Reverb: The Official UTF Blog

There’s very little about the current popular music scene that interests me. A lot of the music being shoved down our throats is very stale and sounds pretty generic. Of course, this is nothing new, but there are a few bright spots out there. There are even a few artists whose albums are on my to purchase list. Here are a couple of those artists.

1. John Mayer – I was never a fan of John until I saw him at this year’s Grammy’s. He really wowed me with his guitar playing and the blues feel he’s adopted. To put it bluntly, I didn’t know John could play like that, and I can see why many people have been raving about his recent album.
2. Ciara – She hales from the music capital of the south, the ATL, and has really impressed me with her growth as an artist. Ciara’s first single from her sophomore effort, “Promise,” has a very distinct Prince sound to it. In fact, I can easily hear Prince singing the lyrics to the song; perhaps they should do a remix with the purple one as a duet partner? In any case, I’m loving it.
3. Nelly Furtado – Working with hitmaker Timbaland has gave Nelly a whole new audience and fan base. I’m one of them. After recently downloading the “Maneater” remix, I love the new sound. It’s R&B but not R&B; it’s something different, and I like it.
4. Lloyd – I wasn’t impressed with his first single, “You,” probably because Diddy wore me out with sampling throughout the 90s. Fortunately, Lloyd scores with his new single, “Get it Shawty.” It is going to be this summer’s club banger. Like many others have said, he reminds of a young Michael Jackson; I’m talking “Off the Wall” and “Thriller” era here.
5. Nine Inch Nails – The new album is due out soon, and I can’t wait to snatch it up. After hearing some more NIN tunes on Pandora, I’ve grown to love Trent’s talent more than ever. Plus, for the first time, it hasn’t taken him 4-5 years to release a new album!