Weekly Song Post: 'You're Mine' by Devin (2011)

I'm back with the weekly song post, and this weeks goes to Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter Devin and his song You're Mine. Devin Therriault is a New York musician who started out circa 2009 by creating songs in pro-tools and playing all the instruments and singing all of the vocals. He later formed a band called Devin and the Little Angels. You're Mine is a track off of his EP of the same title, which was released on November 15th, 2011. If you like what you hear then be sure to head over to the band website HERE, or the artist LastFm page HERE.

Your Weekly Song Post: 'The Worse It Gets' by Penguin Prison (2011)

This week's song post goes to New York-based indie-electro-pop act Penguin Prison, and his song The Worse It Gets. Penguin Prison is a solo-act consisting of Chris Glover from New York, who rose to prominence with a college band called The Smartest People at Bard, whose demos came to the attention of rapper Q-Tip and lead to a record deal under Universal in 2009. Glover ended up leaving the band after their record got little attention and began doing his own remixes and solo-work under the name of Penguin Prison. The Worse It Gets comes off of his debut self-titled studio album, which was released on October 18th, 2011. If you like what you've heard then you can head over to his website HERE, or his Last.FM page HERE. 

Your Oldies Rewind: 'Sugartown' by Nancy Sinatra (1966)

Your Oldies Rewind returns this week with the Nancy Sinatra classic hit from 1966, Sugartown. Nancy Sinatra is an American singer/actress (daughter of singer/musician/legend Frank Sinatra) from Jersey City, New Jersey, USA and who got her start in the music biz circa 1961. Sugartown was written by songwriter/producer Lee Hazlewood, and was released as a single by Nancy Sinatra in 1966 where it would peak at #5 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song was officially released under Nancy's 1967 Sugar LP. So there is this week's Oldies Rewind, enjoy!

Your Daily Song: 'Do It Again' by Holy Ghost! (2011)

Today's feature song is Do It Again, by American electro-pop duo Holy Ghost!. Holy Ghost! originate out of New York City , consists of members Nick Millhiser and Alex Frankel, and have been active on the music scene circa 2007. Do It Again is a single off of their debut self titled album Holy Ghost!, which was released on April 4th, 2011. I love this song! It has elements of 80s-era synth-pop, mixed with those hyper-electro-glam-punk sound effects that are reminiscent of bands like Sigue Sigue Sputnik. Its very fresh to say the least, so check it out. 

Your Daily Track: 'Dancing On My Grave' by Ghostland Observatory (2010)

Today's feature daily track goes to American indie-electro-dance duo Ghostland Observatory and their song Dancing On My Grave. As you may have already noticed, I am a big indie-electro/indie-dance fan, and I discovered this group recently and found that the singer reminds me very much of the vocals of Freddie Mercury. Now those vocals, and the modern indie-electro sound mixed are just unstoppable, and so it is I am presenting this song here today to you all ;-) Ghostland Observatory consists of duo Aaron Kyle Behrens (vocals) and Thomas Ross Turner (drums and synth), who originate out of Austin, Texas, USA, and who have been active on the music scene circa 2004. Dancing On My Grave can be found on their Robotique Majestique album, which was released in 2008. Listen to the song and tell me it doesn't sound like Freddie Mercury...do it now! If you like what you hear you can check out more at their MySpace page HERE. 

Your Daily Song: 'Gucci Gucci' by Kreayshawn (2011)

Today's feature song is Gucci Gucci by American hip-hop artists Kreayshawn. Kreayshawn (Natassia Gail Zolot) is a hip-hop singer/song-writer out of Oakland, California and has been active on the music scene circa 2008, also being a former member of garage-punk band The Trashwomen. Gucci Gucci is a single which was initially released on Kreayshawn's YouTube channel and which since has gaine over 10 million views. The song was available as of June 14th, 2011 on many online music stores such as ITunes and Amazon.

Your Daily Song: 'You Know What I Mean' by Cults (2011)

Today's daily feature is a song called You Know What I Mean, by Manhattan-based indie-pop band Cults. Cults started out in 2010 with New York University-collegues and duo Brian Oblivion (vocals, guitar, and percussion) and Madeline Follin (vocals) who rose to fame with the release of their digital 3-track EP in 2010. You Know What I Mean comes off of their debut self-titled studio-album Cults, which was released on June 7th, 2011 and is still pretty fresh. Head over to their website HERE for more music and info.

