"New Longboard Playlist"

Hello ladies and gents; my name is Stephen. Before I say anymore I’d like to thank Kara for letting me contribute to her collection of all things musical and awesome. I have been following “Stellar Figment Music” for a bit now and love it! There is something beautiful about introducing someone to a new artist you're into—it’s infectious. You introduce your friends to a jam, they show their friends, and they tell their friends and BOOM! You’ve just rescued a pair of malnourished eardrums from certain death with a few transcendental beats.

Besides being completely obsessed with music, I am an avid longboarder, and just recently purchased a new board! Longboarding is all about being free and having fun. Coupled with music you are limited only by the road below you. To celebrate my new board, I compiled a list of songs to coast and rock too. It’s a little bit of everything I hope you enjoy and get out there before winter comes!

 

“New Longboard Playlist” 

Fly Like An Eagle – Steve Miller Band

Watch Makers –Maxilla Blue

ON the Bridge –K. Flay

ElectroCali - Pretty Lights

Against the Bottom - Grieves

Kick, Push – Lupe Fiasco

Vision Twunny Twunny – Maxilla Blue

So Much For Love – Gramatik

Digital Love – Daft Punk

Seventeen Years – Ratatat

Moar Jive – Gramatik

Barbra Streisand – Duck Sauce

On The Rocks – Grieves

Black Clover Farewell Anthem – Soulcrate Music ft. Mac Lethal and Grieves

New People – Blue Scholars

Coastin’ – Zion I ft K. Flay

*Listen to most of the tracks here...

Music Quotes

 Below are some of my favorite music-related quotes from my favorite movie--Almost Famous, and a couple of my favorite musicians--Kurt Cobain and Bob Dylan. I hope you enjoy the weight and sincerity of the words as much as I do.

In the movie 'Almost Famous,' Anita Miller (Zooey Deschanel) has one of my favorite lines from the film to her mother saying---

"This song explains why I'm leaving home to become a stewardess." 

The song to which she was referring to was 'America' by Simon and Garfunkel. She then leaves her younger brother William a note reading---

Kurt Cobain:

"Music comes first; lyrics are secondary. Most of my lyrics are contradictions. I'll write a few sincere lines, and then I'll have to make fun of [them]. I don't like to make it too obvious, because if it is too obvious, it gets really stale. You shouldn't be in people's faces 100% all the time. We don't mean to be really cryptic or mysterious, but I just think that lyrics that are different and weird and spacey paint a nice picture. It's just the way I like art."

Bob Dylan:

“... songs, to me, were more important than just light entertainment. They were my preceptor and guide into some altered consciousness of reality. Some different republic, some liberated republic... whatever the case, it wasn't that I was anti-popular culture or anything and I had no ambition to stir things up. I just thought of mainstream culture as lame as hell and a big trick. It was like the unbroken sea of frost that lay outside the window and you had to have awkward footgear to walk with.”

"So Russel, what do you love about music?"

"To begin with, Everything."

Mackle-give me-More

This video is going to start a revolution. A revolution of dance. And we owe it all to Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. With lyrics that range from funny, poetic, smart, quick, impactful and everything in between, he's everything a good artist should be. And someday, I will go to one of his shows.  But until then, look for me on the recession riddled dance floors of America. Watch the video below... But more importantly, DANCE.

On a more serious note, this video for the song "Wings" is perfectly executed and does everything a meaningful video should do. It's like watching poetry come alive. And come on, this kid? He's just too much. 

 Macklemore also knows something about drug addiction and adversely, the impact that artists have on their fans through their raps and lifestyle. And I love that Ryan Lewis uses a RHCP beat. Perfect composition. This dude is putting Seattle on the map. Because you've never heard of it right? Yeah, me neither.

Dia de los Muertos

Culture Cry Wolf, a hip hop-ska-rock whirlwind of a band, recently released their first full length album Dia De Los Muertos. And ooh la, la. I was feelin' it upon first listen, which is definitely an odd occurrence for me. Every track tells it's own story, has it's own unique feel, and the album as a whole leaves you feeling like you just had a genuine music experience. I dare to say CCW has created one of my favorite albums of 2011--I highly recommend each and every one of you cats give Dia De Los Muertos a hard listen. Even if you don't like hip hop or ska, a lot of the tracks have a very "rock" feel, so you're sure to find at least one track to fall for. This album has really created a musical identity that is based in so many genres, and thus, has the ability to appeal to so many. Culture Cry Wolf... Well done, boys. Check out the video for "Day of the Dead" and listen below.

CultureCryWolf.com

CCW Twitter

 

Foster The People

 Mark Pontius. Cubbie Fink. Mark Foster... The gorgeous men of Foster The People. I'm way into their summer released album Torches, and upon recent discovery, their videos as well. I would describe their boundary-pushing videos as interesting, thought provoking, and overall, just well done artistic expressions of their music. But who am I to judge? Take a look yourself. Ohh, and don't let their faces intimidate you. They're marshmallow soft on the inside, well probably anyway.