Blue Chi’s

A quick post on recent music I’ve been listening to. I’m listening to more music these days than I used to a couple of years ago, probably because I now primarily purchase all my music from iTunes and rarely ever buy any physical disks. I can only buy music from the UK iTunes store because I have a bank account in the UK, but it is still annoying at times because there are some tracks which are only sold in the US or some other jurisdiction, but not in the UK. For example, only the standard version of OneRepublic’s “Waking Up” is sold on UK iTunes, while the US has also the delux version of the album which has four extra tracks. I always get the delux version if it has more tracks, I do not understand why someone would buy the standard edition which has four missing tracks when the whole purpose of buying an album is get ALL the tracks.

OneRepublic – Waking Up

“Waking Up” is OneRepublic’s sophomore album which got released a couple of weeks ago. I really liked their previous album “Dreaming Out Load” which I still continue to listen to from to time until today. For those who do not know OneRepublic, they are the group behind “Apologize” – one of the most downloaded ever on iTunes. The main man behind the group, Ryan Tedder, has produced many hits such as Bleeding Love by Leona Lewis, Halo by Beyonce, and Battlefield by Jordin Sparks.

I thought that Waking Up continued the same formula of Dreaming Out Loud with more grand instrumentals this time and a more positive message. I cannot say that I like Waking Up more than Dreaming Out Loud, but I love songs such as Made For You, All the Right Moves, Secrets, and Marching On which is without doubt my favorite track on the album. It has been also confirmed that Timbaland is going to have a remix of Marching On on his new album Shockwave Value II! I CAN’T WAIT TO HEAR THAT ONE!

Leona Lewis – Echo

The second album by Leona Lewis was one of my most anticipated albums of the year. It is also the first album I ever preorder in my life… and it did not disappoint. I fell in love with Happy (produced by Ryan Tedder) the instant I listened to it. The album has a good combination of power ballads and pop songs. My favorite tracks on the album are Happy, I Got You, Can’t Breathe, Outta My Head, My Hands, Love Letter, Naked, and Broken. (Isn’t this like the whole album? ) Surprisingly, I’m not really big on Leona’s duet with OneRepublic. Leona Lewis’ song My Hands has also been picked by Square-Enix to be one of the theme songs for the English language release of Final Fantasy XIII – That is cool!

Alexandra Burke – Overcome

Though I was a really big fan on Alexandra on X Factor, I was not very impressed by her first single Bad Boys, it was clear to me that an effort was made to distinguish her from Leona Lewis and make her have a more edgy and urban sound. I did not like her album the first time I listened to it, but it grew really big on me with time and NOW I AM OBSESSED WITH A SONG CALLED “YOU BROKE MY HEART” it is nothing like the music I listen to and it is sung in a really awesome British accent! Other songs I like on this album include the Silence, Dumb, It’s Over, They Don’t Know, and Goodnight Good Morning (which Brandy sang but never released). I must say that I am really pleased with Alexandra’s first album!

I’m still not sure about how feel about Keri Hilson’s debut album. I’ve been waiting for this album forever, and it got delayed over and over and over again. And when it came out, it was not released in the UK! I eventually managed to get one imported through HMV.

Keri Hilson is very talented, she has written the most beautiful songs for people like Toni Braxton (Sposed to be) and Jennifer Lopez (Wrong When Your Gone), and even Britney Spears (Break the Ice). She’s been all over Timbaland’s last album, she had a duo with Chris Brown, and she was also on Diddy last album as well.

Anyway, now that her album is out, I was really not that impressed. I hate the song Turning Me On, I think it’s stupid and I just don’t like it. I was addicted to Energy when it came out more than a freaking year ago, but not so much now. I do like a number of tracks on the album like Knock You Down, Intuition, Alienated, and Change Me, but I was really hoping for a masterpiece that I would be listening for months and months to come, not an album that I would get bored off into a couple of days. 

I am really disappointed by Keri Hilson. I hope that the album grows on me over time.

1. Intro
2. Turnin Me On ft. Lil Wayne
3. Get Your Money Up ft. Keyshia Cole & Trina
4. Return The Favor ft. Timbaland
5. Knock You Down ft. Neyo
6. Slow Dance
7. Make Love
8. Intuition
9. How Does It Feel
10. Alienated
11. Tell Him the Truth
12. Change Me ft. Akon
13. Energy
14. Where Did He Go

2.5/5

I’m on the top of 2008 list bandwagon (check out my post on favourite web shows of 2008), I thought I’ll share with you my favourite albums of 2008.

1- Beyonce: I am… Sasha Fierce

Beyonce’s third album was the biggest come back of the year. The album was a two-disc feature, the first is called “I am” and the second is called “Sasha Fierce”. “I am” is all about super vocals and deep lyrics, while the second one is all about the beats. I loved “I am” to bits, but my most favourite song in the entire album had to be the powerful “Scared of Lonely” in the second album.

2- Brandy: Human

It saddens me to realise that Brandy is no longer on  ”top of the world“. Her recent album, Human, came a couple of weeks ago and barely anyone knew about it. In the UK I couldn’t find the album in the new releases section of HMV or Zavvi and had to browse deep into the store to find the album burried in the Urban music shelves. Brandy is such a good singer and Human is a delicate and soulful album, unfortunately the market does not necessarily reward talented singers. My favourite tracks in the album are “True” and “1st and Love“. 

