Alec Benjamin, Noah Cyrus, 100 Gecs & More

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Looking for some motivation to help power you through the start of another work week? We feel you, and with some stellar new pop tunes, we’ve got you covered.

These 10 tracks from artists including Alec Benjamin, Noah Cyrus, 100 Gecs, Caroline Polachek, Chloe George and more will get you energized to take on the week. Pop any of these gems into your personal playlists — or scroll to the end of the post for a custom playlist of all 10.

Oliver Sim, “Sensitive Child (Soulwax Remix)”

A standout track from Hideous B******, the recent solo album from The xx’s Oliver Sim, becomes an enthralling, extended groove as Soulwax turns the shaggy rock of “Sensitive Child” into a thumping dance scorcher. The legendary dance group zeroes in on the refrain “I can feel it! When we kiss!,” and grounds Sim’s ethereal vocal take with heaps of percussion; the remix is almost six minutes long but could have been twice that length without growing the least bit stale. – Jason Lipshutz

Alec Benjamin, “Paper Crown”

The original version of Alec Benjamin’s delicate sway-along “Paper Crown” was released on his Narrated for You mixtape in 2018, and has since become a fan favorite that the singer-songwriter decided to retool as a year-end treat. The new edition of “Paper Crown” is marked by its clean production and Benjamin’s earnest delivery, which made him stand out upon the song’s original release and has helped him gain a sizable fan base in the years since. – J. Lipshutz

Eaves Wilder, “Morning Rain”

Plenty of schools are about to go on holiday break, but before that, London-based singer-songwriter Eaves Wilder has released a striking new single about being frustrated by returning to class when all she wants to do is make music in her bedroom. “Morning Rain” has a lived-in quality that nods to Wilder’s real-life experiences, with melancholic harmonies cascading over wandering piano chords and a despondent kick drum.  – J. Lipshutz

Whenyoung, “Unchained”

Irish duo Whenyoung make songs that are both mysterious and wholly engrossing — witness “Unchained,” a haunting collection of hooks and fuzzed-out guitar that possesses some dissonance underneath its surface throughout its run time. The electro-pop lane that Whenyoung occupy is crowded, but a song like “Unchained” has enough intriguing details to make the group one to watch in 2023.  – J. Lipshutz

Noah Cyrus, “Set for Life”  

Noah Cyrus is back with an expanded version of her debut full-length, The Hardest Part. New track “Set For Life” is a lush, romantic slice of singer-songwriter pop in the vein of Carly Simon with light Lana Del Rey undertones. – Joe Lynch  

$uicideboy$ and Germ, “My Swisher Sweet, but My Sig Sauer”  

On “My Swisher Sweet, but My Sig Sauer,” latest collab between $uicideboy$ and Germ, $crim and Ruby da Cherry bring a percolating combination of attitude and insecurity to a lo-fi but busy trap production with a spaced-out guitar riff, a Star Trek sample and Middle Eastern flavoring. – J. Lynch  

Mynolia, “All Things Heavy”

Mynolia’s “All Things Heavy” is like a comforting cuddle, as the folk singer’s inviting voice floats over the folky, mostly acoustic production. Also the title track off the artist’s debut album, “All Things Heavy” proves that sometimes the softest moments can make a big impact. — Lyndsey Havens

Chloe George, “Sunny D”

Built around and amplified by a crunchy chorus of harmonized “oohs,” alt-pop singer Chloe George confidently shows her range on “Sunny D.” Delivering more polished verses with Ariana Grande-like melodies right alongside grungier riffs, the song is a shining example of what an artist who contains multitudes — and isn’t afraid to explore them — can create. — L.H.

Caroline Polachek, “Welcome To My Island”

Caroline Polachek is back — and with a vengeance. On “Welcome To My Island” the pop star embraces the feminine and ferocious kicking off with swooping ethereal notes reminiscent of a siren song and before evolving into booming, arena-ready synths. The lyrics, according to Polachek, explore “conflict and frustration” as the tension sets the tone for her forthcoming album, Desire I Want To Turn Into You. – Starr Bowenbank

100 Gecs, “Torture Me (feat. Skrillex)”

After taking a short break following April’s “Doritos and Fritos,” 100 Gecs — the duo of Laura Les and Dylan Brady — enlist Skrillex on “Torture Me,” an amalgamation of nightcore, emo, hyperpop and rap. Les and Brady’s delivery of the song’s many questions — “Do you wanna see me bleed?/ Do you wanna torture me?/ Do you wanna see me cry?” — complements the anguish well, and allows the experimental instrumentation to shine. – S.B.

