GLOSSER are a US alt-pop duo made up by Riley Fanning and Corbin Sheehan. They have a new single out called “The Artist”.
The synth-driven dream pop track is actually lifted from the outfit’s upcoming album which drops early 2023. It follows the singles “Disco Girls” and “Movies”.
Riley says, “I think ‘The Artist’ is in stark comparison to most of our music. It’s very bare and stripped back, which is something we hadn’t tried before. It was also the very last song written for the album, so it’s almost in its own world”.
Listen to the song and follow GLOSSER on Instagram.
Floating through genres rather angelically and with much love, Lisa Ramey shall have many hearts in a spin with the brave release inspired by the courage shown by the late women’s rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer on Certainly Lord.
Lisa Ramey is a St. Louis-born and New York-based indie singer-songwriter who captures her roots so splendidly inside stunning RnB and funk.
”Fannie Lou Hamer was an American voting and women’s rights activist, community organizer, a leader in the civil rights movement and an incredibly powerful singer. Hamer’s story spoke to me and I’ll do all I can to give her words and message a second life to inspire a new generation and help keep her name spoken for generations to come. It’s what she deserves.” ~ Lisa Ramey
Absorbing our energies with a marvellous blend of incredible velocity, Lisa Ramey is absolutely thrilling inside this scintillating song which will swap many moods around. Enchanting our souls with something our body needed to heal with, we find a release to wash away all previous fears.
Certainly Lord from St. Louis-born and New York-based indie rock artist and member of Team Legend on Idols USA Lisa Ramey is unquestionably one of the more spellbinding songs ever to be heard. Sung with so much passionate gusto which shall inspire many ears, this is a rather special single that needs to be played loud.
Hear this fine single on Spotify. See more via the IG page.
With another seven days in the books, we’re back catching you up on the best new music with the 318th installment of our Weekly Dope playlist.
On the artwork this week, I ran with a mix of SZA‘s SOS album with Bun B and Statik Selektah‘s TrillStatik 2 project.
On top of that, there’s also new music from Boldy James, Ransom + Lloyd Banks, Icewear Vezzo, Apathy + Black Thought, Emotional Oranges, iyla + Benny the Butcher, Lil Durk, Shy Glizzy + 21 Savage, Mount Westmore (Snoop Dogg, Too $hort, Ice Cube, and E-40), and more.
Updated every Monday morning, the playlist can be heard below and is available on Apple Music, Spotify, and TIDAL.
Weekly Dope: SZA, Bun B + Statik Selektah, Icewear Vezzo & More was last modified: December 13th, 2022 by Shake
Darkroom, managed by Feather Shaw, above, is one of three venues concerned about noise complaints. (File photo).
Three music venues in Christchurch fear they could be put out of business in the future because of noise complaints after work started on 18 new townhouses on a neighbouring property.
The venues, which are clustered on a short stretch of St Asaph St, are concerned about what could happen if new residents in the neighbourhood kick up a fuss over live music gigs.
The owners of Darkroom, Space Academy and 12 Bar, which between them host about 450 live music shows a year, have called on city councillors to change planning laws to protect them from noise complaints.
12 Bar music manager Kendra Walls told councillors last week that music venues were essential for the city’s cultural scene.
READ MORE: * Bar owners say central Christchurch noise restrictions create clash of new apartments and vibrant nightlife * Coronavirus: Music venues struggling post-Covid-19 lockdown * The Kings Arms pledges to rock to its end amid complaints and cancellations
Supplied
Christchurch’s music crowd has been flocking to the Darkroom since it opened in late 2011.
“Our businesses are now faced with the prospect that the sound of live music will now be considered a disturbance to our new residential neighbours and under current council process we may be unable to operate as we have done for many years,’’ she said.
“Without spaces and opportunities for up-and-coming musicians they will likely leave Ōtautahi and look for work elsewhere.
“No artist arrives in the stadium as a fully formed superstar. Smaller venues like ourselves are the universities that grow world-class musicians.
“Many of the most loved and celebrated Christchurch musicians like Marlon Williams, Aldous Harding and Yumi Zouma have played some of their first gigs on our stages.
“Without the proper protection, Ōtautahi risks losing our creative community and cultural vibrancy.”
