I'd like to direct your attention to the works of Darren Korb. Previously I put up a Top Tracks post on his song Setting Sail, Coming Home, the ending track to the Bastion soundtrack. A little over a week ago, on May 20th the game Transistor by Supergiant Games was released which features a brand new soundtrack by Darren Korb.
I implore you to take a listen to the soundtrack even if you don't have the time or want to play the game it belongs to. Of particular note are the vocal tracks, "The Spine", "In Circles", "We All Become", "Signals", and "Paper Boats". If the rest of the soundtrack is too esoteric or out of your taste please at least listen to those five tracks. The vocals by Ashley Barrett are phenomenal and the instrumentation by Darren Korb is flawless. All five tracks are perfect specimens for how long a track should be, lasting just long enough to make you want more without devolving into repetition. The entire soundtrack is up on Youtube here. So what're you waiting for, get listening! Special shout out, I especially love "In Circles", the complex beat is just so interesting and fun to listen to.
--CsMiREK
Thursday, May 29, 2014
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
Musical Discovery - E.S. Posthumus
So it's been a few months since I last did a Musical Discovery post, largely because it's been a few months since I've really posted at all. But anyways, this time I want to cover E.S. Posthumus.
E.S. Posthumus was a group formed of two brothers, Helmut and Franz Vonlichten. Stylistically, the music they produced could be best described as modern or 21st century classical music. As a genre, that may seem odd as classical music generally pertains to a particular time in music history. However, the music of E.S. Posthumus combined many of the mannerisms and stylistic elements of classical music with drum beats and electronic elements that could never have been used in the classical music of old.
Before Franz' untimely death in what I'm gonna call May of 2010, the announcement was in July and said about 2 months prior, E.S. Posthumus released 3 albums, Unearthed, Cartographer, and Makara all three of which sit currently on my shelf.
I'm not sure exactly when I first heard of E.S. Posthumus but I remember immediately falling in love with their first album Unearthed. I remember hearing chant being used outside of its traditional context and drums that although forceful and strong, blended seamlessly with the rest of the orchestra. Deep cello lines and soaring violins, chant that resonated deeply and strongly with me. Even though they released two other albums I still feel the greatest connection to Unearthed and especially the fifth track 'Ebla'. While others may not enjoy it the same way I do, I find myself always going back to it and listening to it carefully.
While I know I'm 4 years late to send my condolences to Helmut and their family, I still find myself compelled to listen to E.S. Posthumus and their music has a profound effect on my views of music both classical and not. Helmut has moved on to another band Les Friction but I could never really move on to give them an objective listening. In any case, RIP Franz Vonlichten even if I'm 4 years late, I didn't have this blog 4 years ago. To Helmut, I hope you continue to write music and I hope the world never forgets E.S. Posthumus. Until next time.
* No audio for this post *
--CsMiREK
E.S. Posthumus was a group formed of two brothers, Helmut and Franz Vonlichten. Stylistically, the music they produced could be best described as modern or 21st century classical music. As a genre, that may seem odd as classical music generally pertains to a particular time in music history. However, the music of E.S. Posthumus combined many of the mannerisms and stylistic elements of classical music with drum beats and electronic elements that could never have been used in the classical music of old.
Before Franz' untimely death in what I'm gonna call May of 2010, the announcement was in July and said about 2 months prior, E.S. Posthumus released 3 albums, Unearthed, Cartographer, and Makara all three of which sit currently on my shelf.
I'm not sure exactly when I first heard of E.S. Posthumus but I remember immediately falling in love with their first album Unearthed. I remember hearing chant being used outside of its traditional context and drums that although forceful and strong, blended seamlessly with the rest of the orchestra. Deep cello lines and soaring violins, chant that resonated deeply and strongly with me. Even though they released two other albums I still feel the greatest connection to Unearthed and especially the fifth track 'Ebla'. While others may not enjoy it the same way I do, I find myself always going back to it and listening to it carefully.
While I know I'm 4 years late to send my condolences to Helmut and their family, I still find myself compelled to listen to E.S. Posthumus and their music has a profound effect on my views of music both classical and not. Helmut has moved on to another band Les Friction but I could never really move on to give them an objective listening. In any case, RIP Franz Vonlichten even if I'm 4 years late, I didn't have this blog 4 years ago. To Helmut, I hope you continue to write music and I hope the world never forgets E.S. Posthumus. Until next time.
