mixtape maestro (2.0)

It’s hard to disagree with the classy and polished R&B diva route Mary J Blige has ventured into the past decade of her career: she’s more beautiful than ever, her voice is stronger, her personal growth is inspiring. At the same time though, there’s only so many re-writes of “Be Without You” one can take.

Are we saying we yearn for Blige to revert back to the always-wronged girlfriend/ wife role she seemed glued to in the opening phases of her career? No, not necessarily. But we do miss the sheer glee that arose once her church-grown vocal gymnastics were paired with the sounds of urban music’s past via old R&B and rap samples. Let us not forget, she is the Queen of Hip Hop-Soul.

Apparently, iconic rapper/ producer Marley Marl shares that same sentiment, as he’s taken it upon himself to give Blige’s latest single “I Am” some of that What’s The 411? flavor for this old school house party-approved remix.

Stapling the song’s “Ain’t nobody gonna love you better than I am” theme to the beat of T Ski Valley’s 1981 hip hop classic “Catch The Beat” (itself, one of the billion or so tunes to reference Taana Gardner’s “Heartbeat”), while adding a lil’ golden age braggadocio mic flair (“Who’s the king of the nineties? (I am)/ Who’s the king of the grind, B? (I am)/ Since you slept on a legend, step behind me…”), Marl swiftly resuscitates a track we would have probably forgotten all about in a couple months time, while simultaneously giving the kids a lil’ taste of why we fell in love with MJB in the first place oh so long ago.

Can this throwback sound please be the overall theme for Mary’s next album?

DL: “I Am (Marley Marl Remix)” (alt)

Bonus DL: T Ski Valley “Catch The Beat” (alt)

Uncategorized 80's, marley marl, mary j blige, old-school hip hop, remix, retro, t ski valley

Jack Splash has quietly made a name for himself over the past few years in his roles as singer, rapper, songwriter and producer.

Besides drawing raving acclaim for his contributions to Plantlife, a wildly entertaining, three-albums-deep funk outfit based out of L.A., he’s also hooked up some of the brightest talents in modern-day R&B (Alicia Keys, R. Kelly, John Legend, Raheem DeVaughn, Solange, Estelle, Jennifer Hudson, Jazmine Sullivan) with these amazingly lush sounds and classic-tinged romantic scripts steeped in the always-rewarding luster of yesteryear soul (credits include throwback-seasoned singles like Keys’ “Teenage Love Affair”, Legend’s “P.D.A.” and Solange’s “T.O.N.Y.”).

This year has the potential to be Jack’s true breakout year though, thanks to the premiere of his much-delayed solo debut, Technology And Love Might Save It All. But just in case you’re still not yet completely sold on why it should be a necessity for you to circle the May release date of the project (or, hell, are still scratching your head trying to figure out who dude is), we’ve gathered three previously unleashed cuts for your listening pleasure below. Promises you’ll be an instant fan after hearing them:

“I Could Have Loved You” featuring Missy Elliott & Jazmine Sullivan

-leaked to high praise last summer, this infectious four-on-the-floor delight finds the ladies and Splash in the midst of a flirtatious stand-off. “I could have loved you,” they tease in a buttery smoove R&B hook, but because they’re both already attached, they can only offer a naughty twirl on the dancefloor. With their mates nowhere in sight though, Jack isn’t fully convinced they’re telling the truth, inquiring in his best Prince voice, “If you gotta man at home/ Why you got them high heels on?”.

DL: “I Could Have Loved You” (alt)

“Ringtone” featuring R. Kelly & T-Pain

-here, Splash is once again on the prowl (“Baby I just wanna get with you/ In a most familiar way/ I don’t wanna cause a spectacle/ I just had to stop and say…”) and being flanked by a supporting cast of A-listers (T-Pain drops a rap verse, an Auto-Tuned Kellz provides the chorus); but the track’s most noteworthy element is it’s oddly meshed groove, a surprisingly effective combination of synth-R&B quirk and acoustic guitar sunniness

DL: “Ringtone” (alt)

“.38 Special” featuring Cee-Lo

-Splash’s latest leakage, from the forthcoming mixtape King of The Beats (due this week), re-teams him with The Heart Attack partner Cee-Lo, for an exquisite dishing of needly guitar funk, golden age mic braggadocio (“I ain’t talkin’ bout a gun/ My .38 special, I spit from my tongue…”) and the kind of soul-stirring Gnarls Barkley-ish hooks Cee handles so well.

