Jon Pareles weighs in on this weeks’ most notable new songs. Pareles has been The Times’s chief pop music critic since 1988. He studied music, played in rock, jazz and classical groups and was a college-radio disc jockey. He was previously an editor at Rolling Stone and The Village Voice.
Shakti: ‘5 in the Morning, 6 in the Afternoon’
Shakti — the East-West, Indian-jazz fusion band led by the English guitarist John McLaughlin and the Indian percussionist Zakir Hussain, formed in 1973 — reveled in Indian modal scales, complex rhythms and the note-bending nuances that Indian ragas share with the blues. This track is from “Mind Explosion,” an album recorded at live concerts on Shakti’s 50th-anniversary tour, with McLaughlin and a top-flight band of Indian musicians. It’s an exploration of precise stop-start riffs and rhythmically driven solos, never sacrificing momentum and ready to snap into quick-fingered unison at any moment.
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Every Friday, pop critics for The New York Times weigh in on the week’s most notable new tracks. Listen to the Playlist on Spotify here (or find the publications’ profile: nytimes) and at Apple Music here, and sign up for The Amplifier, a weekly guide to new and old songs.
Read the article HERE.