Top 25 Albums Of 2007 – 16 to 20

December 20, 2007 by · Leave a Comment
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Part 2 of my top 25 albums of 2007, coming to you five at a time because my lame typing skills can’t bang it out any faster than that. How’s it look so far? Did I hit your favorite yet?

16: MIA Kala
In a really weak year for hip hop who’d have thought one of the best songs(Bamboo Banga) would open with a line lifted from Jonathan Richman. There’s sheer beauty in just how aggressive, rhythmic, and relentless this whole disc is. It’s music made to be played loud. Turn it up, and then turn it up some more.

MP3: M.I.A – Bamboo Banga
Buy Kala

17: The Cribs – Mens Needs, Womens Needs, Whatever
The Cribs third album, produced by Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand is an energetic blend of pop punk goodness and their accompanying live show was one of the best I’ve seen this year, a powerhouse tour de force. Bonus points for taking chances on one of my favorite tracks, Be Safe, featuring a spoken voice over vocal by special guest Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth.

MP3: The Cribs – Men’s Needs
Buy Mens Needs, Womens Needs, Whatever

18: Bless 1 – Starving Artist
While Kanye,Fifty Cent and Jay-z made mediocre records and spent the year trying to out promote each others ego, Bless 1 holed up in Chicago and self produced this gem of a hip hop record and then gave it away for free via his myspace page. All about the music, the way it should be.

MP3: Bless 1 – The Hunger
Bless 1 Myspace

19: The Silver Seas – High Society
Playing like a long lost seventies classic, when albums were on vinyl records and FM radio still mattered, this blends the sound of that era’s finest, Van Morrison,Jackson Browne,Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, etc. into one great kick back and just listen experience.

MP3: The Silver Seas – The Country Life
Buy High Society

20: The Fratellis – Costello Music
When I first wrote about these guts way back last January I called them the UK version of The Hold Steady, in retrospect that may have been a little over exuberent a comparison on my part but they’re still damn good. The Fratellis can, and do, crank out tunes that come off like a cross between the Buzzcocks and T.Rex. Mostly about girls, girls and girls. Playing good old rock and roll, and they got to make a ipod commercial to boot.

MP3 : The Fratellis -Chelsea Dagger
Buy Costello Music

Previous 21 to 25

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One Down, Many More To Go (No Radiohead Content)

October 2, 2007 by · Leave a Comment
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Bag Of Songs turns one this week. Wow, has it been a whole year already ? Thanks for coming along for the ride, hopefully you heard something you liked, or made you laugh, or at least surprised you in some way. A very special thanks to all the artists who have been featured here and to all of the great friends I have made along the way that make it matter.
Lot’s more goodies still to come , stay tuned.

Here’s a mixed dozen of the amazing independent artists that have been featured here over the past year.

Bag Of Songs Turns One
01: Chelsea Taube – Save My Soul From The Devil [MYSPACE]
02: The Swimmers – Pocket Full Of Gold [WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
03: Creeping Weeds – Billy Pilgrim [WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
04: The A – Sides – A Florida Grove [WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
05: Elliot Jack – My Tongue In Vickie [WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
06: Bless 1 – Starving Artist [MYSPACE]
07: Birds.Fled.From.Me – The Resisted [WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
08: Morgan Ryan – Hallelu [MYSPACE]
09: Shrinking Islands – Swallowed In Grace [WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
10: Desmond Reed – New [MYSPACE]
11: The Celebrities – East Coast Girls [WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]
12: Saturna – Pop Rocks [WEBSITE] [MYSPACE]

ZIP: Bag The Whole Dozen

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New Music : Bless 1

September 3, 2007 by · Leave a Comment
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Former Bag Of Songs Artist Of The Day, Bless 1, is a hip hop artist/producer from the west side of Chicago with an incredible skill for lyrics and a sense of timing and rhyme that flow so well as to seem effortless. Bless was originally supposed to release his album Starving Artist back in June, but due to a hard drive crash the final mixes were lost. Never Give Up is one of the songs on there and he didn’t give up. On Saturday September 1st, Starving Artist was released to the world, and to make sure everyone gets a chance to hear it, Bless 1 has made it available for free download on his myspace page.

It’s a great record I’ve been anticipating for a while now and it delivers. Here’s a couple songs to check out as well as link to the whole album.

