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Music Ratings

What Counts as a Platinum Album in the Age of Digital Downloads?

  It’s More Complex Than You Think. And it gets interesting. Traditionally, albums achieve platinum when they sell a million records. But few people buy albums today. Few people buy music in general.    With digital downloads ubiquitous today, what meaning do platinum and gold have? And do they still have a purpose in today’s music world?    Well, it turns out that these questions are more complicated than they seem.     RIAA and the Expanding History of Music Certifications    What is the RIAA?    It’s the Recording…
Score: 1.17

The 10 Most Underrated Overlooked Hip-Hop Rap Albums of the 2010s

In a landscape where hip-hop has been under the shadow of Drake, Kendrick, Migos, and Kanye, it is very easy to forget the hundreds of talented acts that left a mark on the genre and culture.   Many of the artists on this list also run around the lines of sex, guns, and drugs but it's in the way they deliver it that set them apart from the mumble rappers of the 2010s. Likewise, some of the albums also include artists who fit that "woke" label that feel more genuine than their mainstream…
Score: 1.1
Singing

Hitting That High Note: A Guide To Finding Your Singing Voice

            Do cats shriek and run and hide when you sing? Does it sound like nails on a chalkboard when you use your voice? Or do your notes roll smoothly like vocal poetry? Whether you are a new singer or can read music effortlessly, I am going to help you to find your singing voice and teach you about musical notes.    Musical Notes             The way to look at music is just imagining it like words from a book. The only difference is the symbols represent the pitch, the speed, and the rhythm of…
Score: 1.24
New Music 2020

January 2020 Listen List - The Ones You Might Want to Avoid

by CFC123

Periodically over the course of the new year, we will produce two lists to highlight a few of each month's new albums. This list spans multiple genres, with each album ordered best to worst – the first list is the former, the second is the latter. Now presenting, with 50 total albums on both lists, the Ones You Might Want to Avoid - - -   ⭐⭐ Pretty Decent / Recommended to Genre Fans Only Alice Boman – Dream On Alice Boman is part of the “melancholic indie singer/songwriter” genre that has…
Score: 1.21

January 2020 Listen List - The Ones You Can't Miss

by CFC123

Periodically over the course of the new year, we will produce two lists to highlight a few of each month's new albums. This list spans multiple genres, with each album ordered best to worst – the first list is the former, the second is the latter. Of the 50 albums in both lists, these are the Ones You Can't Miss - - -    🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 Stellar    Bill Fay – Countless Braches An absolutely gorgeous album, despite the songwriter’s age and distance from his previous work. The music has a unified mood, but each…
Score: 1.11

The 2020 New Music Mega-List!

by CFC123

All the new music fans out there miss going to concerts and listening with our friends. Check out this list to listen to all the critically acclaimed albums so far this year! 2020 has already had some excellent new releases, so don't sleep on anything below!  Don't get out of the loop, folks! Keep up-to-date on all the new records and artists out there, and keep an eye out for updates and additions. There's still great new music coming out every week, so don't miss out!    🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 Top-Notch!    Dua Lipa…
Score: 1.03
Music Theory

Compositional Complexity in Technical Death Metal

by CFC123

INTRODUCTION  Outside of the realm of radio airplay and mass consumption, metal bands struggle to distinguish themselves while subjected to ever-shifting standards set by short-lived trends. All groups with media presence seem to have something to prove, and Florida native Chuck Schuldiner was no exception. When denounced by the other members of his band Death, Schuldiner arrived at a creative waypoint; he knew that he wanted something cleaner, and to “move forward musically.”  In 1991, Death…
Score: 1.22
New Music

The Joys of Music Exploration – Diving into the “New Arrivals” Deep End

by CFC123

As a teenager, discovering music is the best feeling in the world. I think most people transition through their influences the same way I did – first your parents, then your friends, then yourself. Graduating to that last step can be a challenge, but knowing the right sources opens doors to incredible musical possibilities you may never have considered.    With Spotify algorithms and radio services like Pandora, finding music is quicker than ever. Once you select or listen to something you like…
Score: 1.01
Music Reviews

