Musical Meanderings
Musical Meanderings
Everyone needs a "Twinkie" or two in their life. Those things that are not good for us but that we just really, really enjoy. One of my Twinkies just so happens to be an artist by the name of Timbaland. He's actually more of a producer, however he might be the best produces in the hip-hop/pop music scene. He's established Missy Elliot, Nelly Furtado and Justin Timberlake as kings and queens of radio and has even earned them Grammy awards. Props.
So when I saw that Timba dropped a new album, I was excited. The problem is that as great as he is in the producing world, he's really not a very good rapper at all. So I branched out from my itunes strategy of buying full albums, and just picked a few songs to purchase from his latest offering. As much as I love some of his songs, there are others that I just don't like at all. The beauty is that I can pretty much tell from a 20 second sample if it hits or if it's jank.
By far my fav on the album is 2 Man Show. Who is the other man in the song you ask? None other than Elton John. He doesn't sing on the track, but he tickles some mean ivory and pushes the song along really nicely. BTW, the fact that Elton John would lay down a track with Timba shows just how highly he is thought of in the music industry.
The other brilliant track has to be Oh Timbaland. It actually samples a classic jazz piece by Nina Simone called Oh Sinnerman. You heard it if you saw the Thomas Crown Affair back in the day. Not only did he do a great job remolding the song, but it also inspired me to pick up a cd of actual substance and get the Nina Simone anthology. She's amazing. While Timbaland is not for everyone, Nina Simone sure is.
On a non-Timbaland related note, I discovered a phatty U2 track last week. The live version of North and South of the River is amazing. Really. It's almost a completely different song from the album version. Check it out on itunes if you get a chance.
Fair Dinkum.
Everyone needs a "Twinkie" or two in their life. Those things that are not good for us but that we just really, really enjoy. One of my Twinkies just so happens to be an artist by the name of Timbaland. He's actually more of a producer, however he might be the best produces in the hip-hop/pop music scene. He's established Missy Elliot, Nelly Furtado and Justin Timberlake as kings and queens of radio and has even earned them Grammy awards. Props.
So when I saw that Timba dropped a new album, I was excited. The problem is that as great as he is in the producing world, he's really not a very good rapper at all. So I branched out from my itunes strategy of buying full albums, and just picked a few songs to purchase from his latest offering. As much as I love some of his songs, there are others that I just don't like at all. The beauty is that I can pretty much tell from a 20 second sample if it hits or if it's jank.
By far my fav on the album is 2 Man Show. Who is the other man in the song you ask? None other than Elton John. He doesn't sing on the track, but he tickles some mean ivory and pushes the song along really nicely. BTW, the fact that Elton John would lay down a track with Timba shows just how highly he is thought of in the music industry.
The other brilliant track has to be Oh Timbaland. It actually samples a classic jazz piece by Nina Simone called Oh Sinnerman. You heard it if you saw the Thomas Crown Affair back in the day. Not only did he do a great job remolding the song, but it also inspired me to pick up a cd of actual substance and get the Nina Simone anthology. She's amazing. While Timbaland is not for everyone, Nina Simone sure is.
On a non-Timbaland related note, I discovered a phatty U2 track last week. The live version of North and South of the River is amazing. Really. It's almost a completely different song from the album version. Check it out on itunes if you get a chance.
Fair Dinkum.
You are indeed gangly and also a wonder...I've often called you that in my head (Hey...there's the gangly wonder!)...I didn't know that others did also AND outloud.