April 2007 Music Diary

Great month for new music. Here's what iTunes tells me that I'm listening to this month-

Grace Kelly - Mika
Stop Me - Mark Ronson
God Put a Smile on Your Face - Mark Ronson
No One Knows - Mark Ronson
23 - Blonde Redhead
A Strange Education - The Cinematics
I Still Remember - Bloc Party
Kreuzberg - Bloc Party
Espacio Sideral - Jesse & Joy
Ya No Quiero - Jesse & Joy
Into the Ocean - Blue October
I Believe - Robert Plant
Tifa's Theme - Nobuo Uematsu (Piano Collections FINAL FANTASY VII)
Main Theme of Final Fantasy VII - Nobuo Uematsu
Cinco de Chocobo - Nobuo Uematsu
On Our Way - Nobuo Uematsu
Let the Battles Begin! - Nobuo Uematsu
Cosmo Canyon - Nobuo Uematsu
Gold Saucer - Nobuo Uematsu
Farm Boy - Nobuo Uematsu
Rufus's Welcoming Ceremony - Nobuo Uematsu
Jenova - Nobuo Uematsu
Aerith's Theme - Nobuo Uematsu
One-Winged Angel - Nobuo Uematsu
Descendant of Shinobi - Nobuo Uematsu

The first time I heard Grace Kelly, I hated it. The second time, it bore its way into my brain and hasn't come out. Though, I wish it was easier to sing along with it.

Mark Ronson is AWESOME. He's a DJ who does these jazz-funk covers and his Stop Me EP is out on iTunes now. Stop Me is a catchy cover of the Smiths and God Put a Smile on Your Face has this amazing catchy beat. His full album comes out later this year.

I'd never heard of the band Blonde Redhead before - and I don't know how I've missed them. They've got a really unique sound and I love the lead singer's ethereal voice.

Cinematics was a free iTunes track of the week. If you're not getting the free track of the week, you're missing out.

Bloc Party's last album was okay - didn't move me. But I got hooked on Kreuzberg, thanks to Pandora.com's U2 radio station. Their new album is very U2/Coldplay-ish - and I mean that in a good way.

Another reason to love iTunes - it gives you access to stuff you'd never ever get a chance to buy. Jesse & Joy are an amazingly catchy brother & sister pop duo from Mexico. Espacio Sideral was a free iTunes track - and I had to have more. Of course, I have no idea what they're singing about, but whatever it is, it's great.

I ended up buying Blue October's cutesy track. It makes drowning yourself sound so cutesy. The Robert Plant track is an old track that I heard through Pandora.com's U2 station.

Nobuo Uematsu wrote most of the fantastic music for the Squaresoft Final Fantasy video games. Final Fantasy VII had one of the most amazing scores I've ever heard in my life. The Piano Collections album has piano-only renditions of some of the songs from Final Fantasy VII. Terrific stuff that I've been listening to for a writing project I'm working on.