His dad was also the person who exposed him to the world of music. He didn't care what Dhruv and siblings listened to, but he wanted them to be aware of the world of music.
Shekhar Visvanath's list included Phil Collins, Michael Jackson, Chicago, Ace of Base, No Doubt, Modern Talking, Peter Cetera and Dire Straits, to name a few. Essentially 1970s, 1980s and 1990s bands from the US and UK from the time that pop music really thrived.
"He travelled a lot outside the country, saw a lot of the world and was exposed to a lot of different music, which he brought home to us," says Dhruv. All that, and the occasional Jagjit Singh.
His father was a good singer and when he was younger, he had enjoyed going on long drives at night, listening to music.
That has today impacted Dhruv's taste of music in a certain way: Dhruv appreciates strong melodies more than lyrics. "For example, I like The Police as their music is so deeply rooted in melody and has powerful, emphatic choruses and brings people together," he says.
And after spending a decade in the industry, he says he feels as though he looks at music as a place to learn, not just to listen. But of course, his father had taught him the joy of listening.
"I understood what music made dad feel and I felt the same way. It became a vehicle of understanding my father," he says.
For a boy who picked up a guitar when he was 13, after he had abandoned the piano lessons his mother had enrolled him for, music was therapy.
H.E.R.'s Soulful Suspicions, and 11 More New Songs - The New York Times
Every Friday, pop critics for The New York Times weigh in on the week's most notable new songs and videos. Just want the music? Listen to the Playlist on Spotify here (or find our profile: nytimes). Like what you hear? Let us know at theplaylist@nytimes.com and sign up for our Louder newsletter , a once-a-week blast of our pop music coverage.
H.E.R. (Gabriella Sarmiento Wilson) has a rich grasp of soul and R&B history backed by her old-school musicianship as a singer, guitarist and keyboardist. There are 21 songs on her new album "Back of My Mind," but most of them cling to a narrow palette: ballad tempos, two-chord vamps, constricted melody lines. "Cheat Code" is still a ballad, but a little more expansive. Its narrator is coming to grips with a partner's infidelity — "What you've been doing's probably something I ain't cool with" — and warning, "You need to get your story straight." The arrangement blossoms from acoustic guitar to quiet-storm studio band, with wind chimes and horns, only to thin out again, leaving her with just backup voices and a few piano notes, alone again with all her misgivings. JON PARELES
An insightful take on the way some relationships become sites of push and pull, one promise traded for another, one letdown making room for the next. "Sober & Skinny" is lonesome and doleful (some light melodic borrowing from Rihanna's "Umbrella," notwithstanding), the story of two people bound by their habits, and to each other, and how that can be the same thing: "I empty the fridge, you empty the bottle/we're stacking up a mountain of hard pills we'll have to swallow." JON CARAMANICA
The music is methodical and transparent: steady-ticking percussion, grumbling piano chords, spindly high guitar interjections, a melody line that barely budges. But Aldous Harding's intent and attitude stay cheerfully, stubbornly, intriguingly opaque. "Old peel, no deal/I won't speak if you call me baby," she sings, utterly deadpan, enjoying the standoff. PARELES
Yves Tumor, the ineffable and audacious experimentalist, once again brandishes a reverence for Prince on "Jackie," another venture into magisterial rock that clings to devastating grandeur. Tumor, who uses gender-neutral pronouns, assumes the role of a tortured ringleader, shepherding listeners into their surreal world of sexual and musical provocation. It's almost easy to miss the song's reality: a lament for the end of the relationship, in which Tumor's anguish makes it difficult to eat and sleep. "These days have been tragic," they wail, yearning for the possibility of a return of their body's biological rhythms, and a promise that they will one day be whole again. ISABELIA HERRERA
That's my nuance, used to be the weirdo
Used to laugh at me, listen to me with their ears closed
Used to treat me like that boy Malcolm in the Middle
Now I'm zero, zero, zero, zero, zero, zero
Stiff Pap is an electronic duo from Johannesburg: the producer Jakinda and the rapper and singer Ayema Probllem. For "Riders on the Storm," they're joined by the Soweto band BCUC (Bantu Continua Uhuru Consciousness), adding gritty voices and salvos of percussion to both deepen and destabilize a track that's already skewed and wily. Amid buzzing, hopscotching keyboard lines and fitful drumming, the song addresses, among other things, perpetual striving and social-media anxiety, doubled down by music that keeps shifting underfoot. PARELES
A false start, a tiptoeing piano hook, a video featuring a golf course invasion: with "Diri," the Bronx rapper Chucky73 has assembled an easy home run. The chubby-cheeked, beaming Lothario dazzles here, his slap-happy persona only amplified by his self-assured, nimble baritone and punch lines about the spoils of his success: "En do' año' me hice rico/El dinero me tiene bonito." "In two years, I got rich," he says. "The money's got me looking cute." HERRERA
Openlake NFT Marketplace Reshapes Pop Music Industry in Hong Kong
LOS ANGELES , June 16, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Openlake( https://www.openlake.io ) is the first NFT marketplace which is deeply integrated with AI, IoT and Blockchain technologies. Openlake focuses on Music, Film, Game and Art, and has partnered with top entertainment companies worldwide. With AI and IoT, Openlake supports the streaming of Music NFTs to hardware players and wearable devices which can provide unprecedented experiences. One of the main objectives of Openlake is to reshape the distribution of the pop music songs with the new technologies.
