After a brief hiatus, Dr. Flo's Whimsical Music Blog will now hopefully resume our scheduled programming.
I wanna do Hozier before he gets too big, so I can look back at this later as a big "told you so" when Hozier is all over the radio. I've been on his shit for a while, probably since last December. At that point, he only had one EP out, with four tracks on it. "Take Me To Church" is by far Hozier's biggest song, which is the title track to his debut EP. It had roughly 1 mil views on YT when I found it, and it's at 5 mil now. Plus the local hipster radio station started playing it, so it's only a matter of time before he hits the mainstream. Also, Hozier was recently featured on the soundtrack for Wish I Was Here, Zach Braff's latest film creation (go see it if you haven't). Braff has exceptional taste in music, and his first movie he directed, Garden State, really launched The Shins into the spotlight. "Cherry Wine" by Hozier was listed on WIWH's soundtrack, giving it the Braff stamp of approval.
"Damn, son. Dis song be dope" - Zach Braff*
So about this song: it's actually my favorite of his tracks, even though it's not as well known as "Take Me To Church" or "From Eden" (TMTC peaked at #1 in Luxemburg!). Hozier is this Irish dude with golden pipes. He does some sweet blues/soul shit like you ain't never heard. Nearly all of his songs revolve around love and heartbreak, but ya know, it's blues. So what do you really expect? "Angel of Small Death" is basically about the ups and downs of a borderline-abusive relationship. He knows she's not good to him, but homie's in love, yo.
Homeless guy featured in Humans of New York or future-Irish rockstar?
That's about it, I guess.
TL;DR: Hozier is dope; he gonna be big.
Who's ready to talk about England's newest all-male pop sensation? It looks like they're only headed one direction: up. They've also been know to have plenty of style. Know who I'm talking about yet? That's right...
Bastille.
"We love you Harry Styles Dan Smith!"
Bastille is definitely a band on the rise. The four member pop band from London has a bright future ahead of them as they won the BRIT award for Breakout Artist of the Year in 2013 and their feel-good single "Pompeii" has been shooting up Billboard's charts the past few weeks thanks to lead singer Dan Smith's driving vocals. However, about a year ago, as I was scrolling through my Facebook newsfeed, I came across a YouTube link to a song. I opened it up in a new tab, and resumed scrolling, not expecting much. As soon as I heard this man's voice, I immediately had to go back. Listen and be amazed.
If you say you don't want his voice, you're a dirty, dirty liar.
After listening to this man serenade me for about a week, I finally allowed myself to move on and listen to the rest of the album, "Bad Blood," and I was not disappointed. Track after track amazed me, but this version of "Flaws" still sat closest to my heart. It's a damn well written song, on top of the outstanding vocals. Embrace your imperfections; these flaws are part of who you are. According to Bastille, they are "wonderful parts of the mess that we've made." My takeaway from it is that shit happens, and sometimes we're shitty people. All of us. Learn to pick yourself up and embrace your uniqueness, shit and all.
Bastille generally has a bit of an electronic beat with chanting/singing beautiful harmonies in the background while Dan Smith does his thing, letting his voice makes sweet love to your ear holes. Contrary to a large amount of pop music that revolves around clubs, money, and blind love, Bastille usually conveys deeper messages, touching on issues such as depression, strained relationships, and the general burdens life can present us.
Here's the original video for the song, which was wildly popular across the pond, but never quite reached the states:
NEW FEATURE: I will now be adding a link to a playlist of all the songs I've discussed thus far at the end of each blog, in case y'all need to refresh your memory.
It's your lucky day. Your good friend Dr. Flo is hookin' you up with a double dose of ya boi Chano. IGH! This is the "buy-one-get-one-free" kinda shit that has riots forming in Target on Black Friday. Except this is even better cuz:
a) It's free (so it's more of a get-one-get-one-free deal)
b) You're getting the wonderful gift that is Chance the Rapper, instead of scented candles or panini makers
A little background on the rapper who many call Chance:
Chancelor Bennett was born April 13, 1993 in Chicago, IL. Though it is unclear when exactly he adopted the alter ego "Chance the Rapper," many speculate it was around the time Chance became a rapper. IGH! In my opinion (as a white teenager from the Midwest), Chance is probably the best lyricist in the game since Eminem, who was my obligatory introduction to rap (as I am a white teenager from the Midwest). Chance burst on the scene in mid 2013 as his sophomore mixtape Acid Rap solidified him as one of the best upcoming rappers. Acid Rap was much more well received than his previous mixtape, #10Day, which flew pretty well under the radar. Look for Chance next year at the Grammy's to be rap's next big thing to get snubbed by Macklemore.
