Still here

So, I was supposed to come back to this blog all invigorated, with new ideas and a new layout. But,  life happened . . . ! At the start of the week, I was stuck with a toothache and found out that I have not one, but three impacted wisdom teeth - YAY! I was/am in unbearable pain. I can't get any heavy duty pain killers because I am allergic to codine, so I can only take basic stuff. I had to go to work in pain and on my days off I couldn't focus and wasn't in the mood to write. 


I was started to feel great yesterday and I got some Indian take out - King Prawn Vindaloo with lemon rice. I think there must have been something in the lemon rice because I woke up this morning with a rash over my mouth, a headache and my throat hurts. I've had the prawn vindaloo from the restaurant before, so I don't think it is the cause of my allergic reaction. 


Long story, short I've been poorly this past week. But, I hope to get my health in order in the coming week so I can get back to bloging and living.




MITNB.

Music is the new black will be back after these messages . . .

I've been very busy lately and because of that this blog has suffered the past couple of days. I have a lot of plans/ideas for this blog, but work has made it hard for me to carry on with the enthusiasm I started with. I feel like I'm phoning my posts in and I struggle to write two lines about the songs I'm posting. Not only that, I've gotten a little tired of the layout I have currently. It is too dark and unwelcoming. 


This is not the end.


I'm going to take sometime off writing to redesign my layout. From next week, I'm going to be working less hours which means I have more time to write actual posts and attend gigs.

I'm a little bit country

One of my favourite songs by my favourite country singer. I love the positivity, it always lift me up and gives me the motivation I've been needing a lot lately. 
















MITNB

New Music Post

Rufus Wainwright  - Zebulon





I'm a big fan of both Martha and Rufus Wainwright, I think I have all their albums. 


I'm not sure who I like more, their styles are so different and contrary to what "'Nsync VS Backstreet boys" or "Britney VS Christina" advocates might think, it is possible to like two seemingly competing musicians.


 If you've never heard anything by Martha Wainwright or you heard her duet with Snow Patrol and never went ahead with your plan to listen to her other stuff check out "BMFA" (contains swearing) or "You Cheated Me".


BMFA



You cheated me





Rufus' new album 'All Days Are Nights: Songs for Lulu'  was released in the UK yesterday, but I haven't bought it yet.I should be getting it at the end of the week, in time for a review.






MITNB

African Music Post: Prince Nico - Sweet Mother

The most popular African song ever recorded, it has been covered and rearranged countless times. Fans of Vampire Weekend might the familiar with the guitar style used in the opening, it is a style used mostly in highlife music. The song reminds me of much simpler times when I had a better relationship with my mother.It is in pidgin english and quite easy to follow, but just incase you don't immediately understand the singer is basically thanking his mother for everything she's done for him and all her hardwork.










MITNB

Weekly Playlist

Happy Easter!!!





Hope you all have been having a great Easter weekend. Unfortunately, I've had to work all through the holiday.






My list for this week:





Of Montreal - Skeletal Lamping



Rachel Yamagata - Elephant



Nick Cave - Dig, Lazarus, Dig



Kubb - Mother



Jill Scott - The Real Thing (words and sounds) Vol 3.




















*all images from google images.


MITNB

No review saturday

No review this week. I'm working on a review of White Stripes' - Under Great White Northern Lights for http://frequencymagazine.net/


I'll post a link here once it's been published.  But, for now enjoy White Stripes's Cover of Dolly Parton's Jolene. 





I grew up listening to a bit of country music - which is weird for a black girl growing up in West Africa. And I hate when people say bad things about country music and brand the genre boring. There is so much great stuff out there, you just have to find the style that goes with your personality and taste.  








MITNB

I think I fell for the song on Tv - Ugly Betty

UGLY BETTY


image source: tv guide

I've been a fan of Ugly Betty since season one, the plot lines keep getting better and better. But, it wasn't till this season that the show really step it's game up in the music department.It prompted me to give V.V Brown a chance and led to me discover Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeroes. I'm not sure who picks the songs, but they get top marks for the revamp and for not sticking with popular stuff. 


I wish I could find clips to illustrate my point but I can't, so I'll just go straight to my favourite clips.


VV Brown



Edward Sharpe



Mocean worker - Move



Guajiros - Enamorados 



The New Ponographers - Adventures In Solitude 

I was a fan before Ugly Betty, but totally forgot about them. This episode of Ugly Betty made me dig up 'Electric Version'.


Freelance Whales - We Could Be Friends  



Melanie Fiona -- Bang Bang



Jasmine Ash - I wished for you



 Jeremy Messersmith - Miracles



The London Souls - Stand up





Till next week! 
MITNB




More music from Ugly betty and other shows: http://www.tvshowmusic.com/shows/uglybetty/season04.html

That's A Rap

Heard this on flashforward and as usual I hit google trying to find out the name of the song. Luckily, abc.com has a list of the music featured in each episode.








MITNB

New Music!!!

Janelle Monaé


I've loved Janelle Monaé since I first heard 'Many Moons', many moons ago (LOL!). This album has been a long time coming, I really hope she gets the success she deserves.

Many Moons




MITNB

Golden Oldies

One of my favourite musician covers another one of my favourite musicians. I like both versions, but I think Nina simone's version adds more meaning to the song. If you are a fan of Nina Simone and don't already own "To be Free", you really should go out and buy it. I can easily say it's one of my favourite albums ever! 






