hello-alonso

[hello-alonso]

Dying in a Hot Tub: A Cultural Criticism

The song “Dying in a Hot Tub” by Palaye Royale reveals many wrongs in our society. In a tweet, Palaye Royale divulged how the song is about one of their best friends who is an addict. In this spirit, we recognize that the song is testament to the lifestyle their friend lives due to their current discontentment with life. 

The song begins with a narrative about visiting that friend:

You’re looking skinny, you sleepy head

Well, have you gotten out of bed?

Have you gotten out of bed?

Getting concerned about my lonely friend

We first see the symptoms of depression and mental illness, in which the friend stays in bed all day and is starving themselves. In recent years due to social media platforms giving voice to virtually anyone who has a phone, the prevalence of this in today’s youth has become very apparent. Many starve themselves to try to match society’s standard of beauty, in being skinny, as popularized by platforms like Instagram, where people Photoshop their pictures to adhere to this standard, instilling and promoting an unattainable ideal in the minds of the youth who view these media posts. While it is well known that people Photoshop their photos and that much of what people see on social media is fake, it does not stop users from pining for those body shapes. The body dysmorphia that results from this overrepresentation of one body type has led for many to fall into destructive habits, and to even develop mental illness. While more brands today are using different body types in advertising, you either see a typical model, tall and skinny, or someone plus sized, and often no body shape in between. This lack of representation for a whole group of people leads to a loss of confidence and unhappiness. 

When unhappiness hits, people turn towards a source of escapism, such as drugs or alcohol. The song recognizes this trend in the youth:

​​Oh, your money is getting wasted

But you’re always getting wasted all the time

Getting concerned about your lonely days

You’re doing some more drugs

Getting caught in your “drug phase”

Especially with the romanticization of drugs on social media, this has become a widespread problem. Things like the media coverage of the legalization of marijuana has made marijuana more popular than ever, yet the effects of marijuana on undeveloped minds is a problem. As one’s brain matures at age 25, using drugs like marijuana can have negative impacts on the unstable minds. This can also easily lead to addiction, and compromise the lives of a great portion of the youth population. This song also brings up another, often overlooked point: how the upkeep of substance addiction adds up. This spending of money furthers the problem of debt, especially in the youth, as student debt is worse than ever before, crippling the lives of many as they slave over trying to pay back these loans. This leads to a vicious cycle of unhappiness, which then causes people to turn to substances, which uses up even more money, which then they struggle to make, which then leads to further unhappiness. This can easily lead to mental unwellness and often unstable relationships, due to personal discontentment. 

As such, another effect of addiction and being mentally unwell is to isolate oneself from others. This song brings awareness to this as a potentially unhealthy behavior, as it showcases the unhappiness that comes along with self-isolation. Especially since phones and social media has led to a virtual world that if often used to interact, sometimes more than in the real world, it has become easier than ever to isolate oneself from others, and to wallow in negative feelings without a break. This further compounds things like body dysmorphia, and a proclivity towards drug use, as the youth may further use social media as a way to sit and escape from their life, like a drug, and can become addicted to being constantly stimulated by social media. This also leads to an unhealthy lifestyle, which furthers unhappiness, a detriment to society.

All these factors can lead to feelings of despair, covered by the song in:

Have you heard the news

That you’re on your own?

Have you heard the news?

You got nowhere to go, go, go, go, now

In this, the narrator thinks that they are unable to do anything on their own and they think they can’t go anywhere in life. These negative feelings are then likely subsided by drug use in: 

Well, I’ll fly to the moon again

Well, I’m sleeping with clothes up on my head

I’ll fly to the moon again

I’m dying in a hot tub

I’m dying in a hot tub with my friends

which denotes how the drugs have led the person to start hallucinating friends, as the previous verse they talked about being alone. This is compounded especially in the next verse as the person starts hallucinating even crazier things, making their brain unable to function to take them out of their depression and hallucinations. 

The subsequent verse furthers all these ideas:

Have you heard the news

That you’re on your own?

I’ll grab you a noose

‘Cause you got nowhere to go, go, go, go, now

All these negative feelings mixed with a bad drug trip, where the hallucinations are getting too much and too real, leads to suicidal thoughts in order to escape feeling so horrible. And thus the title of the song reflects this sentiment in being called, “Dying in a Hot Tub” and perhaps relating to the imagery of self-harm in a tub in the song “Oh Ana” by Mother Mother. In “Oh Ana,” Mother Mother sings of slitting their wrists in a bathtub, to watch the blood evaporate, revealing mental illness. This is in first verse of “Oh Ana,” when Mother Mother sings:

I’ll be God

I’ll be God, I’ll be God, I’ll be God today

Hold my head under that bath and breathe away

Slit my wrists and watch that blood evaporate

Being this godly can’t be good for

Ana’s safety, Ana hear me

In this mantra throughout the song of “I’ll be God”, reveals the narrator’s wish to take control over their life, much like a god takes control of its creations’ lives. 

Whether by inadvertently including this wish for self-control and to get better, “Dying in a Hot Tub” by Palaye Royal reveals the immense personal strength and will that must go into helping one become well once again- needing a God like effort that is truly challenging for many. And perhaps it is impossible for many, as shown by how “Dying in a Hot Tub” never directly demonstrates the narrator getting well, instead going further and further into the drug trip and deleterious thoughts. Perhaps I tried to write in a happy ending that this narrator never got- especially since the song is titled “Dying in a Hot Tub” which may reveal the death of the narrator.

All people are worthy of living happily ever after, yet with so many negative influences in society, will the youth ever make it to The End?

[hello-alonso]

Shaping a Rigid Culture: Lil Nas X

The most industry focused person to never have had any prior experience in the industry, Lil Nas X has his finger on the pulse of pop culture more so than any label executive could ever wish for. Being raised by the internet served as a perfect template for everything that he would bring in to marketing his works. An absolutely stunning blend of pop music anthems mixed with a natural talent for marketing his own music you can tell that everything that comes out from this artist is uniquely his own.

Speaking about pop culture Lil Nas X recently collaborated with Maury to bring his own drama filled spectacle to the screen that went viral as with everything else he has done. Just one of the countless examples of being so in tune with what the consumer finds engaging and the material they love to see.

Being so in tune is such staggering feat when you realize nearly everything hes put out has blown up and basically promoted itself by going viral, and despite the attention being shown on this artist everything has steadily gotten gayer!

Starting with the pretty tame “Old Town Road” that opened up the star to his rise to fame actually feels pretty devoid of what is making him ubiquitous now. The constant push back from society for his increasingly proud acts of self acceptance and gayness only serve as vocal reminders of the culture that he is shaping whose detractors ultimately fall at the wayside for the ones who need it the most.

Probably the biggest shift was the release of “MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)” a song that garnered complete ire of those that sought to shut him down. Just for the visuals of him pushing the culture and bringing more depictions of being Black and gay than most artists before him that have reached his level of notoriety. In my opinion those are only NIMBY homophobes that hate to see the world change around them (AKA Boosie). The constant pushing of these boundaries serve as a way to make it more acceptable for Lil Nas X’s target audience to become more comfortable with being who they were born to be.

And this shows in his music too, whenever he gets push-back for being gay he just out-gays the haters leading to a feedback loop that will only serve to make things gayer if theres more hate. People being more comfortable with who they are born to be isnt the cornerstone of his success, instead its the opposite. He came out after already reaching stardom and under so many eyes as a testament to the fact that his sexuality isnt what put him on top but will keep him there. Part of this I like to believe he explores himself in the song “Industry Baby” where as Genius lists the lyrics of the pre-chorus as

I ain’t lost since I began, yeah Funny how you said it was the end, yeah Then I went did it again, yeah

Funninly enough I hear it more as

I ain’t lost since I been gayer, yeah Funny how you said it was the end, yeah Then I went did it gayer, yeah

https://genius.com/Lil-nas-x-and-jack-harlow-industry-baby-lyrics

[hello-alonso]

Bad Apple and It’s Impact on Touhou Culture

just like my blog from last week, this will be centered around a Touhou related artist. This song is very special, both to me, and the culture around Touhou’s sampling scene and players. For those who are unaware, Touhou is a bullet hell style video game where you play as a character and your objective is to dodge bullets while trying to destroy the enemy in front of you. The concept is easy, however, Touhou is known as one of the hardest bullet hell games there is, also one of the most popular ones. 

