mixtape maestro (2.0)

Ready to be introduced to some white chocolate heaven? How about a collaboration between Daniel Merriweather and Adele? That’s right, the two old soul-reminiscent vocalists have paired together for “Water and a Flame”, a goosebumps-inducing break-up lament (off of Merriweather’s upcoming Love and War) with the potential to one day rank among the great male/ female duets of R&B yesteryear.

A moaning, soul-baked soundbed sets an effectively rueful tone in support of the duo’s separate accounts of a post-relationship suffering. It’s been a week since the two have been apart and, unsurprisingly, neither have fully gotten eachother out of their respective systems.

Daniel can’t go an hour without the memory of his ex penetrating his brain, and when he finally relents and decides to phone her, he’s harshly met with an “ignore” response. “I’d settle for a busy tone/ At least by that I’d know you’re okay”, he sings. Meanwhile on the other side of town, Adele has holed herself alone in her house for days, and she’s only moved to venture outside by the promising comforts of alcohol to help “forget (his) name”. Unfortunately, in the midst of her trek to the local pub, a Daniel doppelganger sighting only triggers her depression anew.

When the two finally join on the final chorus to entwine their tear-stained cries of heartache, the thunderous vocal harmony displayed feels like magic, perfectly landing the song’s expected heightened conclusion.

Breathtakingly brilliant.

DL: “Water and a Flame”

Remember The Fugees’ cover of Roberta Flack’s “Killing Me Softly”, and the mystifying hold it had over you with it’s odd blend of Lauryn Hill’s chocolate-y soul wail against that sparse “Bonita Applebaum” drum loop (itself a sampling of Little Feat’s “Fool Yourself”)? Well, the Mick Boogie team tap somewhere close to that spirit in their latest mash-up project, Adele: 1988, which fixes nine cuts from the Grammy golden girl’s acclaimed debut opus 19 to the familiar beat skeletons of hip hop’s late ’80′s heyday.

For the soaring heartache ballad “Melt My Heart To Stone”, one of those songs that many turned to in ’08 while whimpering into a half-swallowed vodka bottle late at night, Adele’s self-berating of being “the only one in love” floats o’er worming guitar and the light drum tickle of Al Green’s oft-referenced “I’m Glad You’re Mine” (borrowed on MC Lyte’s ’88 fave “Paper Thin” amongst so many other rap titles). Trading in some of the original’s depressing weight for a toe-tapping midtempo lilt (and including a brief mid-song verse from Little Brother’s Big Pooh), this Kickdrums Remix should have you falling in love with the “Chasing Pavements” songstress all over again.

DL: “Melt My Heart To Stone (Kickdrums Remix)” (alt)

Snatch up the nVMe remix of Maestro 19 favorite, “Right As Rain” (now backed by the classic instrumental to LL’s “Goin Back To Cali”!!!), below:

DL: “Right As Rain (nVMe Remix)” (alt)

Pick up the rest of Adele: 1988 via Press Play Fashion Forward.