mixtape maestro (2.0)

It’s difficult seeing the greatness in Gorillaz‘ Plastic Beach on first complete listen: the album lacks focus, kind-of drags, bears no immediate “Clint Eastwood”/ “Feel Good Inc”-type confections and is based around a environment-friendly concept that, while commendable in theory, initially comes across lame as theme. Give it a few more spins, though, and you’ll eventually be sold on it’s efforts, especially when it comes down to the album’s well-crafted handful of lazily drifting, haze & fuzz-cloaked midtempo fare (expect plenty of crit shout-outs for “Rhinestone Eyes”, “On Melancholy Hill”, “Broken” and the two Little Dragon-assisted pieces “To Binge” and “Empire Ant” when all is said and done).

Being such fans of the oddly mesmerizing jump-off that was “Stylo”, with featured guest Bobby Womack’s crazed soul-man beltings, the cut we most anticipated upon Beach’s release was Womack’s second contribution to the project, as we were swept away with intrigue on how else the Gorillaz could fancifully utilize the R&B veteran’s talents.

Tucked near the end of the album, that record, “Cloud of Unknowing”, ultimately ends up the rewarding experience we hoped it to be.

Bookended by the soothing sounds of cawing seagulls and crashing waves, the track beautifully captures a pensive moment of one man sitting beachside, his toes digging into the sand and his gaze fixed upward into the sky’s starry abyss, trying to figure out it all.

“On the cloud of unknowing/ My world seems open/ Every satellite up here is wanting/ But I was here from the very start,” Womack muses, his funereal moan tinged with an aching twang. What he’s going on about, you feel like you need a half-drunken bottle of wine and a bruised heart to completely understand, but there’s no mistaking the piercing his vocals do your emotional core, especially when accompanied by Damon Albarn and the East Midlands-based sinfonia ViVa’s spaced-out, classical composition.

Peep the standout below, than enjoy two of our favorite B. Wo tracks ever: his 1976 single “Daylight” (the ideal theme song for anyone who can’t let the night life go so easily) and his soul-tastic take on the Neil Diamond karaoke staple, “Sweet Caroline” (“bah, bah, bah…”).

“Cloud of Unknowing”:

DL: “Cloud of Unknowing” (alt)

Bonus DL: Bobby Womack “Daylight” (alt)

Bonus DL: Bobby Womack “Sweet Caroline (Neil Diamond Cover)” (alt)

Uncategorized 70's, bobby womack, cover song, gorillaz, grown folks R&B, neil diamond, plastic beach, sinfonia viva

While most of Sade’s unsurprisingly exquisite (and equally unsurprisingly pre-leaked) comeback platter Soldier of Love lands as the go-to soundtrack for one to drown all their post-break-up sorrows to (the bleak scenario of having to let go of a lover you’re nowhere near ready to be separated from is one of it’s main recurring themes), it doesn’t completely reside in the land of heartache and woe.

Four tracks in, the band offer a welcome flash of optimism with album highlight “Babyfather”, a touching mother-to-child ode in which Miss Adu is found reassuring her daughter that she’ll always be her father’s blue-ribbon prize.

Coasting upon a gentle, reggae-lite lilt (which like the single “Soldier of Love”, registers as an immediate surprise for how unlike a typical Sade joint it sounds), the song opens with Sade narrating a “love at first sight” scene between two strangers at the bus stop. Eventually we learn that she’s describing to her daughter how her parents first met, leading to heart-tugging lines “And so love grew a flower/ And that flower was you”, “Your daddy knows you’re a flame” and “Your daddy love come with a lifetime guarantee”.

Shades of darkness do surround “Babyfather” as it’s central theme brings about tabloid-y-like inquiries of whether or not we’re dealing with a woman doing her best to try to make up for a father’s absentee-ism, but it’s hard to let such seriousness get you down when your heart is too busy melting to “Babyfather”’s overall sweet-cored sunniness, especially once the out-of-nowhere children choir start piping in their own paternal adoration towards the song’s end.

Soldier of Love drops February 9th.