Back in 2009, Touhou was not really that popular globally until this song came out. Prior to this, there was really no real exposure of Touhou music on a global scale. Bad Apple, however, made real big headlines when it got released. The song itself was one of the most high quality songs produced and along with it came an incredible animation. For a music video, this was a complete shock for the quality to be so good. 

With an insane 57 million views, this song is by far the most popular song from Touhou on YouTube.  Masayoshi Minoshima - Bad Apple!! came out of no where.  Masayoshi Minoshima was the original creator to this remixed Touhou track and nomico was the singer.  Minoshima had already been creating Touhou remixes for the past few years, but this is the one that REALLY blew up. As for nomico, she sang a few songs for Touhou, but that's it, her career didn’t go much farther in the following years.

The song lyrics don’t really have much impact on it. I mean, sure, they are nice and flowy, but the main ingredient in this is the music video. PLus if a foreigner were to hear this, like most people globally, they would just be hearing the song and not the lyric translation. 

The animation is simple yet so remarkable at the same time. The animation is showing off Touhou characters and then it transitions into the next character after about 10 seconds. The transitions are incredible and so clean in my opinion. I didn’t think a falling drop of water could be used to transition into a new character so smoothly. The first time I saw this video, I saw so captivated by it. The simple black and white style of the whole video is surprisingly so entertaining and clean to look at. Just like PSY’s Gangam style shook the world with a form of KPOP, Bad Apple shook the world (mostly in Japan) to start listening to these Touhou arrangements. 

This song blew up and helped Touhou get much more popular on a global scale. The Touhou culture boomed as a result of it as well. Many more people started to participate in the sampling culture and make their own versions of Touhou music. This song catalyzed into a much bigger audience and that helped the Touhou culture develop further. 

I mean, just look at these covers people have done. For example, this is the English cover made by a YouTuber.

The quality is insane. 

If you were to tell someone in Japan to associate Touhou with a song, they are most likely to point to Bad Apple. It was so widespread and got people who never even heard of Touhou to start looking into it more. 

A simple game created all of these songs and the community in which it started with is to take credit. By creating these songs, it just expands to culture of sampling in Touhou and sharing your own creations. Bad Apple will forever have a significant spot in Touhou, as it brought many new people to start playing and listening to music from the game. 

https://remywiki.com/Masayoshi_Minoshima

[hello-alonso]

\'*•.¸♡Its Sfire♡¸.•*'/

A duos who wings were clipped tragically with the passing of one of its members. One half comprising of Jeffrey Sfire a DJ whos formative introduction to music scenes began in illegal warehouse dances in Detroit at age 15. Coming from a wealthier upbringing this escape from that brought him into new music scenes which he would use as an opportunity to delve into meeting DJs and musicians that would open up the doors of a new creative aural space. Honing his creativity he would develop the skills needed to be a DJ naturally and all before the age of 18 would be sneaking through the back of venues or using a fake ID so he could DJ afterhours in sleazy places. Late after hour parties and gay clubs were scenes that would take him in and foster a place for being able hone his live performances and would be the scenes that would lead him to collide with the other half of ‘Sfire’. Rummaging through crates of records in stores and linking up with retired DJs would define his life after 18. As soon as he hit that age he would be off to Chicago a place that would have a profound impact on his musical palette after being introduced to the blood rushing scenes of high energy music like Italo Disco and other electronic sounds of the 1980s.

https://www.movement.us/pages/jeffrey-sfire

The other half of the duo being the late Sophie Xeon more known mononymously as SOPHIE, a trailblazing electronic musician of Avant-Pop. As a young child she would be played cassettes full of electronic music by her father that she would later steal from the car. At a very young age her father would also take her to raves and was someone who she described as having creative instincts that led to an ”ability to see into the future and not be about some bullshit nostalgia. Not someone that’s like, “Sixties, ’70s, this is the real rock and roll.” He was always like, “That was rubbish. Electronic music’s the future.”” https://www.lennyletter.com/story/sophie-interview

This would inspire her music influences all the way throughout her life. After being given a keyboard for one of her birthdays as a birthday gift she began locking herself away in her room as a form of escapism and would later want to drop out of school in pursuit of it (which never happened).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophie_(musician)

Theres something unmistakable about her production where once youve heard you can recognize songs that shes worked on, a terrific feat for any electronic musician to have an obvious touch on tracks through their discography. The music is at the same time freeing as it is energizing bringing you up high and making you feel a range of emotions that can be translated onto the dance floor. Although this duo probably wont be releasing any more music after the tragic passing of Sophie, shes known for a tremendous back catalogue that has been known to leak on the internet.

Rest in peace SOPHIE.

[hello-alonso]

Two Brother’s Collaborations in Touhou

A little while ago I spoke about Touhou and its crazy sampling culture. Well, now I am gonna be showcasing a group that I love and have been listening to their music ever since 2014. In my podcast, I even went and played a sample of their song to demonstrate the metal/rock ways Touhou gets sampled. The group is Demetori. Demetori is two person group consisting of brothers,  Tadashi Teramae (he focusses on drums, percussions, programing, and mixing) 

and Masaru Teramae (he focusses on the guitar, bass, and synth). 

Of the research that I’ve done, I’ve found that Demetori has no songs with any vocals and they have only ever collaborated with one other artist and that was one of their first songs, back in 2005. All of their other work beyond that has been their own and it the talent really shines through in my opinion. It’s pretty nice to see the talent of two brothers and using it to create these spectacular metal arrangements. 

At this point I’d like to describe their ways of making music. Like I said earlier, Touhou is the source to many artists songs. So, just like many other artists, Demetori takes a simple song from any of the Touhou games and pretty much makes it a metal/rock song. 

For example, a song made from ZUN, called “Magus Night”

This same song was used to create Demetori’s version of it.

With only a few seconds in, you can easily see that they are similar sounding. That’s what it’s like for all of Demetori’s songs, they takes these rather simple instrumental songs from ZUN and create their own versions of them. They have been doing this process ever since 2005! The last time they released anything was in 2018 with a huge album. In their albums they most of the time go per game. For example if Touhou 15 was the subject, all the songs in the album would be sampled off of the songs in that game. 

The guitar and drums flow very smoothly in all of their songs and they have a pretty good distribution for the instruments. There’s never really any time they try to take the spotlight. You can always hear the drums and guitar and they really compliment each other very nicely in their songs. 

Take for instance this song, Star-Spangled Banner Clown. It’s one of their more recent songs made in 2017. In it you immediately get jumped into the fast metal/rock pace with the drums going crazy. The part I really enjoyed was the section of 3:02 - 3:43. I mean, c'mon, that guitar is fucking insane. 

As for Demetori’s popularity, they have been pretty small in these years. Their initial spark of interest in the mid 2000′s was because of Touhou, now I feel like they get known more from other places. The first places I heard Demetori was on osu! (rhythm game) back in 2014. From there I was able to see a handful of songs created to be played. I’ve also herd them in other rhythm games, such as Beat Saber, where A LOT of their songs are mapped into a playable course. 

There's not really much that is known from these two, they have very low profiles and do not share much of their personal lives on the internet. They both have twitter accounts but it’s all in Japanese and from the looks of it, it’s just a personal account that does not really specialize in their music. It's really a shame, I wish there were videos of them live in a concert, because I know that the guitar and drums would go crazy in a public setting.

