TC - Get That Girl

This is a hate it or love it type of genre. Jump-up. A lot of the guys i know in the electronic scene who know anything about dnb and stuff shun it like none other. They think it sounds too childish and takes no skill to make. I disagree of course, although i see where they're coming from. Because yes, the majority of songs like this i don't like either (which i hate to say but its kind of true). But i don't write off the whole genre like some people i know. TC is like a half and half between jump up and just plain ol dnb.

This whole album, which i have its pretty good, is kind of a project between him and jakes. Jakes is an MC from the UK i believe. Most of what he does on this album is actual singing and rapping though, which is definitely not the same at all as MCing. So i commend him on his efforts.

You can really tell it flows well between the slow and fast parts. They wouldn't sound like the same song if heard separately, but the build up is awesome. Its kind of interesting how quick you can go from chill to hyped up. I would imagine that's hard to pull off correctly because the faster tempo portion could seem jarring, but i don't really get that feeling from this song.

I only really was heavily into TC for a few weeks but i really binged during that time. Everyone else i knew was listening to hardcore techno along the lines of hardstyle and electro and stuff, and i was too but TC was like my own dose of dnb that i got in between rocking out with my friends. I moved on quick, like i do. But i haven't forgotten about him because there are some dope tracks in my library by him.

There are some classic jump up songs everyone knows, but other than that i hear very little about this music. I don't want to say its 'dead' but more like it was an experiment in sound in the first place, and it'll keep it's die hard fans but people will move on to newer things or try other sounds and see what comes of them. Isn't that how we got to this point in music anyways?

Daft Punk - Digital Love

I've always loved this song, its my favorite from daft punk by far. Its also one of those i come back to every once and a while and forget how much i love it.

I first heard it when watching Interstellar 5555. That's an animated movie with hardly any sounds other than daft punk's discovery album. It plays all the way though and tells a story, I've really enjoyed it every time i watched it. It was done by a group of Japanese people i believe. The first time i watched the movie i wasnt' completely familiar with daft punk except for their biggest hits, so i was in for a nice surprise. This music video happens to be the part in the movie with this song. Most of (if not all, im not sure) of the songs on discovery are just clipped from the movie and used as the music video.

I watched the movie maybe two days before i left for a two week camp many summers ago. But when i got there i found out they weren't going to allow any electronics at all. My phone and iPod remained off the whole time. Luckily i had been listening to digital love the entire car ride up and it stayed in my head the whole time.

Needless to say, being addicted to listening to music every waking moment meant i was dying to listen to SOMETHING. I met a kid named JD and we became really good friends. He introduced me to Dj Sharpnel and i introduced him to pendulum, among others. We both chatted about music and stuff all the time and we're still great buds. Talking about it probably held us over until we could go listen to music ourselves i think.

When i finally got home i didn't pack or eat or anything. All i did was go look up music JD had told me to get, and every other song i was listening to was digital love. It was like getting a drink of water after going thirsty for so long. I know i would have liked the song just as much if i hadn't had to go without music for so long, but because i did, im so glad i heard it. Because it gave me something to hum and sing along to in my head during the trip.

DC Breaks - Horror

I've heard a lot of sweet clips thrown in jungle tracks like pendulum's masochist. But this one is currently my favorite. I don't know where its from, a quick search comes up with nothing. So its possible its an original for the song, which if so, its brilliant. I know a jungle track when i hear one, they're just so definable. And jungle's been around a long long time. Longer than jump up, dubstep and drumstep and all those other sub-genres.

If i try and think back to the days where i first was listening to dnb, jungle was in its dying throes. Its basically what gave birth to today's dnb. I was big into Andy C, the god of dnb. He got into the game early where he was using all the sounds characteristic of jungle and making new songs that didn't conform to the standard. They were more electronic and a lot like what you'd hear today. He went on to make one of the biggest record labels for the genre i believe, and totally had a hand in the entire movement of the scene.

But you still see people mixing jungle live, its great for dancing and i'm sure its awesome fun to spin. Another thing that carried over from jungle was vocals. Jungle is quite similar to reggae, and they used to have something called ragga vocals on top of the tracks. At any show you'd go to today you will hear an MC singing exactly like that, with the exception of live bands like pendulum, but i know dj sets of pendulum are definitely going to have it. 

Unknown Error - The Yearning

This screen has been sitting on my laptop in the background for more than a week now. I don't know why i haven't, or didn't want to get around to it. But here it is, the yearning.

This is a song by Unknown Error, I've talked about him before when i did a song by apex. They're actually the same guy, somewhere along the line he decided on a name change and has been going by apex ever since. I kind of think there's a change in style when you listen to songs where he goes by one or the other. I don't know if that's because the unknown error stuff is older, or if that's intentional.

He's on the lifted music label, started by Chris renegade and Spor. I used to listen to all of their podcasts. They're a small group of artists who release just the greatest music. Evol intent and ewun are two more artists off that label. If you've heard of those guys you'd know that they're all usually producers of some quite hard tracks. This guy not so much, i guess he's their token liquid guy.

