mixtape maestro (2.0)

Who knew that hiding behind Colbie Caillat‘s sunny, “nose-crinkled” singer-songwriter exterior was a bluesy-voiced, man-thieving skank?

In this quite stunning cover of the Pussycat Dolls’ (cover of Tori Alamaze’s) “Don’t Cha”, Caillat slips with surprising ease into the song’s naughty protagonist role, her smoky pipes resting in perfect unison with the backing band’s strutting, lounge soul-baked arrangement (love those Al Green-esque organs!!).

Of course this being the sweet girl-next door Colbie, references to being a “freak” and “raw” are conveniently replaced with G-rated descriptors “strong” and “smart”, but just the fact that she would even consider taking on this song and somehow make it seem even more sexy has definitely got us interested to hear more of this dark and sensual side in her own work (hint, hint).

Plus, bonus points for guitarist Justin Young’s soulful break into Musiq Soulchild’s “Just Friends” in the bridge.

DL: “Don’t Cha (Pussycat Dolls Cover)” (alt)

Jneiro Jarel, Philly hip hop producer and partner to Goodie Mob’s Khujo in the experimental side project gig Willie Isz (think of them as an even more spaced-out sibling to Gnarls Barkley), injects a lil’ left-field bump ‘neath Maxwell’s three-weeks-and-counting comeback R&B chart topper “Pretty Wings” on this killer remix, knocking the silky ballad slightly askew with some oft-kilter drum thump and down-right spooky ethereal synth additions.

Club-ready? Not exactly. But if you were having problems staying focused on the road because you were too busy zoning out to your “inner happy place” at the hands of the lullabye-ish original, think of this as the more automobile-friendly edition.

Willie Isz’ debut Georgiavania is available now.

DL: “Pretty Wings (Willie Isz/ Jneiro Jarel Remix)” (alt)

With the ‘Net world currently immersed in “new Jay-Z = meh” banter (thanks to the like 52 fine, but mostly underwhelming, maybe-or-maybe-not B3 Jigga tracks that have leaked this past week alone), it’s kinda easy to forget that things didn’t look so depressing waaaay back in January when a likable ditty titled “When The Money Goes” mysteriously bubbled onto the Web.

While it took a minute to figure out whether it was the first taste of the Blueprint junior volume or not (it was later revealed to be nothing more than an American Gangster outtake), what we did know was that we immediately liked it. And how could we not? Backed by crisp R&B-like production that honed in on a champagne glass-clinking, “livin’ the good life” luxuriousness, “When The Money Goes” featured Jay delivering a tight and concise narrative based on the tried-and-true “Can I Get A…” concept: “I know you riding with a nigga through the Gucci store/ All through Prada…but what if I had nada?”.

Hey, it sounded like a surefire hit to us. But somewhere along the line, Jay decided that he didn’t need to cater to radio so blatantly (he’d rather play the cantankerous old fogey role and denounce everything the kids liked, whether it be Auto-Tune or allowing Drake his own verse), so he opted on handing off the track elsewhere. Whatever. In the end, it makes for a nice grab for Fabolous, who adopts the “When The Money Goes” concept and beat, laying down three verses that are so sharp, Jay really isn’t even needed beyond the hook duties he’s reduced to here.

Catch the “Money Goes, Honey Stay” clip below, followed by MP3′s of Jay’s unreleased original and a nice “Jamerican Remix” of “Off That” featuring reggae/ dancehall newcomer Atiba:

DL: Jay-Z “When The Money Goes (Original)” (alt)

DL: Jay-Z featuring Drake & Atiba “Off That (Jamerican Remix)” (alt)

We wouldn’t be too far off from the general consensus in the regretful admittance that most of our excitement over A NEW ARCTIC MONKEYS ALBUM quickly dissipated the first time we actually laid our ears on the thing. Like grumpy old folk who like things to always be the way they were, it was just too much of an extreme switch-up to find the usually lively Sheffield blokes attempting to sound “all growed up” with the collection’s sludgy, dark rock boogie atmospherics and Alex Turner’s sudden over-leaning on elongated vocal croons.

