Hello everybody, and welcome to a very special post! This particular topic will cover one of my favorite Podcasts. I’ve been listening to podcasts for as long as I can remember, and always love the diverse subject that they go into. You can imagine my delight when I found out about this one! I discovered this gem when researching information about Kevin MacLeod’s music. He did a very in depth interview on how Kevin produces his Royalty-Free Music. The Podcast is simply titled Composer Quest: A Songwriting and Music Composition Podcast. This podcast covers a variety of musical topics from Royalty Free Music, to Slot Machine Music. The host of this podcast is Charlie McCarron, an incredibly talented Composer and Producer that lives in Minneapolis. From He has a very quirky personality, and vast knowledge of everything music. Every week, for four years (1/2/13-1/24/17, he interviewed a different composer about a different genre of music. He would give various composing tips, and explain the inner workings in a way that was easy to understand. There’s 177 episodes to choose from, so the possibilities are nearly endless. The best part is that all of the Podcasts are completely free, and easily accessible on his website, charliemccarron.com, and on iTunes. I highly recommend this Podcast, and will share my favorite episodes below. Final Rating: 10/10 (CHECK THIS OUT IMMEDIATELY!)
Slot Machine Composing
Kevin MacLeod, King of Royalty-Free Music
Cyriak’s Surrealist Music And Animation
Game Music so Sweet it’ll Make Your Teeth Hurt
Chiptune Composing With Ben Barnes
Eggs, Bacon, and Composer Wisdom from Rick Sowash
Schizophrenic Synthpop Storytelling with Felix Frost
Torley on Creativity, Asperger’s, and Music Production
Metal 101 with Devin Earlywine
How to write a pooping duck robot song with Matt Schubbe
Epic by Faith No More from the album The Real Thing (January 29, 1990) Genres: Rap metal, alternative metal, and funk metal. Song length: 4:54
This incredible song first came to my attention when I heard it at the One Up bar. I tried to Shazam the song, but I never could get the timing correct. A few months later, I hear the song again in James Franco’s film, The Disaster Artist. I finally find out the title of the song, and now listen to it on a daily basis. It is a very unique Metal song that has multiple genres built into it. Mike Patton’s impressive vocals reach six octaves, which is the highest range of any popular singer. Throughout the song, he impresses us with his amazing vocal styles, like crooning, rapping, falsetto, wailing, and growling. It resembles a lot of popular bands vocals like, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage Against The Machine, and The Beastie Boys. The song appears to be discussing an unknown entity that is only known as “it”. The lyrics “What is it?” continuously repeat through the song, and it almost seems like the band is going crazy trying to figure it out. The chorus is my favorite part of the song, and once it hooks you, you will not be able to get it out of your head. I believe that the song’s meaning can be interpreted in various ways, but I will discuss my thoughts on it. The title, “Epic”, may have to do with the huge variety of different styles in the piece, and how well they go together. I highly recommend this piece to absolutely everyone, and would love to hear what you think in the comments’ section below.
Danny Don’t You Know by Ninja Sex Party From the album “Cool Patrol” (to be released on August 17th, 2018) Genres: Comedy rock, Electronic, Synthpop.
Ninja Sex Party are a comedic music duo consisting of Game Grump, Danny “Sexbang” Avidan and Theoretic Physicist, Brian Wecht. They are known for creating some of the best and most catchy comedic music on the internet. The music video for this song features Finn Wolfhard, the voice of Mike Wheeler from Stranger Things. It also is probably my favorite NSP song with “6969” coming in second. The song is an epic retelling of Dan’s life story. It starts with him as a child, and gradually progresses to adulthood. The song is filled with charm, and the ending will give you chills! I highly recommend this piece to absolutely everyone, and I’d love to hear your opinions in the comments’ section below.
Hello fellow music lovers! It’s time to bring back one of my favorite topics. The Jukebox has been pretty empty for a while, and that needs to stop! Every Weekend, I’ll be posting more music. Now, let the epic tunes commence!
Zombie by Bad Wolves (2018) Genre: Rock From the album: “Disobey” Released May 11th, 2018
Bad Wolves is a Heavy Metal supergroup that’s comprised of many well known Metal musicians like Tommy Vext and Chris Cain. This piece is a cover of the Cranberries’ mega hit “Zombie”. It is also a heartfelt tribute to the passing of the Cranberries’ lead singer, Dolores O’ Riordan. The song takes on a more Metal feel with Doc Coyle’s heavy guitar riffs and John Boecklin’s excellent drumming. Then, we get to Tommy Vext’s vocals, and our jaws drop. His voice is hauntingly beautiful and gruff at the same time. You’d never expect a fearsome-looking dude with a body covered in tattoos to have such an amazing voice, but appearances aren’t always everything. I highly recommend this song, and would love to hear what you think of it in the comments’ section below.
