It’s Holly

I can’t remember the last time I heard an album and absolutely couldn’t stop listening to it. Enter Quadron. It’s phenomenally phenomenal. They remind me a lot of little dragon. What is it with the Swedes and the Dutch comin’ out with this super chill downtempo funkdafied soulful shit? I love it and I can’t get enough. If you have any other recommendations of music along these lines, share the love, please. Check out some Quadron-y goodness below.

Quadron – Slippin
[audio:quadron_slippin.mp3]

Quadron – Horse
[audio:quadron_horse.mp3]

I’m sorry to say… I slept on Janelle Monae. Hard. Her CDs have been sitting in my iTunes Library over a year. I had to re-discover her on a mixtape [big ups Real Niggas Light Candles - do it]. This song, this song right here, this song is my shit.

Enjoy, perras.

Janelle Monae : Metropolis [from The Audition]
[audio:janelle_metropolis.mp3]

I haven’t done one of these in a while. My bad. Don’t get me wrong, there’s been lots of music out there worth sharing, just not enough time to share it all. Alas, here’s one for you: Kevin Sandbloom.

still trying to figure out how that voice comes out of this man

I went to a local spoken word thing a few weeks ago, and Sandbloom was their featured guest and I was blown away [note: don't you love that feeling? When you hear new music with absolutely no expectations, no expectation of what to expect, and it just blows your mind? that's up there with falling in love if you ask me]. In my head I was thinking “When did Jack Johnson and Al Green have a baby?” That’s the best way I can describe him. Judge for yourself:

Sweetness [from Under Pink and Bourbon Skies]
[audio:sandbloom_sweetness.mp3]

Say the Word [from Under Pink and Bourbon Skies]
[audio:sandbloom_saytheword.mp3]

A Song for You [from Under Pink and Bourbon Skies]
[audio:sandbloom_asongforyou.mp3]

Sometimes I just put my entire iTunes library on shuffle when I’m driving home, which is hit or miss as far as a song coming on that actually matches your current mood (that’s huge for me). One day, it was on shuffle, and this song by Tristan Prettyman came on and struck a chord with me. It was exactly the song I needed to hear at that exact moment. Sometimes I think my iPod is intuitive. Either way, I’ve had her CD for a while now, I just never really listened to it. I have 10,700+ songs on my iPod, you think I’ve heard each one? I think not.

So, take a listen, look at some lyrics and enjoy my iPod-on-shuffle-in-the-car-find.

God gave me patience
Patience to breath
God give me reasons
To not cry anymore about anything

God give me time
Time to think this through
God give me something
Something to keep my mind
Off missing you

And in the afternoon while the sun gets low
I wish I there was some other direction to drive
Somewhere else to go
But there’s always one more thing I have to prove
There’s always part of me missing you

So light the day
And invite me to stay
Cause now I see
I was always on my way
Just a little late

Cause I cry lot
I cry out of fear
And it’d be nice if
You was all that made up these tears
But its years and years

And in the afternoon while the sun gets low
I wish I there was some direction to drive
Somewhere else to go
But if you never try
You’ll never know
Sometimes the best part of goodbye
Is letting go

Oh, but I’ve been dreaming of clear skies
Oh, I’ve been dreaming of hometown coastlines
I would fly

So God give me patience
Patience to see
Within the chaos
There’s always room to dream
Just let it be

We saw Emily open up for Floetry at the HOB San Diego a couple months ago. She’s a funky mix of acoustic and r&b, and I love it. The first time I heard her, it reminded me of the first time I heard Alicia Keys on BET’s “Midnight Love” singing Fallin’. It’s that “Oh, yeah… she’s gonna be the shit” feeling. My favorite track off of her album is U & I, but the whole CD is fantastical. Listen, I said:

I really liked Ne-Yo’s last CD. We have a few songs on rotation here at the office. Then I listened to Maxwell’s snippet of Pretty Wings, and realized how absolutely trivial R&B music is right now. I listened to this 1 minute and 36 second snippet on repeat all the way to work today. No matter how many times I listen to it, I find something new… find a new way to listen to it, to decipher it. All I could keep saying after hearing it was “it’s just so pretty”. Take a listen:

