Wale gets heavy over a beat that could knock down buildings while Chrisette Michele’s sugar-coated chorus brings it home in a good way. A standout track on what was already one of the best hip-hop albums of the year.
John Mayer manages to wrap a road movie’s worth of character scenes into an endearing song about one-night-stands in Baton Rouge – like him or not, the man can write. As a result of hearing this song, 16 million teenage girls tried smoking pot.
Swedish duo TieDye lends their Midas touch to Berlin’s DJ Kaos with this pineapple-infused remix. This song is blowing up overseas, but you’ll probably never hear it in an American club.
The complete title is “The Prettiest Whistles Won’t Wrestle the Thistles Undone,” but who wants to write that? It’s not much of a departure from any of the Decemberists’ previous work, but the song’s good enough that we can easily forgive them that.
You think you know Coldplay, and then you hear 10,000 fans singing the chorus to “Fix You.” I don’t like to throw around words like “breathtaking,” but LeftRightLeftRightLeft is the best thing that ever happened to Coldplay’s music, and it’s a free download.
There’s a quote from Jerry Garcia that’s stuck with me over the years – when talking about his music, he said something along the lines of, “I didn’t want to be the best at something, I wanted to be the only person doing it.” I agree with that sentiment – music moves forward through the efforts of those who innovate. But music is also a medium of communication – in the end, it’s something that should bring people together. Today there are many musicians who are certainly the only ones doing what they’re doing, but oftentimes work like that can end up being so esoteric that hardly anyone “gets it” – or enjoys it. True success in music requires unifying innovation and connection, to create music that’s not only moving, but moving forward.
(in response to the question “What are the qualities of a successful musician?”)
The Foreign Exchange – Let’s Move [ft. Big Pooh] || 2004/Connected
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Posted by Dan 