mixtape maestro (2.0)

Chromeo‘s electro soul-pop-funk creations adhere so close to their obvious 80′s-born influences and lean so heavily on the quirk, that it can be a bit difficult to embrace the Montreal duo as more than a novelty act, let alone imagine them ever being able to break beyond their cult-ish fanbase and become household names; yet, even within the current music scene’s increasingly tiresome three-decades-old retro-fetishism, the group remains root-worthy, each new serving of their 8-bit-stylized, vocoder-aided pizazz (whether for themselves or as a remix for someone else) easily hitting you right dead-center in the part of the soul that enjoys a good guilty pleasure entry.

That adoration should be kept afloat for “Don’t Turn The Lights On”, the second single from Chromeo’s forthcoming third album Business Casual.

Documenting one man’s struggle to emotionally move past a former relationship, “Lights” may surprise passive Chromeo admirers in it’s turn towards the serious, but there’s no denying the track’s late-night erotic under-tone, the combination of the hook’s sensual request (“Don’t turn the lights on/ Cause tonight I wanna see you in the dark”) and the backing beat’s libidinous synth burblings (which will totally bring to mind the sexy digi-groove of Rufus & Chaka Khan’s “Ain’t Nobody”) making this a necessary addition to a DJ’s “end of the night” bump & grind set.

Don’t Turn the Lights On by Chromeo

BONUS DL: Chromeo “I Can’t Tell You Why (The Eagles Cover)” (alt)

On paper, having one of our top guilty pleasure jams of 2009, the Vistoso Bosses‘ unfortunate non-hit “Delirious”, be completely sapped it of it’s appealingly Crayola-hued, “Legend of Zelda”-meets-four-square wispiness for darker electro textures doesn’t seem like it would fly.

Yet, consistently impressive remixer/ producer Doctor Rosen Rosen ultimately makes this revision work, his heavy slabs of spooky synth gloom and typewriter drum machine ticks bringing a sinister heft to lines like “When you look in my eyes/ You make me delirious”, instantly transforming what was once this cutesy (and fairly harmless), teenybop crush ode into the beginnings of an exciting “Fatal Attraction”-for-the-high-school-set big screen thriller.

DL: “Delirious (Doctor Rosen Rosen Remix)” (alt)

For close to two decades (!!) we’ve relied on Mary J Blige‘s raw, grainy (and, at times, off-key) whoops to help keep some semblance of true, from-the-soul authenticity alive in the contemporary R&B realm, and even though those fiery chops have gotten smoothed over in recent years, we never once thought that she would ever think of joining the “singing android” parade. Yet, there she was on the summer-leaked (and Drake-featured) “The One”, crushing plenty of hearts across the globe in her unnecessary decision to undergo the Auto-Tuned treatment.

Why MJ why, we sighed and whimpered, hoping that the track would either end up in the recycling bin, get passed onto some lesser naturally-gifted singer, or at least be given a post-”D.O.A”, vocal effect-stripped make-over before it’s official release. Unfortunately, our wishes were ignored: “The One”, minus any revisions, would ultitimately be branded as the jump-off single for Mary’s 9th studio effort, Stronger.

In a case of the video sort of making a song better though, thanks to “One”‘s heavily stylized accompanying clip, featuring Blige cutting up a rug while getting her sexy swag on under a neon-lit glow, our initial hesitations towards the record have alleviated some.

It’s plinky-plonk futuro beat may fall a tad on the generic side but it does bump (a fun vibe we actually requested from her a couple months back), the boasting lyrics are cool (“Let me break it down if you don’t get it/ Quality, I’m custom-fitted/…Boy don’t you know I’m the one”"), and the Auto-Tune is really only heard on a couple lines. Still, let it be known that we would fully appreciate it if Blige left the roboticized gimmicks to the chicks that really need it from here on out.

Stronger drops this November.

The idea of Diddy tossing in his own take on contemporary music’s undying obsession with all things bridging an 80′s pop/ electro-rap sensibility with a Y4K club feel (read: his own 808′s & Heartbreak or “Boom Boom Pow”) for the forthcoming, high-concept LP Last Train To Paris felt very unnecessary from the first moment it was announced.

But then we remembered a few things: A) Diddy-as-musician has kinda always felt unnecessary; B) his decade-plus-strong career as admittably unleashed more than a few entries we still get giddy over every time they’re given a new spin; and C) “Last Night” was the it-shay, so an entire album somewhat based on that one single should yield a couple keepers…right? (Plus, we couldn’t help but be a tad intrigued by the still-in-construction snippets teased on his latest reality-TV guilty pleasure, Making His Band).