Tell me that’s not the shit, yo! I’ll even give you the lyrics:

time will bring the real end of our trial
one day they’ll be no remnants
no trace no residual feelings within you
one day you won’t remember me

your face would be the reason i smile
but i will not see what i cannot have forever
i’ll always love you i hope you feel the same

oh u played me dirty
your game was so bad
you toyed with my affliction had to fill out my prescription
found the remedy i had to set you free

away from me
to see clearly
the way that love can be
when u are not with me
i had to leave, i have to live
i had to lead, i had to live

if i cant have you let love set you free
to fly your pretty wings around
pretty wings your pretty wings
your pretty wings around

So, maybe I’m a little late jumping on to the Amy Winehouse bandwagon, but I’m jumpin’ on anyway. I love her voice. The lyrics are poignant (i’ve always wanted to use that word in a sentence that was actually logical… poignant), and she sounds like an old black lady at church… and we all love that. My personal favorites are Rehab and Love is a Losing Game. Let me know how you like it.

Credit to Emma for this find. She went to their show and bought their CD. My favorite tracks are Mama’s Room and Lay Me Down.
They’re cute punky lil’ white boys. Usually not my style, but good music is good music is good music.

Jonathan gets full credit for this find. He heard it and actually bought a physical CD – something neither of us have done since iTunes launched their music store and we discovered bit torrents. That alone speaks volumes.

This is John West. Listen to Masquerade. He’s like… a breath of fresh air. I love his sound. Soulful, kinda folky. Like if Jason Mraz had a black grandma that raised him. That’s exactly it. Listen to him. Love him. I do.

Gabe has been raving about The Imperial House FOREVER. It’s his cool ass old folks meditation spot. So, Saturday night I finally fulfilled my promise to check it out.

Holy crap.

The Imperial House is… an experience, to say the least. My favorite part is Rick Lyon, the resident lounge singer at the Imperial House. Here’s a breakdown (forgive the terrible picture, you can only do so much in photoshop with low lighting and a quick moving Rick Lyon).

1. The Mirror : Just in case you were curious, you can see EXACTLY how Rick plays… and when he’s not playing (even though there’s still music in the air – more on this later).

2. Mr. Rick Lyon, himself.

3. The Toupee: It’s a pretty good one, actually. Gabe had to point that out to me.

4. The Tip Jar/Oversized Wine Glass: There was lots of skrilla in there. Especially from the folks that got in a good 3 rounds of cha cha cha-ing. Tipping Rick Lyon was usually done through the Costanza Method: i) wave tip in front of tipee; ii) make eye contact with tipee; iii) place tip in tip receptacle, making sure tipee is fully aware of amount of said tip and identity of tipper.

5. Cocktail: Gabe says it was water… I say it was straight vodka. Who drinks water with a wedge of lime? People who interchange vodka with water, that’s who!

6. Ricky Lyon Wood Placard: Definitely created at Seaport Village, probably not by Rick himself, but as a gift from one of his loyal patrons. Notice the lion’s matching toupee.

7. The Baby Grand Piano: Which serves as the stand for:

8. The Technics Keyboard: It’s no ordinary keyboard. Rick actually loads in 3.5″ diskettes (yeah, I said it… DISKETTES) with midi files that accompany his mad keyboard skillz. It funny to see Rick taking a swig of “water” while there’s still music playing, then you realize… oh shit, it’s the midi file. He had a HUGE case of diskettes…

Some of the better selections of the night were My Life by Bille Joel, I Want You Back by the Jackson 5, You Can Call Me Al by Paul Simon, Sugar Pie Honey Bunch by The Four Tops and Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison. We also had a Rick Lyon original titled “See You Next Saturday”, which he wrote about 20 years ago when he and his wife divorced, and he only had partial custody of his kids (“we’ll go fishing in the deep blue sea, but I’ll be sure to have you home by 3… see you next Saturday”). Just glorious! He had quite a selection.

So, thank you Gabe, for giving a whole new meaning to lounging around.