Supplied/Naomi Haussmann
Space Academy on St Asaph St hosts about three live music events a week.
Taylor MacGregor, from Save Our Venues, which raises awareness about the plight of small venues, said planning rules should be changed to create a special zone for the three venues with different noise standards.
He said new housing developments near live music venues should have higher sound insulation standards.
“These three venues have created a little precinct of their own. That is where we can start looking at planning measures to put them into the design of the city,’’ MacGregor said.
“That can benchmark the amount of sound a venue can make and so when residents move in they can know there’s a level of noise to be expected.
“We want people to live in cities and we want cities to be vibrant places. We want both things to co-exist.”
Supplied/Naomi Haussmann
Space Academy has been operating on St Asaph St since 2015.
Space Academy owner Richard Barnacle said they were not consulted about the new townhouses, and that the first they heard of the development was when they saw the houses for sale off-plan on TradeMe.
“It feels disappointing that we were not consulted,’’ he said.
“It feels like there is a very significant chance that our ability to operate will be affected and this could have been mitigated far earlier in the process.”
Barnacle said work had started to clear the site for the new townhouses and they could be completed by the end of next year.
Council staff were unable to immediately respond to questions about whether music venues should be protected from noise complaints
After Walls presented to councillors on Thursday, councillor Sara Templeton asked for council staff to present advice on how to “mitigate the issue”. Mayor Phil Mauger backed the request.
Al and Nolan Hare are brothers and musicians who were raised in The Dalles. They also play lead and bass guitar in Brewer’s Grade Band, a country western outfit that had a busy touring schedule until the pandemic shuttered live music venues across the nation. As in-person performances started up again last summer, Al approached local downtown business owners with a vision of making The Dalles a “Little Music City,” showcasing live music seven nights a week. Today, there are nearly two dozen live music venues and growing, with an outdoor event space to open in late spring. The Hare brothers and other members of Brewer’s Grade Band perform original music for us while sharing their vision for making The Dalles a music and entertainment destination in the Columbia Gorge.
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There is a new album by Canadian artist Ché Aimee Dorval that is scheduled for a January 19 release. The album is named The Crowned.
The song “Loveless” which was released together with a music video two weeks ago is part of that upcoming LP; it’s the third single.
“’Loveless’ is about giving your love over quickly and readily,” the Vancouver-based musician says. “Loving without the expectation of having it returned. I think it’s honourable to give over love easily to anyone, even with the dangers that can come from that. Maybe it’s not even a choice. Maybe you either acknowledge your love or you don’t, but it’s there either way. This song explores the feeling of being compelled to love a person who has nothing to give in return.”
This new track follows Ché Aimee Dorval’s 2022 singles “Blood Red Son” and “Falling Under”.
Follow her on Instagram for more updates about the forthcoming record.
Looking back on a scar-littered relationship, Iamyungtip’s latest single, Locked Out, is a remorseful retrospective account of a chapter of history where the lows pitted out the highs, but the affection is unwaning.
The mature slice of future-ready RnB hip hop is a testament to the Youngstown, Ohio-based artist’s songwriting skills that he has been working on since he was eight years old when he wrote poetry for his crushes. In adulthood, he’s lost none of the diehard romanticism and picked up plenty of sonic skills to evolve his expression from the page to the airwaves.
The melodic hooks, the way his cleverly effect-laden harmonised vocals lock in with the sweepingly arrestive melodies and the way he always brings you into the heart of his music makes him a triple threat and a playlist staple worthy artist for anyone who appreciates a hip hop icon unafraid to show his emotion.
Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, E-40, and Too $hort are legends in music, and that is a fact that cannot be debated. Forming the supergroup Mount Westmore, the quartet have finally released their debut album Snoop, Cube, 40, $hort.
“You bring the legends of the West Coast together; something great will always happen,” Snoop said about the project. “Cube, 40, Short, and I have been running the game for years. This is the perfect time because each of us brings authentic and new ideas to the table. All four together? That’s magic.”
A 16-song release, the album is anchored by the singles “Free Game,” “Subwoofer,” “Activated,” and “Too Big.” The likes of Fredwreck, Soopafly, Rick Rick, and P-Lo are among the guest features.
Stream Snoop, Cube, 40, $hort below.
