So we haven’t posted anything super hardcore in a while. I’m talking about the type of stuff that makes you feel like you just got punched in the face by pure awesome. The kind of music that makes you run faster and jump higher. The stuff that was made by the business end of a kick-ass stick. Well guess what? You’ve just been served. 10 Years has that kick-ass stick.
Figure 1.1
Their new release Feeding the Wolves not only has a manly name, but a manly album cover (see Figure 1.1). Historically I’ve found that if an album has an awesome cover, an awesome name and an awesome artist behind it, you are destined to have something worth its weight in gold. Don’t believe me? Tell that to Michael Jackson’s Thriller or Guns N Roses’ Appetite for Destruction. Yeah, I didn’t think so.
The entire album is a hard-hitting mix of heavy guitar and steel-laden vocals to match. The tracks rarely miss a beat, taking breaks only to show their softer side with powerful ballads (that are not-so-much ballads, I just can’t think of another word to describe them.)
10 Years is currently on the tail-end of the Carnival of Madness tour with the likes of Shinedown, Chevelle, Sevendust, and Puddle of Mudd. But not to worry, they will be headed back out on the road with numerous upcoming tour dates to support the release of their new album.
Buy Feed the Wolves:
T.I. – “Here We Go Again”
I know we’re supposed to have this policy of introducing readers to new artists, and T.I. clearly already has hit it big, but this new song produced Timbaland is without question the hottest track on my playlist. To be fair, I’m an unapologetic Timbo junkie that immediately falls in love with 80% of everything he’s ever done, but this particular track works on just about every level possible. T.I. knows how to rock a track, and he knows how to write a hook. Those two things linked up to a dirty, dirty beat makes for a real gem. Enjoy:
Finger Eleven – “Living In A Dream”
The new Finger Eleven record drops next month, but we’ve been given “Living In A Dream” to help tide us over. You must decide whether it’ll just arouse your appetite without bedding it back down or whether you really need a taste to keep yourselves from starving. Either way, you need to know this stomping, upbeat rock diddy is everything we’ve come to love from F11.
Mark Ronson featuring Ghostface Killah – “Lose It”
We were first introduced to Mark Ronson in 2007 when he teamed up with Lily Allen to put out “Oh My God,” which quietly became an FS favorite that year. Then came that sweet video for “Bang Bang Bang,” which rocked our asses equally hard, and now there’s “Lose It,” featuring one my favorite Wu-Tang Clansters in Ghostface Killah. The track takes about a minute or so to really warm up, but once Ghost hits the beat everything is right in the world. I’m starting to wonder if there’s a Ronson track out there that I wouldn’t like. Hmm.
How should I describe the music of Paula Fuga? Soulful? Bluesy? Sure, those will do, but that just doesn’t cut it. How about Hawaiian soul? Yeah, that hits the spot. Not familiar with Hawaiian soul? Well, you need to introduce yourself to the gifted beauty of Paula Fuga. This woman possesses something special and she is ready to share it with anyone willing to listen.
Paula Fuga and Jack Johnson
American Idol enthusiasts that have a freakish memory regarding past contestants will remember Fuga’s audition. If you want to see the judges blow a decision you can watch it here. So AI didn’t work out for her. Were the judges too concerned with selling an image and not finding amazing vocal talent? Well dawg, we will let you be the judge of that one. That “missed” opportunity has not held her back one bit.
Fuga’s 2010 EP, Misery’s End, is the follow up to her 2006 self-released debut album, Lilikoi. Fuga doesn’t need Simon, Paula Abdul and Randy. On Misery’s End she saddles up with Jack Johnson and Ziggy Marley. Yeah, we think she is doing just fine for herself. Fuga’s music is simply beautiful. Her style blends traditional Hawaiian sounds and instrumentation with contemporary blues, soul and jazz. Misery’s End is the perfect music to celebrate the remaining weeks of summer. Support amazing music. Support Paula Fuga!
