MR. BLUE'S BLOG

Weekly Music Blog. Hope you enjoy!

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Monstercat 019- Endeavor Review

This album is one of Monstercat’s many EDM compilations.  They provide the masses with artists’ names and works, some by well known composer such as Hellberg and Pegboard Nerds.  This post will be about their 19th album: Endeavor.

For those of you who don’t know who or what Monstercat is, it is a Canadian based EDM record label that many artists use to promote their work.  

Endeavor was one of my first Monstercat albums to get and it was my most listened to album in my iTunes library.  The album contains 30 different songs from 30 different artists so you don’t won’t have to worry about variety, aside all are EDM.  

My favorite song of the list is Hands of Time by Hellberg & Rich Edwards feat. Jonny Rose.  The song does not contain a lot of dubstep as some of the other songs, as it is a house song, and it has nice vocals by Jonny Rose.  The build-up and drop make the song worthwhile taking you on a ride on the music.  The catchy and repeating beat kept me hooked on the song.  Yea, the repetitiveness made the song lose some value after a lot of listens but nevertheless, the track is really good.  

Another (sorta) softie is With You, a lighthearted piece by Draper feat Alby Hobbs that is a soft touch of the electronic genre that introduces a lot of the genre into the song while keeping it unique and quiet, especially towards and after the drop.  Even though it is labeled as house, the song is very light and sounds like electronic and a little bit of light drumstep.  It is like taking a drink after a workout; its a nice refresher from all the other songs.  It’s nothing hardcore, bass and beat inducing, and is very catchy.

The next song is Boundless by Aero Cloud.  This is a song I used to like but I kinda lost interest as it kept playing over and over again in my playlist.  My time with this song: the first experience was the best and those that follow are just as good or slowly started to just be repetitive.  And trap is my favorite EDM genre and getting bored of it kinda sucks. But regarding how the song sounds, it’s a solid trap song.  The build is probably my favorite part where the use of claps right before the drop just makes me wanna headbang.  The drop could use some work however.  With trap, the drop is the most important part of the song.  The drop in Boundless is quick to repeat itself and doesn’t have that big of a drop.  It only sounds like it does because of the lower level the claps make during the build that makes it seem like a big drop, even though it’s not.  I usually go for more bassy and heavy drops like Burial- Yogi feat Pusha T (Moody Good remix) or really any stuff by Caked Up. So this song is a decent trap song, but not a memorable one nor one of my favorites.  

The last song I’m gonna talk about is Against the Sun by Rootkit feat Anna Yvette.  It’s a drumstep song, meaning it’s like drum and bass and dubstep combined, but slower paced and the ‘drum’ part is very noticeable.  Probably, my favorite part is Anna Yvette’s vocals. It really gives the song a rise in tone and pitch and sets it up for a nice drop. I don’t usually listen to drumstep, but this one is a good’un.  I feel like it is too soft at some moments, but it start the buildup again anyway and I get to hear the drop again (yay).  But overall, the song is a good drum-genre EDM song.  It really makes the album feel nicer.  

There are 26 more songs plus the album’s complete hour long mix.  These 4 are probably my favorite of the bunch.  This probably isn’t one of the best Monstercat albums to date (there’s 26 now), but this was my intro to the record label and I’ve loved Monstercat’s compilations and artists ever since.  I listened to Monstercat 016 Expedition after, which came out earlier.  I definitely recommend listening to Monstercat albums to introduce yourself into EDM.  

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Martin O’Donnell: The Music of Halo

Being a big video game fan, I am able to appreciate the wonderful mixture of visual and auditory components that come together, thrown in with good gameplay, to make a beautiful game. One of my favorite FPS (first person shooter) game series is Halo.  It was originally released in 2001 and has been continuing its immense timeline up until today with its 7th game been recently released.  The detailed textures have evolved since its first title and have grown into some amazing battle sceneries and definitive character models.  But what makes Halo great isn’t just the storyline, the characters, or the visual effects.  The music plays a huge part in this landmark of videogame history.  Any Halo fan would easily recognize the theme tune with its angelic choir and orchestral composition and bring them back to the good ol days of Combat Evolved.  But the thanks for this memorable piece and other tracks in the series belongs to lead composer Martin O’Donnell.  This will be a piece connecting him with one of the greatest soundtracks in videogame history.  

