Some Music I've Been Listening To

In the past month or two, I've forgone my usual YouTube Music habits to listen to a lot of stuff I've found on Bandcamp. This post is to mention a few of them. (also don't expect this to be a regular thing. I'm not a music nerd.)

Love Solfege

Solfege is apparently a musical term. I don't have any interest in a music degree, so I'll skip on trying to understand it (and hope I never have to pronounce it).

Their bandcamp page describes them as a "musical unit" with a focus on a fusion of classical, rock, pop, and R&B. I first found them through their instrumental album utaou 3 - probably from the main Bandcamp page. It's the kind of music my friends would probably describe as "anime openings" or "hey, what's this from?". It reminds me of Rusty Hearts, but more opera and less metal.

I'm going to save up some money and buy the entire discography with the bulk discount.

Aurelio Voltaire's The Black Labyrinth / Requiem for the Goblin King

Unlike Love Solfege, I've known about Voltaire for a long time. I pre-ordered this album and listened to it while frying cookies before Christmas. I really liked it the first time around. Now I listen to it over half the times that I'm driving.

There's so many "bangers" on this album: "Little White Lies", "I Laugh (in the Face of Death)", "Better Than You", "Keep on Moving", "Oubliette", etc... The only one I debateably don't like is "Kill the Beast" but that's only because the opening is a bit jarring for me after "What Will We Do?".

I even ordered the physical disk and signed poster - a first for me regarding any music-related thing. Anyway, I love it.

rachie

Okay, this one I haven't listened to as much recently but I want to talk about anyway. I don't know a lot about the singer here - I think she's a vtuber? Or a youtube personality? And I think everything I've heard from here is a translated cover of some sort. In any case, I heard "Just a Sunny Day for You" and something about it clicked. I think there's extra emotion in her singing that I don't hear often in that of others'. ("Hitchcock" from that same album and "Vampire" from her YouTube are also incredible.)

Belle and Sebastian - Late Developers

This one is definitely from the Bandcamp front page. (but listen on youtube since the full thing isn't freely available on BC) It reminds me of the music my dad and I would listen to in the car when I was younger. I think. It certainly reminds me of something and I like whatever that something is. I'll probably listen to their other stuff at some point too.

BlackY's Beatfloor / Diverse System

This one is pretty far removed from the pop music of B&S - more piano and dubstep. Diverse System seems like the publisher, and BlackY seems to be the actual artist. I group them together because a lot of BlackY's music is on the Diverse System bandcamp page in addition to his own, but I end up listening to the DS page more.

My specific link-pick for them is Collapsar from AD:PIANO ff/pp. Where I find a lot of "dubstep classical" is just bass/techno laid overtop piano or other instruments, I think this is a great example of the opposite. The two sides play off one another like they're dancing. I think the best example is around 1:45 as the music slows, then builds up and does a "drop" into dueling pianos except there's only one piano that's emerged victorious above all other pianos.

Vulfpeck

Another tonal dissonance: Vulfpeck's Schvitz is super laid-back. So is their live show in Madison Square Garden (that you can and should watch on YouTube). I don't listen to a lot of funk, but I do want to listen to more Vulfpeck. Nothing but good vibes on this one.