- Friday, October 16, 2015
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| Image Courtesy of Jonathan Chang |
For this week's instalment of AOTW, I will be continuing with another musician who gained fame through the internet, specifically through YouTube.
As of mid-2000s, YouTube has become one of the most popular websites for musicians to share their music. Artistes have had their careers flourish through the popular video-sharing website and it is no wonder that more musicians (even accomplished ones) turn to YouTube to grow their fanbase and to also interact with fans, especially those in places they never dreamed their music would ever reach. Clara C is an example of one of those artistes.
Clara Chung, more commonly known as Clara C, is an Asian-American singer-songwriter with three albums under her belt. Even though she had always had a passion for music, it was only in 2009, when she started uploading her music onto YouTube (with the support of her friends), and participated in and won competitions like the 2009 JC Penny Artist Search and 2010 Kollaboration LA that she started focusing on music as a career.
I've been following Clara C since 2010/2011, and honestly, it's very easy to fall in love with not just her music, but also her as a person. She has a rather quirky personality, which can also be seen in the way she approaches her music, and it is quite refreshing to hear amidst all of the generic music bombarding us daily.
"The Camel Song" off her debut album "The Art in My Heart" was one of the first songs I heard from her, mainly because Ryan Higa starred in the music video. It has such a cheery and uplifting sound to it that compliments this happiness one would associate with the great memories shared with her (possibly) ex-significant other. At the end, you'd be reminded that yes, these were in the past and now you have to face the reality of it. This is why this song is easily one of my favourite Clara C originals.
Of course, I have to mention the first single off the album. Again, it's a great track, exemplifying what Clara C does best. The music video, like the previous one, does add on to the cutesy and fluff of the song.
Overall, Clara's debut album "The Art in My Heart" is a rather light and has this folk pop vibe to it that goes very well with Clara's vocals. It's a great album that shows her music ability in terms of the harmonies she can create and meld. There are also hints of electronic influences/sounds which would be explored even further in her next album. All in all, it hints at a promising career for Clara C.
Since Clara C has quite a body of work on the internet (her career did start and flourish on YouTube after all), I will separate her albums and covers into the various posts so please be on the look out for those. [If you're wondering, yes, I'll probably do this for future AOTWs, that is, if their large body of work is easily accessible online.]
Dan
Overall, Clara's debut album "The Art in My Heart" is a rather light and has this folk pop vibe to it that goes very well with Clara's vocals. It's a great album that shows her music ability in terms of the harmonies she can create and meld. There are also hints of electronic influences/sounds which would be explored even further in her next album. All in all, it hints at a promising career for Clara C.
Since Clara C has quite a body of work on the internet (her career did start and flourish on YouTube after all), I will separate her albums and covers into the various posts so please be on the look out for those. [If you're wondering, yes, I'll probably do this for future AOTWs, that is, if their large body of work is easily accessible online.]
Dan
- Wednesday, September 23, 2015
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| Image Courtesy of Brooklyn Bass |
For this week's AOTW, I'll be venturing into the unknown: EDM, or more specifically, trap music. Since this is relatively new ground for me, it's only fitting that I do a review on one of the EDM/trap producers that made me rethink my stance on the genre.
A little backstory: Growing up, the narrow-minded self didn't consider EDM "real music"; it's only real if it comes from actual instruments, voice included. Some time in my early teens, I started watching dancers like Mike Song and Tony Tran on YouTube, and I found myself not just enjoying their choreography but their song choices as well. Other than the songs I heard them dance to, I never found an artist that I really enjoyed listening to, that is until Body Rock 2014. Kinjaz did a wonderful set, as they usually do, and one of the songs that stuck was Troyboi's FYI. For some reason, it struck a chord with me so I went on to look up his other stuff on SoundCloud and you can say the rest was history.
Since I couldn't find his solo EP, and coupled with the fact that he doesn't have a Wikipedia page or anything of the sort, I shall just recommend some great tracks from his SoundCloud page. [Also, he's a part of a collab project with Icekream called SoundSnobz and they have an EP out. I have yet to check them out properly so when I do, that'll probably be in another post.]
Troyboi's music has been labelled as chill trap and I very much agree with that. His music is rather soothing and yet it has that punch that trap music usually gives. I know it seems rather oxymoronic so I'd rather bring in examples to help illustrate my point.
"On My Own" featuring NEFERA starts out with an echoing harp on a loop followed by the adding of a child-like clapping game beat and other sound effects. Around the 45-second mark, the beat drops, and with it comes the familiar strong beats usually found in trap music. As with his other tracks, there is a strong sense of his ethnic influences, and unlike most attempts at merging traditional oriental/asian music and sounds with EDM, he manages to find a perfect balance between the two to create a nice head-bobbing track.
