TRAM 17

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We just hooked up with Tram 17 Productions and couldn’t be happier about it. Below is an awesome video of a new Vaski track, “The Island,” with awesome footage to go with it. Please like them on Facebook by clicking the picture below. SoS and Tram 17 have got plenty more videos on the way so get ready.

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This picture sums up my feelings on this video…

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It’s a beautiful day, so this calls for a song that will make the day even more beautiful. Mark Ronson, one of my favorite hip-hop producers in the game, throws down a sunny beat for rapper Saigon, who takes a little break from his normal dark rap to make a song to bump to while cruising in your car with all the windows down on a bright summer (or New Orleans winter) day. Jah bless.

Mark Ronson – Diduntdidunt (Feat. Saigon)

Now it’s time for round two. We’re getting into the top 20 songs, and choosing which ones to use is becoming increasingly more difficult. Although it may be tough, I’m confident that I’m choosing the songs that are most appropriate / most appealing for this post. Get money.

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#20 – Mid sophomore year, Big Sean was put on the list of my top 5 favorite rappers. Since his first mixtape, Finally Famous, Sean has been going in on every track he has ever been on. I never thought that he would become famous, which I was fine with, but then I was proved wrong when I started hearing songs from his album, also titled Finally Famous, on the radio. This song will pick you up when your down, and although Sean has grown as a rapper, it will forever remain one of my favorite songs.

Big Sean – All my Life

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#19 – Do I really need to say anything here? “Jumper” is one of the most classic songs of all time, and it reminds me of one of the most classic younger brother moments of all time: the first time visiting your sibling at college.

Third Eye Blind – Jumper

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#18 – Before The Adventures of Bobby Ray released back in 2010 I was not really into B.o.B. Although the Album got some criticism, I thought it was absolutely spectacular. It had multiple radio hits giving it great commercial success, but “Lovelier Than You” will forever remain my favorite track on the album. It brings me back to the spring of junior year, at a time when the birds started chirping, flowers started blossoming, and the trips to the beach after school became daily. No song makes my mind more at peace than this song right here.

B.o.B. – Lovelier Than You

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#17 – Nas’ first album (and my first ever rap album), Illmatic, will forever remain one of the greatest rap albums of all time. Although I got Illmatic in third grade, Nas’ music stopped interesting me, until the sixth grade when I got heavily into rap once again. He became one of my favorite rappers, and after downloading Illmatic to my computer I went on iTunes and purchased his album God’s Son. Little did I know I was going to find one of my favorite songs of all time. This remix of Tupac’s “Thugz Mansion” reminds us all that there is a better place that we will all eventually reach, and always seems to calm me down whenever I’m worked up.

Nas – Thugz Mansion (N.Y.) (Feat. Tupac & J. Phoenix)

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#16 – I first heard Joanna Newsom in the movie Strangers with her song “Sprout And The Bean.” When my friend casually played it one day, I was instantly scared shitless, but after I got over my initial fear I realized how beautifully creepy Joanna Newsom’s unique voice is. In the beginning of my junior year I heard another one of her songs, “Peach, Plum, Pear,” which my friend and I could not stop listening to. This song is one of the many soundtracks to the fall of junior year, and with every play I am brought back to those faded memories.

Joanna Newsom – Peach, Plum, Pear

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#15 – If anyone doesn’t enjoy this song, I will fight you. The combination of Wyclef’s voice and T.I.’s flow make an all around epic composition. Along with being an excellent song, when I first studied in Spain during the summer between freshman and sophomore year, my buddy Jack and I would listen to this at least once a day. That trip to Madrid changed my life forever, and will remain one of the best times of my life. Remember t0 slow down or somebody gon’ crash.

Wyclef Jean – Slow Down (Feat. T.I.)

