Christmas Sounds

Few genres evoke such mixed reactions as Christmas songs. Whether this is caused by the actual quality of the songs or the fact that people have heard Mariah Carey and Wham! one too many times I'll leave for you to answer. In any case I wanted to use this week's blog to present several different Christmas alternatives sorted by genre. Enjoy, and have a very merry Christmas!

A capella

eSNa                                 Silent Night & O Holy Night medley

Home Free                        Grandma Got Runover By A Reindeer

Pentatonix                         God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen & Coldest Winter

Electronic/House

Clean Bandit                      Christmas Special

Major Lazer                       ChristmasTrees

Aquadrop & Big Fish        Creepy Christmas

KiWi                                  The Christmas Party

Instrumental

Ryuichi Sakamoto            Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence

The Piano Guys                Angels We HaveHeard on High

Tina Guo                           Deck the Halls

J-Pop/K-Pop

Namie Amuro                   White Light

SEKAI NO OWARI          Silent Night

JeA                                    Winter, It's You

lol                                       xmaskiss

Rock

Twisted Sister                   Silver Bells

Elle Zamudio                    What Child is This

Soul

Sharon Jones                    Ain't No Chimneys in the Projects & White Christmas

Weekly Sounds Christmas Playlist

Neo soul: Selah Sue

Not all music featured on this site I discover by myself, sometimes I get some help. Such was the case with Selah Sue, a Belgian Neo soul singer, suggested to me by a roommate at work.

Neo soul is a fusion genre of soul music blended with several other styles. This can clearly be heard on Selah Sue's 2011 eponymous debut album. Raggamuffin contains some reggae influences (luckily for me not too much... I'm not a big reggae fan), while Crazy Vibes features a more blues-oriented sound. On the other hand This World is a more traditional soul song with what I call the 'James Bond chord scheme' (start listening at 46 seconds in and you'll know what I mean).

It took her some time, but in 2015 Sue released her second album called Reason. This second album features more electronic influences compared to the first album as showcased by the slightly electropoppy Alone and Fear Nothing, which has a slowed down trip hop beat. My favourite song of the album however is the title track Reason. The arpeggiated synthesizer lines combined with the hip hop beat and Sue's unique sound make it a very hypnotising track.

Recently Selah announced that she's pregnant with her first child, so it will probably take some time for her to release new music.

Other favourites:    Fade Away, I Won't Go For More and 

                               Bang Bang (a collaboration with DJ Fresh & Diplo)

For more songs visit Selah Sue's Official YouTube Channel.

Electronic: Clean Bandit

Chances are you've already heard of Clean Bandit. The British electronic group scored a major worldwide hit in 2014 with their song Rather Be. But let's back up a little to 2010, the year that the group unofficially released their first single. The song, Mozart's House, is quite a minimalistic electronic song but features parts of Mozart's String Quartet No. 21 in D major, creating a unique blend of styles. Follow-up songs Telephone Banking and A&E continued this trend. The latter one by the way starts with a beautiful chorale by Bach called O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden.

All through 2014 Clean Bandit kept collaborating with different vocalists while still maintaining their string-heavy sound. Slowly but steadily however the minimal electronic sound started to shift more towards house music. Songs like Extraordinary and Come Over are still pretty catchy but Real Love and Stronger are a bit too poppy for my taste. Earlier this year however the group released Tears, which is again a brilliant song where strings and beat are seamlessly merged.

Clean Bandit's latest song (featuring Sean Paul & Anne-Marie) is called Rockabye and probably one of my favourite songs of the year.

Other favourites: UK Shanty, Dust Clears and Heart on Fire

Check out more songs and remixes on the Clean Bandit official YouTube channel.

K-Pop: Mamamoo

The K-Pop business, like most pop scenes, moves quickly. Tens of new groups debut every year with some disappearing before even officially debuting. One of the groups that thankfully hasn't disappeared yet is Mamamoo.

The group, consisting of members Hwasa, Moonbyul, Solar and Wheein, debuted in 2014 with the song Mr. Ambiguous. The retro jazzy sound and ditto music video immediately set the group apart from other Korean girl groups performing at that time. The jazzy pop sound was even more pronounced in Pianoman which, as the name suggests, features a very cool piano line. After Ahh Oop!, a collaboration with fellow singer eSNa, the group started to get a more funky sound as can be heard in Um Oh Ay Yeh (who thought of these song titles? XD). By the start of 2016 Mamamoo had become a well known name in the K-Pop scene. This however doesn't mean that the group relaxed, quite the opposite actually. They released 10 songs with accompanying videos last year. Among these are ballads (My Hometown and Angel), a hip hop track (Taller Than You) and of course catchy pop songs (You're the Best and New York). All of these are great and fun songs to listen to. Their latest hit Décalcomanie has a visually stunning video clip but the song itself starts to sound dangerously generic. I hope that Mamamoo doesn't stray too far from the jazzy sound that hooked me in.

