mixtape maestro (2.0)

Just like the rest of us, Estelle has probably grown tired of waiting around for Missy Elliott to emerge from whatever studio she’s been secluding herself in to bless us with a new crazy club banger. Here’s the difference between us and her, though: whereas we would have simply…well, just kept waiting for “Misdemeanor” to re-emerge with some heat, Estelle has gone one better and decided to simply unleash a Missy-esque track herself…and boy are we happy she did.

Rocking an immediately grabbing hook chant (“I can be a freak-every day of every week”) and a taut, B-more-styled fashion house strut (helmed by the increasingly everywhere David Guetta) that’s damn near impossible to sit still to, Estelle’s new single “Freak” finds the singer/ rapper boldly expressing her S&M-loving side while pushing the rest of the female population to embrace their inner-naughtiness as well.

“Don’t be scared, don’t be shy/ Yes, you gotta let it breathe,” she preaches, assuring the ladies that “he wanna see you handcuffed up/ he wanna see your leather gear” and using an interpolation of Soul II Soul’s deathless “Back To Life (However Do You Want Me)” to stress her bedroom-spicing ideas further. Repping for all men everywhere, featured guest Kardinal Offishall can only respond with a major case of the byoing-yoing-yoings (“I pitch a tent with an XL Magnum on the cover!!”).

Missy, we DEMAND you make an appearance on the inevitable remix…

Purchase the track through Estelle’s website. Expect Estelle’s third album, All of Me, later this year.

Freak BMF
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After dwelling in the dark and moody on the 80′s sci-fi-meets-’70′s soul curiosity “Stylo”, cartoon collective Gorillaz offer a much-welcomed return trip to the lighthearted pop end of their stylistic spectrum for newest Plastic Beach tease “Superfast Jellyfish”.

Goofily sculpted as a three minute long advert of a microwavable breakfast dish that we’re sure is meant to be a metaphor for something deep (sans helpful lyric sheet, we won’t even try to figure out what it’s really going on about), “Jellyfish” is definitely a strange lil’ concoction; at the same time, it’s also one that won’t easily be escaping your brain anytime soon, thanks to convivial cameos from De La Soul and Super Furry Animals frontman Gruff Rhys and an irresistible schoolyard funk groove that’s just begging for a third guest spot turn from that other great animated band, Fat Albert & The Junkyard Gang.

Snatch up a radio rip of the track (shouts) below; pre-order Plastic Beach here for the single CD version or here, for the CD/ DVD combo.

DL: “Superfast Jellyfish (Radio Rip)” (alt)

“Show Me What You Workin’ Wit”, the latest re-teaming of Bay Area rap kingpins E-40 and Too Short, may come up a bit short in it’s obvious attempt to match the breath-stopping, otherworldly allure of 40′s 2006 career peak “Tell Me When To Go” (and, we shamefully admit, it could probably use a lot more than just two occurrences of Short’s excellently voiced “Bitch” catchphrase), but the wonderous wonkiness of it’s minimalist beat (little more than thudding, Godzilla-like bass stomps for the verses and teasingly brief decorations of ominous synth drones, Saturday morning TV string whirls and horn blurts adding a dash of color ‘neath the chorus), as well as the sheer entertainment value of hearing these two veterans’ distinctive mic personas side-by-side again, go a long way in making up for such petty critical nitpicking.

Props to 40, especially, for nicely filling in the skeletal beat’s spaces with his swaggeriffic misogynist rhetoric, an entertaining verse and a half of him pasting together his version of the ideal lapdance babe (highlighting physical faves like her “California face”, Texan ass and “Brazilian wax beaver”).

Is it a contender for future Grammy gold? Far from it (and you probably might not want to spin this anywhere near your grandparents), but there is a certain comfort in knowing that the strip clubs will, at least, have somethin’ new to rock to for the forthcoming Spring season.

From E-40′s new double release, Revenue Retrievin’: Day Shift/ Night Shift, due March 30th.

DL: “Show Me What You Workin’ Wit” (alt)

Bonus DL: E-40 featuring Kanye West & The Game “Tell Me When To Go (Remix)” (alt)

Finding out what songs/ acts our favorite artists rock to on their own time is always an intriguing discovery, but what’s even more killer is when they bring that appreciation to life through awesome live cover treatments.

Below, peep two recent live performances that have garnered plenty of blog love (and repeated viewings by us) since their respective premieres: El Perro del Mar’s transfixing take on the xx’s debut album highlight “Shelter”, and an oh-so-smoove cover of Carole King’s oft-revisited staple “You’ve Got A Friend” by Erykah Badu.

Oh look, it’s in-box cleaning out time again.

