Daily Heavy: Bring Me The Horizon - Can You Feel My Heart

I've been out of the blogging game for ages; running your own business leaves you little time to do anything else.

So why has a song by a band that for the longest time I didn't care much for brought me out of hibernation?

Simply because it is catchy.

To my ears Bring Me The Horizons' back catalogue is just metalcore-by-numbers, which has been aped by many UK bands since *cough*Asking Alexandria*cough*.

But oddly enough for me, I caught the tail end of this song on Kerrang! radio (usually the last place that plays music that I enjoy!), whilst driving around earlier this morning.

That electronic riff / alteration on the vocal line for the chorus is so catchy, and clearly radio friendly.

The lyrics to this song are your typical UK-metalcore, quasi-emotional bullcrap, that I've become tired of hearing after listening to Matt Tuck of Bullet For My Valentine use this writing style since Hand Of Blood dropped in 2005.

You would think these UK metalcore frontmen would come up with something new; but I digress.

I've given the rest of the album this song comes from, Sempiternal, a listen, and it is the usual - breakdown heavy, boring guitar riffs, strained vocals - so typical of this scene.

BMTH kind of messed up by opening the album with this, in my opinion, its strongest offering.

The video: hair-flicking, headbanging and a guy getting a piece of metal removed from his body; that's it.

Daily Smooth: Taio Cruz - I Just Wanna Know

To me Taio Cruz is the UK's answer to Ne-Yo.

He started off as a songwriter and then eventually came to the forefront by performing his own music.

This song was his debut single and launched him into the UK R&B scene's spotlight.

As you would imagine this is a well thought out and well composed song.

Cruz's vocals aren't the strongest, but the production here is slick and the lyrics work nicely with the beat.

It is clear that this is a break-up song. I don't imagine Cruz writes from personal experience, although I might be wrong, I just find that songwriters that write for other artists tend to write to make a hit, without basing the lyrics on anything personal to them.

This song covers a very generic lyrical theme, but Cruz might have saved his personal stuff for his own material.

Either way this song sits nicely as a part of Cruz's fantastic debut album, Departure, which was released in 2008.

Daily Ghetto: Dizzee Rascal - H-Town

So Dizzee Rascal has finally made the move many grime and UK hip-hop acts have made already - getting American rappers to feature on their songs to make them relevant to the US audience as well as making their songs more club-friendly.

Trae the Truth and Bun B guest on this - bringing that Southern Rap flow and signature sound.

Their verses fit the beat well and don't jar against Dizzee Rascal's verses earlier in the song, which can often happen in trans-Atlantic collaborations like this.

For me, the mark of a good MC is hearing what he can do over quite a simple beat - and Dizzee shows his worth in this area.

His flow is allowed to breathe, because while this song's beat is good, it is incredibly stripped back and would be dull if it wasn't for the varied delivery of all three rappers - Dizzee in particular.

I'm looking forward to hearing all of The Fifth, Dizzee Rascal's upcoming album, because this track has set the tone and hopefully we aren't subjected to the Ibiza party anthems that plagued his last album, this time around.

Daily Ghetto: Gucci Mane ft. Rick Ross - Trap House 3

I haven't blogged in exactly a month because I have a business to run - I'm a busy man!

But this absolute joke of a rap song brought me out of my blogging hiatus.

This is everything that is wrong with modern rap.

And I mean everything - the weak-assed beat, Gucci Mane rapping about his money (big surprise there), how he's going to get it and how he's holed up in his trap house.

And then it doesn't get any better when that fatass Rick Ross decides to take that stupid thing off his head stop throwing money around and start dropping some bars - weak bars at that!

Even the video is boring - seriously - Gucci pulls up in a Rolls Royce Phantom, or Ghost, whatever, I've seen that car make an appearance in every rap video since 2006, some white chick that looks bored is mooching around, everyone is wearing ice and counting money and then we get the displeasure of seeing Rick Ross' fat rolls jiggle all over the place. Some gunmen come to the house with assault rifles and Gucci gets his gun ready to shoot back, that's it.