Other favourites: Don't Be Happy, Girl Crush and Woo Hoo

Check out more videos on Mamamoo's Official YouTube Channel. 

Soul: Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings

When I first discovered Sharon Jones and her band, the Dap-Kings, some years ago I thought I was listening to some old recordings. Their music sounded exactly like the type of soul you would expect to originate from the 1970's, but as it turned out it wasn't. The song I was listening to Give Me A Reason was actually recorded and released in 2010.

The music style of Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings can be seen as a renewal and mixture of soul and funk music. Some songs like When I Come Home and People Don't Get What They Deserve lean more towards the funk side, featuring groovy bass lines. Giving Up and It Hurts To Be Alone on the other hand are more soulful tracks with moody brass parts. What I like the most about this type of music is that it feels old and familiar, but never outdated. I guess that's what we call 'timeless'.

Recently the group gained some main-stream interest when their song 100 Days, 100 Nights was featured on the Netflix show Luke Cage. Unfortunately in 2013 Sharon was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and after several years of chemotherapy she died last week, only aged 60. 

But in her own words: I'm Still Here.

Other favourites: This Land Is Your Land, Goldfinger and Little Boys With Shiny Toys.

For more videos check out this playlist on the Daptone Records YouTube Channel.

Trap: Yellow Claw

Trap music is a relative new genre that has gained popularity quickly. Although its roots can be traced back to 1990's southern hip hop it wasn't until the early 2010's that it started to get some mainstream attention. One of the most well known trap DJs of course is Diplo, part of Major Lazer and Jack Ü, and known for hits like Lean On and Believer. However there's a Dutch producer group which might be less known but is just as influential in the trap-scene: Yellow Claw.

Trap music is characterised by deep bass kicks and fast hi-hats usually combined with raw synthesizer melodies. The first songs of Yellow Claw I heard, Shotgun and Till It Hurts, both have this traditional sound. However as their popularity grew the group started to diversify their sound. In the song Wild Mustang (featuring Becky G) for instance, they show a much more poppy sound, while in In My Room they lean more towards hip hop.

In 2014 Yellow Claw created their own record label called 'Barong Family' and started signing young talented artists. Latest addition to the label is 17-year old Chinese composer Chace. Their collaborative song Stranger can perhaps better be classified as tropical house, but since it's currently one of my favourite songs I couldn't resist mentioning it.

Other favourites: Thunder, Techno and Invitation

For more videos check out Yellow Claw's Official YouTube Channel.

Indie pop: Skylar Grey

The first time I heard of Skylar Grey was in 2010 as a featured artist on the song Coming Home by Diddy-Dirty Money. A great hip hop song and probably still one of my favourites of 2010. 
It wasn't until two years later that I heard Skylar's first solo song C'mon Let Me Ride. It's a catchy song that makes fun of the sexualisation in the music industry. But although I like it very much it's not really representative for Grey's style. Take for instance Final Warning and White Suburban, which both come from the same album but have a more modest arrangement and are darker in tone.

A signature sound which Skylar often uses can be clearly heard in her collaboration with Travis Barker (Back From The Dead) and the more recent and beautiful Come Up For Air. Both of these songs prominently feature the drum part, only accompanied by some minor additional instruments. This is something that I, being a drummer myself, can really appreciate.

Last month she released her latest album called Natural Causes. The album features several great songs, like Kill For You (again a collaboration with Eminem) and Lemonade. My favourite song of the album at the moment however is Moving Mountains. It's a very plain song, just Skylar and her guitar. Normally I don't care much for this type of song, but this one's got me hooked.

Other favourites: Wear Me Out, Coming Home Pt. II and Cannonball

Check out Skylar Grey's Official YouTube channel for more videos.

J-Rock: Wagakki Band

I can hear you think 'no, please not another Japanese Rock band, don't you have anything else to show us?' but trust me, this one's different.

