184 entries under "sound"

Joyce Moreno & Toninho Horta: Sem Você (2007)

Two of my favourite artists in Brazil (or perhaps the world) on the same disc. Two masters playing samba, bossa nova, jazz, sublime guitar.

Azymuth: Light As A Feather (2012)

Complex yet danceable mix of jazz, fusion, and disco. Makes me feel like digging into Azymuth’s entire collection. Partido Alto has a funky offbeat rhythm that’s actually in 4; Avenida Das Mangueiras stomps along—driving pulse with funk sixteenth note solos; the second section of Light As A Feather mixes jazz and bossa nova brazil with an uber-tight drum foundation; Fly Over The Horizon reminds me of Weather Report; Jazz Carnival goes full on disco; Young Embrace is a bouncy, swaying electronic biological thing, obviously from Brazil.

The drummer from their band joined with Madlib to form “Jackson Conti” and release Sujinho (2008): jazz/hip-hop instrumentals mixed with pandeiro and all sorts of Brazilian instruments and rhythms, Coltrane-era sax solos, synth riffs, flute melodies—I’ve never heard anything like this.

Lil Jon, LMFAO: Drink

From The World’s End soundtrack (2013). Body-shaker, head-banger, wall-breaker—100% energy using cues from techno song forms. I have some nostalgia for Lil Jon’s general screaming and expletives. Moving!

Lingua Ignota: PENNSYLVANIA FURNACE

From SINNER GET READY (2021). Filled with dark piano textures, and a strong, pure vocal tone that manages to create this deep and expansive intensity with just a few parts. Reminds me of how powerful the acoustic piano can be. You can hear the pedals of the piano triggering overtones…

How Far Ahead Am I Thinking While Freestyling?

Harry Mack slows down his freestyle process so that us mere mortals can understand how far in advance he plans.

How to solo on a II V I... LIKE A PRO!

Rich Brown (bassist extraordinaire) explains music theory of improvising on a fundamental chord progression and goes quickly from banal to outer space while describing both using the same framework. I have known the names of the Greek modes and their notes for a while, but only intellectually—I have hardly thought of them consciously while improvising. Here they are presented as composable parts and it seems approachable (using a ‘cheesy bossa nova’ backing track)—feels like I went from having one thing to do on each chord to 12 x 7 (= eighty-four…) possibilities.

Adrian Younge, Ali Shaheed Muhammad feat Gary Bartz: Distant Mode

Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad have been recording a series since 2020 called Jazz is Dead with some renowned musicians. I have queued up all seven albums and am pretty sure at least one will end up here. One track called Distant Mode with saxophonist Gary Bartz caught my attention for its intricate drumming punctuated with sections of hyperspace warp speed that reminds me of Flying Lotus. They also collaborated with Method Man on Bulletproof Love from the LUKE CAGE soundtrack—the drum beat and rap lyrics feel like part of the same expression.

Jacob Collier: Time Alone With You

I was waiting to set aside a year of my life to listen to Jacob Collier’s Djesse suite, but happened upon this track, with a harmonic complexity that results from someone starting with Moon River as their baseline. It sounds like being possessed by the opposite of the devil. I found it impossible to sit still while listening. Notice as well the fluid physicalizing of music in the video.

Junior Braguinha Quinteto: Goonies

From a set of live quintet recordings that could probably go together as an album, but seems impossible to assemble together without creating a YouTube account or relying on autoplay, so here’s just two tracks: Goonies (2017) mixes a high-octane bass solo with ambient noise (emphasis on noise) from the keyboardist—reminds me of Robert Glasper’s Black Radio. Brisa (2018) is hard-driving and odd-metered with harmonies that shift like mechanical gears.

Mákina Kandela: CUMBIAKISTÁN (2014)

Sometimes cumbia digital, sometimes afrobeat, sometimes reggae/dub. They use quite a few sudden metric changes throughout the album, which I find unusual for genres that are often more ‘steady’. There is also a peculiar sensation at around forty minutes where the groove always seems slower than you expect.

