The Single Life - September 4, 2006...
I almost forgot, another round of "Single Life"... long overdue (again). As always you can click on the artist to bring up their website (right-click to bring it up in another window).
John Kano Project featuring Gia 7 - "I Feel For You (John Kano's Club Mix)" A more poppier dance number in the spacey vein like Delerium, etc. Doleful and haunting heartbreak message, with a pretty good beat, but not totally mind-grabbing. Grade: B-
Ohsha Kai - "Free Your Mind (JH Original Club Mix)" A neo-house pumper, sung by Kai without the usual diva-ish histrionics. Pretty good uplifting dance number. Grade: B
Rhonda Vincent - "Heartbreaker's Alibi" You know it's a great song if I run right from hearing the song on CMT to I-Tunes to buy it. For those of you thinking bluegrass music is hicky and dull, listen to this tune, with backing vocals by Dolly Parton. One of the most angelic voices in country (with Alison Krauss being another, are we seeing a pattern?) . Grade: A
Christina Aguilera - "Ain't No Other Man (Jake Ridley Club Mix)" I know, there's been a zillion different remixes on this song done already, which I can cover for the next year. This mix takes all the jazziness and replaces it with a techno-funk background. Not bad but not particularly earthshaking. Grade B-
Richard "Humpty" Vission featuring Stranger Days - "Somebody" This is pretty different considering Vission's other work, a lot more techno than usual, which is actually pretty cool. More for the car than the dancefloor, but satisfying. Grade B+
L.E.X. featuring Niki Haris - "Let Me Hear The Music (LEX Original Xtended Mix)" Great positive dance anthem. Niki sings with a lot of soul without going overboard. I was going crazy trying to find this till Perfect Beat started selling it. Not too fluffy, and definitely not dark. Just right. Grade: B+
Teddy Geiger - "These Walls" The followup to the hit "For You I Will", Geiger puts through a rocker that sounds not unlike a lot of alt-pop from a decade ago. Though that's not necessarily bad. If you like Five For Fighting but with a harder sounding vocal, here ya go. Grade: B-
Plumb - "Cut (Andy Hunter Mix)" My mind's jury's still out on this one. On one hand, it's a pretty good spacey dance song like from Tiesto or Delerium or the like. But then this is a remix from an artist from the Christian market (belonging even to the Church of Nazarene, the end-timers) trying to cash in from the sinners (dance-primarily gays and adulterers) market (read; CeCe Winans). So I'm in the middle. Grade: C
Peter Luts & Dominico - "What A Feeling" Well luckily this isn't another remix of Flashdance. Though it does have that electro-pop feeling to it. Fluffy but good for the car. Grade B-
Montgomery Gentry - "Some People Change" I'm trying to be objective here. I mean, friggin' Troy Gentry, even the cute one, had to go and get arrested for shooting a captive tame bear in a pen. (I know he's denying it, blah blah blah) The group unfortunately have veered to far into to he-man red-state crap that is way passe let alone plain puerile. Forgettable song. Take this song and "Something to be Proud Of" and right in the crapper it goes. Grade: D-
Bob Sinclar featuring Big Ali & Dollar Man - "Rock This Party (Everybody Dance Now)" Okay now even C&C Music Factory is retro. Following two good singles ("Love Generation" and "World Hold On") with this reggae-tinged re-hash is a stunted idea. Would've been good to keep just the dancy part and left the reggae alone. Grade: D+
Hellogoodbye - "Here (In Your Arms)" and "Bonnie Taylor Shakedown 2x4" I saved the best for last. Hellogoodbye rider the fun neo-emo-disco wave and goes totally for the dancy market. Their album Zombies! Aliens! Vampires! Dinosaurs! is crazyfun, and "Here (In Your Arms)" is a good distillation of that, filtering powerballad lyrics to a kick-ass beat (and apparently stealing Cher's vocoder). I went further and downloaded a track from their original EP, "Bonnie Taylor Shakedown 2X4", which takes the "My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean" ditty and throws it in a electrodisco blender. Way fun, and worth the 99 cents. Grade: A for both
And here's the video which makes Hellogoodbye all the more endearing (though I'm waiting for "Jason" to come out of the darkness...)
