Archive for the 'genres' CategoryPage 25 of 25

Wizard Rock and Eggnog Martinis

Fusion. Ah, the refreshing creations born of outside-the-box-thinking and unlikely combinations. You know, like eggnog martinis or sloshball….And, um, all the ones that don’t involve alcohol.

I find new musical genres created through fusion or experimentation to be particularly exciting. Traditional categories like rock, pop, classical, etc are so….yawn. Bring on the Crust Punk and the Swamp Blues!

You’ve got the instant classics like: Reggaeton – “the mix of dancehall reggae, hip hop, salsa, cumbia and other Caribbean beats”, and Nerdcore – a “largely white subgenre of hip-hop that celebrates the solitary pleasures of science fiction, computers and bad teenage movies”.

Here are a couple newcomers: Wizard Rock – featuring bands like “Harry and the Potters”, and Yiddish Rap – Yiddish cover songs of…50 cent? So wrong yet so right.

Seems like mashups are popping up everywhere these days. From musical styles to web applications. Guess that’s what happens when you encourage open collaboration and sharing between people, huh? 🙂

Go music 2.0! And, well, everything else 2.0 too.

Rock + Arabic + Jazz = Razz

It’s all about evolving music. When you remove the shackles of big labels and constraints of mainstream media and give musicians and artists the freedom they deserve, real creativity begins to emerge, unlikely collaborations spring up, and people actually dare to be different. Hell, whole new genres begin to evolve! Take ‘Razz‘ for example. That is, Rock Arabic Jazz. Razz.

I was born into a family of old-school (think Dixieland and Big Band) jazz musicians, bombarded by rock and alternative (yay flannels) in junior high and high school, and then oddly enough spent most of my when-napster-was-free days in college downloading Arabic songs. I was kind of obsessed. But hey, for a white girl, I can sing (ok, hum) along to sooo many of the songs they play in hookah bars.

Hearing elements of Rock, Arabic, and Jazz music woven together with considerable artistry is delicious. Mix the haunting melodies and unique instrumentals of Arabic music, the beat and drive of rock, and the improvisational twists and turns and sweet harmonies of jazz and holy crap! You’ve got quite a match. Whether you dig this guy’s music or not, it’s hard not to appreciate the art.

Aziz Maraka is a shining example of how music in general – and genres specifically – will continue to evolve. As the world becomes increasingly more interconnected and culturally aware (with a few obvious exceptions in our current administration), the tech-savvy, fearless, and innovative pioneers of today’s young(ish) generations will continue to revolutionize the way music is made.

Web 2.0 will forever change the face of music and I, for one, plan to be sitting in the front row to watch it happen.

If That's What You're Into

Alright, for those that haven’t seen it, Flight of the Conchords is one of the funniest shows on TV in quite some time. It’s an HBO show based on the live musical performances of two chaps from New Zealand. It mixes and matches Steve Carrell‘s Office type deadpan humor with musical parodies. It’s outrageous. This weekend they aired one of my favorite new songs, and I thought I’d post it here for all to enjoy. So, enjoy already! (Due to copyright laws and other things that our generation generally doesn’t care about, we must only post the link to the video on YouTube here, rather than embedding it. Sorry folks.)