🇬🇧 Mix of styles

I returned! Too much going on. I decided to resume one of the blog's original themes, which is art, because there is a lot going on in my musical universe and I wanted to share it.

This week Apocalyptica released a new song called “Ei vaihtoehtoo” (meaning “no choice” in english) with vocals by a Finnish hip hop singer called Paleface. The sound reminds me more of rap, but when searching the internet for who he is the information is that he sings hip hop.

I still haven't digested the song well. I have no problems with this mix of styles, but a number of factors made this song a difficult work for me to appreciate. Let's talk about it.

The introduction to the song is the introduction to “Bittersweet”. "Bittersweet" is a ballad that has an all instrumental version, without vocals, which I love; and one with Ville Valo and Lauri Ylönen, lead singer of The Rasmus, both Finns, singing in English. I am not going to say that the introduction is exactly the same because it has been thirty years since I studied music (I want to study again in 2021). But it sounds identical. Then suddenly a vocalist appears singing rap! In Finnish! It's a shock. And I understand that it is a bigger shock because they use the introduction of "Bittersweet". If it were a song with a completely new instrumental it would be easier to digest, to enjoy. The use of music that creates an expectation of ballads has made assimilation more difficult.

Apocalyptica was not the first band to mix styles and will certainly not be the last. From what I know of the band's work, although they have an identification with metal, they are not limited in the process of composition by the label of metal band. An example is the song “Hole in my soul”, which I shared a piece of the lyrics on my Instagram days ago. It has a jazzy or bluesy feel, it is far from common metal band music. And it's beautiful. Perfect interpretation of Franky Perez!

An example of a mix of styles that have several duets recorded in this way is the Dutch rock band Bløf. They sing in Dutch and, as far as I know, are super famous in their country of origin. But there are songs by them with the Portuguese fado singer Cristina Branco (who has a wonderful voice); with the Portuguese Fernando Lameirinhas; with Sabrina Starke, another divine voice that usually sings folk, jazz, soul and R&B, among others. With artists who do not have Dutch as their native language, participation is usually done in the original language of the invited artist. And the results I saw were good.

Another example that followed this path of bringing artists of other styles as guests is the band Within Temptation. In the Hydra album, the American rapper Xzibit participated in the song “and we run”, which I like a lot, although rap is not my thing.

Anyway, taking risks is part of the game. Sometimes we get it right, sometimes things don't have the result we expect. But doing what we believe is important.

Music has been a recurring theme on my Instagram, sometimes with some old images. The blog continues, and I recommend that you follow it and include it in your favorite feed reader so you don't miss a thing.

Did you hear any of the songs I mentioned in this text?  What did you think of them?

Nycka, the Nomad