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#14 – By the time I was a sophomore in highschool, my brother was finally able to start driving me to school. I was used to taking the train and getting to dictate what music I listened to on the way to school, but I soon learned that since it was his car, he got to choose the music. My brother listened to different music than I did, which was good because he opened me up to the wonderful world of jam bands. John Butler Trio is a group from Australia, who absolutely kick ass. If you actually read this, please go onto youtube and listen to John Butler’s song, “Ocean,” which is one of the greatest guitar solos of all time. “Better Than” is a great song to help you sit back and remember the good things in life.

John Butler Trio – Better Than

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#13 - Summer going into senior year, what a spectacular time…That was the summer of the most epic summer playlist of all time, and this is one of my favorite songs from that playlist.

Matt & Kim – Lightspeed

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#12 – The Kooks are arguably my absolute favorite band. I love everything about them, from their British swag all the way to frontman Luke Pritchard’s semi-whiny, semi-punkish voice. “Seaside” is my favorite acoustic song by them, and when I saw them at The Bowery Theatre last summer, I was lucky enough to experience this song live. There is no real moment that this song reminds me of, I guess kind of just my whole highschool, but either way it is a killer tune.

The Kooks – Seaside

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#11 – As I have already expressed, Kanye West is my favorite rapper of all time, but I realized that he could do more than just rap when his album 808s And Heartbreaks was released in the fall of 2008. Critics and fans absolutely tore apart the album, but I had it on repeat for about 2 months after it came out. I was going through a rough patch in life, and this song helped me get over all the troubles I was having. Although both the beat and lyrics are quite simple, this is my favorite track off the album, and my favorite track to look back at life to when I’m upset. For this, spot number 11 goes to “Street Lights.”

Kanye West – Street Lights

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. I’m an avid soundtrack buff, no, that’s an understatement, I’m such an avid ’soundtracker’ that even composer produced music, which is essentially ‘back ground’ filler, makes it’s way to my eclectic plethora of an itunes account. I’ve found that a lot of small time produced soundtracks never make it into peoples ears because they stand in the shadows of large Hollywood composers such as, John Williams (Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park) or Hans Zimmer (Pirates of the Caribbean, Lion King, The Dark Knight), and not to take away from the genius that those two craft, I’d just like to shed light on the little guys that go out and gather songs from all spectrums of music as well as their own composed pieces.

. To digress for a moment, some of the notable soundtracks I’m alluding to and strongly recommend, include: “Escape from New York” (1981), written, directed and composed by John Carpenter, starring the young and sexy Kurt Russell as Snake Plissken. “Napoleon Dynamite” (2004), composed by John Swihart as well as various artists, starring Jon Heder as the bucked-tooth, hot head, Napoleon Dynamite. And last, Wes Anderson’s, “The Royal Tenenbaums” (2001), which featured various artists as well as a score composed by Mark Mothersbaugh.

. The whole point of a soundtrack, is to offer a score or  supplement particular tracks into a film in order to enhance it’s mood or ‘mise en scene’ tailored to the ear. Often times this goal is achieved but seldom does a sound track truly portray the distinct environment of a scene. The director of a film can only go so far as to show the viewer, what is being portrayed visually, so it takes a keen ear to translate and to eventually integrate music into film accurately.

. The movie “Drive,” directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, and staring American heartthrob, Ryan Gosling is a neon-painted, car-chasing, stunt-heavy thriller about an unnamed, Hollywood stunt driver (Ryan Gosling), who moonlights as a getaway driver for crooks and thieves in need of a seamless exit. Gosling whips around in a then cool, 1973 Chevy Malibu, sooped up to the brim. He is decked out in a white, racing jacket, embroidered with Gosling’s signature golden scorpion, anything but discrete, yet obviously hinted with subtle undertones of style and boisterous conviction, letting his enemies know that at any point he might stomp their heads to a pulp in an elevator shaft. Gosling barely says a word throughout the entire movie, that’s what makes him cool, suave and unpredictable. The overall style in which Retn displays would be a cross between “Bullitt”(1968) and yes, “Escape from New York” (1981), with that perfect balance of neon aesthetics and gritty thrill. In addition to it’s directing, what overlays this film into the underrated, modern day, magnum opus is the heavy electronic, vibrating tones emitting along the gripping car chases, gunfire and heists. The erudition behind the music is Cliff Martinez, “A Real Hero” for lining this movie with it’s sensational, form-fittingly apt soundtrack as well as it’s up to standard score, which falls nowhere near short of perfection. Scene for scene, propelling a scummy heist to the scale of ‘beau monde’, making dash getaways seem calm and flawless, for this, a feather in the cap for old Martinez, he was nothing of a bust but a backbone nonetheless.

