#not tight

[holdenreviews]

TAKE A CHANCE - DOMi & JD BECK feat. Anderson .Paak

[paprikasalesman]

REAL AND IN MY HOME

[chasingpegasus]

[omesprout]

smoove

[rogueish]

Domi & JD Beck's Not Tight is a great combination of technical precision and engaging melodies.

[the-entangler]

DOMi & JD BECK - SPACE MOUNTAiN (Audio)

[luuurien]

DOMi & JD BECK - NOT TiGHT

(Nu-Jazz, Neo-Soul, Jazz Fusion)

Two of jazz's brightest prodigal talents link up for an energetic, if one-note collaborative project that attempts to bottle their explorative, technically complex playing styles into a cohesive album package. NOT TiGHT never quite figures out what it wants to be, but Domi Degalle's eccentric keyboard work and JD Beck's frenetic drum grooves keep things moving smoothly nonetheless.

☆☆☆½

I get why NOT TiGHT has gotten so much attention, but that's also part of my problems with it. Anyone who has been engaged with the contemporary jazz scene over the past few years has seen videos of Domi Degalle and JD Beck performing at one point or another, whether it be behind Thundercat and Ariana Grande on a cover of Them Changes, or the two of them making covers of   Madvillainy tracks, their incredibly impressive chops - Degalle performing on both keyboards and bass and Beck on drums - and ear on the pulse of hip-hop and electronic sounds that people love most made them two of the most relevant and talked about up-and-comers right now. On their debut project together NOT TiGHT, released on Anderson .Paak's own Blue Note imprint APESHIT, attempts to bottle their explorative, technically complex playing styles into a cohesive album package. At times, the magic of NOT TiGHT shines incredibly bright, but they pull themselves back so much throughout that oftentimes the album fails to be more than colorful, noisy wallpaper. While I don't find comparing artists to one another a particularly useful way of pointing out issues with an album or song, NOT TiGHT's sound sits at an intersection of modern jazz that can only be drawn out knowing the people on either side of it. There's the off-kilter, lo-fi haze of artists like Jacob Mann, riding on beds of fuzzy synthesizers and plucky electronic drum loops, and there's the explosive, colorful stylings of nu-jazz groups like Ebi Soda and High Pulp blending improvisation and rich jazz harmonic language into fast-paced grooves pulled from drum 'n' bass and alternative rap. NOT TiGHT's sound sits somewhere between those two styles, and Degalle and Beck, for the most part, do quite the stellar job at making expressive and intense jazz warm and accessible to a larger audience. The mixing is warm and focuses on a thick low-end and softer high tones, and Beck's fluffy drumset never smacks the mix too hard, always keeping things plush and mellow while having enough presence to provide forward movement - if there's one thing NOT TiGHT does best, it's tonal consistency. There's a certain pull to how tracks like WHATUP and U DON'T HAVE TO ROB ME so beautifully blend bubbly, bright jazz melodies into speedy, yet soft drum breaks, nu-jazz madness that still leaves room for you to breathe. It's intricate, but NOT TiGHT never gets so tangled that Degalle and Beck lose the sense of charm and personality within their demanding compositions. When they bring collaborators into the mix, things only get better: the aforementioned Thundercat brings his gooey basslines for two consecutive tracks on BOWLiNG and the title track, letting Degalle focus more on her keyboard work rather than trying to manage both melodies and a bassline; indie rock golden boy Mac Demarco hops aboard for TWO SHRiMPS; jazz legend Herbie Hancock appears drenched in vocoder for MOON while beloved guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkle brings smooth lovely guitar work to WHOA; Anderson .Paak appears on both the neo-soul highlight TAKE A CHANCE and posse cut PiLOT alongside Snoop Dogg and Busta Rhymes. There's tons of different ideas floating around NOT TiGHT, but Degalle and Beck have the focus and might to pull it all off. It never goes much further than that, though, and that's where many of my frustrations with NOT TiGHT lie. Everything sounds nice, and there's no song on here that's especially bad (SMiLE and TWO SHRiMPS are both repetitive and bland, but that's about it), but it never strays far from its low-key, playful jazz fusion, and it leaves NOT TiGHT as a full, 44-minute listen to feel underwhelming and unfulfilling by the end of things. Sure, it's nice to listen to, but apart from the few jumps in energy given by collaborative tracks like TAKE A CHANCE and PiLOT, there's not much of a difference in how they move from cozy nu-jazz to breakneck improvisation on WHATUP and SNiFF, or on the title track and WHOA, or any other combination of two songs here that check all the same boxes in different orders. It stops feeling exciting watching them go all out by the end of the album when it's already happened so many times before - a cool party trick someone's already done twelve times that night - and because of their constant reliance on that energetic, fast-paced nu-jazz style every time they need to pick up the pace, NOT TiGHT loses a ton of leverage it gets from having two of the strongest musicians out there today working together. They know their instruments well, but they're still figuring out exactly what that looks like in an album context, the looser environment of live performance allowing them to mess with things and react to things more organically than when trying to carve out the defined peaks and valleys of U DON'T HAVE TO ROB ME or MOON. By all means, NOT TiGHT's sound is a fantastic one, but it begins to wear thin as the slickness of it all gets rid of the antics and goofiness that makes watching them perform together at a concert or in a YouTube video so electrifying. It's the biggest thing keeping NOT TiGHT from going from being just a well-performed album to one that is both well-performed and consistently thrilling all the way through. Degalle and Beck have what it takes to keep moving forward together and take things further than they already have, and just because NOT TiGHT has trouble expanding on their sound doesn't mean the album isn't a successful outing in the slightest. More often than not, it's fun to listen to, easy to connect with, and with enough surprise turns to suck you back in when things start to get a little mushy. It might be missing that layer of grit needed to take things to the next level, but there's no denying just how exciting a start this is for the two of them, coming right out of the gate with a distinct sound and the concrete proof that their sound will never get old when it's this impressive to listen to. At the core of NOT TiGHT, it's two friends putting their all into making music that they love together, and that passion beams through everything they do here, no matter how exhilarating or banal things get.

