Year In Review 2011
Intro and Rolling in the Deep
This week, we will be sending out a micro review of all the songs we've picked for our "Year in Review" shows this weekend.
I start with my favorite track, Adele's Rolling in the Deep.
The best way that I have found to think about pop music is to imagine I was somehow involved in the track. In the case of Adele's Rolling in the Deep - and in most songs that I actually like - I try to imagine myself having somehow squeezed into a seat next to the mixing engineer as the play button for the final mix goes on after they have printed it. Truthfully, in my fantasy, someone has just passed around a gorgeous joint, which I may have taken a bit of.
One of the things thats so impressive about this track is that they have used real instruments, many of them acoustic, to layer together a very powerful dance track. This approach is evident from the very first bar of mono acoustic guitar sitting out there on its own for a good long time. The vocal has this crazy overdriven quality that I know is in her voice, but it really sounds like tape to me - like an old Phil Spector track where they might have actually lost control of the lead vocal a bit and ended up with a very overdriven sound on the tape. The drums come in like something out of an early Bowie or Stooges track - so wild and real. I could go on. Obviously the track really impresses me. There are a few things I maybe wish they had done differently. I think the harmonies don't really have enough "room" in the mix. I think the breakdown section is a bit obvious.
But Damn, I'm sitting here with Paul Epworth, Tom Elmhirst and Adele in some incredible mixing room in London (or wherever) and I am completely blissful hearing this song unroll itself into my ears. Its just so damn entertaining.
-Ry
I start with my favorite track, Adele's Rolling in the Deep.
The best way that I have found to think about pop music is to imagine I was somehow involved in the track. In the case of Adele's Rolling in the Deep - and in most songs that I actually like - I try to imagine myself having somehow squeezed into a seat next to the mixing engineer as the play button for the final mix goes on after they have printed it. Truthfully, in my fantasy, someone has just passed around a gorgeous joint, which I may have taken a bit of.
One of the things thats so impressive about this track is that they have used real instruments, many of them acoustic, to layer together a very powerful dance track. This approach is evident from the very first bar of mono acoustic guitar sitting out there on its own for a good long time. The vocal has this crazy overdriven quality that I know is in her voice, but it really sounds like tape to me - like an old Phil Spector track where they might have actually lost control of the lead vocal a bit and ended up with a very overdriven sound on the tape. The drums come in like something out of an early Bowie or Stooges track - so wild and real. I could go on. Obviously the track really impresses me. There are a few things I maybe wish they had done differently. I think the harmonies don't really have enough "room" in the mix. I think the breakdown section is a bit obvious.
But Damn, I'm sitting here with Paul Epworth, Tom Elmhirst and Adele in some incredible mixing room in London (or wherever) and I am completely blissful hearing this song unroll itself into my ears. Its just so damn entertaining.
-Ry
