Artist Spotlight: fun.

Last.fm / Website

fun. is an indie pop band from New York. So far, they only have one album out, but they have confirmed another is in the works. I really like their use of stringed instruments in many of their songs, which also fits Nate Ruess's amazing voice. His vocals are strong with a good range. I found out about fun. through Panic! at the Disco and their joint single done with fun., 'C'mon' - which is probably one of my most favourite songs by both bands. Such lovely vocals from both Brendon and Nate. Highly recommended.

Artist Spotlight: Blackbird Blackbird

Summer Heart cover

Last.fm / Website / BandCamp 

Blackbird Blackbird is a chillwave artist hailing from San Francisco. It is the project of Mikey Maramag, a Filipino-American that began in 2010. Like many chillwave artists, Blackbird Blackbird releases his music via Bandcamp, where he constantly updates with new music.

     Blackbird Blackbird was my first experience with chillwave, and I loved it from the first moment. His work sounds a bit like ambient, but with a much more happy feel to it. Highly recommended.

Genre-Intro: Chillwave

Chillwave is a sub-genre of electronica that features a "heavy use of effects processing, synthesizers, looping, sampling, and heavily filtered vocals with simple melodic lines." I have also come across someone that referred to chillwave as "shoegaze for electronic artists," so you can take that as you please with regards to defining the genre.

List of Chillwave artists (as I discover them):
-Blackbird Blackbird
-CFCF
-The Parasails
-Washed Out

Genres, Sub-genres, Sub-sub-genres, Oh My!

Despite this being a music-information blog, I know very little when it comes to categorizing different artists under the ever-growing list of musical genres there are. The dictionary definition of a genre is "a class or category of artistic endeavor having a particular form, content, technique, or the like." Of course this basic definition is meant to be applied to literature and art, as well as music, so it may not encompass what exactly genre means to music.
     I find it especially difficult to categorize genres when it comes to electronic music. You can have ambient, chiptune, techno, trance, electronica. And within those there may be drone music, nintendocore, acid techno, euro-trance, chillwave, glitch, and idm. But this is what I love about the music world - the constant blending of sounds, styles, and techniques that creates even more music that we all can enjoy.
     In creating this blog, I also hope to gain a better knowledge of the idea of genres and be better able to identify certain artists as a part of certain genres. So cheers to all who are on this journey of discovery with me!