Last May, we took notice of New York duo Telephoned and their awesome “postmodern takes” on rap hits from Soulja Boy and T-Pain, and drooled over their promise that more of these reinterpretations were to come.
Well, quite some time later, Maggie Horn and Sammy Bananas have finally fulfilled on that promise with this newest entry, a semi-cover of The-Dream’s woozy club jam “Rockin’ That Thang” that finds Horn cooing bite-sized lyrical snippets of the original atop a blissed out disco-house club soundbed.
Good stuff, even if we’re a lil’ bit disappointed Maggie couldn’t have blessed us with at least one go at the track’s “We beat it up like gorillas” line.
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?”.
-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
-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.
Australian chanteuse Sia has attached herself to so many different musical styles over the years (whether it’s the jazzy diva stylings of 2002’s quirky Healing Is Difficult or her many Zero 7 collaborations; the seducing, adult-pop melodrama of her Six Feet Under-featured breakout “Breathe Me”; or the more straight-forward, blue-eyed soul tinges found on her solid 2008 triumph Some People Have Real Problems) that if one was to try to absorb her entire back catalogue all at once, they might find it impossible to grasp that it all emerged from one artist.
New single “You’ve Changed” once again finds the singer shattering expectations and taking on an entirely different sonic realm: this time, mainstream-glossed disco-pop. And while it’s definitely an initially jarring new route for Sia to conquer (and will likely garner it’s share of “sell-out” balks), it’s also one she aces spectacularly, her pipes gelling perfectly with the track’s funky Studio 54 jubilance, while commanding your attention from gleeful note one as she soulfully celebrates the way her love has transformed a man who was, up-to-this point, widely known for his heartbreaking ways.
You’ve changed Sia, and moreso than your previous about-face reincarnations, this Robin S./ CeCe Peniston-reminiscent makeover absolutely feels for the better.
Sia’s fourth album, We Are Born, is scheduled for an April 2010 drop.
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”.
Whether or not the fact that Duck Sauce is a team-up between A-Trak and Armand Van Helden means anything to you (and really, it should!!), all that one really needs to absorb is how ace the side-project’s first single “aNYway” is.
Essentially nothing more than a sampled chunk of the 1979 Final Edition gem “I Can Do It (Anyway You Want)” that’s been beefed up into an irresistible disco house stomper, the makings of “aNYway” may not be all that complex, but damn if it’s simple looping of a gleeful Studio 54 swing and handful of exclamatory soul lines doesn’t make any dark cloud currently hovering over your life instantly dissipate once you’re completely swarmed by it’s euphoric, Studio 54-centered hold.
Alongside it’s entertaining clip of an Afro-ed, Jackson 5-like entity lighting up a ’70’s variety show stage with their infectious boogie, “aNYway” re-strengthens one longing for not only “Soul Train”’s return to the airwaves, but a brand new edition completely soundtracked with stuff like this rather than the comparably weak definition of what’s considered “rhythmic music” these days.
Check out the video, followed by an MP3 of the sample source, below.
Look for Duck Sauce’s debut EP, Greatest Hits, via Fool’s Gold sometime later this year.
While the ‘09 VMA’s will likely be most remembered for being the show where Kanye totally did poor, sweet Taylor Swift wrong (two wagging fingers of shame directed at you, Mr. West; standing ovation and rapturous applause to you Beyonce for being a Grade-A class act!), let us not forget the other interesting-to-great moments produced by this year’s “M”TV Awards: Lady Gaga’s “death” (and her continuing climb up Mt. “WTF”); Pink managing to make a dull song like “Sober” so much more interesting thanks to a really cool (and quite uncomfortable-to-watch) high-wire act; a teary-eyed Eminem and tone-deaf Tracy Morgan reminding us once again that Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time” is one of the best pop songs ever; Madonna’s surprise appearance and her touching, though somewhat awkardly Madonna-centric, tribute to the King of Pop; Asher Roth NOT winning the Best Hip Hop Video Moonman (we can’t stress how important that is)…and of course, Janet Jackson’s opening live performance of her and her bro’s “Scream”.
Perhaps like most of you, while watching JJ strut her (once again slimmed down) stuff to the aggressive dance-pop of that 1995 semi-hit, we were reminded of how much we really longed for Janet to give us something new and exciting…something that hearkened back to her reigning Control-thru-“All For You” heyday…something unlike the passable, but oh-so-far from “WOW!!!”, stuff heard on her most recent albums.
Imagine our excitement to receive something close to that…erm, “something” in “Make Me”, a “gift” she very recently posted on her website. And oh what a great present it is!!
A disco-licious R&B workout in which she coerces some guy to get up off the wall and help “save the party” by lighting up the dancefloor (and her nether-regions) with his electric moves, “Make Me” gives us everything we could possibly want from a Janet record in 2009: It’s sexy, but not pathetic-sexy (as she’s been prone to deliver for quite some time now); features her disregarding that annoying, edge-of-orgasm talk-rap thing she likes to do for some actual singing; and, most importantly, bears this buoyant, roller skate jam of a groove we can’t get enough of.
Could we FINALLY be getting the real Janet “comeback” album we’ve anticipated for what seems like forever now? From the sounds of this, maybe so…
Wale excitingly recreates the jubilant mood of the African parties he attended in his youth (he’s of Nigerian blood) on the recently released “My Sweetie (Spray It)”, a feel-good party jam built on a sampling of Bunny Mack’s 1979 African disco classic “My Sweety, My Sugar (Let Me Love You)” that’s definitely got us re-inspired to cop his official debut Attention: Deficit after being left slightly underwhelmed by it’s uncomfortably radio-targeting jump-off single, “Chillin’”.
