Keeping It Fresh

Today I have some music for you out of South Korea. I know in the past I have talked about a couple of different Korean artists, but I realize that I have not spent as much time talking about this artist in particular. CL is one of the baddest women in music right now, and I honestly wish I had as much swag as she carries in her pinky finger alone. Though she is just now making her way stateside, CL has been a huge success in Asia between her solo work and girl band known as 2NE1.  CL is possibly the biggest female star in Korea, if not the biggest star they have. She has done some incredible work in her tenure with the Korean music industry, and definitely destroys all stereotypes associated with K-Pop. To be quite honest, she is basically the Nicki Minaj of Korean music. She has this incredible intensity to her entire persona. The way she looks, dresses, the style of music she produces, and the fact that she is a rapper. There is a tremendous amount of swagger and fierceness su...

Today I have some music that takes us back to the world of alternative rock. I cannot believe it has taken me this long to post some music from that side of the musical spectrum. I think I post in genre waves, periods of time when I focus on a specific sound before switching to something different. But anyway, this song is by an artist whom I have mad respect for. Robert DeLong is one of the most talented artists in the business. Not only is he a singer, but he is also and instrumentalist and producer. And did I mention, he is also a one-man show? That is right. Every sound, every lyric, every shake of the tambourine, it is all him. Robert DeLong writes, composes, performs, and produces all of his music. I have to say, I have yet to hear an artist who has gone to the same lengths to put their music out there. Nowadays I suppose it is easier to physically create music which is why I am more impressed with Robert DeLong's capabilities. One thing that I was completely ...

Today I have some music for you by a lovely swing singer, my favorite female jazz singer of all time. Natalie King Cole takes after her father, having the ability to captivate all of her listeners. I love this particular piece of hers because it is actually a collection of three songs. Each of these three have been taken and folded wonderfully so that one follows the other in a beautiful way. The songs have been carefully connected so that we get to hear the best moments from each song. I love the way Natalie King Cole sings so vulnerably and with no inhibition. She just lets her voice flow freely, creating a romantically centered kind of song. Natalie King Cole sings with so much power and grace, while also being able to tone it down and come back to moonlight serenades. Her vocal range was incredible and we get to hear that on this medley. The notes soar high and beautifully and she nails every note every time. This medley sometimes gives me chills because of how beautiful it is. As ...

Today I have a remix of one of the most popular songs of 2015. But you see, I am not here to talk about the original song. That has been overdone and overheard for a while. No, today is all about how genius and well done this remix is. This was done by Balvin and Farruko, a duo of Latin American artists. Now what makes this remix one of my favorites is the fact that Balvin and Farruko totally embrace that Spanish and Latin American flair and add it to the song. What is great about this song is that Major Lazer made it a culturally ambiguous one. While it is clear that the instrumentals and beats are more inclined to one cultural style over another, there are a lot of these ethnic sounds that sound so great with the song. And because of this, having a Spanish remix is something that is new and innovative and very compatible. This has a really interesting twist of reggaeton in it, which makes it less noticeable because the original song is moombahton. A quick breakdown of moombahton, it ...

Today I have a song for you that comes from the wonderful world of Bollywood music. Now I know I have posted a variety of songs in the past regarding Bollywood, but this song is very different from most of the styles I have posted. See, this is a song that is all about the sadness of to being able to be with the one you love. And it doesn't seem that way because of how beautiful and almost light the song is. But in a way, the melody of the song is something that is reminiscent of the wonderful moments, the ones that you will always remember. Hindi lyrics are some of the most beautiful I have ever heard. When you understand what the song is saying, or go look up lyrics, there is this indescribable sense of truly loving someone. The words express the love for another in the most poetic way possible. One thing I have noticed about Indian songs in general, is that they tend to use the sun and moon as focal points for these kinds of songs. The Sun represents one in the pair, while the o...

Today I have some music that takes us back to the world of alternative rock. I cannot believe it has taken me this long to post some music from that side of the musical spectrum. I think I post in genre waves, periods of time when I focus on a specific sound before switching to something different. But anyway, this song is by an artist whom I have mad respect for. Robert DeLong is one of the most talented artists in the business. Not only is he a singer, but he is also and instrumentalist and producer. And did I mention, he is also a one man show? That is right. Every sound, every lyrics, every shake of the tambourine, it is all him. Robert DeLong writes, composes, performs, and produces all of his music. I have to say, I have yet to hear an artist who goes through the same lengths to put their music out there. Nowadays I suppose it is easier to physically create music which is why I am more impressed with Robert DeLong's capabilities. One thing that I was completely  blown away by...