Back when i hung out with everyone into this scene i had one friend who was absolutely obsessed with it. We had a running joke with each other that we all had theme songs. And this was undoubtedly his. So it definitely got played tons when we hung out. Now its been a long time since I've seen them, but randomly i got linked to this song a week or two ago. When i listened to it i had a huge dose of nostalgia, it must have been two or more years since i last heard it played even once. I had totally forgotten it existed. I'm so glad i got to listen to it again, even though there are some good and bad feelings that come along with this song.

Now, it may have been HIS theme song, but i really love this track. The warm steady bass, and the melody that sounds oriental. Its just a really relaxing song. I could sit in a dark room with a bunch of people. No words, just enjoying the music. A lot of electronic music is over the top or loud sounding, or at least that what i would imagine someone who doesn't like it would say. (i just say it has energy) But i think most people would even like this one, its just simple beats and awesome melody, if you open your mind to it, its the perfect song to seed your imagination. I find myself daydreaming while listening to it all the time.

Camo & Krooked - The Lesson (ft. Skittles) (Original Version)

I oughta teach you a lesson.

So Camo and Krooked have an album out called "cross the line". It came out last week and the tracks on it are excellent. They have a few singles from it that have been out for a while, which, to be honest i haven't listened to. But i know i will get around to it eventually, because I'm really pleased with their more recent stuff. I wrote down a little reminder to myself to get the whole album and I'm pretty good about going through my lists so maybe you'll see another from the album in the future.

If you've read some of the other posts I've written you probably know why i like this song. I'm pretty sure i have a sweet spot for vocals along this line. I'm just a sucker for em. And aside from a few exceptions such as the Foreign Beggars, TC and Jake, and some randomly featured MC's (I'm probably forgetting some but that's to the point) You don't really see much of that and i really hope it becomes a theme because its just great. When you see anyone like this live there's an MC singing over the track WITHOUT FAIL, but they're scatting and doing freestyle and just hyping the crowd up. I want to see more of real full songs and performances from those guys. I really feel that's a great direction for this music.

I also like how well the lines tie into the drops. Like when he says "I told you i'd teach you a lesson" the drop right after just works. And the bridge with that great chorus ties into the harder part just as well. Its definitely a really well done track. It keeps rolling throughout, there's never a moment where it loses energy or your interest. I heard it just a few days ago and I'm already forcing myself not to listen to it too much  so i don't make myself sick of it too quickly.

So hello... fellow.... welcome to the gallows... I'm here to teach you a lesson.

SubVibe - DarkHearted (HD)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xu7hz91PTBo

This song just struck me as something quite true to the genre. Its just no frills DnB. They hail from (surprise surprise) the UK, where the scene is huge, and they're not horribly popular or anything. They just make stuff that really hits home as stuff that i think i would hear years ago before dubstep and drumstep and jump up and ALLL these other genres popping up. Don't get me wrong i'm fully into all that stuff, but its nice to have a throwback like this to kind of remind you where it all started.

Its real common to have clips from movies or things like that edited in instead of vocals to kind of set the tone of the song. You don't want to have singing, or vocals on top of the music but you still need something to add to it. Its real common with things like hardstyle and classic Dnb. Though you will see it with lots of other genres too. This particular one I've seen in another hardsyle song by headbanger and omar that uses this and other clips. That's another good one by the way, albeit really on the hardcore side, its called "Are U Afraid Of The Dark?"

Its the basic drum beat, the electronic melody you hear all over the place, and structure and builds that are nice.  Although this isn't to say all this makes the song boring, because far from it, there's definitely enough in this song to make it a hit. And there are parts throughout that peak your interest. They're a great team, i would definitely go see a show of theirs if given the chance. I was impressed with it, especially nowadays where you don't see a lot of medium to small time artists making songs that aren't what they think is "innovative" or something like that. They get some decent exposure too, which is awesome because i think everyone should hear songs like this so they understand where other artists are coming from when they start branching out.

Of course jungle is the other half of the oldies I'm referring to, but jungle has more reggae roots where this has electronic roots. They're both two halves of the same spectrum though.

Vaski- You Wouldn't Understand

So i have to admit back when i was discovering Dnb i grew a deep hatred for dubstep. I don't know what it was, but except for the one chase and status 'saxon' song i refused to listen to dubstep (and even then i only had that song because of my love for chase and status, not because i liked it, though i do now) This was at the same time where on any given day i probably listened to more then 5 hours of dnb. Now my closest friends at the time were right along there with me. Mostly because they would ride with me in my car, and that's what i wanted to hear on my system.

But one day i was over at a friend's house with a whole bunch of people, and i hopped in my car with a few of them to go pick someone up and a guy in the back said "let me handle the music". So i turned it up and paid attention to my driving. Having avoided all dubstep i had no idea what was coming. It built up and it just so happened that everyone was really intently listening to the song, and right at the drop the guy leaned forward and with his head just to the right of mine he said "NAW YOU WOULDN'T UNDERSTAND" and then I learned exactly why i was about to love this genre, the drop.

