Happy Birthday Francesca

Ok, so if Grooveshark didn't have a massive system break down, making a play list for my good friend Francesca would've been a lot easier. In any case, sorry you can't play these songs continually, but they are fun (and, now each song can be a surprise). Got a little bit of me, a little bit of Francesca, and a little bit of both. Enjoy!

UPDATE UPDATE -- Grooveshark came back this morning, and so if you don't want to click on all the links individually below (though, you will find some cool music videos and different versions), click here for the continuous grooveshark playlist! Looks like it will be a great birthday Fran, you deserve it! -- UPDATE UPDATE

WE FUNK Radio

My friend Jacob changed my life when he introduced me to WEFUNKRADIO.COM a few weeks ago. Ok, that is a little dramatic, but it blew my mind how much fun music streamed from this site, and how other friends like Al had known about it for so long! According to the website, "WEFUNK is a weekly radio mix-show, hosted and produced for more than a decade by Montreal DJs Professor Groove and DJ Static. Since our first show in 1996 we've been selecting only the best in hip hop, funk & soul — from old to new, classics, rare gems, new releases and more. Tune in any time and experience hip hop's roots and future along with the rich legacy of funk, soul and jazz." Putting one of their shows on is great to hang out for a pre-game, do some dishes/cleaning, mellow out after a day of work - pretty much anything. I highly recommend clicking on one of the shows and enjoy the next hour or so.

Put Me To Bed

Despite being really tired, I love putting on music to fall asleep to... and in college I had one playlist for SLEEP on my itunes that I would let play at random, a general mixture of Explosions in the Sky, Bebel Gilberto's remix cd and yes... Coldplay (among many other random songs/bands like Nick Drake's Things Behind the Sun). I'm not afraid to admit that my go-to sleeping music was Coldplay. You could seriously turn on Coldplay and I would sleep within one or two songs. This doesn't mean that I think they are boring, it is more that Chris Martin's soothing voice and the band's balance calms me and puts me at ease allowing me to close my eyes and rest.

Positive Black Soul

Over a week ago, I attended the Concert for Peace, Tolerance and Understanding at Howard University. There, I went along with my boy DJC (a great MC/spoken word poet/saxophonist in his own right) to see a group he raved about from Senegal -- Positive Black Soul (or, PBS).

Temper Trap

After yesterday's long post, I'll keep this short. Here is a band I think everyone will love, and indie enthusiasts everywhere have started raving about these Australians for the last few months. My friend Lebron introduced Temper Trap to me two months ago, and played their heart-filled single:

Wale / K'Naan / Tabi Bonney

Although Nas and Damian Marley didn't come out to surprise the crowd, K'Naan and Wale's co-headlining tour brought a few elements to what I was expecting out of their show on April 4. Granted, going to two shows back to back on a Saturday and Sunday night probably isn't the best way to appreciate the second night's act, but I enjoy listening to K'naan and Wale too much to pass up seeing them live.

Friday Playlist

Ok, so I'm basically mailing in my post, much like I hope Dwayne Wade does for the upcoming Heat-Celtics series, and I'm having too much fun listening to THIS PLAYLIST. Every friday Suril puts together a playlist, and this one consisted of early 90s jams. It has helped me through the day and I'm sitting, and sometimes bouncing, while pumping songs like Cheryl Lynn's "got to be real". What are people listening today to get themselves through this friday and ready for the weekend?

I'm in a good mood, enjoy the weekend. And happy birthday Lombo.

Yeasayer

As I said in yesterday's post, I saw Yeasayer live on April 3d with Lincoln and D Man among a few others. I came away feeling jubilant and contemplating whether it was the best live show I've seen in the past year (Roots probably being the other). This was a Saturday night show, and I hadn't been to one in a long time, but it really set the tone for a fun night.

Introducing Lincoln

Ok, I promise after Lincoln, I will take a break from these introducing of friends, but I will still admit, I'm nothing without my various friends and their diverse music tastes. Yes, I find music on my own, and it is definitely a personal process to listen to music and fall in love with different artists, but bonds formed over a connection to music capture the importance of music in our lives. Onto Lincoln, who I've realized is my replacement for Jstreet - and if that sounds bad, it shouldn't is a huge compliment. Jstreet introduced me to a ton of indie music before I knew what I was doing, and without fail, he was someone I could count on to always attend a show, despite it being a Cat Power show on a Tuesday night. Lincoln is a fun person to attend a concert with and neither he nor I hide our love for certain female singers.

Introducing Colemania

Where to start on this british-indian-american kid? No idea. Another good friend from college, Colemania is someone who stole my Robert Randolph - Live at the Wetlands cd one summer, and I never saw it since! Haha, but seriously, a good friend, and someone with whom I've gone to a Damian and Stephen Marley concert and we still contend it was one of our favorite shows of all-time. He loves great guitar riffs - random statement, I know, but it is true. His answers are in red, and I've decided to let his words stand without providing my own commentary.

Introducing AL

Everyone needs some hippie friends, and AL could fit into that category. She's a lovely and smart lady, yes, AL is a girl, and loves spending a nice sunday finger painting, listening to music and making homemade pizzas with her girls. I've known her a long time, and know that she isn't just limited to this hippie label, and she's every open to new music despite her love for her DJ friends in baltimore and all of those jam bands. I'm also just putting her comments in red, rather than my comments.

Introducing D MAN

Where to begin describing D MAN? He's probably my oldest friend that I will be introducing - we've known each other since we were 13 or 14 and have somehow endured high school, different colleges and cities, and for the last year D Man has lived in the same city. A great friend, from who I constantly learn about music, D Man is a great musician himself and I continue to look forward to the concerts he and I will attend in the near future. I'll also mention this, many times "partying" or hanging out in high school, would end with D Man, strapping on his guitar and singing for everyone. If I had a link to his music, or figured out how to stream, I would put up some of his songs. For another day.

Introducing Lombo

Here we come across Lombo, someone I've become good friends with since college, but might have been a little intimidated of his tattoos and "philly persona" during college without realizing how much we had in common. Now, we discuss a lot of hip hop weekly, but I can't say that limits our discussion on music. He knows his hip-hop and isn't afraid to listen to the new or random.

Introducing a few friends -- Jstreet

Before my Panama trip, I promised to introduce a few friends who will show up repeatedly in this blog and I had asked them a few questions:
- give me one or two bands/songs that you listened to this last week
- first cd you bought for yourself
- last live musical performance you went to
- one show you are really looking forward to seeing this year

The first one I really should do is jstreet...

Back from Panama

Ok, still recovering from my trip and trying to get my life in order... I didn't post as many times as I thought I would, and with today's post I'm going to take some advice from someone I traveled with (zeitch) who told me I should just blog about what songs I hear in general, aka just mention what I listen to and when (read: boring). Well, for today's post, I've realized I've found a bunch of songs I haven't listened to before and would like to share them with you (and can't keep them all on my gchat status). Listen more after the jump