Song of the Day: Alex Clare - Too Close (Pop/Electronic)

Back again today with some mild dubstep; I'm afraid I don't have anything particularly significant for Holy Week (I couldn't find a good version of "Dark Gethsemane"). This is a song I heard sometime last year, and am revisiting it, as well as listening to some more of Alex Clare's work. Enjoy!

Alex Clare - Too Close

Song of the Day: Yoko Kanno - Valse De la Lune (Soundtrack)

This beautiful piece is from the anime Wolf's Rain, and is composed by Yoko Kanno, who remains one of my favorite soundtrack composers to date. This song is what started my fascination with the French language, and more specifically, it's musical applications. I find that French is quite enjoyable to listen to as it flows nicely, and gives a feel of fluidity and momentum. Enjoy!

Yoko Kanno - Valse De la Lune

Songs of the Day: Lindsey Stirling and Guests

Hurray! It's Friday! For me, that usually means the beginning my weekend. And what do I do on my weekends? Well, when I'm not doing something productive, I'm usually killing something in one of my favorite video games, Skyrim. So to commemorate, here's a fantastic cover of Skyrim's main theme by Peter Hollens and Lindsey Stirling. Aside from it being a great song, the video is pretty cool too. I also found a really neat cover done by Stirling and an A Capella group named Pentatonix. Enjoy!

Peter Hollens and Lindsey Stirling - Skyrim

Lindsey Stirling and Pentatonix - Radioactive

The Far Reaches of Sound #8: Depth

Since Linsey Stirling is cool, I decided today would be a good thing to balance things out with the infamous "Depth". Now, the song doesn't sound so bad in the beginning, but the reason I don't like it is because of the ending. At this point, I didn't know how to create shorter notes, such as 16ths and 32nds, so instead, I tried to make a song with a very fast tempo, I think it was close to 240, so that I could have quicker notes. What resulted was a messy ending where everything kind of blurred together. However, it's still a part of the album, and deserves mention.

Download Depth via Sendspace

Song of the Day: Lindsey Stirling - Crystallize

I've always enjoyed listening to Instrumental music, whether that's Classical, Jazz, or House. I'm just not that big on lyrics, for a number of reasons, such as not being able to focus when working and listening to music at the same time, or thinking to much about the philosophical and social applications of the lyrics. Anyway, I like instrumental music, and there are several big names out there in orchestral and instrumental music. Among them are "The Piano Guys", "Two Steps from Hell", and "Lindsey Stirling". I've already had The Piano Guys on this blog, and I'm saving the best for last, which means I'll have some Lindsey Stirling this week. She's a brilliant violinist first of all, and she's made a wide variety of videos, ranging from nerdy covers to team ups with people like Peter Hollens and Tyler Ward. She's also incorporated Dubstep into a few of her videos, including the one above. Now, even if you're not too keen on the whole Dubstep thing, I encourage you to listen to this song; it's very light Dubstep (Yes, there is such a thing). If you don't then at least take a look at some more of Lindsey's work, which I'll be posting tomorrow. The link to Crystallize is below.

Lindsey Stirling

Song of the Day: PPK - Resurrection [Space Club Mix (Electronic/Trance)]

This is another little piece I found on Pandora. It's from a genre called trance: a very melodic type of electronic music which, like Chill Out, features softer and more relaxed music. Typically. I'd hardly call myself an expert on electronic music, but I have a good feel for the main genres. Even so, as the field expands more and more, I feel like I'm falling behind. I've always thought of Electronic music being very similar to Jazz, in terms of it's diverse styles and genres, as well as it's history of expansion. Anyway, here you go.

PPK - Resurrection (Space Club Mix)

Song of the Day: Simon and Garfunkel - Scarborough Fair (Pop/Traditional)

Here's another little piece of my music history. During they years between my Celtic and J-pop days, I spent a ton of time on a website called Playlist.com. The concept of the site is that you search for specific songs or artists and find similar pieces, putting all the music you like into online playlists. During that time I listened to a lot of random music, including pop, soundtracks, and some really weird Japanese stuff now that I think about it. But anyway, I was still listening to a lot of Celtic music at the time, which led me to the song Scarborough fair, and eventually, to the rendition done by Simon and Garfunkel. I haven't heard a version I didn't like, but in my opinion, theirs is the best; I remember being particularly enchanted, and still am. I never really went back to Simon and Garfunkel, especially after the past few years of my listening to Electronic music. However, this blog is doing wonders for my nostalgia, and I'm remembering a lot of music I wouldn't have if I didn't  think up nice songs for you all. So, go ahead and click the link below to listen.