What separates Wagakki Band from other rock and visual kei bands is described by their name. Wagakki (和楽器) literally means: traditional Japanese musical instruments. So besides the regular rock instruments the band features a shamisen (three-stringed instrument comparable to a banjo), a koto (13-stringed instrument, a bit similar to a harp) a shakuhachi (a bamboo flute) and taiko drums. These traditional instruments accompanied by the unique voice of singer Yuko give the band a very distinct and recognizable 'Japanese' sound.

The band started out in 2013 doing covers of vocaloid songs (songs made using voice synthesizer software) like Roku Chounento Ichiya and Tengaku. Their breakthrough came with the song Senbonzakura which currently has almost 50 million views on YouTube. Their music videos are always highly entertaining and make you feel like you're watching a Japanese action movie. In Ikusa for instance they are battling each other while in Akatsukino Ito they have to defeat a dragon.

Although it took me some time to get used to the singers voice I'm now a huge fan of her sound. Wagakki Band's last album already dates from a year ago so I'm patiently waiting for a new album of traditional Japanese epicness.

Other favourites: Hangekino Yaiba, Hanabi and Strong Fate

Watch more videos on their original and official YouTube channels.

A cappella pop: Pentatonix

The human voice is just another instrument, that's how I see it. Whether a melody is performed by a guitar, a flute or a voice, it's all the same to me. In the case of A Cappella music this fact is taken to the next level since all parts of the song are solely made up by the human voice. Percussion, bass, melody and harmonies are all created by the singers' vocal cords. One of the absolute best groups in this style is Pentatonix.

Pentatonix started out in 2011 and participated in the a cappella talent show 'The Sing-Off', which they won. After winning the show they started to regularly upload a cappella covers of existing songs to YouTube of which Somebody That I Used To Know is one of their most watched videos. As their popularity grew they also started to make original songs like Sing, and even went on a world tour.

This however doesn't mean that they've quit their YouTube activities. Once in a while for instance the group releases an Evolution of... video. Evolution of Music, Beyoncé, and Michael Jackson are all equally impressive.

Last but not least Pentatonix also likes to sing Christmas songs. Now I know it's still October at the time of writing, but nevertheless I urge you to check out the absolute extraordinary Carol of the Bells and The First Noel which are some of my all time favourite renditions.

Other favourites: Thrift Shop, Problem and Perfume Medley.

Check out their Official YouTube Channel for more videos.

Symphonic Metal: Epica

I was introduced to symphonic metal in 2007 by my dad. At the time it came as quite the shock to me since up until then I'd never hear my father listen to rock music, let alone metal. But after hearing the music for the first time it all started to the make sense. The music combines the traditional metal instruments like electric guitars and heavy drums with classical instruments like strings and brass. The way in which melodies and harmonies are build up and the combination of choirs with a (usually) female lead singer give the feel of an operatic piece. My father was hooked, and so was I.

My favourite symphonic metal band is the Dutch band Epica (for whatever reason we Dutch are great at making symphonic metal). Although the band already exists since 2002 it wasn't until 2009 that I discovered their music with the songs Unleashed and Martyr of the Free Word. Especially that last one excellently showcases the duality between the animalistic grunting of Mark Jansen and the almost heavenly sounding voice of Simone Simons. A voice that is also expressed nicely in the band's more calmer songs like Solitary Ground and This is the Time.

Last month the band released its latest album titled: The Holographic Principle. It's an album in which they've again outdone themselves with epic songs (pun intended)  like Universal Death Squad and Edge of the Blade.

Other favourites: Never Enough, The Essence of Silence and Unchain Utopia.

Check out their Official YouTube Channel for more videos.

K-Rap: Jay Park

As I've mentioned in an earlier post I discovered K-Pop in 2009. Since I'm also a big hip hop fan you might assume that I therefore also dove right into K-Rap. However at that time hip hop wasn't very popular in Korea, making it difficult to find on YouTube. It wasn't until 2012, with the start of 'Show Me the Money' (a kind of Idols, but with rappers i.o. singers), that hip hop gained some traction. One of the first Korean rappers I discovered, and still one of my favourites, is Jay Park.

Born in the US Jay Park decided to come to Korea in 2005 to become singer in a boyband. However only a year after debuting in 2008 with his group '2PM' he decided to leave the group. Probably not pleasant for him at the time, but a fortunate event for hip hop fans around the world, since this meant that Jay could focus on hip hop instead of generic pop songs.