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Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, E-40, & Too $hort Are Mount Westmore, Drop Debut Album was last modified: December 9th, 2022 by Meka
Admit it: singing and dancing animals are low-hanging fruit when it comes to grabbing people’s attention, especially kids. Pop them into a film, like a cartoon from the Broadway-influenced Disney Renaissance, described on Collider — “The Little Mermaid,” “Aladdin,” “The Lion King” — and you’ve all but guaranteed a beloved character for generations to come. Before then there was Jiminy Cricket from “Pinocchio” and Baloo from “The Jungle Book.” Meanwhile, Snow White and Aurora both sang to animals in the forest like Orpheus from Greek myth, the most gifted composer and singer of all time. Even if such animated films don’t include a recognizable species of singing and dancing animal, they include some magical critter-type companion, like Olaf from “Frozen.”
So what gives here? Do folks just really, really want to believe that their dog or cat are more human than they really are? Is it just the incongruity of seeing something like a raccoon rocking out on the guitar — a human-only activity? Does a singing plant, like that giant quasi-Venus flytrap from “Little Shop of Horrors” (via IMDb), produce the same sense of surrealism? Furthermore, do animals actually understand music at all? Rhythm, pitch, tempo, and all that?
Well, believe it or not, more research has been done on this topic than you might expect, as articles like that on BBC Science Focus recount. In the end, most animals have no clue about music. Some, however, can bounce with the beat just like anyone else.
We’re going to guess that lots of folks who’ve prowled the internet at some point in history might have seen that bobbing cockatoo video from 2007 featuring Snowball, the Backstreet Boys-loving bird. As we see on YouTube, Snowball had 14 distinct patterns of dance, depending on the music he listened to, which is probably more moves than most people. (Side note: Queen and Michael Jackson also ranked among his favorites.) Snowball’s bobbing and stomping not only prompted a deluge of media attention, but actual scientific research published in the journal Current Biology in 2009, available on Cell.
Snowball was a sulphur-crested cockatoo, a type of parrot with a yellow mohawk-looking fan of feathers on the top of the head (pictured above). As the study published in Current Biology concluded, his movements weren’t random chance. He displayed evidence of “musical beat perception and synchronization,” and adjusted his moves to match a song’s tempo. Researchers concluded that his understanding of rhythm is likely part-and-parcel of the same evolutionary function that allows us humans to track subtleties in voice and speech, i.e., the “vocal learning and rhythmic synchronization hypothesis.” By contrast, domesticated animals like dogs have lived with humans for tens of thousands of years, but show no signs of the same skill. We can’t say whether or not Snowball was more musically inclined than other cockatoos, but if other parrots don’t react, they just might not like the music, as Insider reports.
Next up are some incredibly fuzzy, cute monkey-like creatures with striped tales and elongated noses that almost look like the muzzles of foxes: lemurs. Folks might be inclined to think that primates most similar to humans, like chimpanzees or gorillas, are more musically inclined. Lemurs, however, demonstrate a true understanding of rhythm.
As Science explains, a study from the University of Turin discovered that lemurs in the Madagascar rainforest typically sing in the morning, at 7 a.m. And when we say “sing,” we mean sing in actual duets and on beat. One lemur starts a higher set of notes, and another joins in to coordinate with the first and add a “descending phrase.” The two parts overlap like a simple 1:2 rhythm. Imagine “We Will Rock You” by Queen — a kick drum on one, followed by a clap on two. Or, lemurs do a simpler 1:1 rhythm where all parts stack. And it’s important to note that these researchers observed lemurs in their natural habitat, not rocking out in captivity to the Backstreet Boys like Snowball the cockatoo.
And for the curious, yes, close human relatives like chimpanzees and gorillas react to music, but don’t display an understanding of it. One study suggests that chimps prefer some types of music over others, and music over silence (per Psychology Today), and show individual preferences for different types of music, like rock vs. classical. Chimps bop to music, but they also bop to random, uncoordinated noise, per Science.