Simon and Garfunkel - Scarborough Fair

The Far Reaches of Sound #7: Hushed Elation

This was one of the best songs on the album, which makes a stark contrast with the following song: Depth. Hushed Elation was my attempt at something more mellow; I was almost going for a lullaby feel. It wound up exceeding my expectations, and remains one of my favorite songs that I've composed. You can download it below.

Download Hushed Elation via Sendspace

Song of the Day: Titanium / Pavane - David Guetta ft. Sia [Tyler Ward & The Piano Guys cover (Pop/Classical)]

David Guetta song meets one of the greatest instrumental duos of the modern day? Sounds good to me! I've always enjoyed Guetta's songs, but sometimes it just gets too worldly for me, if you know what I mean. However, the Piano Guys have this habit of taking songs that some wouldn't normally listen to, and making them amazing. This particular version (there's an instrumental one too) features singer Tyler Ward. Enjoy!

Titanium / Pavane - David Guetta ft. Sia (Tyler Ward & The Piano Guys cover)

Song of the Day: Coldplay - Paradise (Peponi) African Style

The Piano Guys, as I'm sure most of you know, is a brilliant duo that cover a wide variety of music, ranging from movie soundtracks to pop songs. However, all there music is rich, beautiful, and has a unique, yet classical feel to it. This one in particular caught my eye, and is, I think, one of their best songs. Check it out below.

Coldplay - Paradise (Peponi) African Style

Song of the Day: Peter Hollens - Misty Mountains

I'm sure that if you're reading this blog, you've at some point either watched the first Hobbit movie, or better yet, read the book by Tolkien. If you're like me, then the Dwarves' song "Misty Mountains" sent shivers down your spine. Well, maybe not, but I certainly enjoyed, being drawn to just about any form of A Capella music. Peter Hollens is one of the more impressive A Capella singers out there, covering a wide variety of songs from Pop to, well, this. This song in particular showcases his impressive voice range, and singing ability in general, aside from simply being a fantastic cover.

Peter Hollens - Misty Mountains

Song of the Day: Celtic Woman - Dulaman (Celtic)

This piece is definitely one of my all time favorite songs. I was listening to a ton of Celtic music maybe 4 or 5 years ago, a bit before I started listening to J-Pop. Believe it or not, the song is actually about Irish seaweed.

Celtic Woman - Dulaman

The Far Reaches of Sound #6: Wisp

This one was more successful, in my opinion, and bridged the gap between Town Legend and Depth, which are arguably the two worst songs on the album. I was definitely trying to do something spooky here, and the overall effect was nice. This song also cemented my typical song pattern of climaxing the song with a mellow chord progression. You can download it below.

Download Wisp via Sendspace

Song of the Day: Mord Fustang - Champloo (Electronica/Dubstep)

Today's song is by one of my favorite electronic artists, Mord Fustang. He's one of a few good artists who weave unique melodies, sounds, and rhythms into their Dubstep.

Mord Fustang - Champloo

Song of the Day: SmK & DJ Harmonics - Finally Free (Electronic)

Here's a neat piece of techno I found, enjoy!

SmK & DJ Harmonics - Finally Free

The Far Reaches of Sound #5: Town Legend

Sorry for the brief delay of posts; I had a busy weekend. Here's the 5th member of my album, Town Legend. I had some good rhythms here, but overall, it's riddled with problems. Regardless, here it is for your enojoyment!

Download Town Legend via Sendspace

Song of the Day: Killigrew - Kida (Chillstep)

Here's a song that would technically be under the "Chillstep" Genre, a blend of the bass tones from dubstep, and the ambience of chill out. Enjoy!

Killigrew - Kia

The Far Reaches of Sound #4 - Petal Dance

The fourth song on "The Far Reaches of Sound" was my attempt at a baroque style piece; I was working through that period of music in a class at the time. That particular class (Music Appreciation on FLVS) inspired a number of songs, including Petal Dance, and the last song on this album, Fort Nova, which you can hear on soundcloud. Petal Dance is a unique mixture of classical sounds and more modern rhythms. It's lively and frenetic, and was a change of pace for me after Cobalt and Sector H, both of which were kind of slow. Speaking of which, the tempo at which I set my songs varies between 90 and 130 bpm, but usually winds up being 100. Oh, right, the song. Here. :)

Edit: The name Petal Dance comes from a move in the Pokemon video game series, where the selected creature releases a whirlwind of razor sharp flower petals. This is what I imagined when making the song.

Download Petal Dance via Sendspace