O’Donnell grew up in Westchester, PA where he later went to school at the University of South California to earn a masters degree in music composition.  From there started his own music production company with his business partner and friend, who also played a big role in the making of Halo’s music, Michael Salvatori.  They met through their music careers when they were part of rival bands in college.  They’ve been working together since.  It was at that company, called Total Audio, where he had multiple clients at companies for writing jingles and business was good.  His mindset changed when a friend introduced him to game developers Rand and Robyn Miller where he then helped design sound on a game called Riven: The Sequel to the Myst.  He and Salvatori then changed their focus and wanted to mingle in the world of video game composition.  O’Donnell talked to Bungie Industries, original dev company of the Halo title, and began to work on music for their upcoming games.  One of them being Myth: The Fallen Lords where he and Salvatori greatly impressed Bungie and they both landed permanent jobs with them. Listening to the soundtrack of Myth, I could definitely recognize O’Donnell’s and Salvatori’s work.  Their music is very mellow yet powerful making use of bass drums and violins and fitting perfectly with Myth’s theme.  After Microsoft bought out Bungie, O’Donnell and Salvatori were kept to work on their next big project: Halo: Combat Evolved.  The game was a success, as well as the soundtrack.  They have created a remarkable blend of orchestral, electronic and choral elements to give it a very exciting feel to the action packed game.  This was the start of O’Donnell’s partnership with Bungie and his relationship with Halo.

What is unique and great about Halo’s soundtrack is that it is very immersive with the player's’ experience.  Meaning, the music changes mood according to the gameplay that occurs.  Halo: Combat Evolved was able to win Rolling Stones Best Original Soundtrack 2002.  

Unfortunately they haven’t won much since for its soundtrack but the O’Donnell has made it a part of every Xbox players’ memories.  There is only a small handful of other videogame soundtracks that can top his work, one being Super Mario Bros.  But none of this stopped O’Donnell from working on future Bungie titles. 

*Such as crowd favorite, Halo 2:*

In Halo 3, he wanted to incorporate the classic theme of the first game, revamp it, and give it a stronger punch.  And that he did.  His work in the game created such ambience and such emotion that it is personally my favorite game of the series and many others’ as well.  He also worked on the audio and sound design for the game along with making the soundtrack.  

From here, he continued with 2 more Halo titles: Halo 3: ODST (2009) and Halo: REACH (2010).  These were reminders that O’Donnell could be flexible yet unfaltering when changing the mood and ambience of the game.  ODST is supposed to a stealthier, lonelier setting where a lone team fights to protect a city.  O’Donnell showed this by embracing the journey of each trooper of the team with their own musical pieces that bring out the isolated setting of the game.  REACH is another story; it is a prequel to the first 3 Halo titles. 

The military team of genetically augmented soldiers, known as spartans, are the first of the spartan-kind and the game is the team’s flesh-to-bone fight against the Covenant, evil aliens~ so to speak.  As the story rolls along, each team member tragically dies in combat fitting to their character (ie “Lone Wolf” dies alone or “Team Leader” sacrifices himself for the team). The setting was to be very gritty and raw as it should be the undeveloped precursor of the current story.  O’Donnell used that to his advantage and created a soundtrack that is more somber yet rougher than the previous games.  REACH I felt had a lot of feeling to it, and the gameplay mixed with the music really drove the game to be really great.  O’Donnell’s work has once again awed the audiences by giving them another breath taking soundtrack.  

This was the start of Bungie’s new look to their titles.  They started with Halo 4 and working their way to developing Destiny slotted for 2014, 2 triple A titles that O’Donnell received credit on but was shortlived after the premiere of Destiny’s trailer.  With a temp partnership from Activision, Bungie shared work with them as well as O’Donnell’s pieces he was asked to compose (8 parts of a symphonic and choral suite collab-ing even with Paul McCartney in some pieces).  However, Activision took the reigns and completely removed O’Donnell’s music from the trailer which they had no creative control over.  The company however was not reprimanded because the publishers of the game deemed it passable. Furiously, O’Donnell took to social media to notify their betrayal, disrupted press conferences, and started to slack on his work thus leading to his termination from Bungie (and recently won court case awarding him a lot of $$$) while his partner Salvatori remained at the company.  O’Donnell is now making his own game development studio and moving on.  

The videogame world will not forget the works of O’Donnell and Salvatori.  O’Donnell introduced a whole new play when it came to the beautiful music of videogames.  He inspired many other composers and artists who have made spinoffs and adaptations of Halo in recent years.  His work is brilliant and beautiful giving Halo the glory it deserves.  Never have I experienced a game that immersed me as the player into the environment through sheer music alone. We as gamers won’t forget it and we hope that his work will still be great the next chapter of his career.

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The First Step is Dubstep

(This is a personal essay music blogpost)

Dubstep is a unique genre of EDM.  I feel like it was everyone’s gateway into the genre.  Even songs today incorporate it somehow into their music, but inspiration has evolved from dubstep to more traditional club/dance and trap.  Even though trap is my favorite type of EDM, dubstep was my intro to the world of EDM.  It’s not an exactly pretty or charming set of music, very flashy and wild, but it does hold its own when it comes to a drop and bass. Skrillex was my first favorite EDM artist and was my introduction to the genre.  My middle school days were taken over by playlists upon playlists of dubstep artists and practically nothing else.  I’ve grown away from the genre but it all started with Kyoto from Skrillex.  