"O.G.", a track some people would know from the Kinjaz's collaboration with BNGA and/or the former's performance on ABDC, also has a similar vibe, with that riff on loop being layered on, and the beat drop coming in after "I'm OG, y'all new to the game". As much as every layer in this track is as important as the other in delivering that overall chill/groove vibe of the song, the percussions and hard-hitting beats are what made this song for me.
I chose this last song because it is a fantastic blend of that R&B feel good vibe and that heavy and hard-hitting bassline Troyboi's good at. What I love the most about this track is that he used a trumpet in the middle of the track and it didn't feel out of place at all. In fact, it felt essential to the track. On the whole, it's another great Troyboi #mystyle track. [Side note: #mystyle is the genre Troyboi uses to refer to the type of music he produces.]
If you loved some of the tracks here, please visit and follow his SoundCloud page to check out more his stuff, and to hear his upcoming tracks. There are also links to his collaborations with Diplo and Icekream, and a bunch of his remixes there so do give him a listen.
D-A-N O-U-T (...like Troyboi's signature? Ahh never mind.)
- Sunday, September 06, 2015
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| Image Courtesy of the Kinjaz |
I finally got to watch the finale and seeing as the show is over, I'll just go ahead and drop the spoiler bomb and tell you who won.
CONGRATULATIONS TO QUEST CREW FOR WINNING ABDC SEASON 8!
This is after 95 million (yes, you read that correctly) votes were cast and there was a slim margin of 7% between the winners and the runner-ups Kinjaz. I would be lying if I said I didn't see this coming.
Anyway, now that the pressure of winning the judges' or the public's vote is gone, the crews got to showcase their final performances to mark the end of their journeys on the show and of course, the end of the season. This was after all 6 of the crews performed an all-out routine similar to that of the first two weeks where they had their moment to display their style.
First to perform their last dance on the stage was Quest Crew. They danced to Afrojack's SummerThing! featuring Mike Taylor. Another light and fun piece that showcased their tricks and breaking skills. I mean, it is no wonder that they've danced for LMFAO. It was a good routine to end their run on the show with as again, it showed what the boys do best and how much they enjoy dancing with one another. It's also great to see Aris dance with the guys and they really got to show tricks that they've perfected elsewhere on the ABDC stage. Of course, this won't be the last of Quest and I cannot wait to see more from them.
Next up was Super Cr3w. They set their routine to Method Man's Judgement Day. First of all, their costumes looks like that of a ninja attire so I guess it's come full circle, since they did do a ninja set back in season 2. Again, another routine filled with their high flying tricks, insane parkour and great bboying so yes, they did end off their run on the show with a very Super Cr3w piece. I wouldn't say it's their best performance ever, but it was one of their most risky performances I've ever seen. Good luck and I wish them all the best in their future endeavours as a crew.
Last finalist to perform was Kinjaz. Their piece was done to Ed Sheeran's I See Fire. This routine is an oldie but a goodie, and disclaimer, there may be more of a back story in this because of me being a fangirl. Now, I've seen Anthony's choreo five or six times now, the first being at Body Rock 2014, and only now, I made this rather big (to me) realisation about the piece, mainly because of the junket prior to the performance and the camera zoom to Anthony Lee some time in the middle of the piece. [If you don't feel like reading this blabber, feel free to ignore all those in italics.] When Kinjaz first started out as Anbu Black Ops way back in 2010, it was done with the intent of it being Anthony's last dance performance before he would have moved out to Arizona to work. Even though the crew is Mike's as much as Anthony's, I see it more as a milestone in Anthony's life. If not for Anbu Black Ops, he would have stopped dancing completely so in that sense, this choreography signifying the brotherhood of Kinjaz and what not is in a way also a gift from Anthony to show his gratitude to the crew members then and now. That was what touched me, and made this performance and interpretation of his choreography the only one where I shed a tear. Again, the cleanliness and attention to details is Kinjaz-perfect, and what they do best. What made it all the better was that they all had the same heart, and even though they all have their various styles, they again complemented one another. One of their best pieces on the show, and of course I am excited for the future of Kinjaz.
Now, the other three groups had their time to shine in a group routine, and there were many things I've seen that showed that despite them being booted off the show earlier than the others, they were still able to grow and improve in their own crews. That being said, I don't know if ABDC will still continue, or that this was just a one-time reboot, but I'm glad that these crews were able to reform/get back together to show why ABDC made such an impact to those who followed the show way back when.
Dan out.
- Tuesday, September 01, 2015
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