The person in the video below is not Demetori, however, I think it’s an amazing cover on one of their songs. Plus, it’s the closest thing I’ll get to seeing a performance by someone. 

The electric guitar really does wonders. It’s such a sharp sounding instrument and an attention grabber for sure. 

Three years have passed since they have released any music, so I will be patiently waiting for that time to come. From what I’ve heard, Demetori, does not have any misses. All they have are bangers. 

Thank you for reading. 

http://demetori.xii.jp/

[hello-alonso]

Artist Interview

What’s up, guys. The artist I will be interviewing is a friend of mine. I met him my very first semester here at Rutgers playing on the club basketball team. So, without further ado here’s the interview

CR: So Simon, first off, tell me a little bit about yourself. Where are you from? What hobbies do you have? What’s going on in your life currently. 

SY: I’m from Livingston, NJ. Aside from listening and making music, my hobbies include playing basketball and soccer. I’m also currently studying for the MCAT exam to be a doctor. 

CR: Great! So, what made you decide to start making music?

SY: I started making music as a way to express myself and my emotions. I also looked up to Lil Wayne when I was younger. I wanted to be just like him. 

CR: What other influences did you have growing up? Can you name some inside of music and outside of music?

SY: In music, of course, you have Lil Wayne. I also looked up to Drake, Russ, and Chris Brown. Outside of music, I’d have to say Chris Paul, Kobe Bryant, and my mom for sure. 

CR: So you’re song “Bad4Me” gives me hip-hop/rap vibes with a mix of R&B. Is this a genre of music that you want to stick with? Or are you planning on experimenting with different styles of music?

SY: I do want to try and tap into a few different genres. I am mainly going to stick with hip-hop and R&B. However, I do want to try some drill and pop styles of music. 

CR: Can you tell me about the process of creating music? Like, how you got the beat, did you write the lyrics, did you freestyle, etc. 

SY: So I have a friend who sends me beats. But, I also find beats off of YouTube and I’d have him edit parts of the beat. I would find a beat first and just vibe to it. Maybe freestyle to it a bit to try and come up with a catchy hook. After that, I’ll freestyle a verse and write down what I like. Lastly, I’ll just finish the verse by freestyling and writing what I like.

CR: What about the studio? How does that work? What’s it like booking a studio?

SY: Booking a studio is actually easy for me. I know an engineer personally who owns a studio so I usually just text him to ask when he has free time during the week and we just go from there. It’s usually $50 an hour for the session. 

CR: That’s dope! So in your music, is there a certain message that you want to convey to your fans? I know “Bad4Me” is kind of like a love song. Do you plan on making different styles of music with that said? 

SY: All of my music definitely will convey a message. From love songs to party songs to heartbreak songs. I want to try to tap into a bit of everything. 

CR: Lastly, is this something that you plan to pursue full time eventually? 

SY: As I said before, I’m studying for the MCAT to become a doctor. But, if my music starts to gain some traction, I would definitely like to do it full time. 

CR: Great! That concludes this interview. Thank you so much for this interview, I appreciate your time. 

SY: Yes sir man, I got you. 

***Below is Simon’s track “Bad4Me” if you’d like to give it a listen***

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTQ66Bc4a40

[hello-alonso]

Marco the Violinist

Hello everyone, I’m gonna be showcasing someone a little bit different than my normal routine for this week’s post. This week I am gonna be showcasing my good friend Marco. I have know Marco ever since early middleschool. It wasn’t until a few years after that, that I realized he was actually a really good violinist. Like really good. I remember when I went in his room for the firs time, I saw this whole area of his house dedicated to him and his instrument. That’s when he told me that he actually has been playing the violin ever since he was 6 and after that when he played in front of me, I was so shocked (in a good way) of his skill. At that point of my life, I had never heard someone as good as him play that instrument, and to be honest, I didn’t know anything much at all about the violin. Even though we don’t talk as much as we used to, I thought it would be a great idea to ask him a few questions on his view of music.   

Yesterday night, I gave Marco a call and see if he still played. After we greeted eachother, I started off by saying.

Me: “Now, since you’re here I wanted to actually ask you some things about your violin, actually before that, do you still even play it?”

Marco: “Oh!, of course I do, I don’t play it as much anymore cuz of college, but whenever the weekend comes around, I try to play a few songs and refresh my memory on the old stuff I learned.”

Me: Oh shit, that’s sick, it’s nice to know you still play it, because the first time I heard you, you were fire.

Marco: “Haahaahhaa, I was so ass back then what do you mean? hahaha”

Me: “Nah, you were crazy good dude, okay, next thing I wanted to ask, what made you want to start palying the violin?”

Marco: Damn, okay, uhhhh, I started off because my parents really wanted me to get involved in something, I don’t know if you remember or not, but I never played sports in middleschool or high school, so my parents kinda forced me into playing an instrument. They thought I was being useless without doing something during my youth. At first I hated it, but after I learned how to play a few songs, I started enjoying it.”

Me: “Oh, I guess that’s what my parents wanted for me as well. I didn’t really want to do anything, but they made me sign up for baseball, and after one season, I really started enjoying it. 

Marco: “Yeah, it be like that.”

Me: “What keeps you wanting to still play the violin?”

Marco: “I really love making my own covers on violin to new songs that I jam out to, yknow? Like a few months ago I tried learning that one Dua Lipa song (Levatating) just cuz I wanted to know how to play it, it’s something I just do, I dont know, if I really enjoy the song, I try to play it for myself haha”

Me: I guess I kinda relate to that, somewhat, like if I really enjoy a song, I try to learn the lyrics to it and know a little more about the artist and message of the song.”

Marco: Yeah it’s kinda like that, I guess.”

Me: Alright, now for my last question, do you wanna go pro one day? 

Marco: “Hell no hhahahaha, I definitely can see myself playing for a long time, but as for going pro, hell no. I like just playing the violin casually, yknow, like I said, I like doing things like the covers, not shit like learning the old classical shit because that’s too difficult. I tried a few when I was in high school and didn’t enjoy it because I had to put so much concentration in on them. It kinda ruined the fun of playing, so now I just play it as a hobby.”

And with that, that concluded my interview with my friend Marco. It was pretty interesting how he viewed music. He wanted it to  be more of a hobby and not get into the competitive aspect of it and I can totally understand that. Like he said, just playing the violin to new songs on the radio must be pretty casual, which is why he still plays the instrument. It was really nice experience. I learned a bit from Marco and the way why he (an artist) plays the things he does.

Thank you for reading about my buddy Marco!

[hello-alonso]

The Scene of The New Pop →  Billie Eilish + Quarantine = A New Moody Pop

How Billie Eilish was able to create a new sad pop, and this scene reflecting the troubles of the youth.

Photo by Wikipedia

Relatability shoots young artists to stardom as showcasing emotions of the American youth drives music popularity. The COVID-19 pandemic quarantine of 2020 featured a widely discontent youth, isolated to a social media world and stumbling blindly through an unprecedented 21st century teenage experience. Teenagers normally feel lost in the marathon in finding oneself and the pandemic exacerbated this. Billie Eilish’s top selling album of 2020, WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? reflected these disconcerting emotions, with heavy lyrics and moody melodies. These spiraling emotions also mimicked the spiraling economy where you have people memeing the moody economy, with job loss and stimmys as the common jokes. Being thrown into a social, monetary, and existential crisis, where everyone was fearing for loved ones, led to downcast emotions. Even introverted personalities, finally condemned to hypothetically ideal solitude, were not content with lives at stake. 

