budjibird's music reviews

It Will Rain - Bruno Mars

2011-10-24T07:59:00.000-07:00

It Will Rain by Bruno Mars is going to be one of the soundtracks used in the upcoming Breaking Dawn Part I movie, due to be released in November in Hong Kong.

Bruno Mars never ceases to amaze me with his vocal talent. His voice is particularly expressive, melancholic in this song. The part where he sings "Yet for you I'll try I'll try I'll try-y-y-y" was personally the best prominent feature of the song - it felt like he was expressing the pain and conflict of the lover who was telling his story, and the last word of the phrase made me think of the lover crying internally.

Again, due to personal taste, I felt that the music/instrumental was too noisy. Is there a necessity to include the strong beats in the song? The use of bass drums was nice element and added colour to the piece, although it was not featured prominently in the music, merely providing beats to the song. Somehow they reminded me of African drums, or some ethnic drum. Does anyone know what exactly the drums were, or that they were really simply bass drums?

I particularly loved the deceptive cadence used when he sang "Cause there'll be no sunlight/If I lose you baby" and "There'll be no clear skies/If I lose you baby". Despite having listened to the song many times already, I am amazed and caught by surprise every time when the deceptive cadence occurs instead of the anticipated cadence. And this is definitely what defined the song for me.

The lyrics, oh the lyrics. How can I possibly not talk about them? They are absolutely well-written in that Twilight readers will know the context of the lyrics, about the painful conflict Edward, an immortal vampire, has towards falling in love with a mortal, Bella.

The words "morphine", "sunlight" and phrases such as "keep in mind all the sacrifices I'm making", "your father won't even look me in the eye" will remind readers of what Twilight is about - "morphine" = is an allusion to how Edward considers Bella as his personal brand of heroin, as well as the drug used on Bella when she had to give birth to Renesmee; "sunlight" will remind us of the diamond-like shimmer when Edward steps out into sunlight, as well as Bella being the sun in his life; "keep in mind all the sacrifices I'm making" = Edward resisting the strong temptation to taste Bella's blood; "your father won't even look me in the eye" = the golden hue in the vampires eyes when they've just feasted on animals, which makes them different from ordinary humans.

Yet at the same time, the lyrics will also allow non-readers of Twilight, those who are going through similar experiences in relationships to relate to the song from a literary point of view. The use of the words mentioned above, ie "morphine" and "sunlight" create powerful imagery about the departure of a lover, the impact of the lover in another's life. A powerful line in the song, creating strong imagery personally, will have to be "Just like the clouds/My eyes will do the same/If you walk away/Everyday it will rain". I'm definitely thinking of the emoticon "T.T", as well as picturing two distinct clouds in the sky pouring rain.

The album art is very pretty and tasteful (see link at beginning of post). A simple black silhouette against golden orange yellow shapes dripping ink, with artsy "It Will Rain" text, as well as "Bruno Mars" at the bottom right. Simple yet effective.

Up till now, I still cannot figure out where this soundtrack will be used in the movie. When the movie ends? What do you guys think? :)

Peaches - New Heights

2011-10-09T04:05:00.000-07:00

Hello... Sorry for disappearing for like, more than half a year... Being caught up with schoolwork and out of town during the summer are probably aren't valid reasons, but can I use them? Pretty please?

I wrote some points about Peaches by New Heights, featuring Tony D'Angelo, two months ago, and I'm finally making the effort to write them points up.

It's written by New Heights, and from some of the comments I've seen posted about the song on their YouTube account, the song was written for one of their friends, who is called Peaches. Isn't it rather sweet and nice to have somebody write a song for you? I'd love that too. :)

I came across this song actually when I was reading a blog post about love and relationships. The moment I heard the song, I fell hard for it. The opening of the song, focusing mainly on the piano solo and an electronic guitar to strum notes to emphasize the bass, was simply captivating. It was a bittersweet emotion, at the same time unravelling the nostalgia of the song. The use of the electronic guitar here was just right and was different to most of the pop songs I usually listen to, where the guitar is usually part of the "hardcore" bassline of the song.