* No audio for this post *
--CsMiREK
Thursday, May 22, 2014
Headphones Jargon
Short post this time. I just put up a new page on headphones jargon/lingo/whatever you want to call it. If you wanted to know what I mean by the different kinds of headphones and what various metrics I look for, hopefully it'll be helpful. I'll have more term to definition type explanations than I gave in these posts. The idea is that if you don't want to spend the effort to look stuff up, it'll be a place where you can quickly pick up what the terms mean individually. You can find it on the side below the link to the headphones spreadsheet. The posts I mentioned here will also be linked to on the page. Until next time.
* No Audio for this post *
--CsMiREK
* No Audio for this post *
--CsMiREK
Saturday, May 10, 2014
Musical Taste
It's been a year and a half since I started this blog and I just realized that I haven't really mentioned anything about my personal musical tastes. Through my Musical Discovery and Top Tracks posts I hope that it strikes you that I have at least somewhat eclectic tastes when it comes to music. From electronic like Alstroemeria Records to rock like 9mm Parabellum Bullet to pop like Sara Bareilles and St. Vincent I end up listening to almost everything.
Since my first post of Musical Discovery when I had around 17000 tracks I've added another 5000 taking the total to over 22000 tracks. So I think that it's good to know what I look for in music and what I enjoy. In doing so I hope that you take some time to look at what determines the music that you enjoy. For me, I look for two things and two things only. The first is whether I find the music interesting and the second is whether the music fits my aesthetic for music.
So what defines interesting to me? As a kid growing up with classical music along with regular pop music, defining interesting is a somewhat odd thing for me. I heavily favor music that is complex in structure. However, I also realize that there is a cutoff where complexity does not equate to better and simplicity wins out. What that means in more digestible terms is that I tend to enjoy music that keeps me thinking. A lot of pop music I find to be repetitive in a bland way. The general texture of most pop music is consists purely of a vocal (singular) track, some sort of 4 beat percussion track, and a nondescript instrumental track. By nondescript I mean that there is no memorable part to almost any instrumental track I hear on the radio. This doesn't mean that I don't like repetitive music. I can very much enjoy music like Robot Rock by Daft Punk which is a pretty repetitive track. I can also admire the works of Steven Reich, in particular Piano Phase and Come Out. While not super impressive nowadays, the ideas are really interesting and the use of panning in Come Out is just plain awesome to listen to. I guess what really defines interesting to me is how much I can pick apart and understand a piece which is perhaps a bit outside of what others might think about music.
The other half of my musical taste is my aesthetic for music. This is more in line with what most people would say musical taste is. My aesthetic brings me closer to electronic music at the moment while still enjoying rock and pop. I love the sound of string instruments and orchestral works in general. Brass in particular is so fun for me to listen to, I'm a huge fan of the big band sound even though I don't have much in my library. While ambient and rap or hip hop generally don't veer into my aesthetic, I can appreciate them if they provide a substantively interesting musical part. As an example, Nujabes was a hip hop artist first and foremost even with the jazzy elements. The jazzy elements helped a lot for me to embrace his music. Alternatively, Eminem is just straight up rap music. However, he or whoever produces his music has a very clear and good sense for how to treat his lyrical rhythm in a musical setting even if that setting isn't the most complex. I find myself impressed with Eminem more than most other rappers or hip hop artists. The other thing to realize is that musical aesthetic changes as you get older. I implore you to listen to things that you don't like initially as your aesthetic changes. Just 4 or 5 years ago, there is no way I would have seen myself liking Eminem or Daft Punk or Alstroemeria Records but in time I've gotten to the point of embracing good music regardless of genre. Sometimes interesting music overrides what your usual aesthetic is. After all the two are wholly separate things while simultaneously being heavily interrelated. I hope you enjoyed this post and I hope it makes you think about what your musical tastes are, what you find interesting and what you're currently drawn towards. With that, until next time.
*Audio will be up later*
--CsMiREK
Since my first post of Musical Discovery when I had around 17000 tracks I've added another 5000 taking the total to over 22000 tracks. So I think that it's good to know what I look for in music and what I enjoy. In doing so I hope that you take some time to look at what determines the music that you enjoy. For me, I look for two things and two things only. The first is whether I find the music interesting and the second is whether the music fits my aesthetic for music.
