Keeping It Fresh

Today I have some wildly sick music for you. The band Sigur Rós is one of the most eclectic and hauntingly incredible bands I have ever heard. This is one of those bands that people seem to know about but also not know a thing about. Struggle, I know. But, for those of you who have never heard of  Sigur Rós or know the name but no songs, this is a special treat for you.  If there is one thing I have learned from my dabbles in literature, entertainment, and music, you really only get to experience these things for the first time once. I know it sounds so stupid, but when you think about it, the reality of that is there. You only get to experience something for the first time once. That elation and excitement and complete shock and utter bliss is something that you feel from experiencing something for the first time will never happen again once you have experienced it. So for those of you who are hearing Sigur Rós for the first time, I hope you really enjoy this first expos...

Today I have one of the sickest songs released this year, featuring a line up of artist that is bound to leave you stunned and pretty much in awe. Vince Staples has always been an artist that stuck to the underground scenes. We don't hear his name as often, don't hear his music that often, and don't really hear much media buzz about him. And that has been absolutely amazing! Why? Because it has allowed the rapper to grow and create music that is undeniably good and incredibly raw. Vince Staples doesn't beat around the bush nor does he sugar coat anything, just like the featured rapper in this song. Not only do we get to hear the raw words of Vince Staples, we get some gospel by Kendrick Lamar. And all of this is set to a beat produced by Flume and Sophie. The number of powerful names in this song is honestly overwhelmingly wicked! The best way to go about talking about this song is from the production and the lyrical points of view. As I mentioned earlier, this song f...

Today I have some more new music for you! This song is by a band who has such a distinct sound that it makes them utterly recognizable. Bastille showed the world their vulnerabilities and allowed us to expose our own with their music. The band has been characteristically known to have a more pensive and melancholy touch with their music, filling the soundscape with somber strings and driving rhythms. This song is very similar but still remains a bit different from what we are used to hearing. Bastille gives us a song that coincides with a lot of structural similarities to their past music. However, I think that their formula for music is so beautiful and utterly moving that maintaining their style is not something I can criticize. When Bastille dropped their debut album, it seemed like the indie band took the European music scene by a storm. And eventually, that bled into the American musicscape, giving their debut single a sensation. But when you listen to the rest of ...

Today I've got some more new music for you by a DJ who became a worldwide sensation in such a short time. Martin Garrix has been an absolute monster in the music world. His music has been tearing up the charts, from his initial releases to now. And this new song by Martin Garrix definitely falls into that chart-busting category.  Martin Garrix changes his sound up in this song and takes a future bass approach, which I think is a great direction to go in. We get something that is softer and warmer from the music, instead of your typical louder and bass heavy electronic songs. This one airs on the side of being atmospheric and full of sound. It isn't about filling empty air with sound, rather, Martin Garrix tries to purposefully fill the air he has with carefully constructed sounds. He crafts the song very consciously in order to tell the story that the lyricists come up with. The structure of this song is centered on emotive storylines and moody synths to accompany.Mart...

Today I have some really new music for you. In fact, over the course of the next few days, I want to bring a lot of new music to the blog, so stay tuned! But for now, I want to start with a recent release by one of my favorite folk and blues singers, George Ezra. I haven't spent as much time talking about him, which is just bad on my part. But I absolutely had to share this song going into this wave of new music. One of the things that make George Ezra such a special artist, is how simple and heartfelt his songs are. Each song is filled with incredible amounts of soul. And when I soul in this particular context, I don't mean "soul" as a genre of music. There is genuinely so much life and so much of George Ezra's personality that goes into each and every song. Every word that he sings is filled with meaning and belief. We hear that a lot in this song especially because it's all about facing personal battles. This particular topic has lead to some of the great...

Today I have some slower, more soothing kind of music for you. This song is by the group known as Gungor. This is a group/collective that was started by the musician and composer Michael Gungor. In fact, he has been nominated for quite a few Grammy's for his work in songwriting and work with the group. Now one of the things that I love about Gungor is that they have a sound that can be a little punk, ut also have this wonderful acoustic sound as well. They are like a rock band that has decided to put on an acoustic show or coffee house set. There are other bands out there whose music can be compared to Gungor, I readily admit. But again, there is a different sound specific to Gungor. One thing I noticed immediately was the way they harmonize. It is not always easy to create intricate harmonies between male and female voices. But Gungor creates this wonderfully complex scale of harmonies, which at times, gives the song a slight punk sound. But it also creates so much depth in the ...

I've got a little bit of a shorter one for you all today. But today I have some hip hop music for you because it has been quite a long time since I have posted music like this. Today's song is by Bei Maejor. I am going to be completely upfront, this is one of those songs that makes you get down on the dance floor. I for one love that. The perfect blend of seductive and heavy beats make this one of those underrated bangers. Bei Maejor is an incredibly talented producer. He joined Ne-Yo's production team right after graduating which is quite the impressive feat. You can hear a lot of that Ne-Yo kind of style in this song with the way it's all put together. Bei Maejor brings some really good aspects to this song. How? First of all, he produced it himself. Second, he keeps things simple. The music in the background is rather low key. He does rely heavily on the brass instruments for the background, but other than that all we have is a standard drum beat and synth accompan...