201 entries under "sound"

Tolgahan Çoğulu: Microtonal Guitar

A modified classical guitar to play microtones; demonstrates with an excerpt of a Turkish melody.

Jacob Collier delves into music nerdery, showing how it’s possible to harmonize any note with every chord or how a diminished chord lets you modulate to anywhere.

meu amigo tigre: treta (2020)

Self-described ‘drama rock’ in Portuguese. Feels inspired by Frank Zappa sometimes. I like the diversity of complex textures on this album. There’s also birds!

Ana Vidovic: Live concert from St. Mark's, SF

An hour of classical guitar; works by Bach, Brouwer, Scarlatti, Albeniz.

Abo Sahar (أبو سهر): Moulid Kholkhal (مولد خلخال)

Arabic microtonal melodies, electronic effects, shaabi rhythms.

Abo Sahar (أبو سهر): Mizmar Abosahar

Piercing ornamented tones of a traditional music instrument that appears in some Greek music (similar to a duduk), although I think it’s synthesized here.

Abo Sahar (أبو سهر): Trobby Asly

From 2020 (2020). Featuring so-called ‘trobby music’, not sure if this is a reference to trap music, but it’s gritty, noisy, hypnotic—may give you stank face.

Dan Weiss: Some drums.

I just get octopus vibes watching his hands move around so fluidly.

داليا [Dalia]: اللي يمشي عادي [Elly Yemshy 3ady] (2021)

I have so much nostagia for Egypt. The ornamentation in their music has a warmth that I haven’t heard anywhere else.

Fabrice Koffy, Marika Galea, Michael Go: Le Soir

From Montréal Sound Resistance: Chapitre I (2021) builds from French spoken word to trio music, to an improvised duo with a lovely African triplet feel. The bilingual album of poetry and spoken word is made in Montreal and dedicated to the memory of George Floyd.

Pinduca: Carimbó Do Macaco

From O Rei Do Carimbó (1983). Yormidable tongue-twister from a Brazillian traditional dance form. I learned that this is the same genre as No Meio do Pitiú from #002.

Pixel Grip’s: ALPHAPUSSY

From ARENA (2021). Beatboxer’s dream and head banger.

Squarepusher x Z-MACHINES: Music For Robots (2014)

Trippy mix of atonal harmonies, jazz solos over drum-n-bass, glitchy video-game music. Sounds like something going wrong, with great precision.

Kiefer: Between Days (2021)

Glitchy, hip-hop jazz had my head boppin’ for twenty-five minutes.

Francis Bebey: Akwaaba — Music For Sanza (1985)

Mbira and raw vocals are set to funky pentatonic bass grooves accompanied by other African percussion. You will sway from side to side.

Joyce Moreno: Revendo Amigos (1994)

Jazz harmonies and wordless melodies.

Joyce Moreno: Passarinho Urbano (1976)

Chock-full of sambas in stereo. Led me to Revendo Amigos (1994), with the kind of jazz harmonies and wordless melodies that I enjoy.

Acemo: Where They At (Swaya’s remix)

Body-shaker of the week. The original comes alive with African percussion, echoed synths, and a stronger rhythmic drive.

Two things from musical master Jacob Collier, but not really about the music: 1) dance animations created from the spinning of a vinyl disc, and 2) he spells out words by playing the piano. The latter is something that normal humans accomplish via a lengthy editing process on the computer—he performs it live.

The Backyardigans: Castaways

This lovely little bossa nova for kids (apparently going viral on TikTok, which I don’t use), comes from The Backyardigans, which is a show where every episode features a different music genre! Wish I grew up watching that… Adam Neely does a deep dive into the music theory devices employed in the song.