Magical Music Videos

Hello my RMR people,

I will be going up to New York this week and be very very busy! So I won't be posting anything except this fun batch of music videos! Let me know what some of your favorites are and Ill see you guys next week :)



-Red

Fn Pig - Deadmau5

The Strong Suit of a Mau5

For our last Deadmau5 song, I wanted another more heavy club/electronic song that really defines who he is and his strengths. The song may be something that most people might not enjoy, it’s sounds is a little hard on the ears at first as it builds into the main section, but it’s build is worth it. The start is nice and slow, one grand crescendo starting from silent and faint to boisterous and exploding. The rest of the song is really heavy drums and distorted bass peppered with samples and long synth pads. It is difficult to name the instruments, parts or explain them, but I will say that I like it for sure. Deadmau5 has the amazing talent to create powerful house and electronic music that is familiar and nice to listen to without being terribly repetitive or un-creative. I have scoured a number of websites and poured a huge amount of time in finding good dubstep/electronica music and I can safely say I’ve listen to at least 1000 different electronic songs in the past 2 years. After all of those songs, Deadmau5 and his ability to write still amazes me, he truly is in a league of his own. For those who like this music, I hope you found a fun new song and for those who never listen to this stuff, give it a try and try to like it, it really has potential and isn’t garble.

Originality:8

Instruments:8

Vocals:---

Longevity:6

Red Score:7.3

Sometimes I Fail - Deadmau5

Best of the Basics

2006 EDM is vastly different from today’s music, it was still very new to the greater population, the beats and sounds would fall under house and general electronica. Daft Punk had released Human After All a year before and The Prodigy’s song “Omen” was still 3 years away. All this said, Deadmau5 came out with his album Get Scraped in 2006 and is a great showcase of talent and understanding/exploration of EDM music at the time. The song “Sometimes I Fail” doesn’t compare to well to our standards today, it honestly sounds like general background music to a youtube video or video game, but at the time it really was a great piece of work and still is alright for modern listening. The opening “Cool” discussion that continues through a few parts of the song are interesting and nicely used, most songs try this technique but don’t make the cut in the creativity department. The songs fast paced repetitive nature with the organ repeating chords keeps things lively, but lack any variation until the break down it has here and there. The most varied part is the drum section for sure, using a lot of different percussion parts to create a great beat. Joel does use a good number of different synth instruments to make a colorful song, but it reminds me of an omelet, the pieces alone aren’t bad at all, but all put together makes for a great piece to consume. He has come a very long way for sure, making creative leaps and developing a specific style first stemming from this album and songs like this.

Originality:7

Instrument:6

Vocals:7

Longevity:6

Red Score:6.5

Ice Age (deadmau5 Remix) - How To Destroy Angels

Treasures Among The Little Things

Today’s song will also be a remix, I know it isn’t originally done by Deadmau5, but his remix is unique enough that it deserves a spot here for the week. I’ll jump right into the song, first let’s check out that vocal part. Mariqueen Maandig Reznor has a soothing voice that may be a little too breathy at times, but is pretty good overall and nice to listen too. The lyrics are interesting and cryptic sounding (very poetic), but don’t convey any message easily seen by the listener. The instruments are easily the most interesting and complex part of the song. I honestly can’t name what half the noises are or where they come from, and after many times listening to it I still find the beat and semi-melodic parts to be refreshing. Various samples are taken from the original song and put to good use here as background beats and dustings of good solos. This will be a song that you’ll have to just experience on your own. I particularly love this song because of the general calm and cool nature of it. From years of club smashing albums, this song shows the sophistication Joel has grown into by creating such odd and beautiful works. The rest of the album While (1<2) as a whole is a great demonstration of his ability to create real music, not just repetitive beats and drops. Out of all the songs, I really hope you like this song and can see its value because of the purely original use of sample and bits throughout, I think it's awesome and so should you.