Wale & Just Jack “Embers/ Good Girls (Phillip Martell Mash-Up Remix)”

For it’s first two-thirds, this mash-up concoction by ATL DJ Phillip Martell emerges quite effective in it’s enchanting blend of the acapella from Wale’s 2007 track “Good Girls” with a hyper-speed orchestral loop and sampled vocal snippets swiped from Just Jack’s ’09 UK hit “Embers”, but it’s in it’s final minute-and-a-half when the project truly blooms, thanks to Martell completely doing away with the JJ instrumental for a killer assault of electro-house pomp.

DL: “Embers/ Good Girls (Phillip Martell Mash-Up Remix)” (alt)

Aaliyah “One In A Million (Belief Remix)”

The third installment in L.A.-based producer Belief‘s on-going Aaliyah remix project
finds him taking on the late singer’s 1996 classic “One In A Million”, and while nothing could really come close to topping the way-ahead-of-it’s-time Y3K sonics Timbaland cooked up for the original, we’re digging the languid, neo-soul-ish incense vibe Belief brings here.

DL: “One In A Million (Belief Remix)” (alt)

Private “My Secret Lover”

First things first: Thomas Troelson, the main producer and lead singer dude of this Dutch dance-pop trio, looks a little bit freaky.

Once you get past his physical creepiness, though, you’ll likely be swept away by the pure ’80′s pop infectiousness on display in this single, an irresistible sugar packet of helium-voice mackadelics (“Girl take off your dress/ Let’s make this place a mess!!”), warped old-school B-boy-isms and glossy bubblegum-funk carved from the guilty pleasure-filled catalogue of Wham!.

DL: “My Secret Lover” (alt)

Tayma Loren featuring The-Dream “Tipsy”

This Detroit-born R&B newcomer‘s real-life brother Carlos “Los Da Mystro” McKinney has co-helmed some of the best The-Dream jams (“Shawty Is A 10″, “Rockin’ That Thing”, “Walkin On The Moon”, “My Love”), as well as hits for Usher (“Trading Places”), Trey Songz (“I Invented Sex”) and J. Holiday (“Bed”), so it’s only right that he would hook up his sister with a joint that’s just as smash-worthy.

Tayma’s debut single “Tipsy” oozes that signature Dream/ Mystro radio magic, from it’s light and lazy piano bounce to the quirky, echo vocal mini-hooks speckled throughout it. It’s most entertaining factor, however, lies in the humorous honesty of it lyrics’, which detail how a drunken, post-nightclub one night stand usually ends up being a regrettable moment in one’s life rather than the mind-blowing sexcapades event most R&B acts blow it up to be (“When you wake up/ It’s all fucked up”).

DL: “Tipsy” (alt)

Snoop and Cudi go a bit “green” on this Diplo-produced collaboration for the former’s deluxe edition re-release of his Malice N Wonderland album (entitled More Malice, of course).

Beyond a slightly engaging, descending bubble-pop beat supporting the verses and one semi-humorous line from the Doggfather (“Groupies on my head like a kufi”), though, the track never quite lands as the essential release it should be, especially considering the star power it boasts. Shall we say its lacking a certain…ahem, spark? Or maybe we’re just a little too distracted by the creepy, mutated hand Snoop’s sporting in the pic seen left to even give the song a good listen. (Look at it though, aren’t his fingers weird-looking?)

More Malice, which includes five new cuts, a couple remixes and a mini-movie (!!!), drops March 23rd.

DL: “That Tree” (alt)

Speaking of Cudi, as a bonus, peep an Iron & Wine-sampling, electro-folk (?) cover of the rapper’s woozy single “Pursuit of Happiness” by L.A. newcomers Barbara that works far better than it really should.

Bonus DL: Barbara “Pursuit of Happiness (Kid Cudi Cover)” (alt)

Previously heralded for sunny, handclap-laden singles that worked a Motown-influenced, ’60′s girl group pop bop angle with bliss-inducing results (“Add Your Light To Mine, Baby”, “Woah Billy”, “White Russian Doll”), Lucky Soul venture a bit darker sonically on new track “A Coming of Age”, the title cut from the British six-piece’s upcoming second set featuring lead singer Ali Howard’s coquettish coos housed within a dramatic display of waltz swing patterns and Bond-esque guitar figures.

The reason for all this grandiose hullabaloo? Some man done done Ali wrong, shattering her young heart and leaving her “cling(ing) to the floor”, fingering the still warm footprints that trace his pathway out of her life. “I thought a friend meant someone to depend on/ Call it a coming of age…come too late,” she sings, the brief pause before those last three words bulging with all kinds of unstated ache and confusion.

