Sam Sparro: A New Age Mess!

Sam Sparro is a Australian born singer who got a start in music at a very young age. His questionable musical talents were discovered at the age of 10 when his family moved to Los Angeles. His father was a gospel minister and soul recording artist, this seems to be the main cause for the cluttered and confused self titled album Sparro released in 2008. The album sounds like Chaka Khan formed a band with daft punk. Solo two very amazing artists,together they just don't mesh well. Admittedly Sam Sparro has an amazing and strong soulful voice but maybe he needs to find a new direction to showcase his vocal talents . The most recognizable song off the album is called "black and gold." The song is an upbeat electro dance track that is a metaphor for a man's relationship with god and questions about spirituality. Another big song off of the album is called "21st century life." This song is also an upbeat dance track but this sounds like it's something directly out of the 80s. He seems to get a little to excited about this song because it feels as if he is just wailing along with the track with little vocal control. The majority of the songs on the album feel like they came out of the 80s and were remixed by DJ Armin van Buuren. Sam Sparro has lots of potential but needs to have more of a focus for the direction of his music. Hopefully his sophomore album he will mature as an artist, stop bouncing all over the genres, and set his deLorean to the present.

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Review of Hans Zimmer's Inception

Oscar award winning composer Hans Zimmer makes another masterpiece with his latest project Inception. Zimmer has composed some very epic pieces for big blockbuster movies and Inception is no different. He has revealed that the entire Inception score came from Édith Piaf's 'Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien. This is the song that is played when the characters of the film must awake and break out of the dream state. Zimmer said "All the music in the score is subdivisions and multiplications of the tempo of the Édith Piaf track. So I could slip into half-time; I could slip into a third of a time. Anything could go anywhere. At any moment I could drop into a different level of time."
The score has a very heroic feel. It definitely makes you feel that you are involved in something larger than life. Inception being the kind of complex movie it is the score does a good job of keeping pace with the film. You can imagine the buildings collapsing and the uncertainty of reality. The most powerful track would have to be time. This track starts off very slow and as the track progresses the music begins to crescendo and captures you. It feels as if you are struggling towards a goal trying your hardest to reach your destination but it seems out of reach. Zimmer does an amazing job of balancing the tone between ominous and hopeful. After a huge build up towards the end of the piece the music hits a fortissimo piano. The last few seconds are made up of only single keystrokes. Time is very appropriately played during the very last scene of the film. It leaves you questioning what you've seen and/or what you felt but is also gives you a sense of certainty and hope for what you've seen and/or felt.