mixtape maestro (2.0)

It’s been so long since the “Mark Ronson sound” hasn’t predominantly been horn-emblazoned, retro-soul workouts that the announcement of the superstar DJ-producer‘s third album, Record Collection, deviating away from that signature motif initially had us all scratching our heads trying to remember what else Ronson was capable of behind the boards.

Then arrived the peculiar-but-addicting, ’80′s synth-chic of the Q-Tip-blessed first single “Bang Bang Bang”, and we were instantly reminded of the genre-hopping eclecticism of Ronson’s mostly forgotten debut, Here Comes The Fuzz, a vibe he more or less seems to be returning to on Collection.

Latest album tease “Lose It (In The End)” follows “Bang”‘s lead as another left-field delight, it’s wacky arrangement evoking some sort of weird, Spaghetti western-meets-’60′s pop cartoon fantasy-land as a reverb-soaked Ronson sings (!!!!) a woeful hook about how he foolishly let a love slip through his fingers again, and a shotgun-riding Ghostface cycles through his own relationship pains while shouting out Bell Biv Devoe and Slim Shady & Kim.

Hear it below, then snatch up one of her favorite Fuzz cuts, the summery Sean Paul and Tweet-featured bouncer “International Affair”.

Record Collection drops September 27th.

Mark Ronson & The Business Intl – Lose It (In The End) (Feat Ghostface Killah)

BONUS DL: Mark Ronson feat. Sean Paul & Tweet “International Affair” (alt)

What if, after the breakout success of The Slim Shady LP, Eminem completely switched gears on the follow-up and released a soul record that was bathed in the glorious sounds of heyday Motown (or Amy Winehouse-as-produced-by-Mark Ronson), and heavily downplayed his rapping skills for some surprisingly sturdy Smokey-smoove singing chops? Sounds insane, right?

Well it just so happens to describe the heretofore career path of British rapper Plan B, who snatched up both critical acclaim and controversy with his 2006 debut album Who Needs Actions When You Got Words‘s uncomfortably raw and violence-obsessed “Straight Outta East London” tales, only to return four years later with a sophomore project (The Defamation of Strickland Banks) that re-paints him as a retro soul crooner.

It’s a ballsy transformation that works far better than one might think, with B’s rich singing voice (a talent only hinted at in his previous rap-based works) and the disc’s finely-tuned exercises in the honey-and-velvet-toned arrangements of soul’s yesteryear completely negating the fact that this “let’s recreate the vibe of our parents’ old vinyl collection” shtick has been a bit over-played in recent years. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that Banks‘ central concept (following B’s titular character from the celebratory highs of the stage spotlight to the spirit-shattering lows of a years-long prison bid after being falsely accused of rape by a groupie), while cliched at points, would make for a nice lil’ big screen musical.

On stand-out cut (and third single) “Prayin’”, Plan B is found broken down to his knees feverishly praying for aid from a Higher Power after being involved in a prison brawl that ends with someone’s death. And while he didn’t necessarily commit the murder himself (it was a “lifer”, with “the devil in his eyes, but God is in heart”, stepping to his rescue), this fact doesn’t at all lessen the guilt that now clouds him.

A depressing tune yeah, but having his inner despair pleads caged inside a foggy billow of distant choir wails and a ringing Holland-Dozier-Holland-esque throb neatly steers it away from being a complete downer.

Catch the video below, then, as a bonus, enjoy a pairing of Plan B’s Actions single “Mama Loves A Crackhead” with Hall & Oates’ deathless jam “I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do)” (from his 2007 mixtape Paint It Blacker).

BONUS DL: Plan B (feat. Hall & Oates) “Mama Loves A Crackhead (‘Paint It Blacker’ Version)” (alt)

Alt-country-tinged indie-pop singer-songwriter Lissie has received plenty of acclaim within the past year, winning over critics with last year’s Why You Runnin’ EP, then sending the blogosphere all gaga over her rustic renditions of Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance”, Metallica’s “Nothing Else Matters” and Kid Cudi’s “Pursuit of Happiness”. That adoration should only continue as more ears become enamored over the Fleetwood Mac-evocation and heartland charm found within her newly dropped major label debut Catching A Tiger, a surefire bet for Best New Artist attention come next year’s Grammy’s.