The role of the electronic guitar intensifies beginning 2:35 till the end. I have to say, I was a bit miffed and slightly disappointed. Sometimes, I feel that a pop song should be ripped of all electronic materials. Just go back to the basics, with minimal electric sounds. Then we can truly appreciate the purity and emotions conveyed in the music. The heavy strumming and statement of chords by the electronic guitar in this song is to provide a transition to a new section, but honestly speaking, it doesn't really add on to the song, and nor does it push the song to the climax.

An interesting thing that defined this song is a significantly long pause at 1:37. Whether it is intentional or not, it provides a different way of telling the audience that something significant is going to happen/they are moving on to a new section. There's also this element of surprise to the pause - the song suddenly stops, leaving the audience to hang around midair, wondering if the piece is finished. Although I think it is more of a rather roughly edited piece of the song, I have always wondered why New Heights never bothered to clean things up a little. Nevertheless, the rawness of the song created a more powerful impact in that it kind of connects the audience with the singers.

As for the vocals, there was really nothing special about the singers. Their voices were extremely mellow, monotone, gentle, and not the kind of expressive type such as Celine Dion or Bruno Mars. Initially, listeners might not be aware of this, because the entire atmosphere of the piece is plain, but after listening to the song a few times, you will realise that the singers are not that expressive in their singing. Instead, the song is heavily dependent on the instrumentals to develop the song.

Although I seem to be criticising the song a lot, it is still one of the songs I'm currently listening to frequently. Cute song name, beautiful introduction! ;)

"Start Again" - Sam Tsui

2011-02-06T03:41:00.000-08:00

Kurt and his pal Sam are back again with another song of their own!

Sadly, this song does not sound as great as their first song "Don't Want An Ending".

The beginning of "Start Again" has an electric pop to it, conveying this sense of one out of the earth and in outer space. A electrified sound that resembles that of an engine starting then comes in and takes us back to reality, which is when Sam's voice comes in.

What is disappointing is that his voice is comparatively softer than the vocals and instrumental accompaniment throughout the whole piece. The steady rhythm of drumming overwhelms and covers Sam's, preventing his voice from projecting out effectively. Sam's voice sounds rather flat in this song and at certain points sounds rather muffled and even too blended in with the chorus. I do not know if this was originally Sam's intentions, but I felt that this song did not exactly bring out the best of his voice. It seems that the balance between the vocalist's voice and instrumentals still needs to be improved, as when listening to the song using earphones, the instrumentals steer the attention of one's ear away from Sam's voice.

There is one thing I like about the song though - I loved the cadential point at 0:18-0:22, when Sam sings "They say it takes time, but you don't have to spend it alone". Instead of the imperfect cadence anticipated (since most pop songs usually employ that cadence to build anticipation and create a climax before plunging in to another verse or chorus), Sam decides to surprise his audience with a perfect cadence. It was rather delightful to listen to this cadence. I could not help but think of the term "word painting" (or known as "tone painting"), which is the "musical technique of music writing that reflects the literal meaning of a word, though I know this is not the accurate term to describe what is happening!

Another thing I noticed was how much the first impression of "Start Again" made me think of Bruno Mar's "Just The Way You Are" (although up till now after multiple listenings I still think "Start Again" resembles "Just The Way You Are"). Both begin with that atmospheric introduction with the use of that electric engine sound that brings us back to the song where the singers come in. Sam takes his time with the introduction but a lot seems to happen simultaneously, hence the impression of a faster pace. It is the opposite for Bruno's song. Nevertheless, the overall impressions of both songs are similar.

What do you think of Kurt and Sam's new song "Start Again"? Do you like it as much as their first original?

N.B. This song was written by Sam, produced by Kurt

Hello!

2011-02-01T05:36:00.000-08:00

Hello everybody!

This is budjibird from www.youtube.com/budjibird =)

I created this blog in hope that I can post some music reviews and, hopefully, even some comments on the videos I upload on my channel.

Looking forward to maintaining a regular contribution of song reviews!

budjibird