Gorillaz

The Britain based band Gorillaz recently released their third studio album, Plastic Beach. I have never really gotten into Gorillaz, but have enjoyed their unmistakable style and the inability to label them into a single genre of music. I was very anxious to see what Plastic Beach was all about, since it had some pretty high expectations with a large time gap since their last release. At first listen, I was quite pleased with the majority of the songs. Track number five, "Stylo," was given some radio time and a music video popped up on YouTube. After several rides in my car with the windows down, I have to say my favorite track is "Empire Ants." This song starts out soft, slow, monophonic and very melodic. Around the half way point, the beat and synthesizer kicks in and takes it to a level of an awesome dance tune. I find myself constantly replaying it, along with most of the other songs on the CD. Plastic Beach is quite a success from Gorillaz, just as I had expected. Gorillaz is playing at Coachella Music Festival in California this summer, which I would definitely be attending if the price and location weren't so ridiculous. Check out Plastic Beach, along with more stuff from Gorillaz, especially "Empire Ants!"

Broken Bells

Broken Bells is a new indie rock band composed of artist-producer Brian Burton a.k.a. Danger Mouse and The Shins lead singer and guitarist James Mercer. Since Danger Mouse is a hip-hop producer and artist, one would think that a hip-hop and indie rock fusion is a little out in left field. Producers and internet dwellers have been making remixes and mash-ups with the two genres for years, but this band is on a completely different level. Even with Danger Mouse's hip-hop background, the band undoubtedly has a more indie rock sound and feel with Mercer's singing and guitar playing, but still contains some solid beats and rhythm. The band's most popular song is "The High Road," which was released as a single late last year and received Single of the Week in the iTunes Store. I bought the single and was immediately hooked. As soon as their CD was released earlier this month I purchased it, with several requests for a copy from my friends. It quickly became a permanent fixture in my truck CD case, and stayed in my CD player for a solid week and was listened to nonstop. Broken Bells -self titled CD- is an awesome CD for many different listening occasions, and especially great for driving to. My favorite track is "The Mall & Misery," a very groovy tune that has catchy vocals and nice little guitar riffs. "Mongrol Heart" is definitely my second choice. Broken Bells played at SXSW (South by SouthWest) in Austin this past weekend, which I unfortunately did not get to see due to my Spring Break vacation. Depending on the circumstances at the time I might consider seeing them live if they came to a city nearby, but several chances have already passed by. I expect great things to come from this new collaborative band in the future; look them up!

California Vacation

For my spring break I went to Hermosa Beach, CA. Since I had no idea what to do in terms of nightlife, I checked all the live music venues I know of in the surrounding area. It just so happened that Iration, a Hawaiian reggae band that I have seen before and wrote about in a previous post, was holding a CD release party at the Roxy in Hollywood. Even though I've already seen Iration, I really enjoy their old roots reggae sound and thought their new album release party would be a really cool event. I am EXTREMELY glad I decided to attend this event, because I discovered a new band that I have been listening to a lot recently. Zen Robbi, a Long Beach, CA based rock/blues/funk/jazz/reggae band, was one of the opening acts for Iration, and completely stole the whole night to me. Their fusion of many diverse genres of music is awesome, and quite different than the kind of music that was being played that night, which surprised me that they were on the ticket. To go along with their tunes was their impeccable style, which was very typical of the SoCal scene, and combined with their music created a groovy environment. I enjoyed their performance so much that I went to the Merchandise booth during Iration's set and purchased a CD -Heavy Lies the Crown- and shirt. Zen Robbi has three CDs out right now, all of which can be purchased on iTunes or Amazon. "Heavy Lies the Crown" was the only one available that night, and has been on repeat for a couple of days and will be for a while. While all of the tracks are worth listening to, my favorite has to be track #2, "Dance Of The Matador." I would easily recommend this band to anyone who appreciates up and coming bands with excellent instrumentals and quality songs filled with fun. Attached is a video of Zen Robbi's song "Black Jack Guru" from their CD release party at the Roxy back in February. They played this song at the concert i went to also. Enjoy

Black Jack Guru (Live at the Roxy 2/2/10) - Zen Robbi

Texas A&M Jazz Ensemble

On Sunday night the Texas A&M University Jazz Ensembles held a free concert at Christ's United Methodist Church. I have always enjoyed listening to jazz, but never really got into actually looking for and downloading music to listen to in my own time. The only time I really listen to it is when it's on a radio station that I happen to switch to, but I'm usually more focused on other genres. I attended this concert for a music class I am enrolled in, and have to say it was the best concert I have ever been forced to attend and better than some I went to by choice. The ensemble played a variety of jazz pieces from some very respectable artists; artists like Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie and Gordon Goodwin. There was a good amount of solos that really displayed some of the performers' talents. Best of all, it was FREE! Bottom line, I would definitely go see another TAMU Jazz Ensemble concert, even if they charged a small fee.

Wakarusa

The summer of 2010 is slowly but surely approaching, and what better way to celebrate the absence of school than an out-of-state road trip to a music festival? There is none! There are many musical festivals taking place this summer, so it will be a very hard decision to narrow it down to one. The festival that seems has been catching my eye for some time now is Wakarusa. Wakarusa is a four day long camping and music festival that takes place at Mulberry Mountain in Ozark, Arkansas. If the location doesn't sound appealing enough, the artist lineup is ridiculously awesome. It's almost as if the festival coordinators had a list of my favorite bands that I've seen in concert before, plus ones that I have been dying to see live, and invited them all to Wakarusa this year. The bands I'm most excited to see are STS9, Umphree's Mcgee, the Black Keys, State Radio, Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad, and Passafire, who I wrote about in a previous post. In addition to that list are a couple of other bands who I've previously seen and wouldn't mind seeing again at all; bands like Slightly Stoopid, Rebelution, Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears, the Supervillains and Mishka. Even with this massive lineup of awesome artists, the ticket prices are not something that will break the bank, so that is another tally to the plus side in my decision making. As of right now, this music festival seems like the best way to kick off the summer, but the plans are not set in stone, and I will write about other festivals I have on my list of possiblities.

Rogue Wave

Rogue Wave is an indie/alternative band that I have started substantially listening to recently. I first found out about them from the movie Just Friends, which featured their song "Eyes" in one of the softer scenes of the film. Their tunes are very mellow and cheery, perfect for studying, driving or just relaxing. The acoustics are very catchy and the light, yet powerful vocals provide a nice soft rock result. I know that whenever I come home at the end of a rough day at school, Rogue Wave is one of the bands that i can put on to lighten the load a little bit. The reason I'm dedicating a whole post to them is because of their new album that was released today, called "Permalight." From what I have perceived from the thirty second samples on iTunes (not a credible source, I know) and couple of videos that have surfaced on YouTube, this CD is quite different from the older ones that got me really into this band. It is very soon to critique, and I will definitely need some time (and money) to really listen to the album in it's entirety, but I will keep you posted on my thoughts at a later time. If you are interested in Rogue Wave and wondering what song/CD to purchase or listen to, my recommendation is to listen to their popular singles "Eyes" and "Lake Michigan," which provide a pretty good template of the band's sounds. If you wish to further your Rogue Wave catalog, my personal favorite record of theirs is "Out of the Shadow," which has some excellent acoustics, percussions and cover art.