Another Classics Shuffle: 'Hurricane' by Bob Dylan (1975)

Welcome to Another Classics Shuffle, and this week's classic shuffle result is the 1975 protest-song Hurricane, by American singer/song-writer Bob Dylan. Bob Dylan (Robert Allen Zimmerman) has been in the news lately with his recent music tour in Asia, and he was born May 24, 1941 (aged 70 at present) in Duluth, Minnesota, U.S.A.. I am really not going to go into the trivia on him because he has whole books dedicated to his biographical history and musical contributions, so if you really want that sort of stuff you can always start with his Wikipedia page HERE. The song Hurricane was written by Bob Dyland, and co-written with Jacques Levy, about the imprisonment of Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, an African American (and well-known middleweight boxer in the 1960's) who was falsely imprisoned in 1966 for a triple murder and who wasn't released from prison until 1985 after a number of re-trials that were eventually ruled in 1986 as having been  "based on racism rather than reason and concealment rather than disclosure," although by that time Carter had already served around 19 years of his life behind bars. For more on that story, you can check out the 1999 motion picture The Hurricane which is based on Carter's life-story. The song was released on Dylan's 1976 album Desire.
BobDylan-Hurricane by manon42 

Another Classics Shuffle: 'Cherry, Cherry' by Neil Diamond (1966)

The results for this week's Classics Shuffle goes to American singer/song-writer/musician Neil Diamond, and his 1966 hit song Cherry, Cherry. According to wikipedia Diamond wrote, composed and recorded this song, while it was arranged by Artie Butler and produced by Jeff Barry & Ellie Greenwich. This tune was Neil Diamond's first major hit reaching #6 on both the Billboard Hot 100 chart in October of 1966 and it has been named "one of the greatest three-chord songs of all time" by Rolling Stone magazine. The song can be found on his The Feel of Neil Diamond album, or you can also find an alternate version of this song on his Classics: The Early Years album.

Today's Feature Song = 'I'll Get You (feat Jeppe)' by Classixx (2009)

Today's feature song is I'll Get You (feat. Jeppe) by Los-Angeles-based DJ/Producer-duo Classixx. The DJ/Production-duo, previously known as Young Americans, consists of Michael David and Tyler Blake. Their name comes from their mutual love for classic compilations of various music genres. I'll Get You (feat. Jeppe) was released in 2009 by Kitsune Records, and it can be purchased on Itunes or Amazon. I highly recommend checking out the various Kitsune compilations if you like this song as they are loaded with heaps of goodies like this, and also head over to the Classixx MySpace page HERE for more info on them.

Feature Song Of The Day = 'Weekend' by Smith Westerns (2010)

Today's feature song is Weekend by Chicago-based indie/glam-rock group Smith Westerns. Smith Westerns have been active on the rock-music scene since 2007 and the group consists of members Cullen Omori, Cameron Omori, Max Kakacek, and Colby Hewitt. For more information on the band you can check out the January 2011 Rolling Stone Magazine brief on them HERE, or you can head over to their MySpace page HERE. Weekend comes off of their 2nd studio album which was just released on January 18th, 2011 and is titled Dye It Blonde. Bleh!

Song of the Day for September 13th, 2010: "Howlin' for You" by The Black Keys

And the song is... Howlin' for You by American Blues rock duo The Black Keys. The Black Keys have been posted on this vlog before, but I will refresh the memory as I can't even seem to locate the past  posts I've done of them. They are Dan Auerbach (vocalist/guitarist) and Patrick Carney (drummer/producer), and they formed in 2001 out of Akron, Ohio. This song can be found as the 4th track on their latest album release titled Brothers, which officially hit the stores on May 18th, 2010. I might just add that I reckon the Black Keys are one of the top new artists out there, and they bring us back to a sound that was lost in the 1960's but also with new elements which seems to be what defines great new music. Enjoy!