The first song I heard of Jay was the raw hip hop song 1HUNNIT which is a collaboration with fellow rapper Dok2. This song sounds very different from the more recent On It which has a more classic hip hop sound to it. In addition to hip hop he also has several nice R&B tracks like Solo and Aquaman. In 2013 Jay started his own record label: AOMG. Label mates LOCO and Ugly Duck regularly make appearances in his works as seen in NaNa and the NSFW Mommae. For those of you who still aren't convinced: Fire, dancers and dope beats, cause there Ain't No Party Like an AOMG Party.

Other favourites: My Last, Worldwide and Me Like Yuh.

Check out Jay Park's Official YouTube channel for more videos.

Electronica: C2C

Sometimes finding a new artist is just a lucky coincidence. This was the case when I discovered the song Aracades by the group C2C, which just happened to be the first video to be displayed when I opened video website Vimeo a couple of years ago.
C2C is a group formed by the four french DJs: Atom, pFeL, 20Syl and Greem, all proficient in the art of turntablism. As the name implies the art involves the use of turntables, though not in the usual way of 'just playing music'. In turntablism the DJ makes use of scratching, crossfading and looping to transform the turntable into a music instrument of its own. The resulting songs are however not as chaotic as you might think.

Take for instance the slightly Daft Punk sounding DownThe Road. In this song the harmonica part is heavily affected by the scratching, but in my opinion this only enhances the part, making it more exciting to listen to, while still sounding smooth.

So far C2C has only released one album called Tetra, from which almost all songs are equally impressive, including: Delta, F·U·Y·A, Happy and The Beat. 
The guys mainly focus on live performances, which is great of course for fans who want to see them perform, but less so for the fans (like me) who are eagerly awaiting new songs.

Check out C2C's Official YouTube Channel for more songs and remixes.

Rock/Jazz/J-Pop: Ringo Sheena

Because of my recent visit to Japan I thought it would be a nice opportunity to talk about a Japanese artist again. This time I've chosen Ringo Sheena. As you can see from the title of this post I had some trouble defining the genre in which Ringo makes her music. Unlike the previously mentioned Koda Kumi, Ringo does not really sing typical J-Pop songs. More often than not her songs are a mix of rock, punk and jazz with a pinch of electronica.

The multitalented singer started out in 1998 with songs still very focused on rock (e.g. Queen of Kabuki-cho). In the early 2000s however she started to make more funky/jazz sounding songs like Chastity at Midnight. When I first discovered Ringo somewhere in 2009 I really had to get used to her, let's say 'unique', voice. Over time however I became more used to it and even started to appreciate the distinctive sound. What kept me hooked all these years however was mostly the amazing arrangements she makes. From the jazzy ones like Season and her collaborations with jazz band SOIL&"PIMP"SESSIONS (e.g. MY FOOLISH HEART～crazy on earth～) to the larger orchestrated pieces like The Leading Hitter and Carnation. And from the electronica influenced Detecting Love (awesome music video by the way) to the more rocking CollateralDamage. Every song she makes has an uniqueness to it which gets me excited every time she releases a new one.

Other favourites: Close Shave Assassin, APPLE, It Was You and A Long andShort Festival

Check out more of her songs on her Official YouTube Channel.

Metalcore: Killswitch Engage

Sometimes I'm in the mood to relax, but sometimes I need the complete opposite: loud energetic music with shredding guitars and fast double-bass drum rhythms. One of the go-to genres at times like those is metalcore. The first metalcore band I discovered was Killswitch Engage when I encountered their song My Curse in a videogame.

The thing that I love most about this music is the contrast between the loud parts (screaming/grunting, rhythmic guitar) and the more melodic parts (both singing- and guitar-wise). I find contrast in a song the best way to keep me engaged (pun not intended). When no or hardly any contrast exists within a song, for instance between the verse and chorus, I start to get bored after 1.5-2 minutes. With metalcore however your ears get bombarded with the loud parts, after which they have time to recuperate during the 'quieter' parts before the next loud part hits. It's similar to the quiet parts in horror movies when everything seems peaceful just before the evil strikes. This contrast I think makes both parts more enjoyable. But let me stop here before I start to get too philosophical. Try to listen to their songs, keeping what I wrote in mind, and maybe you'll start appreciating their music as well.