STR4TA present STR4TASFEAR album – Aipate

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Gilles Peterson and Jean Paul Maunick, who make music together as STR4TA, released their sophomore album at the beginning of November.

The album is titled STR4TASFEAR ad was released on Brownswood Recordings. It arrived with the focus-track, “(Bring On The) Bad Weather”, which features another UK duo, Anushka.

Throughout the LP, you are treated to beautiful funk music that will feed your body and soul.

Listen to STR4TASFEAR below on Spotify. You can connect with STR4TA and Anushka on Instagram.



Impact’s Music Essentials: Jazz Rap

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Natalie Howarth

Natalie Howarth picks her ten favourite songs in the jazz rap genre for Impact’s Music Essentials. 

Jazz rap is the fusion of hip-hop and jazz music. Jazz rap takes a variety of elements and features from both genres and modernises them. Artists like Gil Scott-Heron were catalysts for modernising music. His choice of using spoken word over instrumental jazz backing tracks and lyrics often built on a political consciousness and inspired the coalescence of jazz and hip-hop in the late 1980s.

As hip-hop music popularised, jazz artists shifted their sound to fit the public zeitgeist of the time; the most famous example of this overt shift is in the album Doo-Bop released posthumously in 1992 by jazz legend, Miles Davis. The rising popularity of hip-hop led to a rejection of classical jazz, with its known conventions becoming less sustained in its production, with increased sampling and improvisation. This is a ten-song introduction to the genre of jazz rap, along with some other songs that have multi-genre elements that were inspired by jazz movements, including the likes of funk and soul.

MF DOOM – Doomsday

A must-have in this list! Included on his debut album titled ‘Operation: Doomsday’, Daniel Dumile, known as MF DOOM, had an unbelievably vast impact on modern hip-hop, often known and referred to as your favourite rapper’s favourite rapper. I chose this song predominantly for the multi-genre essence combining jazz loops, percussion and samples of elevator music and cartoons: he often sampled from the 1967 Fantastic Four Television Series.

A Tribe Called Quest – Jazz (We’ve Got)

A Tribe Called Quest are considered the peak of this subgenre, enabling the proliferation of jazz rap. It would be unfair to exclude them from this list. I chose this song not only for the aptness of the song title, but for the saxophone sample, piano loops and lyrics that are fused to produce a wholly catchy song.

J Dilla – Won’t Do

Founder of the notorious Slum Village, producer of A Tribe Called A Quest, The Pharcyde, Madlb, Common and many more influential hip hop artists of the 1990s and early 2000s, J Dilla’s music is amongst some of my favourite of all time. He takes an experimental and deliberately imperfect perspective to making music, purposely playing drumbeats patterns off to achieve something known as ‘Drunk Funk’, something modern jazz artists try to replicate today. This song includes his well-loved sounds from his MPC and jazz synth, just like many tracks on this album, ‘The Shining’. His legacy will live on and continue to inspire others!

De La Soul – Me Myself and I

This hip hop trio, popular during the late 1980s, were known for contributing to the progression and prominence of jazz rap. They sample the legendary, pioneering funk group Funkadelic and their track (Not Just) Knee Deep, a psychedelic funk track. De La Soul, however, take this sample and reconstruct it into their fashion rap Me, Myself and I. It is a quintessential 1990s jazz rap song. 

Nujabes – Beat laments the world

Jun Seba, well known as Nujabes, is famous for tracks that amalgamate genres more commonly sampled in western hip-hop production, such as breakbeats and boom-bap drums, with samples of modal jazz. In his album ‘Metaphorical Music’, he combines features of lo-fi, ambient, soul, and jazz rap into his songs. More specific to this song, the sample Make Love 2 by Kip Hanrahan is primarily used and converted to the requisite style of Nujabes’s music.

