music madness

I highly encourage anyone who has the opportunitely to attend bonnaroo music festival this upcoming summer. The festival lasts three days and features approximatly one hundred artists over the course of the event. It is held on a 700 acre farm in Manchester, Tennessee. Bonaroo has been held annually after making its debut in 2002 and has become increasingly popular in years since. Anyone that plans on attending should make their own arrangements regarding food, water, and shelter. Most people bring a tent and allot of water due to a constant shortage among concert goers. This year its headliners include Pearl Jam, Metallica, Jack Johnson, and Kanye West. Some other well known artists that will play this year are Robert Plant, Willie Nelson, O.A.R., Ben Folds, and State Radio, Tickets usually range from two to three hundred dollars depending on when they are purchased. If you can afford it and have a way to get there I highly recommend going.

As with most genres of music I am a fan of some rap. Though a genre closer to my heart and more important to me, is Hip Hop. It is very difficult to distinguish between the two. It is not even always even accepted that there is a difference between them. My favorite artists from the genre or genres mentioned are Jurassic 5 and Lil Wayne. Jurassic 5 is viewed as the more hip hop of the two were as Lil Wayne is definitely more of a rap artist. If you are interested in hearing some of Jurassic 5's music I would suggest that you check out their album "Power in Numbers." Some of the better songs on this album include "A Day At The Races," as well as "After School Special," and "What's Golden." As for Lil Wayne, he has recorded hundreds of songs. Some are good and some are terrible. It is your job to sort them out.

Reggae has always been one of my personal favorite genres. Most people think of Bob Marley instantly when reggae is mentioned. He was a very influential artist and formed the base of most reggae music today. Many people pass over some very good artists who played with and in the time of Marley. The first of these that I will mention is Peter Tosh. He was a member of the wailers and even recorded many solo albums before he was murdered in Kingston. A few of my personal song favorites include "Johnny B. Goode" and "Coming in Hot." I would also recommend exploring the music of Toots and the Maytals. Their song "pressure drop" gained a large amount of popularity after being featured in the movie "The Harder They Come." The movie was based on the drug trade in and around Kingston, Jamaica and contains many classic reggae hits. I would also recommend listening to funky kingston by Toots. More information on "The Harder They Come" can be found on the Wikipedia encyclopedia which can be reached from the link below.

The Harder They Come: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Harder_They_Come

It was not until this year that I started listening to some electronic music. I have never had anything against it. I simply preferred to listen to other genre's of music instead. This year however my room mate introduced me to a vast selection of unexplored music. This included some electronic music which I now love. I often find myself listening to electronic bands such as Zero 7, Bassnectar, and Thievery Corporation. I highly recommend these three artists.

Zero 7 and Thievery Corporation songs tend to have slower beats than most of the Bassnectar songs. The songs of these two artists in turn have a more mellow mood than that of Bassnectar. Zero 7 has some extremely good vocal performances in songs such as "In The Waiting Line" and "Destiny." The vocals are done by assorted artists not actually in the group. I would also advise listening to "A Gentle Dissolve" by Thievery Corporation. Below are links at which you can listen to select samples of these bands.

Bassnectar: http://www.bassnectar.net/homebase.html

Zero 7: http://www.zero7.co.uk/index_02.html

For anyone interested in getting out to a performance in the near future, the Pink Floyd Laser Light Show is coming back to knoxville. The show combines many old pink floyd favorites with one of the best light shows that can be seen today. Though I have not been myself I have many friends who highly recommend it. A section of the show can be seen at the link below. From watching various videos it seems that it would appealing for anyone who likes pink floyd at least a little. Since pink floyd no longer performs periodically this light show is the next best thing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnC4P4DEovQ

There are many different subjects that I have considered writing my blog about. In the end it all came done to what interests me most and that is why I chose to focus my blog on music. I have always been very interested in music and would like to share my music with everyone in hope that they will enjoy it as much as I do. I also like to know what other people are listing to. I believe that weblogging is the perfect way for me to both share my music and find out what other people are listining to. A couple of my personal favorits right now includet Tribe Called Quest, Led Zepplin, Modest Mouse, Lil Wayne, sts9, Ben Harper, Citizen Cope, Jurassic 5, Mute Math, Slightly Stoopid, and Wolfmother. If any of these artists are not familiar to you I encorage you to find a way to listen to them.