Music

The latest news and reviews of music.

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Amazon expands free music streaming to Android, iOS and Fire TV
Amazon's free, ad-supported music tier is no longer confined to Alexa devices. The service is now available through the Amazon Music app on Android, iOS and Fire TV for listeners in the US, UK and Germany. You're still limited to listening to playlists and stations (based on artists, eras, genres and songs), but this makes it trivial to check out the latest rap tracks or queue up holiday songs.
Deezer's lossless audio finally comes to Android, iOS and the web
Deezer's lossless audio rollout has been slow, to put it mildly -- it first reached connected speakers in 2014, didn't come to desktop apps until 2017, and has been a no-show elsewhere. It's widely available now, though. The service has launched its HiFi tier on Android, iOS and the web, making FLAC-based tunes available on the move or in your browser. You'll need some high-quality audio gear to do the music justice, but you won't have to be too picky about song choices when over 52 million tracks are available in FLAC. You can still download songs for offline listening.
TikTok's owner may be readying a streaming music service
No, TikTok's owner still isn't done dipping its toes into other categories. Financial Times sources claim ByteDance is planning an on-demand streaming music service with, as you might expect, a social media hook. The app would reportedly include a collection of short, searchable video clips you could sync to songs and share with your friends. It's also set to cost less than the $10 per month Spotify, Apple and others typically charge for their all-you-can-stream offerings.
Spotify's latest feature creates a playlist for your road trip
It's no secret Spotify wants to give you as many playlist options as possible, and today it's adding one more. Only this time, the streaming service wants to help you create a list for a specific activity: a road trip. With "Soundtrack your Ride," Spotify will make a playlist for your drive based on the duration of your journey and your answers from a short quiz.
Apple Music Replay highlights your favorite tunes of the year
Apple Music has been around for long enough that you can start reminiscing about years past, and Apple is banking on that nostalgia for its latest addition. It's debuting an Apple Music Replay feature that highlights your favorite tunes not just from the past year, but every year you've been a subscriber. It creates custom, shareable playlists for each year and tells you which artists, albums and songs dominated your ears. In my case, that's a whole lot of trance, jazz and ambient.
Spotify's Magic Leap app lets you virtually pin music on the wall
By this point, most people have used Spotify on almost every platform where it's available and there's not a lot about the experience that's surprising. So it's interesting then to see how, with the help of augmented reality startup Magic Leap, Spotify has managed to think of a new way to organize your music library. With the company's new Magic Leap app, you can pin albums, artists and tracks to specific locations in your home. In this way, you can create a different soundscape for each room.
Why does Riot Games keep making virtual bands?
An unusual concert took place before FunPlus Phoenix and G2 Esports battled for the League of Legends World Championship last weekend. The Grand Finals in Paris opened with Valerie Broussard singing "Awaken," a track released at the start of the year to celebrate the upcoming esports season. The performance ended with a magical blast that threw Broussard and her backup singers into the air.
Qobuz ditches MP3-quality streaming for a single hi-res plan
If you're running an upstart streaming music service like Qobuz, whose main selling point is its high-quality audio, how do you compete against the heavyweights? By offering that pristine sound at a price that's not easy to match, apparently. Qobuz is dropping its lossy, MP3-based Premium tier and consolidating around a hi-res Studio Premier plan that, for the first 100,000 subscribers, will cost $15 per month or $150 per year. Given that comparable plans like Tidal HiFi tend to hover around $20 per month, you could be saving a fair amount of change if you insist on the best possible fidelity.
Korg Minilogue XD update adds key triggers for synth sequences
We really liked Korg's Minilogue XD synth for its blend of power with a relatively affordable price, but there were some omissions that prevented it from living up to its creative potential. Thankfully, Korg appears to have tackled many of those gripes at once. The music giant has released a 2.0 firmware update for the Minilogue XD that delivers considerably more control, most notably key triggers for the sequencer. You can create a sequence and transpose it anywhere on the keyboard with a single note -- in other words, you can dramatically alter the sound of a sequence on the fly.
Johnny Cash's powerful voice narrates his life in YouTube's 'The Gift'
"I was a bag of bones. I looked like walking death, and I knew it." By now the trials, and redemption, of Johnny Cash are well documented. Whether it's 2005's Walk The Line or, most recently, Ken Burns' Country Music, it's not hard to find a detailed account of the career of the Man in Black. What many of them don't offer though is Cash's own perspective on his life -- both the highs and the lows. With Emmy-winning director Thom Zimny's The Gift: The Journey of Johnny Cash, we get just that. And the impact is more haunting and inspiring than any other time these stories have been told.
Behringer unveils a Roland TB-303 clone
