Polly - Nirvana

       Nirvana is an American Grunge band from Seattle Washington.  It was formed in 1987 by lead singer Kurt Cobain (1967-1994) and bassist Krist Novoselik.  With their second album, Nevermind, (where this song is from) in 1991 they had incredible success and popularized Alternative Rock as a whole. Polly is not the typical Nirvana song, especially the insignificance of drums, but it is one of my favorites, and this is the MTV Unplugged version recorded in New York, 1993.  This song is about a 14 year old rape victim from Washington who was abducted in 1987 and tortured with razors and a blowtorch by Gerald Friends, and throughout the song she is portrayed as a caged bird. It's simplicity of chords and lack of electric guitars give a haunting sound to the very dark lyrics.

Violin Concerto: II - Philip Glass

       Philip Morris Glass is considered to be one of the most influential composers of the 20th century.   He was born in Maryland in 1937 and his interest in music started when he was a child and he played in his father's record store. He grew up studying music in different places with different people, and has since continued to have a very broad career. This is the second movement of his first major orchestral concerto, which he wrote in 1987 for violinist Paul Zukofsky. Glass was known for composing music for opera, film, and dance, and when transferring to this more ordinary genre he wanted to structure it in common terms: three movements as most concertos, and for a conventional sized orchestra. The second movement is my favorite because of the different moods and connotations in the different levels of instruments: the base is full of suspense, yet the lead violin is empowered by melancholy, and the way these two feelings grow together and integrate throughout the movement is both perfect and sensual. 

Vete - Lucybell

       This song is about trying not to fall in love, as a playful warning of what is to come.  This is one of the best songs by Lucybell, from their 1995 album Peces, although I must say, most of the others are excellent as well.  Lucybell is a Chilean band that formed in 1991 by lead singer and guitarist Claudio Valenzuela, and although all other members have changed through the years, he has kept their essence intact and together.

Little Talks - Of Monsters and Men

      Of Monsters And Men, formed in 2010, are a six-piece indie and folk band from Reykjavík, Iceland.  They are not very known yet, and this song, Little Talks, is their new self-released single.  Of Monsters and Men is characterized for their duet style, which I think is put to very good use specially in this song.

A Veces - Anita Tijoux

       Anita Tijoux, or Anamaría Merino, started her career in 1997 as part of the hip-hop group Masika, but her solo career, and her fame throughout Latin America took off in 2006 thanks to her collaboration with Mexican musician Julieta Venegas.  Her parents are both Chilean, but she was born in France since they were exiled during Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship in Chile.  As a teenager she moved back to Chile and got involved in the hip-hop scene. This song, featuring Chilean rapper Hordatoj, is from her 2007 album Kaos and it is all about contradictions.

Memorize The City - The Organ

       The Organ is a band from Vancouver Canada which formed in 2001, however they broke up in 2006.  The Organ was an all girl band with influence from The Smiths and Joy Division, and you can definitely hear it in their music. However, Katie Sketch's voice is what gives The Organ its spice. This song is one of my favorites because of its original guitar and fast beat which in a way contradict eachother just as the thoughts and feelings in the lyrics.

Leif Erikson - Interpol

       Interpol is a band from New York City which formed in 1997 as part of the post-punk revival scene of the 2000's.  This is my favorite song by Interpol, and it is part of their 2002 album "Turn on the Bright Lights."  I find the song to be pretty straight forward, however it is impregnated with the metaphor of a viking sorf of violent and savage and sexual lifestyle (starting with the title: Leif Erikson who was the first Norse explorer to reach North America), yet the music and the voice are slow, quiet, and sincere giving the lyrics a completely different tone. Brilliant song.

Quédate Luna - Devendra Banhart

       Devendra Obi Banhart was born on the 30th of March of 1981 in Houston, Texas; but he grew up with his mother in Venezuela and later California.  He was originally studying art in San Francisco, but dropped out to pursue his music career, starting in Paris, France.  Quédate Luna is one of my favorite songs by Banhart.  It is particularly good because of its really slow acoustic guitar at the beginning, which you could even say seems sort of drunk.  Then the melodic shift to a more rhythmic guitar as there is a complete change in tone and point of view in the lyrics from drunk to in love (as he claims a little drink will do). 

HR 8938 Cephei - Deadmau5

       Deadmau5, or Joel Thomas Zimmerman, is a Canadian progressive, electro, and house DJ from Toronto, Ontario.  He is known for performing with a mouse head which he himself created. He chose the name Deadmau5 when he found a dead mouse inside his computer. This song is very relaxing, and there is so much variety within that even being almost eleven minutes long, it does not get boring; a new beat or rhythm hits in perfect timing right when you might begin to wonder off.

