Metallica - Master of Puppets

I believe that I have featured Metallica before on this blog, but let me just make one thing clear: Metallica is one of the best in the genre, as so many fans have attested to. So why not give them a listen, and even more, to one of their best songs? I know I have given up my fair share of listening time for Metallica.

I digress: Master of Puppets has been called the best album of the group's long history by some fans, and is even well-received by the rest.With a deluge of songs we now recognize as classic Metallica, Master of Puppets brought thrash metal to a whole new level. I remember listening to this album over and over while studying long nights for some of my exams and papers (though, playing thrash metal as I studied for my classes doesn't make me the best college student).

Below, you can find an unofficial music video on YouTube for Metallica's Master of Puppets:

009 Sound System - Dreamscape

I found this song by accident while looking through YouTube's selection of acceptable music for overlays (the sound you put over a video), and I must say that I am surprised that it is totally free to use, considering its quality and provocative sound.

Check out for yourself why some people call "Dreamscape" by 009 Sound System the YouTube Anthem:

Tool - Vicarious

Check it out, my favorite Tool song: Vicarious. This particular song was on the 10,000 Days album, which was released several years back (and was the most recent album released by the band Tool, unfortunately). Though "Vicarious" was accompanied by other really great songs, I just personally prefer this one. Maybe there will be another album before I'm through with college!

"'Vicarious' is a song by American rock band Tool. The song is the first single released from their fourth full-length studio album 10,000 Days. Debuting on April 17, 2006 on commercial radio, the seven-minute song entered the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart at #2. It received a nomination for Best Hard Rock Performance at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards." ~Wikipedia

Mac Miller - Frick Park Market

Mac Miller's hit single "Frick Park Market" is an excellent indie hip-hop song that a fan of either genre would enjoy. Usually, this sort of style isn't my thing, but Frick Park Market is surprisingly well-done. The fantastic quality, editing, and choreography of the music video alone is enough to attest to the hard work put in.
The song refers to a food store in Miller's Pittsburgh hometown where he used to work (imagine it; one day you're some lowly student working a store job, the next you're a professional rapper and hip-hop singer). The market is near to the park referenced in the album title, Blue Slide Park (also known officially as Frick Park). The music video was filmed at the store itself, and that video reached well over 17 million views on YouTube.

Check out the video above to enjoy Mac Miller's Frick Park Market -- I promise you won't regret it.

Tenacious D thinks they can "revive" hard rock with a new album

Tenacious D thinks that hard rock is dead.

What makes them think that? Well, looking back at the sort of music that has been coming out lately, it may be easy to jump to that conclusion. After all, Lady Gaga is not exactly what comes to mind first when we think of what we would like the future of music to remember us for. I know that I most certainly don't want to look back on my college days and see Justin Bieber.

Jack Black and Kyle Gass, members of Tenacious D for eighteen years now, intend to "fix" this issue by bringing back what they believe is more real music: hard rock. Their new album will be called "Rize of the Fenix," and is slated to come out tomorrow, Tuesday the 15th.

Though the album will feature a fair amount of comedy (considering that is what we know them best for), they intend to make at least one hit song with this album. They have consulted with Grohl of the Foo Fighters in what the secret is, but only time will tell if Kyle Gass and Jack Black have been good students of the music legend.

Adele breaks a Whitney Houston charts record

Just when you thought Whitney Houston had taken considerable control of the charts with her "Greatest Hits" album posthumously nabbing the number two spot and seemingly rising, another popular female singer broke forward to challenge (and defeat) Houston in a another category in which she reigned supreme.

Keeping the top spot for the twenty-first week in a row, Adele's "21" album broke the record set by Whitney Houston for longest number-one album by a woman. Even Whitney Houston could not stop the juggernaut of music that is Adele, effectively allowing "21" to take number one for as many weeks as in the name of the album!

Now, Adele did not get this just for being the singer she has always been -- in fact, there is a pretty specific reason for why she held strong to number one. Her Grammy performance exposed her to so many people who would never have heard of her, or might have stopped listening. Their return to her music is evidenced in older albums of her own also taking strong rises in sales.