Best Summer Zoom Hangout Albums

by CFC123

Meet up with friends over Zoom and enjoy some of the best music of the 2000s, for gatherings of any occasion! Find your favorite genres and styles below, match the vibe, and let these great records spin. With a little something for everyone, check out the list below and let your tastes be heard!      I'm all about the classic HIP-HOP sound, both from the old guys and the modern greats. I've heard all the best out there, and I want my rappers to be......brash and cocky   Jay-Z – American Gangster     …
Score: 1.07
Boy Bands

The BTS Phenomenon

“Kim Namjoon! Kim Seokjin! Min Yoongi! Jung Hoseok! Park Jimin! Kim Taehyung! Jeon Jungkook! BTS! Kim Namjoon! Kim Seokjin! Min Yoongi! Jung Hoseok! Park Jimin! Kim Taehyung! Jeon Jungkook! BTS!”  Words that once were foreign to me, I now know to be all 7 names of the Korean pop sensation chanted before nearly every song by one of the largest fan bases I have ever witnessed. After attending their concert in Fort Worth, TX with my little sister for her birthday, I realized that there was much I…
Score: 1.1
Film Music

Why Are Disney Songs So Catchy - How Disney Songs Hijack Your Brain?

    We’ve all heard them, and they get stuck in all our heads. But why? Why is it that Disney can seemingly create earworms?  Though there’s no such thing as a Disney formula, today we’re going to get close to one. And best of all, this theory is not one that I’ve hacked together to try to show something new and inventive. Not at all.  I stumbled upon everything you’re about to read.  About two months ago, I was asked to do a medley of several popular Disney songs. I ran into a problem.        One of the keys of…
Score: 1.65

How the Rogue One Title Music Loses The Essence of "Star Wars"

by nick

      It’s been just over two years since Rogue One was released, and it is one of the best regarded Star Wars movies of the Disney era. Yet despite its success, it has one major flaw.    The title sequence music.    Though Michael Giacchino did an excellent job to differentiate this Star Wars spinoff’s music from the other scores, the way he redoes the Main Theme in this title sequence makes the music not “Star Wars”. Furthermore, there is a particular reason why I say that. Because while he only makes a…
Score: 1.42

How John Williams Creates Emotion

by nick

    “It’s almost cheating when you have John Williams…he writes feelings”   —JJ Abrams, Force Awakens Director (source)   Amongst the film music circle, it’s very well known that John Williams writes emotion better than most (if not all) composers in the film industry.  Whereas Hans Zimmer writes “sound worlds” and Michael Giacchino writes based off an essential chord, John Williams writes the emotional underpinning of the scene.  So this series of posts is going to explain the main three ways that he…
Score: 1.37
Micro-Genres

15 Hot Music Genres You'll Be Thrilled To Discover

15 Hot Music Genres You'll Be Thrilled To Discover      Those of you who've only followed the Present Author for the past couple years may be surprised to learn that I used to write about music. No, really, a lot. It's been a while since I wallowed in the discovery of new bands.    What I'd like to do for the world this Christmas is illuminate some little-known, niche music micro-genres. Most of them are new, some of them only established after the fact or experiencing a retro revival, all of them are…
Score: 1.22
Music Science

4 Popular Misconceptions About Music That You Probably Don’t Know

    1. You always know what you hear  Unless you are tone-deaf, you can tell when a note is played higher or lower than other.  Or can you…  Like there are optical illusions, there are also auditory illusions (and I do exploit them as a composer).  One of the most important concepts in music theory is the harmonic series. Essentially, whenever you speak or make a sound, there is the fundamental pitch that you hear as well as many pitches above that pitch resonating that the same time. These other pitches…
Score: 1.5