recommend the first season. Anyways, lately I've been absolutely addicted to a true-crime podcast called Sword and Scale ; a bi-weekly production that covers everything from serial killers to mothers hacking up their children for inconvenience ( yes this actually happened ). So what do crime podcasts have to do with this rapper Wati Heru? Well, the masterminds that produce Sword and Scale have great taste in music (in my personal opinion). Each episode has a section of what is normally electronic, dance, or hip-hop beats that play after the host, Mike Boudet, talks briefly about what is coming up. As I was listening to a random episode last night I couldn't help but dig the beat that was chosen for the episode I was listening to. Fortunately, the people at SAS reference what ...

Pink Floyd had to show up sooner or later right? The Floyd was always one of those bands I had claimed to like but didn't really know. Of course I had always heard their hits like " Another Brick in the Wall " and " Money ", and I always claimed to like the band, but like every good band...there's so much more! Which brings me to "Animals", probably my favorite album by Pink Floyd and possibly what garnered my love for them. "Animals", released in 1977, is a politically charged allegory about humans and the hierarchy that we find ourselves in. The album is made up of just five songs:"Pigs on the Wing Pt. 1", "Dogs", "Pigs", "Sheep", and "Pigs on the Wing Pt. 2". Disclaimer - The following is in the lens or world-view that is established in "Animals" and is not necessarily reflections of what I believe. Now, this record, being nearly 40 years old by now, has been writte...

Into vinyl? Collect em? Do you remember your first record purchase? I do. However, my collection so far is pretty small and my interest in the beloved wax started only about a year ago. I used to be an avid CD collector. That was my thing. And I always thought the whole "vinyl" thing was just a contrived and pretentious attempt to appear that you liked music. Which was lame of me...because I had never experienced vinyl before. But this all changed when I moved to Kansas City. I moved into a house with three other dudes, only one of them did I know prior to moving in. When I walked into the house for the first time, as soon as I opened the door, there right in front of me and across the living room was this HUGE collection of vinyl. There had to be literally around a thousand of em! All sorted and in alphabetical order. And over in the corner was a record player. It wouldn't take long for me to eventually throw one of these things on and fall completely in love wit...

"Seein' death is a hard pill to swallow..." How about those lyrics right there? Danny Watts. I'm hoping people start hearing this name more often. Danny is about as real as it gets when it comes to hip-hop. I first learned of Danny Watts when I went to a Jonwayne show (I would highly suggest you check out Jonwayne). It was the first and only rap show I've ever been to and it absolutely set the bar high for future shows I (hopefully) attend. Jonwayne was the headliner, and Danny Watts went right before him. But I want to mention an opening act, local to Kansas City, who I will not name. This solo-rapper from KC took to the stage and opened his set with something along the lines of, "...so everyone throw up a middle finger and say with me... Fuck.Life...Fuck.Life...Fuck.Life.” He then proceeded to rap over an alarming amount of people chanting this. This dude’s set, which I didn’t stay long for, ended and some other people came up and did their thing. ...

I'm going to try and make these posts a little bit shorter from here on out. I can get carried away. Have you ever heard a song somewhere and wondered what it was or who it was by? Maybe you were in a store or a watching a movie and a song pops up that you started diggin'. You keep singing it or humming it in your head until you realize, "Damn, I need to know what this is!" But you never found out... This happened to me with one song in particular. I remember back when I was maybe 16 or 17 there was an "indie music" channel on Sirius Radio called "Left of Center". This song popped on and I was really diggin' the guitar riff in it. For whatever reason I didn't look in time to see what song it was. The only thing from the song that I could remember was this dude singing, "Baby C'mon!" I kept listening day-after-day and keeping my ears (and eyes) peeled for this song. But I never heard it played again. I was bummed. I rem...

Sometimes we hear the best music when we least expect it. Do you ever do that? Start searching for "new music" because your sick of all the stuff you've been listening to lately? I still find myself sometimes cruising through websites, videos, top album lists, etc. because I feel like I've worn out all of the music I've been frequenting. And it's funny. Because nine times out of ten...I don't normally come up with anything. At least anything that piques my interest enough to delve further into. About a month-or-two ago I was at Mill's Record Company; this killer record store in the midtown area of Kansas City, MO. I was perusing through the latest used records that had come in and was eventually going to pick up a Comets on Fire record. From the moment I walked in I couldn't help but dig what was being played throughout the store. So I did what any normal millennial with a smart phone would do...act like I was trying to remember certain rec...