. Notable track un, is “A Real Hero” by College featuring Electric Youth. I’m not the first person to emphatically tip my cap to female singers but when executed in the right time and place it can be a beautiful thing. College, there is not much to say information wise about this mysterious, dark, synth pop group but I can speak on behalf of their music, specifically their end scene track for “Drive” which is so inspiring that I had to drive around at dawn with blood spilling out of my stomach just to adhere to the musical/cinematic beauty pouring out of my television. Opening a movie in many ways can be easier, but closing out a movie, leaving the audience walking away with their proverbial sunglasses perched on their noses and shirts transmuted into studded leather jackets is truly a work of music selection genius. I know I may be glamorizing a film that probably won’t get recognized for anything major in the critics eyes, but why should the likes of bald-headed dildos depreciate my love for a thrilling and soon to be timeless film; oh that’s right, it fucking wont.

. Notable track deux is “Nightcall” by Kavinsky, the scrappy, house bumping Frenchman, trivialized because not everyone has an ear for electro-ominousness. The wolf howl in the beginning of the track is a harbinger for a trance-like, temple throbbing, pious of coolness urge to drive through the ersatz pink and green lit streets of Tokyo with your right hand on the wheel at 12:00 and your left hand out the window giving beddable waves to Harajuku, tight-fleshed, girls as they giggle with dreamboat, American, temptation, fighting the urge to uncover there laughing beams if only it were socially acceptable; I guess not everyone has a transparent Asian fetish as I do, fuck you I’m writing this. Just when you think the song is confined to the mutterings of a robot-like front man, singing into a voice box with a vacuous, stiff jawed manner, BAMN, in comes the amorous, female voice snatching the imprisoned, melodic tones from the thralls of a monotonous yet pleasing robot. Kavinsky painted it, the overcast of tone-savy radiance in the chorus, bleeding into beautiful wide angle shots of the Los Angeles skyline, presented with “Vice City” -like text in neon pink, wading into a shot of Gosling sitting in his Impala, face pensive as he starts the engine and heads off into the blackened ‘abussos’ of desolate downtown Los Angelean streets.

. Although these are a mere two tracks, it would be my deepest referral to check out the rest of the soundtrack, including the original score, composed by Cliff Martinez. It would be even more useful to actually see the movie, I would share it but I wouldn’t last one day in prison. Enjoy the following songs, Love, JF.

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Click the link below to download these sexy songs:

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Kavinsky – Nightcall

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College feat. Electric Youth – A Real Hero

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. I get it, The Strokes’ “Is This It” album is one of, if not, the greatest indie albums of all time. In this modern era of “single track” downloads and “hit singles,” number 1’s and 2’s on the itunes most downloaded seems to be the mecca of the “made it’s” in the music industry. Very seldom do entire albums come along and hit you with same caliber that a great song does. Nowadays it’s doleful to think that an “album” is a lost art, but those are the snack facts on facts on facts. When bands do master the art of making the all inclusive, never-dull, full length LP that brings listeners to a state euphoria and mystifying, hair raising, salivating, masturbatingly exuberating bliss, tastefully tainted with perfection and imperfection so much so that it’s sublime fulcrum is that to a 16th century, patriarchal love child thriving in the evangelical, “do it yourself,” expansion era, with a solid, affluent foundation mongreled with a Jacksonian knack to pursue wealth, prosperity and happiness, the end result can be compared to an album such as “Is This It.”