The album, WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?, clearly reflects common culture. People do drugs when discontent and while they may not be popping Xanax, the CDC reported a thirteen percent increased stress induced drug usage and a spike in overdoses during the pandemic. The hyper-normalized drug culture in social media and subsequent overdoses created further tragedy that weighed upon the youth.  You can see Eilish directly reflecting this drug-craze trend in “xanny” by rejecting it in saying “I don’t need a xanny, to feel better” while “my strange addiction” caters to the culture in using drug language (exemplified in the title) to express a romantic relationship. You can also see this in another top selling album of 2020, called Legends Never Die, which is the first posthumous album by Juice WRLD, who died by drug overdose. The popularity of the album highlights this drug consciousness and youth angst. Juice WRLD’s heavy lyrics represent the downtrodden youth, where those friends and peers killed by toxic societal norms stay in the youth’s consciousness. 

Photo by Amazon.com

Similarly, the juxtaposition of relatable elements to youth, like Eilish using Invisalign in “!!!!!!!” or directly referring to LGBTQ+, a topic in the center of the public eye, in “wish you were gay” attribute to the album’s popularity. “you should see me in a crown” relays the “girl boss” trend, with female rights, and civil rights, being in the forefront of 2020 social issues. The increasing environmental consciousness of the youth is seen in the music video of “all the good girls go to hell,” in which Eilish struggles to fly with oil logged wings. You probably remember this from the PR nightmare for BP (British Petroleum) with their oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico with the oil-covered birds unable to fly. (btw they are still spraying copious amounts of Corexit (an oil-dispersing chemical banned in the UK (BP home turf) in the Gulf today to keep the oil out of plain sight but we are already seeing horrendous environmental and health impacts with this - it’s seriously messed up). 

Upper logo image from 10.gstatic.com

Image of bird from National Geographic

Moving on from things that should be illegal, the use of sound clips from “The Office” in “my strange addiction” spoke to homebody, quarantine trends, where existing and emerging streaming services gained more users than ever before in which “Americans spent 44% more time streaming video in the fourth quarter of 2020 than they did a year earlier, according to research firm Conviva.” This resulted in that section of the stock market reaching unprecedented success and gain, attributing to the pandemic stock market investing craze. On the other hand, “listen before i go,” a song about a person about to commit suicide, resonated with how the “rate of suicide among young people aged 10 to 24 increased nearly 60% between 2007 and 2018, according to a new CDC report”. Suicide is extremely relevant to the youth, where virtually all teens have experienced suicide related loss. With degrading mental health due to social media, perhaps some even struggle with suicidal thoughts daily. Thus, the narrative of “listen before i go”, “ilomilo”, where Eilish worries about death taking more friends, or “bury a friend” hits a sorrowful nerve in youth.

Another trend of normalized toxic behaviors in romantic relationships, “hooking up” instead of dating, and infidelity is represented in “when the party’s over,” showcasing this type of common relationship. “i love you” reflects this in how this hookup culture has resulted in fear of expressing feelings, because most just play around. With no explicitly happy songs, the album’s popularity attributes to the youth’s common emotions. Even the trend of creating concept albums is highlighted in these songs leading into one another, or even being solely composed of other songs from the album, as seen in “goodbye.” 

Overall, the album by Billie Eilish, a nineteen-year-old artist, represents her fellow discontent youth of the quarantine. Her raise to fame with this gothy, sad aesthetic has created a new type of pop. Before Eilish, pop generally consisted of mathematically perfect, big production upper songs that were often about being happy. Eilish started a trend of bedroom records, or more organic songs that sound like they were recorded from home, being chart toppers, such as “Driver’s License” by Olivia Rodrigo. This new pop, most visible by the impact and scene of WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?, is the new anthem of a youth battling with growing-pains and a pandemic. 

All I know is that I can’t wait to see the next act of our new pop scene.

[hello-alonso]

Techno-Rock from SVDX

I never knew about this artist until last week and holy shit, does it sound good. Not only does Noah produced my favorite genres of music, he also is a composer for the Sound Voltex series. Sound Voltex is a rhythm game series from Japan and the majority of their songs include techno, rock, JPOP, and a few other genres and mashups. Most of these songs are meant to be high tempo and really fast, and this song does not disappoint. Noah is the artist I’ll be writing about in this blog piece and I’ll be taking a look at his song, Acasia, from the Rebirth The End album. 

The goal for these types of rhythm game music is to get you pumped up and wanting to play through these songs, while hitting objects to gain a combo. The combo you gain from going on a streak of hitting the notes also adds to the excitement factor of playing one of these songs on an arcade machine. There’s a skill factor involved and it really challenges you on the gameplay. Probably the most popular rhythm game of all time would be DanceDanceRevolution. 

Just like that dog, I get pumped up when listening to this song. What would you even call it? It’s like a mix of techno, classical, rock, metal, and symphonic. It’s all instrumental and it sure does a great job at keeping my interest even without having a singer. As like most of my blog posts, Noah is an artist from Japan. he’s made a few solo songs, however, the majority of his work are dedicated to the SVDX (Sound Voltex) series. There’s just so much talent that comes from this tiny country and I got hooked on a lot of it. 

Like my last week’s post about Middleisland, Noah utilizes the violin a lot. The song also uses the piano, drums, electric guitar, and probably some sampling too. The song flows so smoothly, none the the guitar parts are too fast or loud, they are very smooth and even in their solos they shine. The same goes with the violin and piano, they are played when needed and never over used. For example, at 3:51, the piano is only being played to slow down from the guitar part, and then the guitar is brought back along with some mixing of some music to create that techno feel. Each part gets their spotlight during some points through the song. 

The transitions are very subtle and smooth. Nothing is being thrown at you unexpectedly. Even the ending is a very clean finish to the whole song, with the long guitar and the twinkling star noises. I feel like this song perfectly caters towards the rhythm game scene, and maybe even people who like rock music in general. It’s really well composed and is fast enough for the player base of SVDX.

If I were at an arcade, I would be playing this in a heartbeat. SVDX has many amazing songs, so I’m, sure I’d be on that machine for a while playing and even replaying the songs just to beat my old scores and to try and improve. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZT0peEUsvfM

https://www.discogs.com/release/14431452-Noah-Rebirth-the-end

[hello-alonso]

Piano & Violin Symphonic Duet

God, who knew violin could sound so epic. I actually feel like it’s the end of a battle scene and someone is triumphing victory. The instruments, the way he uses them so cautiously is what creates these masterpieces. Piano and violin are by fart my favorite instruments, and damn, this song goes off on both of these instruments. MiddleIsland never misses, always continuous masterpieces. 

MiddleIsland, also known as Misaki Nakajima, is a Japanese music composer and he specializes in classical, symphonic, and some instrumental with a hint of rock added into it. In this blog post, I’ll be featuring one of his tracks called, Aldo, from his album, String Performance Transcendence, which was released all the way back in 2010. Little is known about MiddleIsland, however, I do know that he made some albums between  2007-2011, and not much after the year 2011, 

Where to start, hmm, well, maybe right when the music begins. Instantly, you hear some crazy violin being played along with some very emotional piano in the background. The song then starts to slow down, and it slowly builds back up using the violin. The violin is the star of this track. During some parts of the track, I couldn’t believe how fast he was playing. For example, 0:52 seconds in, the violin goes hard. at The same goes for the piano. At 1;23, my mind was blown.  The piano gets played so fast and yet it flows so naturally with this track. The beauty of these instruments really shines through and lets you appreciate them.  

Just like the YouTube thumbnail shows, I picture myself in the skies or above the world listening to this. It’s almost like the heavens are calling through the violin. And when the piano sections play in, it feels like I’m being lifted. Weird to describe, but that’s how it feels like. 

In some parts, it feels like the piano is fighting for the spotlight against the violin and it creates this dramatic melody, until the violin takes over the show during the chorus. Like I mentioned earlier, this sounds like it could be played in a battle theme or in a live action movie where there’s fighting going on. These symphonic songs are the perfect fit for these films, they create such a dramatic environment that really immerses the listener or viewer. 