I don't like to cuss on this blog, but let me state this clearly - Gucci Mane is shit and this song is the biggest pile of crap I've heard this year by a long shot!

Daiy Heavy: As Blood Runs Black - In Dying Days

This song comes from metalcore band, As Blood Runs Black, debut album, Allegiance, which came out in 2006.

I was first alerted to this song by a then-popular youtube aired music show - FPE TV - which used to showcase little known metal artists' songs, gear, or often just have extended interviews with the bands.

The then-guitarists and current bassist just ripped into this melodic but brutal onslaught, without even a click track, and this impressed me and I've been a fan of the band ever since.

The band's overall guitar and bass tone is heavily distorted and bright, but this serves well to cut through the heavy drumming and often low pitched grunts that come from the vocalist.

This song combines three main riffs with some variations on each riff, but the star here is the breakdown.

I can't imagine how insane the pit at an As Blood Runs Black show would be when the breakdown of this song kicks in.

I mean seriously: "BRING DA MUTHAFUCKIN RUCKUS!!!!!"

Daily Ghetto: Maybach Music Group - Ima Boss

Hard beat - check
Meek Mill and Rick Ross on the track - check
Ghetto-assed video - check

What more could you want from an MMG track? - this has it all
It's become one of Meek Mill's biggest songs and a club banger in its own right.
Listening to this makes you feel like a BAWZ - there is nothing like pumping this in your car, with the windows down.

I love how the video starts with a phone conversation between Ross and Meek, and Ross dropping line like "Finna come thru like a bawz" and then cuts to Meek in the most ghetto area of Philadelphia, with all the hood standards in sight - all of Meek's crew on motorbikes, Rick Ross on a quadbike, gold chains and the rapper's car of choice - a Rolls Royce Phantom (in ice white nonetheless).

Meek spits bars about the bitches he's banged, the cars he drives and the record sales he makes, and the Ross comes in with a second verse with some clever (for his standards anyway) lyrics:

"Shorty rode me smooth as my Mercedes ride" as well of lots of his signature "uhh" grunt sounds.

Then Meek finishes the song off by barking out his last verse.

This is probably the biggest song on MMG's debut album: Maybach Music Group Presents: Self Made Vol. 1 which is a solid compilation release.

Daily Heavy: Waka Flocka Flame - Hard In Da Paint ((Bellizio Remix) Crizzly Edit)

So this is a repost of sorts - I posted the original version of Hard In Da Paint a while back, but this remix kicks into another gear.

Producers Crizzly and Bellizio made a club banger into a bass boosted, synth heavy dubstep mashup.

The beat of the original is what the remix focuses on, with minimal use of Waka Flocka's original vocals.

Somehow this manages to get me even more pumped up than the original.

All that's left to say is "I GO HARD IN THA MUTHAFUCKIN PAINT!!!"

Daily Heavy: Coheed and Cambria - The Running Free

Coheed and Cambria are a band I discovered only a few years ago whilst they were supporting Deftones.

The word was that Deftones' guitarists Stef Carpenter absolutely loved the band and picked them out as a support act. And I'm telling you, they kicked just as much ass as the Deftones did that evening.

This song comes from their fantastic 2007 album Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume Two: No World for Tomorrow.

It starts with a catchy guitar riff over some synthesized sounds. The verses have an amazing interplay between the guitar riff and bass riff, and vocalist Claudio Sanchez really shines here.

The choruses are more of a straightforward rock affair, but the lead guitar comes in at this point, to great effect.

Coheed and Cambria are one of the best modern rock bands at the moment, I'd urge any rock fans to check out their back catalogue. 

Daily Ghetto: Vybz Kartel - Clarks

Jamaican people love Clarks shoes (long-story short - it is a ex-colonial thing where they buy English things they can't get in Jamaica).

They love Clarks shoes so much that Vybz Kartel had to write a song about them.

The beat is hard, Vybz Kartel and Popcaan drop some bars and this leads to the sort of song that gets those ghetto-assed parties going.

The video is something else - expect gratuitous shots of people's shoes and some girl cleaning her shoes.. with a toothbrush.