Like many other synths and drum machines, the Roland TB-303 was a commercial flop, but years later became a staple of electronic music. An authentic 303 will run you over $2,000 these days, but Behringer will soon offer a fully analog clone of the unit at a fraction of the price. According to MusicRadar, the TD-3 will feature very similar sounds while adding features not found in the original 303, like 16-voice polyphony and a distortion circuit based on Roland's own DS-1 guitar effects pedal.
The Organelle is a music computer that can do almost anything
Not long ago, "portable" was basically a synonym for "toy" when it came to keyboards and synthesizers. Sure, a classic Casio like the VL-1 is not without its charms. But it's not exactly a serious musical instrument. That's changed a lot in recent years, partially due to miniaturization and clever engineering but mostly thanks to the relentless march forward of computing power. Perhaps no device is more emblematic of this than Critter & Guitari's Organelle. It is, at its core, a computer, and I don't mean that in the same broadly defined way that almost all electronics are computers. I mean that inside there's a Raspberry Pi running Linux. It's this fact that makes the Organelle so unique and flexible. Unlike other portable music gadgets, like the Pocket Operator, that focus on being a drum machine or a sampler, the Organelle tries to be all the things. It's a synthesizer, a sampler, a sequencer, an effects processor -- almost anything someone with the right coding skills can dream up. But there is a danger in trying to be a jack-of-all-trades: You often end up as a master of none.
Netflix's 'Heartstrings' trailer reimagines Dolly Parton songs as dramas
Netflix is turning eight Dolly Parton songs into an anthology series, Dolly Parton's Heartstrings. The first trailer arrived today, and it gives us a glimpse of the dramas based on iconic songs like "Two Doors Down," "JJ Sneed" -- and of course, "Jolene."
Deezer reminds everyone it has podcasts with a dedicated section
Deezer wants to remind you that Spotify isn't the only streaming service to include podcasts. It's rolling out a "Shows" tab on iOS (Android and the web are coming later) that's dedicated to podcasts, radio shows and other non-music material. It divides audio into 15 top-level categories like comedy, education and fiction, and you can dive into sub-categories for more specific topics like parenthood. You'll also find podcast recommendations, and you can add any material to your personal library whether or not you're a paying Deezer subscriber.
The kid-friendly Blipblox Synthesizer is on sale for $30 off
Don't let the Blipblox Synthesizer fool you. While it's advertised as a toy, it's a surprisingly robust digital synth that adults can enjoy too. And while it's normally sold for $189, it's currently on sale for $160.99.
Apple Music student plans now come with Apple TV+ for free
Yes, you read that correctly. Today, Apple confirmed that it will be bundling Apple TV+ with its Apple Music student plan, which currently costs $4.99 per month. The deal will be available to new subscribers for "a limited time," the company clarified, as well as students who signed up for the music plan long before Apple TV+ was announced. Access will run out once the user loses their student status (i.e. they graduate or drop out) or if they decide to cancel their subscription. The offer was first revealed by Hailee Steinfeld (Pitch Perfect 2, Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse), the star of upcoming Apple TV+ exclusive Dickinson on Instagram yesterday. Spotify and Hulu have a similarly priced student bundle. Apple's deal is arguably more cohesive -- and could lead the way to some kind of 'mega bundle' with Apple Arcade -- but Hulu has a broader, albeit ad-supported library of shows. Which subscription is better value? We'll let you be the judge. We wouldn't be surprised, though, if many students simply opted for both -- $10 per month is cheaper than a standard Netflix sub, after all.
Dubreq’s touch-powered Stylophone Gen R-8 synthesizer is available now
After missing its originally planned February release, Dubreq's latest Stylophone synthesizer is now available for purchase. This upgrade to the pocket-sized classic boasts new features and controls, an all-analog circuit and a hefty metal chassis. Most importantly, it has gritty tones and filters similar to the sounds of full-fledged monosynths.
Seamlessly compare the 2019 remix of R.E.M.’s ‘Monster’ to the original
It's hard to believe, but it's been 25 years since R.E.M. released Monster. And, like any classic album approaching such a milestone, it's getting a massive reissue complete with a remastered version of the album, demos and outtakes, plus two discs worth of live material. But, perhaps most interesting, there's also a remix of the album done by original producer Scott Litt. Some of the changes are not subtle, and for something that has been in the pop culture consciousness for so long, there's bound to be some brush back. (For instance, ditching the stuttering tremolo guitar in "What's the Frequency, Kenneth" seems pretty brazen.)
Deezer's new app is just for Sony 360 Reality Audio
Sony recently announced its immersive 360 Reality Audio format would be launching this fall, with around 1,000 tracks available across multiple platforms. Now, music streaming service Deezer has debuted its 360 offerings, but not as part of its main app. Instead, audiophiles will have to download a stand-alone app to listen to the new format, which could limit its uptake.
YouTube Music now plays nicely with Siri
Siri can now play YouTube Music, meaning you'll no longer have to choose between Apple Music or Spotify to listen through the Apple assistant. The change was made possible by iOS 13, and it works with Apple CarPlay, so you'll get hands-free control of YouTube Music as you drive.

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