Today I have some new music for you by the incredibly awesome and exciting DJ, Dillon Francis. I am incredibly psyched for this because he happens to be coming to Austin next week, which means the Dillon Francis binge has begun. However, with this song we get an added bonus. This song includes the masterful and brilliant work of Kygo. Normally, the styles of these two artists would not gel as well, but Dillon Francis really explored the tropical house side of things with his new album. And on that note, Kygo is also starting to branch out a little bit more towards different styles of music in the EDM world. Both of these guys working together is of course an amazing thing to see because who doesn't love a little bit of collaboration? And if both the artists in the collaboration are stellar, well, then why the hell not? This song is really cool because it has a smooth mix of moombahton and tropical house, the two genres that both of these artists are known for. This is not a typical...

Today I have got some really wicked electronic music for you. I may have gone on a listening binge, which is the best kind, and heard a bunch of music. This song is by Major Lazer. Now Major Lazer is an electronic project that I am absolutely in love with. Why? Well, Major Lazer has a style that is so different and uses influences from a lot of different cultural sounds. I think that comes from the fact that one of the members is Diplo. With Diplo, we get so much music and so many sounds from all over the world, but he knows how to mix it in a way that sounds so boss. This song has a little bit of culture mixing. The percussion in this song has a very Latin feel to it and a very traditional Latin sound. Now this Latin American sound is actually a really cool addition to this song because it allows this song to be a trap related song. The way that reggaeton and Latin beats work is that they are generally at half the speed of the rest of the song. So with a song in this style, that kind ...

Today's song is by an Australian DJ called tyDi. He started out as a drummer, but then switched to being a DJ so his songs has pretty great drum beats as well. This song has good energy and great vocals! This song is more subdued than usual dance music but it still has a bumping beat. This song is kind of cool because it addresses a huge problem in youth society today. Bullying seems to encompass a lot of adolescent life and this song is kind of an anti bullying message. But the way that tyDi goes about it is really cool. This song definitely has this really nice chill undertone to it. It sounds like something that would belong to an underground club or music scene. There are some darker undertones to it, and even a little bit of psychedelic undertones. This music video fits the undertones of the song not only because of the content, but also the video production. The black and white and grey scale really helps to emphasize the ideas behind the music. tyDi has a way with the elect...

Today I have music for you by an artist out of Nigeria. I haven't posted any foreign songs in a long while and I definitely have not posted any music from Africa. Iyanya is one of Nigeria's most popular artists and I can see why! I love everything about this song, from the traditional African beat, to the inclusion of modern rhythm, to the way Iyanya's voice sounds. This song makes you feel so good just by listening to it. This song has such an infectious energy to it and when you hear this you feel the irresistible need to get up and dance. Iyanya has great versatility to his music. Some songs can be very sensual and slow, others very R&B oriented, or like this one. Iyanya makes fantastic use of the afrobeat style of music. I feel like it is very easy to hear the afrobeat in this song considering how the entire song is done in afrobeat. This song uses so many instruments and layered harmonies to add this great dynamism and drive to the song. This song never loses momen...

Today I have some trap music for you because why not? Sometimes you get in those fun moods when all you really want to listen to is some intense or really energetic music. Well, I can tell you that this music today is energetic, intense, wild, and all around sick. Both of these songs feature minimal lyrics and a lot of beats so bear with the music if you are keen on having lots of lyrics. This first song is by Yellow Claw, a trio out of Amsterdam. Yellow Claw always does a really good job of making music with R&B and rap beats and turning it into some sick electronic music. This song has a really heavy rap beat influence, but you can also clearly tell that it is trap. The entire progression of the song is so awesome because it starts out with just the repeated verse and then adds on the high hat beats, leading to a "drop of sorts." Honestly this one is just introducing the drums and bass. But then we build up and climax with a drop that is pretty darn good. It isn't t...