Your Old Droog – Train Love

Your Old Droog samples Delegation’s Oh Honey, this is a perfect example of jazz rap using a timeless soul song that accompanies the rap. Your Old Droog’s album ‘Transportation’ was released in 2019, within the album, there are so many elements of jazz and instrumentation along with many cultural references to New York. It almost feels like a homage to his city and perhaps to the jazz scene.

Anti Lilly & Phoniks – Blue In Green

This song is a masterpiece in multi-genre jazz rap. It takes inspiration from jazz and lo-fi and the main beat is sampled from an indistinguishable Miles Davis song. It is almost homage-like in the transformative nature of modern music.

King Geedorah – Next Levels

One of MF DOOM’s alter egos, DOOM uses his instrumental Arrow Root from Metal Fingers Presents: Special Herbs Volume 1. This song fuses a commercial-sounding kind of jazz with some intricate rap lyricism, the sound of the saxophone and double bass complement each other.

Rejjee Snow (featuring Aminé and Dana Williams, produced by KAYTRANADA) – Egyptian Luvr

Moving to a more contemporary song categorised as jazz rap, in Egyptian Luvr the juxtaposition of the contemplative and melancholic lyrics and sanguine rhythm is intriguing. The producer of this track KAYTRANADA, takes a dance approach to counter the lyrics, an experimental method to a song about heartbreak and loneliness.

Freddie Gibbs (featuring The Alchemist and Tyler, The Creator) – Something to Rap About

A track that brings some of the most famous names in the modern hip hop and rap scene, produced by The Alchemist, who uses a sample from soul artist David T. Walker’s On Love. He takes a snippet of the chorus and loops it for the entirety of the song. Freddie Gibbs and Tyler, The Creator collaborate on this song, despite their overtly different rapping styles (although they aren’t comparable), and it works to achieve an experimental track on Gibbs’s 2020 album ‘Alfredo’.

Natalie Howarth

Featured image courtesy of Florencia Viadana via Unsplash. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image. 

In-article video 1 courtesy of MF DOOM via YouTube.com. No changes were made to this video.

In-article video 2 courtesy of Real Hip Hop via YouTube.com. No changes were made to this video.

In-article video 3 courtesy of bbemusic via YouTube.com. No changes were made to this video.

In-article video 4 courtesy of WeAreDeLaSoul via YouTube.com. No changes were made to this video.

In-article video 5 courtesy of Nujabes via YouTube.com. No changes were made to this video.

In-article video 6 courtesy of YOD via YouTube.com. No changes were made to this video.

In-article video 7 courtesy of Anti-Lilly – Topic via YouTube.com. No changes were made to this video.

In-article video 8 courtesy of Kza via YouTube.com. No changes were made to this video.

In-article video 9 courtesy of REJJIE SNOW via YouTube.com. No changes were made to this video.

In article video 10 courtesy of Freddie Gibbs via YouTube.com. No changes were made to this video.

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Bill Bailey on classical music and the arts: ‘In Italy, opera is like the football!’

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5 December 2022, 17:43

‘In Italy, opera is like the football’ – Bill Bailey on classical music and the arts.

Picture:
Alamy


Bill Bailey joined Moira Stuart on Classic FM to speak about his music and comedy influences, his earliest memories of opera and the future of the arts – while choosing some of his favourite classical music along the way.

Music comedy legend Bill Bailey has spoken out about the hotly debated plans for the English National Opera to move to Manchester, driven by a redistribution Arts Council England funding and labelled last month as “absurd” by the ENO’s chief exec.

In an exclusive interview on Moira Stuart Meets… on Classic FM, the celebrated musician and comedian said he thought the potential relocation was “a shame”.

“You go to the great cities of Europe, and they’ve all got two or three opera houses,” Bailey told Stuart. “And this would leave us with only one, the Royal Opera House. I think a lot of people, rightly or wrongly, sort of associate opera as being quite elitist or sort of highbrow entertainment.”

Bailey went on to stress the importance in the arts of “getting people through the door”.

“We have to be more innovative more and agile about how to get more people to engage with the arts in the way that they do in Europe,” he said. “I mean I’ve been to see opera in Italy, and it’s like the football. People just buy a ticket to go and see the opera like… it’s not seen as any kind of hybrid entertainment, it’s the entertainment of everyone, for everyone.”

