John Mayer Trio: Where the Light is Live at Nokia Center
January 7 2025Revisiting this live album brings back memories of listening to it with my family. Watching the footage from this set adds more dimension to an already incredible album. My mom told me when i was younger that John Mayer’s mouth moves weird when he sings but i never knew what she meant until i saw him live. John Mayer, Pino, and Steve are phenomenal together. I especially love John Mayer’s bluesy stuff with this trio. "Who Did You Think I Was," "Come When I Call," "Good Love Is on the Way," and "Out of My Mind" are A+ performances from this set. "In Your Atmosphere" is actually mind boggling idk how he does those harmonics and shit. John Mayer is a crazy talented guitarist and i think underappreciated outside of the blues community. Many people my age dismiss him as a corny radio pop-rock artist, but i believe he’s one of the great modern blues guitarists.
Pharrell Louis Vuitton 2006 Runway
December 14 2024I found this recording on a soundcloud digging session earlier this year. Pharrell did music for the Louis Vuitton 2006 spring summer show and he spun some awesome baltimore club tracks, featuring classics from Baltimore club legends Dukeyman and Rod Lee. I still have yet to find the Pharrell Achoo Song but i dont even think that song exists outside of this set. Decided to rewatch the video today, it doesnt get old. The spongebob edit is so funny bruh i cant believe models were walking to that.
Its awesome seeing club music on a high fashion runway. Pharrell is so cool
https://soundcloud.com/ssssonic/louis-vuitton-spring-summer-2006-rtw
Justin Timberlake 20/20 Experience
November 19 2024When i was younger, i used to visit my mom at work and bring my mp3 player and headphones. My mom’s secretary (Miss Kim) would talk to me about music and burned me a CD of Justin Timberlake’s 20/20 Experience. It had come out earlier that year (2013) and she thought i would enjoy it. I didnt have a CD player so the only time i could listen to it was when my parents played it in the car.
That fall my family took a road trip from cville to nyc to watch the US Open. The drive was long and im sure we listened a lot of different music, but the two albums i associate with that trip are The 20/20 Experience and Daft Punk’s RAM.
When i got back from nyc, i told my classmates at Catholic school to listen to Tunnel Vision and Dont Hold The Wall in computer lab. I also like the length of songs on this album and how they arent thaatt boring.
The artists and culture that have come out of Virginia (Timbaland, Pharrell, Neptunes, Pusha, Clipse, Missy Elliot, Chris Brown, Trey Songz) make me proud to say i grew up there. The Dave Matthews Band even donated a signed poster to a gala auction at my mom’s work. She set it aside for me. I dont know if that was allowed but its still in my room today.
Belly (Hype Williams)
October 14 2024
Hype Williams is one of the goats of hip hop music video directing. He did some of the most iconic videos of all time like Rock the Boat, Big Poppa, Satisfy You, Shimmy Shimmy Ya, and Forever, just to name some favorites. His videography is insanely long and hes worked with so many icons in the hip hop and music industry.
I have been meaning to watch Belly, Hype Williams’ one and only full length movie. Lais was able to screen it at Ragtag for us tonight. I enjoyed Belly and the soundtrack a lot. It was interesting seeing DMX and Nas acting... also i did not know Method Man was in this until the opening credits.
I loved the cinematography and color grading. I liked the constant use of wide angle walking shots at a low height, the camera looking up. I liked the various driving/movement/aerial shots. The camera moved so smoothly the whole movie and it scratched an itch in my brain. The color grading was 100 and so was the set design. The interior of every house was incredibly sick. The costume design was incredible too, but i feel like the rappers probably dressed themselves and was just a reflection of their personal styles and trends at the time. Anyways great movie and soundtrack, Hype Williams is an icon, his style is something i look up to and admire a lot. And now i have that one Kanye Jay-Z song stuck in my head
I need a slow motion video right now... feeling like Hype Williams shooting...