Today I have music for you by Major Lazer. This song has a really cool sound and tone to it. This is one of those slightly atmospheric sounding songs and it also has this kind of weirdness to it. Major Lazer is known for having some moomba feels to it which I absolutely love. For those of you who don't know, Major Lazer is a side project by Diplo. So what this really means is that we get the great skill of Diplo's DJ-ing, and we get to hear his more moombahton side. I really enjoy the fact that Diplo explores this side of electronic music because he does a wonderfully fantastic job. This song is more ambient but has some weird vocalization in this song to make up for that. The vocals in this song are strange in the fact that they kind of sound guttural and wild for a female voice. But then when the actual singing starts, you get to hear more of the normal view of singing. Something about this song though is so catchy because the singing parts of the song sound really good with ...

Today's song is an epic collaboration between Steve Aoki, Diplo, and Deorro. I won't lie, the lyrics are quite simple, but with artist like this, we weren't really in it for the lyrics anyway. This song is beyond sick. The bass in this song thrums strongly throughout the duration of the song and provides this heavy intensity that you can hear and feel, especially when there is a good bass to your sound system. I think you can clearly hear the influences of each artist in this song. The repetitive phrase in the music is very Diplo-esque. If you listen to some of Diplo's other music, you can definitely hear the correlation to this song. It has a sound like it is almost hitting the trap side of things, but doesn't quite want to go that far and straddles between trap and the EDM world. The moomba feel in this song is all due to Mr. Steve Aoki. The way he works and his style is definitely heard in the build up and drop. Those moments are very clearly his contribution to...

Today I have an awesome song for you by Diplo. I have to say, I really like the way the snare drum is heavily incorporated into this song. It adds this extra element of being bad ass to it, along with the trap feel. I absolutely love the vocals in this song, which seems to be a common thread in electronic music. But the beat is really sick and the tribal background vocals are pretty darn cool. The intro is just perfect and this song is just pretty freaking awesome! Today's instrumental song is by E.S. Posthumus. Now I know this has no electronic to it whatsoever except for an electric guitar, but I really liked the intense energy of this song and the dark style it has. This is the definition of epic music and I would really love to hear it in a movie. I can already imagine different scenes from movies that this song fits perfectly with. I hope you enjoy the music and please feel free to comment!

I honestly don't know what kind of music I was feeling today, so when in doubt, look to weird music! Today's song is awesome collaboration by Calvin Harris and Dillon Francis, so I think it is safe to tell you that this song kicks some major ass. The beat and overall sound is just so sick, and the rapping just adds to the brilliance that is this song. This song is just so damn great! Today's instrumental song is a remix done by Flosstradamus, and all I can say is holy shit. Just turn up your beats and volume because this is going to be pretty epic. I hope you enjoy the music and please feel free to comment!

So today's song definitely falls under the category of slightly weird. I don't even know how they do this, but Teddybears has created such and awesomely crazy combination of rock and reggae. I have to say, it is pretty damn genius! This song has energy and a wicked sound that makes everyone want to jam out a bit. Today's instrumental song is by Bro Safari because it is nice and weird, and who doesn't love weird music? I hope you enjoy the music and please feel free to comment!

Today's song is by one of the more popular DJs, David Guetta. However, it features some of the most awesome and lesser known DJs-Dirty South and Sebastian Ingrosso. This song has a freaking great beat and you can totally dance, or head bang, or do whatever it is you do! The vocals are nice, the melody is even better, and the drop is sweet! Today's instrumental song is by Knife Party. This beat and drop is ridiculously sick! I hope you enjoy the music and  please feel free to comment!

Today's song is by an American artist called Robert DeLong. He has such an awesome talent and ability at mixing different genres together. This song has a kick ass mix of rock, reggaeton, electronica, and dubstep! This song has a sick drum beat during the chorus and it really does make you want to dance! This is definitely the future of music! And by the way, he plays everything by himself, including the drums! Today's instrumental song is by Knife Party. This song is more electro and complextro, but it still has a sweet beat! I hope you enjoy the music and please feel free to comment!

Today's song is by one of the craziest musicians I have ever heard! Steve Aoki is one insane guy but his music freaking kicks ass! This song in particular has been used in some movies, but it never gets old! This song was originally by Kid Cudi. This is the more popular version of the song, and I love it! You can chill or dance to it, that is up to you! Today's instrumental song is by English DJ known as Flux Pavilion. This song has a really good beat at a moderate tempo that makes it good for just listening or dancing. Today is definitely an energetic one! I hope you enjoy the music and please feel free to comment!