When it comes to music, people like to pretend our world fits neatly into black and white, hip-hop and r&b, rock and rap. But is it possible that one artist can bring the rock, the soul and the pop music lover together in one blissful Technicolor orgy? If anyone can, it’s Bay Area musician Chris Marsol. On his bold debut album, “Butterflies, Lipstick and Handgrenades” (Clear Label/Hiero Imperium), Marsol fuses together rock, soul, pop and electro, resulting in a record where no two tracks sound the same. Arranged and produced by Marsol, “Butterflies, Lipstick and Handgrenades,” drops March 30, 2010.

Marsol and his band made this record the old-fashioned way: they got together at FM studios in Berkeley, CA.

“It was a 24 hour recording session split up into two days,” explains Marsol. “Before the session, we rehearsed over a period of months to solidify the arrangements. Then we all tracked our parts simultaneously, in one huge recording room so the music had an organic sound. We recorded it exactly the way we play it live at shows.”

How did this rock artist end up on one of the Bay’s most esteemed hip-hop labels? “In 2007 my business partner gave Hiero’s owner Tajai (of Souls of Mischief) some of my music. Unknown to us, Tajai had been listening to it while on tour. When he got back, a meeting was set up and we decided to work together.”

“I want my label to represent quality music in general, not just underground rap,” explains Tajai of why he signed Marsol. “Chris has talent and energy that the world needs to see.”

Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, home of Haight-Ashbury, Marsol is the product of the hippie movement, Psychedelic Rock, the Black Panthers. Admittedly, he wasn’t around during the revolution, but the spirit of art, freedom, and progressive thinking still illuminates the Bay Area — and Marsol’s music.

“As a child, I didn’t discriminate between genres of music,” notes Marsol, who includes Pink Floyd, Cream, Stevie Wonder, Nirvana, Genesis, Stone Temple Pilots, D’Angelo, Radiohead, and Hall and Oates among his favorite artists. “I only distinguished between what I liked and what I didn’t like.”

At 6, Chris was singing in his church choir and stealing the spotlight, dancing at his family reunions. By 11, he was locking himself in the bathroom, writing and recording his first songs with a Radio Shack tape recorder. At age 17 he taught himself how to play the piano and eventually taught himself the guitar.

When asked about the meaning of the album title, Marsol shrugs, “There’s no meaning until you create one.”

Phoenix – “Lasso:”

So we just received a copy of Jonathan Denmark’s Books record. First off, we’ve never gotten music mail in such unique packaging, or mail in general. The packaging is an encyclopedia volume. Specifically, it’s Volume 5 of a Funk & Wagnalls Standard Reference Encyclopedia, including the terms Bubonic through Cellular. What better way to ship the Books release than in a book with Funk in the title? That’s right. Denmark’s agent sends out his releases proper.

At any rate, it’s a great EP. Favorite tracks include “More to Expect,” “Arizona,” “Great Dietitian,” and “Blessing.” Needless to say, we like this blend of acoustic/indie rock, experimental electronic music, and hip hop Denmark has put together. It’s hard to classify Denmark’s music, but that’s part of what makes it different.

There are also pieces of food for thought spread throughout the EP. For instance, “a gift is not a blessing if it causes you more stress,” from the track “Blessing.” How true this statement is, but people don’t commonly acknowledge that gifts can be burdens. In fact, you could even get accused of being spoiled or cynical if you try to explain why a gift causes you stress.

So, don’t just take our word for it, check the album out for yourself!

So this video is perfect for this song. It’s pretty upbeat and fun, like most music from Phoenix. If you haven’t checked out the Phoenix record Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix yet, you really should!

The video is a tribute to the YouTube bratpack tribute (below) that went more viral than the band’s own video (above). We like both.

Check out more from Duke Dumont:

Don Diablo’s remix for One eskimO’s “Givin’ Up.” We love the vocals and synth work in this track. Don Diablo is already famous without a plug from us, but this track is catchy. It’s also somewhat different from the usual style of Diablo.

This remix of One eskimO’s “Givin’ Up” is taken from their forthcoming album “All Balloons.” Don Diablo altered the original song with added strings, synths, his trademark percussion, and a nice break and bassline combination. One eskimO’s forthcoming album is produced by Rollo (Faithless) and will be backed up by a series of animations produced by Passion Pictures, the team behind the act “Gorillaz.”

Download.

Machinedrum – “Jelly Jelly:”

Produced by Mick Boogie and Terry Urban, we have another remix using samples of Jay-Z raps over rock vocals. We don’t quite like this remix as much as we liked DJ Danger Mouse’s The Grey Album, but we like it nevertheless. One mistake Boogie and Urban made in their production was putting samples all over the beginnings of the tracks saying “mix it up,” “Terry Urban,” etc. We get the point about who produced a track once we have heard the first sample naming the producer and if you need to put a digital watermark all over your music, you should at least take the time to figure out how to make it invisible. Our preference for the invisible digital watermark generally applies to works where the watermark becomes so noticeable that it becomes annoying. Even in the cases where you can completely habituate the digital watermark–the least annoying cases–the watermark is still arguably an imperfection even if it’s something like a small logo in the bottom of a video. If a producer’s concern is people not stealing his or her art, then the invisible digital watermark is arguably a more effective means of proving that the original work was in fact yours because it is harder if not impossible for the infringer to tell where the watermark is. So, the whole argument that watermark samples are required to keep people from copying your music or art therefore becomes weaker.

“Intro [Prod. By Mick Boogie & Terry Urban]:”

“Public Speeding [Prod. By Cookin' Soul]:”

“Miss Trouble [Prod. By Judah]:”

“The Reverse Fix [Prod. By Mick Boogie & nVMe]:”

“What If We Cry? [Prod. By Remot]:”

Download the full Viva La Hova here.