3- OneRepublic: Dreaming Out Loud

The best new musical act I got introduced to in 2008 is undeniably OneRepublic, their work is amazing musically, vocally, and lyrically. I just can’t get enough of these guys. Ryan Tedder is also super talented and I now track down every single song he works on. My favourite OneRepublic songs are “Say“, “Tyrant” and “Dreaming Out Loud“.

4- Marwan Khoury: Ana Wl Leil

Marwan Khoury is now my favourite Arabic singer, he’s been pretty popular for a number of years now, but this was the first album I actually guy for him, my favourite tracks were “Awlak”, “L Karar”, and the super hit “Ya Rabb”.

I treated myself to a music album in celebration of eid (mine was so uneventful you guys have no idea). I decided to stop downloading illegal music from the internet two years ago and because we have no proper music stores in Oman that practically made me stop listening to new music. Luckily, people stil ‘buy’ music in this part of the world, I’m so addicted to HMV I consider it my shrine.

OneRepublic is a rock/pop/alternative band lead by Ryan Tedder, a super talented song writer and producer (Bleeding Love – Leona Lewis, Apologize – OneRepublic). I’ve never in my life previously purchased/downloaded a rock band music album (Pink doesn’t count, does she?), but I, like the rest of the world, loved Apologized after hearing it on Timbaland’s album, which later became the most legally downloaded song in history in the US.

I’ve never previously listened to an album from the same genre before so I can’t say what it sounds similar to, but I really loved it. The music is nice, the lyrics are great, and Ryan Tedder is really such a good singer.

I got the UK version of the album which actually has the song “Dreaming Out Loud” (the album title) which was not included in the US version of the album! (Strange, but that also happened with Maya’s Moodring).

My favourite songs in the album are “Say – All I Need”, “Stop and Stare”, “Apologize”, “Tyrant”, and “Dreaming Out Loud”.

1. Say (All I Need) < Click for YouTube video
2. Mercy
3. Stop And Stare
4. Apologize
5. Goodbye, Apathy
6. All Fall Down
7. Tyrant
8. Prodigal
9. Won’t Stop
10. All We Are
11. Someone To Save You
12. Come Home
13. Dreaming Out Loud
14. Something’s Not Right Here
15. Apologize – Timbaland, OneRepublic

4/5

There used to be a time when I was so up to date with the latest music, but I don’t know what went wrong, I don’t listen to new music as much as I used to, I don’t watch TV, and I don’t listen to the radio and I’m not following any music blogs – and I decided not to download illegal music, it is very hard to do, it is much harder than not using pirated software, playing pirated games, or even watching pirated DVDs.

Anyway, I bought this album on way to Egypt, the music shop in duty free zone of Muscat Airport is just as bad as the shops in town, I think that their commercial register activity category should be changed from music store to antique shop.

“As I Am” is the most recent album by Alicia Keys, it was released November 2007 and it is her usual soul/RnB, which is good. It took a bit of time to grow on me, I initially was only liked the lead single “No One” and just couldn’t play anything else, but after forcing myself to listen to the rest of the album I think that it is a very decent one, it is a slower than what I usually listen to, but still a nice change:

1. As I Am (Intro)
2. Go Ahead
3. Superwoman
4. No One
5. Like You’ll Never See Me Again (Main)
6. Lesson Learned
7. Wreckless Love
8. The Thing About Love
9. Teenage Love Affair
10. I Need You
11. Where Do We Go From Here
12. Prelude To A Kiss
13. Tell You Something (Nana’s Reprise)
14. Sure Looks Good To Me

3.5/5

I’ve been craving for some new music for a while now and I’ve been hunting for this album in the market for a more than a month now, finally found it today in Carrefour.

Marwan Khoury is a Lebanese singer/song-writer/music-composer, he has started as a musician and was a a band leader for some of the famous Lebanese singers such as Wael Kfouri and Sabah. He released his first album in the year 2003, but only became really successful when he released his song ‘Kel Al Qasayid’ and last year he had a huge hit duo with Carol Samaha. Marwan Khoury has written and composed songs for artists like Elissa, Asalah, Majidah Al Rumi, and even Abdul Majeed Abdullah! He is a whole-set artist who writes, composes and sings his own songs. His brothers Dany and Caude do his musical production.

I just got his new album called “Ana Wl Leil” (That’s how they like to spell it?!), and it’s nice. I have track 3 (Awlak) on repeat, can’t get enough of it! The album has the due with Carol (Ya Rabb) and a remix of it as well!

There is something about cheesy love Lebanese songs that makes me just never get enough of them!

(BTW, Marwan is signed to Rotana production house, so his original CD costs RO 1.5 only (less than $4!), Rotana has lowered the prices of music CD from RO 5 to RO 1.5 – the best move ever to fight piracy! Buying new Arabic CDs is now very tempting!)

