Keeping It Fresh

So, rock music for anyone? It has been too long since I last discussed rock music, a shame if I am to be honest. But I thought today and going forward, I can talk about more rock music, whether it be rock n roll or modern rock. Starting today with a band out of Japan, ONE OK ROCK. Now I only recently started listening to their music, and it took me back to my rock roots. I will say ,ONE OK ROCK tends to take a little bit more of a punk sound with this song, but it really works for them. One of the things I really have to appreciate about ONE OK ROCK, is that each album sounds different. The band is not afraid of trying out new sounds and vibes each time they put out an album, and I respect that both as a listener and as a musician. You can also really tell who has influenced the band. Some albums are almost like an homage to ONE OK ROCK's favorite and most inspiring bands, but they are still able to make each album sound like their own. Now the album which this song comes from i...

Today I am going back to the days of the boy bands, a song that is off one of my personal playlists. LMNT was around for a short while, coming out with a lead single which seemed to take over the young pop world by storm. I never realized how much I loved this song until I heard it after almost 10 years, and if something like that doesn't make you feel old then I don't know what will. There was so much about this song which made young me (and current me) really love this song. I have to admit, this song has all the characteristics of your typical 2000s boy band. This is the kind of song you would hear in all those teen movies, and incidentally enough, this particular song was a popular choice. But we have a lot going on in this song which helps give it that throwback vibe. For starters, the fact that LMNT is a boy band. It is hard to miss that fact, and that in itself is enough to make this song a good one. The nostalgia for boy bands of old, with synchronized dance moves a...

Hey everyone! I know it's been a while since I last posted. Lots of things going on, some moving around, trying to get some time to write. And I am starting up again with some music for you from Japan. ONE OK ROCK is a rock band (go figure) out of Tokyo, and was recently on tour. Now I only recently started listening to their music, and it took me back to my rock roots. I will say ,ONE OK ROCK tends to take a little bit more of a punk sound with this song, but it really works for them. One of the things I really have to appreciate about ONE OK ROCK, is that each album sounds different. The band is not afraid of trying out new sounds and vibes each time they put out an album, and I respect that both as a listener and as a musician. You can also really tell who has influenced the band. Some albums are almost like an homage to ONE OK ROCK's favorite and most inspiring bands, but they are still able to make each album sound like their own. Now the album which this song comes from...

Guess who's back, back again? What's up everyone, I know it has been a while since I last posted any music. I've been doing a bit of traveling and didn't get a chance to write for a few days. But back again and definitely still trying to make sure I get a post in everyday or at least every other day. So today we are kicking it off with some electrifying music. I have some amazing dance music for you by an artist known as Paolo Ortelli. I hadn't heard of him till last year, and honestly it was a happy accident which brought me to his music. But I am so glad that I did because this song is absolutely amazing! This is such a vibrant and lively song, one that definitely belongs in clubs and underground dance scenes. This is definitely one of your normal sounding house and EDM songs. The way the song is put together is pretty standard, I won't lie. But the song itself is pretty freaking great! There is this carefree and light heartedness to the song, a kind of fe...

Today I have some new music for you by a couple of big-name artists. Ever since One Direction disbanded for a hiatus of sorts, all four members have gone off and pursued their own music. Each one of them also decided to take a different track, leading to four new artists in a multitude of genres. Liam Payne's focus has been on the electronic world, from releasing his own music as a DJ, to being a featured vocalist like he is in this song. With Zedd at the helm, the two major label artists have come up with what could possibly be a new summer anthem. This song is a great blend of the more popular styles of electronic music right now. We all know tropical house has become a very popular EDM genre. It is fun and fresh, with a more playful and light-hearted feel to it. On the flip side, more R&B infused electronic music has surfaced a lot, with more artists taking a look at finding the perfect blend of that intimate genre with a dance-oriented sound. Zedd and Liam Payne have give...

Today I have some really interesting music for you which comes from India. Now when most people hear or think of Indian music, the mind naturally gravitates towards Bollywood. And this is fair! I find myself thinking that way sometimes as well. But the hidden world of Indian music outside of Bollywood is quite amazing. There is music across all genres, from rap to rock to hip hop and folk. This song happens to fall in the genre of dream pop and a bit indie rock oriented. These are genres we tend to not see often from Indian artists, so I was definitely really excited when I heard what kind of music Parekh & Singh created. Parekh & Singh sound so unlike anything most people have heard of Indian music, that is can be hard to imagine that these guys hail from Kolkata. When I first heard their music, there was no way I believed that the duo was from India. It just didn't seem to make sense in my head because of what I thought I knew about Indian entertainment and music. But t...