Towards the end in parts like, 2:43, the violin gets really high pitched signifying the climax of the song. When I heard that part for the first time, my mind was blown. Solo artists can do crazy things with a violin and can get so dramatic with their track.  The song ends with a few more pieces of violin and when the violin stops playing, the piano fills in the gap, until the last few seconds where both are played at the same time, and the violin concludes the song.

Classical, and symphonic music are some of my favorite genres ever, one because the song can’t be ruined by a singer since only instruments are being played. Two, because the melody feels so nice and natural flowing, there aren’t any studio produced sounds for the most part, just nice sounding instruments; in this case, violin and piano. 

Anyways, thanks for reading and listening to this very unknown artist, I love featuring these types of creators on my blog! 

[hello-alonso]

Tumblr made me upload it in this quality

[hello-alonso]

If you’re interested in understanding your music choices better and how they may play into your mental states please check out my new podcast!  Links to all articles referenced in the podcast are provided below, and all the guitar parts were recorded by myself.

https://journals-sagepub-com.proxy.libraries.rutgers.edu/doi/10.1080/10398560701879589

https://academic-oup-com.proxy.libraries.rutgers.edu/jmt/article/46/4/339/1027035

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5500733/?report=classic

https://journals-sagepub-com.proxy.libraries.rutgers.edu/doi/10.1177/0305735615594489

[hello-alonso]

Superwomen of Soul

“You are gonna have to work your ass off to have half of what they have. You are going to have to work twice as hard because you’re Black and because you’re a woman” is said gently, fervently, dismissively, encouragely, and most importantly damagingly.

What a subtle form of abuse. Mental abuse. Imagine living in a world where bad shit happens but because of your body and skin, and it happens disproportionately to you rather than anyone else. The kind of mental pain and battery Black women are subjected to at various points in our lives has catastrophic potential but no one one ever really sees us break down though, isn’t it funny?… You’ve probably never even seen a Black teenage girl, a Black young adult woman, or grown ass Black woman crying in public, just crying, just sad, just broken. I’ll let you in on a secret, you won’t. They just do that shit at home, not in public…because we wouldn’t dare let the racist get the best of us, and we wouldn’t dare let Black men think we don’t love them.

But what do we do when we are just so damn tired? I don’t know. I really don’t know but I’m on the journey to figure it out. Most of my life I’ve always listened to music to identify, relieve, and then release my pain. There’s something healing about music. Even more healing when it’s soulful and enriching, and soothing. Sometimes the gut-wrenching belts are even therapeutic. This playlist  encourages Black women to continue to use our resilience as a means of resistance but also provide emotional awareness. 

Mad

Solange may sound sweet and angelic on the track Mad but she is mad. Mad as hell.

And we hear the perspective of Hip-Hop’s beloved prince Lil Wayne. Together they create an uncharted scale of vulnerability unforeseen in Black men and women.

Solange heeds with the warning You got the right to be mad But when you carry it alone, you find it only getting in the way They say you gotta let it go.

She’s urging us that it is okay to be very angry but do not let the fire consume you. Too often we see hurtful images of violence against Black bodies. That’s enough to drive someone crazy, but who will fight the fight, live another day to fight? After this ominous message Solange proceeds to explain her encounter with a girl who represents the population of people who just can’t seem to understand why Black people, particularly Black women are so mad, however they fail to recognize that constantly being overloaded with tragedy and injustice can affect someone’s mental health.

ran into this girl, she said, “Why you always blaming?” “Why you can’t just face it?” (Be mad, be mad, be mad) “Why you always gotta be so mad?” (Be mad, be mad, be mad) “Why you always talking shit, always be complaining?” “Why you always gotta be, why you always gotta be so mad?” (Be mad, be mad, be mad) I got a lot to be mad about (Be mad, be mad, be mad)

Solange sings melodically under Lil Wayne verse, as he exposes himself to be someone so torn down and broken that he admits to a past suicide attempt  as a child. He also discusses his ongoing public struggle with drug abuse.

Yeah, but I, got a lot to be mad about Got a lot to be a man about Got a lot to pop a Xan about I used to rock hand-me-downs, and now I rock standing crowds But it’s hard when you only Got fans around and no fam around And if they are, then their hands are out And they pointing fingers When I wear this fucking burden on my back like a motherfucking cap and gown Then I walk up in the bank, pants sagging down And I laugh at frowns, what they mad about? ‘Cause here come this motherfucker with this mass account That didn’t wear cap and gown Are you mad 'cause the judge ain’t give me more time? And when I attempted suicide, I didn’t die I remember how mad I was on that day Man, you gotta let it go before it get up in the way

The reality that plagues so many in our community… mental illness. The depression emerging from a hopelessness that Black suffering may never end and the anxiety of will it be me next? Both artists exhibit so much vulnerability. Both artists have helped me identify my emotions as well as the potential source of my anger. Most importantly this song let me know that although at moments it may feel impossible to not internalize the pain of racism and exclusion, but we can’t. We have to continue to live and breathe, not letting our rage consume us to the point where we are self destructive.

Solange reveals an even more sad reality

I ran into this girl, I said, “I’m tired of explaining” Man, this shit is draining But I’m not really allowed to be mad

Bag Lady

Erykah Badu, Queen Mother Erykah of the Neo-soul genre. Mrs. Badu sparks the incense and burning away in the fumes are feelings of insecurity, uncertainty, and most importantly how the journey of  loving others and yourself will forever be a continuous spiritual ascendance. Similarly to Solange Badu encourages Black women to overcome their pain and sorrow. Bag lady is just that, a song about a lady carrying a bag that’s too heavy, it trips her up, crowds her space, and leaves her feeling excluded from the likes of care-free happy women. That bag of pain needs to be dropped and left because there is an alternative life available - freedom and relief.

Bag lady you goin’ hurt your back Draggin’ all 'em bags like that I guess nobody ever told you All you must hold on to Is you, is you, is you

Black girls often carry the burdens of our mothers pain, toxic lovers, hostile work environments, abuse, and mental illness. It’s hard to believe that the strong and resilient front that Black women put up hides this magnitude of emotional trauma. The promotion of healing and growth amongst Black women is spreading like wildfire. Through spirituality, therapy, and valued self-care routines, Black girls all over the world are learning that all we must protect is ourselves. However to let go of pain we have to embark on a journey of self. What does it mean to live your true self?

This journey sounds like peaches and roses but it’s not. It takes a hell of a lot to call out those who wrong you with or neglected your cries. Erykah Badu acknowledges that part of the journey too

And we can’t let go ooo ooo Ohh, when someone hurts you Ohh, so bad inside You can’t deny it You can’t stop cryin’ So, ohh ohh ohh ohh ohh ohh But just as the dark hole of the past is about to wraps around you and send you down a trip to memory hell, she offers sound advice If you start breathin’ babe You won’t believe it babe You’ll feel so much better

Badu makes it clear that to be able to release all the pain that others have caused is rewarding and creates a feeling of true contentment.

I Gotta Find Peace of Mind

From Lauryn Hill’s MTV Unplugged No. 2.0 album, we are gifted with I Gotta Find Peace of Mind and I’m with you Mrs. Hill we all have to find some peace right now.

I Gotta Find Peace of Mind is such a beautiful song to me because it does not make an urgent and generalized message of let it go Black girl, Instead Hill skillfully arranges the song to call out the negative thoughts that are holding on to us.

He says it’s impossible, but I know it’s possible He says it’s impossible, but I know it’s possible He says there’s no me without him Please help me forget about him He takes all my energy, trapped in my memory Constantly holding me, constantly holding me I need to tell you all, all the pain he’s caused I need to tell I’m, I’m undone because

Hill explores the idea that although negativity can be overwhelming at first because it feels burdensome, eventually that feeling creates a blanket of comfortability. Not believing that things will change is a horrible mindset; it creates a foundation of stagnancy: accepting the bare minimum, because you feel inherently unworthy of the best things this world has to offer. That’s quite a journey to embark on but Lauryn Hill explains that when negativity tells us that things don’t change she uses her faith in God to encourage her need to want more and better.