So, with all that said, where do we stand after finally getting a full helping of the newly leaked, maybe/ maybe-not first single “Love Comes Down”.

Well, it’s not as immediately grabbing as “Last Night” (nor, contrary to our hopes and dreams, a futurized remake of Evelyn “Champagne” King’s 1982 roller-rink gem “Love Come Down”), but it has some good moments. Notably the verses, which latch onto an ear-treating smoove groove with it’s jingly bells production and Dirty Money ladies Dawn (the ex-Danity Kane one) and Kaleena (the Estelle-looking one) sounding like a new version of late-90′s Diddy protogees Total as they relate a trite, devotional R&B lyric (“Oh babe my heart’s on overload and you’re to blame/ Lookin’ for a future with you babe/ Willin’ to give me your last name…”).

Unfortunately, all that slightly engaging build-up never leads to the gigantic, out-of-this-world hook the track demands, disappointingly fumbling it’s curioso hold over the aural cavities with a limp chorus that needlessly tacks on a sampled Jay-Z line (“Izzo (H.O.V.A.)”‘s “Show ‘em how to move in a room full of vultures”). And the less said about Diddy’s bored rap interlude, the better (this group is in dire need of a stronger emcee).

Decent stuff (at least the guy still knows how to pull off a solid enough R&B number), but “Love Comes Down” is nowhere near the mind-blowing game-changer Diddy has prepped us into anticipating, resigning us, until further leakage, to stick with our initial sense of this whole ordeal being completely “unnecessary”.

DL: “Love Comes Down” (alt)

MJ. Prince. Parliament/ Funkadelic. Rick James. The Gap Band. The Time. Robert Palmer. Hall & Oates. Cameo: These are just a few of the names that enter the brain when immersed in the slick, ’80′s-era White boy funk/ R&B of Pink and Purple, the newest release from Brooklyn singer/ songwriter/ producer Alan Wilkes.

Sounding as if Chromeo had been brainwashed into spending a couple weeks watching nothing but early-era BET video playlists, this continuously entertaining six-song EP fits in perfectly with music’s obsession with all things ’80′s in recent years. But rather than simply using new wave-y synths, electro-funk glitz and synthethic drum sounds as mere accents, Alan Wilkis takes things so much more further, showcasing an amazingly deft education in that era’s vibe with tunes that actually sound as if it they could’ve been on the charts way back when.

So many times throughout the collection, Wilkis fantastically seems to hone in on the same mindframe of that generation’s musicians, and the joy they must have felt in first realizing the endless musical possibilities of this “new” digital-based technology when mixed alongside the live band textures they had previously mastered, whether it’s through the dramatic slow build of closing ballad “Time Machine”, the infectious “me and all my protogees just jamming around” glee of P-funk exercise “N.I.C.E”, or the web-like keyboard intricacies of the title track that give nearly every four bars a different sonic identity.

Trust us. Cop the set, then sit back and press play. By the time you’ve hit the mid-way point of the EP, you’ll be hit with feelings of sorrow because you’re either too young to have experienced this magnificent era in real-time or you were around back then and have just been re-reminded how so much of today’s pitiful excuses for R&B, funk and pop pale in comparison.

DL: “N.I.C.E.” (alt)

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.

Ciara ft. Missy Elliot- Work It from LowKey on Vimeo.

After being inexplicably snubbed in most of the R&B categories, things weren’t looking too promising for Estelle at this year’s Grammy’s. But alas, it seems the world can sometimes be fair; not only did the singer (and sometimes rapper) leave the event a winner (for Best Rap/ Sung Collaboration), she also managed to snatch up some memorable stage time, giving “American Boy” a fitting cap-off to a year in which the R&B goodie continually kept us all warm inside.

“Star”, Estelle’s first new release under the tag “Grammy-winner”, might not be as perfectly delicious as “American Boy” but the track, released in conjunction with Crystal Light’s uPumpItUp campaign, is good enough to keep us satisfied until that next album drops.

An upbeat swirl of faux-strings and electro-dance bottom-bump, “Star” sees Estelle having a post-No More Drama Mary J Blige moment, boosting the mood of the depressed by relating her own “they told me I wouldn’t make it, but look at me now!” life journey. “I know you’re tired of working but stay up on your stuff/ Push on through all the hurtin’/ Even though it gets tough,” she inspires to the song’s workout-ready soundtrack.

