It may only be June, but damn if it hasn’t felt like Christmas recently what with the benefit of getting not one, but TWO brand new Andre 3000-featured cuts in the past week.
The Outkast-reuniting “Lookin’ For Ya” is an especially bittersweet one, seeing as though the suits at Jive are being punks by not letting Three Stacks be officially attached to Stankonia partner Big Boi’s Sir Luscious Left Foot solo set; thank God having the two emcees compare randy escapades (involving Ikea furniture and vice grip-esque vaginas, no less) atop the track’s wondrous galactic-funk (with the always in-the-key-smoove Sleepy Brown riding shotgun) is thrilling enough to briefly subside our boiling anger at the record label execs’ foolish practices.
Having Andre be a part of a shimmery pop-glossed makeover of Ciara’s newest sex jam “Ride”, however, just leaves us scratching our heads in confusion.
We can’t blame 3000 for slobbering all over Ciara’s “beat”-riding skills (have you seen the original “Ride”‘s video?), but really, out of all the songs released in the past year truly begging his presence (Janelle Monae’s “Tightrope” being on the top of that list), this is the one that inspires him to take a trip outside of whatever (likely awesomer-than-awesome) hideout he’s been cruelly sheltering himself in the most?
Somebody, please help us understand…in the meanwhile, grab both tracks below.
In an effort to prove that we’re not completely out of the loop when it comes to what’s been making waves within the music blog scene in recent weeks, enjoy this quick run-through of some of the more high profile new videos/ releases we’ve missed out on commenting on due to…uh, we’ll just say “real life” (and a few WordPress issues) getting in the way:
Sleigh Bells “Tell Em”
Anything you’ll ever read about this Brooklyn boy/girl noise-pop duo (vocalist Alexis Krauss and songwriter/ guitarist/ producer Derek E. Miller) is bound to note the band’s love for insane volume levels just as much as it’ll hype how crazily infectious the tunes hidden beneath all the ear-punishing distortion are.
Believe these words on both accounts.
“Tell Em”, the first single from the Sleigh Bells’ debut album Treats (due May 11th on Mom + Pop/ N.E.E.T.), may lead to one having early deafness, but bet you won’t be able to resist repeat doses of it’s rat-a-tat drum, turned-up-to-eleven guitar riffage and laser sound effects assault, nor Krauss’ pureform coos sweetly encouraging today’s young’uns “you can do your best today” betwixt it all.
Last summer’s chillwave/ glo-fi movement taught us the glories of music that was meek-sounding, of shitty quality and awesome; expect the upcoming warm weather season to be all about start-up bands/ acts co-signing the equally awesome louder-than-loud and shitty quality formula of the Bells.
We’ll politely decline from adding to the increasingly tiring “Is she copying Gaga?” rattle concerning Aguilera‘s new (meh) one, and just say this: when it comes to desperate slutty Christina, we’d rather give “Dirrty” a re-spin.
Is it bad that we wish we could just fast-forward to the next Aguilera album era already?
Christina’s Bionic drops June 8th.
Ciara featuring Ludacris “Ride”
Looking to get her career back on track after the commercial fumble that was her last album (2009′s Fantasy Ride), Ciara smartly hearkens back to a previous career highlight on new single “Ride”, re-heating the winning, “seductive ‘crunk & b’ crawl + Ludacris cameo” formula of “Oh” with an extra slathering of naughty sex kitten on top of it.
“I can do it up and down/ I can do circles/ To him I’m a gymnast/ This one is my circus,” she sings, nicely illustrating such bedroom talents with a slew of eye-popping body gyrations (amongst other “I’m not a little girl anymore” visuals) in the accompanying video.
Yeah, the hook claims it’s the “beat” that she’s riding “like a mother-[bleeping] freak”, but a ten-year-old could figure out what she’s really talking about.
Eminem “Not Afraid”
Capping months of track-owning guest appearances on joints alongside Drake & Kanye West, Lil’ Wayne and B.o.B (not to mention the killer freestyle track “Despicable”), Em‘s “Not Afraid”, the first taste off his next full length Recovery, lands as another lyrical stunner, with him surprisingly coming across as equally compelling when preaching positive about living a “clean” lifestyle as he does when he’s flexing his more loony and murderous-minded material.