Other favourites: Starting Over, Holy Diver and In Due Time

Check out more songs on their Official YouTube Channel

Mandopop: Jolin Tsai

It's funny how most of the products we buy and use on a daily basis are produced in China while none of the music we listen to is. Of course their large internal market makes it less necessary to promote their music abroad, making it difficult to find. Luckily everything can be found on YouTube and thus, a couple of years ago, I came across Jolin Tsai. Jolin is a Mandopop singer (pop music sung in Mandarin) born in Taiwan and arguably one of the bestselling female singers in the Greater China Region. The first music videos of Jolin I stumbled upon were Mr.Q and Agent J, dating from 2006 and 2007 respectively. Both pop songs were catchy enough for me to become a fan of Jolin. Since then Jolin has improved and diversified her sound more. Her latest album Play was released in 2014. Besides the upbeat title song Play it also features ballads like The ThirdPerson And I and even a collaboration with J-Pop singer Namie Amuro in I'm Not Yours. Lately she's been busy doing other things besides music like being a voice-actress in the Disney movie Zootopia. Work on her new album has been scheduled to start in the second half of 2016.

Other favourites: The Great Artist, Spying On You Behind The Fence and Lip Reading.

Watch more of her videos on her Official YouTube Channel

Soul: Andreya Triana

Many of the artists I discuss on this blog are usually famous, maybe not worldwide but at least somewhere in the world. This however is not the case for British singer Andreya Triana with modest YouTube views (in the 100,000's). I first heard Andreya in a videogame called Sleeping Dogs, where she was featured on the radio station Ninja Tune with her single Lost Where I Belong. Whenever the song would play I'd stop doing whatever it was I was doing in the game and just listened. Her music is very soulful and relaxing to listen to and her tone is slightly comparable to Amy Winehouse albeit less raw-sounding. During her time at record label Ninja Tune she released several singles including A TownCalled Obsolete and The Keeper, a collaboration with label mate Bonobo. In 2014 she signed with Counter Records where she released her album Giants in 2015 featuring singles That's Alright With Me and Playing With Fire. This latest album's sound is a bit more poppy compared to her earlier work, but still very enjoyable and deserving of more recognition than she is getting now.

Check out more songs on the Ninja Tune and VEVO YouTube Channels.

Contemporary Classical: Two Steps From Hell

I'm willing to bet that everybody reading this blog has at least once in their live unconsciously heard a song from Two Steps From Hell (TSFH). How do I know? Well, let me counter that question with one of my own. Have you ever seen a trailer for: Harry Potter, Star Trek, The Dark Knight, The Avengers, Pirates of the Caribbean or Narnia? Or have you played games like Resident Evil or Mass Effect? Or maybe you love television series like: Breaking Bad, Doctor Who, Game of Thrones or Sherlock. Or maybe you're a sports fan and watched the UEFA European Championship or London Olympics. If you recognize any of these, you've heard the music of TSFH.

I however discovered their existence through a hardcore remix of their song Strength of a Thousand Men performed by DJ Korsakoff: Unconquered.

TSFH was founded by composers Thomas Bergersen and Nick Phoenix and together they've composed music for over 1,000 major movie trailers. Their compositions are performed by classical orchestras (including additional instruments like electric guitars), choirs and solo vocalists, sometimes mixed with electronic elements. Besides heavy bombastic drum-filled works (e.g. Sky Titans) they also produce more serene almost heavenly music (e.g. Benedictus).

Because they've produced so many diverse songs it's impossible for me to give you a good representation of their work. All I  can do is encourage you to visit their YouTube channel on which they've uploaded almost all their compositions and discover them for yourself.

Other favourites: Heart of Courage, Birth of a Hero & Winterspell

Comedy Hip Hop: The Lonely Island

One of the reasons I started this blog was to introduce you, the reader, to music genres that normally don't get much airplay or attention on the radio. Ironically the first time I heard of The Lonely Island was actually on my everyday radio station. At first glance the played song sounded like a regular hip hop song but out of the blue I clearly heard a description of the movie Pirates of the Caribbean, followed by Forrest Gump and Scarface. It was one of the funniest hip hop songs I'd heard so upon my arrival back home I started a search for the artist of the song Jack Sparrow.

The Lonely Island consists of the three comedians Akiva Schaffer, Andy Samberg and Jorma Taccone who have all written for the comedy sketch show Saturday Night Live, which is where they created some of their first successful songs. Because of their connection to SNL they've been able to work with lots of famous singers like: Akon, Nicki Minaj, Justin Timberlake, Rihanna, Lady Gaga and Pharrell. Recently The Lonely Island wrote, directed, produced and starred in their first movie called Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, which is  a parody on music documentaries. Of course they also made all the music for the movie which includes singles I'm So Humble, and the slightly more daring Finest Girl (Bin Laden Song). Obviously their songs are parodies and shouldn't be taken too seriously.

