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.
Punkt.vrt.Plastik: Somit (2021)
‘Spiky’ avant-garde jazz from Berlin. Vague meters and uneven clocks. I also grooved hard to the slightly steadier Nuremberg Amok from an older album.
Cal Tjader: Complete Concert By The Sea
Lovely Latin jazz with congas and cowbells.
Meara O’Reilly: Hockets for Two Voices (2019)
If you liked the pygmy hockets from last week, check this out. In these exquisite duets with herself, she manages to create a diversity of moods using only the sound of her own voice.
High-energy vortex non-stop fire drumming.
Minute-long drum amen break escapade.
Mix of jazz, raga, and rock.
I’ve never seen such fiery dance choreography by someone in a wheelchair.
This funk carioca body-shaker blasting at home signalled my friend’s long-awaited scheduling of a COVID vaccine. I dig the music, and it has gotten over a billion views, but the video hurts your eyes. Featuring samples of Bach’s Flute Partita in A minor.
Tariq Harb: Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565 on Guitar
A challenge to translate this from organ keyboard to six strings. Classical music on guitar is one of the most sublime things.
Unesco Collection MUSICAL SOURCES: Aka Pygmy Music
Lots of polyphonic hockets. We are privileged as a species to have an opportunity to hear this—sound that comes from the earth by people who have a relationship with the land they live on.
Adam Neely, Kate Steinberg: Run Away With Me, reharmonized
Jazz and prog rock arrangement of Carly-Rae Jepsen’s Come away with me.
Samba De Fato: Eu Não Quero Saber
A song about moving on. The melody revisits me from time to time, and lately I find myself enjoying the lyrics. The first disc of the album has a bunch of other great tracks, worth a listen.
Body-shaker that is, as I understand, named after smelly fish.
Caetano Veloso: Ofertorio (live)
I’ve been learning to sing and play some songs on guitar from this album. Many feature a deceptive simplicity and create a diversity of feelings by re-using smaller parts. I feel somewhat ashamed that it took until my second trip to Brazil to know about this artist.
J Dilla Instrumentals Mix Vol 1
Hours and hours of J Dilla's hip-hop instrumentals. If you’re not familiar with Dilla beats, introduce yourself to the supreme sonic masterpiece that is Donuts.
Tigran Hamasyan: Revisiting the Film
Kaleidoscopic colour shifting, intricate rhythms and interplay between subdivisions and the meter, and yet a consistent flow (if you can hang on through the chaos)—a meticulous freak out. @flying_fisher thinks the voice sounds like mine. The melodic style reminds me of Pedro Martins’ album from last week.
Kevin Seddiki: Cuban guitar groove
Treating the frets as a percussion instrument.
Harry Mack’s improvised freestyle for a man’s late fiancé
This has a backstory that for me underlines the importance of sharing outwards and encouraging vulnerability.
Also from Brazil: incredible funk beats (not the jazz kind but the Brazilian genre). Check out this mixtape with some dope dancing in a basketball court.