“Babyfather”:

Bonus DL: Sade “King of Sorrow (Fun Lovin’ Criminals Remix)” (alt)

Uncategorized grown folks R&B, reggae, sade, soldier of love

A year after topping the Pop and R&B single charts with “Oh Shelia” (a tune so heavily smothered in The Purple One’s “Minneapolis sound”, that, to this day, many people still mistake it for being an actual Prince ditty), six-piece Flint, Michigan outfit Ready For The World managed to hit the top of the R&B lists a second time with the release of “Love You Down”, a sophomore album slow-groover about freaking up some cougar (“It never really mattered that much to me/ That you were just too damn old for me…”) that likely set the mood for plenty of prom nights in the mid-80’s.

Over twenty years later, it’s hard to deny how cheesy it all sounds now, partly because of it’s cheap-ish production quality, but mostly due to the fact of how laughable frontman Mevin Riley’s lead vocal is. Full of nasally whines, orgasmic moan-hiccups and teeth sucking noises, listening to him now makes one wonder if he could even make it five minutes into the evening without completely exploding all over himself, let alone the “all night” sex-capades he was endlessly promising.

None of that “kids pretending to be grown-up stuff” can be felt on Me’Shell Ndegéocello’s spell-binding rendition of the song, though.

Found on her latest album Devil’s Halo, Ndegéocello slightly flips the P.O.V. (it’s still directed towards a female, but here, she’s the older woman courting a younger girl), and that mature perspective can be felt all throughout her cover’s every erotic pulse, from the crashing cymbals and throbbing basslines to the languid synth squelches and Me’Shell’s hushed, “only for my lovers’ ears” vocal performance.

Hell, it’s near-two minute instrumental outro of steamy industrial soul/ rock sludge noise alone should inspire some serious boot-knocking.

“Love You Down (Me’Shell Ndegeocello)”:

Uncategorized 80's, alt-soul, cover song, grown folks R&B, me'shell ndegeocello, ready for the world, sex jam

With the return of Maxwell in 2009 giving male falsetto-led slow jam R&B it’s rightful throne-holder back, it almost feels unnecessary for Alan Thicke’s son to even be around anymore offering his comparably inferior take on the form.

Still, we’ll give Robin this: his fourth album lead single/ title track “Sex Therapy” slithers and seduces in all the right places, blending yet another retread of the steady-pulsing late-night R&B groove behind Ciara’s “Promise” (producer Polow Da Don helmed both), a brief lyrical nod to Twilight, and a hook inspired by Lesley Gore’s 1963 No. 1 “It’s My Party” (“It’s your body/ We’ll go hard if you want to/ As hard as you want to…”) with far more successful (and less hilarious) results than a merging of the three might seem on paper.

For the inevitable guest rap-laden remix, Thicke even has the smarts to employ Ludacris, who, even as he edges long-in-the-tooth rapper status, still manages to come out with goofy XXX winners like “Got the banana/ Now let me split you” that the tween-aged schoolyard set can no doubt appreciate.

Sex Therapy is in stores now.

DL: “Sex Therapy (Remix)” (alt)

Uncategorized blue-eyed soul, grown folks R&B, ludacris, remix, robin thicke, sex jam, sex-rap

When Sade’s sixth studio album Soldier of Love finally makes it way to release in the early weeks of next year, it’s arrival will mark ten looooong years since the release of the band’s last studio effort.

Now, we’ve come to expect long hiatuses between projects when it comes to this crew (if you recall eight years flew by before they followed up the “No Ordinary Love”-housed Love Deluxe with 2000’s Lovers Rock), but AN ENTIRE DECADE!?!…that just ain’t right.

Thankfully, Sade have opted on teasing their new release a couple of months early with today’s premiere of it’s first single/ title track, a slow-burning concoction about getting through heartbreak (“I’ve lost the use of my heart/ But I’m still alive”, Sade Adu opens, her dead-eyed tone still as piercingly chilled as we last remembered) that’s sparked by militaristic drum rolls, jagged electric guitar stabs, rousing background vox support and a “wild wild West” line that’ll surely draw smirks from those who perceive it as a shout-out to Kool Moe Dee.

Though it features a couple modern-ish production elements, longtime fans needn’t worry: “Soldier of Love” doesn’t try to re-write the cool Sade sound too dramatically, managing to perfectly fit side-by-side with the rest of the band’s much-adored nocturnal-soul catalogue.

Look for Soldier of Love to arrive February 8th, 2010.

