Want to know what I'm listening to on 3 11-2010?

3/11/10

I listen to ALOT of music while writing. And since I write every day, I am constantly listening to music. My mind is opened to all different types-I'm not even going to attempt to list the different genres.

I turn on my trusty YOUTUBE and search for a playlist that will help me to write, allowing my mind to soar; the music as the perfect backdrop to my creativity.  Alas, I begin singing the words to the latest SADE song; chanting repeatedly; ...I'm a soldier, I'm a soldier...

Damnit, I can't write if I'm too busy trying to sing along with the artist.  Sorry Robin Thicke and Bobby Caldwell and Erykah Badu...all good songs you have but your awesome lyrics are too much of a distraction when I'm searching for that perfect word that should come after ...the pulse between her thighs quickens; a sensation she hasn't...hasn't...Experienced?  Acknowledged?  Damn, again!!!

Then my friend Alex has come to the rescue.  He is my musical twin because we can sit for hours exchanging sound bites, discussing, music, getting hyped over beats, trying to remember lyrics and artists...  For a young college aged guy that lives in Norway, how in the hell does he know every eighties and nineties rap song, every producer past and present, music from Portishead to Frankie Beverly and Maze?!  When I am blue he will send me a song to bring me up and it is an obscure Curtis Mayfield song that I haven't heard for like...thirty years!

When Alex says I have a beat for you, you're going to like this, my ears perk up and I get happy.  Then he sends me DJ KRUSH.  I'm writing and bobbing my head and begging him to send me more.  This current playlist is all inspired by that first DJ Krush song that my 'musical twin' has sent me.  It might be strange for you if you haven't paid much attention to this type of music before but give it a try.  It is hiphop beats, behind a jazzy/ Asian backdrop including samples from Curtis Mayfield, J Dilla and others. It is music that has a repetitive funky trance beat (people who know me know that I get into the trance beats--it's great for writing!) with no distracting lyrics to try to sing along with.  hehe.


Flying Lotus-I love him!  He has done the music bites on The Cartoon Network's Adult Swim program.  Flying Lotus music is what is playing between each show.  He is not a group, but one young black man with a unique Asian name.

Nujabes-Incredibly popular...in Japan.  We Americans know very little about this artist.  Sad that this great talent is almost unheard of here.  If you watch Japanese anime you will recognize him from the show Samurai Champloo along with Tsutchie who also has a place on my playlist with the song Sincerely.

DJ Krush-Real name Hideaki Ishi.  This guy used to be in the Japanese mafia; the Yakuza!!!  He went to the movies back in the eighties (guy is older then me!), saw a hip hop film and knew that he wanted to be a dj and mix artist.  He's one of the first Japanese men to begin this trend of Japanese hiphop artists, though he doesn't like to be categorized because hiphop puts too many boundaries on his music.  I just call him soulful!

Thinks Hoz for the inspiration...still waiting for that invite to Spotifi.  If it's not available in America then I need another playlist.  Haha.  More DJ Krush please!

Enjoy (btw-will change this post. As my mood changes...so will the music)
~Pep~