Dissonance and Consonance

It's actually pretty interesting, I've been learning new things in my music class and I love that it's online. I mean I wouldn't mind going to Chinatown to go to school over the summer but I feel like I'm there all the time anyway, sometimes it's a nice break. I've been doing that a lot lately, staying home all day and ever since I installed Sims, it's getting harder to leave the house! Just kidding...or am I? Since I don't have a solid paying job, I've just been chilling at home when I'm not taking photos. It's nice and I'm trying to enjoy my summer before the madness of school starts.

It's my last semester and ugh, I'm getting exhausted thinking about it.

Anyway, we learned about dissonance and consonance today. Dissonance is more of the unstable, intense, sound while consonance is more of the passive and stable sound. We had to describe why composers have been increasingly using dissonant sounds more than consonant sounds. My logic was that people relate more to 'intense" sounds and that it's more I guess, interesting to hear in comparison to consonant sounds. People love that shit, when somehow they're involved with the music.

One of my classmates talked about dubstep and how he didn't understand it or liked it. He related it to dissonance and consonance, which I thought was brilliant because I felt it was a perfect example of it. I told him maybe he just wasn't introduced to good dubstep :p

I'm quite a beginner at dubstep myself but what I do know is that I like it, which is surprising. You see, I grew up on punk rock and American hardcore (I had this unhealthy obsession with Henry Rollins), basically rock & roll because of my brothers and up until high school I thought "rap was crap." (Oh my, how much that's changed)

When I showed my brother this video (you'll see it later) he was super surprised that I liked dubstep because I've always hated on him for liking electronica but I guess over the years it grew on me. He introduced house music to me and the whole culture of it. I would attend Soulgasm and take photos of people, mostly my brother, dancing. I liked it because it had soulful, funky beats and samples so house was fun to listen to.

My brother would listen to drum & bass like Diesel Boy when he'd drive me to school back in the day and all I remember was feeling like I was constantly running and my heart would beat so fast like I was on drugs or something.

Here's a video I found on Vimeo couple months ago that combined fixed gears and dubstep. I seriously love how music accent actions.



The song is by Chase and Status called "Eastern Jam" and I posted this in my discussion for my class because I felt it was a perfect example of dissonance and consonance, with the drop being the intense dissonant sound. Hopefully my classmates will like it haha.

Wow I realized I super nerded out on music right here.

Couple months ago I downloaded Wu-Tang Clan Vs. The Beatles "Enter The Magical Mystery Chambers," which is a mash up of two of the greatest band of musicians/rappers. If you get a chance, I highly recommend this album. It's so good and it's just fucking amazing.

Here's a sample (my favorite track):



They also have a Wu and Jimi Hendrix mash-up but I heard it wasn't as good as this one but nonetheless, I will check it out.

So I remember about a month ago, one of my friends posted a WUGAZI (Wu-Tang Vs. Fugazi) track on Facebook. I thought it was good but they didn't have much tracks done yet. Finally it's finished and I downloaded it and I'm soooo satisfied! It's just as good as the Beatles mash up and I just love how versatile the Wu is. They also have a Gravediggaz track



I actually didn't start listening to Wu-Tang until high school when I raided my brother's CD cases. This was the brother that was the "gangster" in the family and rap was ALL he listened to. I decided to expand my music knowledge and was surprised at how much I loved the Wu.

I can imagine how funny it must be for my brothers to watch my music taste grow since they've seen me in my many different phases.

I love learning about new music and finding new artists to listen to, especially when there are new artists in Hawaii's scene. Some of my favorite up and coming artists in the hip-hop scene are the Night Marchers, Monarx, and Sample. Seriously, watch out for these guys and if you have the opportunity to see them at a show, GO. You won't regret it. If you check out my Youtube page, you can see some videos of Monarx and Sample. I have yet to get footage of Night Marchers.

Okay I think I made this post a little too long. Hopefully I didn't bore you guys.