Craig David – “Who Am I?”

There’s an unspoken role in the hip-hop community that anything Timbaland produces is pure cash money, so considering he put together the music for the new cut from Craig David, I already have to love it. But it’s a cool R&B pop ballad that doesn’t drag a lot of the other R&B pop ballads out there on the radio. The rolling toms and double-bass drums typical of Timbo make this an instrumental worth indulging in. And David’s voice is just as silky as it was when he was gracing the Top 40.

Great Divide – “Waiting”

Once upon a time, we at FS featured a now-defunct group called Brown Couch, which to this day remains one of our all-time favorites. When I heard this track from up-and-coming Chicago band Great Divide, we had to check and make sure there weren’t any old Brown Couchers involved in the project. There weren’t, meaning they’re just independently funky enough to put together some fantastic songs with tight harmonies and heaps of rock and soul.

Travis – “The Line Is Fine”

Somewhere in between Nirvana and Wheatus, Travis put together a very interesting little anthem with a delightfully whiny hook all the way back in 1997. It’s not exactly a tip for those of you looking for brand new stuff, but if you ever loved grunge at any point in your life, you’ll love this song.

Sometimes you come across a great band that absolutely no one knows about.  Whether it’s the fact that they don’t want to be discovered or the record labels won’t back them, you start to wonder if there’s more out there.  There is, of course, more out there, but you have to appreciate the artists that make it to your ear drums and coincidentally into your iPod.  Brown Couch was one of those artists.

I first heard Brown Couch in college during my most formative of years.  Their sound is difficult to characterize at it has aspects of rock, bluegrass, folk and even some funk, but its definitely easy to love.  The harmonies are impeccably perfect and blend in a way where you would swear its the same guy.  But what makes Brown Couch different?  Well, besides all of the stuff I just mentioned in the past three sentences, every one of their songs is different.  With so many style of music in one album, one would think it would be extremely difficult to come out with a final product that sounds anything close to appetizing.  These guys pull it off brilliantly.

One of the only problems these guys have is that they aren’t together anymore.  In fact, if you Google “Brown Couch”, you’ll find a slew of sites that only hint at the fact that these guys ever existed (plus a number of advertisements from Pottery Barn and Lay-Z-Boy.)  In fact, Wikipedia doesn’t even have an entry on them so you know they’re totally underground.  And after you listen to the album the whole way through, you’ll wonder why they disappeared faster than William Hung.

But one thing is for sure:  their album rocks.  The album Curious is the compilation of everything that represents the band Brown Couch.  I first listened to the album in its entirety in college and have always had it floating with me from iPod to iPod ever since.  The title track “Curious” is an acoustic jam set with some very incredible harmonies and a soft jazz scent that’s more pleasant than passing a “White Barn” candle store in the mall.

Honestly, because this band is currently so elusive the only thing I have to offer up is a link to their MySpace page.  However, if you take a quick listen to the songs “Curious”, “Track Shack” and “We Run” I promise you’ll be hooked.  It might take a little searching to find the entire album, but it’s well worth it.  Trust me.  In fact it can be kind of like a scavenger hunt.  Find the album and win…their album…for whatever it costs.