Check out their Official YouTube Channel for more songs and sketches.

J-Pop: Koda Kumi

In the summer of 2009 (as mentioned before) I decided to do a YouTube search for Japanese music. I had just seen a rerun of Fast and Furious Tokyo Drift on TV and became interested in the music. One of the first hits to pop up in the YouTube search for "J-Pop" was Juicy, by Koda Kumi. I liked the video, for obvious reasons, and decided to delve further into this artist. What I found was probably the most diverse Japanese singer of the past decade, and I became an instant fan. Kumi started out in December 2000 with her first single Take Back, not a great song but you have to start somewhere. After that she released around 20 singles and 4 albums before she really broke trough in 2005/06 when she started the 'ero-kakkoii' trend as shown for instance in Candy or the more recent Pink Spider. Ero-kakkoii which translates into 'sexy cool' can be seen as the opposite of the in Japan popular 'ero kawaii' sexy cute, although Kumi has also mastered this latter one, as shown in Lovely. Besides the sexy and cute concepts Kumi has a third distinct song style; love ballads (see Yearn for You). As I said she's a diverse and well rounded singer, something I've experienced myself when I attended one of her 2014 concerts during my internship in Tokyo.

In total Kumi has released 57 singles and 12 albums, of which 8 have reached the #1 chart position in Japan. Last year she celebrated her 15 years in the music business and, luckily for me, she doesn't show signs of stopping anytime soon.

Other favourites:             Cute: Lick Me, Superstar and Everyday

                                        Sexy/Cool: Crazy 4 U, Taboo, and POP DIVA

                                        Ballad: Fate, I Love and Only You

Check out more of her songs on the avex trax YouTube channel.

Glam Metal: Black Veil Brides

Several years ago I was very much into pro wrestling (everybody has their crazy periods right?!). Every week I'd watch the muscular guys and busty girls put on their best performances to gain title belts or end rivalries. Besides these weekly shows once in a while there would be a larger show where story lines were ended or started, so called Pay-Per-Views. As the name implies these shows need to be paid for to watch, therefore the WWE always started promoting these events well in advance to maximize the amount of viewers willing to pay. Thus the same promos would be aired week after week, of course accompanied by a captivating song. For their Hell in a Cell 2012 PPV the WWE used the song In the End by Black Veil Brides. I hadn't heard of the band before but this song made me an instant fan of theirs. The beginning of the song consisting of strings and a choir, later joined by the guitar and drums, hooked me right in. As you can probably guess from watching their early music videos like Perfect Weapon, the band was highly inspired by glam metal acts of the 1980s like Kiss and Mötley Crüe. Lately however they've stopped using the face paint in favour of a more serious look, as can be seen in Goodbye Agony. The band is currently in the process of writing a new album although no release date has been announced yet.

Other favourites: Legacy, Revelation and Heart of Fire

For more videos check out the bands YouTube VEVO channel.

Electro Swing: ProleteR

In an earlier post I described my fondness of jazz music. And although I love it very much, sometimes I'm just in the mood for something with a bit more beat to it. Luckily for me some British and French producers felt the same, and in the late 90's early 00's started to mix the classical jazz and swing music with house or hip hop beats. At first the style did not attract a lot of attention, but by the 2010's thanks to YouTube mixes, the genre became popular and got its name: Electro Swing. One of the most famous electro swing songs is arguably We No Speak Americano from Yolanda Be Cool which became a number 1 hit in 35 countries.

In this post however I want to highlight a French producer called ProleteR.

ProleteR started out in 2011 and adds a laid-back hip hop beat and fresh bass lines to a song, making sure it swings again in this day and age. Some songs, like Hello, Dolly!, only get some minor touch ups. Others, like Not Afraid, get some more extensive editing. His collaborations with rapper Taskrok, like Throw It Back, are also definitely worth a listen.

Other favourites: April Showers, Red Soap and No Place I Can Go

Check more of ProleteR's songs on his official YouTube channel.

Latin Pop: Anitta

Since tonight the Euro 2016 finals will be played between Portugal and France it seemed appropriate to highlight an artist from one of these countries. Given that I already showcased a French singer in an earlier post I decided to pick a Portuguese artist today. The only problem is that my vast music collection does not contain any Portuguese artists.

