Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran Up the Ante and 13 More Songs


Ed Sheeran resorted to common deck analogies in “The Joker and the Queen.” 2021 album, “=,” For one of his many endearing confessions of humility: “I know you can fall in love with a thousand kings,” she sang on the piano and the strings softened her ballad sentences. Now the song has been updated to a superstar alliance, bringing Taylor Swift to swapping verses and sharing harmonies. There is some fan service; Years later, the video brings back the cast of Sheeran’s previous duet with Swift. “Everything has changed.” Still, Swift’s new lines raise the stakes and tensions: “I’ve played it earlier if you hadn’t guessed.” There’s still a happy ending – no harm to its copyright value as a wedding song – but Swift adds the slightest bit of skepticism. JON PARELES

Jazmine Sullivan added 10 tracks to it 2021 album “Heaux Tales” To make “Heaux Tales, Mo’ Tales: The Deluxe”. It retained the scheme of the previous album: songs alternating with verbal anecdotes about transactional romance. “Squad” is the chirpy, flirtatious, plain rejection of monogamy. Good news for someone – “One more spot left on my roster” – accompanied by syncopated guitar chords and flamenco applause as Sullivan recounts, but sets clear terms: “I have room to love them all/because I always respond. to call.” PARELES

Let’s welcome the rebirth of the Ibeyi. The French-Cuban twins have been performing as Ibeyi since 2014, but with “Sister 2 Sister”, the new single from their upcoming third album “Spell 31”, they are more confident than ever and come with a clear message for their audience. their name as an exotic spoilage: “Here’s how you say it: Ibeyi.” The production is sparse but solid, a harmonious, divine chorus reaffirms brotherhood. “Slow down, now we’re grown up, let’s start fresh,” they say, singing in the harsh percussion atmosphere that made their music so impressive at first. ISABELIA HERRERA

Caroline Polachek navigates majestic puzzles in her latest collaboration with co-producer Danny L. Harle, “Billions.” Flying electronic chords and an electroacoustic percussion web – tabs, synthesizer blips, string-like plinks, running backwards notes, quietly rumbling beats – accompany the calmly floating melody with a hint of a distant Celtic ballad. The lyrics are piecemeal – “psycho, priceless, good in crisis” – the arrangement expands with sounds and orchestration. Eventually, a children’s choir took over, singing in counterpoint “I’ve never felt so close to you,” but leaving all mysteries wide open. PARELES

[Transgressive but relatable pop star] covers the known [song about falsity of fame] with [renegade rock band] in honor of [blatant commercial opportunity] – a shot! JON CARAMANICA

there was a lot of drama Bettye LaVette‘s 1965 single “Let Me Down Easy” and its multiple re-recordings, the song written by Dee Dee Ford aka Wrecia Holloway. LaVette sang about the ongoing bond with her ex, no matter how much the singer wanted to continue: “After the last goodbye, I know it’s not over.” Bringing a bit of Slavic melancholy to four-piece dance music, Odesza samples the most heartbreaking lyrics of LaVette’s vocals, prolonging the agony and proving once again how classical the song remains. PARELES

In his timeless collaborations with Griot-poet-commentator Gil Scott-HeronBrian Jackson didn’t just play dazzling jazz piano pieces and lithe flute solos: he Wrote or co-wrote He took on many of the duo’s best songs and sometimes even vocals. “All Talk” is the lead single from “This Is Brian Jackson,” his first true solo album in over 20 years, and is a reminder of Jackson’s many talents. A peppery funk anthem, the track is marred by the same Caribbean overtones that spiced up his music with Scott-Heron and the Midnight Band, and returns to an inspiring, consciousness-raising mode with a cleaner, denser, 21st-century studio sound: “Our world is what we do. ” says. “So all we have to do is decide.” GIOVANNI RUSSONELLO

Congotronics International is a phenomenon in the Internet age: a global alliance of traditional yet committed bands from Kinshasa, with fans across the indie-rock spectrum and hemispheres including Deerhoof from California and Juana Molina from Argentina. Belgian record label Crammed Disc released Congolese bands Konono No. 1 and Kasai organized a European tour for the Allstars and the same number of rockers. Live recordings of these shows and subsequent studio collaborations – in person and remotely – have finally paid off. The double album, “Where’s the One?”, which will be released on April 29, takes its name from the cross-cultural rhythm confusion. “Banza Banza” exemplifies the album title; An electronic roar begins with brutal bass and screeching guitars, and for a full minute of bouncing beats, guitars, noise, and vocals, it’s not clear where the downbeat is. The track is explosively overcharged, even with a clearly solid person behind the lead vocals of Kasai Allstars’ Kabongo Tshisense. PARELES

Those concerned that there are no new ways to say old things should consult Pusha T, who wakes up with a sense of duty every day and develops uplifting approaches to rapping about the spoils of the drug trade. In “Diet Coke,” he says, “Everybody get him off the boat, right?/But really only I can do a snow fight,” his words delivered with a snarl and a small curvy crease at the end. These brags for Pusha T are as cozy and familiar as a cashmere blanket:

They got mad at us, who wouldn’t?
We became everything you couldn’t be
Everything your mom said you shouldn’t do
Porsche’s horses “Look at me!”

karamanika

Central Cee has been exploring the lighter side of the UK exercise for the past few years, but “Khabib” is leaning the other way – a sinister production, a title referring to one of the most feared MMA fighters, and some clear clarifications: “Always trying to turn the party around, on Wireless I got nicked like this/when I came out of the cells I said to my little brother, ‘Calm down, I’ll make headlines one day’.” CARAMANICA

It is rarer than ever to find artists who use their words selectively or not at all – who do not over-explain themselves, but instill a fuller feeling into their work than language can convey. Sontag talked about it when he says that art has become a “ritual tool”, that it frees itself from meaning. Her there is no easy time for something like this. But on “Unrest,” a new two-track single from the harpist Brandee Young, the title is the only obvious reference to the social upheavals and deeper histories that inspired the music, recorded at the Rudy Van Gelder Studio during the pandemic: The instruments do the rest. Younger uses repetition and depth to create a tidal-like pull on his instrument, whether playing solo or as in “Unrest I” – or playing in a group. On the single’s second track, along with Rashaan Carter’s impulsive bass and Allan Mednard’s drums, he lets them do the race and stays balanced amid the anxious brawl. Russonello

“Still Feel” 2017 shot by the Alaska-based Portuguese group. The man returned to the Motown rhythm and casually said, “I’m a rebel just for pleasure.” Five years later, the situation looks even more dire. The beat is still peppy and the resounding guitars retain the retro vibe, but attempts to ignore things are much more blatantly acts of denial and utterly futile: “The house is on fire, alas, don’t bother me.” PARELES

Personal losses and concerns about global warming are united in “Swimmer”. Helena Deland sings in a low, unassuming voice over acoustic guitar picking and rumble undercurrents. She won’t be around for long, she sings to someone who winces while swimming in a cold ocean, but also says, “As the water gets warmer, the oceans expand”. The song compares short human lives with the relentless forces of nature; noise is the endless sound of crashing waves. PARELES

still pianist, composer and critic Ethan Iverson famous for Bad Plus anti-jazz trio he went in 2017You won’t be completely impressed with the new album “Every Note Is True” released by Blue Note Records. The album’s nine originals have the same comic, diatonic structure that defines Iverson’s writing for the old band: It’s Bacharach meets Brahms John Lewis. In “The Eternal Verities”, Iverson is joined by two daredevils of jazz ancestry – bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jack DeJohnette – each with a deep piano trio experience, giving him more room to play with a love of the blues. driven, straight jazz. Russonello



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