Kyoto itself is a city in Japan known for its vast history of the country.  The reason why it is the title of the song is beyond me.  The lyrics makes no sense at all nor relate to the place.  I just thought it sounded cool.  Even though this wasn’t his best of his “Bangarang” (2011) album, it had a certain appeal to it.  The song has elements from heavy metal rock, hip hop, and drum and bass, which are the main basic ingredients to all of Skrillex’s work.  “Very repetitive” and “drawn out” are what I would label the song as, but the song appealed to me as a kid I guess.  The song starts out with hard guitar riffs and mumbled lyrics over a beat and repeats itself until 44 seconds in when the climb starts and the first drop at 1:06.  The long wait for a subpar drop draws out and then the same verse as the intro is played after and then comes the bridge with Sirah coming out with a lyric drop. Of what? I don’t know.  My favorite part of the song would be Sirah’ rap which is the largest cluster of actual words in the entire track, not uncommon in EDM but the song would’ve been better as an instrumental to a real hip hop song.  Sirah starts rapping practically nonsense but it does sound damn cool:

“Sirah says, chillin’ in Kyoto grand with my man Skrills

Chain smoking nicotine say fuck a fast deal

We got a white girl so we make those Skrill checks

Fuck a white girl tour, ill neck

Karate chop her grill bits

I kill

Born from the center of a storm

All the boys flappin’ gums about how they’re hard, bitch

I’m harder

Martyr to the swag on the corner

Beat your girl up with the drums as the bass makes that bitch cum”

The combination of rap and drum and bass is nice and, next to the drop, it is an attractive part of the song.  Probably the weirdest part of the song, weirder than the rap, is the line that pops up frequently throughout the song.  It is very muffled and I never knew what it said until I actually looked it up (same “mumbled lyrics” I mentioned previously).  It has different iterations from “Mean reindeer a-makin’ fun of Rudolph” to “Big white girl, don’t let her bit yo dick off” or, a combination of the previous 2, “A big reindeer will make you break your dick off”.  Still unsure what it really means, I didn’t care anymore about the meaning behind it and just enjoyed how well it sounded with the instrumentals.  I used to bob my head in sync with the beat just because I thought it sounded cool.  This track is like the love child of metal and drum and bass giving audiences a taste of Skrillex’s well-known mixing.

First listening to dubstep, I thought this kind of music was ‘unique’ and ‘different’ from current popular songs.  But when dubstep started to get really popular, it was everywhere: TV commercials, montage music, Youtuber intro music, internet memes, anywhere it can be put as background music, it was there.  I didn’t pass judgement on the lyrics because honestly, I couldn’t understand it.  It just sounded cool.  So the biggest impact this song had on me wasn’t necessarily noticeable in the short term.  Being a common awkward 13 year old learning the ways of music, I downloaded every dubstep song and album that I could find and started with those. As I grew up I started to explore other types of EDM: house, techno, DnB, rave, and trap (others I still haven’t fully experienced yet).  So other artists like San Holo, Bassnectar, Yellow Claw, Dillon Francis, and many more were introduced to me in the long run, and it all started with my first EDM song: Kyoto.  Now that I listen to it again after this long time away from dubstep, I see how very boring Skrillex was and bland compared to other EDM artists and even other dubstep artists, and I now understand all the criticism it had back then.  I can give it to him that the bass and bpm were on point, because I like bass-y EDM, but the material and feeling were not there. When I would try to relax, I would listen to something like chillstep. But I would have never been introduced to chillstep if it were not for Kyoto.  Metaphorically, it’s like cars originally started from the Model T. They initially were not flashy nor very fast, but the automobile industry had to start somewhere.  Being young and eager to learn, I gathered any kind of dubstep I found and learned based off those.  Some were not great but, every history has to start somewhere. My EDM history notably started with this.

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The Clash of Kings: Slim VS Busta in “Calm Down” (2014)

“Calm Down” -Busta Rhymes (feat Eminem)

Busta Rhymes: one of the fastest and most accurate hip hop artists of all time.  He’s an OG who's been around for long time. And nothing is like his old stuff.  But this track was one that stood out to me.  It was a part of Calm Down: The Clash EP album dropped in 2014.  This was the buzz of the hip hop world; the battle between Busta and Slim Shady.  Busta detailed this as “a respectable competition” to reporters.  60 bars of Eminem and 64 from Bust.  In his interviews and details about the track, it was originally supposed to be half but Eminem kept topping him in verses, and killing it at that.  The project kept building on and eventually it went from a 3 minute song to a 6 minute one.  

The song is a great clash between two great rappers.  It starts off with a familiar horn, if some of you remember, from the intro to House of Pain’s “Jump Around”.  This was remixed into the beat.  And in the transition to Eminem, “Chill man, chill” plays in the background is a homage to Biggie Smalls’ “Party & Bullshit”.  After that, along to the remixed horn beat, Bust just lets go.  He starts off small and shows off his signature rhyming skills but then drops it with the line “What in the fat fishes of a phenomenal fahrvergnugen fuck is going on” and goes at his record words-per-second pace. To be honest, the lyrics itself doesn’t make sense looking at a singular verse.  But all together, glued with Busta’s skills, I don’t really care if they make sense or not.  It sounds fucking awesome.  A real showcase of his capability.  