Today is a big day for a couple of reasons. First off, it's Halloween! One of the most fun holidays to celebrate, this is the time you get to be whatever or whomever you choose to be! Scary costumes are definitely fan favorites, but no matter what you dress up as, it's all about the spirit of Halloween. Now there are some really cool eerie and spooky kinds of songs out there that fit so perfectly with the holiday. And they range from being fun songs with the typical Halloween kind of sound, to that really crisp baroque pop kind of sound that is my favorite kind of Halloween sound. What is even better, is that there are so many bands that like to take on that Halloween kind of sound and make it their own. All those burlesque and vaudeville bands, this is their time of year. And so in honor of these bands, today's song is by the kings of this genre, Panic! At the Disco. Whenever I hear this band, I am immediately transported to this era of steam punk and eerie atmospheres. Bu...

Today I have some music for you by a band that had slipped into the back of mind  until very recently. Tame Impala is a band that was a huge hit in the 2000's, with a few hit songs that made it to a lot of major radio stations. But they did end up dropping out of the spotlight, and I honestly kind of forgot about them. However, they have been putting out music and recently released an album! A friend brought my attention back to them and I realized how much I missed their music. So this song is one of their newer ones and is similar to their old style of music, but also has an incredible Beatles influence to it. I wouldn't be surprised if people thought this was a song by The Beatles when first hearing the song. From the way the vocals are produced to the way the overall musicality is, there is a really nice classic rock kind of vibe to the song. This band has a reputation of being a psych-rock and kind of sleepy band, but there is a creative genius behind their music and espec...

Today I have a song for you by the boy band that took the world by storm, and is now out on hiatus for a little while. One Direction is one of the biggest phenomenons in music these past few years, and it is starting to become clear as to why. One Direction has finally matured into a musical group that can appeal to all kinds of listeners. From the younger crowd to the older crowd, male and female, romantics and everywhere in between, One Direction seems to be the group that has it all. And their success story has everything to do with how talented they are. Now one of the things I find impressive and really quite wonderful, is their evolution throughout the course of their career so far. The sound that One Direction started with is vastly different from what we hear from them today. For starters, they have ditched the high energy pop in favor of more contemporary and grounded music. There is a more wholesome nature to their music and more experimentation. One thing that hasn't cha...

Today I have some amazing dance music for you by an artist known as Paolo Ortelli. I hadn't heard of him till recently, and honestly i just stumbled upon him by accident. But I am so glad that I did because this song is absolutely amazing! This is such a vibrant and lively song, one that definitely belongs in clubs and underground dance scenes. This is definitely one of your normal sounding house and EDM songs. The way the song is put together is pretty standard, I won't lie. But the song itself is pretty freaking great! There is this carefree and light heartedness to the song, a kind of feeling that only comes from listening to EDM like this. It is this freeing sense, and this song definitely gives us that sentiment. The production of this song is quite good actually! It isn't super complex or bass heavy, two bonuses. Sometimes you get to hearing songs that have become overrun with bass, or songs that have so many melodies and  harmonies going on that you don't really ...

Today I have some throwback music for you, music from a boy band that we all loved and screamed after. The Backstreet Boys have made quite a comeback, going on tour and even releasing a new album. Now this is definitely not something that a lot of boy bands do, especially after being on hiatus for as long as they were. However, I love the fact that they are back and slaying the stage. In fact, they performed last night at the Miss USA pageant and absolutely killed it, performing their most famous song and the one that melted the hearts of millions. Now I had to post a song about them because it has been so long since we have seen them! I mean yes, now they are touring and things but their 6 year hiatus was just too long! And so since they are back and just performed on live television, I thought why not? So this song is one that was also kind of popular, but didn't necessarily take the cake in terms of most known songs. But this song is one that I loved to sing to because of how vo...

Aaaaaand we are back and ready to roll with some new music your way! So this past weekend, I had the opportunity to meet up with and hang out with the artist group of the day. It seems that a capella has become a very popular and extremely entertaining style of music. What makes this style of music so different is that there are no other instruments other than vocal chords. That means everything you hear is done solely by singing or beat boxing. Now this is something that is very hard to do, and is something that the a capella group Chai Town does extremely well. Chai Town is an a capella group who also mashes up South Asian songs and Western songs, which I definitely am a fan of. Chai Town is an all male a capella group from Champagne, Illinois and is one of those groups that is very good at being low key. For the most part, Chai Town is a group that is extremely popular amongst the college crowd, which makes sense considering they are a college group. And while their popularity is as...

Today is a day for some mashup music! I think it takes a certain amount of creativity to write your own songs and produce them, but another kind of ingenuity to be able to bring two songs together, and turn them into something that is different and unique. And what is more, is that many of these songs that get mashed together, are often not from the same genre of music. You can have an acoustic rock song mixed with pop music, rap and contemporary, and folk and EDM. The combinations and possibilities are endless! So this mashup is one featuring one of the newest singles dropped by One Direction and one of the biggest songs of 2015, featuring the one and only Drake. Now there are a couple of really great things going in on this mashup. First, both of the songs happened to be covered before being grouped together. And these covers are the ones that have come together to create this really wicked song. Now Drake's song is covered by a male and One Direction by a female. I actually real...

