Three music artists that I Enjoy

This is one of my favourite music artists, Jack Stauber. The video next to him is the song that I may consider making a music video on. The name of it is 'Dead Weight'. Jack Stauber is an American musician, singer, songwriter, designer, animator, and content creator. His debut as an independent music artist was on 2012, when he released his first single, 'Help You'. Since then he has continued to create and produce music. In 2013, he released his first album, 'Finite Form'. His latest album dubbed 'HILO' was released in 2018. You may be wondering why he hasn't released a new album, or even a single for that matter in quite a while. This is because Jack has been more focused on his animation and releasing extended versions of short songs found on his YouTube Channel. He calls these short songs 'Micro Pops'.

Jack incorporates a mixture of hypnagogic pop (which I didn't even know was a thing), synths, funk and regular pop into his songs. His music has been described as "nostalgic and childlike, but also something disturbingly adult about them" which I think is a perfect way to describe it. There aren't many music artists that incorporate these genres and sub-genres together so I think that's Jack Stauber's unique selling point.

Jack's music focus is hard to pinpoint but I think it's about the experiences many people have while living life. For example, if you listen to some of the songs on Jack's first album 'Finite Form', it's like hearing someone telling about his most memorable experiences while growing up. . 'Hilo' and 'Pop Food' follow similar structure as 'Finite Form' as well.

I couldn't find anything that could be considered inspiration for 'Finite form'. Jack rarely talks about the album and there isn't much information regarding the production process of it. Though, Jack has spoken about that the Residents and M83's Digital Shades had blown his mind when first listening to it, and was the biggest inspiration behind his music. He's also stated that as a kid, he listened to a lot of Jazz funk (which is just jazz but with more electrical sounds tied with it) and punk rock which was a big inspiration for him.

 how this has helped inform the development of ideas for your own video?

One thing that is prevalent In Jack Stauber's music video's is the use of subtitles to show the lyrics. Now, I was already considering to do this for my music video but, what Jack Stauber does with it is quite unique. Instead of placing them throughout the entire video. He places them in specific points to give the words more importance and impact. That to me is an amazing way to incorporate them and I would like to also do the same thing for mine.

I think that this is a good idea because     

This is my second music artist that I have chosen, Stephen Lee Bruner, AKA ThunderCat. The song 'Them Changes' that is next to him is also another that I may consider making a music video on. Stephen is an American songwriter, singer, and bassist. Hailing from a family of musicians, Stephen started to learn bass at an early age. His first experience in the music industry was being part of a session musician for Kamasi Washington's, 'The Proclamation'. His first debut as a music artist though was the release of his first album in 2011, 'The Golden Age of Apocalypse'. Since then, he has released three more albums. 'Apocalypse', which was released in 2013, 'Drunk', which was released in 2017, and 'It is what it is', which released in 2020. 'It is what it is' was his biggest success yet as he managed to win a Grammy award for 'best progressive R&B album'. 

ThunderCat has a heavy use of R&B, Psychedelia, and a mix of punk and metal. It's a pretty odd selection of genres but it makes him stand out as a musician.

ThunderCat's musical focus varies from album to album. In his first one 'The Golden Age of Apocalypse', his focus was aligned with coping on how to deal with the death of a close friend of his. His second album 'Apocalypse' had the same focus as well but it was more on him coming to terms with the death. 'Drunk' however is a bit more light-hearted with it's tone. He sings about his cat on 'Tron Song', talks about his inability to rest and recover from his problems because of depression in 'Lava Lamp', gets stuck in a monotonous routine in 'Captain Stupido', and talks about why we shouldn't be so quick to judge people without first knowing what they have done or been through in 'Walk on by'. It seems that his focus is on the difficulty's of going through, and trying to overcome depression. 'It is what it is' focuses on dealing with the grief over losing another close friend. However, I think the title of the album 'It is what it is' is synonymous with ThunderCat's overall thoughts. He might be heart-broken, but he understands that this is simply the reality of it all and he needs to accept that there are highs and lows in life.

Them changes contains a drum sample from the 1977 track "Footsteps in the Dark" by the Isley Brothers. ThunderCat also draws a lot of inspiration from jazz musicians such as Miles Davis, Mary Lou Williams and Ron Carter. 

how this has helped inform the development of ideas for your own video?

Watching ThunderCat's various music videos, it's evident that he likes to give a narrative to them.

grant a fresh perspective on the song      

This is my favourite band, SIAMES. They're a small group that's based in Argentina. They debuted in 2018 with their album 'Bounce Into The Music' which features 10 songs, two of which have gotten animated music videos. Their latest album released in 2020 which is titled 'HOME' which features 8 songs, one of which has also gotten an animated music animated video. 

The genre of music they mainly play is 'contemporary indie-dance-pop. It has some influences from EDM, and from older dance styles such as disco and funk, but it's light and pop oriented. At the same time, it's much more beat-oriented than indie-pop' (I got this from google so I have no idea what this means). Although they're from Argentina and their native language is Danish, all of their music videos are spoken in fluent English. I think the fact that they have incorporated such a unique genre into their music is their unique selling point.

SIAMES might have a lot of songs, but each one has a different focus. 'Summer Nights' is based upon the theme of friendship and the feeling of innocence and playfulness when you were a kid. 'The Wolf' is about coming face to face with your own problems and that I you don't confront it soon enough, you'll start picking up bad habits and ruining your overall health. And 'No Lullaby' is about as we get older, we tend to become a lot more serious and closed off, we less childish and imaginative. But there's nothing wrong with still being allowed to be childish sometimes, no matter the age. 

As far as I can see, there's not much information regarding on how they get their inspiration. Since there are a lot of people in the band, it wouldn't surprise me if they just brainstormed ideas.

how this has helped inform the development of ideas for your own video?

message do I want to convey to my audience?