Fortunately I've got the next best thing; a Brazilian artist (they speak Portuguese, so close enough...).

Anitta debuted in 2013 but only gained some attention in her own country Brazil, Spain, Portugal and Argentina. Her big breakthrough came with the release of Bang, which currently has over 200 million views on YouTube. This was also the first video I saw of Anitta. In the beginning I was a bit sceptical of it since the video clearly focused on other 'features' besides her singing. But later that week I still couldn't get the song out of my head, so I decided to check out other songs of her. Many of her songs are happy and upbeat while some, like her most recent single Cravo e Canela, have a more slow R&B beat. I would describe them as perfect summer songs.

Other favourite songs: Deixa Ele Sofrer, Essa Mina É Louca, and Volta Amor.

For more songs, check out her YouTube channel.

K-Pop: BoA

The summer of 2009 was a great time for me, musically. I had just graduated high school and had plenty of time to roam the internet looking for new music. One of the genres I discovered that summer was K-Pop. At that time Korean pop music was just starting to get more popular globally, a phenomenon known as the Korean Wave (or Hallyu). And riding that wave was Boa Kwon, simply known as BoA. Although the singer already debuted in 2000 at age 14 and became a major star in both Korea and Japan, it was not until 2008 that she released her first English singles. It was one of these songs, Energetic, that caught my eye. Admittedly it is probably not her best song but I was hooked regardless (I cannot exclude her looks played a part as well :p). The States however didn't work out for BoA so she returned to Japan where she released Bump Bump!! and has been releasing music from there and Korea ever since. Her most recent single is called No Matter What and was released last month. It has a cool house-beat and seems perfect for the time of the year.

Other personal favourites: Hurricane Venus, The Shadow & Kiss My Lips

Check out more songs at her YouTube playlist.

Hardstyle: Defqon.1

Almost to the day four years ago I was on the bus driving home to my parents house. As we were about to enter the small town of Biddinghuizen I started to notice several traffic signs indicating the way to Defqon.1 At this time I had never heard of Defqon, I only knew of DEFCON (defence readiness condition of the US) thanks to several action-movies, but I figured this event had nothing to do with military strategy. That night however I was about to find out what Defqon.1 was all about. Bass... lots of bass.

Defqon.1 is one of the largest music festivals known for the harder electronic styles like: Hardcore, Rave, Frenchcore and Hardstyle, and attracts 55,000 visitors from all over the world.

Since my bedroom window is less than 4 km from the event an (un)favourable wind sends all the bass sounds right in.

Even though that night I got a bit less sleep than I was hoping for I became very interested in what lured all these people to our small village. By the time I ended watching the 25 minute Endshow video on YouTube I knew. The nice melodies, dreamy vocals and hard kicks created an atmosphere unlike any I'd heard before. I became hooked instantly. Especially the anthem of that edition World Of Madness is to date still one of my favourite hardstyle songs.

Other favourites:

               Brennan Heart & JonathanMendelsohn - Imaginary

               Da Tweekaz ft. Ghost Wars - RanAway

               Noisecontrollers & BassModulators - Solar

Visual Kei: Versailles

If you look at the picture above you might think that these people are impersonating their favourite Final Fantasy characters. This is however the normal getup of Visual Kei band Versailles. Visual Kei (ヴィジュアル系) is a Japanese genre that is characterized by its looks: fancy costumes, crazy hair styles and lots of make-up resulting sometimes in rather androgynous characters. The genre first started to appear in the early 1980s and can be compared to the western Glam Rock. Although many Visual Kei bands like Versailles play metal music, some bands focus more on an electronic sound.

The first song of Versailles I ever heard was perhaps one of their most famous songs, called The Revenant Choir. I was hooked instantly, the elaborate drum parts, Kamijo's almost opera sounding voice and of course Hizaki's awesome guitar solos. That guy really knows how to play the guitar. Yes, you read that right the person with the long blond hair and nice dress is actually a dude. It took some time for me to find out as well. After releasing four albums Versailles decided to disband in 2012. Kamijo started as a solo artist while the remaining four members went on to form the band Jupiter. And although both released some nice songs, none were at the same level as that awesome first song.

Other songs:

               Versailles:           Philia, Truth

               Kamijo:               Lion of the Dark Night

               Jupiter :               Arcadia, Topaz

Jazz: Tony Bennet and ???