Openlake supports ERC721 and ERC1155 with ETH, MATIC, BSC and Flow. It provides exclusive smart contracts for music artists. It also supports cover tree of a song through smart contracts. All the secondary creations surrounding the work, including covers, adaptations, etc., are automatically generated through smart contracts to facilitate the search and traceability of the cover tree. Any music reproduction not in the cover tree is considered piracy.
NFT's involvement is a brave innovation for the music industry, and will provide a wider arena for new musicians entering the field. Openlake believes that with the aids of NFT and other technologies such as IoT, the mandarin music industry will be revived and even pushed to a fresh high level.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/OpenlakeNFT
Telegram: https://t.me/openlakenft
Discord: https://discord.gg/y2uYDW9tEe
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzUoSu4bdP83rabB4jbberQ
Sinéad O'Connor: The Lion and the Cobra Album Review | Pitchfork
Each Sunday, Pitchfork takes an in-depth look at a significant album from the past, and any record not in our archives is eligible. Today we revisit an uncompromising debut, pop music that ventures to the extremes of sound and emotion.
After the early sessions for her debut album, Sinéad O'Connor went home and studied the peak meter on her personal recording device, singing to herself, alone. The green light meant she was in the proper range to be recorded; yellow meant she was in danger of clipping; red meant she was too loud. Because the label had paired her with a producer she did not trust, or particularly like, the teenage songwriter from Dublin realized she would have to internalize these metrics in order to preserve her music the way it sounded in her head. "So I've made my voice into its own master fader," she wrote in her memoir, Rememberings .
In songs like "Mandinka" and "Jerusalem," the magic is in the interplay between O'Connor's voice and the bed of cavernous rock music: how she stretches the titles into one-word choruses, weaving the syllables through their knotty arrangements. In the refrain of "Mandinka," a song about a young woman refusing tradition, the guitar riff rises and falls as drum rolls echo in the right and left channel. Even with these flourishes, her voice, double-tracked and coated in reverb, is the center of everything. The song is delivered like a miniature symphony. You can sing along with every little moment, each placed just so in the soundfield.
O'Connor never considered herself a pop artist, but she immediately had a knack for getting in people's heads. Before she broke through with a ghostly rendition of Prince's "Nothing Compares 2 U," she sought a different thrill in The Lion and the Cobra 's "I Want Your (Hands on Me)." It's her rare song that feels modeled after hits of the era, an early attempt at blending her blunt-force, hip-hop influence with gentler melodic gifts. At the time, she called it a "tongue in cheek song about sex," and it would eventually receive a dance remix with a verse from MC Lyte about how, despite the seduction in its title, "When I say no, yo, I mean no." The hook feels almost preverbal as she finds ways to subvert the directness: "Put 'em on, put 'em on, put 'em on me," O'Connor sings until the words bleed into the rhythm.
From The Grammys To Across The Street From His Parents In Traverse City | The Ticker
If you turned on a radio or TV in 2012, you probably heard “We Are Young,” the massive hit song by the pop/indie rock band fun. Following a feature on the TV series Glee , and another in a 2012 Superbowl ad, the song lit up the airwaves, ascending to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in mid-March and staying there for six weeks. What you might not know is that one of the song’s co-writers – and one of the three members of fun. – now resides right here in Traverse City.
Meet Andrew Dost, a multi-instrumentalist, Grammy winner, platinum-selling recording artist, and once-and-future northern Michigan resident. Dost grew up in the area, graduating from Frankfort High School (as class valedictorian) in 2001. After high school, Dost attended Central Michigan University, where he joined the band Anathallo. That event kicked off a decade-and-a-half journey of industry hustling, constant touring, and eventually, big-time success. At his busiest, Dost was on the road for upwards of 320 days a year.
“It was nonstop for probably 15 years,” he recalls. “Touring did a number on me, just in terms of how hard it is to be on the road for essentially years at a time. I needed a very deep rest. I was craving Michigan. I was craving family time. I was craving time at home, time to reconnect to my roots.”
A global pandemic provided that opportunity.
Even pre-COVID, Dost wasn’t a stranger to Traverse City. He moved back to the area for a stint in the mid-2010s, and he and his girlfriend – who hails from Ann Arbor – were in the midst of renovating a house in town when the pandemic struck.
“I've been up to a lot of random things,” he explains. “Films, podcasts, TV shows. I just minted an NFT (non-fungible token) that sold. I’ve been doing a lot of production for other artists, and co-writing songs for other people. [The success of the band] worked out in a nice way, because it let me do whatever inspires me. I’ve been enjoying that freedom to follow impulses and see them through.”
When asked about the band that made him famous, Dost is hesitant to pull back the curtain much. The rise of fun. is now nearly a decade in the rearview, with the band’s most successful album, Some Nights , nine years old as of February. In addition to “We Are Young,” the album spun off two other big hits – “Some Nights,” which made it to number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100; and “Carry On,” which peaked at number 20. At the 55th Annual Grammy Awards, held in February 2013, fun. was up for all four of the biggest awards: Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best New Artist. The band won two of those prizes: Best New Artist and Song of the Year, for “We Are Young.”
Then, in June 2015, fun. announced plans to go on hiatus. While the statement assured fans that the band was “not breaking up,” fun. never reconvened as a unit, never went on another tour, and never made another album.
“I'm reluctant to really go into any detail,” Dost tells The Ticker of the band’s inactivity. “I guess all I can say is that we haven't really talked about doing anything together [as a band].”
Not that the band’s members have left music behind. Lead singer Nate Ruess released a solo album in 2015 and has been featured as a vocalist on songs by Pink, Eminem, Brian Wilson, and more. Guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Jack Antonoff releases albums under the moniker of “Bleachers” and is one of the most in-demand producers in pop music –recently winning an Album of the Year Grammy for his role in Taylor Swift’s folklore .
Album Review: Maroon 5 - Jordi - mxdwn Music
After four years since their last release, Maroon 5's newest album, Jordi, may seem like a necessary dive into experimenting, but instead, it sounds like an album that is desperately trying to appeal to as many demographics as possible.
Throughout their career, Maroon 5 has grooved their way into background music, as their pop songs play in local Starbucks shops. The band reaches for every new trend that emerges to maintain relevance by strategically collaborating with the hottest rappers and R&B singers and meshing it with an EDM-inspired sound. Jordi doesn't fall short of this pattern. However, this album is more scattered than their previous albums with its inharmonious features.
Kicking off with the rising rapper Megan Thee Stallion, the single "Beautiful Mistakes" accentuates the warm guitar strums that dominated the airwaves in 2017 and the typical "nah nah nah" soft-pop vocal melody. It starts the project off strong, especially with the choice of featuring such a dominant artist of the current times. However, Megan's flow and lyricism are somewhat drowned out due to the chords and the melody. This song is proof of the strategic placement of tracks and features Maroon 5 utilizes to create higher streaming revenue.
As one of the more heartfelt singles off the album, "Nobody's Love" was written during the dividing times of summer 2020 to remind the world about "the potent power of love," according to Adam Levine's Instagram post. “I’m hoping that 'Nobody’s Love' is a song that can give everyone a moment of peace and reflection during this unprecedented moment in our world’s story," Levine wrote.
The track "One Light" attempts to create an Afrobeat sound with Caribbean-like production and melodies. Featuring Bantu, the 13-piece band that specializes in Afrofunk, Afrobeat, Highlife and Yoruba music, "One Light" is an extreme contrast to the rest of the album. While it does blend certain elements of pop music, it sounds very different from what one would expect in a Maroon 5 project.
Deeper into the album, Jordi shockingly features posthumous verses from two late rappers in "Can't Leave You Alone" and "Memories Remix." Both being heartfelt songs, one speaks about a love interest, and the other speaks about loss. Featuring deceased rapper/pop artist Juice WRLD, "Can't Leave You Alone" has a very trendy feel to it. "Memories Remix," which is dedicated to Maroon 5's manager who suddenly passed away in 2017 , features the late rapper Nipsey Hussle and YG. As Levine projects "The memories bring back you," a soft-pop background flows through to create a more upbeat pace rather than a morbid sound.
Elsewhere, "Convince Me Otherwise" features contemporary R&B singer H.E.R., creating a completely unexpected tone in the middle of the album. It sounds like a coming-of-age movie where the main character and love interest slow dance in the park under the rain. Although the lyrics are intended to be a back-and-forth argument between a couple, H.E.R.'s melodic voice meshing with the rising beat gives a fun, romantic feel to it.
In-Depth | K-pop Sweeps Indian Youth Off Their Feet: What Is Its Magic Formula And How It Pushes
In-Depth | K-pop sweeps Indian youth off their feet: What is its magic formula and how it pushes Korean business fortunes
The globally popular K-pop septet, comprising RM, V, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin and Jungkook, enjoy massive fan following in India. BTS' fans are go by the acronym 'ARMY' ― or Adorable Representative MC for Youth. It carries quite some meaning, given that 'Army' is associated with the military, body armour and how those two things are always together, the fandom name basically means that fans will always be with BTS.
While BTS, also known as the Bangtan Boys, is very popular among Indian youth today, K-pop was famous in India even before the band officially made its debut in 2013.
South Korean drama, anime and music had found a place among the Indian audience in early 2000s. However, the first time most Indians became familiar with K-pop was about the same time as the rest of the world ― in the summer of 2012, when Psy's "Gangnam Style" became a global viral hit.
The song, which was followed by a thousand versions and even parodies, racked up more than three billion views on YouTube, reigning as the most-viewed video in the platform's history before being dethroned in 2017. The video currently has had over four billion views so far on the video-streaming platform.
Members of K-pop band BTS perform on ABC's 'Good Morning America' show in Central Park in New York City, United States (Image: Reuters)
Rushda Anwer, 23, an avid K-pop fan and a social media professional from Noida, puts it in perspective: "It was in 2011 when I was first introduced to Korean entertainment through Winter Sonata ― an animated version of the K-drama. The story line, actors, food, music, topics, etc. attracted me and I kept watching more K-dramas. It's an inevitability that if one is watching these shows, they will come across K-pop as these artists often sing for the shows and do cameos. However, it was in 2012 when Psy's Gangnam Style came and I got into K-pop. After this, I decided to take a look at K-pop and came across Girls' Generation ― a nine-member girl group from South Korea. They really got me into K-pop and after that there was no looking back."
The popularity of Psy's blockbuster song and BTS can be estimated by the fact that Indian President Ram Nath Kovind, chose to mention them in his speech at an official banquet hosted for South Korean President Moon Jae-In in 2018.
The K-pop story: Who masterminded the rise of a new genre?
For those uninitiated to the world of Korean pop music, entry to the genre can be daunting. That's because it is not simply a genre: it is an entire ecosystem. It's a culture, one that has its own unique stylings, fashions, identities, and lucrative global outreach. It can seem twee and highly manufactured but, the truth is, K-pop has an influence that can rival just about any phenomenon in the world.
Behind every great recognisable face of K-pop, namely the members of groups like BTS, Girls' Generation, Blackpink, Twice, Exo, or any other highly successful act, there is a whole team of handlers and professionals whose job is to keep their group working at maximum capacity. This includes songwriters, managers, choreographers, lawyers, makeup artists, and perhaps most infamously, agencies.
Historically, there have been three major K-pop agencies that have handled the careers of the genre's biggest acts: SM Entertainment, YG Entertainment, and JYP Entertainment. But recently, thanks to the ginormous success of BTS, a fourth agency is vying for newfound supremacy: HYBE Corporation, founded by longtime K-pop svengali 'Hitman' Bang.
Bang Si-hyuk did not invent K-pop. The modern phenomenon we know as K-pop has a large amalgam of influences, precedents, and detours that map out the larger Korean music industry and indeed much of modern Korean history itself, reflecting the industrialisation and economic growth of its southernmost country. But if you were to point to a single figure who quite possibly had the largest influence over K-pop as we know it today, Bang would be that figure.
Bang was born in Seoul in 1972, nearly twenty years after the official, but unsigned, armistice and cessation of the Korean War (the conflict is still technically ongoing). During this period, South Korea was ruled by President Park Chung-hee, who had overtaken the previous government in a military coup and ruled as a de facto dictator. Despite rapid economic growth during his tenure, Park rewrote the nation's constitution to greatly increase his own power and greatly reduce the human rights afforded to its citizens, namely censoring all media, including music. Park would be assassinated in 1979, and the modern democratic South Korea would take another decade to fully shape.
Bang came from an elite and highly educated family: his father was the chairman of the Korean Worker's Compensation and Welfare Service, while his mother graduated from Seoul National University with a degree in English Literature at a time when women were just beginning to receive access to higher education in the country. Bang was a studious, insulated, and emotional figure who found refuge in books, movies, and eventually music.
While not especially suited for stardom on stage, Bang found success in the Korean music business by pairing with influential figures like Shin Seung-hun and Park Jin-young, the latter of whom founded JYP Entertainment, greatly influencing Bang in the process. It was around the mid-1990s that Korean pop idol culture began to solidify into the recognisable form that it takes today, and Bang was at the forefront by producing influential acts such as g.o.d., 2AM, Wonder Girls, and singer Rain. It was during this time that he acquired his 'Hitman' moniker due to the his unrivaled ability to produce chart-toppers.
Bang left JYP Entertainment in 2005 to create his own agency, HYBE Corporation. He had a reputation for success, but striking out against the major players of the time was a risk, to say the least. In order to reach the heights that he envisioned for his agency, and himself, Bang had to instigate a minor revolution in K-pop. The artists signed to the HYBE Corporation would have to not only be major stars in Korea, but transcend geographic barriers and make an impression on the global music industry.
That's where BTS comes into the story. Not the first act singed to Bang's new agency, BTS was nevertheless the catalyst for HYBE's subsidiary, Big Hit Music, to take over as the company that would take K-pop to the global market. Apart from a small roster of other artists, Big Hit Music mainly works to manage the lucrative career of BTS with near exclusivity, watched by the careful eye of Bang.
Something For Everyone - Pop, Rock, Dance & More • Instinct Magazine
Lots of new music to unpack for your Pride Month listening pleasure and there’s something for everyone here – synth-pop, dance music, rock and more.
Kentö’s warm, languid vocals are a perfect match for the shimmering synth-pop production as he sings, "Make it good, make it last so they never forget your silhouette.”
“I think pop music tends to have trends that all sound like one thing, and then someone comes along and shakes things up with a timeless sound,” says Kentö. “That’s the kind of music I want to make.”
With a funky bass line, bright sassy horns and Diamond’s signature groovy vocal goodness, this track is a winner.
“With the pandemic mostly over I wanted a song of triumph and celebration, one that encourages you to get up, get out, and dance!”
The moody, intoxicating electro-pop soundscape is matched with a shadowy, abs-out, wet and wild dance video that reminds us how fun music videos can be.
Baywud has enchanted the fans with melodic embraces in the alternative pop music video 'Bombs
The supremely gifted Baywud has etched out likable dynamics with very strong melodies and carefree flow in the rocking and enticing music video 'Bombs Away' .
The track, 'Bombs Away' has got soulful melody and great vocals with a memorable edge. The brilliant artist, Baywud has displayed his usual flair with a lot of panache. This track is a stunning alt-pop number that got released on 18th June and has received massive acclaim. His previous numbers are played on major mainstream airplay and also in popular radio stations all across the country. It is aired by various radio channels like KLTZ /Mix -93 (MT), 88.5 FM (SOCAL), KTAOS solar radio(NM), 102.3 WOW Radio (MI), LGBT station ‘Bear’ Radio, and Birch Street radio. The fans can go through all his latest updates on his Instagram handle and enjoy the shared posts on his Facebook profile.
Hughes Nelson is a contributing writer for Daily Music Roll. He also runs few other blogs, where he analyzes pop, hip-hop, and other music too seriously. Hughes reviews the music on daily basis and magnanimously indulges, encourages, and even participates in music discussion worldwide.
Thanks for listening. Check back for more, it's crazy times.
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