[omgbeautifulboobs2]

Zoom on... Sophie Rose

[stil-lindigo]

Bisan is calling for another global strike!

I saw some posts just outlining Jan 21st, and wanted to clarify that Bisan has called for a full seven days of action.

What a global strike would look like is:

calling in sick to work

purchasing bare essentials ahead of the week so you can observe the general boycott of goods / buying as little as you genuinely can

putting in a concerted effort to elevate Palestinian voices and make it clear that this strike is in support of a permanent ceasefire!

For those who will have to purchase necessary goods during this time, please observe the brands that the BDS movement is asking us to boycott!

♢♢♢

Right now is also a good time to mention some better uses for your money during this week.

Available e-sims in Gaza are running low!!

Mirna El Helbawi and her team are working round the clock to continue to connect Palestinians as Israel does its best to cut them off from the rest of the world.

You can learn how to purchase and send e-sims here, and below you’ll find a list of what is currently needed (the areas in brackets indicate what region you should select to buy e-sims in).

--

CareforGaza is an organisation that does verifiably good work, distributing supplies directly to Palestinian families.

They have a Gofundme set up at the moment, but because of Gofundme’s poor track record regarding refusing to transfer funds to Palestinians, I’d recommend continuing to donate directly to their PayPal here.

Good luck to all of you. Don't turn away from Palestine!

[notherpuppet]

I want vaggie to confront alastor’s manipulative ass about Charlie’s deal and I hope it’s a musical number 😩🙏🏽

[involuir]

shamayne williams

[sultedsults-blog]

follow me on instagram to see aesthetic photos and reels <3

[duodamsel]

[singledigitsalary]

[prohaloplayer]