Oh, what a time to be alive in this generation of music! We are capable of watching almost any concert in the last 40 years at our fingertips and we get to experience such diverse music from the world wide web. With technology being so accessible, experiencing music has been so unreal and can almost do the unimaginable. Thanks to Spotify Discover and NPR music (which I find underrated), I’m finding some of the most talented artists of our time. Below are the top 4 artists I’m obsessing over this month!
5. BWR BTTM
These guys are so fun and carefree! There a mix of punk and pop that will entertain you with their stories and lots of glitter. What’s so beautiful about the two is that they don’t conform to one gender, they embrace both sex’ so well. They really express that you can be whatever you want to be and you shouldn’t care what people will think about you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji-EdRtL9qU
4. Chet Baker
This jazz musician has the most soothing cool voice known to man- I mean, to me. I’m familiar with Chet, as my grandfather composed a song for his album called Grey December, but his music came back into my life by the magical discovery section on Spotify.
Let me just step aside a moment to explain how amazing discovery is. Their site has gotten so advanced that it notices exactly what you listen to and suggests music that you will probably like. And they are scary accurate with those suggestions! I can assure you that you will fall in love with at least one suggestion of theirs if you listen to music that you like on Spotify.
It’s unfortunate that this man is not alive anymore, but his voice and music lives on forever.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_f_mMJAezM
3. Shakey Graves
He goes by the name Shakey Graves, which was inspired by a drunk old man in the street. He’s an indie artist while his voice is like gravel that can easily sing rock and roll. If you watch a video of him performing, you’ll realize that most of his music is just with him when it sounds like two people. That’s right, he’s singing, playing guitar and using his feet for the drum beat. In some of his songs, you can’t even figure out what key he is in, but still pulls off sounding perfect. I am confident you will be seeing more of him in the future, as he is already very popular.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sD72LbIk02M
2. Dance Gavin Dance
I’m continuing to learn more and more about this band, but they fall under the genre post-hardcore/ math rock.
I used to have a negative connotation over electronic music and instruments, but being able to see musicians through videos on the internet, I realized I couldn’t do that. It takes time and practice to perfect something like that, and if I’m unable to achieve that talent then I have no right to judge.
There are two lead singers that trade-off between “messy” and “clean” vocals. The two diverse vocals trading back and forth, is fascinating and intriguing to the ears, as I’m so amazed by Tilian Pearson's high, clean vocal range.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHh3fFPKlD4
1. Aurora
This girl is unbelievably 20 years old because her lyrics and soul make her seem like she lived a full life. Her voice takes us through a journey as it seems like she’s discovering music for the first time too when she performs. Watching her perform makes me so happy because she feels and dances to the music like no other. You can tell she feels the pain or joy, as she expresses through her actions. I cannot wait to see what she does with her music as she grows and develops even more.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evBgLWQwAFA
From now on, once a month, I will dedicated a week on my top favorite musicians of the month because music is important. I hope one of these suggestions will take out lots of time out of your life and make you become obsessed.