Essentially Hill is singing about a long defeat against beast of self-doubt He says it’s impossible, but I know it’s possible He says it’s impossible without him, but I know it’s possible To finally be in love And know the real meaning of A lasting relationship, not based on ownership I trust every part of you, 'cause all that I All that you say you do You love me despite myself

The battle between negativity and positivity is a war Hill describes quite literally. She repeats the negativity ingrained in her psyche from trauma versus the oracle that’s leading her to a life of peace. Although I am not religious, I am highly spiritual and I believe that faith is transformative. Hill is resisting scarcity in love and restoring her hope. All the positive messages young Black girls need to explore deeply and more personally for themselves and their healing.

Hill documents the journey she goes through fighting with her less self-determined versus her higher self and being, that fulfills purpose. They go back and forth viscously

He says it’s impossible But I know it’s possible He says it’s improbable But I know it’s tangible He says it’s not grabbable But I know it’s haveable 'Cause anything’s possible Oh anything is possible

The moment the bickering is done, Hill knows with conviction that her faith will grant her a peace of mind. She will be granted a break from the habitual lies that negativity has held over her.

At this point of the song Hill is making guttural belts that signal the importance of freedom. Hill just wants to be free of her pessimistic thoughts. She’s begging for change and a peace of mind.

Oh free, free, free, free your mind Free, free your mind Free, free your mind Free, free, free, free your mind Oh, it’s so possible

This moment of the song makes me feel that I am watching a live performance of an alchemy. I’m hearing and watching despair being  transformed into hope. Fear transformed into exploration, And most notably I’m hearing pain being turned into joy.

The demand for free- will and free-thinking has been granted to Hill.

The gags and choke ups that crying produces in our throat is indication we are being held back from announcing our truth. Hill is declaring the opposite, crying with joy can choke you up to.

That old me is left behind You’re my peace of mind You’re my peace of mind He’s my peace of mind He’s my peace of mind He’s my peace of mind What a joy it is to be alive To get another chance, yeah Everyday’s another chance To get it right this time Everyday’s another chance Oh what a merciful, merciful, merciful God

God has given her a second chance to live a life without pain and constant struggle. The heavy sob Lauryn Hill release is one of relief.

This song is very personal and dear to me because whilst being at the mercy of functional depression for a significant portion of my life, I would always question if life truly gets better than this. Not seeing a life well-lived and enjoyed by those in my personal life was a running narrative and it was outright depressing. I would always look for happiness when I eventually decided that I had to choose happiness and peace. I had to fight for my happiness by first believing happiness is true and obtainable. I now feel freedom too and yes I do sob uncontrollably like Hill while singing this song

My Life 

My Life by Mary J. Blige samples the summer classic, Everybody Loves the Sun by Roy Ayers. The original sampled song is typically thought to be upbeat and uplifting gaze into tranquility. The song was recorded to mimic that clarity that befalls us just as the sunset. Sounds like a beautiful perspective right? I was delighted to find that Mary J Blige released a documentary to celebrate the 25th anniversary of her most prolific and personal album. In the documentary Mary J Blige’s My Life, Mary dissects the origins of her love of the track Everybody Loves the Sunshine. As cameras roll she repeats the lyrics “in the sunshine” and “my life in the sunshine” from the Roy Ayers original. She cites, “that record made me feel like I can have something…my life in the sunshine is what I wanted”. Similarly to Mary J. Blige I was brought up in a household where music was everything and I distinctly remember hearing Everybody Loves the Sun and crying because the sound was alluring and haunting. Just like Blige I recognized the joy ingrained in the production of the music from the singers to the composer to the instruments. I have wanted to find that kind of joy and peace ever since I was a child. The initial perspective to the song is to be uplifting right? But for me it became my cry for help. I needed to be that happy but how? I digress back to My Life though. Mary J Blige uses her single My Life to reveal that she has seen some terrible dispiriting things in her life but the desire to be happy should remain the constant focus instead of the negativity of a painful past.

If you looked in my life

And see what I’ve seen…

If you looked in my life

And see what I’ve seen…

If you looked in my life

And see what I’ve seen…

If you looked in my life

And see what I’ve seen..

The reason why this song is so powerful is because it connects to the broken black girls who have witnessed abuse, who have been victims of abuse themselves, to black girls who had to survive in unsuitable impoverished communities, and most importantly Black girls who physically survived hell. This song transforms our pain into a hope that we too will one day see the sunshine.

Cause He’ll give you peace of mind Yes He will And you’ll see the sunshine For real, yes you would And you’ll get to free your mind And things will turn out fine Oh, I know that things will turn out fine Yes they would, yes they would

Blige believes heavily that a relationship with God will help one remain hopeful that things in our life can be changed and with faith follows freedom.

This exercise has helped me choose from a plethora of songs that acknowledge the core of Black women’s pain and internal struggles,but also triumph. Although these songs definitely put me in my bag, I find that listening to sad songs has its perks, because it really allows you to identify with an artist that also wants to be seen and heard. In the case of Black women we are tired of being accused of being angry and combative, or using misdirected anger to get our point across. Deep down we are sad, tired of feeling neglected and misunderstood. The intersectionality of Black women’s struggles include sexism, racism, classism, etc. National issues such as maternal mortality, rampant sexual/physical abuse, single-parenthood, adultification of Black youth, the appropriation and theft of Black women’s fashion and style, and mental illness are all the burdens that rest of the backs of Black women at some point in their lives, but how do we cope?  I’m still researching the ways that Black find healthy coping mechanisms to soothe the never-ending fight for the liberation of gender based violence and discrimination, but for now if you ever need raw insight to the emotions that conflict Black women daily, you can start with this playlist.

[hello-alonso]

Instrumental Taken to the Next Level

If you like instrumental/jazz then I might have peaked your interest a little. Today I’m going to showcase an artist that I personally enjoy and have been listening to his songs for over 10 years. His name is DJ Okawari and is a music composer based in Japan. His songs are mostly instrumental with an occasional singer. His work is heavily influenced on jazz with a bit of hip hop. I personally love instrumental music and don’t need a glamorous voice to admire someone’s work. Also, I’d like to point out that piano is also my favorite instrument to listen to, and all of DJ Okawari’s songs contain a good portion of the instrument. Here is where I’ll showcase my little playlist that I made from him.

To start off, I wanted to kind of build up the tempo slowly, so I picked, Transparent. This song is is very slow at the start, but slowly gains a little more strength. The farther you listen, the more instruments start to play. A nice little song to start with, in my opinion. 

Next up is, Temperature of Tears. This song takes the energy from the last song and flows with it quite well. You can definitely hear the jazz influence in this one. The tempo is relatively the same, maybe just a bit faster. 

Now it’s time for my favorites! This song is called Luv Letter, and I love this song so much. This song is also one of his most popular ones, with this YouTube video having about 20 million views. Out of the entire playlist, this would have to be my second favorite one. The song starts off with a very chilling piano melody and makes me instantly relax. It then creates a calming, yet, pleasing piano and violin melody. The influence of hip hop is seen in this one with the constant breaks. The song then builds up at the chorus and then slowly relaxes back down. I have very pleasant memories of listening to this in middle school and high school whenever I wanted to study or relax. 

Now, it’s time for my favorite song out of this entire playlist, Flower Dance. This is also DJ Okawari’s most popular song out of all the ones he’s composed. This YouTube video has almost 25 million views and it has a little over 11 millions streams on Spotify. The intro is a calming piano melody and actually has some vocals. They are sampled from an old film called, Assignment: Outer Space.  The rest of the song has no vocals and it is jst a piano melody with violin and some light drums. This is probably the climax of the whole playlist, the song gets so emotional halfway in and makes you just wanna close your eyes and imagine that you’re in a different universe. 