Breaking News: Chris Brown Still a Douche

"I'm so happy I could post a scathing tweet to ruin my image!"

Everyone remembers the big Chris Brown debacle that occurred a few years back, when he plead guilty to charges of assault against famous then-girlfriend Rhianna. Back in 2009, on the night before the Grammys of that year, Brown decided to do a number on Rhianna -- and he certainly left his mark. In fact, photos of Rhianna shortly after are, well, quite disturbing.

So, of course, Chris Brown has surely decided to cool off and get back in good graces with the fans that have made it possible for him to win a Grammy this year, right? Right?

Of course not.

In fact, Chris Brown has actually done something that I am sure made his PR cringe: he struck back. Following the Grammys, where he walked away successful and award in hand thanks to his F.A.M.E. album (more like L.A.M.E., considering it is by the King of Douche), Brown sent out a tweet:

"HATE ALL U WANT BECUZ I GOT A GRAMMY. Now! That's the ultimate F--- OFF"

Oh yeah, Brown. Real smooth. This is definitely going to make people like you more.

Whitney Houston racks up sales after death

Naturally, the death of a popular musician or artist in contemporary times leads to a resurgence of their music in the industry, with album sales and (recently) singles downloads flying through the roof. This "rediscovery" of music, as many like to call it, almost always follows on the trail of the death -- a true schooling on the realities of the music industry.

Though a morbid enterprise, it has already sent Whitney Houston's music to high positions on charts worldwide just days after her death. Houston's album, Whitney: The Greatest Hits has soared to sells of over 101,000 copies by itself, this coming literally 3 days after the discovery of her submerged body in a Beverly Hills hotel bathtub as she awaited the huge Grammy event the next day.

Of course, speculation has run rampant: most are already convinced that this was the work of drugs, as Houston was known to have frequent incidents of abuse with hard narcotics. Authorities have not confirmed or denied too much at this point; they have not released the cause of death.

Upcoming Artist of the Month #1: DarkGrey

iBlog brings you the Upcoming Artist of the Month, which will be awarded to a particularly new artist who has brought not only enjoyable music to his or her listeners, but has also shown considerable composure and a great attitude throughout their foray into the wondrous world of music.

Awardees will receive the space on iBlog's sidebar reserved for "Upcoming Artist of the Month," where their music, or samples of their music, can be heard, as well as various links to their sites and social media so that you can stay in contact with any you might really enjoy. We encourage you to get interested and involved with these artists; they love the support!

The first upcoming artist in this series is electronic DJ (and his own producer at the time of writing) DarkGrey. The tunes DarkGrey is putting out are getting pretty huge -- and with each piece of work, he gets better and better. One little remix he just released is insanely better than the original in my opinion, and that is really saying something, as the song he remixed was by the incredibly popular Steve Aoki; the song is Ladi Dadi.

Check it:

Steve Aoki - Ladi Dadi (DarkGrey Remix) by DarkGrey

Skrillex - Voltage (HD, Unreleased)

We've got a special treat for you, today, oh yeah.

Skrillex may be one of the single most famous dubstep artists ever -- if not THE most famous dubstep artist. AKA Sonny Moore, this guy has done more making electronic music than most have with their entire pop-culture music -- and even took MTV's EDM Artist of the Year, placing ahead of even deadmau5 (which is really saying something, considering).

His first true album as Skrillex is slated to come out this year, though the details are a bit foggy. We do know that it is called Voltage, as is the only single out from it so far. Though only caught in live performances, there have been studio, high quality versions of it on YouTube, and you can listen below:

Check it out, and tell us what you think in the comments! ;]

Modestep - Sunlight

Time to move on back to the electronic category again! Rock, hip-hop, and even what some may consider rap has made its way onto this blog, so there is quite the variety -- but we can always return to our much loved genre of electronic music, starting it off with Sunlight by Modestep.

Modestep is a London-based British band, whose songs are in the dubstep (and general electronic) range. Though they are not profusely popular throughout the globe, they have definitely made a name for themselves in the UK scene, and even the American dubstep scene.

