Music Discovery: The Gracious Few's "Closer"

"Closer" was a free single on iTunes a couple years ago, and it comes from The Gracious Few's eponymous 2010 album. The Gracious Few are actually a supergroup consisting of guitarist Chad Taylor, bassist Patrick Dahlheimer, and drummer Chad Gracey from Live, and vocalist Kevin Martin and guitarist Sean Hennesy from Candlebox. Their style is hard alternative rock, similar to Three Days Grace or Bush. Musically, the song starts quietly, but once the drums kick in, the song has a driving beat. The guitar then takes the lead, with hard chords leading through the chorus along with Martin's piercing vocals. The verses are more subdued, with the bass driving the song along here. Overall, "Closer" is a great hard rock tune.

Music Discovery: An Endless Sporadic's "Impulse"

"Impulse" is the first track from Ameliorate by instrumental progressive-rock band An Endless Sporadic. You might recognize this song as being a bonus track on Guitar Hero III. The "progressive" label is not to be taken lightly. After a minute or two into the song, you will wonder if you are even listening to the same song. However, the beginning riff repeats itself later in the song to remind you what you're listening to. In the middle, there is the breakdown of all breakdowns. It might sound like absolute nonsense, but it's still relatively structured... I think. If you're into instrumental rock, give "Impulse" a listen, and if you like what you hear, also check out "Anything" from the same album.

Music Discovery: SoulEye's "Positive Force"

Retro video game fans will love this one. "Positive Force" is by Magnus Pålsson, better known as SoulEye. The song comes from PPPPPP, which is the soundtrack for the indie game VVVVVV. Like the enitre album, "Positive Force" is chiptune style, giving it an 8-bit retro sound. The syncopation in the drum rhythm along with the sine (I think) lead makes it feel right from a video game (and it is, so no surprise there). Of the songs from PPPPPP, "Positive Force" is one of the best. It's very upbeat and has a great chorus with a well placed key change in the chorus. If you're into retro games, have played VVVVVV, or in general like 8-bit music, I would recommend checking out this song as well as the album PPPPPP. Also, you can find "Positive Force" on the Rock Band Network, in addition to "Potential for Anything" and "Pressure Cooker" from the album.

EDIT: Howzabout I give you a link to the song? Here you go (after the break):

Music Discovery: Jonathan Coulton's "The Future Soon"

OMG AN ARTICLE!

Jonathan Coulton is a musician who focuses on pop/rock and folk rock. He is also probably a nerd because some of his song topics include Swedish furniture stores ("Ikea"), working at an IT job ("Code Monkey"), and, of course, zombies ("Re: Your Brains"). "The Future Soon" regards, well, the future and how the protagonist can't wait for it to come. He talks about how he'll "probably be some kind of scientist / Building inventions in my space lab in space" and eventually become one with his machines before going back to Earth to court a high school crush. Musically, "The Future Soon" is very cool, focusing on many different guitar chords while also having underlying keyboard. From the bridge on, the background is filled with mechanical beeps and other gizmo sounds. I would highly suggest checking out this song and Jonathan Coulton's other songs if you're into quirky lyrics or if you're a nerd like he is.

Music Discovery: Bloom's "Fight for Greatness"

So, this article will probably be pretty sporadic, as I will only post Music Discovery articles when I find a really good song by a virtually unknown artist. My first one is "Fight for Greatness" by Bloom, from their album Photosynthesis. This song is from the genre of indie rock, which is usually a pretty light genre, versus a heavier genre like grunge. I found this song through the Rock Band Network, which lets anyone with an Xbox 360 put their own music up for sale on Rock Band. "Fight for Greatness" drew the closer similarities to Coldplay in my mind, especially in the verses. The choruses have a very sweet falsetto with harmony, and the drum beats change relatively often between a half-time and double-time feel. It has piano in it, which is highlighted in the third chorus, which starts quietly with just piano and vocals. Indie rock is not usually where you find real shredding guitar, but the guitarist for Bloom can really play, as is shown by the intro and guitar solo. Overall, "Fight for Greatness" is a great song, and don't be surprised if I sometime post a video of me playing it on piano and singing. A music video is available after the jump.