Blog Week 4

Our group has been discussing the idea of blending various musical styles in the piece that we create. Accordingly, I found these three pieces by contemporary artists which combine disparate influences into cohesive wholes.

This first piece covers a lot of ground, starting with a contemporary classical and almost minimalist aesthetic (choice of instrumentation contributing heavily to this as well). The introduction of a saxophone 'soloing' over the chord changes around 1:30 starts to shift the mood into a more jazz-like feel. At 2:10, the last thing one would expect to hear is a rapper - and yet here one is! The closing section of the piece is much more relaxed, featuring a lyrical vocal soloist - again another shift in terms of style/mood.

This is a rather interesting piece from electronic artist Bo-En, that alternates back and forth between a waltz-like theatre/cabaret aesthetic and a driving EDM groove. Instrumentation again plays a big difference in outlining the style changes, as it moves from 'orchestral' to electronic and back again. 

This last piece by the Australian band Hiatus Kaiyote combines progressive jazz fusion with chiptune or 8-bit music. The chiptune sounds are gradually introduced over the course of the piece until the last 45 seconds, where an entirely 8-bit rendition of the piece's main theme occurs.