I missed an entire era

Why is that the 80's is often remarked as the worst decade of music in our generation? I always thought that, but why? In the 80's I was either not born or a chubby babby with no inclination towards music.. As I got older and music became more important, opinions changed, and back in the early 90's i went from a chubby babby to a chubby youth, always second place to my closest friends who either played in bands or had vast music collections, listening to drum and bass vinyl on their technics 1210's, I always liked music, but never had that amount of passion for it.

The 80s. What's up with that?!

Now here I am almost 30 years old, listening to radio shows, writing down artists names and discovering and appreciating music from 3 decades ago, listening to funk and soul, a genre that never bothered me before now, and finding out that, damn, the 80's were not that bad! If I had to name artists i was familiar from the 80's i'd say shit like Madonna, Cyndy Lauper, Wham and George Micheal, Enya and dogshit like that, and then on the other side was music that I knew and will always feel, there was MJ, Marvin Gaye, the Temptations, the Supremes and Billie Holiday and some amazing Motown music, that mostly went completely unappreciated by me at the time. Then there was the cheesey stuff that doesn't even deserve a mention. You know, the music that gets played at weddings and school discos.

Whenever I went to clubs and the music the selector was brining was 80's. I'd hang my head and offer a subtle groan. And I'm sure those same places, will spin that same crap now, and I'd still be hating. But there was stuff from the 80's that was insanely good. Music that had so much heart and soul, its timeless. And that music is coming full circle now, with vocalists leaning more to that soulful sound, Andreya Triana, Dam Funk, Aloe Blacc, Adele, Cee-Lo Greene, Mayor Hawthorne and the like..

I guess the point of this post was that on boxing Day last year an amazing singer by the name Teena Marie passed away, I discovered her about year ago when listening to Gilles Peterson's worldwide show and immediately fell in love with that voice, and from there, my new found new love for the soulful, Motown sound, some of it I was familiar with, some of it was brand new and it was so refreshing. she was an original Diva.

Here is the song I heard that opened up my world to her music and found me obsess over a "new" genre.



Absolutely timeless.

I feel as though I have a broad musical taste, there isn't much I don't care for, perhaps regurgitated indie pop, glam rock, triple speed death metal, acid jazz and trance but no one listens to that shit anyway.

So here are a few cuts that lately, I have been absolutely loving, and an insight into my sound so far of 2011. I think its going to be an amazing year for new music, and big things for James Blake, Jamie Woon, more from the XX, Joy Orbison, Pangea, Jam City, Mount Kimbie.....

...Music maestro!










Now.. what about the 90's.. ?