Hello, You Beautiful Thing [Jason Mraz]

Yesterday my friends were trying to expose me to the reggae-laid-back-hippie style of Jimmy Buffet. "You've never heard this song at a barbeque?!" they remarked of "Margaritaville." 

   "No, thankfully I haven't!" I exclaimed in reply, "I get my reggae-laid-back-hippie music from Jason Mraz."

Say It, Röyksopp and Robyn

Back in 2007 I was in China and music was blasting over the sound system in this crazy-packed club. To my left there was this kid that was clearly cascading down the velvety walls of a k-hole. He was in his own personal hell, while everyone around him was having the time of their lives. I swear this song was playing over those speakers. Party on champions.

CHERUB, Year of the Caprese

Post-disco duo Cherub returns with "Year of the Caprese" an album comprised of trippy boots and pants rhythms and saccharine lyrics.

Lyrically rife with cliches but riding a middle ground between R. Kelly R&B banter and Drake mawkishness, Cherub can definitely find a home in the sound systems of the late teen crowd this summer. One only needs to look to the second track "Disco Shit" to draw similarities with Daft Punk's "Get Lucky," a song that took over the airwaves last summer. Another dangerously catchy tune is "This Song Is for You," in which a girl is wooed as a party winds down.

Moreover, "Year of the Caprese" is lighthearted fair. There isn't anything here that would pervade into summers to come, but it's something to play in the meantime; like a mid-season show that gets you through the stickiest months of the year.

Jason Mraz's "Love Someone"

On this sunny Monday morning I woke up to an email from the Jason Mraz marketing team attempting to sell me preorders, including a guitar adorned with birds. That's cool, but I just went for the free stuff (i.e. the link to the Youtube of his new jam "Love Someone" another collaboration with the LA-based indie jammers Raining Jane (see the amazing "A Beautiful Mess").

Accompanying this announcement was the news that Mraz and Jane are collaborating to make an entire LP together; titled "Yes" it will be available on July 15. The question still looms though, where is the LP code named "Album 5" from Jason Mraz? Has copious amounts of green tea binging and avocado related Chipolte commerce led to this?

Never mind, the "Love Someone" song is another beautiful another ode to intimacy from the guy that brought you "I'm Yours" and "I Won't Give Up" Grab someone you love, hold them close and play this song til you fall into a soporific stupor of feels.

Believe Me, Lil Wayne Featuring Drake

Drizzy and Wayne team up once again on "Believe Me" and junior high kids everywhere rejoice. On an instrumental eerily similar to that of "Started from the Bottom," Drake and Lil Wayne volley versus, venturing to elicit vivid vicarious visions of female drug mules and piles of cash higher than the concert coffers of One Direction.

In summary, this will sound amazing in your car with the bass turned up to ridiculous levels that mutilate the beginning of the verse. Do it and satisfy the guilty pleasure that is Drizayne.

Xscape with Michael Jackson [Xscape Music Review]

Michael Jackson (aka the King of Pop), the top earning musical act of 2013, returns to the airwaves with Xscape, a musical journey featuring previously unreleased records.

The most surprising thing about this album is how instantly endearing it is. Although many were put off by the bizarre direction his mid-life took on, Michael Jackson, at his core, was an unsurpassed performer. This definitely comes through here with this selection of songs. On "A Place With No Name," Michael hollers out between lyrics, not only do you want to follow along the narrative of the track, but also dance along.

Gorgeously remastered, catchy, and sonically pleasing, Xscape will add to two things: the King of Pop's estate and his musical legacy.

Lana Del Ray's West Coast Review

Last summer, Lana Del Ray's album Born to Die found reinvigoration on the charts through the popularity of the excellent "Summertime Sadness." Just in time for the warm weather, Lana shakes off the spring chills with "West Coast," sprinkling her sultry voice all over a temperate ska-ish track in an ode to the west coast and the stardom that lies there.

Lily Allen's Sheezus

With her new set, Lily Allen is at her best when she is touting social commentary through snide and slick lyrics. Once again, we find the Smile singer making fun of the blatant materialism and commercialism of the recording industry in the title track Sheezus and on Insincerely Yours.

-Ken