DL: “.38 Special” (alt)

Sample some of Splash’s other creations via the widget below; pick up his last mixtape, Heir To The Throne, here.

Uncategorized 70's, 80's, cee-lo, disco, funk, jack splash, jazmine sullivan, los angeles, missy elliott, old-school hip hop, r. kelly, retro, t-pain

Seems a bit late for Julian to finally be getting around to releasing a video for “11th Dimension”, the new wave-y lead single to an album that feels like it was released eons ago (actually, it’s only been two months…but still).

Nevertheless, we’re thankful to be reminded of the track’s effervescent greatness again via the clip, which, like “Dimension”’s production, serves a hodgepodge of ’80’s film and music video influences (from it’s soft-focused haze to the Tron meets Jacksons’ “Can You Feel It” special effects), with a plotline as goofy and confusing as the song’s befuddling lyrics.

Catch the video below followed by a bonus offering of Julian’s dreamy demo version of The Strokes’ “You Only Live Once”.

Bonus DL: Julian Casablancas “I’ll Try Anything Once (Strokes’ ‘You Only Live Once’ Demo)” (alt)

Uncategorized 80's, julian casablancas, new wave, phrazes for the young

Omit the distractingly sublime, soft-focused R&B sheen and measured blue-eyed soul vocal that supports Wham!’s 1984 gem “Last Christmas” and it’s a bit easier to grasp the soapy devastation brought forth through George Michael’s pen. As proof of this point, look no further than this stunning live take of the Yuletide classic by Florence + The Machine.

With tender guitar pluckings weaving a somber lullaby melody behind her, Miss Welch sounds like she’s nearing ever close to an emotional breakdown as the memories of the way her cruel ex shattered her heart the previous Winter re-play in her mind over and over again.

Yeah, the familiar lyrics may express the notion that she’s since moved on (“Now I’ve found a real love…”), but the quivering fragility and caterwauling peaks captured in her performance throughout this armhair-spiking rendition tell quite the opposite story.

Grab it below, followed by a peeping of the hilarious “Literal Version” of the original music video.

(shouts/shouts)

DL: “Last Christmas (Wham! Cover)” (alt)

Uncategorized 80's, cover song, florence and the machine, george michael, live performance, wham!, xmas

A year after topping the Pop and R&B single charts with “Oh Shelia” (a tune so heavily smothered in The Purple One’s “Minneapolis sound”, that, to this day, many people still mistake it for being an actual Prince ditty), six-piece Flint, Michigan outfit Ready For The World managed to hit the top of the R&B lists a second time with the release of “Love You Down”, a sophomore album slow-groover about freaking up some cougar (“It never really mattered that much to me/ That you were just too damn old for me…”) that likely set the mood for plenty of prom nights in the mid-80’s.

Over twenty years later, it’s hard to deny how cheesy it all sounds now, partly because of it’s cheap-ish production quality, but mostly due to the fact of how laughable frontman Mevin Riley’s lead vocal is. Full of nasally whines, orgasmic moan-hiccups and teeth sucking noises, listening to him now makes one wonder if he could even make it five minutes into the evening without completely exploding all over himself, let alone the “all night” sex-capades he was endlessly promising.

None of that “kids pretending to be grown-up stuff” can be felt on Me’Shell Ndegéocello’s spell-binding rendition of the song, though.

Found on her latest album Devil’s Halo, Ndegéocello slightly flips the P.O.V. (it’s still directed towards a female, but here, she’s the older woman courting a younger girl), and that mature perspective can be felt all throughout her cover’s every erotic pulse, from the crashing cymbals and throbbing basslines to the languid synth squelches and Me’Shell’s hushed, “only for my lovers’ ears” vocal performance.