On stand-out album track “Stranger”, Lissie nicely blends her classic C&W influences with the dense ’60′s girl group shimmer of Phil Spector “Wall of Sound” pop, but she manages to avoid the doe-eyed girlishness that typified most of those acts, her whiskey-soaked delivery presenting her as no dainty pushover as she dismisses the advances of a wannabe suitor.

Instantly turned off when she notices the ring on his finger (“I thought you said/ That you were single,” she dryly growls), Liss does her best to make him feel as silly and small as possible over the next three minutes, hitting him with a series of turn-downs that build from the simple and direct (“You’re not the kind of man that I wanna give my love”) to menacing threats (“This thing goes, you’ll just be rubble”) as he continually refuses to acknowledge her non-interest in him.

As salty as her lyrics get, though, the arrangement’s twinkling gallop and churn coasts along nicely, ending on an anthemic high of twangy bliss that only heightens the independent woman pride (“I’m not yours, I am mine”) she fades out with.

Lissie – Stranger

BONUS DL: Lissie “Bad Romance (Lady Gaga Cover)” (alt)

Here’s the video to current Catching A Tiger single, “When I’m Alone”:

Eight months after all that “Swiftgate” drama took both the Interwebz and watercooler/ Twitter gab hostage, Kanye West re-emerges on the freshly leaked Good Ass Job lead single “Power” sounding just as “divo” as ever, declaring “In the white man’s world/ We the ones chosen” and “I don’t need yo’ pussy, bitch/ I’m on my own dick” while embracing the “screams of haters” as his own superhero theme song and proving he (still) can’t take a joke (“Fuck SNL and the whole cast/ Tell ‘em Yeezy said they can kiss my whole ass”).

Oh, and as far as being looked as the “abomination of Obama nation”? Yeezy could care less, quickly brushing off any slight tinges of remorse concerning that role with this typically egotistical line: “At the end of the day/ Goddammit, I’m killin’ this shit”.

Honestly, as much as one might want to hate Kanye when he’s on one of these power trips, dude is right: “Power”, taken in as a whole, is an epic shit-killer.

Try to peel your attention away from the intensity of his lyrics, and absorb all the other ambitious going-ons happening here: the main beat, a pummeling tribal-rock stomp weaved together with a sample of King Crimson’s 1969 prog-rock classic “21st Century Schizoid Man”, soul claps and wordless chants, feels like an event all on it’s own; then you have that coda, an amazingly beautiful dynamic shift which offers pretty piano tricklings and funereal synths as West and an out-of-nowhere-appearing Dwele trade off suicidal thoughts (“Now this would be a beautiful death/ I’m jumping out the window/ I’m lettin’ everything go…”).

Throw in the jaw-dropping fact that the version of “Power” currently making the music blog rounds may not even be the final version (yes folks, it could get even better) and what you have is the beginning of Kanye West about this run this town all over again.

And y’all thought 2010 was gonna be The Year of Drake…

“Power” is slated for a June 8th digital release.

“Power”:

BONUS DL: Kanye West featuring Common & Mase “Jesus Walks (Remix)” (alt)

Previously noted around these parts for their excellent grown (indie) dude re-imagining of New Edition’s “Cool It Now”, Brooklyn’s Robbers On High Street show that there’s more to them than great covers on this early taste of their still-untitled third set.

Clearly inspired by the sounds of ’60′s and ’70′s pop/ rock, boppy new single “Electric Eye” breezes by on delightfully crisp guitar work, groovy horn bursts and some sweet male harmonies, all in the name of the title subject’s mysterious pull.

“There’s no shutting it off,” frontman Ben Trokan explains, though he could just as well be referring to the sheer contagiousness of this ditty.

Look for the 7-inch of “Eye” (backed by the equally pleasant retro dip “Face In The Fog”) to drop on June 8th via Engine Room Recordings, followed by a digital release on June 22nd.

