Album Review: “Epochal” by Matias Bacoñsky

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As promised I am back with another album review, but this is a tiny bit different.

You see, I was asked to check this release out and I am still wondering why I agreed because I had been asked over and over in the past two months to listen to this person or that and I always said “no” to them. Despite wanting to come back to doing more music reviews, I just don’t want another pop or indie artist. I want someone that creates music that I am truly interested in and right now, the genre is cinematic or epic music. So, that’s why I ended up agreeing to listen to Matias’s work with “Epochal” and I hope you all will enjoy what comes forth in this post.

Who is Matias Bacoñsky? Well he is an Argentinian pianist and composer for one. He has three other albums under his belt, so if you’re not exactly into this style of music, you should check out: “When The World Ends,” “Straight From The Heart,” and “Life and Death.” For this album, Epochal he is doing something unique, he was inspired to create a full on symphonic metal type of work with the addition of using a choir and has some electronical elements here and there too. Matias was lucky enough to work with two top singers in the symphonic metal world and they are: Marina La Torroaca of Exit Eden and Zuberoa Azarnez from Diabulus In Musica. So, now that I have grabbed your attention, let’s get into the songs, shall we?

We start with a great title, “New Dawn” and I like it when you begin an album on the right foot–no disability pun intended there!–and this was certainly a soft introduction as far as temple and overall sound. It had a mild earthily tone to it and I really enjoyed the pictures it allowed me to create in my mind. Next up is, “The Immortal” and as much as I wanted something very explosive, I liked the gentle build to that space I was originally hoping for, and it was somewhat subtle but again I enjoyed it. I loved the little breakthrough in the middle as I imagined myself bursting through something and flying around in the sky like a fairy. For a person who hasn’t paid that much attention to The Hobbit films, that’s all I kept seeing in my brain were images of elves and greenery!

Third in line is “A Second Chance” and no, that is not a typo! On this track, I thoroughly loved it because I thought you could hear the piano a lot easier without any other elements going on, but it was somewhat short lived because more and more things started to happen and the entire song built into a happier note. I thought the choir in the background was a tad bit much as it brought the vibe down into this mysterious atmosphere,, but it wasn’t too bad though! We move on to, “Reason To Believe” and even though we hadn’t made it too far in the album, I stopped trying to guess what each song would sound like because I was already one out of four. Anyways, I definitely sensed a shift with this track that we’d move on to the more serious take and I didn’t know if it was intentional but it was a simple turn of events.

“Breakdown” was next and it was the track featuring one of the guest artists. Zuberoa Aznarez of Diabulus In Música. I have dabbled through DIM’s music in the past but I was curious as to what Zuberoa would bring to the table. Her vocals are absolutely beautiful and soothing. She has a deeper sound to her voice and it is really powerful and yet quiet up against the piano and various bells in the background. She’s not really singing anything, I mean there are no words but you can certainly feel her presence on this song and it was very lovely! After completing that one, we have “Light On The Horizon” and it didn’t take me very long to make my overall judgements because I knew everything was perfect from the moment it begun. It was hauntingly mystic and I just couldn’t get enough of it honestly! There’s not much else I can say about it so we’re going to continue on with the list.

Our next track is called “Ambivalence” and this was another one that I noticed had a different take to it, although for me, it didn’t happen until the middle of the song but it started out with this slow almost icy way about it and then with the addition of the choir, everything became heightened and darkened at the same time. It was interesting because I wasn’t really feeling it as it began but once that door opened, my thoughts changed and so it was an odd one for me. We are nearing the end of the line and with the eighth spot, “Tree Of Life” was so pretty! I love trees in general, their way of ever growing below in the roots or up towards the sky. They are older than anyone of us, so I thought this was just gorgeous! I kept seeing the evolution of trees throughout the different seasons plus many, many shades of green too.

Next we have, “All In Vain” and despite telling myself to not judge on what it could sound like, the first words after looking at the title were “uh oh” so I was mentally prepared in case this one brought out my emotions a little bit. It did, but not in the way I expected it so that was good! The bells are notable and I have grown to appreciate them just as much as Matias’s piano skills! And finally, there’s “You” with Marina La Torraca of Exit Eden. From the moment it started, it was slightly dark and Marina’s voice is definitely higher and has a petite appeal to them so it lightens up everything and it was a fantastic finish to the whole thing. Normally, I would like to go off with a bang and thought it was different but strong at the same time.