Read more: Leading UK opera companies have funding slashed in Arts Council announcement

Bailey reminisced about his first memory of opera: seeing Verdi’s Aida at the Arena di Verona in Italy. “I remember it so vividly,” he said. “I must have been seven or eight years old. We had to rent cushions to sit on the stone steps and you bought a candle and lit the candle and so the whole arena was full of 20,000 people holding a candle.

“It was most extraordinary experience… you know, your first exposure to opera stays with you for the rest of your life.”

In the interview (catch up on Global Player here), Bailey told Stuart about his earliest influences in comedy, crediting the legendary Danish comedian Victor Borge, whose unique marriage of humour and virtuoso pianism delighted generations.

“I would sit around with the family, and we would watch Morecambe and Wise… and Victor Borge was a big favourite. There was something about the way he used music and comedy which made a deep impression on me.”

Bailey also shared his love for Mozart’s Coronation Piano Concerto No.26 – the piece he played in his first public concert “at the encouragement of my music teacher… without whom I would never have had the confidence to do this” – as well as Bach’s seminal Prelude and Fugue No.21.

“What I loved about the 48 Preludes and Fugues was that this was an instruction manual for playing the piano, and yet it’s this beautiful selection… if you can work your way through these, you will understand all manner of performance, about syncopation, about technical ability.

“I love the fact that something so beautiful, something so extraordinarily written and so intuitive and so challenging… was written just to teach people the piano.”

Finally, Bailey touched on a campaign he is fronting this Christmas for the Kennel Club Charitable Trust which aims to feed at least 4,000 rescue dogs, with all donations doubled until midday on Tuesday 6 December, and every £10 donation ensuring they can feed one dog for two weeks.

“Being responsible for an animal is a good thing. They teach you a lot about yourself. They can enrich our lives in many ways,” Bailey said.

Catch up on the episode on Global Player.



Mike Nesmith’s Most Beloved Monkees Hit Featured This Country Music Legend on Guitar

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Mike Nesmith‘s work as a songwriter for The Monkees is legendary. He penned some of the most iconic songs featured on the group’s television show and vinyl. Along with some of the most talented songwriters and session players in the business, Nesmith recorded some beloved tunes. Several of these sessions included a soon-to-be legendary country music superstar who made a name for himself as one of the most talented musicians in the industry.






© Provided by Showbiz CheatSheet
Mike Nesmith, Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz, and Peter Tork | Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

The Monkees’ first album featured The Wrecking Crew

The Monkees’ first album was recorded during different sessions in and around LA in the summer of 1966, shortly before their television series debuted. Tommy Boyce, Bobby Hart, and Jack Keller produced these recording sessions.

Subsequently, Mike Nesmith was allowed to produce two sessions for the album. A Facebook post honoring this milestone recording revealed eight of the original LP’s twelve tracks feature one lone Monkee singing lead vocal over instrumentation. The music was recorded entirely by session musicians.

However, Mike Nesmith produced two tracks that made it onto the band’s first album. For those, Peter Tork was allowed to play guitar. During the recording of these songs, a session player that became one of country music’s most famous entertainers appeared alongside other members of a session group called The Wrecking Crew.

This country music superstar played as a session musician on The Monkees’ first album and a beloved Mike Nesmith hit

Among the session players on The Monkees’ first album were Wayne Erwin, Gerry McGee, Louie Shelton, James Burton, Billy Lewis, Hal Blaine, Larry West, Bob West, Bill Pitman, Larry Knechtel, Michel Rubini, and Gene Estes.

Also among the musicians who appeared on the recording was Glen Campbell. Andrew Sandoval documented Campbell’s involvement in his book, The Monkees: The Day-by-Day Story of the ’60s TV Pop Sensation.

He performed on tracks that included “I Won’t Be the Same Without Her,” “Sweet Young Thing,” and “Mary, Mary.” “I Won’t Be the Same Without Her” was passed over for inclusion on The Monkees and wouldn’t find a home on a Monkees LP until 1969’s Instant Replay.

Campbell was also a featured player on one of Nesmith’s most beloved Monkees’ songs, “Papa Gene’s Blues.”

