Intro to Blogs

Over the past three years I have been much more interested than I have been in the past. My newly found knowledge for music is a testament to that. My dad raised me listening to all sorts of music; from the Chili Peppers to Parliament to John Coltrane to The Roots. Growing up around music is why I am so interested in music now, but I never appreciated it until three years ago.

Recently I stumbled upon Lee Fields on "Entourage" and thought that was a pretty cool song he had, but he probably did not have any other good stuff, I was wrong. The song I heard was "Ladies", one of many great songs on Entourage and of his. To my disbelief, Lee Fields actually is a musician from the 70's, who took off the 80's and returned in the 90's and finally strong in 2009. I purchased the album that contained "Ladies" and gave it a listen, I was really impressed. This album was entitled "My World" and had a very unique sound to it. Other notable songs were: "My World", "Honey Dove", and "My World is Empty". To my disbelief, Lee Fields actually is a musician from the 70's, who took off the 80's and returned in the 90's and finally strong in 2009. "My World" is Field's latest piece and I am yet to listen to his older stuff, but I will make sure to.

Federico Aubele was another great artist of the last month in my musical journey. I have known of him for a while and liked a few of his songs a lot, but I never really knew how much talent he had. My dad and I noticed on his label's site (eslmusic.com, searching for nearby Thievery Corporations shows) that he was touring and ended up in Philly, where I live. He was booked at the Art Museum for a free showing and we went because it was free and nearby. After hearing his lengthy set, we decided to purchase "Amatoria", his latest album. Although the sound quality was poor (tour managers fault), we enjoyed the show he and his band put on. I gave it a thorough listen and concluded that he was a great artist, especially with Eric Hilton and Rob Garza of Thievery Corporation (to be known as TC from now on) producing and mixing his records.

The final musical experience I can remember in the last few weeks was perhaps the most instrumental (no pun intended). I heard that RJD2 was going to be in town for a special screening of a movie where he would be a special guest on a question panel. The movie I attended was called "Copyright Criminals", a documentary about sampling in music. After viewing the movie, which included many DJs and their music, made me realize that I need to not only learn how to scratch, but produce as well. Watching the process of how some artists made songs just looked so fun to me that I had to take action.

With all of these positives only came one negative, that I was aware of. Lupe Fiasco. I missed him at Temple. I found out he was in Philly a day before he performed, but I did not find out where until a day after he had left.

That will conclude my musical voyages of the last month. Stick around for the end of this month when I will take a more in depth look at what has gone on for me with music.