Remix:10

Instruments:9

Vocals:7

Longevity:8

Red Score:8.5

Some Chords (Dillon Francis Remix) - Deadmau5

Taking Strong Bass to the Next Level

Deadmau5 had been around for a few years dropping good hits often and when his major club mix album “4x4=12” debuted in 2010. It had a few notable songs and continued Deadmau5 on his progressive climb to EDM royalty. Some Chords was the first song of the album, it and the rest of the album got lots of praise for it’s depth and progressive power to be one beautiful continuous mix. The last song of the album is actually all the songs before it in one big track. With all this, we come to 2015 and the albums While (1<2) and 5 Years of Mau5 are coming out, the former being a new album and the latter being a compilation album of remixes and popular hits. So to kinda cover 4x4=12 and the newest release of Deadmau5, I decided to look at the remix of Some Chords by Dillon Francis that appeared on 5 Years of Mau5. Dillon uses a lot of the original song’s sample to create a different sound that will still remind the listener of the original while being unique. Dillon also pours a lot of dubstep sounds and adds heavy effects to certain samples and parts to make a surprisingly smart and original remix. The song also has a lot more melody and heavier drops than the original, which isn’t necessarily better, but just different. Most remixes and dubstep songs also will lack variety because of drops and a general lack of creativity from the writers, but I’d say that Dillon has outdone himself here and created a superbly varied and well made remix, easily in my top 10 remix list. The Some Chords from 4x4=12 is still better for sure, in replayability and creativity, so you should check it out to get a full understanding  and better appreciation of the remix.

Remix:9

Instruments:8

Vocals:---

Longevity:7

Red Score:8

Ghosts n Stuff - Deadmau5

The King Of Club Music

Born in Canada and growing up with music and working hard on his keyboard to make music in his teens, Joel Zimmerman had a knack for electronics. He got his stage name, Deadmau5, when his computer shut off and his father thought he smelled something burning and they decided to open up the computer. Once the cover was off, a fried dead mouse was found at the bottom. His friends soon began calling him “the dead mouse guy,” and then Joel shortened to “Deadmau5.” I could keep going on about Joel hit record company and other fame, but on to the actual song of the day. Ghosts n Stuff comes from his fourth album following the song Moar Ghosts n Stuff which beautifully uses similar samples to make perfectly complementary songs. Deadmau5 has never been a drums genius, but he knows what is good for his song, to help back them up so the synth parts can play wonderfully with a rich beat to back them up but they often fall short of being majorly creative. The rest of the song is then split into basically bass pads, the main sample that is shared with Moar Ghosts n Stuff and singing. Even with only these three parts, the song gushes with personality and power. The almost string-instrument-sounding sample shared between the songs is simple, singular notes moving at a moderate pace is surprisingly good and is never boring or annoying. The bass line is my favorite part of this song, its long hits aren’t too low in pitch, but do make the ground shake with a good subwoofer. The bass has enough personality to basically be the melody as the singing itself is (it does actually match up with the singing during the chorus). The bass part is actually also shared with the other song, but is farther flushed out in Ghosts n Stuff with other synths bass pads and fills in the gaps nicely (listen to both closely and you’ll hear it). Playing them back to back is the best way listen to them, is gives a sense of familiarity and completion. The vocalist, Rob Swire, is the lead singer of the British band Pendulum and part of the dubstep duo, Knife Party. The song is not much of a sing along, but he brings an extra boost to the song with his unique and perfect voice for club music. This song was one of the first EDM songs that pulled me into the genre, I couldn’t fathom the number of times of I have played this song over and over again. A fantastic song that is perfect for any party mix.

Originality:10

Instruments:9

Vocals:8

Longevity:9

Red Score:9

Odd May Out

May The Odd Be With You

Most songs follow a pattern; formula’s that are easy to copy and sound good. If A is the verse, B is the chorus and C is the bridge, it is pretty easy to make and find patterns in various songs. Most songs are A-B-A-B-C-B, rock and 90% of modern pop follow this pattern, while other genres seem to follow others. It is pretty easy to spot these patterns no matter what they are and find other songs that are similar. They aren’t bad at all, patterns are good, and the most of the best songs follow that 1st formula, but it is nice to hear something different. So I wanted to share a list of very original sounding songs, they are odd, different and strange at some points. They mix patterns and also use a lot of odd sounds and instruments that feel fresh and original. They aren’t perfect or even 100% original to be honest, but when you say, “think outside of the box,” these songs will take it out of the box and throw it as far from the box as possible. Let me know some of your weird songs in the comments and tell me what you think of the list! Talk to  you guys next week while I analyse Deadmau5 for our next artist of the week.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCHM1do5Vqw&list=PLcB3g-KqT0_5eKQNQVACw-i8JsqUWTBmU