On a warm summer evening one of my favourite ways to relax is by pouring myself a nice cold drink (alcohol is optional) and put on some sweet jazz music. Bear in mind though that I'm not talking about some experimental form of jazz, which can be interesting in its own way, but can hardly be called relaxing. No I am talking about the real jazz standards, the ones composed in the 1930s and popularized in the '40s, '50s and '60s by stars like Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole and many others. The swing jazz from this era was the most popular style during these decades and therefore also known as 'traditional pop music'. The rise in popularity of rock music however meant that jazz would disappear more to the background. To this day many of the jazz standards are still covered, by singers like Michael Bublé. There are nevertheless some artist who simply cannot quit singing. Recently Tony Bennett, contemporary of Sinatra and currently 89 years old, recorded a new album collaborating with a female singer. You might wonder who this legend picked as his musical partner in crime. Whoever you had in mind, I am pretty sure you weren't imagining Lady Gaga. Apparently Gaga once sang a few jazz standards at a gala Bennett was attending. Bennett liked this so much that he asked Gaga to sing a duet with him. She agreed and they ended up making a full album together. They might seem like an odd couple but their sound turned out great. Some of my favourite songs on the album include: But Beautiful, Anything Goes and It Don'tMean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing). 

Country Rap: Yelawolf

When people think of hip hop they usually think of East Coast hip hop (Nas, Puff Daddy, Jay-Z) or West Coast hip hop (Tupac, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg) but tend to forget about Southern hip hop. As the name implies, this genre of hip hop is made in the southern part of the United States with Atlanta being at its centre, producing artists like Ludacris, T.I. and 2 Chainz. The artist I want to talk about however comes from the more suburban Gadsden (Alabama): Yelawolf. Yelawolf's country roots are clearly noticeable in many of his songs, both musically and lyrically. I particularly like Till It's Gone, a song that perfectly captures the muggy atmosphere of the southern swamps. Yelawolf's Alabama origin also becomes apparent in the more upbeat party song Let's Roll, in which the chorus is performed by Kid Rock. In the more country-pop sounding American You Yelawolf sings the chorus himself, something that not many rappers attempt. Last but not least I'd like to mention Best Friend which features Eminem. I'm a big fan of Eminem and this collaboration, which is kind off obvious since Yelawolf is signed to Shady Records, is pure gold.
For more songs check out Yelawolf's VEVO channel on YouTube.

Future Bass: Snail's House

Defining a music genre can be a tricky job. Producers and artists are continuously trying to improve their music and experiment by mixing different styles. Especially in electronic music, borders can become vague. However when enough people start to use similar sounds and rhythms, eventually a pattern emerges which can then be named. So what happens if you take the hip hop influenced beats from trap music and mix them with the high-pitched sounds used in chiptune? You get future bass! Even though future bass is often quite upbeat, it still manages to give a relaxing feeling, while the addition of samples and electronic sounds keeps it from getting boring. One of my favourites at the moment is First Love by Snail's House. I discovered this song on the Tasty Network YouTube channel, which, by the way, is an excellent channel that promotes all kinds of electronic music. Other nice songs are Innocent by Cole Sipe and Monody by TheFatRat.

For more future bass tracks, check this YouTube playlist from Tasty Network.

Kawaii Metal: BABYMETAL

Besides music I have a second passion, Japan. I became interested in Japan several years ago and during my internship in Tokyo in 2014 I fell in love with the country. A big part of Japanese culture is formed by kawaii (かわいい), which translates best into 'cute' or 'adorable'. You can find this kawaii influence everywhere; from public transport mascots to clothing and of course in music. Lots of Japanese singers and groups incorporate kawaii into their songs and performances resulting most of the times in sugar coated sweet pop tunes. Even though I was aware of this phenomena I was still surprised to discover BABYMETAL. As the name implies this group, consisting of Suzuka (18), Yui (16) and Moa (16) makes metal music. However the shredding guitar riffs and rocking drumbeats are accompanied by happy J-Pop melodies and kawaii dancing. The whole show seems so absurd that you might think that these girls will never make it big outside Japan... think again. Their song Gimme chocolate!! gained massive attention and has currently over 50 million views on YouTube.

Starting with a big concert in the Wembley Arena in London BABYMETAL is currently touring all across Europe and the United States and have even appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

Their latest album METAL RESISTANCE has just been released and features the single KARATE. Visit their official YouTube channel for more music.