This is going to be embarrassing! Hello everyone, and welcome to a very special post. In the past, I have shared many of my favorite songs on Asher’s Jukebox. This is an entirely different beast! I am going to get real personal on this post, and share some of my guilty pleasure song with you. These certain songs don’t have to be widely enjoyed by all, but they are ones that I enjoy for some reason or another. Now, let the cringe begin!
Scream & Shout (November 20th, 2012) by will.i.am and Britney Spears Genre: Dance-pop
Yes, I actually like a will.i.am song! The “mastermind” behind such hits as “Dirty Bit” and “Boom Boom Pow”. I think this song just works really well with both artists. The beat while repetitive, is extremely catchy, and will be in your head for days. The lyrics are complete crap, though, and you have to deal with Britney calling you a bitch for 4 minutes.
Penaby Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band From The Album (Trout Mask Replica June 16, 1969) Genres: Avant-garde, Blues, Experimental Rock, and Art Rock
Good old Captain Beefheart! This man’s life story is incredibly fascinating, and his music is extremely experimental. This particular album is praised by many, and even the Simpsons creator, Matt Groening, states it as his favorite album of all time. I got introduced to Beefheart after looking up strange footage of a video game called Fast and Bulbous. This track, Pena, is absolutely nuts with screamed vocals, abstract imagery, and the strangest musical composition I’ve ever heard. The instruments appear to be screaming at one another, and the time signatures are completely indecipherable. Well it might not be for everyone, I absolutely adore this piece. If you are a fan of Frank Zappa, you’ll love Captain Beefheart! Posted below is the song, as well as a great documentary on the man himself.
Hello fellow followers, and welcome to a very special post. I have reviewed many pieces of music in my time on WordPress, but this particular one has personal value to me. It not only sounds amazing, but it was created by my soul brother, Ben. He’s been going to the Berklee College of Music for the past three years, and I have yet to find a better College pianist. He’s currently studying Electronic Production. The name of the piece is Rainbow Avenue, and I will post a link below. The following is Ben’s own words:”Hi Asher, thanks so much for having me! Let’s jump right into it, shall we? The inspiration for this track surprisingly started off as a school project. To summarize the project briefly, we each had to create a ten second demo of different musical genres. One of the genres I decided to do, was Drum & Bass. I ended up liking what I did with it so much, that I decided to turn it into an actual song. It starts out with a simple, rhythmic pattern of chords. Using that foundation, I started to layer other elements on top of that. Then I brought in the drums to build up the hype, and then threw in the vocal chops here and there. During the drop, I decided to add a lead synth to play a melody line over the drums and chords, as well as using the vocal chops I used before. The first drop is eight bars long. After that, we go back to the original rhythmic pattern: as we go into the B Section of the piece. This section starts with a bunch of beautiful sounding broken chords layered with a sine wave. Then, you hear a bass playing in sixteenth notes as the kick and snare pattern of the drums slows way down. We have now entered the genre known as Vaporwave. After sixteen bars of this, the drums start to pick up, and you here a loud brass sound to signify drop number two. The second drop has a very Trap feel to it, because the drums are really slow, and you have only have one really heavy bass synth. The drums start to go back to the Drum & Bass feel as we go back into the first drop. We have eight more bars of drop number one, only this time, we have that lead synth playing an improvised solo. Towards the end of that solo, we start to hear a riser that peaks into silence. To end the song, we have just a solo piano playing for eight more bars, and on the last chord, we also hear a soothing exhaled breath, as everything fades into silence.”
Hello everyone! It’s time for me to bring back an old favorite! About a year ago, I jumped into the fascinating world of obscure music genres. I have always found this topic to be quite interesting with new genres added almost daily. Now, let’s dive into the most unique and weird genres that music has to offer!
Noise Rock Created: 1968 Prominent Bands: Melt-Banana, Metz, Big Black
Noise Rock is a Punk-inspired genre with large distortion levels, occasionally unintelligible vocals, sharp and intense sounds, and blindingly fast guitar riffs and strange lyrics. Many Japanese bands of this genre also started to rise in the early 60’s. While most of it is very painful to the ears, some is quite enjoyable like Sonic Youth and Velvet Underground.
Glitch Hop Created: 1997 Prominent Producers: Virtual Riot, Mr. Bill, GRiZ
Glitch Hop is a subgenre of Glitch that uses malfunctioning electronics and fusion of Hip Hop to create incredibly catchy, video game-inspired pieces. It’s also influenced by Dubstep and drum and bass. The pieces are usually played at 110 BPM.