MITNB

African Music Post:Brenda Fassie - Vulindela

 I used to listen to this a lot as a kid. but, I had no idea what it was about. After a bit of googling, I found out that it is about a woman expressing joy that her son is finally getting married. I think I prefer not knowing what it means. 




MITNB

Weekly Playlist

My playlist for this week. 


I'm feeling a little down and heartbroken . . . usual girlie stuff! And when I'm like this I want to listen to the following musicians. 



Fiona Apple - When The Pawn Hits



Amy Winehouse - Frank



David Ford - Songs For The Road



Counting Crows - Films About Ghosts



Nina Simone - To Be Free. The song 'Let it be me' makes me teary. 












** all images from google images or else otherwise stated.








MITNB

Just Listen

No music review this week. In place of that, I'm posting this jem!

I Think I fell for the song on TV - Eli Stone

ELI STONE



Eli Stone: image source: google images

Once the season opened with Jon Brion's 'Knock Yourself Out', I knew I was going to love this tv show.  The short lived series is about a lawyer Eli Stone (played by Johnny Lee Miller ) who has a brain aneurysm which gives him visions of the future. Like Scrubs, music plays a big role in this Tv series.  The entire first season was named after songs by George Michael and the episodes occasionally have a musical number. 


They even got George Michael to appear in one of the episodes;





Moments like that when he is caught having one of his singing/dancing hallucinations in public made me cringe. Also like 'Scrubs' the music adds to the story, although it does so to a larger extent on Eli Stone. The song in the music numbers often contain a clue or some advice for Eli. 


Some lovely person on youtube created a montage of the musical numbers;





I guess it was like an adult version of Glee.


After watching the first season I went on a quest to download all the songs featured. And I was glad I did, it led me to discover Mando Diao - an amazing Swedish band. I would like to believe that if the show went on for longer they would have released an official soundtrack, but unfortunately that didn't happen. It was cancelled before the end of the second season. 


My favourite discoveries;


I tend to write these things in no particular order, but this is number one without a shadow of doubt. The rest are in no particular order (LOL).













Sunday Afternoon from Remyyy on Vimeo.

















Writing about this series makes me want to watch it all over again, I might have to buy the DVDs.




More on songs from Eli Stone: http://heardontv.com/tvshow/Eli+Stone/Season+1
http://www.tvshowmusic.com/shows/elistone/



MITNB

That's a Rap

I'm not sure where I heard this song - I think it was Eli Stone. The line, "I know Jesus was a rock star
and it was Elvis who turned water into wine" got me googling and downloading like a music addict in need of a fix. The rest of the album (The Stoop) is pure joy! It is very memorable, the lyrics are witty and easy to relate to. 


MITNB

Golden Oldies

This is not really an 'oldie', I just needed an excuse to post it because it is about growing older. I'm turning twenty-five in about five months and I'm struggling to accept it and go with the flow. I guess it's because I'm not where I thought I would be. I want to build a time machine so I can go back at least a year and fit as much stuff into the past 24 years. I don't have a lot of regrets, but I wish I had more time . . .  I'm making turning 25 sound like a death sentence!


MITNB

African Music Post: Asa - Bi'Ban'Ke

It took me a long time to get Asa's (pronounced Asha) album, but I'm glad I did. It is a good mix of Yoruba and English songs. Out of eleven tracks on the album, more than half (seven) are entirely in English making this worth your while even if you don't speak Yoruba.


It is very hard for me to pick my favourite song on the album, I torn between 'Fire on the Mountain' - which is a bit political, 'Awé'  -A funny story about naivety and this song I'm posting 'Bi'ban ké' - which is about breaking up. In the chorus, she sings "If I'm crying a flood of tears, leave me a alone. If I'm crying really hard, leave me alone". I'm a bit like that, if I'm crying, I want to be left alone.






MITNB

Weekly Playlist

My playlist for the week!


Jimmy Buffett - Down to Earth


Ben Harper - Burn to Shine


The Avett Brothers - Four Theives Gone


Bob Dylan - Modern Times



Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Boatman's Call.


all images from google:images.




MITNB

Broken Bells - Review (not really)

image source: google images

This is going to be a rather short review because I'm really conflicted about this album. I really can't get my thoughts on it together. I don't want to say it's rubbish because it really isn't. That said, there is something about it that doesn't hit the auditory G-spot for me. 


To start with, I really had trouble listening to the album. The last Dangermouse collaboration I listened to was 'Dark Night of the Soul', his album with Mark Linkous. I don't know why Mark's death got to me as much as it did, I think it made it difficult for me to listen to 'Broken Bells' when I first got it. I added it to my weekly playlist so I could listen to it on the way to work and in the hopes that the journey would prevent me from focusing too much on Mark's death. It worked! I listened to the album and started to get a feel for the songs.  However, I still don't feel like I can give a good account of my opinion of the album. There are certain elements in it that remind me of stuff by Jon Brion and I feel like it should be the soundtrack to a quirky indie movie.


I'm just going to list my favourite songs and stop rambling.


Vapourize

Because of the lines - A simple plan we'd be different from the rest and never resign to a typical life. Common fears start to multiply, we realize we're paralyzed. Where'd it go, all that precious time?








Sounds like a modern day beegees song. 


I'll probably find myself editing and tweaking this, but for now this is what I think.


MITNB