Only problem is, while we’re excited to hear he’s become aware of how awful the various “accents” and pop star/ tabloid staple-spoofing had become, “Not Afraid” feels less and less interesting with each successive listen (maybe it’s that ’80′s arena rock-styled hook), and we’re not necessarily sure we’re ready for an entire album of Eminem getting all uplifting on us.
Surely Kim has done something scandalous in recent years to inspire at least one Recovery song that throws back to his bat-shit crazy rhymes.
Josh Ritter “Another New World”
From the critically-acclaimed folk singer-songwriter‘s newly released sixth set So Runs The World Away (currently streaming in full over at NPR.org), a seven-minute-long story song set atop beautifully sedative acoustic guitar pluckings and dreamily sirenic muted horns about an Arctic explorer and his crew and the tragic horrors that befall them in the midst of a voyage in search of the “new world”.
Doesn’t sound like your cup of tea? Take a chance and hit ‘Play’ and you’ll be surprised how misty-eyed you get once it gets to the part where the protagonist is forced to set fire to his beloved ship in order to stay alive.
Most attention concerning this final single from the nearly two-year-old I Am…Sasha Fierce will more than certainly fall on it’s strange, but definitely sexy, retro-themed video (with Bey once-again rocking the Bettie Page ’50′s pin-up look) rather than the song itself; but the cut (co-penned by sister Solange) manages to be somewhat fascinating in it’s own right with the steely-voiced diva turning herself inside-out trying to figure out why a man would choose to willfully bypass such a catch (especially one with “beauty”, “class”, “style” and, most importantly”, “ass”) to a tightly-wound ’60′s soul strut.
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.
While best known for their wildly inventive exercises in hard rock, metal, prog and pop-rock sounds (as well as a seemingly glue-stuck “like Foo Fighters” tag) that have slowly helped push them further and further into the UK mainstream view, Scottish alt-rockers Biffy Clyro have also proved over the years to be reliable in delivering some really fascinating cover songs.
From Rihanna’s “Umbrella” to Weezer’s “Buddy Holly” to Franz Ferdinand’s “Take Me Out” and The Killers’ “When You Were Young”, Clyro’s re-imaginings haven’t always bettered the originals, but in their (sometimes polarizing) attempts to recast these familiar nuggets, the results were never un-interesting either. So when the news dropped that the Biffy boys were gonna hit the Live Lounge studios, we were excited beyond imagination to hear what cover song they would try out next. When we found out it was going to be the slinky Ciara/ Justin Timberlake duet “Love Sex Magic” though, that excitement was multiplied times ten. Their last venture into American R&B (the aforementioned “Umbrella”) managed to be a winner…but what in the hell were they gonna do with this under-performing FutureSex/ LoveSounds leftover? Answer: Fill our hearts with glee!!
Rather than give it an extreme “rawk” makeover as they had sometimes handled their covers in the past, Biffy (thankfully) opt to go a more straightforward route this time, reinterpreting the original’s funk groove via some surprisingly groove-able singular guitar picking, and providing vocal performances that, while definitely awkward in that square-ish “non-soulful European white boys” kind of way, pull out some charmingly goofball, falsetto-aided male harmonies.
Missy Elliott and producer Danja help guide Ciara back to her electro-crunk & b roots on (the somewhat under-performing) Fantasy Ride‘s second international single “Work”, an overtime-working futuro-runway strut built on club-aimed inspiri-chants (“You better shake that thang like a donkey/ And go hard for it bitch, you better work…”) and one of those manic galactic grooves any normal, non-Ciara person would probably find difficult to keep up with on the dancefloor.
But while it provides a much better artist-to-track fit than Ride’s previous singles, the slightly limp midtempo ballad “Never Ever” and the underwhelming FutureSex leftover “Love Sex Magic”, “Work” has a little too much going on, never really quite gelling as a comfortable whole.
The out-of-breath 4/4 hook slams and there’s a certain charm in Ciara’s sassy, L’Trimm B-girl-isms, but that’s about all to note that’s completely positive here.
