mixtape maestro (2.0)

If MTV’s TRL was still around, Dutch singer Esmee Denters would likely have a stronger presence within the U.S. pop scene. She’s got pretty “girl next door” looks, solid pop/ R&B vocal chops and, most importantly, the professional backing support of one Justin Timberlake (she’s signed to his Tennman Records label); hell, Stacie Orrico and Willa Ford managed to become brief TRL “hits” working with much less.

Without the benefit of JT begging for music video votes for his protogee to households of a million-plus ever-screaming fans though, the odds of Denters being able to break big State-side look slim. It’s not enough to be able to sing or have a big-named CEO behind you anymore, these days a bigger attention-grabbing gimmick is needed for young female diva-wannabes to win over American pop audiences, whether it’s being a star of your own Disney sitcom or juggling an overuse of Auto-Tune with a trashy drunk persona (cough…Ke$ha…cough), a reality of which comes across sad because Esmee’s current (and sadly under-appreciated) single “Love Dealer” is a bonafide winner.

Yeah, Denters’ polished vocals don’t have the slithering slut appeal needed to fully convince listeners that the “stuff” she’s “pushing” would have us paying top dollar (nor is featured guest/ co-producer Timberlake all that persuading in the “Baby I gotta have some more” fiend role), but “Dealer”‘s Prince-ish industrial pop-funk churn is quite the summery pop enticement, especially when accompanied by those teasingly brief synth flutters on the hook.

Catch the video and a Chew Fu remix below.

DL: “Love Dealer (Chew Fu Extended Mix)” (alt)

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.

DL: “Tell Em” (alt)

Christina Aguilera “Not Myself Tonight”

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.

DL: “Another New World (Daytrotter Performance)” (alt)

Beyonce “Why Don’t You Love Me”

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.