Later, The Monkees returned the favor by guest-starring on the television variety series The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour in February 1969. Per The Monkees Live Almanac, the trio performed “Last Train to Clarksville,” “I’m a Believer,” and “Salesman” live and lip-synced “Tear Drop City.” They also performed in a series of comedy sketches.

Glen Campbell played with some of the biggest names in the industry while carving out his place in music history

Glen Campbell’s resume as a recording artist reads like a who’s who of the biggest names in the industry. He was a session player for Elvis Presley’s Viva Las Vegas soundtrack and played on the B-side of the 45 containing “What’d I Say” in 1963. Glen also played and sang demos for Elvis on the following three songs: “Slowly But Surely,” “Stay Away Joe,” and “All I Need Is the Rain.”

Campbell played guitar on the Beach Boys’ landmark Pet Sounds album. Following Brian Wilson’s breakdown and subsequent inability to tour, he joined the band on the road from December 1964 until March 1965, reported Taste of Country.

In 1967, Campbell played on two Frank Sinatra recordings. Fans heard his guitar work on “Something Stupid” and throughout Sinatra’s 1966 album, Strangers in the Night.

The Telegraph quoted Campbell’s take on the experience of playing with Ol’ Blue Eyes. “A guy like Frank, it’s like they don’t laugh much. I always thought he was bashful,” Campbell recalled. “He was kind of off-standing until you made him mad, and then he was a tyrant.”

RELATED: The Monkees: Mike Nesmith’s Comments About His Love for Music Read Like a Romantic Poem

Read the original article from Showbiz Cheat Sheet

Julian Anderson’s ‘Litanies’ wins 2023 Grawemeyer music prize

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LOUISVILLE, Ky., Dec. 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — The Notre Dame Cathedral fire and the death of an esteemed colleague influenced the creation of “Litanies,” said Julian Anderson, a British composer who has won the 2023 Grawemeyer Award in Music Composition for the work, the University of Louisville announced today.

“Notre Dame burned while I was writing the piece,” he said. “It was traumatizing to watch such an important icon of civilization go up in flames. The experience affected my writing.” A year earlier, as Anderson was beginning “Litanies,” Oliver Knussen, an acclaimed British composer, conductor and close friend of his, died, prompting Anderson to write the slow movement of the work in his memory.

Radio France, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and chamber orchestras in Norway, Sweden and Switzerland commissioned the winning, 25-minute concerto for cello and orchestra, which German cellist Alban Gerhardt and the National Orchestra of France premiered in 2020 at Radio France Auditorium. Anderson dedicated the concerto to Gerhardt in recognition of his special qualities as a cellist, he said.

“The piece explores virtually every sound a cello and orchestra can make together,” said Marc Satterwhite, who directs the Grawemeyer music award. “It spans a vast emotional range and is constantly inventive, but always toward an expressive end, never for the sake of novelty.”

Anderson, 55, studied with John Lambert, Alexander Goehr and Tristan Murail early in his career. Boston Symphony, New York Philharmonic and Cleveland Orchestra have commissioned his work, and ensembles across Europe and the United States have performed “Khorovod” and “Alhambra Fantasy,” his most played pieces. In April, “Exiles,” a piece he wrote in 2021 for voices and orchestra, premiered in Berlin.

A professor of composition and composer-in-residence at Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London since 2007, Anderson also has taught music composition at Harvard University and the Royal College of Music. In 2021 he was named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his outstanding service to music.

Schott Music Ltd. publishes his compositions written after mid-2014 and Faber Music, those written before.

Recipients of next year’s Grawemeyer Awards are being named this week pending formal approval by university trustees. The annual $100,000 prizes also honor seminal ideas in world order, psychology, education and religion. Recipients will visit Louisville in the spring to accept their awards and give free talks on their winning ideas.

Photo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1959367/Music_winner_2023_Julian_Anderson__photo_by_John_Batten.jpg

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/julian-andersons-litanies-wins-2023-grawemeyer-music-prize-301692128.html

BLACKPINK’s BOOMBAYAH crosses 400M streams on Spotify to become the most-streamed K-pop group debut song ever

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BLACKPINK has been known to break records and is effortlessly dominating the world of pop music with its addictive numbers. This time the K-pop band set another milestone as “BOOMBAYAH” one of their viral hits, surpassed over 400 million streams on Spotify. 