John Kano Project featuring Gia 7 - "I Feel For You (John Kano's Club Mix)" A more poppier dance number in the spacey vein like Delerium, etc. Doleful and haunting heartbreak message, with a pretty good beat, but not totally mind-grabbing. Grade: B-
Ohsha Kai - "Free Your Mind (JH Original Club Mix)" A neo-house pumper, sung by Kai without the usual diva-ish histrionics. Pretty good uplifting dance number. Grade: B
Rhonda Vincent - "Heartbreaker's Alibi" You know it's a great song if I run right from hearing the song on CMT to I-Tunes to buy it. For those of you thinking bluegrass music is hicky and dull, listen to this tune, with backing vocals by Dolly Parton. One of the most angelic voices in country (with Alison Krauss being another, are we seeing a pattern?) . Grade: A
Christina Aguilera - "Ain't No Other Man (Jake Ridley Club Mix)" I know, there's been a zillion different remixes on this song done already, which I can cover for the next year. This mix takes all the jazziness and replaces it with a techno-funk background. Not bad but not particularly earthshaking. Grade B-
Richard "Humpty" Vission featuring Stranger Days - "Somebody" This is pretty different considering Vission's other work, a lot more techno than usual, which is actually pretty cool. More for the car than the dancefloor, but satisfying. Grade B+
L.E.X. featuring Niki Haris - "Let Me Hear The Music (LEX Original Xtended Mix)" Great positive dance anthem. Niki sings with a lot of soul without going overboard. I was going crazy trying to find this till Perfect Beat started selling it. Not too fluffy, and definitely not dark. Just right. Grade: B+
Teddy Geiger - "These Walls" The followup to the hit "For You I Will", Geiger puts through a rocker that sounds not unlike a lot of alt-pop from a decade ago. Though that's not necessarily bad. If you like Five For Fighting but with a harder sounding vocal, here ya go. Grade: B-
Plumb - "Cut (Andy Hunter Mix)" My mind's jury's still out on this one. On one hand, it's a pretty good spacey dance song like from Tiesto or Delerium or the like. But then this is a remix from an artist from the Christian market (belonging even to the Church of Nazarene, the end-timers) trying to cash in from the sinners (dance-primarily gays and adulterers) market (read; CeCe Winans). So I'm in the middle. Grade: C
Peter Luts & Dominico - "What A Feeling" Well luckily this isn't another remix of Flashdance. Though it does have that electro-pop feeling to it. Fluffy but good for the car. Grade B-
Montgomery Gentry - "Some People Change" I'm trying to be objective here. I mean, friggin' Troy Gentry, even the cute one, had to go and get arrested for shooting a captive tame bear in a pen. (I know he's denying it, blah blah blah) The group unfortunately have veered to far into to he-man red-state crap that is way passe let alone plain puerile. Forgettable song. Take this song and "Something to be Proud Of" and right in the crapper it goes. Grade: D-
Bob Sinclar featuring Big Ali & Dollar Man - "Rock This Party (Everybody Dance Now)" Okay now even C&C Music Factory is retro. Following two good singles ("Love Generation" and "World Hold On") with this reggae-tinged re-hash is a stunted idea. Would've been good to keep just the dancy part and left the reggae alone. Grade: D+
Hellogoodbye - "Here (In Your Arms)" and "Bonnie Taylor Shakedown 2x4" I saved the best for last. Hellogoodbye rider the fun neo-emo-disco wave and goes totally for the dancy market. Their album Zombies! Aliens! Vampires! Dinosaurs! is crazyfun, and "Here (In Your Arms)" is a good distillation of that, filtering powerballad lyrics to a kick-ass beat (and apparently stealing Cher's vocoder). I went further and downloaded a track from their original EP, "Bonnie Taylor Shakedown 2X4", which takes the "My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean" ditty and throws it in a electrodisco blender. Way fun, and worth the 99 cents. Grade: A for both
And here's the video which makes Hellogoodbye all the more endearing (though I'm waiting for "Jason" to come out of the darkness...)
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