You may know Dan Brown as the guy who writes the conspiracy theorist books with simple grammar and lame literary devices. I’m not calling the kettle black, I’m just reporting on what I’ve heard. And if I have bad grammar, at least I confine my sloppiness to a blog.
Speaking of black, have you ever heard of Dan’s brother Dan Black? Well either they are brothers or I am really stretching here with an intro that makes any sense. Either way – let’s talk about Dan Black, shall we?
You may have heard a Biggie cover he put together earlier this year. It was his own instrumentation combined with the drums from Rihanna’s Umbrella. The song is great – and you can’t go wrong with the kind of percussion that thrust Rihanna into the spotlight (which she would later use for domestic violence scandals and naked photos on the internet).
That same song now forms the basis of Dan Black’s single Symphonies off his album Un. Which begs the questions, which came first – the cover or the original? I think the original is actually better than the cover – but you have to think that maybe you only like the original because you heard the cover and the familiar lyrics sweetened your ears. Yes, Dan Black, has created the first musical chicken or egg argument. My mind is melted.
If you lean towards electro music with a laid back vocalist, you’re going to like Dan Black. Dan puts a little swagger on his melodies, but his voice still has that epic British Radiohead-esque quality. I especially like the constant pitch changing quality of his singing. If his songs were ever on a Guitar Hero game, the vocalists wave would be bouncing all over the place.
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You can pick up Dan Black’s album Un at iTunes. If you are in the UK you probably already have it, but in the US that shit came out yesterday!
What, no “Yours?” That’s a great one.
I’ve listened to the Biggie cover one million times. Very happy for these!
Something to look forward to:
“Kid Cudi, who upon falling in love with “Symphonies” recently collaborated with Dan Black in the studio in New York City for their forthcoming single set for release in early 2010.”
Hey check Dan Black’s Weird Science new mixtape.
Very good Tunes!!
http://thehoursrecords.blogspot.com/2010/02/dan-black-weird-science-mixtape-is-up.html
You can also check Dan Black Symphonies feat. Kid Cudi video premiere on IFC http://tinyurl.com/y8uexkw
Sounds good!!
actually the biggie cover came first! He planned on using that for his album but “Biggie’s People” refused to give him the rights to the song, so he was forced to write new lyrics