Hey guys this is my old roommate Casey Chanatry. He plays with a sick band called Jahman Brahman, you can check them out at http://www.jahmanbrahman.com. Casey did some jam tracks that you can check out!

Album of the Week, 3/27

My cousin recently went and saw the new film "Lincoln Lawyer" and on the soundtrack was one of our favorite songs from growing up, "Moment of Truth" by Gang Starr. I went back and listened to the entire album (same title as the single) and was reminded of the unique style of one of my favorite MC's of all time. Here's the album:

Released in 1998, "Moment of Truth" was the fifth and penultimate album by Gang Starr, the Boston/New York based hip-hop duo of DJ Premier and Guru. Known for his hypnotizing monotone style, Guru died suddenly after a heart attack roughly a year ago. However, his music lives on, and is on its best display in this album.





Personal favorite tracks of mine are "You Know My Steez" and "Moment of Truth." Throughout the album, Guru proves to be a master story teller, and ruminates inside his tracks on the meaning of his existence.

As an aside, I want to point out a remix of the second track of the album "Work." Always one of my favorite tracks, on his remix album "Carry the Cross 2", hip-hop legend Nas intertwines "Work" with his track "Thief's Theme" to create "Thief's Work". Although there's no official video, here's the track:




Hope you enjoy this foray into the artistry of one of my favorite hip-hop artists of all time.

New Band to Check Out!

MuteMath: My roommate recently mentioned this band to me and after listening to several tracks decided that they are definitely worth checking out. Unfortunately they do not have any upcoming tour dates so do not plan on seeing them live. But nonetheless here are some awesome videos to snack on:

Cortez the Killer

This is a song that I recently came across that is a fantastic listen. The first version that I heard was the Built to Spill cover, however, when I looked up videos in order to post this on the thread I came across the original Neil Young version. And, wonder that YouTube is I also came across a Grace Potter and Joe Satriani version of the same song. So feast your ears on three versions of this fabulous tune.

Will be back later this week with more tasty treats.













and is if that wasn't enough, here is yet another version of the song! This time by Dave Matthews and Warren Haynes!

Band of the Week, 3/2

Lately, I've been on a big kick of historically black music, and I've discovered a great band called The Ink Spots that I wanted to share with you. Formed in the late '30's in Indianapolis, The Ink Spots played a style of music that would be a precursor the R&B and Doo-Wop. Members of the quartet also played guitar and bass, but the focus is undoubtedly on the vocals. Here's a sampling of their music.






I'm particularly fond of "If I Didn't Care", as it was the first song of theirs that I ever heard. This song, as well as many of their others, contains spoken interludes in the middle of the songs, which sound a bit odd at first, but after a few seconds seem to make sense. I also really enjoyed their version of the Gershwin classic "Nice Work if You Can Get It" as well as "I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire." The latter has one of the spoken interludes, much like "If I Didn't Care."

Lastly, here's a rare televised appearance of the group, from what year I'm not sure. Hope you enjoy!

Song of the Week, 3/1

Happy March!

My song of the week is "Father and Daughter" by Paul Simon, from the soundtrack to the film "The Wild Thornberries."



Paul Simon is, for my money, the greatest American songwriter of the second half of the 20th century (I'd say the entire century, but I just can't put him over George and Ira Gershwin. Sorry.) I honestly don't even know where I first heard this song, but it definitely stuck with me. The opening guitar lick is beautiful beyond words, and the entire song is one of the sweetest tracks I've ever heard (sweet in the mushy way, not sweet in the "dude, that was totally sweet" kind of way).

The reason for putting this song on the blog this week is because I recently found out that my best friend just became an uncle! Even though it's a baby boy, the sentiment still remains for the song. Hope you like it!

Album of the Week, 2/24

My album of the week is Bruce Hornsby and the Range's live album "Here Come the Noise Makers" from 2000.

 

 

My first concert going experience happened to be in the summer of 1994, when I went to see Bruce along with Bonnie Raitt in upstate New York. My parents had always been big fans of Bruce (and I think my dad secretly had a bit of a crush on Bonnie Raitt, but that's a whole different story....) so we went with my uncle, and I had the time of my life. Not just because I got to stay up until midnight on a school night, but also because the music was fantastic.

From this album, I love the opening piano intro, which then morphs into "The Great Divide" for the first track on the album. I couldn't get all of the tracks on a playlist here to share, but I managed to wrangle in a couple. "Long Tall Cool One" is a classical laid back track, and one of his biggest hits, "The Way it is" is also featured on this album. Bruce shows off his virtuoso piano skills throughout the record, and definitely keeps the listener on his toes. Hope you all enjoy!