The New Sound

“Give” Harari The anthemic “Give,” by South African band Harari, is an urgent and funky testament advocating for altruism and selflessness. Harari expertly walk an impossible tightrope… seamlessly bridging the paradoxical worlds of humanitarianism and hedonism. Harari espouse the benefits of benevolence while simultaneously enticing the listener to let loose and dance to the good vibrations. Indeed, “Give” is a near flawless fusion of funk, gospel, disco, blues and social activism. A rare song that finds itself in the company of Michael Jackson’s beautiful, heartbreaking, overwhelming, and transcendent "Man In The Mirror." The song’s synthetic bass line rumbles, shakes and entrenches the song with an oceanic depth while the the polyrhythmic percussion is smooth and unhurried. The guitar cuts and chops the song like a throwing stone across water while the slap bass roots the song into a groove. The production and instrumentation avidly set the stage for

“Vôo Sobre O Horizonte” Azymuth Brazilian jazz-funk trio, Azymuth’s “Vôo Sobre O Horizonte” (“Fly Over the Horizon”) is musical escapism at its most serene. The song is the opening track from their consistently excellent album, Águia Não Come Mosca, which was released in 1977. An easygoing acoustic guitar gives way to sparkling chimes and pleasant percussion. Gentle synths and keyboards casually ebb and flow throughout the song while the mellow baseline adds a subtle and irresistible bounce. Airy vocals float atop an undulating synth line… saturating the song with a warm breeziness. All of these elements seamlessly blend together, inviting the listener to breathe in the clear air and drift away with the tranquil currents. This song doesn’t just want to soundtrack your next vacation, it wants to be your next vacation. Or, as a good friend of mine, succinctly summed it up upon hearing it for the first time, “Oh my… that is really fucking smooth.” -Daniel R. 

“Dream In a Dream” TEN The atmospheric dance-pop of “Dream In a Dream” took me by surprise, as I do not typically listen to male K-Pop artists/bands. Before listening to this song, I did not know who Ten is, but a quick glance around the internet shows that he is a member of the K-Pop boy group NCT (and their various sub-units). The single “Dream in a Dream” was originally released digitally on April 7, 2017 by SM Entertainment. The track also appears on the album NCT 2018 Empathy , which was released on March 14, 2018. The song was written by Stephen Carl and composed by Dillon Pace, Brian Lee, and Stephen Carl. The production is fairly straightforward and minimal. Rolling synths carve out a cavernous space for the booming percussion to echo around in while various sounds and instruments ripple throughout the song to create a mellow tension. This tension is mirrored throughout the brilliantly conceived and performed choreography and the earnest, pleading lyrics.  Wh

“Eclipse" LOOΠΔ/Kim Lip LOOΠΔ is an enigmatic girl group who create high concept, retro-futuristic, synth-heavy pop music that include narratives revolving around androids, forbidden love, parallel universes, creation mythologies, solipsism, and non-linear timelines, among other things. One of the exciting things about LOOΠΔ is their non-traditional approach to releasing music. LOOΠΔ consists of 12 members ( HeeJin , HyunJin , HaSeul , YeoJin , ViVi , Kim Lip , JinSoul , Choerry , Yves , Chuu , Go Won , and Olivia Hye ) and 3 sub-units ( LOOΠΔ 1/3 ,  LOOΠΔ/ODD EYE CIRCLE , and  LOOΠΔ/yyxy) that were individually introduced on an almost monthly basis starting in October of 2016 and ending in March of 2018. Each introduction has been accompanied by a corresponding single (or EP in the case of sub-units) and music video(s). LOOΠΔ  has released no less than twelve singles, two EPs, and over twenty-two music videos, despite the fact that they have yet to properly debut

“Black Out”  IU IU (real name Lee Ji-eun) has been making music for about ten years, during which she has taken more and more artistic control of her output. Her most recent album, Palette , was almost entirely written by IU herself. It seems her hard work paid off, as the album was awarded Album of the Year at the MelOn Music Awards (an annual South Korean music awards show). The album also received international attention: Billboard named it the best K-Pop album of 2017 and Fuse TV ranked it 12th on their “Best Albums of 2017" list (the only Korean album on the list). For me, the best track from Palette is the darkly intoxicating, and surprisingly refreshing, “Black Out.” The song was written and produced by IU, with music and arrangement by Lee Jong-hoon. (Source: Wikipedia ) K-Pop is known for it’s brilliantly polished and shiny production, nary a breath or note out of it’s predetermined place. “Black Out” is gleefully not that. The rhythm section is clanky an

“1/1”  Brian Eno My musical preferences often cycle with the seasons. The cold, dry, wintry weather often puts me in an ambient state of mind. If I were to suggest one piece of ambient music, it would have to be Brian Eno’s brilliant “1/1” from the album Ambient 1: Music For Airports. The philosopher Alan Watts has said “In music, one doesn’t make the end of the composition the point of the composition. If that were so… there would be composers who wrote only finales. People would go to concerts just to hear one crashing chord…” Eno it seems, has done just that with “1/1” though. He has taken one brilliant sonic moment, a seemingly simple chord played on piano, and impossibly expanded it into a meditative and crystalline seventeen minutes. The song slowly forms like an icicle, each harmonic repetition on the piano a drop of water slowly rolling down the frozen column; simultaneously creating the overall structure of the song and adding to its length. Nuanced synth

“There Is a Place For Us”  Nicolay Nicolay’s album City Lights, Vol. 3: Soweto is a fantastic and renewing experience, and I recommend listening to it in its entirety. However, the song I continue to find myself drawn to is the mediative album closer “There Is a Place for Us.” This plaintive instrumental feels like summer gently fading way to autumn. Warm synths, percussion, and handclaps propel the contemplative song along at a measured pace… drifting along, as though a cloud. The synths drop in like a meteor shower viewed from Earth…  each one a dazzling and dizzying moment.  Towards the end of the song a restrained yet ecstatic keyboard lifts the listener from of the grips of gravity, briefly soaring above the clouds... leaving the cares of existence below. My only complaint is that this escape always feels much too brief.  No matter my mood, this song is a calming salve and clears my fretful mind. The idealistic title brings to mind the optimistic, hopeful,

“When you hear our music you can be healed and feel happy.” -Ahin The Bscs Momoland (often stylized as MOMOLAND or MMLND) are a South Korean girl group comprised of nine members: Hyebin , Yeonwoo , Jane , Taeha , Nayun , Daisy , Jooe , Ahin , and Nancy . Momoland were formed through the reality program Finding Momoland and the group debuted on November 10, 2016. Momoland’s debut mini album Welcome to MOMOLAND , was released on the same day. Momoland’s second mini album, Freeze! , was released August 2, 2017. (Source: generasia ) One of the unifying threads omnipresent throughout Momoland’s music is the precise production. All of Momoland’s songs are textured and complicated soundscapes. The percussion is industrial and hard-hitting, sparkling synths shimmer, snag, and screech, while multi-layered, pitch-shifted vocals float above the production like seraphic spun-sugar. The whole experience is a bit like being delightfully punched in the face with candied brass knuckl