Check out the music video below, from the official UKFDubstep channel on YouTube:

Chevelle - The Red

Here is a band that has been successfully releasing music for around sixteen years now: Chevelle. Yet, despite the band's age, many would still say they are in the game -- though, not quite hitting as hard as they used to. Their last two albums, while reaching a wide fanbase, did not make waves in the music world like their previous work had.

Speaking of their previous work, I think now is a good time to butt in with today's featured song, The Red. This song was a breakthrough single on their album Wonder What's Next, the album of which was certified Platinum by the RIAA. The Red is an excellent example of Chevelle's potential, as evidenced in the music video below:

Freedomatik - Area 102

So let me start off this post with a little story.

My good friend was telling me about the new music player, Spotify, and how much he loved it. He had so many songs queued he could not even find the time to listen to them all! He went on about the program, and I nodded my head and said, "Cool, cool," without paying much attention.

A few days later, I discover this cool music player on facebook. I get really into it, and suddenly I am on facebook telling everyone, "Man, I love Spotify! I wish I had heard about it sooner." The same friend replied with, "I told you about Spotify, man!"

Whoops. Busted.

So there are some commercials on Spotify between a few songs to keep their program running, and one of them is for the electronic band Freedomatik. I found their "One Nite One Album" playlist to be excellent, as a matter of fact, and I added my favorite of the entire set to my Awesomesauce #1 playlist: Area 102.

Unfortunately, Freedomatik's YouTube is a bit sparse, with only a couple of videos and none of Area 102. So if you want to hear Area 102, click here and scroll down to their track listing.

Tool - Lateralus album, reordered (aka The Holy Gift)

Here is a special one for you today, guys. I bring to you what is considered by some to be a "Holy Gift" from the progressive band Tool, and if you listen to it yourself, you may find that agree.

So what is so special about this particular musical gift that one might consider it as having qualities of holiness? It is the whole transcendent album Lateralus by Tool combined into one song -- all of the songs were rearranged in a certain order (when 1-13, the numbers of the tracks, are arranged horizontally, a spiral can be drawn from the two middle numbers outward, and then from the outer numbers inward, to create the new order).

This album, rearranged in the particular order, creates a whole, flowing song, and at times it is hard to distinguish the individual songs when they are played one after another. Editing them together makes it nearly impossible! Check out the video below to see what we mean:

Broken Bells - The High Road

Today, I present you with some alt rock by the band Broken Bells, a duo consisting of James Mercer and Brian Burton (a.k.a Danger Mouse, famous for his work with Cee Lo Green in the soul duo Gnarls Barkley). Broken Bells was briefly famous for their song The High Road, which is perhaps their greatest success.

The High Road showcased as the lead single for the eponymous debut album Broken Bells, which really did not feature any other songs that were of any serious fame, unfortunately. This one song did really catch my attention though, as I am sure it did for the many listeners it garnered through its extensive radio broadcast in the U.S.

Here is the official music video on YouTube:

The project, as they consider themselves, came back together for another collaboration called Meyrin Fields, which seems to still be in the phases of being added on to. Meyrin Fields features singles from the Broken Bells album's b-side, so not much new there.

Until they complete their second album, let's enjoy The High Road!

Gorillaz - Clint Eastwood

Let me take you back, to a world where music was simpler and yet oh-so-intricate. Let me take you back to a time when the land was ruled by the Gorillaz, with their very first single on their debut album. Yeah, that's right, I'm talking about the ever popular Clint Eastwood.

Sure, you may know the Gorillaz from the more recently popular (and an even bigger hit, believe it or not) Feel Good Inc., which seemed to stay on the forefront of radio stations for ages. Who can blame them? The Gorillaz just make a lot of good music, but there is always a diamond in their albums that shines out.

Check out Clint Eastwood below on YouTube:

Oh yeah, and don't worry about whether or not the video is safe to watch. It is by the official record label for the Gorillaz, so it's all a-okay. ;D