. Released in the summer of 2001, it’s been more than 10 years, and this album still holds the perfect recipe on “how to make a perfect rock album.” There is no doubt that artists have since put out work with similar stylistic and harmonious aesthetics that do hold their own in the music world, but “Is This It” from a sound standpoint, recording standpoint, instrumental standpoint, lyrical standpoint, band image standpoint, bashed the fucking nail on the head six times over. While artists persevere for their own sounds in their respected genres and forms of “modus operendi” there is always a uniform understanding that they must pay homage to the fellows that shaped the independent music scene. I’m sure bands after establishing themselves must have thought, “Well, at this point the only thing left to do is pay tribute to The Strokes” and what better way to do that than to cover there beloved album, “Is This It.” Stereogum.com organized for bands to come to together and collaboratively cover the entire album. Bands like Peter, Bjorn & John, The Morning Benders and Heems but one band seemed to really incorporate their specific style while synthesizing the unmatched, uncanny sound of The Strokes, Real Estate.

. Real Estate, the chill-wave trio from Ridgewood, NJ in my opinion truly stole the show. I could imagine that it would be very hard to take such a masterpiece of a song such as “Barley Legal” and have the balls to do anything to it, but in decadent fashion they pulled it off. The first noticeable difference is the tempo, being Real Estate they are not known for staying ahead in the tune, instead they make their living sitting back,slow-riding reverb until the tide turns low. Who would ever think a sound about heartbeating regret and fast paced, unwanted nostalgia could be slowed to a degree of chill-wave, tone-heavy vibes? Oh right, fucking Real Estate knew that! In an interview for Stereogum.com, bassist, Alex Bleeker revealed that his love for the band, specifically his idol worship for Strokes guitarist, Albert Hammond Jr., prompted him to go out and make his first guitar buy, a white Fender Strat with a lightning bolt strap. Why would Real Estate ever shy away from an opportunity to directly please their child-hood rock gods? The wouldn’t, because their fucking Real Estate! In my opinion, their cover of “Is This It” certainly holds itself to a higher standard than the rest of the tracks on the tribute album. I don’t suggest the entire album because while “Is this It” speaks for it’s self, the cover album is still a cover, and not all bands, let alone anyone can reproduce music gold. In saying so, Real Estate came pretty fucking close, take a listen, take a download, take a fucking break out of your day, love JF.

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Click below to download this sexy song:

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Real Estate-Barely Legal

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. Wah, Wah, Wah, Social problems galore, girls, guys, sex, no sex, “I shouldn’t have had sex with “X” because now I might have a venereal disease. We need more time to figure out all this shit out, unfortunately not all of us are Doc Brown. When shit does hit the proverbial fan there is always a 3:00 minute song to indulge in, to empathize with. All of our romanticized quandaries lay pertinent to some mid-twenty year old pounding his heart out on guitar strings, for this we have Cloud Nothings, because much like us, all they do is whine. And where there is “whine,” there is always “wine.” So “Stay Useless” and enjoy. Love, JF.

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Click below to download sexy mp3:

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Cloud Nothings – Stay Useless

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This is pretty much the same song except it’s more poppy and there’s a girl singing. That being said, the girl is pretty bad ass and has a cool voice. Solid cover but I’d like to see something more original.

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The Knocks ft. Mandy Lee – Midnight City (M83 Cover)

Oh baby oh baby we got our first track of the new year from D. Bridge. This is a remix of A.S.A.P. Rocky’s “Demons” but honestly I like this one better. Milwaukee’s  D. Bridge is one of the best new talents out there and he needs to be heard. Spread the word!

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D. Bridge – Angels & Demons .. (Flow overload at 1:07)

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