As much as I adore music like this, unfortunately, I don’t listen to it like my heavy metal and pop records. I really thought it was enjoyable! I can definitely say without a doubt, “Light On The Horizon” is my ultimate favorite track. All of the songs were beautiful in their own ways but this really captured my heart and clearly hasn’t let it go yet and I am perfectly fine with it!

Have you listened to “Epochal” by Matias Bacoñsky yet? If you have, what were your thoughts on it? Do you have any favorites from the track list?

February Playlist

Howdy!

It is time for this month’s playlist and I am SO excited because I felt like this was such a big time for music! I did a lot of discovering new music and reading for February, and I actually enjoyed being able to multitask like this! I would go back and forth between wanting to read my books as you’ve probably seen with all of my reviews lately, but music has played a big part of it too!

This month’s playlist on Spotify is gigantic! I mean, I’m not really surprised but I wasn’t expecting the actual  number to be lower than 200! As I am writing this post, the amount of songs included is: 139!

I am definitely bringing back listing my Top 25 songs for this! I feel like I would have a difficult time making it smaller, so it’ll just make things easier on me so I can add all of my favorites.

Good In Goodbye by Madison Beer
Mambo by Nikki Vianna
Reckless by Yellow Claw x Fatman Scoop
Light It Up by UNSECRET featuring Manafest
Someone New by Astrid S
Gotta Make It by Trey Songz featuring Twista
Moves Like Jagger by Maroon 5 featuring Christina Aguilera
Hi Bitch by Bhad Bhabie
So Thick by WHIPPED CREAM featuring Baby Goth
Noise by Nightwish
React by The Pussycat Dolls
Medusa by Jhay Cortez with Anuel AA & J Balvin
No Good by Ally Brooke
Supernova by Within Temptation
Billie Jean by The Civil Wars
Do Or Die by Amaranthe featuring Angela Gossow
Have You Ever Been In Love? XYLO
Out Of The Mind by Lawless with MXMS
A Thousand Years by Jasmine Thompson
Not About Angels by Jasmine Thompson
16 Shots by Steffion Don
I Do!! by Toya
Fuego by DJ Snake featuring Sean Paul, Anitta, & Tainy
Mirage by Nextro

As I mentioned above, I did a lot of reading this month too. How are you about music playing in the background while you clean or read? I honestly enjoy listening to instrumentals; it is my go-to every time. However, lately I’ve been wanting something different, because sometimes whenever I have instrumental music going on, it can make me want to go to sleep. For two days in a row, I used Spotify’s playlist called “Arabic Trap”. I love trap music but with very little vocals. There is another one I like to use and it’s called “Ethnic Trap” and this has both Indian and Arabic trap music included. I don’t use it very often, but since I feel like I have listened to all of the tracks in the first one, I may have to switch them around.

I know I haven’t done any music reviews lately, but that doesn’t mean I’m not checking them out though! I’ve heard Major Lazer’s new EP “Soca Storm” and Krewella’s new album “zer0” so far. I have three others left and I’ll try to get to them soon!

What have you been listening to for February? Do you have a favorite album and/or song?

snowflake

Album Review: “Cinematic Songs Vol. 5” by Tommee Profitt

45278525_2277694908938411_4769028606263296000_nWe’re back with another batch of cinematic songs by record producer Tommee Profitt! I was so excited to hear that we would be getting another album, especially the fact that it would come out the day after my birthday! Unfortunately, I had to wait over two weeks to finally listen to it because I’ve had some issues lately, but it’s only added the fuel to the fire that I need to listen and review this for all of us!

If you’ve never listened to a Tommee Profitt cinematic volume before, he usually has close to 12-13 songs in some type of epic sound. So, you might have these powerful, in your face tracks that everybody seems to go for immediately, but he’s also started to come out of his shell and experiment with other genres and tempos too. The majority of them with independent, based in Nashville artists of various genres. For this one, we have six “veterans” coming back for this collection along with a few newcomers too. Tommee also likes to include a couple of instrumentals to the layout as well and I think it always give the album an edge to the whole thing.

