Chill Out With Music For Plants And An All-Ambient 'All Songs'

Plus, remembering Pop Smoke and uncovering Korean chart manipulation.

by Marissa Lorusso and Lyndsey McKenna DEA / G. Cigolini/De Agostini via Getty Images Like all good millennials, your newsletter editors are pretty invested in their houseplants. Marissa’s cubicle here at NPR HQ has become a budding garden with all sorts of growing sprouts. Lyndsey may not have a green thumb, but she certainly appreciates the added boost that the greenery brings to the office. And while we love both plants and music (and even music for plants), we had never really thought about our plants as potential musicians — that is, until this week, when writer Sophie Haigney introduced us to the concept of technologies that help plants play music … sort of. Bio-sonification devices like PlantWave, Haigney explains, are meant to “[translate] the micro-conductivity on the surface of plants into a graph that could be used to control hardware and software synthesizers.” In essence, this technology sends signals throughout the plant, graphs the electrical resistance to them and turns that graph into pitches, which can be played by a variety of software instruments. “Like people,” she says, “not all plants are naturals.” Some species and sizes work better than others. And in reality, the music is plant-driven, but it’s human-generated. But it’s an interesting experiment in support of a mission to “foster an awareness of plants as living organisms.”  We Need to Start a Garden, Marissa Lorusso and Lyndsey McKenna Newsletter continues after sponsor message New Music On this week’s New Music Friday, BTS’ global domination continues with a new album, Grimes returns with a dystopian exploration of climate change on Miss Anthropocene and art begets some pretty big life changes on Best Coast’s new album, Always Tomorrow.  It’s been a long week — so Bob Boilen’s delivering a much-needed dose of calm on an ambient edition of All Songs Considered. Hear a world premiere 15 years in the making from Brian and Roger Eno, plus new tracks from Jon Hopkins, Niklas Paschburg and more. Behold the Loaf! College rock radio titans Archers of Loaf is back with “Raleigh Days,” the band’s first new song in more than 20 years. Featuring The rising rapper Pop Smoke, born Bashar Jackson, died Wednesday morning in Los Angeles during what appeared to be a home invasion. The 20-year-old rapper was best known for last summer’s hit “Welcome to the Party.” It was the rent party that launched a sonic revolution. Starting in February 1970, David Mancuso's downtown Manhattan loft became a launchpad for the ethically and socially progressive wing of DJ and dance culture. Half a century later, The Loft continues to attract a new generation drawn to its ideals. Justin Bieber has spent a trying decade-plus growing up in the digital spotlight. Now, on his new album, the newly-married singer sounds reinvigorated, critic Lindsay Zoladz writes.  Conceptually and sonically, distortion is a familiar noise. But in the right hands, it can be transformed into something downright otherworldly. More on new ways to hear distortion in the latest All Ears column from Ruth Saxelby.  In the digital era, accusations of surreptitious chart manipulation are common throughout the world — in South Korea, it’s called sajaegi. And despite scandals, it's not clear entirely how sajaegi schemes operate in the music industry. Tiny Desk Laura Beltran Villamizar/NPR The title of Snoh Aalegra’s 2019 album says it all: Ugh, those feels again. Taking cues from Brandy and Sade while honing her sound with collaborators like Vince Staples and Pharrell Williams, Aalegra’s music explores emotional depth. At the Tiny Desk, she showed off album highlights with an effortlessly cool stage presence. Also: Our Tiny Desk Contest winners hail from across the country — from Oakland to Anchorage; from Duluth to New Orleans — with songs that were singular enough to stand out among the thousands of others who sent in their videos each year. Watch their performances from the Tiny Desk in our newest Tiny Desk playlist.  One More Thing Most professional musicians learn to play during stressful situations… but to keep playing through brain surgery? What do you think of today's email? We'd love to hear your thoughts, questions and feedback: nprmusic@npr.org Enjoying this newsletter? Forward to a friend! They can sign up here. Looking for more great content? Check out all of our newsletter offerings — including Books, Pop Culture, Health and more! Need a new playlist? Follow NPR Music on Spotify and Apple Music! You received this message because you're subscribed to NPR Music emails. This email was sent by National Public Radio, Inc., 1111 North Capitol Street NE, Washington, DC 20002 Unsubscribe  |  Privacy Policy