This is the new face of rap. Get used to it.
As far as Pusha Man goes, it's a fun, upbeat song about selling drugs on the streets of Chicago. IGH! However, at about 2:20 of this over 7:00 song, the audio stops playing. Before you angrily curse at your iPod or similar music listening device for betraying you after all these years, either wait 27 seconds or skip to 2:47.
What's this? A secret track???
As far as Paranoid goes, it's a slow, sad song about selling drugs on the streets of Chicago. This is where shit gets real. Reminiscent of Kendrick's "good kid, m.A.A.d. city", Chance discusses how the streets can turn kids into soldiers, carrying guns only because they know other people are too. As Chance puts it, "it's easier to find a gun than to find a fuckin' parking spot." He also calls out media for ignoring the crisis happening in his backyard, as the body count from the violence only continues to rise. Listen to this live performance of Paranoia and tell me you don't think rap can be meaningful or heartfelt. 2:40 is where Paranoia starts, for all yall impatient children out there.
OH DAMN. IT'S DR. FLO'S FIRST EVER MUSIC REVIEW. Y'ALL BETTER HOLD ONTO YOUR PANTS. IT'S ABOUT TO GET REAL.
FIRST SONG: "Nakamarra (feat. Q-Tip)" - Hiatus Kaiyote
At first glance, you'd probably have no idea what their band name means. But dig a little deeper into the meaning of "Hiatus Kaiyote", and you'd probably still have no idea. After a lengthy 7 minute Google search, nothing turned up for me. Hiatus Kaiyote is defined by Wikipedia as being "neo-soul", but I think any Kaiyote fan knows better. The quartet describes their music as "Multi-Dimensional Gangster Shit" and you'd best believe that's EXACTLY what you're gonna get from them. After releasing Tawk Tomahawk, their first album, in 2013, this Melbourne-based band gained some international attention as Nakamarra was nominated for Best R&B Performance.
If this isn't multi-dimensional gangster shit, I don't know what is
I wasn't even going to go into the meaning behind the song title, but for those of you uncultured fucks not familiar with 20th century Australian Aboriginal art, Doreen Nakamarra was apparently kind of a big deal. She made some pretty cool art, I guess. This artwork especially spoke to Hannah, a friend of the band for whom the song was written.
At long last, I am getting to the actual music. Hopefully you listened the song already, but if you (like most people) would rather hear what I have to say about the song rather than actually listen to it, here it goes:
Nakamarra is the final track on their debut album, Tawk Tomahawk. Right from the get go, this song puts me in a trance. There's something so simple, yet so beautiful about it. Lead singer Nai Palm's soft croon fits perfectly with the off beat melodies. Not the most powerful voice, but it shares the same uniqueness in sound that Hiatus Kaiyote personifies. Just when you get into that certain vibe, and you can really feel the music and sense the passion in her voice...BOOM. MOTHAFUCKIN' Q-TIP IS IN THE BUILDING. That's right. Q-Tip, of legendary 80's hip hop group A Tribe Called Quest, is out of the blue featuring on some Australian new-age jazz shit. Yet, it fits so well you're better off just not questioning it. Basically, the lyrics of this song boil down to having a close friend that you love, and despite this friend leaving, you know that they will always be like family to you. Seriously, there's almost no way to dislike this song. And if you do, that's fine. But know that you're wrong.
Sup, playas? Quick intro: I'm you're average white engineering major, born and raised in the heart of Missouri who works in IT. So naturally, I've decided to write a music blog. I get most of my music via Reddit, so head on over and check out r/ListenToThis, r/HipHopHeads, and r/TwitchPlaysPokemon. The latter is completely unrelated to music, but there is a massive culture forming around hundreds of thousands of people simultaneously playing the same game of Pokemon Red. THIS IS GODDAM HISTORY IN THE MAKING.
ALL PRAISE BE TO THE HELIX
Anyway.
Originally, I wanted to kinda review 1 album per week, but fuck that noise. Too structured. Most likely I'll do reviews of various songs of various genres at sporadic intervals. I'll try to keep you on your toes by switching up the genre on the daily. Maybe today I'll have you jammin' with some sweet classic rock song you forgot about, then I hit you with that underground rap scene, but I follow it up with some neo-soul to easy your mind. Unless you're into hardcore metal (sorry Norway...), I'll probably get you somethin' you like.
Enough of my rambling. I know why you're here. Stay tuned for the first actual music post of Let The Music Flo.
