Sleepless in New York

I haven't really had much time to maintain the 'box lately, but it's a sleepless night, so I figured I'd take a minute and share some of the melodies that have been floating between my ears lately.

I've been a fan of Cody ChesnuTT since I caught the video for "Look Good in Leather" on late night TV many moons ago. Since his album The Headphone Masterpiece has 36 tracks, it was rare that I'd listen to it all the way through. Lately though, a couple tracks that went under my radar before have been in heavy rotation. The first is "With Me in Mind". I've sat here and tried to explain in words how the production on this song sounds, but none of it really conveys the song. The music is hypnotic and the poetry read over it only draws you in further. I wish I'd discovered this song sooner. He also continues on the electro tip with the toker anthem "Smoke and Love". Of course, it's not just about schmokin reefer. There's also a nice verse about boning - hence the "and love". One of my favorite things about Cody ChesnuTT is that a lot of what he says would be awful if he didn't have such a damn amazing voice. I mean unless you can really belt it out, "Keep on Lovin', Keep on Livin', Keep on Smokin'" is gonna sound awfully trite. Now, this other song couldn't be more different from those last two. "When I Find Time" is straight soulful pop music. This song has everything I could want, clapping (lord knows I love clappin to the beat.), a boppin tempo, and a guitar that shows me what things could've been like if the Allmans had moved to motown.

"With Me in Mind" by Cody ChesnuTT
"Smoke and Love" by Cody ChesnuTT
"When I Find Time" by Cody ChesnuTT

Now some artists definitely benefit from lo-fi aspects of their recordings. Personally, I don't think ChesnuTT's one of them. I love his album, but when I listen to "The Seed" back to back with "The Seed 2.0", I can't help but wonder about how some of his other songs would really flourish with a little slicker production.


Also,

I got an iTunes giftcard for Christmas and I just picked up Dizzee's Showtime, Wynton Marsalis's Magic Hour, "Heaven" by John Legend, "Trompeta y Trombon" by Ray Barretto, and "Tiburón" by Rubén Blades. I gotta say, I kinda like the iTunes music store. I am not saying I'm crazy about the idea of paying for music and not getting the liner notes, but the music store is easily navigable and there's a lot of cool stuff on here. Plus it's a gift card, so I can't say I'm paying. Which brings me to my point,

Can anyone recommend any p2p software? I deleted limewire cuz it was fucking my computer, but I can't afford to buy music on iTunes all the time. Do help.

Focker out.