As for Eminem, he wasn’t a lightweight.  He isn’t a lightweight.  He has changed the face of the hip hop and rap industry with his talent.  This track was not as great as some of his other songs considering this was just a collab with Bust, it was good and he killed it.  One of my favorite lines, but not a great rhyme rhetoric, is “Hey Mrs. Abraham Lincoln. Other than your husband’s fuckin’ brains that were leakin’. How’d you think that play was this weekend?”  This got me laughing but aside the sarcastic content, the rhyme was lacking and a little out of place along with the following homophobic lines.  But I also like his intro to the song: “Like a fuckin fried egg. Is my mind scambled? Cause Im lit” HA. Amazing Eminem.  And he follows up with a breath of more words than I can count (I can I just didnt).  A good start to his part.  But there were times that he didnt deliver as much of a ballad as he started off with where he kind of dimmed down a little bit, sadly.  He still was able to get some bars in at the end that rhymed the way Slim Shady would make them rhyme but I feel like it wasn’t as consistent as Busta’s verse.  

Frankly this is a different kind of song. It’s 3 minutes of Busta and 3 minutes of Eminem.  Kinda like 2 songs in one; I kinda felt full after listening to this.  Full in a sense like Thanksgiving dinner and grandma wants you finish the last bowl of mashed potatoes but you just got finishing the last 4 plates of turkey, corn, and pie.  It was a good clash of two big forces in the industry but felt like a little much.  It didn’t feel casual like some schoolyard cypher and it didn’t feel like a well cut professional mix, which it was but it didn’t give that feeling off.  The beat was a little peculiar with the remix of horns but it created the basis of the rap.  And the random noises like “BOOM” or “POW” gave off that comic book theme, like this lyric video and the cover art displayed it as.  But as a little confusing as that may be, I get it.  It’s like Batman vs Superman.  That kind of setting to this ‘battle’.  I don’t love it but it was a good thing to see two kings collab on one project.  I wasn’t disappointed.  It didn’t deliver a lot of the hype but it deserves a lot of credit for the collab.  

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(Brand Nu) RUCW Music Podcast

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The It’s-Okay-To-Cry Playlist

What stirs a person’s feelings inside them? What does it take to pull on people’s heartstrings? A tragic love story? The death of your favorite character in a show? A family movie where the dog dies at the end? Of course.  Movies and shows are great ways to depict a story that carries emotion and heart.  But here, I’ve compiled a playlist of music that really have an essence that puts their listeners through experiences that I think would play people’s heartstrings like a violin.  Most of these tell a tale about a lost love or losing someone close.  I tried to pick out ones that don’t only have heartfelt lyrics but ones that convey the artist's story in music that are harmonious with the words.  But that doesn’t mean that these are all have a piano incorporated, most do (lol), but songs like Mirrors or Tears to Snow are, some of you may know, are hip-hop/rap songs that I feel truly bring out the feelings of artists Lil Wayne and Marcus Hopson in their music.  Every time I listen to songs like these, I like to close my eyes, turn up the volume and just let the song take me; creating a blank white canvas and letting the music paint a picture in my head.  It reminds me of things, of people, of relationships, and of memories, especially memories.  

Conveying feeling and emotions through music is really a wonderful thing.

Jar of Hearts - Christina Perri

This was a hit back in middle school.  It was kind of my guilty pleasure, back then.  When my friends and I were playing video games and just chillin and this song came on, we would sing along one hundred percent.  That was when I first heard the song: back in middle school.  I didn’t really listen to the words before.  All I knew was that it was a beautiful song.  I didn’t cry, fully, but it definitely was something to keep a tab on.  The song, by Christina Perri, known for her beautiful voice, is about a breakup and a woman who is not only recovering from it but becoming a stronger person.  Her memories of the relationship were not great and she even quotes “I regret the first time we kissed” insinuates how cold the guy she was with really was.  Personally, this didn’t exactly click with me.  I am all for standing up after something pushes me down, but specifically I can’t really connect the content of the song.  I love the lyrics and how they are performed by such a talented woman.  I still listen to this just to enjoy the beautiful piece.