Firstly, the lacking of a second sung verse only makes us wish that Ci-Ci would’ve omitted the opening verse altogether and just spent the whole time doling out double-dutch raps as the differing vocal performances on the verses presented here feel odd and disjointed.
Secondly, Missy (sporting a wacky Mad Max mullet in the accompanying video) unfortunately re-reminds us that her best creative days might really be behind her after contributing another one of those pedestrian, hype-woman guest turns she’s been fancying for over a year now here (Lines as elementary as “hee-hee-how” or “Beep Beep/ Who got the keeps to the jeep?” feel like Bob Dylan penmanship in comparison to the uninspired drivel she’s recently been dishing).
And thirdly, Danja’s ever-mutating production annoyingly teeters between genius, mad scientist studio wizardry and an over-the-top, overwhelming mess the track’s entire length, never once allowing us the breathing room to decide whether it’s the former or latter.
Yeah, it’s nice to hear Ciara attempting to return to a sound where she excels and, again, “Work” is perhaps the most instantly gratifying single released from Fantasy so far, but the overall lack of focus presented is hard to easily ignore, and that nagging sense of disappointment ultimately dulls the whole listening experience.
Even though “Love Sex Magic” has enjoyed time in the Hot 100 Top 10, making it Ciara’s first single to peak that high since 2006′s “Oh”, the original track doesn’t seem like it will have the legs to become the monster summer go-to it was most likely designed to be.
Now, an extended after-life in the remix realm? That just may be the record’s saving grace as it seems like every week some re-tweaked version of the tune is making it’s Web premiere.
The latest remix to get our bums a-wigglin’ comes via Canada’s Skratch Bastid, who matches Ciara & JT’s sexcapades up perfectly with the sketelal White-boy funk of Laid Back’s club staple “White Horse” and Art of Noise’s bump & grind anthem “Moments of Love”.
Would it be asking too much for Justin Timberlake to consider a full-time gig on “Saturday Night Love”? Whether he’s hosting the show or simply popping up randomly in a single sketch (the “Single Ladies” parody; his blink and you missed it cameo in the “Jizz In My Pants” video), Justin (alongside the show’s over-used star Kristen Wiig) guarantees endless laughter, and with it being another three-and-a-half years until the next presidential elections (always the show’s biggest attention-grabber), SNL could really use his usually excellent comedic chops in the interim.
Last night, JT took on hosting duties for the third time, and while not every single minute was a LOL home-run (we thinks the “Target Lady” has worn out her welcome, and the live performance of Ciara’s “Love Sex Magic” felt like the record itself: promising, but ultimately underwhelming), it was definitely the show’s strongest full episode in months.
Of course, the sketch that will gather the most attention will be the latest “Digital Short”, which saw Timberlake and Andy Samberg reprising their Color Me Badd-esque “Dick In The Box” duo for sequel effort, “Motherlover”, another humorous mocking of 90′s R&B, this time based around the group’s brilliant idea to take “special care” of each other’s lonely moms for Mother’s Day (“Cause every Mother’s Day needs a Mother’s Night/ If doing it is wrong, I don’t wanna be right/ I’m callin’ on you ’cause I can’t do it myself/ To me you’re like a brother, so be my mother lover”).
We would have to agree about it being the “second best idea (they’ve) ever had”, cause the Emmy-winning (!!) “Dick In A Box” was major, but damn if we’ll ever think about the Mother’s Day holiday the same way ever again.
Catch the hilarious clip below, followed by the SNL performance of “Love Sex Magic”:
For those that are still not quite feeling “Prom Queen” or wish that Ciara and JT’s “Love Sex Magic” didn’t feel so FutureSex-like, producer/ remixer Russ Castella has come to your rescue, tinkering with both records in interesting enough ways they might reverse some listeners’ initial underwhelmed reception.
Of the two, “Prom Queen” is obviously in need of the most help, so it’s not surprising it gets the more drastic makeover. This involves Castella completely stripping away it’s “rock”-y sonic terrain, then orchestrating an entirely new backing arrangement based in moody piano dramatics.