Hell, it’s near-two minute instrumental outro of steamy industrial soul/ rock sludge noise alone should inspire some serious boot-knocking.

“Love You Down (Me’Shell Ndegeocello)”:

Uncategorized 80's, alt-soul, cover song, grown folks R&B, me'shell ndegeocello, ready for the world, sex jam

Despite arguably being Janet Jackson’s most immediately enjoyable single in years, her new greatest hits padder “Make Me”, a breezy dance concoction with nods to classic ’70’s-era MJ and her own early career heyday, has inexplicably failed to generate much of a chart presence so far (no love on the Billboard Hot 100 nor R&B/ Hip Hop singles listings). Sigh.

All is not lost though, as the single has at least gained some ground amongst the club-going sect, recently inching it’s way all the way to #3 on the Hot Dance Club Songs chart.

Below, snatch up one of the new remixes helping lengthen this song’s life as a late-night floor-filler, a teasingly chopped “Edit” from the Ghosts of Venice crew, then re-acquaint yourself with one of JJ’s first chart hits with a “bonus” offering of her equally disco-tastic, pre-Control gem “Young Love”.

“Make Me”:

DL: “Make Me (Ghosts of Venice Edit)” (alt)

“Young Love”:

BONUS DL: “Young Love” (alt)

Uncategorized 70's, 80's, dance remix, disco, diva pop, ghosts of venice, janet jackson

Swedish band O’Spada must spend their entire days repeatedly studying every single piece of funk, R&B and blue-eyed soul-pop vinyl that came to be in the early-to-mid-’80’s; that’s the only way to explain away how insanely on-point their exercises in that era’s sound are.

For their new single “Ten Strikes” the five-piece don’t venture too far away from the expertly-crafted pop-funk stylings that made this past summer’s debut “Time” such an instantly addicting trip back in time, giving frontwoman Julia Spada another spectacular wah-wah and synth-accented playground for her out-sized jazzy warblings to carouse in.

Reminiscent of early Prince, with a little Rick James, Hall & Oates and Nu Shooz thrown in, the beat holds a serious “Must Drop Everything & Boogie Right Now!!!” groove, and Julia adorning it with a lyric about how happy she is her man is finally giving her the boot after she’s cheated on him eleventy-million times (she was tired of coming up with lies, it seems) only makes it that much more of a pleasantry.

O’Spada’s debut drops in February 2010.

DL: “Ten Strikes” (alt)

Bonus DL: “Ten Strikes (Nightwaves’ Sunday Morning Remix)” (alt)

Uncategorized 80's, blue-eyed soul, o'spada, sweden

Radiating a neon glow even before one’s pupils is set on it’s vibrantly-colored video clip, Idle Warship’s “Bedroom Lites”, a highlight from their new mixtape Party Robot and the first single from their forthcoming debut album, sees the undie-supergroup aligning themselves with modern music’s over-obsession with everything ’80’s as they utilize a boxy, synth-lit electro strut to support a tale of two friends lusting after eachother in the late-night.

Res and Graph Nobel breathlessly purr their way across the tense erotic throb of “Bedroom”’s Eurthymics/ Paisley Park-ian soundscape, convincing in their shared role of a woman on the verge of implosion as she anticipates the rings of a booty call (“The lion’s outside of the cage/ And, oh boy, I need petting, dear”; “My head is on a pillow/ And it’s getting lonely in my habitat”); Meanwhile, on the other side of town, an equally horny Talib is torn over whether or not he should even phone (“I don’t want my interest to be taken for a sex fetish”).

Will the hook-up ever happen? Despite all the heated panting on display throughout, it sounds like it won’t; but that’s okay, the chorus’ semi-somber resignation of “Turn off the bedroom lights/ I guess I’ll be alone tonight” nodding towards an “it’s probably all for the better” resolution while simultaneously indicating that some “solo” fun will have to be had as a substitute.

Grab the rest of Party Robot here.