Today I have music for you by a group of singers out of England who go by the name Collabro. They were actually a part of Britain's Got Talent, and did very well. What makes this group so different in comparison to every male group out there, is that they sing more broadway and theatre kinds of songs. They have powerful and large and strong vocals, the kind of vocals that you would hear as a part of a play or production. And I love that! I mean when is the last time you heard of an all male group who sings classical music? It is something we haven't heard in a very long time, and the resurgence of an older style of singing is very refreshing. This is the first song they ever performed together, and it honestly leaves you spell bound. It comes from the musical Les Miserables, also known as one of the most famous musicals of all time. It is a timeless classic, and needs that kind of a vocal performance to really capture the essence of the story. It is just so incredible to hear v...

Today I have some music for you inspired by this wonderful holiday. One is a classic, sung by the king of Christmas time cheer, Michael Buble. Today's second song is another Christmas classic by a rather unconventional artist, Panic! At The Disco. Both of these are lovely songs that tend to remind us of how wonderful the holidays are. So I wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Today I have some foreign music for you because I realized it has been a ridiculously long time since I have posted anything sung in a language other than English. So today's song comes from South Korea, the world of K-Pop and some of the most deliciously catchy ghetto rap. The Korean music industry is actually a very interesting group of artists. On one hand, we have the stereotypical K-Pop groups. These are the ones that are all bright and pastel colored and happy and up beat all the time. And then you have the other side of Korean music, the darker and more badass kind of sound. This song definitely falls into that second category. Bastarz is the kind of group that doesn't get involved in the super happy and peppy kind of music. This song is actually a great introduction into their world of music because of how raw the song is in general. Like other groups that fall under the badass category, Bastarz makes great use of the EDM wave of music to further enhance their sound. I ...

Today I have music for you by a band that I am absolutely in love with. The 1975 really blew up and and stormed to the forefront of the rock and indie world. This is a band that is equal parts ethereal and synth pop. Now I really like that because it gives the band a slightly old school kind of song and also gives them a style that is utterly recognizable. Matt Healy provides these smooth vocals that are often hauntingly beautiful or a soft, mellow jilted sound. With the vocals we hear, you can clearly tell that there is an accent there. I personally find that extremely charming and very unique. I have never heard a voice like Matt Healy's, and I could not think of a better voice to go with the kind of music The 1975 produces. The 1975 has this melancholic undertone to every one of their songs. Even the songs that are more pop oriented and energetic have this underlying melancholy and darkness to it. The 1975 aesthetically expresses this kind of juxtaposition with the consistent us...

Today I have music for you by the biggest boy band in the world. There is a lot of talk with One Direction, some people liking them, some people disliking them, and a handful of strangely obsessed people. Now I must tell you guys the truth, I did not start out as someone who listened to One Direction. However, I have grown to like them a lot. With the passing of each album, One Direction has matured from being the stereotypical adolescent boy band to a group that has some really nice adult contemporary music and a group that has a nice and mature sound. What is even nicer about this group is that you can clearly hear the progression of each individual singer and you can hear how each of them have improved. To me that is a good sign, because a group that is willing to improve upon something that is already a worldwide sensation shows me that there are even greater things to come. Now this song is off their latest album titled Four. I guess it is practical considering this is the fourth...

Today I have some old school music for you! Now when I say old school, I actually mean old school. As in, the awesome 70's music that your parents probably listened to. This is not the first song by the Jackson 5 that I have posted, but I certainly have not posted many songs by this awesome group. This is probably one of the best groups of all time. I mean not only are all of the members extremely talented, but this is a family band. It is extremely rare to see family groups like this and I think that is one of the things that made the Jackson 5 even more popular. There is this effortless chemistry to their work and that is heard in their sound. But this song is probably one of the most iconic songs of all time. Adults and children of all generation following know this song. Over forty years in the future and this song is still one of the defining songs of the American music industry. Honestly, this song is one of the characteristics that define American culture. There are always t...

Today I have some music that will take you back a few decades. That's right, today I have music for you by the original boy band- New Kids On The Block. Now a lot of people would disagree with me and say the original boy band is The Beatles, however, I define "boy band" differently than what other people do. This is the original boy band that we have come to know and love. They set the precedent for pretty much every boy band to follow. First of all, New Kids On The Block has five members. Look at the biggest boy bands to come after them and notice how they have five members. Why? Well that brings me to the second point. New Kids On The Block has singers that cover every range except for the low bass range. This is a band that really put the male falsetto and high pitch to work. And consequently, so did all the new boy bands (prime example = Justin Timberlake). New Kids On The Block is also a boy band that employed the use of layered harmonies and melodies. Honestly, ther...