an album blog: amy winehouse, stevie wonder, ray lamontagne.

maybe it's because i haven't blogged about what i'm listening to in over a month (excluding the ben folds concert) - or maybe it's because i'm avoiding my final research proposal - but i feel inclined to throw down a quick list of the albums i've been pouring through over the last few weeks. ready break.

amy winehouse - back to black - i know i've mentioned this briefly before, but this album is flat out incredible. i can't stop listening to it. it's slowly becoming my go-to album when i can't think of something else to listen to. it's just always so good. except i don't really empathize with her music; they're all jilted lover songs, and that's something that i have the fortune of not having to deal with. i highly, highly recommend that everyone gives this album a run through. one of the top albums of 2007. probably why it won 5 of the 6 grammys it was nominated for.

stevie wonder - songs in the key of life - jon hooked me up with this album about a week ago. thank goodness. how have i never experienced stevie before? also how did i not know that Gangsta's Paradise and Wild Wild West were total stevie samples? where have i been? what a shock considering coolio was the third most listened to track in my itunes this time two years ago. i feel like i missed a massive part of life by not knowing his music (especially this album) before now. sort of like how i've never seen an episode of saved by the bell. except that's not something that i feel i'm missing out on.

ray lamontagne - gossip in the grain - i've heard a lot about ray lamontagne, but i've been skeptical and reluctant to accept him. anytime i hear about some artist that everyone around me loves my first inclination is to take a step back and not give in without a fight, but when luke posted this gnarls cover i had to give in. anyone who appreciates gnarls deserves my listening time, and i ought to have plenty of time to digest more of this album (and trouble) since i have this massive paper to get back to work on. only 9 more days of this school business.

-ap.

quick thoughts on popular music.

here are a handful of thoughts i've had regarding music in the last week or so. don't feel obligated to watch ALL the videos i link to - but you should at least watch the first 10-20 seconds of the video linked in point #4...ready break.

#1. i wish amy winehouse wasn't such a sideshow. she actually makes terrific music and the more i listen to it the more her repulsive life fades out of my mind. she ought to focus on making more music cause then she'd have a lot more fans and a lot less critics/people who think she's a freak. which she is. but MJ's kinda a freak too and helloooo.

#2. last night i dabbled more with itunes genius and was awarded with easily my greatest victory to date: joss stone - what were we thinking. here are tracks 1-13:

and the list of fantastic tracks continued for multiple hours of audio enjoyment. sometimes genius can be disappointing and frustrating. other times it can be extremely rewarding. this was one of those times.

#3. i wish kanye wasn't such a boring interview. the guy is just so awkward and uncomfortable to listen to talk. he's quite the artist, but i think my buddy jon stated it best when he refered to kanye west as a "terrible human". that is not to say that he's morally terrible - he's just bad at being a normal human. pretty good description i think. proof here and here.

#4. the more i hear beyonce's "single ladies (put a ring on it)" the more i like it. the first 15 or so times i heard it - hated it. i thought it was annoying and obnoxious and redundant and blah blah blah. but the 16th time...yessss. also check out this sweet clip my friend rachel showed me...so hilarious. so so so wrong.

#5. lastly, i have decided that gnarls barkley makes the most fantastic music videos on the planet. i could write an entire post about this...probably will sometime. so i'll leave it at that for now.

-ap.