Gangnam Style

In my preparations for Asia, it occurred to me that I still had not experienced the premier cultural export of Korea. Yes, I am talking about the absurdly popular music video Gangnam Style by Korea musical artist Psy. After a few clicks and about 4 minutes I added one more view to the nearly three billion that Gangnam Style already has. With my introduction to Korean pop culture complete, I felt I was officially ready for Korea.

RIP Chester Bennington

I had another post that had already auto-published on this website earlier today, however in light of the tragic death of Chester Bennington I’ve decided to withdraw that post for now and substitute this brief, impromptu tribute. There was probably no more influential band during my high school and college days than Linkin Park. One of the core components of the band was Chester Bennington’s vocal performance, which somehow could cover an impressively wide range. The man could scream like a demon, and sing like an angel. I’m not much of a music guy, so I can’t speak authoritatively to where Linkin Park and Chester Bennington stand in the world of music, but at least from my perspective we lost a great vocalist today. His talents will be sorely missed by myself and many other fans around the world.

Dubchestral

I’m guessing most people reading this are familiar with the musical genre called dubstep. For those who don’t know, dubstep might could be described as part of the larger electronica family of musical genres. According to Wikipedia, it originated in the late 1990s, but I first became familiar with it a few years ago when there was a period where it seemed most video game commercials and/or trailers were using dubstep for their musical accompaniment. Like all fads, it passed with time, though you can still hear it on occasion in games media. Personally, I’m not a fan of most dubstep, and I tend to agree with critics that a lot of it sounds like a computer having an epileptic seizure. There is, however, a variant of dubstep that I have enjoyed, and it is called dubchestral. As you can probably guess, dubchestral is a fusion of dubstep with orchestral music. Like with any other genre, some songs are better than others, but there’s a group (or maybe it’s an individual person, I really don’t know) called Instumental Core that has produced a number of dubchestral songs that I really like (along with other songs that combine traditional orchestral music with other styles). I was listening to their music recently, and thought I’d share some of their work.

If you liked any of these, I’d suggest checking out their Youtube channel for more of their work.
 

Take Me Home, Country Roads

I'm not a fan of John Denver or his style of music, but there’s one song of his that has a special spot in my mental playlist. "Take Me Home, Country Roads" is, for me, the quintessential travel song, specifically for when I’m returning to my home or my parents’ house. Granted, the song is about West Virginia, or, western Virginia, depending on whom you ask, but the underlying theme of going back to where you came from, where you belong, I think is one that anyone can resonate with, regardless of where home is. Your home might not be scenic, well off, famous or all that desirable, but it’s yours. The roads leading back to my home are urban, rather than country, but this song still plays in my head every time I'm coming home from travel. Take me home, country roads.