Hallelujah - John Cale

This song has many versions and many performers.  I chose this specific one because of where I first heard it.  If some of you remember the show Scrubs, then you remember one of the most gripping scenes in the first season where, for all of you to know, the 3 main characters who work in different parts of a hospital deal with their first real encounter with the death of their patients.  The quote at the beginning was “1 out of 3 patients admitted die in hospitals.”  Unfortunately, that was not the correct odds; all 3 of their patients passed and this song was the background music to this big moment in the series.  It still played while the doctors were consoling the families of the patients, learning from their mistakes but having a tough time rebounding.  The song itself is has a multitude of meanings where it was played by different people and added on over time.  But the consistent part of the song is the different versions of “hallelujah” in each verse.  The first verse refers to the story of King David and how he doesn’t understand why he doesn’t like this specific music.  This is a happy “hallelujah” that explains the unmatched interests in a relationship. The second is about a man restrained and forced against his will by a woman, most likely his lover changing who he truly was.  This is a desperate “hallelujah.” The rest of the verses reveal deep meanings within the word “hallelujah” and what goes behind it.  No doubt, this is a sad song.  My feelings get ruffled after listening to the fourth verse, “hallelujah” of bitterness.  It gets to me.  It makes me think about Scrubs, it makes me think about relationships, it makes me think a lot.  This song is probably holds the most meaning out of all the tracks in this list and is well deserved.  

Tears to Snow - Hopsin

Marcus Hopson always displayed his feelings in his work.  This is one is from Knock Madness (2013) and this was the time when he had a lot of doubts of rap and his fame.  This is about his fake relationships with clueless women who don’t care about being with Marcus, only with the famous rapper Hopsin.  The first feeling I get from this track is anger and frustration.  Betrayal and unfaithfulness what I’m getting from this.  I am a person who is faithful and loyal to my friends and family.  If I were in his position where all who were close to me were just using me, I’m positive I would feel the same way.  This song did made me mad, and also sorry for him to have to deal with people like this in his life.  Even though Marcus kinda lied that he was quitting rap, he did have honest thoughts about it.  A lot of his music contains emotion that he emits through words.  If you can feel the strength, the weakness, the frustration, that was Hopsin at the peak of his career but the bottom of his life.

Someone Like You - Adele

Did you think this playlist would be without an Adele song? Of course she’d be in a playlist about feelings and enwrapping stories.  This song in particular was one that stood out the most that created the story of (yet another) breakup and the hurtful yet necessary recovery.  It is a different beast than Christina Perri whereas Christina has a higher and brighter voice, and Adele as a full, powerhouse of a voice that makes my heart quiver during the chorus of any of her songs.  The feelings of unrequited love eating away at her over time finally made her gave in and she realized her mistake maybe a little too late.  Besides the music video, I can clearly see the story she is trying to tell.  Adele has a talent for that.  Most of her famous works are beautiful and paints a Picasso-esque piece on her listeners’ minds.  I especially like the piano in this piece.  It suited Adele and both created a symphony of words and notes that, like the music video, were black and white but had the heart of many colors.   

Growing Up - Macklemore

This is probably my favorite song in this playlist.  I’m not a huge Macklemore fan, I’ve listened to Thrift Shop (as everyone probably has), Can’t Hold Us Down, etc.  But he always has songs that have a message, not just a story, but a strong message to its listeners.  Same Love, another one of his popular tracks, was a piece that supported gay rights in the form of a well written and well performed song.  This song is no different.  This really hit me personally.  When I first listened to this song I didn’t fully hear the lyrics so my thoughts were a little skewed.  Nevertheless it helped me in a low point of starting school.  This was the first few weeks of school and I really missed home.  I missed my friends. I missed my room. I missed my parents.  So, I got this song to sorta ‘ease’ the homesickness by reminding myself more of home.  I know, not the best strategy.  But I would honestly cry thinking about 19 years ago my dad picking me up when I was born and just looking at me and then *poof* I’m off to college.  I would think about the things my parents have done for me up to this moment.  I tried to learn to appreciate things they did more, and gratitude and empathy as well.  Macklemore starts to list things that any parent would say to their children; advice to make their life fun.  It’s not a testament I attain to but the concept is just beautiful.  I love my parents and I love my home and listening to this just opens the floodgates and releases the feelings within me.  I try to use it as motivation to literally grow up and make something of myself to make my family proud.  But I always look back and look on what’s behind me, what I’ve been through to get to where I am now, and then look ahead and see where I’m gonna go.  

Stay With Me - Sam Smith

Sam Smith is a great upcoming artist.  His voice is just magnificent.  This is one of his most popular of his album and I think it deserves the credit.  Honestly, I love this song for the harmonies and vocals.  The piano is an accent to Sam’s angel-like voice and I’m sure that I’m not the only one who thinks this.  Anyway, this song is the struggle of finding a true companion, someone to stick around, not just a one night stand.  Morals to live by? His lyrics are a little repetitive but nevertheless, it makes up in quality.  The reason this is here is because his talent is one that makes his listeners feel.  The lyrics play some part and the instrumentals are very important, but the one that carries all the weight is the performance.  