“BOOMBAYAH” crosses 400 million streams on Spotify

In fact, after having crossed 400 million streams BLACKPINK’S “BOOMBAYAH” is now the most streamed debut song ever by a K-pop group on the popular music streaming platform.

BLACKPINK’s “BOOMBAYAH” – 1.5 Billion views on YouTube

Not just that, the record-breaking hit BOOMBAYAH” was their 3rd music video to cross 400 million views on YouTube. Released on August 8, 2016, the video has crossed a whooping 1.5 Billion views.

About “BOOMBAYAH”

The beloved pop song “Boombayah” by a leading South Korean girl group called BLACKPINK was released with “Whistle” as the group’s digital debut single album called Square One, in August 2016. The song has been setting records ever since its release, it not only peaked at number 7 in South Korea but actually topped the Billboard World Digital Song Sales chart in just the first week of sales. In October 2020, “Boombayah” surpassed 1 billion views on YouTube becoming the first ever K-pop debut music to cross a billion views.

Stay updated with the latest Hallyu news on: Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Snapchat

ALSO READ: YouTube announces Korea’s top 10 most-watched MVs and videos in 2022

The Track “Aqua” Flows Like Water – Independent Music – New Music

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Thinking back to the days of Kool Keith’s instrumental ventures as well as those of King Brit and folks of that ilk, I’m loving the fact that we don’t have to look very far to find young artists who are holding up the mantle of creating exciting new beats for the musical landscape. One such artist is American composer/beatmaker Blondci, particularly with his new track “Aqua.”

Beginning the song, the pads sound quite new-age in their approach, but the bassline tempers it with a neo-soul vibe that becomes irresistible. Fans of acid-jazz will feel extremely at home with the groove-centered jam that is “Aqua.” The listener is also gifted with a horn fanfare towards the end, which is just the ear-candy we all need from time to time. Overall, it’s a laid-back work, back in my day we would have called this “chill out,” and I’m a little embarrassed that I’m not sure what the kids are calling these genres currently.

“Aqua” does bring to mind, however; that prior to the “lo-fi” revolution of popular YouTube playlists, we weren’t too used to hearing instrumental tracks; I’m thankful that has changed and a piece like this can stand on its own without someone saying “hey, when are the vocals gonna start?”

Blondci’s Instagram account is also worth a visit, as we get a window into his production techniques via Ableton Live as well as some of his multi-instrumental talents. He’s quite adept at acoustic/electric guitar, bass, and keys – I think the fact that he’s such an outstanding musician is a clue into why his music sounds, well, so musical.



Devin Townsend – “Lightwork/Nightwork” – Everything Is Noise

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I’ve never been one to put stock in positive affirmations. Nothing against them, I just don’t feel benefits from stating things I either at least subconsciously know or don’t fully believe. I don’t speak goodness into the universe, nor do I pray. Inversely, I also don’t believe in ‘borrowing trouble’ because I said something remotely negative or considered a potential unideal outcome. That said, I do have hope. I have dreams. I wish for things to get better, but know that wishes alone won’t deliver us a better world. I’m just here to do what I can to help those in my life, just as they help me. Positivity in general doesn’t factor in much.

This is the philosophy by which Devin Townsend has been working into a new level of appreciation for me, despite my personal opinions and thoughts. For years, even if Devy’s music retained a heavy nature, he’s had a very sunny, positive spin on his lyrics and themes, reflective of the better outlook he’d gained from working on himself as a person, shedding his demons, and acknowledging mental illness he had long suffered from. It came to a head with Empath, which I enthusiastically reviewed a few years ago. Lightwork is the official follow-up to that album despite releasing a couple other projects between then and now, including a number of live albums (including the phenomenal Deconstruction Series #2 – Galactic Quarantine, which shows exactly why he’s one of the best performers our generation has seen).

