Calvin Harris

This young Scottish producer has had a pretty busy and so far successful 2011:  he's released two quality singles (definitely on my summer soundtrack), lent his productions skills to various pop artists and even been on tour with Rihanna.   The first single featured Kelis and is called "Bounce".  I don't care if you find Kelis' voice annoying... the melody in this tune is just straight up danceable.  For his second single Calvin used his own vocals on a tune called "Feel So Close", which became his sixth solo top 10 single in the UK - impressive!  

More recently Calvin teamed up with the British grime / Brit-Hop artist Tinchy Stryder for a typical cross-genre club friendly tune, "Off the Record".  Typical electro-pop, meh.  Calvin is also the producer of Rihanna's lastest single.  Now, normally I hate everything this Bajan pop star releases.  I respect a few of her tracks such as "Umbrella" and "What's My Name?" - however probably due to the involvement of Jay-Z and Drake respectively.  Nothing against her, just not my type of music.  Having said that, I think her latest collab with Calvin Harris, "We Found Love", strikes a good balance as a happy dance song.  Has been the UK #1 for 3 weeks now.  See the video below, which has actually caused a bit of controversy as it depicts Rihanna's tumultuous relationship with a boyfriend - played by an actor who oddly resembles Chris Brown!

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Rakin n scrapin

Figured it's about damn time I do another blog post.  Crossed the pond 4 weeks ago and have been seriously busy studying - hence the lack of activity.  With over 60 tunes posted so far, most of them have been some form of electronica or hip-hop.  Not long after leaving the rock I was lil home sick and went on a rampage trying to download some good ole Bahamian music.  Therefore this post, my 25th(!!!), is mainly for the Bahamians abroad who just wan a taste of dat sweet island calypso to remind you of our country.  OR for those of you still home, who always hear dat song on da radio, but cyan find it anywhere to buy/download/nuttin.  Been meaning to finish this post for a while, and today seems appropriate -
Happy Columbus Day Bahamas!

1) Geno D - Stagger Lee

First up is one of my favourite Bahamian tunes ever recorded.  I recently learned that "Stagger Lee" is not penned by the great Gene Davis, aka Geno D - but is actually an old folk song dating back to the 1920's which has been covered countless times, by some of the greats like James Brown, Bob Dylan and Ike & Tina Turner, to name a few.  I can't speak for these other artists, but Geno D makes this song his own with the perfect melody of rakin saw and cowbells, adding that distinct Bahamian flair.  This song takes me back to my childhood, as it was one of my Dad's favourites too.  Thanks to my friend Sue-Lin for sending me this hard to find track!  :)