Pharrell, Clipse, Jay-Z. Frontin music video. Go – Common, John Mayer, Kanye West. I Need a Girl 1 & 2 videos
October 1 2024
Im sitting at my desk editing materia photos and decided to take a break and write about what ive been on lately. Ive been listening to 90s-2000s hip hop, mostly Pharrell, Clipse, and Jay-Z. Today at work i was listening to Common’s “Go” with the John Mayer feature where all he says is “go”... his voice is so distinct, you can clock him from the very first second of the song. Kanye’s feature is also cool and he says more than one word.
My monitor is playing music videos while im editing pics. Its kind of distracting but im welcoming it. I have a soft spot for music videos, they give me an idea of how an artist wants to be interpreted.
I’ll link a playlist of my favorites later, but the Frontin music video is up there. I like the use of a point and shoot digicam in the video and how the photos are shown. Still photo montages during video content can add more context and they also just look cool. A favorite use of photos in movies are the montages in Run Lola Run.
The girl in Frontin (Lauren London) is also in the video for That Girl. The video for That Girl advertises a Nokia interface showing Pharrell’s contacts of the many women in his phone. Technology in older music videos reflect the culture and trends of that era. I miss when Beats pills, laptops, and headphones were all over videos. There is something nostalgic about in-your-face capitalism and product placement. Looking back, i find it awesome in a campy way and somehow better than advertisements today. If some crazy marketing exec is reading this, just know that if i saw a grainy paparazzi picture of Addison Rae that was like 4 pixels wide and shot on an iPhone 5s and she was holding a subway sandwich, i would probably go to subway tomorrow and i havent been to subway for like seven years.
I also watched the videos for I Need a Girl parts 1 and 2. Im obsessed with the video for pt 1 even though i like 2 as a song more. Theres something about the treatment of the first video that makes it so fly and memorable. I was messaging Nadir about MVs because hes so tapped into culture and i knew he would have something interesting to say. Sure enough he shared a memory of him and his brother doing the dance Usher and Diddy did in the Pt. 1 video back in the day. That was a sweet memory that made me feel secondhand nostalgia.
The 90s and 2000s were a golden era for hip hop and music videos. I wasnt around for that shit but i have witnessed it on YouTube dot com and vicariously through the comment sections. They dont make music videos like that anymore — the fades to black, dissolve transitions, fisheyes and ultra wide lenses, slow mo shots, etc. Some of my favorite videos have come from this era. The creativity and distinct style of this era of hip hop music videos shaped music and culture today.
John Mayer Rolling Stone Interview
September 22 2024
I knew John Mayer’s entire discography by heart at 9. There is a quote of his burned into my head from my childhood. It was fresh after his disastrous Rolling Stone interview – it was a blip in a magazine that quoted Mayer as looking for “the joshua tree of vaginas”. It was jarring and confusing to read as a kid. Ive read bits and pieces of the controversial interview since then. Tonight i read all of it... hes a funny guy and its a good read even if you dont give a fuck about him. Its messy and entertaining.
Lost Highway (David Lynch)
September 11 2024
My friend Lais is a projectionist at Ragtag, a local independent cinema in Columbia. I asked her to do an after hours screening of David Lynch’s Lost Highway, one of my favorite movies. The first time i watched it was actually at Ragtag in the very same theater. Having watched it at Ragtag, i was impressed by the sound from the score to soundtrack to foley. Watching LH in a theater really emphasized the noir-ness of this movie. The erratic driving opening sequence with David Bowie’s I’m Deranged playing is so 100 emoji
Goodfellas (Martin Scorsese)
September 9 2024
Went to the Goodfellas screening at barred owl. My friends and i shelled out $80 each for our tickets but unfortunately we couldnt sit next to each other. We
were served five courses as the film played. The pasta dishes were incredible and everything else was fine. Goodfellas is a great film, i love hearing it referenced in rap. Ive been listening to Jay-Z Vol 2. recently and i think the ‘fuck you pay me’ skit on Money, Cash, Hoes is funny