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"I got long hair, long beard, turtleneck sweater." What does it mean? I couldn't begin to tell you, but this year, nothing felt better. Its molecular structure holds up even as its reinterpreted on every single repetition: in a clear-eyed deadpan over a drumless break with a shoulder-shimmy swing once the beat returns, as if through a duck-lipped selfie face while the climax builds and finally in a stack of harmonic variations that push enough air across the words to overpower and negate their absurdity. It is a simple but unstoppable force, a homebrewed nursery rhyme mixed from household chemicals. It doesn't matter if you're feeling everything else this insecurity bop has to offer (the renewable energy of its elastic bass and cassette percussion and the bridge that plays like a duet with a busted Speak & Spell). It doesn't matter what you do or don't know about Remi Wolf's past lives - an American Idol audition or her TikTok explosion or the addiction and recovery stories sewn into the lining of her young career, for example. Their role reversal in the lyric video is too cute. Two of modern soul's elite connect in a lover's quarrel as you've never heard before over a stanky D'Mile bassline. Yebba can't figure Lucky out, and she's had enough of his side-piece romps. I can't help but think of the Paul Rudd/Sean Evans meme ("Hey, look at us!" "Who would've thought?" "Not me!") every time I hear this song. Still, at the song's center is the very best of Mitski: a yearning, beating heart wanting more and committed - or resigned - to keep trying. Over an eerie synthesizer and a sharp guitar riff, Mitski sings about working hard and still feeling left behind, the promise of having made it always disappearing over the horizon. Earlier this year, she returned with "Working for the Knife," a track that contemplates the double-edged sword of her success in all its glitter and gore. It's also a cry of political and social conscience, as Moctar makes clear on the title track, singing Tamasheq lyrics whose English translation leaves nothing unclear: "Africa is a victim of so many crimes / If we stay silent it will be the end of us." - Nate Chinen, WBGOĪfter a handful of critically-lauded albums and years of grueling tours, Mitski took time away from the spotlight. The album is a spectacular manifestation of the Tuareg guitar tradition, with Moctar's band working a hard churn behind him. With her pure, bracing vocal set against an achingly somber piano, Emily Scott Robinson doesn't marinate in misery so much as summon the strength to venture up to a precipice and stand at "the edge of something wild." - Stephen ThompsonĪ rock and roll shredder for our era of global crisis, Mdou Moctar brings not only chops but his full humanity to the table on Afrique Victime. There are breakup songs, and then there's the breathtaking "Let 'Em Burn," which fans out to survey the wreckage of a painstakingly curated life - "faithful wife of fifteen years, mother of three" - that's been brought low by the realities of depression, disappointment, lost faith and crippling doubt. While the bridge of "deja vu" may have inspired enough of the titular sensation to force a post-release interpolation credit, the track is all Rodrigo: a sharp send-off of an earworm, somehow delivered with both irreverent playfulness and brute force. But for Olivia Rodrigo, a star pupil of the Swiftian school of specificity, the devil of a former partner is in the details he's recycling with a new flame: shared strawberry ice cream and Ryan Murphy reruns. In the foggy aftermath of a romantic relationship, details can feel dreamlike - hazily rendered, misremembered. Spotify / Apple Music / Tidal / Amazon Music / YouTube Music Stream NPR Music's 100 Best Songs Of 2021: If you find yourself losing steam or feeling down or wondering when things will finally turn around, feel free to skip the rest of "All Too Well." (Jk, Taylor!) (Oh, and you can find our 50 Best Albums of 2021 here.) It's our sincere hope that as you make your way through our 7-hour playlist of the year's 100 best songs, you'll feel the same. In other words, we could be human again, and it felt good to be back. Perhaps we kept some truths concealed during dire straits, so as not to appear frivolous (or feral) in the face of unforgiving circumstance. Maybe, after 20 months behind masks, we felt like revealing ourselves again. Perhaps the crowning of Cardi and Megan's "WAP" last year signaled a transgressive sea change. "Only here to sin." That admission from NPR Music's song of the year lies at the heart of many of the stories told across these 100 tracks. I think, especially a beginner should at least try good equipment. That's just wrong - go out there and buy a SSDĤ5s load time for the C7, under 20s for the Wing Upright with my nearly 5 year old X79 computer using a 1TB Crucial MX300 Like a real piano, Keyscape will take some effort on your part to make it sound its best. In the hands of Lewis Hamilton - it would perform well, but driven by the average Joe, you will find it difficult to control, expensive in the long run, and you are far better off with a less exotic car - Honda, Toyota or Ford with an automatic gear. those who can really play keys astonishingly well, it's like driving a formula 1 car. May I add, Keyscape instrument is for purists, and professional keyboard players, ie. you may need to eq out some of that bottom end. I also think that the Spectrasonics Keyspace has this overall tone better suited for sparse music like jazz, classical, new age, because it has a full rich tone, with more bass, which may not work too well in pop oriented tracks, i.e. If you do not have one of the latest and greatest specced computers, do not even think about Spectrasonics Keyscape.ī3 - organ, is not an area of focus for me, so sorry I cannot help you there, except to say neither of the piano centric options I have suggested has a Hammond organ. Listen to demos, consider all of the above and take your pick. What else - Spectrasonics sampled a Yamaha C7 piano, and toned down the sharp attack with softer felt on the hammers. One omission I find in Spectrasonics is that the acoustic pianos do not explicitly provide multiple microphone positions, which is an advantage of the Addictive Keys - grand piano. Spectrasonics tools are like Rolls Royces - ideally for only those at the top of their game or passion, the creme de la creme, with chauffeurs (i.e lots of high end computers, time to tweak and configure settings, and a budget/clientele to justify all this extensive effort). The fact that you had to ask on Gearslutz leads me to recommend Addictive Keys which would be much easier to get into - cost wise, effort and difficulty also. Addictive Keys also has a limited demo you can download and try out for yourself. I think Addictive Keys will give you a better result if you are not already an advanced software instrument user. Its difficult to describe the exact kind of piano sounds you are after, and this makes it hard to recommend. And so many variations in recording approach/chain. The challenge with keyboard instruments is - there are so many variations of piano sound and electric piano sound, as these instruments have developed in the acoustic/real world versions over centuries and decades. Sound Quality - this is subjective - and very personal. Spectrasonics takes several minutes to load, even on the fastest most powerful computers. Loading time - Addictive Keys loads very very fast. However I think what Addictive Keys offers is far more than adequate. cos they do a lot, so much flexibility. Spectrasonics instruments generally demand lots of memory and CPU. Keyscape will only work in 32 bit if used within Omnisphere version 2. Resources - Addictive Keys are definitely far less demanding of your CPU and memory requirements. JeffThe keyboard instruments from Addictive Keys are good, and Keyscape is certainly at the top of the pile. Anyone out there have a recommendation out of these 2 or should I be looking at others? My priority here is to get a great Grand piano sound but would also like to have some cool, Rhodes and B3 sounds. |
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