Polyphia - Playing God. Obscene musicianship, and they can do this live. Fairly well, at least, because some of the guitar parts, nah, there's no way anyone's hitting those harmonics consistently. Planning to go to one of their shows sometime within a year or so. Darius - Feels Right ft. Duñe. This kid's come a long way. He used to make french house by filtering stolen samples in his parents' basement, and now he's making all original productions in his parents' attic, looks like. Promotion. Uppermost - Street Flash. In-flight wifi crapped out yesterday and I was forced to browse my purchased Apple Music library (OH THE HUMANITY). So many forgotten gems. Here's one perfect for when you're angry that e.g. in-flight wifi craps out, and the only infant on the plane, in the seat next to you, shit himself an hour ago.
Polyphia - and Tim Henson, specifically - interest me from a technical perspective, but I think the pyrotechnics overshadow the music. Hum the harmony line to G.O.A.T. or Playing God. See what I mean? There ISN'T one. I do absolutely love what he has done to guitar playing, however. We haven't seen innovation or creativity with the instrument like that since Eddie Van Halen redefined guitar playing on Van Halen I. There's an element of prog rock - whether you talk about Frank Zappa, or The Yellowjackets, or Polyphia, or Steve Morse - that goes for technical prowess over musicality, time and time again. This is music you sit down, put headphones on, and FOCUS while listing to it. You can't just leave it playing in the background or while you are doing something else because it is too jagged and takes too much effort to follow the development of a piece, from start to finish. Classical music is as technical, nuanced, and has sections built on other sections, and can either take your complete focus, or be played in the background. Prog monsters like these guys have very limited listening opportunities for me. I just don't sit and ONLY listen to music anymore...
I more or less agree with all of that. Like if I'm working (or doing anything, really) and I have YouTube build me a playlist, I skip things like Polyphia in favor of driving electronic dance and/or pop. Conversely, I'll sit down with my guitar and try to transcribe Polyphia (two entire dollars for the tabs?! what am I, desperate?!) in the hopes of developing my chops, or expanding my personal little chord library, working on hybrid plucking, whatever. Very different headspace vs. casual listening, absolutely. I'd only argue that I could pick out something like a melody in that track, but I think it's a little subjective, especially before it gets to the second half of the song when the whistle-like melody shows up. But yeah, even then, it's kinda like the melody from hell. Which is fine. Appropriate, even. But omg a live show. Fucking Chromeo, for example, spun a set for their show instead of playing the instruments that I know they can, and as featured in their music videos. Was lame-o. Danced instead of watching, but I can dance anywhere, guys. No idea why people wanted to crowd the stage. To see some buttons get pushed?
Heh. I just went to see REZZ again on Friday. My 4th time seeing her, I think? Her entire set is just "hit play, and here are my songs while I dance around a bit", but ya know what? I'm here for it. All of it. The spectacle. Supporting an artist I like. I'm wearing my new REZZ hoodie right now, in fact. At Friday's show she did a final song that she pulled out of her hip pocket on a USB. "Here's one I've just been working on this week. I don't have a name for it yet. Not sure if this USB will work... apparently I had a Warhead in my pocket and it melted to the USB. But let's try it out!" Of course, it worked flawlessly. Track was bangin. And - because I've seen how awkward she is in interviews, and how clueless she is about the whole music scene - I tend to believe the USB-in-the-pocket story, and don't think it was a promotional gag. But maybe I was suckered. I dunno. The song kicked, tho...
LOL, I believe it. Hopefully it was the watermelon flavor. Hadn't heard of her until now, but I'm digging the music. How in the hell did I miss her? She's released albums on Skrillex's label and Deadmau5's label too. Born in Kharkiv. Cool. Thanks for the recommend. It's different if you know what to expect from an artist at a live show. I've been digging the covid-era livestreams from producers like this one.apparently I had a Warhead in my pocket and it melted to the USB
So. I guess some of the harmonic notes in this single take don't ring as long as intended, but that was the last time I'll ever doubt Tim Henson: Edit: Chords for @1:40 - @2:00, 'cuz I'll just lose them as Untitled_1.txt on my local drive anyway: ⠀ X--7--5--7--7--X X--8--6--8--8--X X--7--5--7--7--X 7--X--7--7--6--X X--7--6--7--8--X 5--X--5--5--5--X 5--X--4--5--5--X 7--X--7--8--8--X X--7--5--7--7--X X--7--5--6--7--X X--9-10-9-10--X 7--X--7--8--8--X X--7--5--7--7--X 8--X--8--9-10-X 7--X--7--8--8--X Edit2: The chords above are correct, but for some of the insane 16th note runs elsewhere in the song, I sprung for the official tabs. Let me know if anyone wants the .pdf :).no way anyone's hitting those harmonics consistently
E--A--D--G--B--E
This week in music is beautiful and perfect and I can't express my joy fully. Because Holy shit -- it's here. Ott - Heads I could only find one lengthy track on youtube at the moment.
About 3 listens in now and this sounds so warm. Not gonna lie, Fairchildren didn't meet my expectations, so I've been a bit nervous about what to expect, especially after he posted about stopping work on the album when the Russians invaded Ukraine. It feels like he's turned down the quirkiness a bit - maybe spent a bit less time twiddling the sound design, and turned up the warmth to 11. I hope it stays this good listening after the honeymoon phase. I'm such a fangirl.