You Need To Listen To: An Eternal Soul

Original Sountrack
Artist: Various
Genre: Hip Hop/Rap/Jazz/Instrumental
Released: 22 June, 2011

This soundtrack is definitely going to nestle into a place of its own in my heart. These songs are for the documentary An Eternal Soul directed by Abe Spiegel which is focuesed on the underground Japanese producer Jun “Nujabes” Seba. Although none of the songs are of the Seba’s making they, each track is clearly reminiscent of the producer’s style.

Marcus D’s involvement in this soundtrack stands as an example of the Nujabes-like style of the whole production. D puts forth five of the fourteen tracks present in this collection, and many say that he is the next Nujabes. Whether or not one can agree with that statement it is clear that he definitely has skill in production and has integrated Seba’s style into his own work

Every track is a gem in my opinion, although I would have enjoyed hearing more lyrics, not just for the sake of vocals, rather it would have been pleasing to include rappers and singers that Seba had worked with in this soundtrack. Despite my minor quirk, this album is a great listen not just for Nujabe’s fans, but for anyone who can appreciate the less-than-mainstream type of production for a soundtrack that is present in this work.

The documentary is slated for release sometime this year, apparently very soon, so keep a heads up for what I expect to be a phenomenal film.

Available for download here

You Need To Listen To: Rogue Hearts

Remixed Song Collection
Artist: NAK
Producer: NAK/Evan Wake
Genre: Hip Hop/Rap
Released: 20 January, 2011
Label: Independent/Unsigned

Rogue Hearts is… captivating in it’s production as well as lyrical content. The instrumentals created by Wake seamlessly cradle the words that NAK has put forth in this production. NAK takes a stand as one of the select rappers who advocate views and messages astray from the archetypal hip hop lyricist: his lyrics express strong religious inspirations, tales of love-lost and chronicles of other experiences in his life.

This production is well worth the listen if you’re open to a more meaningful taste of hip hop with beats that aren’t meant to make club bangers.

Available for download here

You Need To Listen To: Eye Alaska

Artist: Eye Alaska
Genre: Indie/Experimental “Cinematic Rock”
Label: Fearless
Location: Orange County, California
Where You Can Find Them:
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Eye Alaska, a band hailing from Orange County, California, is one of sheer individuality, that is to say individuality amongst the plethora of hardcore and pop punk bands within the music scene. The band is composed of lead vocalist Brandon Wronski, guitarists Cameron Trowbridge and Chase Kensrue, bassist Christopher Osegueda, and drummer Han Ko. A little tidbit: Chase Kensrue is the brother of Thrice’s vocalist Dustin Kensrue.

Wronski and Trowbridge were formerly apart of the band Dead Letter Diaries before forming Eye Alaska and signing to Fearless in 2008. The band played at the Bamboozle Festival for three successive years, and has toured the country with an array of bands such as: Saosin, A Rocket to the Moon, Rookie of the Year and Jonny Craig. Eye Alaska has put out two productions, their Yellow and Elephant EP and their full-length album, Genesis Underground. The group continued to perform concerts through ‘10 and even participated in a benefit concert, in which they performed with a live orchestra, for the ‘10 Haiti earthquake. The last event Eye Alaska took part of was the PacSun Summer Solstice, after this the group decided to take a “long break”.

Aside from their musical aspirations, the band also sold signature Eye Alaska backpacks for charity when they toured.

Wronski describes their amalgamation of sounds and genres as “cinematic rock,” a term that accurately describes the band’s sound. The group’s sound is influenced by a variety of genre’s, from hip hop to pop, and movie scores to hardcore, each and every one of Eye Alaska’s songs serves as a soundtrack to any situation in life, well enough to elevate everyday events to “cinematic” proportions.

From to upbeat and pop-y to downright dramatic and deep, Eye Alaska has has been able to instill as many tones as possible in their works. On their full-length album you can step right into the catchy tunes of “Walk Like a Gentleman” which delves into the soul, I’ll leave it at that. Then you can walk into songs like “American Landslide,” that put on more dramatic and troubling tones in the message of encumbrance and being overwhelmed. And then comes along a track of aspiring love in “Miles Don’t Mean Anything”. In short, this album achieves what the band set out to do, creating a soundtrack to life.

It’s troubling that this group has been inactive for so long, but it has been rumored that the members still write, so the best thing to do for now is to listen to the soundtrack that they have provided for us and wait for their comeback.

You Need To Listen To: Mellow Beats, Friends & Lovers

Full-Length Album
Artist: Various
Genre: Hip Hop/Rap, Jazz, Ambient
Released: 10 June, 2009
Label: Hydeout Productions

Mellow Beats, Friend & Lovers is hands-down one of my all-time favorite albums. Mellow Beats is generally thought of as another one of the late-great Nujabes’ works, rather, it is actually a collection of songs from artists that were under his label, with that aside this album is still a completely fulfilling compilation from Hydeout Productions.

This album hits you, song-after-song, with quality jazz, ambience and hip hop, the opening track is a superb Sade cover produced by Nujabes, if that doesn’t sell you, I don’t know what will. To go on towards the hip hop aspects of the album, this album contains gems such as: Jazzy Joint by J.A.M., Maintain by Grooveman Spot and an interesting spoken word type of song, Vision Eyes by Uyama Hiroto.

I cannot explain the love I have for Jazzy Joint, it’s exactly as the track name asserts, a jazz driven hip hop joint. When you listen to the buildup of the instrumentals for the first minute of the song you know something big is going to happen, then comes the rap, only to be followed by an intensification of the instrumentals.

Going back to the soulful aspects of this album, a song that stands out to me is the song Right Here by DJ Mitsu the Beats featuring Dwele, personally this song is the soul variant of Jazzy Joint on this album, that is it’s my favorite slow song of the entire album.

