Beyonce’s first album, “Renaissance,” released on July 29, has an attitude of equating rebellious self-determination and salvation with clubby house beats. She and her co-producers Tricky Stewart and The Dream hit two chords and four on the constantly changing track. They sampled the advice they shouted — “Release your anger! Free your heart! Free your work! Free your time!” — New Orleans bounce wrapper From “Explode” by Big Freedia. Beyonce guesses from that. She participates in mass layoffs, lays her “her own foundation”, asserts her love and narcissism, and makes her vow that “you will not break my soul” to all obstacles. Face When she evokes her soul, the gospel choir arrives to confirm her inner strength, as if someone could doubt it.John Pairless
Gorillaz featuring Thundercat, “Cracker Island”
The charismatic bassist Thundercat is a kind of living cartoon character in itself and naturally blends into the world of Gorillaz. So it’s amazing that he’s never collaborated with them before. Thundercat’s persistent bassline and backing vocals give the group’s “Cracker Island” a funky impact. Is this a smooth, summery jam that happens to be … a cult created? Thankfully, the song isn’t too conceptual and invites listeners to simply lock themselves into their blissful ditch.Lindsay Zoraz
Elizabeth King, “I got love”
Memphis-based vocalist Elizabeth King once seemed to be heading for the gospel stardom. In the early 1970s, she and all the male backsinger Gospel Souls recorded a radio hit and won the Gospel Gold Cup Award from the city’s Gospel DJ. Her performances were limited to singing on weekly gospel radio shows. It wasn’t until last year that King was in his 70s and released her first full-length album, the impressive “Living in the Last Days.” She will be back with “I Gota Love” this week. In her title track, King replays a sultry-style hymn completed in the 1970s, talking about a solid romance with God at a slow and tasty tempo. Behind her, the tube amp guitar slices the riffs, the organ alternates between full chords and long rests, and the heavy, pushing bass keeps the band’s muscles bent.Giovanni Russonello
Amanda Shires, “Take It Like a Man”
The title track of Amanda Shires’ next album is a poetic and provocative torch song inspired by inspiring vocal performances. Featuring her husband Jason Isbell on guitar, “Take It Like a Man” is a radical build of blazing momentum, as released by Shire’s high-woman bandmate Brandi Carlile. It’s a ballad. But this song is a showcase of the unique power of Shire’s voice, which is at the same time nervous and quiveringly fragile. “I know the cost of a flight is landing,” she sings as the melody gets higher than ever. ZOLADZ
Taylor Swift, “Carolina”
From the soundtrack to the next movie, “Where the Crawdads Sing,” “Carolina” is characterized by being one of the creepiest songs in Taylor Swift’s catalog.Save for “No body or crime” It’s the closest thing she can write a complete murder ballad. “Carolina” sound in collaboration with Aaron Dessner with Swift’s folk pair released in 2020: The arrangement begins with a sparsely strumped acoustic guitar, eventually adding strings and banjos. It swells in a foggy atmosphere.Like her 2015 single “Wildest Dreams” There’s a hint of Lana Del Rey’s influence when Swift delves into the breathtaking bass and eerily says, “There’s a place I never go to, and only Carolina knows.” ZOLADZ
Sessa, “Canção da Cura”
Brazilian songwriter Sessa’s new album “Estrela Acesa” (“Burning Star”) “Canção da Cura” (“Song of Healing”) implies a secret ritual. In a gentle tenor, Sessa sings, “I will eat you up to the sound of the drums.” The acoustic guitar and percussion set a complex syncopated mesh, with his gentle tenor, a quiet backing vocal overhead, and Sessa sings, “Consume you to the sound of the drums.” It’s a simple glimpse of the mystery.Pairless
The Mars Volta, “Blacklight Shine”