The first track we have is “Heroes Rise” and it has Sam Tinnesz on it. I really love Sam’s soulful voice against these hefty beats. For this, I really like the slow build to the whole song. Despite having a strong ending, it’s actually pretty gentle and will inspire your inner fighter to come alive. Now for the next song, “You Made Me Do It” can be about anything you want it to be, actually all songs can be about whatever you want, you just have to change your perspective! I am really in love with this one though. It has a sassy sound all around, and I think Ruby Amanfu has a terrific voice to give it that extra edge that it needed to take it over the top! It’s definitely a favorite of mine for sure!

We all know and love Fleurie’s voice, and I’m so glad that she continues to work with Tommee because he always seems to make her sound even more beautiful than the last one. “Can You Feel The Heat Now” was the first song I actually listened to, I was on YouTube listening to my mix and it automatically came on, and since I didn’t recognize it at first, I kind of figured it was probably new. I like the calming piano introduction along with her sweet voice and then all of a sudden, this electric guitar sound would appear and gave it a nice rock-ish vibe. From the moment it starts, you get this feeling that it may not be as good as you originally thought, but what I really liked about it was not knowing what could come next. Would it stay in this tempo? And then towards the end, it does grow but not as grand as we’re used to with an average Fleurie song. Jung Youth is a Christian rapper, that has worked with Tommee before and I really love that we’re hearing a hip hop-cinematic fusion. “Who’s Gonna Stop Me’ is a great workout song to listen to gain that motivation when you need it the most!

For this next song, “Witching Hour” we hear a newcomer by the name of Brooke Griffith. It’s an extremely spooky track when it first starts, which will fit naturally with the paranormal television shows like The Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina, Riverdale, and Legacies. The cinematic elements to this song really made it come to life. I just wish it was longer! Our first instrumental is “Dark Conscience” and it really continues the ominous vibe we had going with the previous song, except the original beat is gone. I really like the usage of the horns and violins, because they each have a creepy factor to them. I just feel like a monster is going to be unleashed at the end of it. The seventh track, is “Follow Me” featuring my favorite Ruelle. This has a lively, but cosmic feeling everytime I listen to it. I get a real futuristic sense, and weirdly enough I actually liked it.

Sam Tinnesz comes back with “Far From Home” and it also mentions that it’s the trailer version, so there must be an original somewhere. Even though I’ve never heard of the other one. It’s kind of has a mellow sound to it, but towards the end of the climax, it gets faster and almost louder. I think it’s pretty good! Afterwards we move on to, “Rise Above This” and the singer on this one is Trella. Unfortunately, I was really torn about this because initially I didn’t like her “ahhs” up and down the scales, but the rest isn’t that bad. So, I’m still questioning that one a bit. “I’m A Ruler” is up next and Ruby Amanfu comes back for a second round. She brings that sassy voice again, and what I loved about it is the pop-bluesy sound you get with this. It’s not a song that could really work with a action based film, unless there’s a female-comedy vibe going on.

“Unbreakable” starts the end of the album, with Mike Mains on the vocals. I really adore Mike’s voice as well so I was happy to see him on the tracklist again. The song itself has an awakening kind of vibe going on, and I really like the lyrics with this and I definitely approve of the mellow beat it has with it. It was in your face, but not overwhelming! We have our final instrumental, “Infidels At Bay” and for once we have a makings of a ballad, but it doesn’t really stay like that. I would love to hear at one softer song or ballad with these albums to kind of give the listeners a nice little break. This was a good attempt. Our last song is “A Storm Is Comin” by Liv Ash. I like the thunder rumbles with the fast going piano playing, I thought that was a cool combination. The cinematic part does break through like a storm and it really has a fiery ending. It was just perfect!

 I was really impressed with this, but I’m pretty sure I say that about every volume so far! Oh, I don’t care. Cinematic music in any form makes me really happy and I really love hearing new artists being featured on these songs, that maybe you wouldn’t hear otherwise. If you’ve never heard anything in the cinematic/trailer music world, you should really look into Tommee Profitt’s other four albums! Just go in order, you’ll thank me later!