El Cóndor Pasa - Daniel Alomía Robles

       Daniel Alomía Robles was a Peruvian composer, born in 1871.  This song, El Cóndor Pasa, is his most known work, which he composed in 1913 as part of a Zarzuela (Spanish operetta).  The Zarzuela is about a group of miners in Cerro de Pasco, Peru, and their relationship with the foreign mining company.  It was first performed in the Teatro Mazzi in Lima, Peru, and has been for over 3000 more times.

You Make Me So Very Happy - Alton Ellis

       Alton Ellis was a very important Jamaican musician from Kingston, Jamaica. He was born on the 1st of September 1983 and in 2004 he was awarded the Order of Distinction by the Jamaican government in recognition of all his achievements. On the 10th of October 2008 he died of cancer in Hammersmith Hospital in London. He was primarily known as the godfather of Rocksteady music which originated in Jamaica in 1962. It is a combination of rhythms as it is a successor to ska and precursor to reggae and it uses musical elements of rhythm and blues, ska, and African and Cuban drumming.  Alton Ellis started his music career in the 1950's and continued until his death in 2008, but the height of his career was in the 60's. This song was released in 1970 as part of the album Sunday Coming.

Pure Morning - Placebo

        Definitely one of my favorite songs by Placebo, it was released 1998, in their album Without You I'm Nothing. The band was formed in London 1994 and consists of Brian Molko, Stefan Oldsdal and Steven Forrest. Brian Molko the singer, has a very peculiar voice that gives this song its magic touch.  However, I like this song because of the lyrics which in my opinion describe a perfect relationship:

A friend in needs a friend indeed,

A friend with weed is better,

A friend with breasts

And all the rest,

A friend who's dressed in leather,

A friend in needs a friend indeed,

A friend who'll tease is better ,

Our thoughts compressed

Which makes us blessed,

And makes for stormy weather.

A friend in needs a friend indeed,

My Japanese is better,

And when she's pressed

She will undress,

And then she's boxing clever,

A friend in needs a friend indeed,

A friend who bleeds is better,

My friend confessed

She passed the test,

And we will never

sever.

Chan Chan - Buena Vista Social Club

         This song captures the essence of Cuban music, the beauty in the ability to capture so many different instruments in harmony yet each is defined. This son was composed by Francisco Repilado, better known as Compay Segundo who was born in Siboney, Cuba in 1907. This song Chan Chan is his most important composition, and the opening track to the famous album that gave Cuban music to the world: Buena Vista Social Club.  Compay Segundo was (he passed away in 2007) a very romantic man who loved women and you can certainly hear it in every single strum in this song. It talks about a guajiro (Cuban slang for people from the countryside) couple from the region around Santiago in eastern Cuba, and it conveys the hardship of such lives, but at the same time the love between man and woman.  The voice in the song is Eliades Ochoa, 1946, who is known as the best guitarist of his time, but you can hear Compay Segundo's voice as the 2nd (hence his nickname) in the background.

Let Go - Everest

       In honor of their show tonight at The Casbah in San Diego, here is Everest's new song "Let Go." Everest started in Los Angeles California in 2007 and this song is part of their 2nd album On Approach. This guy (Russell Pollard) has an amazing voice that in my opinion compliments the guitar perfectly. (The Acoustic version is also fantastic.)

Marathon - Tennis

       This fairly recent band called Tennis is a husband-wife duo from Denver, Colorado: Patrick Riley & Alaina Moore who has gorgeous curly hair. I have not heard much of their work but I absolutely love this song from their album Cape Dory. Soft, feminine, yet not too girly voice, happy melody, upbeat yet relaxing rhythm. The couple took an eight month sailboat trip and decided to record it through music, so this song tells a short little part of their journey as they "traveled through the day, and into the evening." And now that you know this, it makes the song even bettah.

Latinoamérica ft. Totó La Momposina, Susana Baca & María Rita - Calle 13

       Calle 13 is group composed of two stepbrothers: René Pérez Joglar and Eduardo José Cabra Martínez from San Juan, Puerto Rico. It is one of my favorites because of their incredibly ingenious lyrics.  Especially their ability to turn simple words into absolutely perfect rhymes. This song Latinoamérica, from their album "Entren Los Que Quieran," (their best one yet in my opinion) is particularly good because of its subject, and if you are from any Latin American country you know exactly what I mean.  It talks about the beauty of all Latin America, of all that we have that has been exploited, of all that we have that can never be taken, "un pueblo sin piernas, pero que camina" because of its life and joy; and it reminds me why I love my home.