Monday 12 October 2015

RESEARCH: Initial-Pitch


The final choice for my pitch is: Cabin Fever 'Mask' as this song was more upbeat, it has a strong bass line and the language in it was more appropriate than that of Rabbit hole. (Scroll down to "Indie Rock Mini Pitch" if "Inspiration for our music video" appears.). When we got to storyboarding stage for this music we found another song that we taught as a group would be better to use for our music video.

Monday 5 October 2015

Planning- Links to similar artists/ bands research (Trap music)

BAAUER

https://soundcloud.com/baauer


Harry Bauer Rodrigues, better known by his stage name, Baauer, is an American record producer of trap and bass music, best known for his hit song "Harlem Shake".


Individual Mini Pitch





'Now We're Princes' by Bible Code Sundays

This track is from a highly successful London based Celtic-rock band called 'Bible Code Sundays'. The name reflects the mild lunacy of the band, and is of no particular relevance, other than the fact that they are all Catholics ('Bible-Code') and regularly perform gigs on Sundays!

Coincidentally, my uncle (Andy), who plays button accordion in the band, wrote this song - 'Now We're Princes'. The song highlights the rise of the emigrant communities throughout British history, in particular the Irish emigrant community - concentrating on how they have gone from being marginalised in society to becoming one of the most vibrant cultures in Britain, particularly in London.  'Now We're Princes' is sung by the band's lead singer, Ronan MacManus, who is the younger brother of Declan MacManus (a.k.a. Elvis Costello).

The reason I feel that this song would be an appropriate suggestion for the group's mini pitch is because  it offers something original but at the same time contemporary. 


Planning- Research on Genre

Soul

Soul is a popular music genre that originated in the United States in the 1950s and early 1960s. It combines elements of African-American gospel music, rhythm and blues and jazz. Soul music became popular for dancing and listening in the United States.

Soul music dominated the U.S. R&B chart in the 1960s, and many recordings crossed over into the pop charts in the U.S., Britain and elsewhere. By 1968, the soul music genre had begun to splinter. Some soul artists developed funk music.

Soul has been a major influence on British popular music since the 1960s including bands of the British Invasion, most significantly The Beatles. There were a handful of significant British Blue-eyed soul acts, including Dusty Springfield and Tom Jones. American soul was extremely popular among some youth sub-cultures like the Northern soul and Modern soul movements, but a clear genre of British soul did not emerge until the 1980s when a number of artists including George Michael, Sade, Simply Red, Lisa Stansfield and Soul II Soul enjoyed commercial success

Electro

Records in the genre typically feature drum machines and heavy electronic sounds, usually without vocals, although if vocals are present they are delivered in a deadpan manner, often through electronic distortion such as vocoding and talkboxing. This is the main distinction between electro and previously prominent genres such as disco, in which the electronic sound was only part of the instrumentation.

New branches of electro have risen over the last couple of years. Florida has pioneered the "Electrocore" sound, started in the late 1990s by artists like Jackal & Hyde and Dynamix II and carried on to this day.

Electro Soul

It’s a sub-genre that is hard to label, hard to pinpoint the sound. It doesn’t receive a ton of mainstream attention, either. Yet, it carries a legion of dedicated fans.

With influences of classic rock, blues, hip-hop, soul, funk, disco and more, all intricately laced with thudding bass lines and cutting synths, ‘electro-soul’ represents a medium in which the old and new collide.


Today, electro-soul encompasses many artists. Forming out of the current EDM scene, it’s a sub-genre that uses the power and intensity of modern dance music with the emotional vibes and antiquated samples of previous musical genres. The “father” of this new genre is without a doubt, Derek Vincent Smith, better known as Pretty Lights.

Planning- Artist research (Trap music)

Trap music's following has expanded in the last 5 years, with followers making the move from EDM, Dubstep, Electro and House.

Trap Nation

With a following of 2.9 million subscribers on youtube, Trap nation has one of the biggest Trap music followings o the internet. With a combined total views of 525,015,124, it's 734th in video views and is the 355th most subscribed channel on youtube, so clearly has a huge following.

Of all its fellow channels such as 'House nation', 'Rap nation' and 'Bass nation'; Trap is the most subscribed and this further reiterates the pint of how popular the genre is.

