Easy Star’s “Thrillah”

August 30, 2012 at 8:00 am

Just when you thought that the Easy Star All-Stars couldn't come up with a better idea for a cover album, boom, they hit you with "Easy Star's Thrillah."  This is an amazing reggae version of the Michael Jackson classic, released just a day before MJ would have turned 53 (Rest in Peace, Michael).

One thing about Easy Star cover albums is that they really do their research.  From front to back, they make sure the original album is intact, with respectful renditions that are just too good to be true.  My first experience with the Easy Star All Stars was back in 2006.  I was in Maui, and a friend of mine put on their debut, "Dub Side of The Moon," while we were driving around Kihei.  One of her friends had mentioned it to me at a party the night before, that there was a reggae version of Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of The Moon," and I was completely oblivious.  She put this on and from the intro I was hooked.

Definitely was stood out to me was their version of "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'," which brings an afrobeat vibe to the party.  Lovin it!

Cop the vinyl at a decent price on Easy Star's website.  Go for the Vinyl and T-shirt bundle!

Requests Music – Maui

May 2, 2012 at 8:00 am

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I read on yelp that Requests Music has a basement with a ton of records, so I had to go there during our two days that we were in Maui. Once we got there, though, it was quite a bit of vinyl that was unorganized, dirty, water damaged, and pretty much unacceptable. I did manage to find a couple pieces, from new Jack to some soul stuff so it was cool overall.  The dude working there was really nice and he gave me a couple extra Record Store Day items including this cool tote bag. If you can spare A LOT of time to go through all these records, I highly recommend you check out request music in Maui.  I, however, was aching for some beach time, so I only stayed for about an hour.

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Aloha!

April 28, 2012 at 4:37 pm

20120429-103858.jpg Aloha from Honolulu. I’m sitting here on the beach thinking about how crazy this last week has been. It all started on Thursday as we (Trina and I) headed out to the Coachella music festival in Indio. We saw an amazing lineup of artists. Too many, in fact, to see them all (sorry DJ Shadow). There were quite a few people there as well!

 

Outside of the festival, we hung out at the Ace Hotel as well as the Saguaro Hotel, where there was a KCRW pool party on Sunday afternoon. Once we came home from Coachella, we were off to Maui for a couple of days to celebrate my birthday, and then on to Honolulu to go digging and whatnot while Trina worked a conference. More to come…

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