This Week In Music - 11th November 2022
A weekly update on all things music, advertising, and technology coming straight to you from Anthony Vanger at MassiveMusic.?#TWIM
ARTIST OF THE WEEK: WEYES BLOOD "GRAPEVINE"
There is something magical about Natalie Mering's, aka Weyes Blood, voice. Her delivery is so subdued and precise, yet at the same time powerful, that one wonders how she achieves this feat of vocal engineering. There is also a depth and control that allows her to move further down the register, holding the low notes normally not found in regular pop music. The result is seductive, as her words caress and lure the listener into her world. TWIM has been following Weyes Blood for a few years now and this latest album hits the mark. There are nods to Karen Carpenter and Carole King in her delivery, and while the music occasionally veers towards Santa Monica smooth pop-rock, Mering does her own thing.
From the album 'And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow', out November 18, 2022 on Sub Pop Records. Order the Album & Stream Now: https://ffm.to/weyesbloodheartsaglow\
#weyesblood #subpoprecords #caroleking #karencarpenter #santamonica #popmusic #adultcontemporarymusic
AD OF THE WEEK: JOHN LEWIS
You know Christmas is around the corner when John Lewis launches is now famous Christmas campaign. The ad tells the story of a middle-aged man’s inexplicable efforts to learn how to skateboard. Disasters and injuries occur, predictably. But at the end of the ad we discover his motivation: a social worker arrives at his home with a girl named Ellie, whom he and his wife will be fostering. She is hugging a skateboard, and the dad tells her: “I skate a bit too.” It turns out he had discovered the girl’s passion and had been training for this moment. The ad tells us that there are more than 108,000 children and young people in the U.K.’s care system and highlights the brand’s long-term commitment to supporting them
The song selection is quirky but it works: Blink 182’s All the Small Things covered by Michael Geier. Michael Geier originally covered the single in his alter-ego Puddles Pity Party back in 2017, making it one of the first tracks not to be actually commissioned for a re-record by John Lewis.
DR. DRE INDUCTS EMINEM IN ROCK & ROLL HALL OF FAME AT 2022 CEREMONY
Eminem was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame over the weekend, with Dr. Dre passing the honour onto the rapper at the Los Angeles ceremony.?
On Saturday, 5th November, Eminem - real name?Marshall Bruce Mathers III - was officially added to the prestigious ranks of the hall of fame by?Dre. The legendary rapper and producer has been a long-time mentor of Eminem,?co-producing several of his albums including 2000's 'Marshall Mathers LP' and 2002's 'The Eminem Show'.
At this year's ceremony in Los Angeles, Dre inducted Eminem with a speech that touched on their working relationship and his career to date. “I knew that his gifts were undeniable,” said Dr Dre. “Each of us were exactly what the other one needed - and I was willing to bet my entire career on that.”
Joining the rapper as this year's inductees at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame were Dolly Parton, Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo, Duran Duran, Eurythmics, Lionel Richie and Carly Simon.?Last year,?Kraftwerk were inducted?into the hallowed halls of the institution.
Last year, Dre?opened a new high school?in Los Angeles alongside record executive Jimmy Iovine.
BASS INSTINCT: LOW NOTES REALLY DO GET PEOPLE DANCING, RESEARCH FINDS
When it comes to getting into the groove on the dancefloor, it really is all about the bass, researchers have found.
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Scientists say when very low frequency (VLF) sound was introduced during a live electronic music event, gig-goers moved more even though they could not hear the frequencies.
However, it was not clear this impact of low frequencies would be seen in the real world, or when such sounds are not consciously detectable.
Writing in the journal Current Biology, the team report how they set up an electronic music concert by the Canadian duo Orphx at McMaster and asked attenders to wear motion-capture headbands before turning on and off specialised VLF speakers every 2.5 minutes during the 55-minute performance.
Results from 43 attenders who agreed to wear a headband revealed they moved 11.8% more, on average, when the VLF speakers were turned on. Cameron noted this meant people danced more vigorously, or with more exaggerated movements.
At the end of the concert, 51 attenders completed a questionnaire that asked whether they could feel the music in their body, and whether the bodily sensations affected their compulsion to move.
The results suggest the concertgoers experienced bodily sensations associated with the music, but that these feelings were not rated as stronger than at similar concerts – settings where VLF speakers are not typically used.
The team then conducted a further experiment in which 17 people were asked to distinguish between a pair of clips from the concert that were identical, and a pair that differed only by the presence or absence of the very low frequencies.
“This is real world – real electronic music dance concert – validation that the bass really does make people dance more, and this isn’t just something that comes from our conscious awareness,” said Dr Daniel Cameron, a neuroscientist and first author of the work from McMaster University in Canada.
Cameron and colleagues note that previous studies suggested music that induces dance has more low frequency sound, and that low pitches help people to move in time to music.
PIONEER DJ LAUNCH NEW BEGINNER FRIENDLY TWO-CHANNEL DJ CONTROLLER
Pioneer DJ?has launched brand new DJ controller DDJ-FLX4, aimed at beginner and intermediate level DJs.
It works in conjunction with DJ software?Serato?– both the free ‘Lite’ and the paid ‘Pro’ versions – as well as Pioneer’s own?rekordbox?software, and is compatible across PC and Mac.
Streaming integration is also featured, which will allow budding DJs to import their libraries from Soundcloud Go+, TIDAL, Beatport and Beatsource via rekordbox, to be used for mixing.
The new controller has a similar layout to the now-discontinued Pioneer DDJ-400 controller. Its features includes two jog-wheels with pitch faders, two EQ channels with high and low pass filters, hot cue buttons, and Pioneer’s classic vertical cue and play/pause button alignment.
In May 2022, Pioneer DJ added to their scratch DJ lineup, adding a battle mixer – the DJM S5 at an affordable price point (￡749).
The Pioneer DDJ-FLX4 is available now and costs ￡279 in the UK and €319 in the EU. For more information check out Pioneer’s?official website?and the promotional video below.
Written by?Anthony Vanger
Additional research and reporting by?Adam "Badger" Woolf
Visit TWIM's?Official Website