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):

Ramblings About Choral Arrangements

At last year's LCWM choir concert, I arranged Uncle Kraker's "Follow Me" for my guys group, Legàcy (yes, the accent is necessary). This year, I've been a lot busier with arrangement for the pop concert, which is Disney themed. For Legàcy, I arranged a 4-song medley/mashup/whatever of "chill" music, including Travie McCoy's "Billionaire", Bruno Mars's "Count on Me", Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours", and Bill Withers's "Lean on Me". The song is written in TBB, which for those of you who aren't music-savvy, stands for Tenor-Baritone-Bass, meaning there are three harmony parts; I am the tenor, Isaac Schultz and Justin Hruby are the baritones, and Sam Vetch is the bass. Nearly everyone who I've shown the arrangement to is excited to see it performed. I also arranged "I Just Can't Wait to Be King" from The Lion King, also in TBB. That will be sung by all the guys in the choir. Also, for our Chamber Choir, I arranged "Circle of Life" a capella (without piano). It's technically SATB (Soprano-Alto-Tenor-Bass), but three of the parts split to really make it SSAATTB. I intended to get that done in one weekend, but it turns out writing seven parts is harder than three. Who knew?
So yeah, if you're planning on going to the concert in May, keep an ear out for those three songs. If this article seems random, it's because it is. I just felt like writing something, and this was the first thing that came to mind.

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.

Laziness Update

So, if anyone has been paying attention, I haven't done anything here for a pretty long time now. I'm going to try and change this, but it might take a while. First off, I'm going to review a bunch of albums at once and then put them out over time. Second, I'm scrapping the Top 10 feature, and by that I mean that it won't be a weekly think anymore. I might do one every now and again, but don't expect one every week. Also, a tentative list of albums that I will review next is:
The King Is Dead - The Decemberists (by request)
Race You To The Bottom - New Medicine
Doo-Wops & Hooligans - Bruno Mars
Stunt - Barenaked Ladies
At Budokan - Cheap Trick
Wasting Light - Foo Fighters
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - The Beatles
Appeal To Reason - Rise Against
So yeah.

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.