Monday, August 27, 2012

Song of the Week

Rapturous Cacophony's first song of the week is "Spectrum" by one of my favorite artists in the EDM scene, Zedd. Zedd was actually the very first artist that really got me into EDM (for those of you who are abbreviationally uninformed that stands for electronic dance music) with his remix of Skrillex's song "Weekends!!!" I'll post that here just because. Give it a listen if you like.

Weekends!!! (Zedd Remix) by Skrillex on Grooveshark

The reason I chose "Spectrum" (listen below) as the song of the week is because it has been stuck in my head and I've been singing the lyrics to myself for days. It's an amazing song. The reasons I like it are:

  • The singer's (Matthew Koma's) voice. The accentuation of his words is interesting to listen to. He also has a bit of grain underlying his voice when he sings in a higher range, which makes it pleasing to listen to, and in the normal ranges it is very smooth. Don't think anyone could have pulled this off the way he did.
  • The way it is arranged. This is why I came to love Zedd in the first place. He has all these different synths going all over the place so it never gets boring. And even though it repeats things, it actually throws in something different there to catch your interest.
  • Progression of rhythm. I love how the beat starts out as singular and taplike, and then at just the right time in the song (in a synth solo and on an off beat, which is even better) an accompanying second beat comes in and completes the rhythm. Solid.
  • All the different synths. High stingers, midtones and then rougher, basslike ones blending together smoothly with trance hits and pads coming in every once in a while. Makes it exciting!


If you liked the song (or alternatively didn't) you may also enjoy the acoustic version of the song (personally, I like both, but whatever takes your cake). It's only about two minutes long and consists only of the singer and a piano. It's beautiful if you ask me. The singing is different (a lot more emotional) and the piano compliments it perfectly.



LLM

Sunday, August 26, 2012

The Introduction

Welcome to Rapturous Cacophony.

This is, from this point forward, a music blog by Ben Q Hardy.
That's me.

Other writers may in the future may be chosen based on demand and upon my own personal evaluation of their ability to post consistently and provide meaningful input on things music-related. But for now, here I am!

This blog was created for and came to be because of music, and will be updated and harbored for the pure love of it.

The posts on this blog will be categorized into four different parts:

  1. Highlights/recommendations from my own personal music library.
  2. Reviews of reader suggestions.
  3. General thoughts/feelings/rantings about music.
  4. Song of the week.
As pertaining to #2, from this moment on I will take music suggestions (please send them to my email, scrumptiously@gmail.com, comment it on a post here, or if you are a Facebook friend message it to me). Anything goes. Albums, EP's, single songs...in any genre and any length. I only ask one thing, and that is that it must be appropriate. Please do not suggest anything with language, sexual references or anything of that nature. However, if it is something mild (one line in the song, a single cuss), please warn me about it beforehand so I know to avoid that part of the song. Just use common sense.

I will take whatever suggestions I get, however I will let you all know what genres I tend to prefer.
  • Most genres of electronic (electro, house, some dubstep, trance, etc.)
  • Alternative rock 
  • Soundtrack
LLM