dynamics-music

Tipped by Lorde and Billie Eilish, the New York musician twists sublime folk and chaotic synths into bewitching new shapes At first Shane Lavers can’t get through. Then he’s on video call but I cannot speak. When we finally make a clear connection over the phone, I can hear that he’s surrounded by nature, with faint snatches of birdsong at the edge of his measured, slightly gravelly speech. The m…

Stop learning whole songs first: a local audio practice workflow for guitar and bass Most players do not get stuck because the next song is too hard. They get stuck because they keep trying to learn the whole recording at once: intro, verse, chorus, fill, solo, tone, timing, and memory all in the same practice pass. That feels productive for the first fifteen minutes, then it turns into scrolling…

Bass transcription workflow: isolate the low end before drafting tab Most "MP3 to bass tab" tools fail for the same reason: they treat the bass as a generic instrument and try to recognise every note in the mix at once. The result is a chart full of guesses that look like a bass line and play nothing like one. A usable bass transcription workflow does three things in this order: Pull the bass rol…

David Clayton-Thomas, the lead singer of Blood, Sweat & Tears whose husky, high-strung tenor on 'Spinning Wheel' and 'And When I Die' helped propel the band's popularity in the late 1960s, has died.

In the global streaming economy, Spotify, Apple Music, and other DSPs process billions of plays daily. Behind this massive transaction layer lies a fragmented, dual-copyright structure: The Recording Copyright (Master Right): Identifies the audio file, registered using the ISRC (International Standard Recording Code). The Composition Copyright (Publishing Right): Identifies the melody, lyrics, an…

Over the past two decades, Taylor Swift has changed the music industry, and how we think about girlhood. From songs like Fifteen about first love and heartbreak to introspective tracks like Mirrorball from Folklore, Swift has chronicled the emotional lives of young women in a way few artists have. Her music says that the experiences of girlhood deserve to be immortalized. But as fans celebrate he…

A newly authenticated notebook from 22-year-old Mozart reveals unheard music and a rare glimpse of his lessons in Paris.

With country music festival attendances soaring and US artists selling out tours, are British and Irish audiences ready for “the full Southern experience”? “There’s a certain magic with country music in the UK right now,” says Anna-Sophie Mertens, smiling in hi-vis from the build at State Fayre, the UK’s newest festival for country fans. It is located in Chelmsford but styled like the American So…

Mezzo-soprano who performed with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Welsh National Opera and was acclaimed for her interpretations of Kurt Weill The mezzo-soprano Meriel Dickinson, who has died aged 86, was recognised internationally for both her classical and contemporary vocal repertoire. In operas, oratorios and premieres of new works, she performed with some of the greatest composers of the last …

Hampden Park, Glasgow Armed with four drum kits, an arsenal of hits and a 50,000-strong snake pit, Lars Ulrich and co deliver a masterclasss on their marathon world tour Metallica are welcomed to the stage in Glasgow by relentless heatwave sun and a blast of Ennio Morricone’s The Ecstasy of Gold. It’s a striking start to the closing leg of a three year-plus world tour, which started with the rele…

The late production genius’s chaotic reputation has always preceded him. But could two new books, a posthumous album and a flurry of classic reissues change all that – and put the focus back on his music? David Katz’s introduction to the world of Lee “Scratch” Perry was bewildering. The Jamaican producer had been living in London for several years, and Katz, a Jewish reggae historian who had fall…

For anyone furious about the state of the world, the London band offer a welcome – and unsparing – blast of catharsis From South London Recommended if you like Converge, Trap Them, Misery Index Up next No One Is Coming to Save Us released 25 September, touring the UK from 26 September Burner are the extreme musicians we need. They’re observing the world around them, they’re furious about what the…

(Flee) A treasure trove of field recordings are reshaped into pulsating floor-fillers and sparse baile funk by a range of producers The Brazilian religious and musical tradition of candomblé is a rhythmic barrage. Originating in the 19th century among enslaved west Africans, candomblé manifested in music as a ritual practice of drumming circles, where polyrhythms were hammered out to induce posse…

(Sub Pop) The Rhode Island five-piece return with a ferocious rallying call to fight for your beliefs, with bouncing basslines, muted house chords and stomping drums Optimism might feel outdated, but Downtown Boys are proud outliers. On Public Luxury, the Rhode Island band’s third and best album, they wear their politics proudly – while bringing new ambiguity, strangeness and shadow to their pass…

Now 84, the voice of Heat Wave and Jimmy Mack is releasing a new album. She answers your questions on Marvin Gaye, popularising the roundabout and why she hates cover versions of her songs You were part of perhaps the richest and most exciting era of music since the German and Italian classics of the 19th century. How was it for you and what made it all tick? eamonmcc William Stevenson discovered…

(Rubicon) The Indonesian musician impresses in his debut solo recording of Godowsky’s Java Suite and Stravinsky’s piano arrangement of Petrushka “Who is not at heart a globetrotter?” asked the Lithuanian-born US piano virtuoso and composer Leopold Godowsky in the foreword to his Java Suite, published in 1925 and inspired by what he had heard and seen on a lengthy concert tour of south-east Asia. …

Madge returns to Koko in Camden, where she played her first UK gig. Plus: the 110th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme. Here’s what to watch this evening 10.40pm, BBC One In 1983, Madonna played her first ever UK show at Camden Palace (now Koko). It’s only right, then, that she returns to the venue for this world-exclusive interview to mark her big comeback with her new album, Confessions II …

‘It’s all just rendered useless’, Something For Kate’s Paul Dempsey says as AI scrapes millions of songs to learn how to make music Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Paul Dempsey and Bernard Fanning are among big-name Australian musicians upset that their original songs have been found in datasets used to train arti…

(Dead Oceans) The US singer took years off after becoming ‘world-weary’ of public life – and in the meantime, her silvery balladry reshaped pop. Her return is an ornate reinvention In the press materials for Phoebe Bridgers ’ return, the 31-year-old US singer talks about taking time to make her third album after coming to feel “a little world-weary” about public life. Who could blame her? Bridger…

Born in L.A. to Korean and Mexican parents, K-pop idol Samuel explains why he fashioned his own "K-tone" fusion sound in his new EP, "Samuelito"