Favourite Music

Good indie rock music is hard to find, at least that's my opinion, my local radio station just offers the same pop music every hour, it can be really difficult to find anything new or that hasn't been mixed to death.

It's one of the reasons I really wanted to check out XFM who used to be just a London station but have now branched out to other cities and most importantly they've gone international on the web, and when you live in Spain (like I do), well, let's just say a good English language station indie rock station is something you miss.

While I write this I'm listening to Steve Harris who's just finished playing a Goldfrapp number and he's got a few killer indie tracks coming up before the end of his show, I'm really looking forward to hearing Vampire Weekend and the new track from Linkin Park.

XFM aren't just about live radio though, you can also download show podcasts from iTunes, and they have a few albums and artist interviews for download as well.

Signup to their site as well and you get even more access to competitions and interviews, and that appeals to me coz the chance to win albums and back stage passes is always good.

And, yeah I know, I keep adding more, but actually the XFM site still has more, like artist profiles and music news which I kinda like. You know when you hear a new band and want to know more about them I hate Googling for their discography or history, so I really like that XFM have this info at hand on their site.

Last night I was watching a T.V. show where a famous Portuguese singer was being interviewed. Unfortunately I couldn't understand everything that was being said, but I did manage to scribble down her name. The female artist Dolce Pontes had such a capitivating voice, she gave me goose bumps.

Well I was hooked and went straight to You Tube to look for the video clip that featured on the T.V To my amazement I found the clip titled, Fado Portugues.

While hunting around for the video I found another clip with Dolce and Andrea Bocelli my favourite Operatic singer. OMG they are amazing and the backdrop to the clip features a water like fall and contempory dancers. If you would like this track O Mare e Tu it features on the Andrea Bocelli album Sogno.

Between Sarah Brightman, Andrea Bocelli and now Dulce Pontes I have hours of music to listen to while designing themes to give away. I hope you enjoy the duet with Andrea Bocelli and Dulce Pontes as much as I do.

For a few years now I've been patiently waiting for a follow-up album from Sarah Brightman, after Harem I've become totally addicted to her sweet voice, I think Harem gets played at least every couple of weeks.

Between Sarah and Andrea Bocelli they've introduced me to opera, a musical style I never expected to enjoy listening to. As a child I used to run screaming from the room anytime opera was played, maybe age is mellowing me, or maybe you just have to be older to appreciate opera in a world filled with pop music.

So picture my surprise when I saw Symphony being advertised, well I just had to get it. This album takes off where Harem began with some really up-beat almost pop-like songs but the orchestral work is amazing.

And imagine my delight when I saw she's recorded another duet with Bocelli, my two favorite singers on one track again, and it is a beautiful track with some fantastic melodies.

I love the rock style songs she's picked for this album, they showcase a different Sarah, she seems more complex with this album, not so sterotyped. A couple of the tracks seem a little bit thrown together, but overall this album has been well worth waiting for so I'm glad I managed to pick up a copy.

One of my favourite singers, Andrea Bocelli, will be releasing his first greatest hits album on October 30, The Best of Andrea Bocelli: Vivere.

I'm really looking forward to this album, it has all my favourite tracks on it including the incomparable duet with Sarah Brightman, Time To Say Goodbye, which I think has to one of my favourite songs of all time, and let's not forget Romanza and Sogno, two songs that really showcase Andrea's voice perfectly.