But we also wouldn’t be alone in truly believing that after a few spins, Humbug‘s initial inaccessibility eventually melts into being a solid enough third trip out, successfully re-formatting the Monkeys’ sound to keep the band from sounding like they’re only regurgitating past glories while igniting a flicker of promise for the routes to be taken on successive releases, where these maturing kinks are hopefully ironed out and the band grasp a better way to balance their earlier appeal with their understandable yearn to traverse different terrains.

If there was any one track presented on Humbug to target as THE stepping stone from the Arctic’s past to their future, it would have to be “Cornerstone”, the collection’s most immediately pleasing offering and the one that’ll likely warrant reason to keep re-visiting Humbug the most in the long run.

Bearing both a melodic pop catchiness and Turner’s beloved grasping of keen-eyed lyrical detailing (“I thought I saw you in the Parrots Beak/ Messing with a smoke alarm/ It was too loud for me to hear her speak/ And she had a broken arm…”), two elements that made the band’s first two albums must-haves, “Cornerstone” is grounded enough by it’s slowly churning arrangement to stay in line sonically with it’s Humbug trackmates, and arguably ends up standing as one of their best creations yet.

Here, Turner Morrissey-ly mopes around town all hours of the night, so hung up on an old love he starts “seeing” her at every pirate-themed pub he enters (The Battle Ship, Rusty Hook, Parrots Beak). But every time he gets close enough to one of these “ghosts” to spark their intrigue, he quickly ruins any shot at a new romance by requesting to call her the name of his ex. Which is kinda creepy.

Even more creepy? His chorus’ decision to take the scenic route home while in a taxi, all so he can spend more time smelling his boo’s “scent on the seat belt” or the bizarre ending verse that finds him finally getting the girl: his former love’s sister!! “She was close/
Well you couldn’t get much closer,” Turner sings matter-of-factly. We guess.

Our fellow blog peeps have already deduced Cudi‘s newly leaked “That Girl” to be some sort of demo recording from long ago (and not a featured entry on his upcoming official debut), but even with it’s interlude-y, “fooling around in the studio” vibe, the track’s an enchanting one, finding the rapper sounding stoned out of his mind as he rambles on endlessly about some sexy dream babe he can’t easily shake out of his brain over some soothingly hypnotic riff-age (sample source anyone?).

All we can think about is how even more cool this would sound with Andre 3000 dropping one of those classic, forever-bar-long verses atop it.

DL: “That Girl” (alt)

Many have tried to fill in the gap left in R&B in the eight years since Aaliyah’s passing (and you know the ones we’re referring to), but none have been able to really match the angelic-voiced singer’s always intriguing display of mysterious tomboy sex appeal and understated vocal grace or her excellent ability in complimenting Timbaland’s manic beats rather than being swallowed up and made irrelevant by them.

Listening to some of her and Timbaland’s best collaborations now-the hip hop tip-toe “Are You That Somebody?”, the serpentine seducer “We Need A Resolution”, “More Than A Woman”‘s superhero synth funk, “Try Again”‘s Matrix-esque digi-soul-you can still grasp onto brand new things to adore amongst their complex rhythm patterns, smooved out vocal melodies and compelling (and shamefully oft-overlooked) lyrical sketches, bringing one once again to wonder how many more different ways she would have blown our minds musically by now had she not moved on.

That question will never be answered, but such a frustration won’t ever stop us from always celebrating the greatness she produced the short time she was with us.

Below, check out three recent tributes to the much-missed “Baby Girl” that planted major smiles on our faces: sick electro-soul covers of “4 Page Letter” (by Cali producer AFTA-1 and vocalist Nikko Gray) and “Rock The Boat” (by UK songstress/ Basement Jaxx collaborator Vula) from urban culture webzine SoulCulture‘s fantastic new covers EP, Aaliyah Revisited (grab it FOR FREE here); And DJ Benzi and Skratch Bastid‘s “dope X infinity” blend of “Rock The Boat” and DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince’s deathless, triple-degree weather classic “Summertime”.

DL: AFTA-1 featuring Nikko Gray “4 Page Letter” (Aaliyah Cover)” (alt)

DL: Vula “Rock The Boat (Aaliyah Cover)” (alt)

DL: “Rock The Boat (Benzi & Skratch Bastid’s ‘Summertime’ Remix)” (alt)

South Carolina’s Ernest Green sure picked a fitting moniker for his musical persona in Washed Out, being that his stuff sounds like someone dubbed the tunes off the radio onto a cassette tape which then spent a few weeks lying at the bottom of the ocean. But beneath all that damn lo-fi (or as his MySpace so geniusly calls “no-fi”) haze, Green proves to be a masterful bedroom pop-crafter, conjuring up some of the most dreamiest John Hughes-ian (R.I.P.) synth-pop we’ve heard this year.