#58 of VJ Samsonite's Top 100 80's Dance Hits Countdown!: "It's Like That" by Run D.M.C. (1983)

I've been gone a few days, but I am now back, and I am carrying with me the secret envelope that contains #58 of the countdown....and the song is....It's Like That, by the infamous 80's American hip-hop group Run D.M.C.. Run D.M.C. came out of Hollis in the Queens borough of New York City. Run D.M.C. formed back in 1981, and consisted of members Joseph "Run" Simmons, Darryl "D.M.C." McDaniels, and Jason "Jam-Master Jay" Mizel. It's Like That appeared initially as a single on cassette release in 1983 which was accompanied by another track titled Sucker M.C.'s.  Run D.M.C. is considered by many to be one of the most influential hip-hop groups in music history, and along with other acts of the time (such as LL Cool J) they were pioneers of the new school of hip hop. According to wikipedia, they were the first group in the hip-hop genre to achieve a Grammy Award and a Gold Album, and Rolling Stone Magazine named them #48 on their list of Greatest Musical Artists of All Time. Finally, in 2004 they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, (despite the fact that they were a hip-hop group) and they were only the second hip-hop group in history to have achieved this. There are heaps more trivia items about Run D.M.C. on their wikipedia page, so I suggest you look there for more info on the group. Also, there has been a very popular and well done remix version of It's Like That by Jason Nevins (released in 1997) which I also highly recommend checking out. However, the original is a classic so what I would truly recommend is getting a hold of both versions. Bam!

Song of the Day for August 7, 2010: The Drums: "Forever and Ever Amen"

And the song is.... Forever and Ever Amen, by American indie-rock band The Drums. The Drums come out of Brooklyn, New York and consist of members Jonathan Pierce (vocals), Jacob Graham (guitar), Adam Kessler (guitar), and Connor Hanwick (drums). The song comes as the 6th track of their debut studio album, which was just released on June 7th, 2010. Check out their myspace page or lastfm for more info.

Song of the Day for August 6th, 2010 (The Roots: "How I Got Over")

And the song is...How I Got Over, by American hip-hop group The Roots. The Roots come out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania which formed back in 1987. The group has many members, new and past ones, but they were originally formed by Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson in Philly. How I Got Over comes off of their new album (released June 21, 2010) of the same name. This album debuted at #6 on the Billboard 200 chart, and they purportedly sold over 51,000 copies of the album in the first week of its release. There is heaps more information about the group and their history on their wikipedia page, so be sure to check that out if you are keen.

#68 of VJ Samsonite's Top 100 80's Dance Hits Countdown: Cyndi Lauper - I'll Kiss You (1983)

Welcome back everybody! Here we are again, this time presenting #68 of the countdown! And the song is....I'll Kiss You, by that very unusual and no doubt one of the most memorable and classic high-octave singer's of the 1980's, miss Cyndi Lauper. This song can be found on Lauper's 1983 release and mega-hit album, "She's So Unusual," as track number 8. Cyndi Lauper herself was born in 1953 in New York City, and according to wikipedia she was the first female singer to have 4 top 5 singles released off of one album, although I can imagine that Madonna would have shortly become the second female singer to do the same, however I am not completely sure on that fact. Her wikipedia page also states that Lauper has released 11 albums and hailed over 40 singles, and that as of the year 2008 she had sold somewhere around 25 million records worldwide, a hard act to follow for most no bout adout it. This song features a great dance beat with Lauper's signature vocals, and I must say that listening to Lauper songs really do take me back to 80's memories as a little kid watching movies with my sister and especially the Goonies (probably because she had a feature song on the Goonies soundtrack). Now don't be surprised if more Lauper hits appear later on this countdown, and watch out for that love potion #8, its #9 that you want right???

Song of the Day for August 2, 2010

And the song is...Heads Will Roll, by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs are an American indie rock band from NYC, and have been around since the year 2000. The band consists of 3 primary members as Karen O (vocals/piano), Nick Zinner (guitars and keyboards) and Brian Chase (drums). Heads Will Roll is the 2nd track off of their latest album titled It's Blitz, which was released last year in March of 2009. This song has a bit of a dance/house feel to it; the album received good reviews, and Rhapsody (online music service) called it the 12th best album of 2009. So check em out, I reckon they are a bit under-rated.

And the song of the day is....

....Three Sheets to the Wind, by American hip hop artist Sage Francis. Sage Francis originates out of Providence, Rhode Island and been around on the music scene since 1999. Francis is the CEO/owner of the independent hip-hop record label Strange Famous Records. Three Sheets to the Wind is the 3rd track to come off of his Li(f)e album, which was released in May 2010. Enjoy the song...