Ah, elephants — such soulful giants. They’re so soulful, in fact, that they host funereal rites for their dead, as National Geographic says. They take detours from their never-ending roaming to visit the spots where elephants died. They circle up, raise their feet, and bellow toward the sky. That’s not to say that every animal who is extremely intelligent and has funereal rites is musically inclined, but we already know that elephants communicate a lot through voice. This is a characteristic they share with cockatoos, lemurs, and humans. This gives credence to the aforementioned “vocal learning and rhythmic synchronization hypothesis” cited in the journal Current Biology and published on Cell, credited for the evolution of musical comprehension in “nonhuman animals.”
Admittedly, there’s far less hard research into elephants’ understanding of music, and a lot more of these “watch the elephant sway to the music” videos on YouTube, particularly by pianist Paul Barton. However, as far back as 1798 folks in the music world recognized the musical aptitude of elephants, per Ludwig van Toronto. Back then, an orchestra at the Conservatoire de Musique in Paris performed pieces with elephants, and those elephants kept rhythm by swaying in time with various pieces. Furthermore, Columbia University neurologist David Sulzer co-founded the Thai Elephant Orchestra in Thailand, per Columbia News, a music group made of 16 elephants that play instruments like the steel drum and harmonica. The elephants improvise music on beat “more accurately than their human counterparts.”
It’s well known at this point how intelligent dolphins are: They use tools, memorize lists, learn patterns, and are heavily reliant on sound for communication. Except when they surface, they and other marine mammals like whales dwell in a dark, murky realm where sound is the chief tool to reach out to others. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America published a study (posted at the National Library of Medicine) saying that dolphins could hear underwater whistles up to two kilometers away. Sciencing describes the unbelievable hearing range of dolphins, from 20Hz all the way to 150 KHz. Humans, for example, can only hear frequencies from 20 Hz to 20 KHz — seven times less. And dogs, with their much-ballyhooed hearing? Only about 40 Hz to 60 kHz, as Hidden Hearing cites.
Even though dolphins can communicate across a huge range of frequencies, they prefer communicating at higher frequencies. It comes as no shock that they prefer high-pitched human instruments like the flute, piccolo and Indian wooden recorder, as Science ABC says. But as this video on YouTube shows, they’re also down with clarinets. They match the rhythm and bark along to it better than lots of human drummers keep time. Like elephants, there’s less hard research into dolphins’ musical aptitude. But if the dolphin in the aforementioned video is any indication of things, then dolphins can discern and count rhythm as well as, if not better than, any other entry on this list.
And finally, we come to an entry on this list of musically gifted animals that many people might find surprising: rats. When not carrying flea-bearing plagues, ducking into sewers, or dragging slices of pizza into the subway, rats are often used for all kinds of research. Reason being, as the Journal of the Missouri State Medical Association says (via the National Library of Medicine), rats, mice, and humans share 95% of the same genes. That’s only 1% less similar than gorillas, as The Guardian cites. So might they also share some of our musical traits while doing all of that adorable peeping and squeaking with their little whiskers? It took a long time to find out, but a very recent study says yes.
Classic FM cites a study conducted by the University of Tokyo and published in the journal Science Advances. The study equipped 10 rats with “wireless, miniature accelerometers” to track head movements. While 10 rats isn’t what we’d call an amazing sample size, researchers still discovered that the rats bopped their heads to the study’s musical selections: Mozart’s “Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major,” Lady Gaga’s “Born this Way,” Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust,” Michael Jackson’s “Beat It,” and Maroon 5’s “Sugar.” In this case, the choice of music mattered less than the music’s tempo. Researchers sped up and slowed down tracks, and found that the rats preferred 132 beats per minute, specifically.
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Just after ace percussionist Ustad Zakir Hussain, one of the tallest names in the world of rhythm, drummed up a storm with an intricate rhythm pattern that landed exquisitely on the sam (the first beat of the time cycle in a rhythm structure) at Delhi’s Siri Fort auditorium earlier this week, an elderly man in the audience exclaimed, “Uff ye ladka, kya tabla bajaata hai (How brilliantly does this boy play the tabla)!”
Hussain, 72, was accompanying Delhi-based sarod exponent Ustad Amjad Ali Khan in a concert organised by Mumbai-based organisation Pancham Nishad. What the overtly enthusiastic gentleman and the audience could not spot, however, was that amid a flurry of virtuosic rhythms and broad smiles, Hussain has been dealing with anxiety and apprehension since his arrival at his parents’ Nepean Sea Road home in Mumbai earlier this month.