Check out the video for Ya Rabb with Carol Samaha below (with lame English subtitles!):

I’ve finally gotten my hands on Timbaland‘s latest album TIMBALAND presents: Shock Value. Timbaland is a music producer that has worked with so many different artists from all different genres including Jay Z, Missy Elliot, Brandy, Aaliyah, Nelly Furtado, The Pussycat Dolls, Justin Timberlake, etc. This is the first album he produces under his own name, he previous released a couple of albums in cooperation with rapper Magoo, who appears on the track Boardmeeting here on Shockvalue.

Shock Value is the usual Timbo greatness, it is ALL about the beats. Each song in the album is so much different from the other and features a diverse set of aritsts from Dr Dre and Missy Elliot, to alternative rock bands such as The Hives and One Republic, and ending up with Elton John along with so many more.

1. Oh Timbaland – Timbaland
2. Give It to Me – Nelly Furtado, Timbaland, Justin Timberlake
3. Release – Timbaland, Justin Timberlake
4. Way I Are – Doe, Keri Hilson, Timbaland
5. Bounce – Dr. Dre, , Missy Elliott, Timbaland, Justin Timberlake
6. Come and Get Me – 50 Cent, Timbaland, Tony Yayo
7. Kill Yourself – Attitude, , Sebastian, Timbaland
8. Boardmeeting – Magoo, Timbaland
9. Fantasy – Money, Timbaland
10. Scream – Keri Hilson, Nicole Scherzinger, Timbaland
11. Miscommunication – Keri Hilson, , Sebastian, Timbaland
12. Bombay – Amar, Jim Beanz, Timbaland
13. Throw It on Me – The Hives, Timbaland
14. Time – She Wants Revenge, Timbaland
15. One and Only – Fall Out Boy, , Timbaland
16. Apologize – OneRepublic, Timbaland
17. 2 Man Show – Elton John, Timbaland
18. Hello – Keri Hilson, Attitude

 

4/5

Studio 1 is the title of the return album for the UK girlband All Saints – a band that had, in their golder years, sold thousands of records for singles such as Never Ever, Under The Bridge, Back Coffee, and Pure Shores. I really did not know what to expect of their new work, and though I thought that the first single ‘Rock Steady’ was quite a catchy track, it was not really memorable. The same goes for the album. I can listen to the album in one go and enjoy it, and then when it finishes not remember the names of more than two songs. Studio 1 is fun and poppy, but it is nowhere close to a classic. Interestingly, a couple of tracks (One and On, One Me and U) seemed to mimic the work of the producer William Orbit. My favourite track on the album is Fundamental – a very well written, sung, and produced love song.

1. Rock Steady
2. Chick Fit
3. On And On
4. Scar
5. Not Eazy
6. Hell No
7. One Me And U
8. Headlock
9. Too Nasty
10. In It To Win It
11. Flashback
12. Fundamental

2.5/5

Diddy is not my usual cup of tea, I only decided to give his album a shot after seeing the many names of the artists featured on his new album, those include Timbaland, Twista, Nas, Big Boi, Christina Aguilera, Brandy, Keyshia Cole, Nicole, Keri, Avant, Jamie Foxx etc. The album turned out to be nice, I can’t get enough of the track featuring Brandy titled ‘Thought You Said‘ and the one featuring Keri Hilson titled ‘After Love‘.

Brandy’s track reminds of an remix for her classic “Top of the World” of the remixes of her class On Top of the World, a new track by her has recently leaked as well, it looks like Brandy is going to make a come back soon.

The other track I really liked is the song with Keri Hilson, she is originally a songwriter that previously wrote songs for Toni Braxton, Mary J Blige, etc, she is now signed to Timbaland’s new label Mosley Music Group. An awesome track titled “Love Ya” leaked on the web some months ago, but there are no official details on when her debut album or single are coming out.

Back to Press Play, here is the tracklist:

1. Testimonial (Intro)
2. We Gon’ Make It
3. I Am (Interlude)
4. The Future
5. Hold Up
6. Come To Me
7. Tell Me – Featuring Christina Aguilera
8. Wanna Move
9. Diddy Rock
10. Claim My Place (Interlude)
11. Everything I Love
12. Special Feeling
13. Crazy Thang (Interlude)
14. After Love
15. Through The Pain (She Told Me)
16. Thought You Said
17. Last Night
18. Making It Hard
19. Partners For Life

3.5/5

As a promotion of her upcoming 3rd studio album, Amerie has released a mixtape featuring some new full songs, remixes of other artists songs, samples and skits under the title “Because I Love It – Vol 1″. Her next album is due sometime early next year, and another mixtape shall be released sometime before the official gets released. My favourite tracks are Push It, Take Control, Blow, and Money Maker. You can listen to the mixtape over at Amerie’s MySpace page. (Use the iPod player on the left to play the tracks)

1. Because I Love It (Intro)
2. Keep My Head Down (Skit)
3. Push It
4. Reminisce Witcha
5. Take Control
6. Same Thing (Skit)
7. Blow
8. Money In The Bank
9. The Money (Skit)
10. Money Maker
11. Get Gone
12. Rest of My Life
13. That’s What You Are
14. Weekend Love
15. Outro

3.5/5