Keeping It Fresh

Today I have some music for you by an artist who has created something rather dark and moody, yet very calming and pensive. RVRB is a solo artist who has come back after a three year hiatus, a time in which we didn't hear a sound from RVRB. But he is back now with a refreshingly clear and deep album, one that has a lot of meaning and brings the idea of self discovery to us. This is a song and album about nostalgia, heartbreak, and is an honest expression of youth. I love RVRB for taking those darker and more complex thoughts and feelings, and turned it into a musical expression that beautifully depicts what it is like to feel those things. What I love about this song, is that everything seems to be in black and white and grey scale. This song exudes that darkness with flashes of white here and there. And for RVRB, it isn't because life can be seen as black and white, but sometimes life gets drained of color and becomes a colorless landscape. That spin on seeing the world, that ...

Today I have some music for you by an artist all the way from the Spain. Alvaro Soler is a wonderful singer-songwriter who really knows how to make music feel free and alive. This song is his most famous song, but Alvaro Soler still remains a rather underground artist, especially here in the States. So there are two versions of this song- one in Spanish and one in Spanglish. But today, I want to talk just about the Spanish version of the song. There is this incredible richness to the way Alvaro Soler sings in Spanish, something that cannot be fully expressed in English words and verses. This song is so contagiously fun, full of this incredible energy and complete liveliness. There is also this constant sense of freedom and adventure woven throughout the song, something that is pretty perfect considering the song is all about that. This song is just so up-tempo and bubbly and just an all around feel good track! And we get that sound from the get go. As soon as the song opens, we are gre...

Today I have some music for you by the English singer-songwriter known as Lapsley. She is a new player in the music field, this song being one of the singles off her debut album. I was completely entranced by the song the first time I heard it. Instrumentally, there are so many wonderful things happening, so many beautiful sounds and harmonies that all weave together to create this magical sound. This song is like an emotional autobiography, one that really gets us inside the heart and head of Lapsley. She purposefully draws us in, so that we may share in those same emotions whether it be joy and ecstasy or pain and sadness. This ballad is a fantastically chilled out and mixed track. There are so many instruments being used in this song, but at the same time, we get a good balance of some electronic work as well. The producer of this song also happens to be the producer of The XX, a band that focuses heavily on instrumentals and created the most ambient and precise sound. My absolute f...

Today I have some music for you that is not necessarily underground or lesser known, but rather, a tribute to a song that has been part of my life for 17 years. The Backstreet Boys used to be the biggest boy band in the world in the late 90s and early 2000s. This song has got to be their most popular song, the one that everyone knows and can sing along to. I know that this is one of the first songs by the Backstreet Boys that I ever heard, and I have learned pretty much all of the lyrics and harmonies. Believe it or not, this song celebrated its 17th year since release, and it is so incredible to think of that. Can you imagine, after 17 years, being part of a song that remains so popular even today? Now when it comes to boy bands, this is one of the bands that all the others were molded after. The Backstreet Boys had everything - the good moves, good looks, and good voices. The whole package! And that obviously made them such heartthrobs. This song is one that spoke to generations, and...

Today I have some slower slightly darker music for you by an artist by the name Jarryd James. This is a song that has a very interesting a different sound to it, but still somehow has this more melancholy and grey scale kind of feel to it. Jarryd James is a mix of genres, having the depth and melancholy of artists like James Bay, but having the R&B sound of an artist like Justin Timberlake. His sound is extremely rich in genres, having a beautifully blended mix of R&B and electro pop sounds. When you mix that with Jarryd James' emotive lyrical content, this song is one that can definitely be felt through the core of your emotions. What I love about the song's lyrics is the fact that we look at more than one thing. Instead of focusing on what the other person in the relationship did, Jarryd James asks us to also look back and examine ourselves. He invites us to rethink the way we see a relationship, the way we look at the ones we loved. I personally love that because som...

Today I have music for you by an artist who goes by the stage name Bombs and Bottles. I really love his style and vocals and just the overall sound. Dear lord this man has a great voice! I absolutely  love  his voice. There is such a smooth tone to his voice and there is an incredible R&B feel to his voice. If any of you have heard music from The Weekend, think of those vocals and you will get a picture of what Bombs and Bottles sounds like. His vocals are absolutely and completely gorgeous and I have to be honest, his voice stole me away. I feel like the easiest way to describe this song is indie R&B. It is a mix of electronic, hip hop, R&B, and even a little bit of rock, but it is so damn good. There isn't too much of one so that the song sounds horrific, but just enough of everything to make it unique. I could listen to this song all day long, it is that good. There are definite moments when you can hear the electronic nature of this song, especially in the chor...

Today I have some really cool music for you, music that combines sounds from both sides of the world. This song is a product of a South Asian fusion group called Culture Shock, a group that is dedicated to bringing Western music and fusing it with Indian styles. This song in particular features a mashup of a very catchy and rhythmic Western song and one of my favorite traditional Indian styles- bhangra. This is the style of music that most people think of when they hear "Indian." This is the kind of music to which you "screw in the light-bulb" and bounce your shoulders. But this style of music is so energetic and can get pretty mental when you put a group of dancers together. I love it! Now this song is super cool because it opens with a very familiar Western tune, one that we learn when we are children. This specific melody is one that everyone knows and can recognize, even if we don't know the original words. Now this steady beat is the base of the entire song...