Anybody who isn't Jamaican / does not understand Jamaican patois, might have a hard time with this song - but you'll catch on soon enough; this song only has one topic and it's quite obvious by now what it is.

Daily Heavy: As I Lay Dying - Through Struggle

This has become As I Lay Dying's signature song, and for good reason.

It kicks off with a tasty, bouncy guitar riff, which gets any crowd pumped - when I saw them live the floor was moving from the whole crowd headbanging.

The drumming in this song is authoritative - Jordan Mancino is one of the most consistent metal drummers and he really owns this song.

Vocalist Tim Lambesis, growls out his lyrics over the sublime melodic guitar riffs during the verses.

The song quickly reaches a semi-breakdown of sorts and then moves onto a softer passage with clean vocals, which then exchanges with the heavy part from earlier. The use of dynamics makes this song stand out as well as the pedal-tone guitar riffs playing on a theme.

The final breakdown/outro of the song is so brutal. The tempo drops a bit and the full force of the chugging guitars and bass hit you.

The video - well the synchronised headbanging that so many metalcore bands use when playing live was definitely in vogue when this video was shot. As I Lay Dying still do it to this day, but I'm fairly sure they were one of the first to make it a feature of their sets.

Daily Smooth: New Edition - If It Isn't Love

Here's another New Edition classic, from their platinum album, Heart Break.

Ralph Tresvant sings lead on this one.

The beat is so 80s - all the typical new jack swing components are in place - synths, heavy use of a drum machine and lots of layering.

I love the video to this song for some reason - no boybands bother to learn choreography like this anymore.

Daily Heavy: Parkway Drive - Boneyards

Coming from Parkway Drive's second album - the outstanding Horizons - this song is an intense blend of blast beats and some rapid riffing.

The combination of the low hardcore grunts, down tuned guitars and perfectly locked in drum and bass, give this song such impact.

Killswitch Engage guitarist, Adam D, produced this album and his signature production style is clear to hear; the guitar tone and even riff style sounds so much like Killswitch it is uncanny.

The pedal-tone riffs in the song's verses sound like they have been lifted from Killswitch's seminal album, Alive Or Just Breathing. This is no bad thing though - Parkway's vocalist gives them enough individuality to stand out from the metalcore crowd.

Daily Ghetto: Kanye West, Jamie Foxx and Twista - Slow Jamz

I haven't dropped a really massive ghetto tune in a while, so I thought it was time to pull out a big gun from Kanye's legendary debut album, The College Dropout.

This song blends Foxx's soulful voice and Kanye's relaxed flow over an amazing beat. Kanye produced this song, and really I feel that his best work comes in this capacity rather than as a rapper - don't get me wrong he is a great rapper, but an outstanding producer; I can't think of a weak Kanye beat!

Jamie Foxx adds a nice touch to the bridge section of this song as he name-checks some classic artists, and then Twista comes in.

What can I say about Twista - for a while he was recognized as the fastest rapper of all time, and although since surpassed in speed, there are very few rappers who combine his speed, flow and clever lyricism. The bars he drops in this song have become what everyone looks forward to hearing when this song comes on.

I cannot stress how good The College Dropout is - this is one of many top flight songs on that album. This song also features on Twista's Kamikaze, which is a showcase of his superior rapping ability over some nasty beats.

Daily Heavy: The Offspring - All I Want

As with most Offspring songs, this song is short but sweet.

A simple chord progression and up-tempo drumming pushes this song along.

The signature vocal harmonies come in during the choruses.

I was reminded of this song from a childhood spent playing Crazy Taxi on my mate's Sega Dreamcast - ah those were the days.

Daily Ghetto: Dorrough - Piece and Chain Swangin

My first Dorrough post was very well received so here's another banger from his debut album, Dorrough Music. 

This song has a synth heavy beat and Dorrough raps about his jewellery and his diamonds - gotta love basic rappers like this guy!

There's a rather boring verse from Slim Thug towards the end of the song, but Dorrough saves the song with a sick last verse.

There's auto-tune a plenty here in the backing vocals, and all this adds up to this song being a massive club banger.

