DJ Raaban and Zedd

Back at it again today with some awesome music! I know, my posting has been a little bit shaky lately, but I am definitely doing my best. Today I wanted to share something new and cool and different with you. This song is by a Swedish DJ by the name DJ Raaban. Now he is a lesser known DJ in our stream of music, and honestly, in any stream of music. His music takes us back to the older days of electronic music. It has that European style for sure, emulating sounds that we would find in things like video games and early 00s music videos. This is a style that has been lost to the underground, and hasn't made much of an effort to resurface. Nightcore music is kind of like a happy version of trance. When you listen to this song, it feels like a sped up and more rhythmic version of a song. That is because it is. The vocals are also way higher pitched than the original, maybe under the assumption that it makes the song more bubby or something, which I guess it kind of does. But that high energy and hard hitting sound is what makes this kind of music so incredibly invigorating. Now in the nightcore scene, DJ Raaban is pretty damn popular, with remixes of songs from all over the spectrum of pop music. This song specifically is actually taken from an Italian pop song, and DJ Raaban has essentially nightcored it. Now what makes this song great is that the vocals are male. When nightcore DJs remix songs, a lot of the times they make the vocals feminine and then raise the pitch to the point that it almost has the chipmunk effect. I personally can't handle that kind of vocalization. It is too high for my ears to handle and makes the song feel like Alvin and the Chipmunks remixed it. But DJ Raaban keeps the original male vocals of this song, and that sounds absolutely fantastic when remixed. DJ Raaban also adds a sub track of general cheering. This is something I haven' heard DJs do often enough, so when I do hear it, it tends to stand out. I like the fact that he started the song off with that because it fills the sound space without overfilling it. There is a general sense of oganized chaos when you have a set melody and the randomness of crowd cheering. That is something that I find pretty darn creative becasue it utilizes a sound that we all know well but seem to overlook. I also love the fact that DJ Raaban makes us feel like there are tempo changes in the song. The simplicity of that is just changing the beat rate, whether we count in real time, half time, or quarter time. So while the overall beat never changes, the pace of the song never changes, we feel like it does because where the beats are located do change. I think that concept is so cool because it is like playing a listening game. Now I wish I knew enough Italian to translate and give a breakdown of the lyrics, but sadly enough I do not. However, I do know that the title translates into free soul/spirit. Which is incredibly perfect becasue that is how this song makes me feel. Completely free to dance my heart out, go be wild and free, and bask in the ecstasy that is music. So while nightcore can be a severely underrated genre, I think it is one we shouldn't overlook. Today's instrumental song comes from a video game, because it seemed pretty darn appropriate. Now the first video game theme that came to mind was The Legend of Zelda. Which is great, until I remembered that a certain DJ named Zedd made a remix of this very theme song. I had forgotten that old Zedd is actually a little bit of a geek and I love it. Tastefully done, this remix is one that takes one fo the most notable video game themes and turns it into a dane mix. And that is what makes music so great. There are so many interpretations and versions, all unique and entertaining no matter what you think of a song. So thank you Zedd for letting us into your creative world! I hope you enjoy the music and please feel free to comment!