“Electric Eye”:

If the first thing we had heard from Talib Kweli & Hi-Tek’s sophomore Reflection Eternal set Revolutions Per Minute was the slightly more radio-oriented Estelle collaboration “Midnight Hour”, we might have been a tad concerned that the much-praised duo’s comeback wasn’t going to be the deliciously underground-laced and thought-provoking lyric-focused affair we had been waiting a decade for. Hearing it after RE have already kept us entertained with a recent string of excellent pre-album leaks (“Back Again”, “In This World”, “Strangers (Paranoid)” and the HOT Jay Electronica, J. Cole & Mos Def-featured “Just Begun”) though, and we can better appreciate it’s more mainstream-leaning change of pace.

Centered around a reunion between lovers following Talib being on tour for months, “Midnight Hour” has the rapper and Estelle revving eachother up for the long-delayed sex-capades about to go down once he hits the door, as Hi-Tek cooks up a bouncy beat shuffle based around perkily chopped samples of The Shirelles’ 1961 classic “Mama Said”.

“He said ‘When you get home/ Unplug the phone/ The lights is off/ You know it’s on”, Kweli teases, while Estelle edges horny-fueled implosion awaiting his return, drawing on the blissful doo-wop harmonies of girl groups past to relate her inner-anticipation: “See I’ve been going crazy thinkin’ about you late night”.

Revolutions Per Minute drops in May. Pick up the duo’s The Re:Union mixtape here.

DL: “Midnight Hour” (alt)

BONUS DL: Reflection Eternal featuring Erykah Badu “The Blast (Remix)” (alt)

Currently being given an early preview streaming over at NPR, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings‘ fourth album I Learned The Hard Way (due, officially, April 6th on Daptone) unsurprisingly lands as another bravura demonstration of the electrifying front-woman and her nine-piece backing male accompaniment’s killer way with horn-spiked, retro-fueled soul that sounds like it’s supposed to be coming from an old, rusty jukebox in some Quentin Tarantino flick.

Highlights include the timely, “broke folks” lament “Money” (sample lyric: “I got to pay my bills/ I got to pay my rent/ I’m hungry and I’m tired but my money’s all spent/ Money, where have you gone to?”) and the lean backporch jamming, girl-group harmonies and pleading pipes that ignite the album-closing “Mama Don’t Like My Man”, but tops for us would have to be “Better Things”, a feelgood slab of wobbly soul-funk in which Sharon revels in walking away from a cheating partner.

The jovial handclaps and various horn blurts of the arrangement seem to signify the clicking of Jones’ heels as she heads out the door and down the road, giddily bopping with pride over her relationship-ending decision. “I got a new life and I’m feeling right on,” she beams infectiously, provoking the listener to reward her with a well-deserved standing ovation at song’s end, not only in honor of her strength, but as appreciation for her and her band’s continued excellence in bringing that old school groove back.

After bringing about more than a few scratched heads over recent track “I Just Love You More”‘s polarizing attempt at a punk chick makeover, Kate Nash makes the world right again with the welcomed return-to-(snarky/ perky)form that is new single, “Do Wah Doo”.

Helmed by producer, and former Suede guitarist, Bernard Butler (Duffy, Black Kids), “Do Wah Doo” buzzes with a playful jumbling of familiar ’60′s pop conventions (radiant girl group harmonies, handclaps, zinging surf guitar, blaring horns) all congealed into a thickened Wall of Sound.

Beneath the happy-go-lucky framing, however, things aren’t as sunny, as Kate is heard spewing all type of “hateration” towards a girl hogging the secret object of her affection’s eye. “Everybody thinks that girl’s a lady/ But I don’t, I think that girl’s shady,” Nash pouts on the sidelines, even going so far as to tag the crush-stealing cow a “bitch”.

Interestingly enough, just when you think she’s about to fight for her man “Jerry Springer”-style and get this fizzy pop confection the happy ending conclusion the upbeat arrangement all but demands, Nash opts to give him up, resigning to “read a book instead” because “I can hang out with myself”.

Hmmm…it’s not the most sassiest way to go out, but whatever, jerk’s loss; we’re just happy to have the undeniably catchy nugget-crafting Kate Nash we love back.

From her April-set second LP, My Best Friend Is You.

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)

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.