In a very rare moment, I’m actually talking about a deluxe edition of an album, which pairs Lightwork with a companion of B-sides and demos worthy of not only talking about to begin with, but outright praise. It’s called Nightwork and shines a light (ha?) on the creative process that Devy had with producer/pal Garth Richardson to craft an album so amazing, even its leftovers were worth sharing. Throughout each one, you’ll hear some familiar faces/voices – Ché Aimee Dorval of Casualties of Cool fame, Steve Vai, The Elektra Women’s Choir from Empath, and of course Anneke van Giersbergen, who is a frequent collaborator. Both albums as a result are a journey of life in the last few years, informed by the pandemic and its effects on us, focusing on what’s important, and finding – and maintaining – your center to persevere through it all.

Each and every song on Lightwork, while not made equal, does have a place in the tracklist. Ten songs and just shy of 56 minutes, they take what made Empath (and other works) so enthralling and, generally speaking, strips them back a bit more than you’re probably used to if you’re a fan of Townsend. Yes, grand orchestrations are still abound, a massive soundscape for them to occupy along with more traditional rock fare, and Devy’s own voice, which would fill all of that space itself if it wanted to. It’s arena-ready, manufactured to reach beyond the nosebleeds, outside the ZIP code it’s broadcasting from, on high into the stars like a transmission to other life out there. Lightwork feels like it could be echoing in the craggy hills of Mars.

Take a song like the almost title track “Lightworker” and you see exactly the kind of thing Townsend is going for. It’s a song about love, peace, and unity – not wanting for your needs and coming together. “Call of the Void” is a slow charmer, gentle and grounded in its approach to valuing your own view on things and not give into panic. It also has one of the most charming videos – using footage of trains driving through snowy wilderness, a fixation that Townsend developed while working over the pandemic as escapism – and best hooks on the album:

‘‘Cause when you see the world’s insane reaction
To follow your heart, the worst reaction is to freak out
So don’t you freak out‘

This is what I’m trying to achieve as I type this on election night.

The darker moments are enchanting as well. “Dimensions” is more heavy and aggressive, but still shimmers in the light with its synthy foundation and how it builds up in a way that reminds me of a Pendulum track. A couple tracks employ more of a chanting and repetitive element to lyrics and motions like “Dimensions” or “Heavy Burden” to drive a point home in a mantra-like fashion, but also acknowledge and calm, much like positive affirmations can. In case it wasn’t obvious, Devy was a little less concerned with being cleanly progressive and/or metal with Lightwork (stay tuned for Nightwork, though), instead electing more of a contemporary, ambient, and indie feel at times. It makes sense and is good.

Celtic celebration coming | Columbia Basin Herald

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MOSES LAKE — A Celtic take on Christmas music comes to Moses Lake when the Gothard Sisters perform in concert at 7 p.m. Dec. 13 at the Wallenstien Theater on the Big Bend Community College campus. The concert is part of the Central Basin Community Concert Association series, and is sponsored with the help of Moses Lake Steel, according to information from the CBCCA.

The sisters are familiar to Moses Lake audiences; they have performed in town on multiple occasions, including earlier Christmas concerts. Sisters Greta, Solana and Willow are Puget Sound-area natives who’ve been performing together for more than a decade, starting at a local farmers market.

The sisters focus on contemporary Celtic music, much of it original, but their sound includes classical, folk and new age influences. Their vocals are accompanied by acoustic guitar, violin, mandolin, a whistle and traditional drums from Ireland and West Africa.

Tickets are $30 for adults, $10 for students, $35 for a single-parent family and $65 for families. They can be purchased in advance at the CBCCA website, www.communityconcertsml.com, or at the door.

The Gothard Sisters are the third concert of the 2021-22 season. The duo Hi Tide will appear April 23, and the Sapphire Trio will perform May 5.

The CBCCA was a subscription series for many years, where only season tickets were available. Now tickets are available for individual concerts as well.

The Central Basin Community Concert Association was formed in 1954 to bring live music to Moses Lake and the Columbia Basin. Since its founding the association has sponsored everything from opera and art songs to folk and country music, to classical music to soul to gospel, among others.

Season tickets also come with reciprocal agreements for concerts sponsored by other community groups that use the same booking company, Live on Stage. Members of CBCCA can attend concerts free of charge in Wenatchee, Richland, Shelton, Longview, Bremerton, Centralia and Everett.

Cheryl Schweizer may be reached at cschweizer@columbiabasinherald.com.