So what defines interesting to me? As a kid growing up with classical music along with regular pop music, defining interesting is a somewhat odd thing for me. I heavily favor music that is complex in structure. However, I also realize that there is a cutoff where complexity does not equate to better and simplicity wins out. What that means in more digestible terms is that I tend to enjoy music that keeps me thinking. A lot of pop music I find to be repetitive in a bland way. The general texture of most pop music is consists purely of a vocal (singular) track, some sort of 4 beat percussion track, and a nondescript instrumental track. By nondescript I mean that there is no memorable part to almost any instrumental track I hear on the radio. This doesn't mean that I don't like repetitive music. I can very much enjoy music like Robot Rock by Daft Punk which is a pretty repetitive track. I can also admire the works of Steven Reich, in particular Piano Phase and Come Out. While not super impressive nowadays, the ideas are really interesting and the use of panning in Come Out is just plain awesome to listen to. I guess what really defines interesting to me is how much I can pick apart and understand a piece which is perhaps a bit outside of what others might think about music.
The other half of my musical taste is my aesthetic for music. This is more in line with what most people would say musical taste is. My aesthetic brings me closer to electronic music at the moment while still enjoying rock and pop. I love the sound of string instruments and orchestral works in general. Brass in particular is so fun for me to listen to, I'm a huge fan of the big band sound even though I don't have much in my library. While ambient and rap or hip hop generally don't veer into my aesthetic, I can appreciate them if they provide a substantively interesting musical part. As an example, Nujabes was a hip hop artist first and foremost even with the jazzy elements. The jazzy elements helped a lot for me to embrace his music. Alternatively, Eminem is just straight up rap music. However, he or whoever produces his music has a very clear and good sense for how to treat his lyrical rhythm in a musical setting even if that setting isn't the most complex. I find myself impressed with Eminem more than most other rappers or hip hop artists. The other thing to realize is that musical aesthetic changes as you get older. I implore you to listen to things that you don't like initially as your aesthetic changes. Just 4 or 5 years ago, there is no way I would have seen myself liking Eminem or Daft Punk or Alstroemeria Records but in time I've gotten to the point of embracing good music regardless of genre. Sometimes interesting music overrides what your usual aesthetic is. After all the two are wholly separate things while simultaneously being heavily interrelated. I hope you enjoyed this post and I hope it makes you think about what your musical tastes are, what you find interesting and what you're currently drawn towards. With that, until next time.
*Audio will be up later*
--CsMiREK
Sunday, May 4, 2014
Gear Days: Headphone Spreadsheet
Recently I've been going back
through all of my headphones and re rating them. The results of which
I'm glad to share with you here on this link. When I obtained a pair of Beyerdynamic DT880
headphones all of my rankings needed to change. Simply put, at the current moment they are the best headphones I own and everything needed to get re rated in order to compensate. In the sub tabs of the spreadsheet I'll be breaking down the sub
sections of headphones I currently own with the best in each category
taking the 10/10 slot and everything else adjusted to the headphones
that hold the 10/10 slot for the category. The last sub tab is a list of songs I like to listen to for various reasons that I try to elucidate. If you are ever in the position of looking for headphones I hope
you can refer to that spreadsheet for some advice at any time. I'll also be leaving the link on the side for reference at all time. And with that, until next time.
*Note: No audio for this post*
--CsMiREK
*Note: No audio for this post*
--CsMiREK
Saturday, May 3, 2014
Gear Days: Brainwavz B2 Brazen Brightness
And...we're back. Well at least I am. For my return to posting we have another issue of Gear Days. For this post, I'll be talking about the Brainwavz B2s.
The Brainwavz B2 headphones, henceforth referred to as the B2s are in ear headphones that you can get for around $125-$140. At this point you might be asking yourself, 'Why would I ever spend over $100 for a pair of earbuds?' Well firstly, if you've read any of my other posts on headphones you'd notice that I make a distinction between in ear headphones and earbuds so get your shit straight. Second, honestly if you like in ear headphones and want a good step up, the B2s are some really nice headphones for the price so now let's get down to the specifics.
The Brainwavz B2 headphones, henceforth referred to as the B2s are in ear headphones that you can get for around $125-$140. At this point you might be asking yourself, 'Why would I ever spend over $100 for a pair of earbuds?' Well firstly, if you've read any of my other posts on headphones you'd notice that I make a distinction between in ear headphones and earbuds so get your shit straight. Second, honestly if you like in ear headphones and want a good step up, the B2s are some really nice headphones for the price so now let's get down to the specifics.
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