KC’s Personal Picks: “Country Road” and “Parachute”
Jack Johnson joins Paula Fuga on a live version of “Country Road”
Buy the album
*Thanks April!*
If you’re here at FreshScouts.com looking for new good music, chances are you’ve heard of Pandora—a website that takes music you already like and finds similar music so you can track down more artists to potentially love.
That’s a great idea and everything, but Pandora isn’t the only place in cyberspace to find new music. Another website, StereoMood.com, has actually figured out a way to tailor playlists to your mood. If you’re in a Jack Johnson mood or a Buddy Guy mood, then use Pandora. But if you’re feeling less specific—happy or relaxed or bummed out—StereoMood is the way to go.
The idea for the site came from four friends in Italy—Giovanni, Daniele, Maurizio, and Eleonora—who concocted the idea as a way to use technology to link music and mood.
“Three years ago when we worked together at mtv.it here in Milan, we decided to provide a new way to listen to music,” says co-founder Eleonora. “We started to investigate what was the best web music service and how it worked. Websites like Hype Machine, Last.FM, and Musicovery inspired us to create a new web application that allows you to listen to music with a new classification based on emotions.”
The site is painfully easy to use; the home page has a huge list of emotions, with the more popular ones appearing in larger font. All you have to do is click on the one that most closely matches your mood, and the playlist pops right up.
One of the good things about these playlist—at least in our opinion—is that you don’t see many mainstream pop hits added to the mix. The music comes from artists all over the world, and that international flair is something Eleonora says they always strived for.
“Every song you will find on StereoMood comes from a selection of the best international music blogs, reachable from the ‘read post’ link on the player. The order in which you will find the songs in every different playlist is counted by an algorithm that tracks their freshness, their listening frequency, their popularity, and the number of tags that the users assigned to them. This algorithm is also able to show the last uploaded songs or the ones users love the most.”
According to Eleonora, the website has grown quite a bit in the short 8 months that it’s been in existence.
“We now receive every day mail and comments on our Facebook and Twitter fan pages. Most of the users express their need of a mobile application to bring StereoMood with them.”
However, plans for expansion stretch beyond just the addition of mobile apps for the iPhone and Android phones. Right now, the website is just a hobby for these four friends in Italy. Eventually, they’re hoping it expands to a point where it can be profitable enough for them to quit their day jobs.
“We want StereoMood to become our main work. We want to create a complete StereoMood team, besides us, to grow up and make the website better. We want to try to sell ad space based on our emotional concept—for example we can make an ad hoc campaign for Kleenex into the ‘feel like crying’ playlist.”
In the meantime, while this innovative website continues to get itself off the ground, listeners can channel their musical mood into an actual, specific playlist. As good as Pandora is, even they can’t do that.
Score one for StereoMood.
Click HERE to check out StereoMood and start discovering new music today!
We here at FreshScouts loves us some JJ Grey. We’ve been following his albums since his first release with Alligator records in 2007, have been to numerous festivals to see his amazing headlining southern blues shows, and have essentially been stalking his whereabouts online (in a completely non-creepy way.) So of course, when we saw he was coming out with a new album in August, we were ready. We set up shop outside our local record store and slept there for weeks waiting for the arrival of Georgia Warhorse. After numerous scuffles with the locals and run-ins with the law, we realized that waiting outside a record store weeks before an album comes out is NOT a good idea. You live an you learn I guess.
But the waiting was worth it. JJ Grey & Mofro’s latest release is a soulful blend of down-home raspy vocals, heart-wrenching organ licks and some serious slide guitar. I’ve always said that this man’s albums never do justice to his live shows, but this album definitely gets closer with its more intimate moments. Of course, there may be none more intimate than the track “Slow, Hot & Sweaty”, but I’ll let you be the judge of that.
JJ Grey & Mofro have come a long way since Country Ghetto, but one thing I appreciate is that even though their sound has continued to evolve, they have not strayed away from their original style. They continue to be the same gritty blues band they were 3 years ago (and before.) They form the industry instead of the other way around. Props JJ Grey. Props.
Buy Georgia Warhorse:
