01
Poke the picture to listen to the full edition of Ice Paper's "Hanmu Resident"
(Record Jury Music Critic Yu Ruo Kiichi)
The Ice Paper album has almost reached the highest point he can reach so far on a "solo fight.". After the popularity of "Heart Like Water" in the previous album, he still rarely appeared in front of the stage, but continued to plunge into the music and polished the 24-song "Hanmu Resident".
The stone is not shocking, but it is quite windy. In the dialogue of Wong Kar-wai's "East Evil and West Poison", a remarkable dream is strung together. The overall production is not complicated and detailed, and the technique is not crazy, but you can hear the distinct personal characteristics. He strings together the whole article with an oriental temperament, Ice Paper is good at using imagery to bring out the imagination of the picture, compared to the previous one, his emotions have become more restrained, hidden in allusions and sampling, and there is a personal interpretation to reverse the meaning of the predecessors, although it owes some sharpness.
Personally, I relatively like the first half, "Nanming Away from the Fire" rewrites the melody of "Horse Racing" into the atmosphere of Dongying, neutralizes the rebellious spirit in the allusion of Xiang Yu burning Afang Palace, which is my personal favorite track in the album. In the singing part of the melody, Ice Paper does not have an advantage, although the production has reached its personal limit, but after all, the strength is limited, and the shortcomings in production and vocal music are the reasons for the overall feeling of weakness in the second half.
But the album can still express his other layer of interpretation of the national style Hip-hop music in a dark, xiaosuo atmosphere, the temperament is unified, there are precipitations and explorations, and it can reach this level alone, strong respect.
Recommended Singles:
02
Poke the picture to listen to the full series of AR Liu Fuyang's "Non-pop Rap"
(Record Jury Music Critic Cat )
In just one and a half years, AR Liu Fuyang has released three albums, and its creative power is amazing. Compared with the mainstream direction of the previous album "Pop Rap", in terms of rap style, this "Non-Pop Rap" is not completely on the opposite side of popularity, but a sharp refutation of the current popular concepts and conformist ideas in attitude.
In the album's intro ?? ", AR listed a variety of questions and doubts from the outside world about him, so AR used the entire album to make a chaotic counterattack on the current "traffic first" view, diss objects from brainless media, follow the wind music reviews, to a certain sound rat Noble, traffic singers, and then to the social atmosphere and even the record company, of course, there is no shortage of Kris Wu classmates who lie on the gun again.
AR's ability in rap technology and wordplay has never been in doubt, and the only people who can stand shoulder to shoulder in this rapper are pharaohs and bear cubs. But what is more praiseworthy about AR is his sense of humor and funny imagination in the lyrics, and he often uses ridiculous sentences to deconstruct emotions or satire, such as "Tao Jingying's singing voice floats by, you feel too wronged"; "Hang all the hatter like a hanger, Ma Dong will say that you are a strange thing"; "I am not shy, but my heart is written to avoid licking"; "Learning to touch the crotch of your pants, your mother is ashamed", which is not available to many rappers in China today.
In addition, AR's ability to quote works by other musicians on the new album has been upgraded again, from Wang Feng and Kendrick Lamar to Michael Jackson and Bob Dylan, all of which he cleverly uses in songs: "I am not good kid, nor in that mad city"; "If the standard of success is only poppular, then bob Dylan will not float in the wind", all of which are the classic works of several singers. Although the reference to Wang Feng's work does not seem so obvious on the surface, it appears in a very important song on the album, "Yue A in Beijing", this autobiographical song can be called the "Beijing Beijing" of the north-up rapper, the cultural differences between the north and the south, the bittersweet and bittersweet in life and career are all condensed in this short three minutes, and even a little bit of the taste of the new era "Beijinger in New York". Of course, the most powerful is the penultimate song "House" on the album, AR almost swept away the well-known rappers in the mainland, and the naming technology is definitely the old principal.
At the very beginning of the album, AR diss said that his songs were musically poor, not blown or black, and the album was really much better musical than his first two works. Especially in the second half of the album, "Parasite", "The Sims", "Guangdong A in Beijing" three consecutive shots directly raised the musical richness of the entire album to a level. Classical string music, Post Disco, Bossa Nova, three styles that are completely different from the mainstream rap environment in China, cross-border integration, wonderful and exciting, making people overwhelmed. I believe that after this vote, no one will criticize AR for poor musicality...
Although the theme of the album is all-encompassing, the theme of "Non-pop Rap" has been buckled on the word "I" from beginning to end, from the beginning of the outside world's doubts about AR, to the first two different "I", and then to the latter "The Sims" and "Guangdong A in Beijing", you can hear AR's insistence on doing his own, as well as his attitude towards his own "non-pop", "You are different from the mainstream, it is a mistake; the attitude, not normal, is eliminated." To ar personally, this is his counterattack against all the herdspolars; from the perspective of social macro, this is also a defense of every social person who insists that the self is not assimilated: Maybe you are not mainstream, and there is a difference between the concepts and aesthetics of the public on the market, but who can guarantee that what is popular is necessarily good?
03
Poke the picture to listen to the full volume of Xia Xianshang's "The Edge"
(Record Jury Music Critic 50% Off)
Last summer, 하현상, who was still trembling when he debuted in "Super Band", was better known as the translation of "Ha Hyun Sang". His earlier release, "My Poor Lonely Heart," was of good quality but only circulated on a small scale.
Ha Hyun-sang, who has been losing in the show, finally survived the group war and successfully "debuted" as a member of the champion band Hoppípolla, which can also be regarded as a complete opening of his reputation. In April this year, Hoppípolla's first EP "Spring to Spring" began to blow the breath of spring; in June, Ha Hyun-sang's second solo EP "The Edge" immediately arrived, and its translated name became a more fashionable "Xia Hyun-sang".
Like the change in the translated name, Xia Xianshang's "The Edge" was also iterated. The oil painting style of "My Poor Lonely Heart" was changed to figure photography, and the original Nordic fresh temperament also changed the runway and sailed to a popular channel. As expected by the album copywriter, xia Xianshang of "youth" has grown into "youth", and the change of style is natural, but the core is still thinking about life, more mature and more handsome, and also greatly weakens the original sense of melancholy. He also unexpectedly collaborated with rapper Rohann on a song called "Nostalgia," which gave his music a perfect chemistry to rap.
Not only growing up, Xia Xianshang also sorted out the opposition between the identities of "I" and "artist" in "The Edge", which belongs to the process of thinking about the self and finding the self, facing the pressure, holding hope and telling the beautiful love. His voice is still delicate and can bring reassurance.
04
Poke for Chloe x Halle's full collection of Ungodly Hour
(Record Jury music critic Li Haowei)
In the past two years, in a field of electronic weapons and popular melodies, British and American R&B female singers such as Ella Mai, H.E.R. and so on have sprung up, and some fans seem to feel that the charming rhythm and blues of the 90s are about to make a comeback.
Sister flower duo Chloe X Halle, who was personally promoted by Director Beyond a few years ago, came to prominence with their debut album "The Kids Are Alright", which was independently produced in his room, and their amazing talents were nominated for the Grammy Awards. As the Black Lives Matter movement is underway in the United States, the sisters paid their respects by delaying the release of Ungodly Hour for a week on this month's new album. The album combines retro R&B from the 90s with elements of modern pop music, and the duo's unique black girl magic also injects a force into the BLM movement.
Obviously, this album breaks the legendary spell of "one brick is amazing, two bricks must be paste", bringing a refreshing feeling to fans. The atmosphere of Ungodly Hour is much deeper and more mature than on the previous album, The Kids Are Alright, and it also pays more attention to the sound details in the song. The flawless harmony between the two is definitely one of the most attractive aspects of their works, and the bold attempts in the album arrangement are also the signature music of the two.
Today's perfect harmony of R&B music in the mainstream music scene seems to have a lot of room for development, and Chloe X Halle has a feeling of being born. With just two albums, they have found their own style, and gradually have the style of a new generation of R&B musicians.
05
Poke for Kodaline's full episode of One Day at a Time
(Record Jury Music Critics Le Min)
Seven years ago, I fell in love with Kodaline's first album, "In a Perfact World." In the voice of the lead singer, there is the innate roughness and warmth of the Irish, as presented in their masterpiece "All I Want", when they promote the progress of the song in a concise and powerful way, when the instrument gradually becomes full from a guitar, when the vocals change from the lead singer's chant to harmony and then into a choir, you will feel their emotions very directly, from fragile to strong, from a touchpoint to a warm current, it can be said that Kodaline sings a popular ballad, But because of their Irish blood, there was a broader and more powerful force in their music.
In the next two albums, "Coming Up for Air" and "Politics Of Living", they still extend the healing content, still can create a good melody with memory points, they even try to integrate synth elements, try more meta-popular creations and more exquisite visual presentations, still above the standard of the work, but seem to have lost their most important features.
Happily, in this "One Day at a Time", you can hear the return of the underlying emotions. This return is first reflected in the consistency of the sound presentation of the whole album, the kind of listening that is close to Home Made, which will make you feel the emotions in their voices more intuitively; secondly, the coherence of the style of the whole album, although the arrangement of each song has its own highlights, but whether it is about gain and loss, fragility and longing, peaks and valleys, gospel and love, or the most touching kind of vocal and instrumental superposition arrangement in their debut album, from solo to chorus, From the narration to the surging pattern, it has become a symbol like the symbol that marks the unified listening sense of the album.
Undoubtedly, in the midst of the epidemic, people who are full of uncertainty about their lives need such music with healing lyrics, catchy melodies, and simple and abundant emotions. When you're vulnerable, there's nothing more decompressing than being surrounded by music that's full of security.
06
Poke the picture to audition the full collection of Mile's "Eyes"
(Record Jury Music Critic Rock Dead Rabbit)
In June, Sony Music's master, Hua Dan Milet, released her most important and summative debut studio album, Eyes.
