UNDERSTANDING MUSIC GENRES – THE BASICS is an opinion piece. Nothing more, nothing less.
Why understand music genres?
Music continues to be a major player in modern life and impacts all spheres of social and cultural influence – from politics to business to entertainment and so on. Even though the value received by music artists has been marginalised by record labels, publishers and more recently, tech companies – the value added by music artists remains vitally important.
Mention the sixties and a couple of fixed images come to mind. Men with long hair, women in mini-skirts, hippies in denim etc. Music-wise, the sixties represented the flowering of pop music expression in artistic terms before evolving to rock by the decade’s end. Here are ten songs (in alphabetical order) which I feel represent the best songs of the sixties.
While I have no problem with shamelessly self-promoting my own music – especially my songs about Singapore, I would not discredit any of my ‘Best of’ lists by inserting myself into the picture. Who am I? Kanye??
Yes, I know it’s a corny cliché but with this National Day weekend comes an opportunity to share my own thoughts about the best Singapore rock songs of all time! Hopefully, these selections will inspire you, kind reader, to discover more Singapore rock music. If so, then the effort would have been worth it!
As mentioned in my article on Story Analysis, besides being a singer-songwriter/composer and a pop culture writer, I am also a teacher of arts and music subjects. So the same approach I applied to Story, I can also apply to Music (Song Analysis) but of course, with different elements. Now, I don’t intend to go into any musicological concepts that require music theory training to decipher but will try my best to keep things simple for non-musicians as well.
After sharing about the best bands of all time, it’s only natural to talk about the best solo artists of all time. As you will no doubt realise, many of the selected artists have also worked within the group dynamic, although with the branding of a front person. All choices in my own personal experience and in my humble opinion, of course. Let’s go! (In alphabetical order, once more)
Today, 1st August 2020, Netflix begins streaming three Eric Khoo movies that I contributed music to. Over at the Kevin Mathews Composer Facebook page, I shared these song stories to mark this occasion. Hope you find the reading as much fun as I did the writing.
I like making lists. Apparently, folks on the internet like reading lists as well. There you go. First off, I am going to share with you a list of the best bands of all time, in my humble opinion. (In alphabetical order, mind you)
So, Chris Church is a Facebook ‘friend’ and I am only now finding out that he is a Power Pop Rock N Roll singer-songwriter of the highest order? Dayum. Church’s new album, Backwards Compatible, is exactly what we need to cope with the clusterfuck that Covid—19 has turned the world into. For music fans out there who still hold the 90s Pop Underground close to their hearts, Backwards Compatible is a literal godsend, evoking the likes of Cheap Trick, Guided By Voices, Splitsville, Fountains of Wayne et al with 12 gorgeous gems that bear repeating. C’mon, anyone who has ever read my music writing will know what I dig – memorable melodies, heavenly harmonies, pommeling percussions of course guitars that gleam, jangle and crunch! And Chris Church’s Backwards Compatible ticks every single box. And how! Not much else I need to say – if like me you swear by Power Pop Rock N Roll, this album is for YOU!
“… we’re inspired by songwriters themselves – (the sixties) as an era had some of the best songwriters of all time and I don’t think you can ever get close to that ever again. We’re trying.”
U.K. band FUR is a breath of fresh air for lovers of classic guitar pop-rock and many are looking forward to seeing FUR live in Singapore this coming Wednesday, 6th November 2019 at the Hard Rock Cafe. Ahead of this exciting FUR live show, a couple of questions were posed to the band and the boys replied via email.
The title of the new album from singer-songwriter-musician Eric Barao is an obvious dig at how some people might view his style of music. Which in itself a tragic commentary on the state of modern pop music, when such densely textured, melodically/harmonically fecund work can be dismissed as irrelevant in 2019.