“If your last name’s got thirteen letters in it-this one’s for you”, Wale rhymes over the sample’s contagiously rhythmic merriment, revealing how he keeps parties live and nabs the finest ladies with ease while armed with his trusty Guinness and Dr. Pepper blend, “more green than Whole Foods” and pocket-bulging rolls of cash money he carelessly tosses into the air to rain on the ecstatic dancing masses like confetti.
After listening to this heat (helmed by the ill Apple Juice Kid, one up-and-coming producer it would be best to keep an eye on in the future), you’ll be begging for someone to make you their “plus one” to the next one of these functions.
When taking a backwards glance at the many pop giants who’ve dominated the music world over the past decade, few register as endlessly fascinating as Miss Shakira.
From one track to the next, she leapfrogs amongst various world-pop musical influences; her voice is a chameleonic wonder, evolving from an imp-ish peep to a froggy growl to a lioness-like bellow, sometimes all within a single verse; her songwriting, whether English or Spanish, bears a clumsy poetic charm; and then there’s her body-ahhh, that body-and the seducing physical contortions that make up her “freestyle choreography”.
With all that said, it’s not all that surprising that Shakira’s new single “She Wolf” would end up being the farthest thing from boring, but we’re also sure no one was expecting what is ultimately delivered either.
It’s zany plot? Triggered by a full moon lighting up the night sky, a bored housewife suddenly transforms into this horny, werewolf-like ho-creature. That outline not interesting enough? How about Shakira’s full commitment to the storyline’s innate campiness with random howling bursts or sex-craving heavy sighs? Or interesting lyrical turns like “Nocturnal creatures are not so prudent/ The moon’s my teacher, and I’m her student” and “To look at the single man I’ve got on me a special radar/ And the fire department’s hotline in case I get in trouble later” (not to mention the use of the term “Lycantrophy”). Or, taking the record to a whole new level of WTF?, the fact that the entire backing track is bathed in a slightly cheap-ish, Studio 54-inspired nightclub groove accented with snippets of disco strings and Chic-y guitar flickers?
Initially, the whole thing doesn’t seem to gel together all that well, with Shakira’s laboured vocal inflections and overly-wordy verses sounding at odds against the dance beat, making one wish that the producers would have went the more easier route and simply saved the track for the next Kylie Minogue album.
But with repeated listens, “She-Wolf”’s contrasting elements and “Thriller”-ish thematic rip-off (disco meets Halloween) eventually form into quite an addictive whole, establishing it as a highly successful game-changing comeback event. All that’s really needed now is an accompanying music video, cause we can’t wait to see how she plans to act out this “transformation” through her always-mouth-watering dancing.
She-Wolf, the album, is slated for an October release.
On the opening verse of Music For Men peak moment “Love Long Distance”, a tense indie-disco foundation of four-on-the-floor stomp, one-finger house piano and a back-and-forth bassline tiptoe help visualize scenes of Beth Ditto nervously pacing to and fro across her living room floor, tapping her toes impatiently as she continually dials the number to an un-answering faraway lover. “I’ve had it with your antics/ Your childish games,” she resigns, the “I told you so” background murmuring of surrounding friends fueling her decision.
It’s a thrilling introduction to another one of the band’s crispily-produced club-aimed entries, and thankfully, the fun doesn’t end there.
As the song goes on, a ferocious bass chug helps thicken out the production mix to signify Ditto’s increasing sense of frustration and heartache as she continues to rip into her heartless partner, at one point cleverly adding a nice little twist to an old Motown line (“I heard it through the bass line/ Not much longer would you be my baby”).
Those who (somewhat understandably) balk at Gossip’s continuous detour away from their roughened blues-punk beginnings for a more polished dance edge will surely have more negative things to say about this track (and much of the new album’s) poppier aesthetic, but let them whine; Gossip have shown with “Heavy Cross” and now “Love Long Distance” that, as Randy Jackson would say, they are “in it to win it” in 2009, and, at least from this corner of the Web-iverse, it’s a move much appreciated.
A sprinkling of Chic-y glitter all over the then-Santogold’s ridiculously lovable dub daydream “Shove It” would seem to be needless (God knows we’ve heard this non-single favorite made over enough different ways), but Canadian DJ/ producer Grandtheft’s disco treatment ultimately pushes this version near the top of the “Shove It” remix heap, it’s festive swirl providing a surprisingly effective companion to Santi and Spank’s vocal contributions and making the record an even bigger club anthem.
Continuing the Ms. White love, check out this mash-up of Major Lazer’s “Hold The Line” over Soulja Boy’s still-fire “Turn My Swag On” beat (courtesy of Philly’s Emynd) below:
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.
*
Come on, use Amazon or iTunes and help support your favorite artists so they can continue to give us the great sounds we love.
*
(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!)
Last May, we took notice of New York duo Telephoned and their awesome “postmodern takes” on rap hits from Soulja Boy and T-Pain, and drooled over their promise that more of these reinterpretations were to come.
Australian chanteuse 
Despite arguably being Janet Jackson’s most immediately enjoyable single in years, her new 
Whether or not the fact that 
While the 
Wale excitingly recreates the jubilant mood of the African parties he attended in his youth (he’s of Nigerian blood) on the recently released “My Sweetie (Spray It)”, a feel-good party jam built on a sampling of Bunny Mack’s 1979 African disco classic 
When taking a backwards glance at the many pop giants who’ve dominated the music world over the past decade, few register as endlessly fascinating as Miss 
On the opening verse of 
Recent Comments