Daily Heavy: Lamb Of God - Hourglass

Lamb Of God are one of the few modern metal bands that really sound unique.

The combination of midrange heavy guitars that aren't overly saturated, having a very diverse and distinctive drummer and a lead singer who does the "halfway between screaming and singing" so well, gives Lamb Of God the edge over many of their contemporaries.

The only band that sounds anything like them are the legendary Pantera.

Hourglass comes from their seminal album, Ashes Of The Wake. It showcases some tight but groovy riffing from the superb guitarists Mark Morton and Willie Adler as well as the feral drumming of Chris Adler.

Vocalist Randy Blythe growls in this song, showing off with some wild screams.

For me, the bridge section of this song is outstanding; the harmonized guitar riff requires such skill play and to sync up when recording, and exemplifies how great of a duo Morton and Adler are.

Ashes Of The Wake has to be one of the best metal albums since Pantera's Cowboys From Hell.

From the production, to the guitar tone, to the insane drumming, it is relentless and heavy.

Daily Smooth: Frank Ocean - Swim Good

This is the first Frank Ocean song I heard and it instantly got me hooked to his work.

It comes from his first major release, the mixtape Nostalgia, Ultra. 

It combines heavy bass and drums with a synth organ to great effect during the verses, while the instrumentation gets embellished with some keys during the choruses.

Ocean delivers his lines in a chilled out style for the most part, but pushes the boat out in the bridge and final chorus.

There is something so relaxing about Ocean's songs in general and I'd urge anyone who likes contemporary R&B to check out Nostalgia, Ultra as well as his stunning debut album, channel Orange.

Daily Heavy: In Flames - I'm The Highway

In Flames are one of my favorite metal bands.

I love melodic death metal, and along with At The Gates, In Flames produce some of the best work of this genre.

This song comes from their 2008 album, A Sense Of Purpose, and is one of the catchier tunes on it.

It kicks off with some nicely harmonized guitars before the full band comes in.

The verse riffs are fairly simple but effective and the chorus riffs get a nice kick from some rapid drumming in the background.

The bridge section has a nice heavy guitar riff behind it, and the solos are melodic and very tasteful - they drop into the song very seamlessly.

Vocalist Anders Fridén barks out his lyrics, which adds a nice percussive attack over the fairly groovy and bouncy guitar riffs.

Daily Heavy: The Faceless - Deconsecrate

Through all my guitar nerdiness I had heard of renowned shredder Michael Keene and how his band The Faceless were amazing, but I hadn't bothered to check out the band until very recently.

I'm glad that I stopped watching Michael Keene tearing it up at product demos at NAMM and actually watched a video by The Faceless.

This is some high level technical death metal; after the lengthy circus music-themed intro, the song breaks down into some ferocious riffing, blast beats and guttural vocals.

The musicianship in this band is at a very high level - some of the guitar work here is incredibly hard to pull off at these sorts of tempos. Bassist Evan Brewer is a somewhat of a modern age bass master - not only does he keep up with the guitarists in this band - he has a solo album that is written and played with just his bass and some effects pedals, which is a masterpiece in my opinion.

And then there's the drumming - to keep time at this speed and lock in so tightly with two highly skilled guitarists (Michael Keene and Wes Hauch are top notch shredders), is very impressive.

This song demonstrates the wide range of techniques in both the vocals (Keene handles clean singing, whilst lead singer Geoffrey Ficco brings the brutality), and instrumentation (Keene and Hauch show their worth in the solo section of this song).

The blend of synth organs, strings and Keene's vocals in the quieter passages give the faster and more brutal parts such an impact.

The album this comes from, Autotheism, is excellent.

Daily Ghetto: Rick Ross - Hustlin'

"Who the fuck you think you fuckin with I'm the fuckin bawz!!!"

What a way to open a song.

Rick Ross' most famous song, from his debut album Port Of Miami, is a straight up club banger.

Ross delivers his lines in that slow deliberate style that he has become known for, and the beat is very minimalistic, but I feel that it gives more of an impact to Ross' bars.

This song is one massive drug-reference; the official video says it all.

That said I've posted the explicit version below, because I find it silly to censor a song like this.