Joyce Moreno: Hard Bossa (1999)

I try to avoid saying here whether I think something is ‘good’ as it’s not a useful comment, but I can’t help stating that Hard Bossa (1999) by Joyce Moreno (featured in #005) is excellent. I was fooled by ‘the b word’, thinking that it would be easy-going music made by Brazilians catering to an international audience, and I was very wrong: traditional elements are unapologetically slathered throughout.

I’ll share my impressions of some songs, but the whole album is worth a listen:

• Zoeira starts the album with complex interlocking rhythms between instruments, yet it flows like air.
• Nome De Guerra’s rapid pandeiro beat and [that universal folk rhythm clapping pattern whose name escapes me] underpins a moment sung by Paulo Cesar Pinheiro, and it flows like air.
• London Samba sounds to me more like bossa nova than samba, but it feels like you’re dancing and someone is twirling you around. There is a trombone solo and it flows like air.
• Todos Os Santos features duet harmonies in a seven meter, and it flows like air.
• Hard Bossa’s scurrying onomatopoeic melody doubled rhythmically by flute flies right by, and it flows like air.

This falls under the #Under45Minutes classification that I disclosed last week.

I also thought it was neat that a legendary artist from the 1970s has a Bandcamp.

Mulatu Astatke: Mulatu

From Black Jesus Experience (2020). Ethiopian jazz with quartal harmonies and a screechy guitar solo.

Kiki Gyan: Disco Dancer

From the Soundway Records compilation 24 Hours in A Disco 1978 – 82 (2018). Body-shaker that sounds like the 70s.

Music from Africa Vol. 2 Shangaan Traditional / Sotho Chant (2015)

Compilation album filled with South African music from the 1980s, mostly disco, except for these first two tracks: Crestina and Alexandra’s triadic pentatonic harmonies and vocal percussion combines moves you from side to side.

Chiwoniso: Zvichapera (2015 single)

Kind of polyrhythmic mbira with powerful vocal doubling in the melody—the lead singer floats on top of the sound as if it were a solid cloud.

Aeolians of Oakwood University: Sabbath Hymn

When I heard Jacob Collier call this the “best choir on earth” last week, I went through some of their recordings. This one From Aeolianology Acappella, Vol. 2 (2015) is a good example of a sound that fills your insides with light, maybe raising your shoulders too. The church chorale and organ textures with jazz voice-leadings on an a cappella album is a testament to the power of the human voice. They also did a variation on Take 6’s classic arrangement of Get Away Jordan.

Michel Freidenson: Notas no Ar (2011)

Gave me a strong signal from the first few notes of the album. It features traditional Brazilian rhythms and instruments mixed with a fresher modern jazz sound. Roda mixes samba and speedy bossa nova with a rare combination of piano melody doubled by trombone; the forro inspired Cosmic For All I can describe as energetic and alive; Je Suis Desolé is a swingy and slightly disjunct blues featuring some stride piano in the intro.

Cartagena! Curro Fuentes & The Big Band Cumbia and Descarga Sound Of Colombia (1962–72)

Compilation from Soundway Records has cowbell, very Latin American brass and reed doubled melodies, shuk-shuk-a-shuk, cumbia, salsa, and maybe some other genres that I don’t know the name of. I should have noted the names of the songs, but instead just decided to let it wash all over me. When I visited in 2018, Colombians told me their country was the land of over a thousand musical styles.

Guinga: Canção da Impermanência (2017)

Part of a genre of Brazilian music that I would describe as ‘beyond genre’. Dripping guitar tones and mostly language-less, this sonic voyage uses traditional voice-leading to create unnameable harmonies. Why are most of my deepest connections with albums under 45 minutes?

Rich Brown: Nguyên

Live from a solo bass concert in 2012, has a celestial atmosphere with melodic vocal inflections. I dream of having this kind of expression when I play guitar.