Surprisingly, casting the song in this Evanescence AC ballad-like form ends up sounding far better than one might at first assume; but a delicate sprinkling of keys can’t really solve the major problem that is Wayne’s choked robo-vocal. The man still sounds horrid.
For “Love Sex Magic”, Castella simply colors within the lines of it’s taut funk strut a lil’ melodic synth groove. It’s a minor updating, but damn if it doesn’t wiggle the song out of it’s re-heated feel and elevate it to a whole new plateau of post-disco sexiness.
Just when it looked like Ciara’s Fantasy Ridewasn’t going to be that great of a commute, she hooks up with the great Timba-lake team and scores herself a sure-shot chart climber.
“Love & Sex & Magic” was first heard as a Justin-starring demo (then simply called “Magic”) that was somehow leaked to the masses last year. A lean Timbaland-sculpted funk-pop jam, the track definitely feels like a FutureSex knock-off, but who ever said that was a bad thing?
“Imagine if there was a million me’s talkin’ sexy to you like that/
You think you can handle boy, if I give you my squeeze/ I’m-a need you to push it right back,” Ciara flirts, preparing her nastiest lap dance routine. Justin’s response? Simply sit back and enjoy: “Just do what I taught you”. Then, out of nowhere, a fluttery ballad-leaning bridge cuts through all the hanky-panky foreplay so the duo can get a little mushy: “Let’s slow it down so we fall in love…”.
Miss Ciara, you can rest with all the album push-backs now, ’cause with this sexy groover, you’ve finally grasped that jump-off mega-hit you’ve been searching for.
After her last single, the underwhelming T-Pain assist “Go Girl”, failed to really go anywhere, Ciara pretty much understood that a re-launch of her Fantasy Ride era was needed. Unfortunately, rather than drop a club-shattering crunk & b ditty that plays to her floor-working strengths, replacement jump-off “Never Ever” opts to venture down a more mid-tempo ballad route; a major mistake since, save for the kitty-kat slink-fest that was “Promise”, Ciara really doesn’t do slow jams much justice.
Coming across like a less flashy “Love In This Club”, “Never Ever” plants Ciara in a predictable unrequited love situation, with her coming to grips with the fact that her man will never quite love her the way she wants so it’s best for her to move on. Her vocal contribution ends up just as stale as the thematic set-up reads, her lack of a broad range unable to give the flat lyrics the overblown spice that a Mariah or Keyshia could’ve offered. Even the all-too-important hook ends up feeling deflated, at first raising hopes with an interesting melody jack from “If You Don’t Know Be My Now”, than quickly snatching those same hopes away by senselessly dismissing the throwback reference only a short line later.
Some rescue does come forth with the far more exciting happenings that exist on the track’s bookends (Polow Da Don’s now-familiar hypeman seasonings and it’s later echoing in the hard-thumping bridge; a nice, breeze-by cameo from Jeezy) and “Great legs and elastic choreography”-showcasing video, but not even those bits can ultimately save “Never Ever” from being Fantasy Ride‘s second consecutive forgettable first single.
Bets are on that yet another official single will drop before the already pushed-back Ride makes it to it’s April release.
As nice as it is to get free music, think of how much better your soul would feel if you purchased it the old-fashioned way.
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(MP3 posts are for promotional and/ or previewing purposes only; if any artist or their representation wish to have the links removed, contact me and I will happily comply!)
It may only be June, but damn if it hasn’t felt like Christmas recently what with the benefit of getting not one, but TWO brand new Andre 3000-featured cuts in the past week.
While best known for their wildly inventive exercises in hard rock, metal, prog and pop-rock sounds (as well as a seemingly glue-stuck “like Foo Fighters” tag) that have slowly helped push them further and further into the UK mainstream view, Scottish alt-rockers 
Even though 
Would it be asking too much for Justin Timberlake to consider a full-time gig on “Saturday Night Love”? Whether he’s hosting the show or simply popping up randomly in a single sketch (the 
For those that are still not quite feeling 
Just when it looked like Ciara’s Fantasy Ride 
After her last single, the underwhelming T-Pain assist
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