Goner - Twenty One Pilots

I just recently found out about Twenty One Pilots and all the hype behind them.  This is from their Blurryface album but, in my opinion, it wasn’t the best of their bunch.  Then again, there were other great songs compiled in that album as well so “not the best of Blurryface” still holds a lot of meaning.  While a lot of their music is upbeat, this is one that struck me as different, music-wise.  It still relates plenty through messages in the lyrics.  This one is about Tyler Joseph, lead singer and songwriter, fighting his feelings he personifies as Blurryface who basically represents his weakness and paranoia developed over the course of the band’s existence.  And this I can hold meaning to: fighting the overwhelming weakness when the odds are against you.  Strength can come from it and this is a great portrait of Tyler’s strength especially at the end when the music picks up and his voice is louder like it was the final strike against a video game boss.  Paranoia, weakness, and hopelessness always comes before strength, hope, confidence, and power; that’s the main thing I got from this nice piece. A life lesson? Maybe.  

Mirror - Lil Wayne

To be honest, I am not a big Lil Wayne fan.  But my friend showed this song to me back in high school so I tried to listen to some of his work.  It never stuck to me but nevertheless, this is the one that is very beautiful.  Lyrics like “Mirror on the wall… is my only friend” is what has a lot of feeling to this song.  I think this is about his inner struggles and conflict that it has come to a point that the only person that really understands him is the one staring at him in a mirror.  Inner struggles are something that everyone must go through to change.  Thoughts to myself have always been like a complex system that sometimes doesn’t come out in a way that everyone can understand, so this does kinda hit home for me.  Like I said before with Growing Up, I had a lot of feelings going into school.  My head was full of what and what-ifs.  I felt as if the only person who understood me was, well, me.  Some people may feel the same way, different circumstances and issues but the realization is the same.  This isn’t a ‘solve-all-my-problems’ song but more of a ‘oh-yeah-I-feel-the-same-way’ type deal.  But still, I like this song and it’s a good addition to this ‘feels’ playlist.  

Say Something - A Great Big World

This is the most powerful piece in this playlist.  When I said before how I would close my eyes and let the song take me on, I never expected something like this strong to overcome me.  And the incredibly touching music video doesn’t ease the sadness either.  Honestly, I didn’t understand the “say something” part of the song until recently.  I heard this on TV once a few years ago but I never really checked it out.  After listening to it again… DAMN. Playing my heartstrings like a pro cellist. The stories shown in the video make more sense than just listening to the audio and gives the full experience of the song.  Visuals are important to compliment music, that’s why sad movies have such sad soundtracks.  The song is beautiful and gives off this setting of like an empty space that is only occupied by the piano, Ian Axel, lead singer, and Christina Aguilera, exactly like the music video.  I just love the feel of this song and after watching the music video, it just tops off that feeling with a bittersweet aura.  The mix of talent and piano sometimes makes me wanna shed a tear just to respect this song and the songwriters.  

When an artform makes me feel something, I am fascinated.  Movies, TV, and music are all forms that create ambiance displays a setting with characters, people, and a message to connect to and really feel for.  From songs like Goner, Jar of Hearts, and Someone Like You, I get ‘strength is key in improvement.’  From Mirrors and Tears to Snow, I see that finding oneself deep inside can be scary and a whole other journey.  Touching songs are great and easy to take from. Songs like these either makes my brain really think or my heart really tremble.  Sadness, happiness, sorrow, rejoice, feelings are universal.  Being able to move someone with words is amazing to me, and I feel these songs are example that hone that ability.  

[mr-blue-blog]

Live Performance Review: LiveVibes Gives Good Vibes

*photos taken by RUPA representatives posted on their FB page.  All credit goes to RUPA and RUPA photographers who took photos of the event*

RUPA LiveVibes Coffee House - Feb 9, 2016

I was browsing different sites and social media networks and texting different people seeing where I should go to write a review.  Then I checked RUPA’s (Rutgers University Programming Association) facebook page to see what events they had.  And lord behold, there’s one that night.  So I called up a few friends, finished my work, and was able to check out my first ever Rutgers Coffee House event.  

Overall, it was a good experience.  Not knowing too much about full fledged concerts or live music in general, I just wanted to get my feet wet.  The area of the performance had a good atmosphere.  It felt very relaxed, chill, and not too much commotion among the crowd.  This was my first time going to a live music event and it was okay.  Nothing special.  This wasn’t something to go crazy at.  There was a little raffle for headphones and stickers if that’s any consolation.  But I’m sure what people were looking for was the music.  The people that performed were just students with the courage and talent that they wanted to let out on stage.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t entirely hear some of the names of the performers either because the room marred the sound of the speakers or the group of girls behind me.  Nevertheless, I still was able to get the bulk of the performances.  