Soldier Of Love

Sade  | MySpace Music Videos

Uncategorized alt-soul, grown folks R&B, sade, soldier of love, UK soul

Mariah’s twelfth album, the recently leaked Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel, may house much of the twinkly keyboards, echoed syllable hooks and silly lyrical turns that have lingered in her previous work with dominant Angel songwriting/ production team Chris “Tricky” Stewart and Terius “The-Dream” Nash (not to mention, the stuff they’ve crafted for themselves and others), but having those quirks on hand don’t at all prevent this collection from ranking as one of her most maturest albums to date.

Having little interest in the sample-based, cookie-cutter R&B-pop thrills of her past, Angel looms heavy with a mostly mid-tempo tracklisting that more often than not finds her dwelling in the depression of post-break-up heartache or selling a sassy kiss-off to a no-good boyfriend. Even the small number of relatively upbeat, “happy” numbers carry a denser musical tone beneath them, causing one to think that Mariah spent some time dipping back into her own catalogue, re-realized what a gem 1998’s under-appreciated Bone Thugs N Harmony collabo/ single “Breakdown” was, and then opted to record an entire album based around the track’s nocturnal-soul vibe.

If we had to pick one as an immediate favorite it would have to be mid-album cut “Ribbon”, a molasses-flowing bump & grinder that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Dream or R. Kelly album. It’s one of the few instances on the disc in which she’s celebrating love, capturing her completely lost in the charms of her lover and on the verge of a near-breakdown when she’s forced to be separated from his touch for the smallest bit of time (“It’s been about twenty good minutes since I kissed you/ Come back boo/ I miss you/ Wish I had twenty million hours to caress you/ And undress you/ To be continued…”).

It’s a puppy love sentiment we’ve heard her wax on plenty times over in the past, but here, when supported by a boudoir-ready groove and a chopped-and-screwed-styled hook that awesomely co-signs her ecstasy with demonic chants of being like a “ribbon with a bow on it”, sounding a bit more grown-up when giddy in love goes a long way.

Hear it below (you didn’t think we would have THE MAN catch us giving out a Mariah MP3 now, did you?), followed by a clip of Miss Carey-Cannon (looking all “Vision of Love”-ly) performing her surprisingly moving cover of Foreigner’s “I Want To Know What Love Is” on Oprah.

Memoirs drops September 29th.

“Ribbon”:

“I Want To Know What Love Is (Oprah Performance)”:

Uncategorized '90's, 80's, cover song, foreigner, grown folks R&B, live performance, mariah carey, memoirs of an imperfect angel, power ballad, the-dream, tricky stewart

To say the world needs another vintage R&B mimic would be like admitting that VH1 needs another ludicrous reality-TV dating show, but Mayer Hawthorne, the porn-ily monikered alter-ego of Michigan-born hip hop DJ Andrew “Haircut” Cohen, definitely deserves to take up space in your iPod library, if only so you could freak out your friends and parents with the endlessly wowing re-imagining of ’60’s and ’70’s-era R&B/ soul that takes place on his debut project, A Strange Arrangement.

Bearing a spot-on handling of the falsetto croon, groovy soul-bop, honey-coated soul balladry, and simplistic love letter poetics of yesteryear (all of which Hawthorne impressively played, wrote and mixed together by himself), Arrangement is so soaked in the vibe of Motown, Stax, Curtom and so many other labels of that era that on several occasions you’re nearly convinced that these songs were actually constructed and performed by the likes of Curtis Mayfield, The Temptations, Holland-Dozier-Holland or The Platters.

Standing out as one of the best offerings here is the album-closing “Green Eyed Love”. Whereas most of Arrangement settles on dishing out well-executed throwback confections without much of a nod to the present, “Love”, a goofy paean to the “sticky icky” (“My love, my green eyed love/ We’ll watch the clouds from above/ Come on, lift me up…”), takes Hawthorne’s retro-fixated template and gives it a fresh modern twist thanks to it’s stimulating electric guitar solo and it’s main groove: a slowly creeping, oom-pah funk bounce that comes across like a looser spin on one of Eminem’s cartoon-ish productions.

