Rosano / Journal

22 entries under "sound"

Saturday, December 13, 2025

Mestre Gato Preto: The art of the berimbau

mostly berimbau without singing, solo and with the drum section, great swing

Thursday, December 4, 2025

Simon Stuij: Alles Raakt Mij

tight drumming, nice contrast between sections

breathe.: London

would love to know the genre that is named for this chord progression.

Monday, November 17, 2025

Maribel La Canija: Mediterráneo

many 'typical/cliche' progressions but nice surprise resolutions, crunches, and resolutions. timefeel includes triplets. bass solo has this "suspended in the air" feeling i tend to seek out.

Saturday, November 15, 2025

KNOWER: It's All Nothing Until It's Everything

deadly intricate rhythmic precision juxtaposed with smooth flowing head-banging melody.

Thursday, August 14, 2025

Capoeira Music Practice: Profa Minha Velha

Mixture of leading and harmonizing. Big sound with 7 people; sounds like there's more instruments than there actually are.

Tagged: capoeira.

Monday, August 5, 2024

Cachila: Uruguay – Tambores del Candombe N° 2 (2009)

Pure vocal percussion, sometimes with actual drums. Can't help but solo or move on some of these explosive rhythmic drives. Some tracks fuse conversation, sound play, and humour.

Sunday, March 17, 2024

Jacob Collier: Fascinating Rhythm

One of his first popular videos, from 2014 yet doesn't feel dated.

Friday, March 15, 2024

Louis cole: Palmdale Cruisin'

melodic phrasing feels vaguely baroque; harmonies make giant steps; solid groovy beat; bought this right away

Sullivan Fortner: Once I Loved

mixing multiple voices, dense crunchy textures, jazz harmonies with quirky extensions, slight atonality, never heard this kind of playing.

Sullivan Fortner: Sunny Side of the Street

non-ironically making an older style feel current.

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Brad Mehldau: The Greatest Jazz Pianist of Our Generation

[Written chord changes are an expedient way to quickly coordinate playing together, but they lack precision to specify things like voice-leading, even from more popular songs like Blackbird.]

[I like to add a note to so-called 'stock voicings' for crunch.]

[The intellectual aspect of improvising happens as you make sense of music. What happens in real-time while playing is a natural reflexive response based on everything you've learned.]

[Can you tell the same story with just two notes?]


fluid switches between discussion and piano playing

Tagged: music.

Sunday, March 10, 2024

Kenny Garrett and Sounds From The Ancestors: Tiny Desk Concert

simple gospel influenced groove turns into a party; got me out of my seat pretty quick, couldn't sit still; lots of subtle polyrhythmic goodness in the background.

DOMi & JD BECK: SMiLE

catchy tune without words; complex drumming and rhythms but flows easy; video and imagery kind of absurd and hilarious with some famous figures doing a cameo.

Sunday, March 3, 2024

Nas feat. A Boogie Wit da Hoodie & YG: YKTV

Triplet tension in chorus; lyric flows while never mechanically aligning with the beat's grid; bass triplets that happen a few times create a feeling of suspension; contrast between silence and full beat avoids monotony,

Bobby McFerrin: Circlesongs - Live in Budapest (2018)

Been appreciating lately how hard it is to sing in tune and so I enjoyed this on a higher level than normal.

27:17: wildly precise abstract tuning, singing, and gibberish without turning into a mess.

31:31: groovy bass-y beatboxing to support instrument-like vocal solos.

43:31: improvised speaking through music and singing, realistic voice-only drum groove; polyrhythmic breaking of Bobby's voice to create effects.

Saturday, February 24, 2024

Berimbaus da Bahia: Camafeu de Oxóssi (1964)

Percussion layer with a few instruments becomes a solid rhythmic foundation for singing. Some tracks of chanting with what I call "vowels of African origin", followed by some classic songs from the Capoeira tradition.

Tagged: capoeira.

Tuesday, February 20, 2024

Adrian Holovaty: Melodic Guitar Music (2023)

Pure instrumental arrangements with guitar and bass. Tasteful improvising over django swing vibes.

Marta Gómez: Canciones de sol (2016)

Sweet simple melodies with complex rhythms and accompaniment, punctuated with a children's chorus.

Wednesday, February 7, 2024

Djavan: a voz e o violão (1976)

Perfect fusing of the Brazilian language's natural rhythm with samba's flow: 4. Para-raio reminds me of the 'perfect fit' between words and percussion I hear in João Donato's music; 9. Embola Bola (Cateretê) barely has words, almost pure voice percussion; 11. Magia feels like hip-hop; 12. Ventos do Norte like swing jazz.