This next one is a little slower than Flower Dance, but it still has that same energy. Bluebird Story (feat. Jumelles). This is one of Dj Okawari’s oldest songs, ranging all the way back in 2008. it’s a very chill song and has a lot of nature vibes, especially with the birds chirping the song. All of these songs are some songs I would listen to on a bus ride or something of that nature. They all make me zone out and admire my surroundings. 

Next up is Engage Ring feat Emily Styler. This is slowing down even more. It is still very relaxing and smoothing, just not as fast paced as the other two previous songs. The song feels more uplifting than anything else. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0P1bWEWY7co (Tumblr won’t let me post more videos, so here’s the link).

Following Engage Ring, is Represent (ft. Chieko Kinbara). This song is very similar to Engage Ring, same tempo, focused mainly on piano and violin, however, this one is a little more on the violin side. Still a relaxing song. 

https://youtu.be/w6NDpF5UBp8

And for the last song in the playlist, Peacock. This has a little more action going compared to the last two, this time it contains a saxophone. and in my opinion, it really ends the playlist with a bang. The song is very mellow and chill, while  still at the same time, it is something I can definitely nod my head to with my headphones. Whenever I hear saxophones, I think of an amazing jazz song, and that’s what this is getting its roots from.  It also feels much like something you listen to on a rainy day. I don’t really know how to describe it, but whenever it’s a rainy day I just want to relax and all of these songs help me with that.

https://youtu.be/AZaTEiqmWDY

Overall, I feel like this playlist definitely caters for a large group, especially for people who just want to relax. Personally, I find that this is a great study playlist that helps you zone out with the music, while still being concentrated on a task. DJ Okawari combines both jazz, instrumental, and hip-hop perfectly together. Genres that I would never have expected to mash together. 

Thanks for reading :)!

Spotify Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4O0QPxClHUpkDCxGlScSwZ?si=add761905446419b

[hello-alonso]

The Live *Acoustic* STARSET Experience

As you have gathered by now, this whole blog is a collection of my analyses on STARSET’s music, as they have been my absolute favorite rock band since I was a pre-teen. Through the years, the music has always spoken to me on a spiritual level, and dissecting their music for an audience has been an absolute joy so far. However, this post is going to be a lot different, and in a very good way. I’m going to share my experience with the band LIVE, as they kicked off live performances post-COVID with a series of intimate acoustic events, and oh lordy Jesus it was a fantastic experience.

The performance as a whole was fantastic, but there are things about the performance that continue to remind me how special of a band STARSET is, not only in their music making, but in other facets as well. We all received raffle tickets, which I thought was kind of strange at first, but it made sense when they revealed a wheel that had the titles of roughly 50% of their music. If your raffle number was called, you got to go up and spin the wheel, and whatever song the wheel stopped at, STARSET would play a brand new acoustic cover of the song, which was DOPE. THE WHOLE SET WAS RANDOMIZED. They were only supposed to play eight songs, but they were having so much fun that they just kept going, calling numbers and playing great music. I heard acoustic covers of “Bringing It Down”, “Down With The Fallen”, “Ricochet”, and the super special song that started it all for them “My Demons” as a closer (This was the band’s choice and not on the wheel, but hot damn it was a great choice). Roughly 12 amazing covers later, every single human being in the pub was in a fantastic mood. The entire experience so far was very special. Normally, one would probably expect the experience to end their, but like I keep telling my audience, this is the best fuckin’ rock band that currently walks this earth, so this review is far from over.

Example of an acoustic cover: STARSET - WHERE THE SKIES END (Live Acoustic Demonstration) | HardDrive Online 

After the performance, the audience got lined up to take a professional photo with the band, and while that happened, they started playing UNRELEASED MUSIC. Remember two posts ago when I talked about their new single “THE BREACH”? I heard that song A MONTH AND A HALF before it was released, along with others that STILL AREN’T OUT YET. You can’t sit there and tell me that this isn’t fan service, they care deeply about their fans and know how to make them happy. I looked around the huge line of STARSET fans, and it was really special seeing them absolutely losing their shit over this new music, because not only was the hype through the roof, but the music was good. Like, REALLY good. Hearing the music coming out now, I’m remembering some of the tracks that I heard, and let me tell you, there is something very special about that.

As a preface for this next part, the digital ticket we all received said that there was going to be a “meet and greet” after the performance, which to me seemed like a very short shake-their-hands-get-something-signed-and-get-the-hell-outta-the-way kinda deal. I am so happy to tell you that I was very wrong, the experience was so much better than that. The floor we were on was cleared and the members of STARSET were just… casually walking around talking to the audience. Holy motherloving shit, you could just talk to them for as long as you want about literally anything, and they were just chillin’ for like 3-4 hours after the performance. Myself, along with the group I was with, spent roughly 20 minutes with EACH member of the band just talking about the music industry, how they got to where they are, all of their musical backgrounds, and just casual back and forth talk. Not only was it good conversation, it was eye opening, and they taught me a whole plethora of things about how to be a musician in this day and age. I took everything each of them said to heart and I will use it to market myself and show the world everything I have to present as a musician myself. Holy shit, what an amazing experience. The ticket was $100, and it was well worth it. 

I think the coolest thing about this is that this was only an acoustic event, NOT a normal live performance. I looked up videos of their live performances and I legit could not believe what I saw. They weren’t just concerts, they were whole ass experiences, and I know that’s such a flat thing to say, but I am saying it as genuinely as possible. Before you die, go see a live STARSET concert, whether it be an acoustic event or a normal concert. It will undeniably change your life.

ALSO, check out their newly released single “LEAVING THIS WORLD BEHIND”: STARSET - LEAVING THIS WORLD BEHIND 

Link used (in order):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUEThT67EgQ 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Od_dO3ENJo 

[hello-alonso]

Raul Malo at Woodbridge

So, unfortunately over the summer, I wasn’t able to go do much outside of my job and home, so there wasn’t anything crazy that happened for the most part. I live in a town nearby Woodbridge and my mom mentioned that they’re doing live performances throughout the summer. Whenever I think of a live performance hosted by a township, I immediately assume that it’s gonna be trash. Well, I thought I’d give it a try without putting much thought into it. My mom decided to go when Raul Malo was performing.

Apparently, Raul Malo is a country singer and was the lead vocalist in The Mavericks. a group I’ve never even heard of, oh boy. So, I was going into this  performance expecting country music, one of my most disliked genres of music. Anyways, we got to the performance and set ourselves up on the grass with our blanket. Due to COVID, social distancing was very well designed at these performances with there being squares painted in the grass to indicate to the people attending where they can watch. There was about, I’d say roughly 200~ other people watching the performance as well. 

This wasn’t the performance, but this is how it looked like

When the performance began, he started off pretty slow. I guess it was to build anticipation for his later songs. His voice for sure was for good, however, it was exactly how I thought it was gonna be. He sounded like the typical country singer. The deep tone of voice and the acoustic guitar he used to play made me think it was just like any other performance. He continued to play and started singing and playing at a little faster tempo, nothing crazy fast and the the crowd loved it. The majority of the people that attended were seniors, like people age 60+. This certainly felt a bit awkward for me. I kind of felt like I shouldn’t be there. 

To be honest, I disliked almost everything about the singer. I try to like new types of music, but country is one of the few genres that cannot change my opinion, no matter what. On the other hand, my mom loved every second of Raul’s performance. She’s a big country fan and loves these types of singers, she was especially thrilled because she was seeing him live. The only thing that I liked about him was his energy. Although I hated his singing, he certainly performed like there was a few thousand people watching him. He kept trying to get the crowd involved and clapped his hands to the beats of some of the songs he sang. I didn’t record any of it, but I found a video from someone else who attended the performance. 