Have you listened to Tommee Profitt’s new volume of cinematic songs yet? What were some of your thoughts? Before checking this out, had you ever listened to any other composers in the epic music? 

snowflake

 

Album Review: “The Fire Within” by Jennifer Thomas

40139219_10155514913606689_6789604461816840192_nAs you guys know, I like a lot of different music. I think with the amount of times I’ve talked about my love of symphonic metal, cinematic and Celtic music on here, it definitely wouldn’t surprise you to hear anything else out of the ordinary.

Today, I will be talking about a pianist that I really enjoy, her name is Jennifer Thomas. She’s released four albums since 2006, but I found her music in 2014, with a track called “Requiem Of A Dream” off the album Illumination and I still play it on my iPod every once in a while if I need that nudge of strength in the middle of the afternoon.

On the 16th of October, I was on my Release Radar playlist on Spotify that keeps track of what has recently come out by my favorite artists and bands. It’s a great thing to have if you are like me and have a boarder range of music, this can help you find new music that isn’t always highlighted on New Music Friday that everybody usually uses during the start of the weekend. Anyways, this was where I found out that Jennifer had a new song out, but once I clicked on there, I quickly realized that it was more than just a single release and that I had missed the whole launch date completely since the album came out the week before. Yeah, that’s my luck for you!

This is called, The Fire Within and it’s kind of short, as there’s only ten tracks on it. There are two songs that feature another pianist and a vocalist, which is usually outside of the norm for her music, but I’m open to it especially since the singer has a lovely voice, but we’ll get to that in a bit. There are things I need to say before we go on with this. Since the music is relativity instrumental, I will be going about this in a totally different way then I normally do. I will be focusing on how I’m feeling and what kind of pictures the song itself will create, sort of like a dream, in other words there will be a lot of metaphors down below!

We start with the title track, “The Fire Within” and we have our first special guest, The Rogue Pianist, who really goes by Kimberly Starkey, helps Jennifer out with it. I like the fact that it’s well-balanced between the heaviness and almost epic-ly tone of the orchestra, but still have a touch of mellow sounds of the pianos throughout that the ladies bring is very beautiful. It’s a very intense, but yet romantic type of song. Second is “Awakening” and the beginning is so pretty, but I have to say, the piano isn’t as dominant in this as I thought it would, but I still like it. The upbeat drumming with that violin coming out of the darkness, pretty much takes things up a notch. I was immediately taken to a beach with only a black piano and brightly red violin playing as the sun was going down when the song continued on; that wouldn’t be a half bad idea for a music video, just saying!

“Girl In The Mirror” is next and I remember writing this out and hoping this had some kind of creepy vibe going through it, as it was getting closer to Halloween at the time. I mean, you can’t exactly blame me here! I wasn’t too disappointed with the ending result, as it still had an eerie tone to it, but honestly you get this sad, empathy feeling within you when you really start to listen to the piano coming to focus. I really liked the fact that you could clearly hear a flute at the end, it added to that gentleness of the song. Afterwards, we have another track that I was very curious about, “Rise Of The Phoenix” which could go perfect with my little story about a phoenix that will die, but for eternity. I figured this would be a powerful type of song, and it’s exactly that–in your face, but not in the way that I originally saw it to be. It was really lively, and the drums gave it another edge, you nod your head to it, because it was a constant beat that you could follow through, and sometimes with instrumental that simple act can be difficult to do. The whole thing is mischievous kind of like a phoenix would sort be, rising out of its ashes as a baby.

We move on to “Ascension” and after the last one, I’m kind of glad we’re back on the softer side of things. The sound isn’t overpowering, and the piano and violin bring out a fun element to the song. Despite having the instant calmer feeling, as I kept picturing a woman running around in a densely woods, she’s dancing on top of brooks and just enjoying the sunshine above her. This only occurred when the tempo increased and become of a symphonic beat.  The sixth track “Soaring” has the artist Eurielle on it. She specializes in the cinematic world, mainly works on fantasy driven music. She doesn’t exactly sing in this, more like “ahh-ing” her way through it, which I’m perfectly okay with that. This has a humble beginning, but the whole thing turns into this magical tune that made me instantly think of fairies flying around in a lush green forest.

