I can finally listen to Van Halen again. Not that I haven’t listened occasionally to some of their older classics from the late 70s and early 80s, but I was never a fan of Van Hagar, as I and many other Van Halen fans referred to the band with Sammy Hagar as the front man. To me, David Lee Roth had the voice that belonged with Van Halen’s wailing guitars, and substitutions were not acceptable. Continue reading
We at Mystic Sounds decided to put our heads together and come up with a joint list of favorite indie artists that we reviewed or interviewed in 2011. So Andrew compiled his list and I compiled mine.
10. Screen Vinyl Image (1 point)
9. Clairy Browne & The Bangin’ Rackettes (2 points)
8. The Dagons (3 points)
7. Sabrepulse (4 points)
6. Amanda Palmer (5 points)
5. The Flashbulb (6 points)
4. GIRAFFES? GIRAFFES! (7 points)
3. Circle Takes The Square (8 points)
2. Captain Ahab (9 points)
1. Tyler, The Creator (10 points)
10. GIRAFFES? GIRAFFES! (1 point)
9. The Flashbulb (2 points)
8. Sabrepulse (3 points)
7. Love and a .38 (4 points)
6. Emilie Autumn (5 points)
5. Hanzelle (6 points)
4. Alexx Calise (7 points)
3. Clairy Browne and the Bangin’ Rackettes (8 points)
2. Florrie (9 points)
1. Stevie Scott (10 points)
You can see that Andrew and I have quite different musical tastes, though there is some overlap in our lists. To give more weight to those artists on whom we both agreed, any artist landing on both our lists earned an additional 5 points.
10. Alexx Calise (7 total points)
9. Circle Takes The Square (8 total points)
7. Captain Ahab (tie, 9 total points)
7. Florrie (tie, 9 total points)
5. Tyler, the Creator (tie, 10 total points)
5. Stevie Scott (tie, 10 total points)
4. Sabrepulse (12 total points)
2. GIRAFFES? GIRAFFES! (tie, 13 total points)
2. The Flashbulb (tie, 13 total points)
1. Clairy Browne and the Bangin’ Rackettes (15 total points)
Congratulations to Clairy Browne and the Bangin’ Rackettes for landing at the #1 spot on the Mystic Sounds Editors’ Top Choices list!
The above image, Mystic Sounds Editors' Top Choice Award, 2011, by http://www.trollmystic.com/music/2012/01/22/mystic-sounds-top-picks-2011/ is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
In the US, solo female vocalists dominated the top of the year’s end music charts for 2011. On Billboard’s top artists of 2011 chart, the top 4 artists were all solo female vocalists: Adele, Rihanna, Katy Perry, and Lady Gaga, in that order. Nicki Minaj (#7) and Taylor Swift (#8) also placed in Billboard’s top 10 for 2011.
On a personal level, my preferences with respect to new music have leaned heavily towards female vocalists for the past several years. In 2011, my tastes leaned so heavily in that direction, 32 of my top 50 artists for 2011 are solo female vocalists, and 10 were groups with lead female vocalists, such as Heart (#13), or otherwise prominent female vocalists as members of the group, such as Fleetwood Mac (#34). Continue reading
I discovered Florrie’s music on Last.fm, while playing one of their similar artists radio stations. Usually when I listen to Last.fm radio, I’m also focused on something else, programming or writing or reading. I don’t give all of my attention to the songs that play on Last.fm radio, because typically either they are songs I’m already familiar with or they have no standout qualities. But sometimes a song I’ve never heard before grabs my attention. I have to stop what I’m doing and check out the song and album titles, see who the artist is, see if the track is available for legal download, and search the web for other info about the artist and their music. That’s exactly what happened when Call of the Wild by Florrie popped up on Last.fm radio a few weeks ago.
As you already know if you’ve read my Top 110 Music posts, I’m a huge fan of Stevie Scott. I recently contacted Stevie and asked if she’d give an interview for this blog, and she agreed! You may have caught her on American Idol in 2006, but there’s more to Stevie Scott than her all-too-brief AI appearance. So let’s find out what’s up with her, shall we? Continue reading
At last I come to the end of the series on my top 110 music artists of the past four years. In the top spot on my personal Last.fm overall track chart is an artist whose unreleased album is my #1 most played album, and whose music I’ve played on the average of 20 tracks per week, just under 3 tracks every day. Continue reading
At #2 is the female vocalist who racked up 10 #1 hits on the US Hot 100 faster than any other solo artist, and faster than any other acts in Billboard history except the Beatles and the Supremes. She’s also the youngest artist to place 10 singles at #1 on the US Hot 100. Her music is a mix of pop, R&B, dance, hip-hop, and reggae, and all sexy. Continue reading
At #3 is an American female pop vocalist who has released six studio albums and has sold over 10 million records worldwide, yet has only placed two singles in the US Hot 100. Eighteen of her songs, however, are in my top 500 most played tracks, and five of her studio albums plus one compilation album are in my top 500 most played albums. One of her studio albums is my overall #6 most played album of the past four years, and another is in my overall top 20. Continue reading
At #4 is the group act who ranks higher than any other group act on my personal Last.fm artists chart for the past four years. I saw this group live at the 2003 revival of Lollapalooza, and have been a fan ever since, having purchased most of their albums, including their most recent studio album, independently released on their own label, Purple Feather Records. Continue reading
At #5 is the American female R&B/hip-hop solo vocalist who released my favorite American music video—definitely the one I’ve watched more than any other. Sadly I’ve never met this artist or seen her in concert. She’s released a total of six studio albums and one mixtape, but unfortunately, only the mixtape and three of the studio albums are available in the US. Her other three studio albums are Japan-only releases, and one of those was a digital download version only. Continue reading