’80′s prom night ballad “Feel It All Around” seems to float in mid-air under the dense fog of blurried vocals and an entrancing sloth of a White boy soul groove while the equally misty “Belong” slams boulder-sized drums atop a restless tropical bounce as a multi-layered chorus emotes a string of indecipherable lyrics that sound like they’re being bellowed from the mountaintops above.

Perfect background music for one of those lonely Sunday afternoon chill-out moments or to dress up the numbing lull of a long road trip, Washed Out’s creations (hear more here) may bring about this undying need to clean the guck out of your ears when listening to them, but somehow that only adds to their calming charm.

WO’s limited-edition debut High Times arrives this September via Mirror Universe in cassette (!!) form and through Mexican Summer on vinyl.

DL: “Feel It All Around” (alt)

DL: “Belong” (alt)

Shakira’s inner “She-Wolf” gets it’s chop-licking boogie on further via these two recently unleashed club mixes:

The first, helmed by none other than Mr. Calvin Harris, shrouds the singer in back-and-forth dashing synths and spacey sound effects while re-reminding us that you can never go wrong with a lil’ cowbell additive; the other, known as the ‘Deeplick Edit’, bears a catchy, syncopated guitar shuffle and a nice Zapp & Roger-esque vocoder slant to the “S.O.S.” line.

Too bad these things don’t come with videos, cause we’d love to see how Shakira would freakishly contort her groove thang to their beats.

DL: “She-Wolf (Calvin Harris Remix)” (alt)

DL: “She-Wolf (Deeplick Edit)” (alt)

Try as they might, the ever-busy Roots can’t always come through when a rapper yearns for a high-profile band to back them up for some major live gig. If that’s the case, those emcees in need may want to steer their attention the way of The Remix Project, a six-piece act out of North Carolina (featuring previously MM-approved The Apple Juice Kid on drums) who seem like they have the potential to do some major bid’ness real soon once more ears become familiar with their excellent live music skills.

Last week, the band premiered their mixtape…er, Mixtape (shouts to project-backers, Okayplayer and illRoots), a twenty-two song set compiling instrumental intrepretations of some of hip hop and R&B’s biggest tunes, and guess what: IT JAMS!!!

Some of the cuts are obvious delights that most local soul troupes or school marching bands have already mastered (Amerie’s “1 Thing”, Big Boi’s “The Way You Move”, Jay-Z’s “I Just Wanna Love You”); Some lock into jazzified grooves so lulling you could relax to them all day long (Outkast’s “Prototype”, Tribe Called Quest’s “Electric Relaxation”); But it’s when TRP slightly deviate from the expected (whether it’s upping the tempo to Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s blaxploitation-licious “Got Your Money”, giving Beyonce’s “Crazy In Love” a slow-burning introduction, or randomly throwing in (and murdering) Punjabi MC’s “Beware of The Boys” or Elton John’s “Bennie & The Jets”) that your socks will truly be knocked off.

With the birth of these cats, The Roots’ continued impressing and Diddy’s surprisingly intriguing “Making His Band” series all possibly driving young kids to pick up instruments, might we see an onslaught of new, actual hip hop bands bubbling forth within the next decade? Our fingers and toes are crossed with the hope that that is exactly what will happen.

Sample Mixtape below, then pick it up here.

“Welcome to the future”, Jay-Z intros on the latest (ho-hum) Blueprint 3 pre-leak.

And by ‘future’, he means an era where having a “high yellow broad” and a “best white mate” named “Chris” (Martin) and not wasting dough on “making it rain” or rocking rims, Timbs or ‘Cris puts him a cut above the rest. Oh, and slightly generic Timbaland shuffles will rock the clubs while promising “future” mic hopefuls are disappointingly reduced to only hook cameos.

Sssiiiiggghhhh. Something’s definitely not right when the Black Eyed Peas corny glimpse into what will be hot tomorrow sounds more appealing.

DL: “Off That” (alt)