Our only beef? No rapping. This song’s begging for a positive-minded rap interlude, and would of provided a nice reminder that Estelle knows how to spit a rhyme or two.

Download: “Star” (alt)

So what Kid Cudi‘s “Day N Nite” isn’t so easy to tag with one of those corny genre-mash-up descriptors folks like us love to cook up (not to say we haven’t tried), with or without some “clever” label to snap onto it, the “lonely stoner” anthem is increasingly becoming the one song seemingly no living entity within the galaxy can deny.

A casual listen may not instantly birth an idea of what all the fuss is about, but there will be at least one of it’s many mystifying elements (that hypnotic electro warble, those space-beamed “What, what” line enders, Cudi’s emotion-less sing-rapping, a distressing need to figure out what the hell the song’s about) that’ll move one to give it a repeat peep…then another…then another, until you have reached the conclusion that you can’t go a day without it because it’s THE BEST SONG EVER!!!

Unfortunately, as has become the case with anything this widely appealing, both the unknown and the known are coming out of the woodworks, anxious to nab a piece of it’s luster. To add to the equally monstrous Crookers house do-over and remixes featuring Jim Jones, Pitbull and Collie Buddz, catch the So So Def swag-biter unnecessarily hogged by the ever-bragging JD (who has slowly lapped Kanye and Soulja Boy as one of hip hop’s most annoying figures) and a killer seven minutes-plus dancefloor revision by the Bingo Players, below:

DL: “Day N Nite (So So Def Remix)” (alt)
DL: “Day N Nite (Bingo Players Remix)” (alt)

(Look for Kid Cudi’s debut, Man On The Moon: The Guardian, later this year)

“Wonder if they’ll ever know the truth/ Y’all don’t fuck us…ni**a we fuck you,” goes the “educating” hook on this cut from new The-Dream-approved girl group Electrik Red. Judging by that chorus and many of the other lyrics found on this thumping slab of sultry electro-R&B, it’s safe to say that the group aren’t at all concerned with filling in the goody-goody two shoes of an absent Destiny’s Child as much as they’re boldly positioning themselves as the 2.0 version of Vanity 6.

As underlining club noises twinkle, burble and pop every which way forming this galactic-soul fireworks display, the featherweight harmonies of Electrik Red purr out far-from-radio-friendly lines like “I love the way you kiss on the pearl” one moment than turn around and dismiss the same, skinny jean-wearing one-minute men the next (“You was like flash in the sheets/ So fast I had to finish when you’d leave”). Of course don’t dare place The-Dream in that latter category, who quickly defends his own prowess with the sinuously delivered “When I get it on/ I GET IT ON”.

Move over PCD, we may have just found a new naughty-naughty-wink-wink troupe to salivate over.

DL: “We Fuck You” (alt)

Below, peep the video for the group’s current single “Drink In My Cup”, also featuring The-Dream:

Electrik Red Featuring The Dream "Drink In My Cup"

Out of all the TLC members, the one who seemed to be the least interesting as a solo artist was Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas. Yeah, she gave the top-selling girl group some of it’s best musical moments via her pure R&B singing but compared to her more unique “Crazy” and “Cool” groupmates, Chilli felt very safe and non-descript. Those thoughts are completely thrown out of the window on her solo joints that’ve been leaked so far, the latest being the effortless, roller skate rink jam “Glidin’”.

Retaining the girlish spunk and tables-turned misogyny that made TLC one of the best exports of the ’90′s, Chilli feels youthful and invigorated as she shows Ciara how it’s done over breezy sinewaves and crisp snare hits. The wacky fashion sense and strong sense of womanhood were some of the group’s best traits, but it was their “can’t live with them/ can’t live without them” attitude towards the opposite sex that made TLC so addicting. Chilli reiterates that appeal on “Glidin” as she floats on cloud nine while salivating over her man’s “duh-duh-duh-duh”. The song is dancey and fun, all the way down to the jokey schoolyard rap that pops up on the bridge.

As a member of TLC, Chilli’s sole purpose may have been the go-to girl when a snatch of radio-ready R&B sleekness was needed, but on the should-be smash “Glidin’”, Chilli proves that she can project enough sass all on her own.

Download: “Glidin’”