Performances like Javier Mendez and Kim (she didn’t say her last name) were extraordinarily talented and wrote their own lyrics.  Kim even sang covers from Drake and Adele like “Headlines” and “Water Under the Bridge”.  She had a lot of music on her plate.  But Javier Mendez, a freshman rapper, really laid some out.  It wasn’t anything professional or had any editing to it.  It was real.  It was him.  He is a friend of one of my friends and he says that Javier is very good and passionate about his music.  He definitely showed it to the crowd that night because everyone could feel it, and I could see it.  There was another duo, sadly I didn’t get their names because of the ambient noise, but they were very good.  I believe they wrote their own songs but they definitely were on point with instrumentals and performing.  The girl sang beautifully hitting notes that were insane, to me anyway.  The guy played really well on an acoustic guitar and skillfully singing his part during the course, but I couldn’t really get to it because the microphones in that sort of setting are mainly focused on the performer’s voice not the instruments.  But it was nicely played.  I’m not a huge fan of country and dramatic music but it played a good part in this melting pot.  And the rest of the performances were as good or even better. Even if they were just amateur performers and musicians, I felt their passion radiating from each and every one of them; a passion for music and joy in what they do.  That’s what makes these kind of events worthwhile.

*Javier Mendez on stage*

This was only a casual thing among many well organized events.  I admit it could have been better with the music, with the equipment or even the venue.  I know Rutgers dedicated that spot to small music performances but at the peak of the night there were around 40 people total in the room where all the seats were taken and many were left standing.  Luckily I got there with enough time to save a seat for me and my friends.  But even so, it was tight when it got busy.  The food and refreshments were good, free also.  But my main complaint is the sound.  The equipment is how the artists’ music gets conveyed to the audience, and having audio that kinda messes up the real vibe they’re trying to give off kinda sucks.

Frankly, that is all really aesthetics.  The main attraction, the headliner was the performers and they definitely delivered.  This event isn’t and I’m sure wasn’t supposed to be a big thing at all.  This was something that was just damn right lax, mellow, nothing that is as strict as a J Cole or T Swift concert, i.e a ton of people and a lot of staff.  It wasn’t a pain in the ass to get to, it wasn’t a pain in the ass to go in, and it wasn’t a pain in the ass to listen and chill out.  A small step to intro me to a whole world of live performance I guess.  I’d recommend these type of events once in awhile. But don’t expect much.  Truthfully, that’s the trick to these small gigs: don’t expect too much.  If you like the music, then good, got something out of what you weren’t expecting.  If you didn’t, well just enjoy the free food and free entertainment.  

Oh yeah, and it is FREE.  So that’s a big plus.  

[mr-blue-blog]

Knock Madness - Hopsin-    Another Rapper Gone

There are a lot of rappers in the hip hop industry striving to make history.  Hip hop is a place where anyone with an accurate tongue can make money off of it.  It has only become a recent popular trend where artists rap about the better things in life, like love and family, instead of hittin’ bottles at a banger.  Rappers that have quality of substance have been growing.  Marcus “Hopsin” Hopson, a rapper from LA, is one of those many who stood out to me. One of his best works is Knock Madness (2013).

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLY9nEuyCsAG70A5XNb3ZLa9ce401QVDfU

This is Hopsin’s third record album under the Funk Volume record label but his fourth overall.  Knock Madness is a nice equilibrium of Hopsin’s bars on serious topics and fun and corny ones.  He accurately spits hooks that catch the listener and executes such accurate words at a phenomenal pace, keeping up with the featured yet more experienced quick tongued rappers like Tech N9ne, SwizZz, Dizzy Wright, and more. The balance between horrorcore and pop rap is evident where tracks like “Hip Hop Sinister” and “Gimme That Money” are nicely suited for this album.  Hopsin has been doing things like that in his previous and later albums: finding that good mix between serious, scary, somber, and spirited tracks that make a real Hopsin album.  Hopsin’s specialty in this industry is that his music isn’t just sound-based, it is very lyric-based.  His well made talent and ability to make songs full of vitality and substance never makes any one of his tracks flat or boring.  He always keeps the listeners on their feet.  

This album was a bunch of different things.  It contained Hopsin’s views on love, on life, on music, and just straight up spits them like a preacher, in a good way.  Sincere topics like drug abuse ruining a friend or an unrequited love are taken with complete seriousness.  He speaks tough topics that not every listener can be comfortable with but it does still make some people think. HiphopDX writer Omar Burgess wrote on his review that “The key to enjoying Hopsin’s latest may ultimately lie in the listener’s ability to know when to suspend their belief in reality and just enjoy the ride.” And that is definitely a true fact.  Tracks like “What’s My Purpose”,  “Tears to Snow”, or “I Need Help” are signs that something serious was underneath the shroud of lyrics, and it is our jobs as the audience to listen and try to really understand his words.  But then, there are songs like “Lunch Time Cypher” or “Nollie Tre Flip” that are just enjoyable to bob to the beat.  

