Keeping It Fresh

Today I have some music for you by an artist that I have not been able to get enough of. Kevin Garrett has to be one of the best solo artists I have heard this year. And the best part is that it is not solely because of his voice and singing skills, but the man has the whole package. From singing to production to song writing, Kevin Garret is nothing short of spectacular. This song is one that has really taken off and has grabbed the attention of some of the biggest artists in the world. Now what makes this song stand out quite a bit, is Kevin Garrett's subject matter for the song. He takes this song to a more personal level, an introspective level. This song is all about not looking behind you for too long, not dwelling on that which you've left behind for too long. This whole concept was so beautiful to me because it captures something that we don't really talk about in music. Kevin Garrett's first EP was all about heartbreak, so I think this is such a great continuat...

Today I have a fun song for you by the artist known as Cosmo's Midnight. This is one of those bubbly feel good songs, but still has a nice relaxed lounge sound. This is a light hearted and almost topical sounding son, and I love the way everything is kept nice and soft. There aren't heavy beats or heavy synth melodies, just a nice overall calm to the instrumentals. This is the kind of song that gets you thinking about the most ideal and fun place to be. Whether you are alone or with other people, this song makes you reminisce for a really good time or makes you imagine a moment that is purely for you. This song has a really chilled out kind of funk to it, making it one of those songs that gets your dancing vibes in. A summery anthem, there is a lot of uplifting sound to it and an overall feel good kind of vibe. The lyrics are also really cute, a modern day love story for the romantics out there. All together you have the adorable love story and the seriously smooth beats in the...

Today I have some music for you by a band that has done a cover of a song by one of my favorite bands. DWNTWN has done an absolutely phenomenal job covering this song by The 1975. A lot of times covers can go really well or very terribly, but this cover surpasses the "really well" category. This cover is incredibly well done. The first thing that I noticed when I heard this was that the song is still true to the style of music that DWNTWN makes but also maintains the musical integrity of The 1975. The second thing I noticed was how they seemed to completely change the song and turned it into something very unique. This version of the song includes a lot more synthesizers and keyboard work to make it what it is. DWNTWN turned this 80's beat kind of song into something that has a very trance like and ethereal sound. The thing is, they managed to mutate the melody in a way so that it sounds like the original at the very base of it all, but the layered harmonies and intricaci...

Today I have some music for you by the band Fences. This song features the skill of Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. What I like about this song is that the mix of indie rock and rap is able to mesh and fold into each other. It isn't often that you hear a combination of these two different genres, but to be honest, I could not have picked a better rapper. For a song like this, Macklemore brings this sense of sincerity and deep insight. The lead singer of Fences has struggled with a lot of demons in the past and Macklemore is a rapper who can truly understand what struggle is like. These two together bring a real sense of the world around us. They don't try to sugar coat the truth of issues that many people go through on a daily basis. Both of these artists hail from Seattle which is a city that allows many musicians to thrive and really explore different themes. Fences has a very incredible way of writing lyrics and making the most precise word choices. Each lyric of each song, inclu...

Today I though I would get the ball rolling with some music by the artist known as NF. This is a guy who is a crazy sick rapper. I mean absolutely incredible. The style of rap in this song is one of my favorites. It is this syncopated but fast style of rapping, one that allows rappers to spit rhymes out and get in as much lyrical content as possible. Now I really love this style for two reasons. One, being able to hear the words and verses that the rapper writes is amazing. More often than not, songs like this have some sort of powerful meaning, and this song is definitely one of those. This is a song that talks about the music industry in general, about how music has changed and become a source of profit instead of art. Which is something that I can agree with, and the way this whole song is worded is absolutely fantastic. The second reason I love this style, is because there is an inherent and effortless bad-ass sound to the cadence of the rap. He is dropping rhymes as fast as he can...

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...