Music production

Music production

Fully self-produced, Valeria masterfully merges the rich musical heritage of her hometown with the underground beats of London. After years of collaborating with different producers, she leapt to shape her own sonic narratives, igniting a passion to craft music that speaks to the heart. “I wanted to produce my own music after seeing the powerful impact production can have on storytelling,” she reflects.

UMG stated the agreement "extends TikTok and UMG's groundbreaking commitment to AI protections that promote human artistry and ensure platform economics effectively flow through to artists and songwriters. TikTok and UMG will work together to remove unauthorized AI-generated music from the platform, while further improving artist and songwriter attribution."

Each Monday, with our Pitchfork Selects playlist, we're sharing what our writers are playing obsessively and highlighting some of the Pitchfork staff's favorite new music. The playlist is a grab-bag of tracks: Its only guiding principle is that these are the songs you'd gladly send to a friend.

Blod may seem unbearably esoteric. But a little context helps; Dicksson is a spiritual descendant of Swedish Progg movement of the 1960s and '70s-not to be confused with prog rock, it was a left-wing, anti-commercial music movement that encompassed a wide range of styles, from psych-rock bands to nationally beloved singer-songwriters. Blod is indebted to the mossier, more experimental ends of the movement, including bands like Träd, Gräs & Stenar. This is the anti-capitalist, DIY heritage which Discreet Music-the record store and label run by Dicksson-is keeping alive.

Hamilton has been one of the hottest Broadway musicals for over a decade, and while the movie has yet to be adapted into a feature film, you can catch it on Blu-ray. The musical historical drama is getting a new Collector's Edition on 4K Blu-ray, and you can preorder it now through Amazon and Walmart for $80 ahead of its June 16 release.

Roger Linn is a legend in the world of musical instruments. He's been at the cutting edge of music technology for decades. He created the LM-1, the first drum machine to use samples, and its successor, the LinnDrum, is one of the most iconic drum machines of all time. They were used on countless records in the 1980s, including hits by Tom Petty, Queen, and Tears for Fears.

Aike 3000 creates raw, reduced pop music that blends indie, RnB, and electronic influences. The songs revolve around themes of failure, loss, and emotional fractures, all while maintaining a sense of beauty. From broken images, intimacy, and clear melodies, a unique form of Broken Pop emerges.

When you first press play on Álvaro Díaz's "Omakase," you are immediately transported into the kitchen. A stove flickers on. A knife hits the cutting board. Chants of "¡Sí, chef!" ring out like a dubbed episode of "The Bear." Then, before the listener can fully settle in, the Puerto Rican rapper and singer fires off bars claiming that Grammys were stolen from him and details his many nights spent sleeping on the floor to his new normal of earning $500,000 per show.

“to make something confrontational, almost like sonic combat.”

It took four years to write and record its seven songs, which were spurred by the Radiohead guitarist's experience of falling into a deep depression and navigating decades of emotional trauma exacerbated by the pandemic lockdowns. O'Brien learned that being immersed in nature is where he felt the strongest - the title Blue Morpho refers to a rare species of butterfly he encountered with his family. "Part of my healing journey was walking in the trees and in the river, feeling the light, and recalibrating there," he explains. "My cathedral is in the woods."

Runners try to hack their own pace by crafting playlists of songs with a specific number of beats per minute, hoping the tempo will coax their gait to a matching speed. High school marching bands employ crisp brass fanfares to help lock their steps into time with one another. People with Parkinson's disease, who suffer from a faltering, unsteady gait, can lock into a smoother, more regular gait when prompted with highly rhythmic music.

“I like to be silly,” she said. “I also wanted an artist name that felt lucky. I'm a Sagittarius rising, which means my chart is ruled by Jupiter, the planet of luck. When I started making music, I was anxious all the time. The name helped me feel confident enough to keep pursuing it. I also like the work of bell hooks, a feminist writer and social critic, who uses lowercase to decenter identity and challenge hierarchy.”