He had obviously listened to the song hundreds of times (like i have now) because every time the singer went UH! he knew exactly where it was. I swear during that car ride we were all going crazy. Afterwards i told him how much i used to hate dubstep and he handed me his iTouch and said educate yourself. It was like discovering a whole new planet and culture i had never heard before.

Characteristic of vaski's older stuff, like this song, his remix of sandstorm, and my personal favorites murder and bailout- it had deeper bass than anyone else out there at the time. You can tell his newer stuff has more vocals and melodies which is great for being catchy, but i feel like he really shined when he showed what he could do with just a bass line alone.

I have seen him live once. And it was exactly how you would think it would be. It was so heavy that when you walked into the general area of the stage (not even the front or anything) Your breathing became ragged with the air vibrating in your lungs. Your vision blurred. And unlike the other stages where you could feel your clothes vibrating on top of your skin, you could actually feel your skin move. It was like the bass was pressing the air around you so hard it was pressing up against your skin. And that's not even the half of it, the lights, crowd and everything else just completed the experience. Ill never forget what its like to see an artist like that perform.

I Need a Dollar (Remix)

I've been in a rap mood lately, and i don't normally listen to rap such as lil wayne or anything like that. But i absolutely love artists like wax. He's sort of a youtube artist, he makes videos and songs and posts them on youtube. As of lately he's signed to a record deal and touring the country doing shows which is great for him. He also makes comedy shorts that he posts, and you should go through his channel and see some of them, i find them hilarious.

This is a cover of the i need a dollar song, and it really plays into the theme of most of his music, about money and struggling. I think i like this version better, though I'm probably biased because i love wax himself so much. Dumbfounded is featured on this track, i did his up in the air song a while back. Whenever the two of them collaborate they call themselves "clockwise". And they've done quite a few together.

I love the lines in this song if you give it a close listen. They're very clever. I've listened to tons of both of their music and have really appreciated all of their musical talents pertaining to the music and the lyrics.

The Procussions-Simple song

I first heard the procussions through my brother, he's probably heard and listened to every song a thousand times from this genre. I guess its the era he came from, when he was growing up was when all of this music was big. Its still around and artists come out in this genre all the time, but they get no exposure because the general public doesn't listen to this type of stuff anymore. Its a shame too because that's one of the reasons this group is no longer around. Money reasons, illegal downloading, and lack of exposure forced them to disband about three years ago. Some of them went on to write music alone (one of them gets critic ratings of 4.5/5 stars on his work even today, which says something about his talents) and another is pursuing his artwork and focusing more on that.

The music is less beats and has more jazz influences, and the words have a lot more meaning behind them than something that's just catchy. I miss music like this sometimes. I never really listened to it when i was younger and now that its not popular i wish it were. Guys like atmosphere have kind of broken through that and made it, but people who like atmosphere don't go out and find all these other artists like the people under the stairs and the procussions, and they should.

On the audio canvas stands this man with his hands like a mantis

submerged in the word like Atlantis to plant this seed, 

we feeding of the roots of David

and finally freed from enslavement 

see this is where the pavement meets the path

the power principles of purity are unmasked

at last our direction is that of the outcast

outlasting temptation like the thirty day fast

redeemed from the past renamed in the present

i sing to the king who came as a peasant 

he's offering that pleasant state of humility

the light of the world with the strength and the ability

 to transform norm to extraordinary

making prophets out of prosecutors, if necessary

and rags to revolution, poetry from pollution

felon to family man, problem to solution

and the solution is clear the revolution is near

no more confusing people with fear

the constitution appears to make freedom a right

but you know its only found in the sunlight

i say you know its only found in the son right?

i got one love, one aim, and one fight

c'mon...

at a loss for words i heard something in my mind sing (la la la la la)

without a care in the world i stand firm on a cloud singing (la la la la la)

waking up at the dawn, i had a song in my heart it goes (la la la la la)

i found peace in a vision of love and yo it sounds like (la la la la la)

Kyza - Go (Bar 9 Remix)

Long time favorite of mine, a remix of Kyza- go by Bar 9.

This one reminds me a lot of a song i talked about a few weeks ago, 'warning'. Its got a really hard dub vibe and fast rapping lyrics. I wish i knew more songs along this type of genre because i thoroughly enjoy it. This is a song where im always playing it one or two volume levels too high, and it was always a favorite in my car when i had a sound system in it.

I don't have much to say about this one, but enjoy!

Netsky - Tomorrow's Another Day VIP

Finally i'm back. Had a long week with homework, classes and social life catching up to me. Well i'm at work now and i don't need to be doing anything really, so lets talk about some music!

This is netsky, he does some of my favorite liquid dnb songs. All of the ones I've heard are always a perfect mix of relaxing and smooth. He really doesn't vary from that as far as I've seen. But he does this so well that i would hope he continues in his style.

Netsky is one of those artists where its hard to dislike any of his songs in particular but really easy to love certain ones. I could be in any type of music mood, and if netsky comes on through shuffle or i see it in a play list, ill listen through it because i love it. I picked this particular song only because it was the last one i listened to from him. A quick YouTube search comes up with tons of great music by him, its all worth a listen.