The speakers were excellent for the show, they definitely had the right pitch and setup for this performance. During some songs, I heard people all the way in the back singing along with Raul. Clapping was heard throughout the place, even my mom was singing and clapping along with the crowd. I, on the other hand, was just sitting down for the most part, frustrated because I had to listen to this guy sing for like an hour and a half. At the same time, I didn’t want to leave because my mom was having a great time. I didn’t want my experience to ruin my mom’s. 

This’ll certainly be the last time I go to a performance held by a township, and ESPECIALLY a country singer. God, just thinking about it makes me want to cover my ears. I’d rather listen to deathmetal where they are screaming for like 80% of the time than this. Raul’s voice was certainly good, but he uses it in something that I just cannot endure. At the end of the day, I should’ve just stayed home because that night was a huge blunder. 

Pictures: http://woodbridgeartsnj.org/free-concerts.html

Raul Malo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raul_Malo

The Mavericks: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mavericks

YouTube Video of the Performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5jrFnlapig

[hello-alonso]

The Battle Between Light and Darkness

To start off, I can almost guarantee you that anyone reading this has never heard of this composer. His name is Pratanallis and has a very small following, which is insane because of the quality of his work. He is based in Japan and that itself has its cons, especially for his popularity and recognition, these types of songs would not make it into Western countries on the sole basis that they are sung in Japanese. Pratanallis has been working in the music industry since 2006, making and assisting in several music projects. The genre that he specializes in is symphonic metal/rock and melodic music. The guitar solos in these songs are actually insane and I can’t get enough of them. I really wanted to showcase one of his works to another audience, one that would probably never have heard of him if it wasn’t for this post. In 2019, he released his album, “Holy Fragments” (Album Link if you want to listen along) https://open.spotify.com/album/5eLCKpiL4o7oMVrgLQka3Z?si=4eKdjlp9QcqcB4O0P406Fg&dl_branch=1.

Now, unlike most songs that you would probably hear, this whole album tells a story, and it isn’t about love like most songs are, it is about a journey. There are 11 songs in the album and all of the songs in it contribute to tell this story. In the read more section of this post, Here are the translation to each song if you’d like to listen and be able to understand what they’re saying. Either way, you can still feel the energy from the singers and tempo of the music. Now, imagine you’re sleeping and you wake up from a dream. That’s basically how the first song, Crimson Moonlight goes. It has no vocals and it is made to create the feeling that you’re in a tranquil state of mind. Every song after this is where the fun begins though.

In the second song, Menina Eris, the tempo and vibe immediately change. In terms of the story, you have been woken up from the dream to a sudden realization. That realization being that you are trapped in an isolated world where darkness rains over you. You get a glimpse of an angel, but she strays away and now you are all alone. You are stuck in this lost world and have no idea where to go. 

This is where I will point out two characters throughout the album. The first one is called Sphillia, and in this case she is the angel and savior throughout the album. She tries to save you from the darkness that spreads throughout the world.

On the other hand, there is Mare, whos name translates, according to Wikipedia as a, “malicious entity in Germanic and Slavic folklore that rides on people's chests while they sleep, bringing on nightmares”. Similarly, that’s exactly what she’s doing throughout the story of the album. She may look cute in the picture, but she certainly doesn’t want to do anything cute.

In the next song, Déjà Vu, the fast rock tempo continues and is consistent throughout the track. The story behind this song is the continuation of a loss of hope, where you see the old world you once lived in, but it’s trapped in darkness. The déjà vu you have is from the world you once knew, except it has been completely changed. You stray even farther from the exit and continue in this isolated world. 

Now, for my favorite song in the album. This is also the most popular song based off of Spotify streams, Braking Down (not a typo). This is where Sphillia, the angel and Mare, the evil, are shown and they leave you indecisive on what route you want to take. To fight for good or evil. The next song, Compassion, is similar to the last one where you are not yet ready to choose what to do. The melody feels as if the vocals are Sphillia and the instrumental part of the song is Mare, both very distinct melodies, one rough, and one calm and soothing.

After Compassion, follows the only other song without vocals, Fragment of Tears, This song feels as though you are crying throughout this world you were put in. The melody is made from a pipe organ, which gives it an eerie medieval vibe. Upon ending, the song translates to Justynusty instantly, which changes the tempo back to 100 immediately. This song is where the action commences. Where Sphillia and Mare start to battle each other for control of the world. In this song they are referred to as White and Black wings. Towards the beginning of the song are the lyrics, 

“A deep darkness laughs scornfully tainted by your deceit and it’s reach corrupts everything it is out to tear it all apart”.

This refers to Mare trying to control the world and corrupt everything. Sphillia eventually emerges and starts to try and stop the evil. She eventually puts and end to the madness and peace is restored. 

“Vanquishing the darkness as they flutter the white wings spread out with a singing voice that makes the skies tremble raining down a light of bliss as the beast that consumes the light is born engulfing the land in darkness”.

The next song of the album is With You. Sphillia has beaten Mare and now the world is at peace once again. The tempo is slow and calming throughout. The white wings prevail over the black wings. 

Right after With You, just like in a movie, Mare is back in the next song, Girl’s Seraph. Out of all of the songs, while listening to the album, this is the one that got me confused and intrigued. The song started off calm, until a few seconds in. The melody was the roughest out of all the songs in the album and the bpm was probably well over 200. The first set of lyrics in the song are,

“Now, angel of the eight day time to flap those black-stained wings embrace the deep darkness grant us benevolence, Seraph Maiden.”

The darkness, Mare, is back. She comes back even stronger and ready to attack you and Sphillia. The song continues with the rough melody signifying that they are battling each other. What ultimately destroys the evil is a combination of the sun and Sphillia, they both combine together to destroy all of the darkness Mare has spread throughout the world. The world is saved once again.

Following this chain of events is Holy Fragments. This is the point where you realize that everything that just happened was all a dream. You wake up and start to feel upset that you can’t continue helping the world alongside the angel, so you just dismiss it and try to feel joyful over the memories you made in that dream. To conclude the album, My Happiness is played. The meaning behind this song is that you feel happy and grateful over the life you have. The tempo of this song feels like you could be in a flower field. The piano and violin help make this a calming and emotional song. This world that does not have evil or darkness, you simply feel free and contempt about your surroundings. No darkness engulfs you, there is light all around you. 

Before actually taking an in depth listen to this album, I only knew two songs and of course I didn’t look up the translation. Upon actually listening to the album from start to finish, I have a much greater appreciation for Pratanallis. His beautiful melodies and storytelling throughout the album captivated me all the way through. With only ~2,000 streams on Spotify, I am very sad that he doesn’t have a bigger audience. 

The symphonic instruments used in the album along with the fast tempos really got me into the songs. Even without knowing what the lyrics mean, you can still feel when the song is about something rough and scary or when happiness is attained. I know a lot of people won’t like this genre of music, but if you like rock and metal, I highly recommend checking out his other albums if you enjoyed this one. I hope to have opened your eyes to some music you might not have heard of before  :) 

Translation to the Album!!

https://supergenial.tumblr.com/post/634283455677661184/translation-lyrics-holy-fragments-by-pratanallis

Pratanallis’s Website: https://www.pratanallis.net/

Images for Both Mare and Sphillia: https://www.pratanallis.net/

Information on Pratanallis: metal-archives.com/bands/Pratanallis/3540454256

Spotify Album link: https://open.spotify.com/album/5eLCKpiL4o7oMVrgLQka3Z?si=twsId9ZFR6CffJsu68hqlg&dl_branch=1

Menina Eris YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYg91YftU2U

Braking Down YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2ggIOL5Vv8

Wikipedia Definition of Mare: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mare_(folklore)

Pipe Organ Demonstration Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHNLdHe8uxY

Angel Peace on Earth Image: https://www.pinotspalette.com/gilbert/event/198261

Evil Angel Image: https://www.goodfon.com/wallpaper/darren-benton-by-darren-benton-angel-of-death-dark-horror-de.html