Awww. Makes you wanna pull her into a tight embrace and let her know that everything’s gonna be alright.

Pick it up below or as a free download from their website, then proceed to lift your spirits back up with a viewing of their peppy “White Russian Doll” clip.

A Coming of Age, the album, arrives April 19th through Ruffa Lane Records.

DL: “A Coming of Age” (alt)

Oh Ludacris, where has your mojo gone to?

Like previous single “How Low”, the Atlanta rapper’s latest Battle of The Sexes drop “My Chick Bad” finds him once again wasting a solid, albeit elementary, vocal-tweaked hook with Auto-Pilot verses. The track’s premise, all about how his girl is better than everyone else’s, is already a tired one, but whereas Luda at his previous lyrical heights would’ve given such a been-there-done-that theme a fresh spin bulging with funny-bone-tickling one-liners, here, he comes up empty at nearly every attempt (with only a brief dig at Tiger Wood’s wife landing as semi-rewind-worthy).

Alas, “My Chick Bad” is ultimately rescued by the always-entertaining, animated pipsqueak flow of Nicki Minaj, who pops up on the tail end quickly taking home Best Couplet prize with her opening mic salvo (“Yo, now all these bitches wanna try and be my bestie/ But I take a left and leave them hanging like a testi”) while cleverly using the track’s horror-flick bassline cycles as songwriting inspiration (“It’s nightmare on Elm street and guess who’s playing Freddy?”).

Hate to say it, but this track would have been better served as a solo Nicki single instead with Luda given the one verse cameo (since that seems to be the only time he gives us his A-game these days).

Battle of The Sexes drops March 9th.

Coming off what many considered 2009′s top R&B release (Love Vs. Money), it’s hard not to be left a little underwhelmed by “Love King”, the first single and title track to The-Dream‘s next (and possibly last) album.

Built atop a floaty, snap-laden midtempo groove perked with candied piano plinks and punctuating “Ey”‘s, the song is nothing more than a cut-and-paste patchwork of the singer/ songwriter/ producer/ “ey”-er’s usual bag o’ musical quirks, this time tied together by a thin concept (The-Dream has tons and tons of chicks at his beck and call) that’s in dire need of much stronger goofball lyricism than “Got girls with weaves/…Girls without it” and “Got girls on my Sprint/ My AT&T/ Got girls on T-Mobile/ Metro if it’s local”.

Yeah, it’s “Shawty Is The Shit”-meets-”Rockin’ That Thing” soundbed is perfect riding-to material, but if The-Dream really wants to finally nab some Grammy nods this time around (we, the people, can only endure so many Twitter rants), he’s going to have to conclude his solo album trilogy on the high note it demands with far better offerings than watered-down regurgitations from the same stylistic template.

Love King drops in May.

DL: “Love King” (alt)

If it’s any consolation though Dream, we’re definitely digging you’re rap verse on this all-star “How Low (Remix)”:

BONUS DL: Ludacris featuring Rick Ross, Twista, The-Dream, Ciara & Pitbull “How Low (Remix)” (alt)

On “Excuses”, the first single lifted from The Morning Benders‘ sophomore album Big Echo, the Cali indie-pop band (previously given love here for their intimate re-imagining of The Cardigans’ “Lovefool”) offer a gorgeously executed riff off of Phil Spector’s oft-referenced “Wall of Sound” studio trickery to support an engrossing play-by-play of young “soulmates” bathed in the euphoric bliss of making love for the first time.

The track, co-produced by lead singer Christopher Chu and Grizzly Bear‘s Chris Taylor, will initially spellbind you with it’s faux-vinyl haze and a dreamy doo-wop sway divinely seasoned with acoustic guitar strum flickers, rumbling bass drums, shuffling percussion, twinkling piano notes, sorrowful strings and “dah-dah-dum” background vocals seemingly birthed from angels perched atop the clouds above.

But being blessed with such ornate grandeur isn’t “Excuses” only satisfying bid at timeless pop-crafting; it’s lyrics, sweetly brought to life via Chu’s languid croon, prove just as endlessly endearing in their impressive stab at classic romance novel text, whether describing key moments of passion (“When you try to taste me/ And I take my tongue to the Southern tip of your body…”) or dishing out swoon-worthy lines like “I put no one else above us/ We’ll still be best friends when all turns to dust”.

Pick up the studio-version MP3 below, followed by an equally magnificent live take lensed by Yours Truly.

Pre-order Big Echo, due March 9th, here.

DL: “Excuses (Album Version)” (alt)

Yours Truly Presents: The Morning Benders “Excuses” from Yours Truly on Vimeo.