These will be the last four songs of the album. We have “Because Of You” now and I’m always fascinated when pianists or any composer have a modern title, like this, because even though they are no lyrics involved, how do the titles come about for that person? Forgive me for going off subject a bit, but is anybody else like that too? Anyways, this is a gentle song. It’s not obnoxious or too quiet, to me it’s right in the middle and can be perfect for any time of the day. Next, there’s “Believer” and at first, when I wrote out the title on my notepad I was like, “oh, Imagine Dragons! I haven’t heard that in awhile.” So imagine my face when I realized that I didn’t have to go look it up afterwards, because here it was playing right in front of me, but this time the sound itself isn’t as grand but it still has the essence of it which I really liked. If you truly know the song by heart, I dare you to belt it out while listening to this version, because there are no singer featured besides the choir in the background towards the end!

“Time” is on and I was almost curious to know if this would be a piano version of another song, but even if it was, I don’t think I would have recognized it right away! It is generally a slow start, there’s a kind of somber vibe going on with this one. I kept seeing a woman covered in gray with a bright red coffee mug pacing back and forth in a hospital hallway. It’s one of those songs that make you visualize depressing things going on; it was interesting as this rarely happens whenever I listen to certain sad songs but in a way I think I liked it. And lastly, there’s “Glorious” and I really loved the lively introduction. After having such a downer in the previous song, this is just beautiful. It’s so bright and happy with all of the instruments going together in harmony. I kept thinking of small children skipping along on top of a hill, having the best time ever. I thought it was a gracious end to the whole collection.

I really enjoyed listening to the album. I thought every song had it’s own story and even a personality built into them. I think Jennifer created an interesting batch of music. It incorporated two of my favorites: piano and a cinematic vibe. There were many different things that I liked about it. I thoroughly love piano music, and always have since I was little. I was never able to learn how to play, although many people did try their hardest to educate me on how to read sheet music in the past, I just wasn’t able to keep up with it. So, I have grown up appreciating it in a different way and I find that to be more helpful to board other people’s horizons as well. I definitely recommend checking this out and the rest of Jennifer’s music if you want to explore piano music on your own!

Have you listened to Jennifer Thomas’s new album “The Fire Within” yet? If you have, what did you like or not like the most about it? Do you have a favorite track?

snowflake

Album Review: “Cinematic Songs, Volume 4” by Tommee Profitt

36599607_2047039208670650_6047828206382219264_nI am back with the fourth installment of Tommee Profitt’s cinematic collection. This album came out on the 4th of July, which I thought was pretty cool! If you’ve been reading my previous reviews of Tommee’s music, you know how freaking obsessed I’ve become, like if I hear a small snippet of any of Tommee’s produced songs on a TV show, I have to rewind that sucker just to hear it again! I automatically get so excited, because I love the fact that this kind of music is being played in almost ways! This batch of songs are no different.

For this album, I did cheat a little and gave myself a listen to like the first five tracks before I literally had to hold myself back from hearing the rest. As far as featured artists on this, you have some of the “originals” who have worked with him in the previous albums, like Sam Tinnesz, Fluerie and Steven Malcolm, but yet we also have some new voices as well! And of course, Tomme has included two instrumentals in different sections too.

Well, let’s get this started, shall we?

Click here to read Cinematic Songs, Volume 1 by Tommee Proffitt

We start off with “It’s Got My Name On It” that features Sarah Reeves, who sounds weirdly like both Ruelle and Fleurie with her soft, high-pitched voice. One of the things I like to do whenever I have a new artist like this, I tend to look up information about them on their Facebook music pages, and according to Sarah’s, she may only work on worship music, but this track is definitely not in that theme, which is fine anyways. I think it’s simple, lyric wise, but huge on sound. It also has a mysterious tone to it, thanks to the piano you hear throughout, but it slowly grows once you hit the middle of the song and it just explodes with such force. Second is “Welcome To The Jungle” and Tommeee had shared a trailer of a new show coming to CBS, called A Story To Tell and he mentioned that he “enjoyed creating creepy music” with artist Fleurie. This is so freaking creepy! However, I absolutely love it at the same time. In other words, it’s right up my alley!

