[FEATURE] Train Your Ears To Say Yes: Rules For an Original Track

Part 1: Train Your Ears To Say Yes: Rules for an Original Track So, there is tons of new music out there. You feel like it’s impossible to get through it all and still find quality music. You wonder how in the hell those music bloggers do it, bringing you all those exciting new tracks [...]

[MONTHLY] Um, F*ck Fear. I Have None: The Sights and Sounds’ Best of Feb. 2013

We haven’t done this in awhile and it’s totally Kavit’s fault (you’re a pillar of success, Kavit) so here’s a larger set of our Sunday Spotlights compiling our best of the best for the month—at least according to what that wily Kavit thinks (and, you know, he’s a bit of a pusher about featuring his [...]

[WEEKLY] Sunday Spotlights: Week 6

This week’s spotlights find us traversing the increasingly nonexistent boundary between indie and mainstream. I know, I know, hipsters’ heads are already starting to explode. The point of this week’s spotlights isn’t to claim that mainstream is increasingly great—oh, far from it. The point of music bloggers is to cull through all the shit out [...]

[NU-JAZZ] Destiny’s Child – “Nuclear” (Beat Connection Edit)

The changes are subtle, but Beat Connection‘s remix of Destiny’s Child‘s first single in years, “Nuclear” manages to alter the genre of the song. In the world of remixes, it’s pretty unique: more of a horizontal shift in tonal quality rather than a complete rework. The move from a traditional R&B/pop song to nu-jazz comes [...]

[POP/HIP-HOP] Justin Timberlake – “Suit & Tie” ft. Jay Z

Well if you haven’t heard the news by now you must be living in a cave. Justin Timberlake announced last week his comeback to music with a short video featured on his website that included an official countdown. And what did we get at the end of that countdown? “Suit & Tie,” the first single [...]

[POP] Destiny’s Child – “Nuclear”

Earlier this week, Destiny’s Child made an announcement that they would be getting back together to make more music. While maybe not as exciting as getting new material from David Bowie and Justin Timberlake (both announced they will be releasing new music), we have gotten our one of our first tastes of the ‘new’ Destiny’s [...]

[ELECTRO/R&B] Mikky Ekko – “Pull Me Down” (Ryan Hemsworth Remix)

I made the mistake of thinking Mikky Ekko was a female vocalist at first listen. Shame on me and thanks to those more astute listeners who weren’t led astray. Mikky’s single “Pull Me Down” has plagued my memory (in a good way) by living as that song that perpetually gets stuck in your head. The [...]

[POP/R&B] Rihanna – ‘Unapologetic’ Album Review

We don’t usually review something as mainstream or “pop” as a Rihanna album but given that after six full-length studio releases this is her first number one we thought we’d give it a try. All album cover Illuminati references aside, this may be the pop superstar’s most cohesive and personal album to date. Released just [...]

[ELECTRO/POP] Usher – “Numb” Official Music Video

Coming off Usher‘s seventh studio album, Looking 4 Myself, is the official music video for “Numb.” The dramatic video features emotional scenes of Usher being boo’ed onstage, taking care of his son, and scenes with a woman in the hospital. Lyrically, it’s “an inspirational song about finding one’s destiny, and becoming numb to the negativity [...]

[R&B/DUBSTEP] Usher – “Climax” prod. by Diplo (Official Music Video + Vaski Remix)

Usher and Diplo have hit sexy time gold with their new R&B jam “Climax.” Now they have released the official visuals for the track, which you can check out below. Nothing too special here as “Climax” gets the usual R&B girl drama treatment. What does stand out, however, is Vaski‘s dirty mix of the jam. [...]