Below, check out the videos for singles “Just Ain’t Gonna Work Out” and “Maybe So, Maybe No”, plus a live performance of “Green Eyed Love” fronted by a rendition of M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes” we’d love to hear more of:

DL: “Green Eyed Love” (alt)

Uncategorized blue-eyed soul, grown folks R&B, mayer hawthorne, michigan, motown, retro

Jneiro Jarel, Philly hip hop producer and partner to Goodie Mob’s Khujo in the experimental side project gig Willie Isz (think of them as an even more spaced-out sibling to Gnarls Barkley), injects a lil’ left-field bump ‘neath Maxwell’s three-weeks-and-counting comeback R&B chart topper “Pretty Wings” on this killer remix, knocking the silky ballad slightly askew with some oft-kilter drum thump and down-right spooky ethereal synth additions.

Club-ready? Not exactly. But if you were having problems staying focused on the road because you were too busy zoning out to your “inner happy place” at the hands of the lullabye-ish original, think of this as the more automobile-friendly edition.

Willie Isz’ debut Georgiavania is available now.

DL: “Pretty Wings (Willie Isz/ Jneiro Jarel Remix)” (alt)

Uncategorized grown folks R&B, jneiro jarel, maxwell, philly, remix, willie isz

With early leakings “I Look To You” and “I Didn’t Know My Own Strength”, two lackluster adult-soul/ pop inspira-ballads that made Whitney Houston sound like she had never left the early ’90’s, it was beginning to look like the diva’s much-anticipated sixth studio effort I Look To You was going to be a major yawner.

What was going on? Had the multiple Grammy-winner forgotten all about the hip urban zest of 1998’s My Love Is Your Love and how, via the beat-making talents of Rodney Jerkins, Wyclef Jean, Lauryn Hill and Missy Elliott, that project had largely succeeded in pumping new life (and interest from the kids) into her career?

Thankfully someone on her team had the smarts to hire on lovebirds Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys, cause the production/ songwriting duo may have just helped saved the album from an embarrasing quick chart fade-out with their winning contribution “Million Dollar Bill”.

Undoubtedly Houston’s best offering in years, “Bill” instantly latches the ear with it’s (very un-Swizz-like) retro-tinged groove: an infectious, baked-in-sunshine nod to the feel-good sounds of ‘70/ ’80’s-era R&B that damn near dares you to lace up those old roller-skates that’s been collecting dust in your closet for decades and cautiously give them a whirl around the block. That inviting groove lays the perfect foundation for the track’s future female anthem lyric, a beaming “love life post-divorce” script that begs the lady population to “say ‘oh’” and “put one hand in the air” if they’ve managed to come across a knight in shining armor that “makes you feel like a million dollar bill”.

Both fresh-sounding and age-appropriate, “Million Dollar Bill” plants Houston right where she needs to be in terms of achieving a noteworthy comeback. Hell, it’s so good that all the recent (thought not quite un-true) gab about Houston’s voice not being as strong as it once was won’t even cross the mind when immersed within it’s pleasant vibe.

Let’s just hope that when I Look To You arrives at the tail-end of this month, it will house more tracks of this refreshing ilk rather than the tired balladry goop that we were first presented with.

Uncategorized alicia keys, diva pop, grown folks R&B, retro, swizz beatz, whitney houston

Imagine the delicate falsetto of Eddie Kendricks delivering a love letter over a laidback rocksteady riddim and you would perfectly nail the vibe of Jamaican crooner Courtney John’s deliciously vintage-tinged new single “Lucky Man” (from his recently released third album, Made In Jamaica).

The gentle island ballad, currently rising up playlist charts everywhere from Miami and New York to Holland and Australia, nicely meshes the classic soul textures of Motown and reggae (love those subdued horns!!!), with John’s creamy-toned vocals providing the cherry on top as he revels in the midst of giddy romantic bliss (“Girl you know there’s no other place I’d be right now/ Holding hands with my baby…”).

If you’re currently with someone, listening to this will definitely have you wanting to stop whatever you’re doing and run off to be in their arms. If you’re single, bet you’ll be flipping through your cell’s contact list desperate to get back in touch with the last person that ever made you beam the way John does here.

Catch the video, backed by Courtney’s equally divine cover of the Car Wash/ Rose Royce classic “I Want To Get Next To You”, below.

Uncategorized 70's, courtney john, cover song, grown folks R&B, jamaica, motown, reggae, retro, rose royce