DL: “Bedroom Lites” (alt)

Uncategorized 80's, alt-soul, graph nobel, idle warship, res, talib kweli

In a recent interview with MTV News, Dre, one-half of production duo Cool & Dre, touched on something in reference to the rock/ rap / Auto-tune soul experimentations found on Lil’ Wayne’s Rebirth that hit us like the biggest of epiphanies: “It’s something Rick James would bug out on”.

After letting that lone line marinate in our brains for a few seconds, we realized that, on one level, Dre was right…there is an element of Rick James’ before-it’s-time combination of sex, rock, R&B and over-exaggerated funk vocals that can be heard in some of the Rebirth material we’ve heard so far. Now, don’t get us wrong, our semi-agreement with Dre’s statement is not necessarily saying we suddenly think this whole curioso release is going to be the genius, genre boundary-breaking affair Wayne seems to think it’ll be, but absorbing Rebirth in a Rick James-ian light definitely kind of redeems it’s questionable ambition in a way that we aren’t simply waiting for it to hurry up and be released so that Wayne can steer his sole attention back towards turning out “real” hip hop anymore.

Newest single (?) “On Fire” is upgraded a couple of notches from another instant eye-roller to…um, something slightly better than that, under this new train of thought. Built on a layer of electric guitar squawkings (apparently handled by Wayne himself) and a surprisingly hot sample of the very ’80’s-sounding Scarface soundtrack cut “She’s On Fire”, “Fire” may ride a thin lyrical sketch of how bad-ass a woman is (“She hot as hell/ Let’s call her Hell-en…”), but try thinking of a modern-day Rick being the inspiration behind it’s flavor, and suddenly, the song doesn’t seem so bad.

“On Fire”:

That other recent Rebirth leak “Da Da Da” though…let’s just say, it’s not as easy to defend, no matter whose sound the people behind it were looking to emulate. Hands down, it’s the oddest cut to emerge from the album so far, it’s decent moments (a snazzy bassline, a rapid drum loop and an appreciably clear rap verse) not enough to justify Wayne’s drunken wordless meanderings and overdose on vocal modulation.

“Da Da Da”:

Rebirth arrives December 21st.

DL: “Da Da Da” (alt)

Uncategorized 80's, cool & dre, lil' wayne, rebirth, rock-rap

Alicia Keys‘ last single “Doesn’t Mean Anything” delivered all the Grammy-baiting things we’ve come to expect from the singer in terms of poised showmanship and inspirational pop majesty, but it was also kinda boring (and a bit too similar to her last album’s lead single “No One” in it’s plodding piano foundation), so it’s nice to see her quickly moving on with the release of a follow-up jam that at least doesn’t immediately come across as your Typical Alicia Keys Ballad.

Heavily shadowed in this ominous ’80’s R&B slow jam haze that employs some of Bonnie Tyler’s old lightning sound effects and, at times, threatens to swallow the singer whole into it’s dense black hole sway, “Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart” stands as one of Alicia’s most musically enthralling cuts to date. At it’s core, a grand lyric about the post-break-up blues (“Have you ever tried sleeping with a broken heart,” she asks, before quickly adding the devastating “Well you could try sleeping in my bed”) and the self-help strengthening one must go through to break free of it’s debilitating shackles (“Tonight, I’m gonna find a way to make it without you”).

The song’s most appreciated touch? Alicia taking a much-appreciated break from all that top-of-her-lungs belting she’s relied too heavily on on recent material, and opting to bring most of “Try”’s tear-stained narrative to life in a whispery, smoky vocal that sounds like she’s been up all night trying to gather the inner-courage needed to finally move on past the shattered romance.

Catch the video below, followed by TWO remixes of the tune, one with Brooklyn rapper Maino (“Hi Hater”) solidly tackling the heartbreaker role (“Pushing for commitment/ I’m running from commitment/ Scared to open up/ And you wonder why I’m distant…”) and another featuring…um, Mase (off his new mixtape, I Do The Impossible).

Alicia’s The Element of Freedom arrives December 11th.

DL: “Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart (Maino Remix)” (alt)

DL: “Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart (Mase Remix)” (alt)

Uncategorized 80's, alicia keys, maino, mase, mixtape, R&B, remix, the element of freedom