We move on to “I Am Legend” with Colton Dixon, and if I remember correctly, he was a contestant on American Idol a few years back, wasn’t he? Whoever he is, he has a nice mellow voice. It works well with the cinematic sound, it’s a very epically (is that even a word?!) song but he has such a pop-rock kind of voice, somehow he made it work. I really enjoyed this! After that, we have “One Eye Open” and Daniella Mason, who has a beautiful voice herself. She tends to do alternative music, and I instantly liked that. I’m very interested in alternative musicians all of a sudden. Anyways, this song doesn’t sound like the rest on the album, and I love the uniqueness about it. It’s almost grime-y, very intense getting towards the end, but her voice is such a sweet kiss to this massive climax.

Click here to read Cinematic Songs. Volume 2 by Tommee Profitt

Fifth track is “Warriors” with my favorite Steven Malcolm, this actually came out as a single, when the NBA finals were about to start. Obviously, Tommee and/or Steven were rooting for the Golden State Warriors!  If the song wasn’t influenced by basketball at all, the song is really good anyways! I really love that hard, urban feel to the song! It also kind of has this creepy, I guess SAW movie like type of sound that makes it even better. Next there’s “Incendiary” and this is one of the instrumentals I was telling you about in the beginning, and after the previous song ended, I felt as thought this was good as like a part two. It was still very powerful, really loving the drums. They were fast and exciting! Once it’s done, “Wicked” is next and it features Royal & the Serpent, again I’ve never heard of them so I had to look them up, and they are an indie band. This song is extremely cool as it dabbles in the electronica world. I thought that was really cool, as I was not expecting that at all, but I love musical surprises.

“Feel That Fire” is next and it has Whissell on it, and I love her voice! She reminds me of ZZ Ward, that is if she had a deeper voice. I like the fact that the bluesy sound of her voice is very present in the song, even with the strings commanding as much space too. It just gave me a totally different vibe then the others on the album. Next we have another favorite vocalist of mine, Beacon Light and the song “Takin Over” and this has a sci-fi type of vibe to it when it first starts, but then when he speaks, that hip hop sound creeps in the back and it’s so interesting. I really love ominous sounding music, weirdly enough I have always been this way!

The last four songs, start with “Vagabond” with FJØRA and this is such a pretty tune. It’s so gentle and gives you this adventurous, wanderlust feeling while you’re listening to it. I think FJØRA’s voice was good, it gave the song a softer approach and the fact that Tommee didn’t give it an incredible finish like he’s known to do, because I think it would have been too much with her voice, between the lyrics, her voice and this mellow sound makes it different. Our last instrumental is next, and it’s called “Trail Of Evidence” and it’s absolutely stunning! I really loved the solo cello introduction, at least I’m hoping that’s what I’m hearing! I’m not very good at pointing out certain instruments, I’m sorry! When I first looked at the title, instantly I thought this would be this heavy hitter but it wasn’t. It was fairly soft, but powerful too.

Finally, we move on to “Can’t Hold Us Down” that has Sam Tinnesz in it. This was one of the first new songs I saw on YouTube that made me realize we might be getting a new set of songs soon, within a week later, Tommee announced it on his Facebook page! This song has that fusion of both cinematic and rock genres. I liked the fact that since Sam is a rocker anyways, that he’s influencing his known genre into the actual song. So, the entire thing takes a different turn, it could’ve been an explosion of a song. It was a good song, don’t get me wrong, but the it wasn’t in your face like I figured and ultimately wanted it to be in the end. The last song is “Hurricane” with Fleurie and we end this cycle in a very emotional based track. It instantly gave me this sad vibe. It does gradually grow into this colorful flower, but it never really loses that feeling of being lost.

Click here to read Cinematic Songs, Volume 3 by Tommee Profitt

This was a great mix of different directions. I like the fact that Tommee is getting more experimental with his beats, and the fact he’s using other artists with different ranges and bring their own flavor with them. I think that’s one of my favorite things about this genre; it doesn’t matter what kind of music you generally wok with to help express yourself, if you’re up for the challenge, something good could come out of it. This is how other people, who have never heard of these artists before, can discover new music within that song.

Have you listened to Tommee Profitt’s new volume of cinematic songs yet? If so, which is your favorite?

snowflake