Keeping It Fresh

Today I have some music for you by a band out of India by the name SANAM. Not only does this band write and perform their own music, but the band also does some really beautiful covers of old and popular Bollywood songs. And for today's song, I have one of these wonderful covers for you. This song is one of those classic songs that people of all ages know and love and can sing word for word. This song is one that comes from the early 90s and is still such a favorite of so many people. Now the original song features a few more Indian instruments and musical production techniques. However, this version by SANAM is a stripped down, acoustic version of the song. And it is absolutely lovely. SANAM has a very sweet and soothing voice. His voice is one that is so soft and gentle and it washes over you so gracefully. The rest of the song consists of nice acoustic guitar renditions of the original song, accompanied by an acoustic drum. This version of the song is so raw and different from t...

Today I have music for you by Tritonal. This duo is up and coming and this song can tell you why. Tritonal has a very clean style of making music. Many electronic artists don't clean up their songs to make them the best they can be, but Tritonal hits the mark every time. These past few years has seen amazing progress for this duo and a little bit of evolution in their sound. This is their latest single and it has taken a slight turn to the house side of things. This song does have a nice combination of trance and house, but it tends to lean more on house. While this is just a sampling of the song, it has a very complete and round sound to it. We are exposed to the phenomenal vocals provided by Jonathan Mendelsohn. This guy, talk about incredible vocals. It might take a few listens to hear it, but right before the first drop you can hear Jonathan Mendelsohn screaming distantly in the background. And this isn't one of those dubstep crazy screams. This is a singing kind of scream ...

Today I have some foreign music for you! It just dawned on me that I haven't posted anything foreign in a very very long time. Saad Ramadan is a Lebanese singer and has quite a following in that part of the world. It is really cool to hear music like this because a lot of think EDM type sounds are limited to just European kinds of groups or artists. But there is an untapped treasure of electronic music to be found in the Middle East. I know I have posted some music from out there, and for good reason. A lot of the EDM found in the Middle East is unlike a lot of music you have probably ever heard. The thing about Middle Eastern electronic songs in that they are rooted in that Eastern European kind of sound, the sounds we get from the likes of Tiesto or Martin Garrix or Armin van Buuren. But they also have this massive twist that is filled with so many Middle Eastern and Arab-specific type sounds. The melodies and harmonies all reflect what the stereotypical Arab ...

Today I have some music for you by the R&B singer known as Khalid. The Texas native has dropped some really good music within the past few months and puts his own style to the genre of R&B. Each one of his songs is different, giving him a range of sounds and vibes and even genres. If anything, that is one of the things that makes Khalid such a cool and smooth artist. Khalid is very good at genre bending and bringing in other musical flavors from genres across the board. With this song, we get a bit of chillhop and some blues work as well. These are two styles that you wouldn't normally put together, but oddly enough they work very well! We really get to hear that blues influence in the way Khalid incorporates the guitar. There is a really pleasant flow to the guitar melody and is one that involves a lot less strumming and more picking. That gives the guitar line a crispness that makes us pay attention to the flow of the song and gives us more of that smokey room vibe. There...

Today I have music for you that comes from the year 2014 but sounds like it could be from the 80s. This was actually a very popular song when it first came out a few years ago. Now the key with this song is that most of you have probably not heard this song before. And that is fantastic! That means I can bring this music to you and hopefully you will like it enough to start exploring more music by theses artists. This first song is by the band called Future Islands. Now, this is a really cool band that has a similar style to that of Magic Man in the sense that there is a very balanced mixture of instruments and synth in the music. This song is their most popular single and I can definitely see why! This song has a really cool energy to it that is not like most of the music we heard in 2014. There is a little bit of a U2 element thrown in there with that older music style that comes from classic rock. That tone and mood that U2 generally creates with their music is a ...

Today I have some seriously fresh music for you by an artist that I am absolutely in love with. Aquilo is an artist that I can never really get enough of because of how deep and moving the music is. This is a band that has taken the idea of chilled out synthpop and has turned it into an emotional masterpiece. Aquilo does tend to be a bit more melancholy, but there is something so wholesome about the way they present that to us. Aquilo has such a depth and poignancy to their music. It is a sound that cuts to the soul and pulls out those bluer emotions that we either repress or ignore or don't feel often. But what is so lovely about Aquilo, is that there is such a softness that is almost a bit hopeful as well. We feel this journey of falling and then picking ourselves up again. This string and piano track is one that is endearingly beautiful and wonderful. There is a captivating nature to the vocals and a raw sincerity that we cannot seem to shake. The song culminates in this epic ex...

Today I have music for you by an artist out of Portland who goes by the name Shy Girls. This song is definitely one that I can listen to a lot. It has that calm electronic feel but it also has elements of a rock band. It is almost as if this could be called upbeat chillstep. I know it seems a bit counter intuitive, but the mood of the song is definitely more upbeat. Not quite bubbly or happy, but not quite dark or melancholy either. It has a bit of that more light hearted tropical vibe to it, a tranquil kind of keyboard and synth sound. To be honest, I was greatly reminded of The 1975 when I first heard this song. Many characteristics of this song are similar to The 1975 and follow the styles of genres such as power pop and indie rock. There is a good balance between the two of them, falling a little bit more on the indie side in terms of overall sound, but it falls more on the electronic side in terms of producing the song and which sounds are most prominent. It is very interesting ho...