The genre is growing and soundcloud offers gives a broad range of Trap which can be mixed with other genres.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCa10nxShhzNrCE1o2ZOPztg


ElastyBeats


Jens Swinkels- Netherlands (Unsigned)


A 15 year old producer who makes Trap and EDM Trap. His Soundcloud is predominantly made up of the Trap genre- with a total of 1,766 views on his Trap music.


https://soundcloud.com/elastybeats

The song i've chosen to represent and want to use for our music video is called B0NGB0NG 

https://soundcloud.com/elastybeats/elasty-bongbong

The song comes under EDM/ Trap- Electronic Dance music/ Trap- and so would fit the current popular genre of EDM at this point in time. Dance music is very big at the moment, and there are many videos which do not involve any sining, and the music video works very well, therefore i believe we would be capable of making a music video for this song.

The song has a nice drop- which replaces a chorus in a song- and would be highly appreciated at this point in time in the music scene. 

Bare in mind this song was created by him when he was 14. We can appreciate his talent for music at such a young age, in such a genre which would usually be done by DJs between the ages of 18-30.

Planing- research (Trap music)

Trap music is a genre that is starting to gain quite a bit of momentum through the ever growing sub-genres of dance music culture. Although this new found hype towards trap music, or EDM Trap Music as some may call it, has recently emerged, there is a history behind the origin of the Trap genre that is all but new.

The percussion samples of choice when making trap music are usually originate from the Roland TR-808 Drum Machine.  

When speaking of the “originators” in the trap music game, southern rappers like Waka Flocka Flame, Gucci Mane, Young Jeezy, Three 6 Mafia, and Manny Fresh come to mind. As well as some of the iconic trap music producers like Lex Luger, Zaytoven, and up and comer Young Chop.


However, the new “trap music movement” or “EDM Trap” genre that is evolving has seen the use of techno, dub, and dutch house like sounds incorporated with the inclusion of the original Roland TR-808 drum samples and vocal samples used by the originators. A number of stylistic offshoots of trap developed, which in the latter half of 2012 gained a rise in viral popularity and made a noticeable impact on dance music.
To simply break it down, Trap music would be best described as a combination of:
1/3 hip hop (tempo and song structure are similar, most tracks are usually between 70 -110 bpm) – with vocals sometimes pitched down
1/3 Dance Music  – High pitched Dutch synth work, Hardstyle sampling, as well as a plethora of trap remixed of popular EDM songs
1/3 dub (Low frequency focus and strong emphasis on repetitiveness throughout a song)

Genre Research - Rock








Where did 'rock music' come from?


Rock music - a form of popular music which evolved from rock and roll and pop music during the mid and late 1960s. Harsher and often self-consciously more serious than its predecessors, it was initially characterized by musical experimentation and drug-related or anti-establishment lyrics.



Rock music originated in USA in the 1950's, and developed into a range of different styles in the 1960's and later, in the UK and US.


It has its roots in the 1940's and 50's rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by blues, rhythm and blues and country music. Rock music also drew strongly on a number of other genres such as electric blues and folk, and incorporated influences from jazz, classical and other musical sources.


What instruments are typically used in rock music?





Musically, rock has centred on the electric guitar, usually has part of a rock group with electric bass guitar and drums. Other instruments include acoustic guitar, piano/keyboards, electric violin.













What themes are prevalent in rock music?


Typically, rock is song-based music usually with a 4/4 time signature using a verse-chorus form, but the genre has become extremely diverse. Like pop music, lyrics often express love, but also address a wide variety of political/social messages. The dominance of male white musicians has been seen as one of the key factors in shaping the themes explored in rock music. Rock music places a higher degree of emphasis on musicianship, live performance, and an ideology of authenticity than pop music.


What impact has rock music had on society?






In the 50's and 60's, British youths adopted the 'Teddy Boy' and 'Rocker' subcultures, which revolved around US rock and roll. The counterculture of the 1960's was closely associated with psychedelic rock. The mid-1970's punk subculture began in the US, but it was given a distinctive look by British designer Vivienne Westwood, a look which spread worldwide. On the punk scene, the 'Goth' and 'Emo' subcultures grew, both of which represented distinctive visual styles.

Rock music has also been at the centre of charitable events, for example 'BandAid', which is the work of Bob Geldof, helped raise money to help impoverished people in Ethiopia and other parts of Africa. This presented rock music in a positive light, and its power to highlight global issues.