MP3: Bless 1 – Starving Artist
MP3: Bless 1 – The Hunger

Get the entire Starving Artist album here

[MYSPACE]

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Artist Of The Day Redux

June 11, 2007 by · Leave a Comment
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For today I’d thought I’d bring you an update on what some of our former Artists Of The Day have been up to. They’re all amazing talents that will be much more famous than just a mention on my blog someday. Remember, so you can proudly say “I knew them way back when…”

First up, Bless 1. One of Chicago’s finest hip hop producer/artists, Bless 1 has teamed up with producers from around the world as Digital Invaders. They’ve put together a very cool all instrumental hip hop disc entitled Invasion. In addition to Bless 1 the also featured are are SUFF DADDY, HAZEEM, LOKID, ELLIPSIS, POWELL, THEWORTHLESSFEW, and AL’KAY FOUNDATION And to make it even better they’re giving it away FREE. Check out these couple tracks then download the whole thing here (as a .RAR file).

MP3: Bless 1 – June (featuring Lokid)
MP3: TWFew – The Writer
Look back at Artist Of The Day : Bless 1

Next up, Chelsea Taube one of the very first Artists Of The Day we featured. Chelsea’s song Desperate Winters is featured on the new Loose Music compilation disc Country Girl :New Sounds Of The Old West Vol.5 alongside other artists such as Devon Sproule, Laura Gibson, Jaimi Shuey, Oh Susanna, Jenny Whiteley, The Watson Twins, Cat Martino, Jenn Grant, Jill Barber, Emily Barker, Nina Violet & The Invisible Orchestra, Salt, Ana Egge, The Mendoza Line, Rachel Ries, Lana Rebel, Redlands Palomino Co. Pick up your copy here. Here are two brand new songs Chelsea recently posted to her myspace page.

MP3: Chelsea Taube – Carolina Moon
MP3: Chelsea Taube – So He Strays
Look back at Artist Of The Week : Chelsea Taube

Last but not least is Desmond Reed. Desmond has his song Who I’d Like To Meet featured on a recent compilation, Baby Boom Records Sampler 002 Desmond’s quirky, catchy, songs instantly embed themselves permanently into your world. Here’s a couple recent new ones from him.

MP3: Desmond Reed – New
MP3: Desmond Reed – When I Met Michelle
Look back at Artist Of The Day : Desmond Reed

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Grab Bag : Ryan Adams,Bless 1, Feist, AI

May 17, 2007 by · Leave a Comment
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Many thanks to all of the Ryan Adams fans who have been dropping by. Download the Halloween Head and Two over at ProductshopNYC. Live versions of a bunch more of the new songs here.

Forget about the new Kanye West and Common leaks, Chicago has a new contender. Get the new track from Bless 1, “My Existence” over at Thirty Three Jones.

File this in the “I just don’t get it” category. Someone please leave a comment explaining why Feist is so extremely popular right now. I mean there’s nothing really offensive about her, but nothing I can see to drive so much hype either. Here’s her recent appearance playing live on a bus for the Jimmy Kimmel show.

Feist on the bus on Jimmy Kimmel 5.15.07- “I Feel It All” and “The Park”

American Idol, hmmm now what’s that quote again ? :

“A bad day of music on a preprogrammed Clear Channel radio station is still better than a good day on American Idol”

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Artist Of The Day : Bless 1

April 11, 2007 by · Leave a Comment
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Like many other artists do, Bless 1 recently sent me message to make me aware of his music and asking me to check it out if I was interested. What I heard was some of the sharpest hip hop songs I have heard in quite a while. Bless 1 is a hip hop artist/producer from the west side of Chicago with an incredible skill for lyrics and a sense of timing and rhyme that flow so well as to seem effortless. His rapping style reminds me a lot of Common or some of the recent Roots material.

He just finished his first album entitled Starving Artist, working with French producer Rythm from Art(Powell). He plans on posting the entire album for free download shortly. He wants to share his music with as many people as possible. Enjoy the two amazing songs we have posted here as well as few others on his myspace. Remember to keep an eye on his myspace for the full album, if these two tracks are any indication it won’t be long until Bless 1 is a household name right alongside Kanye or Jay-Z.

Also check out a recent Q&A with Bless 1 over at just like music blog

MP3: Bless 1 – Starving Artist
MP3: Bless 1 – Never Give Up

[myspace]

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