Good Morning
What’s up people? So I don’t know if you guys have been following my random twits or if you’ve checked out my Top 10 / Best of ’08 List Urb Magazine posted on their blog but I’ve been big’n up several music groups lately. I’m really feeling a lot of the alternative/rock music that’s been coming out. I took a bit of a “break” from hip hop for the past 2 years or so while I worked on my album The Death of Adam. Besides being a bit “uninspired” by the genre as a whole, with few exceptions (i.e. Guilty Simpson, Kanye West, Q-Tip & others), I also didn’t want to be influenced by other hip hop artists.
Enter The Morning Benders. I actually “discovered” them (a.k.a. came across their music) by using the genius feature on iTunes. The first song I heard from this group was “Damnit Anna“. It blew me away. This reminded me of a really dope song The Beatles would have made. The first thing I thought was, “Man… This song is DOPE!” Then my second thought was, “Man… Why’d these dudes make a song dissin’ my sister?”
*Note – To the remedial reader, one of my three older sisters’ name is Anna. *bonk*
The Morning Benders
Photo: Timothy Or (bass), Julian Harmon (drums), Christopher Chu (singer/writer/guitar) & Joseph Ferrell (guitar)
So I wound up visiting their page on iTunes & skimmed thru the rest of their album. I was maybe about 6 songs in with playing the :30 second snippets until I decided to just straight cop the entire album & hope for the best. Based on these snippets alone it seemed like they wouldn’t let me down… & they didn’t.
I immediately became a fan. I played their entire album (Talking Through Tin Cans) as soon as my download was complete. I was cleaning my kitchen the Saturday morning I cop’d their album so you KNOW I was blasting it throughout my household (uh… apartmenthold). Later that night I wound up searching for them on Wikipedia, MySpace & YouTube; You know, the father, the son & the holy ghost of the World Wide Web. And to answer your question: Yes. I DO have slight o.c.d. Anything I get into I get into HEAVY. And it’s usually not a fleeting moment either like I’ll be all gung-ho for the first four days then forget about ‘em. Uh-uh!
Check Out The Cool Shit That Happened Next:
So now I’m listening to The Morning Benders like every other day. Their songs are pretty infectious. My guy Will from Imeem hits me up on iChat & mentioned that he saw my Urb Magazine post where I mentioned The Morning Benders. He says he’s cool with them & their manager Steve Brodsky. I get amp’d like “patch me in dude!” So he introduces us to each via email. After a lot of back ‘n’ forth of getting to know each other (he’s a really cool hip hop head by the way), he actually cc’d Christopher Chu & introduced us via email. Needless to say I was pretty stoked.
We’ve all kept in contact with each other pretty regularly since then.
*Note – They just hit the stage in San Diego, CA while I was doing some edits to this post… so sayeth Chris.
I don’t think I’m at liberty to disclose too much but we’re all doing some work with each other right now. Things are going pretty well. I think we all (& you, the reader, being included in the “we”) should be very pleased with the results God willing it sees the light of day.
Anyway, here’s their second video called “Boarded Doors” & your [in]formal introduction to The Morning Benders.
I hope this was an insightful read & that you all support this awesome group. Enjoy!
Shouts:
- Will @ Imeem (for making the link)
- Steve (for not being a whack dude)
- Chris Chu (for actually hitting me back. oh & for mixing your own album. *whoa*)
- The Morning Benders (for your raw talents)
- iTunes Genius (for being the genius that you are. keep it coming)
- You (for supporting this group & not downloading their shit for free)
- Skin & Bones (“Love U Like U Love It”. did I say too much here? oops) *shhh*
- Brandon @ Urb Magazine (for allowing me to create/post my top 10 of ’08 list)
*Note – All boldface type & images you see here are clickable. *hint* So enjoy, have fun &, most of all, don’t be so stingy. *jeez*
Okay, so honestly, this is one of the most info-filled blogs I’ve ever come across ! EVER ! Seriously, you’re giving artists around the world less and less opportunities to say that they can’t get to where they wanna be by giving up everything on a silver platter ! Hats off to you !
Now as for these cats, while I’m in no way a rock fan, I really dig the video and the melodies are real dope. Looking forward to the work ya’ll are doing together !
Thank you. I try to include all details so no stone is left unturned & also so the viewer could come as close to experiencing what I’ve experienced when I came across it. Oh + I have diarrea of the mouth so…
I love alt-rock music. I actually stopped listening to hip hop for a little over a year because: 1. Alt-rock is so melodic & instrument driven & 2. Hip hop got REAL wack to me.
88-Keys – The Death of Adam