Hopsin, more specifically Marcus, is one of those rappers who can tell what is right and what is definitely wrong.  He has a strong stance against drugs and alcohol in today’s youth society.  He isn’t one of those artists who rap about partying on the weekend or getting drunk or high all the time.  That’s why I respect artists like Hopsin and Eminem who just rap about being real and the realest things in our world.  A few of Hopsin’s big hitters are in his “Ill Mind” saga where he just raps about things on his mind.  For example, “Ill Mind of Hopsin 4” disses Tyler the Creator.  But in regards to Knock Madness, he had one more “Ill Mind” track, called “Old Friend” that told about his old relationship with his childhood friend Jesse who was heavily involved in drugs making him a completely different person than the one Marcus knew.  This is a continuation from one of his older songs “Chris Dolmeth” in his previous album Saw (2010).  It definitely was a somber track that gave a little more about Hopsin’s past and showed a little more insight on the effect of drugs in our society.  

One of my favorite songs in this album is “Rip Your Heart Out” featuring Tech N9ne.  It was a mix of horrorcore and hardcore rap well put by 2 great rappers. Tech N9ne, another artist I frequently listen to, is a veteran in the hip hop industry.  His fast accurate lyrics aren’t normally comparable to Hopsin’s but Hopsin kept up to Tech especially in his solo near the outro.  

Unfortunately, one of the most powerful tracks in this album is “Caught in the Rain.” And I say “unfortunately” because this is his declaration of his retirement in hip hop. The song splits up the Hopsin persona and Marcus Hopson as two different people.  As Hopsin says in an interview with XXLMagazine’s Eric Diep about the song, “It’s just me saying I am going to bury Hopsin, like the album cover... I am laying there as Hopsin’s getting dirt thrown on me as I am tied up.” This is unfortunate to his fans who thought this album was great, maybe the best to some people.  However, another album was recently released called Pound Syndrome to wrap up his career in the industry.  His legacy is still making waves.  But while we wait for something to come back, we can enjoy what he left us.

UPDATE: later realized his retirement was a joke.  I got played.  Still good music tho 

[mr-blue-blog]

Martin Hall

      At first, I wasn’t a fan of indie music.  I felt it didn’t fill what I was craving for. When it comes to music I listen to, the drop needs to be nice, the chorus needs to have a certain flow of lyrics and the song needs to have a definitive rhythm and likability to just pick up and listen to whenever and wherever.  Then, while watching one of my subscriber’s videos on YouTube, he had to cut and edit in some royalty-free music to avoid getting flagged for copyright.  The royalty free music he edited in was a catchy and bright piece that felt very warm just listening to it for the first time.  That song was “Sunrise Sunset” by Martin Hall. This is what enticed me to start looking into indie bands and groups and give the genre a chance.  But, nevertheless, it started with Martin Hall.  

     For those who don’t know Martin Hall, he is an indie pop artist who writes and sings his own songs and sometimes has featured vocalists.  Frankly, from what I dug up, there isn’t much around buzzing around his personal name. There are many ‘Martin Hall’s but only one that is a gifted indie artist.  His music is mainly composed of singles and instrumentals but no albums, records, or labels when he truly does deserve more than third party uploaders.  He doesn’t get any reviews besides the ones on those uploaders’ sites.  However, his music is still something to turn heads and open ears.

     Aside from his popularity status, his music is beautiful.  Not a classical Chopin beautiful but something to sit down and listen to how his lyrics coordinate with the instrumentals.  When I listen to a self-made playlist of his music, I get tranced by the dance of words and music.  The music doesn’t present a specific story, a lot of common topics like love and heartbreak, but just a cool melody to just listen to.  One of my favorites by Hall is “War” where he basically sings about an internal emotional strife, and, even though a little repetitive, he does create a certain ambience with simple notes and does stray away from the topic of angry emotions and focuses on the calm melody and soft words.  Because he is an indie artist, some of his music sounds exactly like any other indie pop group.  And by then it depends on how the lyrics and vocals are to determine if people will see the band as ‘unique’ or ‘fresh’. However, listening to Martin Hall’s music, there is no consistent genre. Sometimes it can be upbeat, sometimes it can be dark and deep, and then there are songs like “Post Traumatic Love Disorder” that have elements of soul music.  His music doesn’t have much crisp and pop like some of the popular vocal-talented artists but does make up in variety and lyrics.  Songs like “Just Wait for It” and “Blazing Magnetic” really emphasize on lyrics to bring out the melody.  But then there are songs like “Sunrise Sunset” where it is repetitive but the beat is very uplifting and hopeful.  His music would be the type of music to listen to while staring out a window: something to play along to the changing of the seasons, the vibrant life, and obviously, a teeming sunrise, or sunset, to break the horizon.  

     There are a lot of indie artists that are trying to make it for themselves in the world of music.  But Martin Hall unfortunately is one of the ones that didn’t make the cut. The warmth, the soft lyrics, the repeated yet alluring melodies of his music, something to appreciate. Martin Hall is one of those artists that doesn’t pack a huge punch like some of the bigger names in music today, but at least he does try.