Now, the majority of the tracks on this album are actually instrumentals, and to be honest a lot of them are trips, that’s ambient for you. It would be hard to explain the instrumental tracks further than that, you just have to listen to them. When you check this album out, take time to listen to these: After It by No. 9, Aurora by Chari Chari, Departure by Akira Kosemura, The Session by Kuniyuki Takahashi, and Child’s Attraction by Nujabes.

I think the major gift that this album brings to people is not just the quality, but the unique aspects of each and every song presented on the album. Now nothing in this world of music is completely unique anymore, but I find that each and every song on this album has qualities that you rarely see in combination these days, or ever for that fact.

You Need To Listen To: MOD SUN

Artist: Derek/Dylan Smith, aka MOD SUN
Genre: Hip Hop/Rap “Hippy Hop”
Label: Unsigned/Independent
Location: Bloomington, Minnesota

Where You Can Find Him:
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YouTube

Movement on dreams, stand under none. MOD SUN

Derek Smith, a Minnesota-based rapper is a pinnacle of feel-good hip hop in our age. Honestly, this guy is an embodiment of positivity, and it shines in every one of his songs.

Smith is also known as being one of the drummer for Scary Kids Scaring Kids, a post-hardcore band that had just recently broken up in 2010. After Smith’s departure from Scary Kids he moved towards a completely different area of music tackling hip hop. Now it’s not rare to see a white rapper in this day and age, but what sets Smith apart is the lyrical content of each of his songs.

If you ever have a bad day, some MOD SUN is what you need to unwind and realize that everything is all good. From his HOW TO MAKE A MOD SUN mixtape to his most recent In Mod We Trust EP, Smith has spat only the most positive words I’ve heard in a while. If you have listened to a variety of Smith’s releases you’d understand that his philosophy is “all that hippy shit.” and inspired by the Law of Attraction.

From Blooming Studios came a conglomeration of hip hop beats, jazz samples (as well as pop tunes like Party in the USA or Fireflies) and hippy lyrics, MOD SUN has flipped the genre of hip hop to his liking. Many of his songs are upbeat to mesh with the affirmative messages, but Smith has also ventured towards slower songs to ease in his message, such songs include: Become My Life, Highly Motivated, and Australia New Zealand.

I have no doubts in regards to the success of MOD SUN, if the Law of Attraction is true, which I would like to believe is, as long as Smith keeps up his positivity, only good will come for hippy-hop.

You Need To Listen To: Jesse Barrera

Artist: Jesse Barrera
Genre: Pop, Blues
Label: Unsigned/Independent
Location: San Diego, CA

Where You Can Find Him:
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YouTube

San Diego based musician Jesse Barrera is a definite example of pure musical talent, he has only released one album so far but he has already collaborated with several artists, including: Charlie Gore, Melissa Polinar and AJ Rafael. Although he predominantly plays guitar and sings, Jesse also self-produces the whole of his music from percussion to piano to those weird miscellaneous sounds you love to hear on album tracks.

Jesse made his start in My American Heart, the group gained a huge following in Southern California, I even had the pleasure of seeing them during the ‘05 Taste of Chaos. After a nine-year journey, the group disbanded in ‘09.

After Jesse’s departure from My American Heart he released a few demos revealing a different kind of pop-sound in contrast to My American Heart’s indie/emo style. Jesse’s music so far are undeniably a collection of love songs, but they have a charm about them that gives each song it’s own quality. Each song is driven by Jesse’s soft-voice and his masterful production, from his slower, more emotional songs such as The Distance or Try to his upbeat tracks like Tangled Up or Stay With Me.

Aside from writing and producing his own music, Jesse also does work as a producer, having helped put out several albums and singles in the last year. Barrera has worked on songs for AJ Rafael, Melissa Polinar, Mitchell Grey, JR Aquino, April Chase and more. He is currently working on a new album, so brace yourselves for more of this extremely talented artist.

You Need To Listen To: These 5 Great Soundtracks

Across the Universe: Music From the Motion Picture Deluxe Edition

It’s the freakin’ Beatles man. I love this movie, and I love the renditions of all the Beatles’ songs, there are a few quirks and twists in the songs, but they all remain true to the quality of the originals. But the Deluxe Edition is definitely where it’s at, since it has every single song from the movie. A major favorite form this soundtrack is Martin Luther McCoy’s rendition of While My Guitar Gently Weeps.

Juno: Music From the Motion Picture

Okay, everyone remembers Ellen and Micheal’s cover Anyone Else But You by The Moldy Peaches, but this soundtrack has so much more than that. The content of this soundtrack can be described as pure not-for-mainstream cute indie, (just listen to Vampire by Antsy Pants )with little dashes of Buddy Holly and The Velvet Underground.

Friday Night Lights
Okay, while the soundtrack does include more than one artist, the predominant and shining group is Explosions in the Sky. If you’ve never seen the movie or heard of the band, imagine a post-rock symphony for the duration of an entire movie (well, not an entire movie) These guys are amazing, they’re purely instrumental post-rock style is, to be honest, enchanting. I think calling on Explosions in the Sky was a great move by the producer of this film.

Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Indie, Indie, Indie, lots and lots of New York Indie.

The Wackness: Music From The Motion Picture
The Wackness, oh God. Hip Hop anthems from a past age, this soundtrack is amazing. From Biggie to Tribe to Nas to Raekwon to KRS-One this soundtrack will please anyone who is aware of the quality Hip Hop before the dreaded rise of acts like Soulja Boy. In fact, don’t get the soundtrack, just watch the movie, every song illustrates each part of the film, if you enjoy older Hip Hop, this movie just keeps stacking on the enjoyment as you watch, oh and Method Man is a weed supplier in the movie too.