Sound Bites

Hey everyone, I'm back at university! Ha! Not really... well, actually I am, but not physically there... It's complicated.

So anyway this week with so much possibly happening in the music industry lately (I'm not really sure, I don't keep tabs on it), I thought it might be time to feature a few bits of news about... well, the music industry. So start untangling the earphones that you only put in your pocket two seconds ago because this one has sound, and plenty of it.

In this post: Music, Music, More music, and more of the internet in bite-sized pieces.

Can someone explain how someone can dance to something that sounds like a broken stereo, please?

Dubstep, or as the internet alternatively calls it, "wubstep", is a type of 'dance' music that has more glitchy sound effects than a computer with viruses. Essentially, and this is according to Wikipedia, the genre of music has an implied tempo of usually between 65-70BPM, however the real tempo is actually twice as fast. This is achieved with the use of the bass line. To get a better understanding I found the full version of one of Wikipedia's music samples.
Personally, I'm yet to understand how one dances to this, if at all... sorry, I'm not really a hater but all I get while listening is a feeling of trudging through a swamp... and that can't be right. Unless someone can suggest a track I can listen to that I might enjoy? That would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

OK so for those finding that previous track slightly unnerving (and even Wikipedia said it might), the palate cleanser comes to you in the form of Rebecca Black. No wait, wait...

So in November, Miss Black released her third single, "Person of Interest". Now, the internet probably isn't going to forget she sung "Friday" any time soon, but if the YouTube like/dislike bar is anything to go by, this song is miles better!
The critics say the same thing... though the song was panned, it even got an occasional "neutral" review!
So in short, after featuring in Katy Perry's video, it looks like we may have quick to dismiss Rebecca quickly. Possibly. Time will tell, and we may get an answer soon, as she plans to release a studio album this year.

Next up, from the "Home Grown" category, we present that single from Gotye and Kimbra.
Gotye... is that what an English person says when they catch someone? Dunno.

Well anyway, hard to believe, but I didn't have a clue who either of them were before they hit the charts. But I guess what's great is that Australian/New Zealand music is getting a little bit more reputation overseas - as of currently it has hit #1 in eight countries; and in the top 10 in a further four.
It's a song I didn't particularly enjoy listening to originally, mainly because I've never been a fan of anything too minimal (such as "Pumped Up Kicks", or to some extent, "Rolling In the Deep"), but after you hear it on the radio a few more times, you listen to the lyrics with a bit more depth.
Now as with most of the highly artistic musicians, the music video may not make a whole lot of sense to start with (I mean, look at Lady Gaga's videos...), but don't let that get in the way of the song. Actually, speaking of, the video for "Marry the Night" may be 14 minutes, but just listen to that intro for the first 5 minutes!

I remember listening to an interview on MTV a while back, and even though people dismiss her as a little bit "eccentric", she actually puts a lot of thought behind her songs and albums.

From pop to hip hop now, after watching "Ray Charles" by Chiddy Bang on MTV (hmm... I've been doing a lot of that recently)... I just thought I'd quickly mention how quite a lot of hip hop/rap songs have people's names as titles... like "John", "Otis",  "Marvin's Room" and um, "Yonkers"?... (Warning: Explicit Lyrics)

And finally this week, from my personal iTunes collection... I've been playing Sonic Generations lately and decided to put the soundtrack on my phone. Here's one of my favourites.

For those unfamiliar to the series... the music style is generally hard rock, influenced with some purely electronic/dance/pop tracks, and then some tracks combining the two styles. As with most game soundtracks (and yes, they are about as common to find online and on iTunes as movie soundtracks), the songs are primarily instrumentals, but there are always a couple of vocal tracks also.
I did some research and it turns out the band that did this version of "Escape From the City", is actually a real band, not an in-house thing. So you can catch one of their singles here.

Wow six videos in one post! That's a personal best...

And Now This
In keeping with this week's music theme, I give you music-map, another way to find artists you may enjoy. Just type in a music artist you already enjoy, and music-map will find the best matches for other artists with similar music styles.

Enough from me, happy listening and if you enjoy any of these artists be sure to support them by purchasing their songs on iTunes or similar music store. Otherwise the industry might get mad and try to force something like SOPA on us.
And as per usual, don't forget to comment/subscribe/pass this on. See you next week.