After another 10-year project, the very clever and challenging guitarist Omar Rodríguez Lopez and the singer and lyricist Cedric Bixla Zabara reunited as The Mars Volta, starting their tour in September and releasing a new song. did. .. It’s a 6-beat bilingual rocker, packed with intricate percussion and guitar lines, “he’s relentlessly stroking with his thumb / a high control hex that no one thinks he’s looking at, but he never erases it.” I got a copy that I can’t do. ” But unlike many of The Mars Volta’s past efforts, it pursues catchiness, and its rolling rhythm and harmony vocals surprisingly bring the feat of music and words behind pop hooks. It implies another band, Steely Dan, who pushed in.Expansion “Short film” It connects the underlying beats of the song to the Afro Caribbean rhythm of Puerto Rican Bomba.Pairless
CKay featuring David, Focalistic, Abidoza, “Watawi”
Commitment is nifty. In “Watawi,” Nigerian singers CKay and Davido, and South African rapper Focalistic continue to avoid when their girlfriend asks, “What are we?” CKay cleverly expresses the non-answer that “we are us.” Created by South Africa’s Abidoza, it fuses South Africa’s Amapiano’s cool keyboard chords with crisp Afrobeat percussion, hovering around a syncopated single-note pulse. At that last moment, the track introduces a fiddle that can easily lead to a whole new stage of relationship.Pairless
Alex G, “Runner”
Alex G’s music in Philadelphia has something surprising and mysterious. His songs often make gestures towards well-known sounds and textures. The 90’s national anthem “Runaway Train” — but the gradual accumulation of those little peculiar sound details creates an overall strange sensation. “Runner” sounds like a warm and cozy alternative rock pastiche at first, but before inviting listeners to nostalgia, “I did some bad things,” Alex added to despair. While singing several times. Before screaming, thrilling and unexpected. ZOLADZ
Lil Nas X, “Late to Da Party” featuring Young Boy Never Break Again
Asylum comes in many forms — sometimes it’s spiritual and sometimes it’s literal. Pop rap phenom Lil Nas X has recently become angry, seriously or seriously, for everyone to know that he wasn’t nominated for a BET Award at this year’s ceremony. Youngboy Never Broke Again, one of the most popular figures on rap, remains a successful home arrest without the participation of traditional taste makers. Together, they share the kinship of outsiders, even if they don’t exactly match this song, which is conceptually aimed at BET. The video contains a clip of a person urinating with a BET Awards trophy. They are radically different artists — two different rap styles, two different subject matter attachments, and two different levels of seriousness. After all, it feels like they are seeking asylum from each other.John Calamanica
Tove Lo, “True Romance”
“What does a girl like me want with you?” Swedish songwriter Tove Lo asks in a four-minute catharsis, “True Romance.” The track uses only two synthetic chords and slow pulses, while the vocals are painful, painful and constantly escalating the drama. A desperate human voice trying to escape from the electronic grid.Pairless
Rachika Nayal, “Heaven Come Crash”
Composer Rachika Nayar explores the possibilities of electric guitar and digital processing textures and orchestras (effects, loops, layers). Much of her work is meditative, and the beginning of “Heaven Come Crashing” also begins with Maria BC’s shimmering, persistent guitar wash and abstract vocals. However, there is a surprise on the way. A violent drum beat begins, and what was a weightless drift suddenly jumps forward at warp speed.Pairless
Abraham Burton and Eric McPherson, “Never Forget”
In another world, the release of new music from tenor saxophone player Abraham Burton and drummer Eric McPherson will be a major event. Both are Generation X jazz masterpieces, and by playing together for decades, their styles have grown to complement each other. Burton either holds a long sound with a powerful yet wavy sound, or emits a string-like burst, delivering a hurt tenderness despite its volume and power. McPherson has a relatively gentle touch on the drums, but still conveys the power of Elvin Jones’ earth-moving polyrhythms. Last summer, these longtime music partners gave a concert with bassist Deslon Douglas as part of the Giant Step Arts outdoor series at the old Seneca Village site in Central Park. The performance ended with “Will Never Be Forgotten”. This is a mourning with a descending bassline and a melody that bends downwards like tears. The full recording of the concert was released on June 16th as “Summit Rock Session at Seneca Village”. RUSSONELLO