Every year, the visit to India in winter is what Hussain really looks forward to. Here, he gets to deep dive into his core — Hindustani classical music — and discover “what new things one has accumulated in the time that’s passed”. But this year is replete with a sense of loss and longing for two of his closest associates — santoor maestro Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma and Kathak exponent Pandit Birju Maharaj, who passed away earlier this year.
“These are relationships that have shaped my life, me as a musician, showed me which path to take. To not see them around does not feel right. It’s almost as difficult as me trying to get on stage in India for the first time after my father passed away, because these are mentors I grew up learning from. It feels as if a major part of me as a listener, as a student, as a nurturer, a preserver and transmitter of music, has fallen away, and I don’t know how that’s going to come back. That makes me extremely anxious,” says Hussain in an exclusive conversation with The Indian Express over a call a few hours after his arrival from San Francisco, California, his home with wife and Kathak dancer Antonia Minnecola.
The poignant moment when he played pallbearer for Sharma’s hearse in May this year, his grief palpable, was discussed extensively on social media as the true example of the “idea of India”. For Hussain, it was not as reductive in nature, but only a gesture to mark the deep bond, musical and otherwise, the two had shared over the years. “I think people and politicians exist on two different planes… We tend to generalise and in doing so, create the danger of a bigger schism than we actually need to. Not everyone of any sect is bad. That idea seems to have taken a backseat. What we need to do is just be able to hear whatever the powers that be want to tell us, but judge for ourselves as citizens where is it that we belong and what it is that we need in our lives to make it better. Probably we’ll get there one of these days,” he says.
Hussain with sarod maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan during their concert in New Delhi’s Siri Fort (credit: Innee Singh)
As much as one considers his concerts in India an easy home stretch, Hussain believes that the last three years, riddled with uncertainty, death, loss and loneliness, have left him flailing to figure out the audience’s pulse. “I don’t know what they like anymore after listening to so many Zoom concerts and seminars,” says Hussain. He need not have worried. Going by his sold-out tour this time, Hussain appears to remain peerless in the world of Indian percussionists.
During the Delhi concert, the deft sonic artiste enthralled the audience without ever overpowering the performance, in which, traditionally speaking, Khan was the main artiste. His solo, like the one today in Mumbai’s Thane, organised by A Field Productions, is a different ballgame. It’s an ode to the gurus who have taught him, a hazri (attendance) in the court of music. “The story of Thane goes back 60 years, when, as a young boy studying in Class V at Mahim’s St Michael’s, I was made a part of a variety show in a dark, small hamlet that Thane was once, alongside bhangra performers, mimicry artistes, film singers. This is the first time I felt that I belonged,” says Hussain, who learned under the exacting tutelage of his father and guru, Ustad Allah Rakha.
With a rich classical career behind him, this year also marks 50 years of Shakti, one of the finest world-music bands, which began as a collaboration between Hussain, British musician John McLaughlin, US-based violinist L Shankar and ghatam legend Vikku Vinayakram. The group merged Indian music with jazz, creating a unique sound. While the audience fell in love, the jazz world was less forthcoming. Unlike Pandit Ravi Shankar, who had pop’s biggest name, George Harrison, rooting for him, Shakti was an experiment that took time to make its mark. “Away from the Indian classical-music world of mine, Shakti is probably the finest moment of music that I was ever involved in. For something to be accepted as a landmark, it has to stand the test of time. And Shakti has. It wasn’t some volcanic reaction but a pebble dropped into the pond and the ripple effect is only reaching us now,” says Hussain. The band will embark on their India tour in 2023.
Hussain’s visit this year also comes at the back of sexual abuse allegations that have hit the world of classical music and dance. Hussain says that back in the day, the abuse was couched as part of the training journey. “Yes, the abuse was probably rampant, but, and I feel ashamed even to say this, that probably our mindset was to accept it as the norm. The generations now have found it okay to speak about it and thank god for that,” says Hussain, who adds that when he thinks of it now, he wonders if he may have been “nasty” to some women friends or even artistes he was accompanying. “I have come to the conclusion that I may have crossed a line and now I am struggling with how to put that into words to correctly convey my sorrow for whatever might have happened. These are things that make you look in the mirror and ask yourself that question,” says Hussain.