The album contains 18 singles, of which, in addition to 8 newly created works, the other singles are included in the EP in a variety of collaborative forms. Since the release of the 4-single EP "Inside You" in early March 2019, Milet's behind-the-scenes production background and collaboration opportunities have been quite deep. The single "Inside You", produced by ONE OK ROCK's lead guitarist Toru, is also the OP theme song for the Japanese drama "Scandal Lawyer", and the song has won the first place on 11 popular Japanese music supporting websites such as iTunes. The other two songs on the album, "Again and Again" and "I Gotta Go", were also designated by the director as the theme song and ending song of the Japanese drama "JOKER×FACE".
The japanese drama collaboration and the addition of OOR productions, derived from Milet's slightly hoarse singing voice, captivated the directors Yamagishi Shota and Koe Inc., the founders of director Sekiwa Ryo. Yamagishi immediately decided to adopt Mile's new song as the theme song of the series. Koe Inc. provides visual creative designs for advertising CM and musician MVs. He creatively supported the production of music videos by musicians such as Hoshino Source, Perfume, OK Go, RADWIMPS, OOR, and others.
In the year that followed, Milet went on to release 4 EPs with 17 new songs.
Milet is so prolific, related to her family and education, her childhood was spent in Canada, her parents liked classical music, she began to practice flute at the age of 7, in addition to classical music, Milet began to be exposed to rock and roll in elementary school, especially the independent rock of the 90s, Kula Shaker, Radiohead, Sigur Rós, Björk are her favorite artists, so to this day her rock arrangement is still more inclined to independent rock.
Milet's ending song "Drown" and her new work "Dome", composed by Milet for last year's dark horse animation "Ice Sea Battle", unleash the darkness and coldness she drew from the works of the Nordic elves Björk and Sigur Rós.
My junior year of high school was going to go to music university, but because of his interest in film music, he decided to go to film and television school to study soundtrack. For example, studying why Strauss's symphonic poems in Stanley Kubrick's 2001 Space Odyssey, or simply muting with the picture, seems to be hardcore. This also creates an extremely solid theoretical foundation for her own creations, and many MVs even have the opinions of milet, and are shouted by creative directors. At the same time, her music composition has become smoother and more natural. For example, the explosive "Inside You" was accidentally completed when he entered the studio with OOR's Toru. The lyrics were originally in English, but because director Kwan and Ryo liked it, they decided to use it as the opening theme song of "Scandal Lawyer", so the lyrics were rewritten in Japanese. But it also retains one of the most important lyrics from the work: "Tell me what is inside you, inside you now."
In interviews, Milet has said that she has re-listened to classical music in recent years, and that its influence on her has not stopped at listening. Created for Destiny/Crown Designation Absolute Warcraft Battlefront Babylonia, ED Prover supports FGO's magnificent epic worldview with a combination of piano and classical orchestra, and animated audiences have said that they have goosebumps when they hear this song, and the new pop single "STAY" with string bands in fast-paced is a tribute to Canadian pop senior Carly Rae Jepsen with classical elements.
One of the fans in Mile's comments section once said, "Although her style is varied, she is one of the few musicians I like about all songs." This sentence can be very pertinent to sum up that milet absorbs all the essence of style like a sponge, and naturally integrates into the talent and talent of the work, and from her own experience, all this is not a rootless tree.
07
Poke the picture to listen to Theseus Theseus' "Goodbye to the Southern Kingdom, The Southern Kingdom" full volume
(Record Jury Music Critic Shikanoko)
Theseus, their second EP, "Goodbye to the Southland, Goodbye to the Southland", was inspired by the film of the same name, "Goodbye to the Southland, the Southern Kingdom", starting from himself to tell the life of the people at the bottom, it is about the self, about the family, about society.
The entire EP contains a total of four singles, and the Taiwanese interpretation method makes this album closer to the lives of ordinary people. "Resident Water" combines folk songs and rock, from the beginning of the whisper, to the burst of chorus, as if to pull people into the dark water little by little, to feel their inner despair.
Although the song is close to 9 minutes, it has no sense of procrastination at all, and the vocals and instrumental music switch back and forth between strong and weak, as if the "standing water" person is struggling under the water, which is very powerful.
And "Light You/Your Smoke" also continues the "funeral" in "Standing Water". The drum sound of the climactic part is added just right, and under the rendering of the erhu, it creates a sense of tragedy, which is the helplessness and immortality of "big dreams burning, juvenile scars".
By the time I worked with rogue Ader on the two songs "I'm No Longer With Your Ordinary Everyday" and "The Boy", the pace began to slow down. Although "I Have Long Stopped Talking to Your Ordinary Everyday Life" is only accompanied by a phone recording of the two people and their mother, this simplicity can especially move people.
"Sun Zi" is like a tear gas canister, Gao Xiangyu wrote his feelings for his grandmother in a vernacular way into the song, it is more like a letter to his grandmother, telling his adult life and wordless love for his grandmother, and the emotions are particularly full.
If you're used to eggplant eggs, then this EP by Theseus will surely be able to appetize you as well.