Sheryl Crow and Justin Timberlake semi-duetting?…On a cover of Terence Trent D’Arby’s sexy 1988 smash “Sign Your Name”?…That’s done in the style of ’70′s-era Al Green? No doubt we’re sold, if only because the younger generation deserve to know about the artist formerly known as D’Arby (now Sananda Maitreya), a late-80′s breakout superstar who at one-time was showered with straight-faced praise of being the “new Prince” and “next Michael Jackson”.
Beyond that though, this tune (found on Crow’s new album, the vintage soul-themed 100 Miles from Memphis) is a sheer delight from start to finish, with Sheryl and a background vox-supporting Timberlake proving to be a far better-than-imagined white soul team-up, and its production work handling a spot-on re-creation of the lush Memphis R&B magic Al Green and producer Willie Mitchell reigned with throughout the 1970′s.
Wouldn’t mind if Justin opted to wrap his trademark falsetto on this old-school sound as well for his next project (Hint, hint).
100 Miles from Memphis, also featuring a cover of The Jackson 5′s “I Want You Back”, drops July 20th.
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.
With all the major Top 40 noise the union of Timberlake & Timbaland have crafted in the past decade (through tracks either incredibly awesome or just so-so), one would be forgiven in somehow forgetting that the Virginia beat maestro isn’t the only A-list producer Justin shares amazing musical chemistry with.
Sure, JT’s debut solo album Justified blew up off of the Timbaland-helmed “Cry Me A River”, but the album garnered the most praise through its teaming of Justin and The Neptunes, the merging of the former ‘Nsync frontman’s slinky falsetto with Pharrell & Chad’s posh, modernized updates on ’70′s soul-pop, funk and disco being what ultimately sold the public on Timberlake’s “future new MJ”-like promise.
That magic rears it’s irresistible head again on the newly leaked Game jam “Ain’t No Doubt About It” (it’s the first single from his forthcoming The R.E.D. Album) and basically has the rapper registering as an afterthought on his own record as Game’s two contributed verses, featuring forgettable mutterings about licorice-colored sports cars and “haters” being like “swine flu” (“You’re killing me”), prove no match for the pleasure in hearing Justin and Pharrell trade off honey-coated R&B lines in admiration of the sexy ladies atop a burbling, bloops-and-bleeps funk groove that’s reminiscent of the Neptunes’ early ’00′s hit output.
Look for The R.E.D. Album to drop on June 15th; in the meanwhile, pick up Game’s mixtape/ pre-album teaser The Red Room, with featured guests Lil’ Wayne, Jadakiss and Fabolous among others, over at XXL.
Leave it to dance-rock god James Murphy to craft a nine-minute (!!!) entry in which he basically sends a couple middle fingers in the direction of a record label requesting something “commercial” of him, and it come out in the end sounding like it could potentially end up a future smash radio hit.
That’s the case with “You Wanted A Hit”, the longest (and, to our ears, best) of several lengthy jams to be featured on Murphy’s new (and apparently last) LCD Soundsystem project This Is Happening.
Though it takes over three minutes before a single vocal lick is heard, “Hit” manages to hold your attention hostage in it’s extended intro build up, two hundred seconds of light drum patter and minor-key sprinkles that eventually explode into a lean funk groove once guitar chugs and handclaps enter the frame (expect this section to be looped and rhymed over by some mixtape rap sensation sometime before the year is over).
By the time Murphy finally arrives, his conversational snarl spewing “You wanted a hit/ But maybe we don’t do hits” (later corrected with the self-satisfying smirk: “Well this is how we do hits”), there’s nothing left to do but bow down to the musical genius for sticking it to The Man so brilliantly with proof that “hits” needn’t necessarily be bite-sized morsels.
“You Wanted A Hit”:
Stream the rest of This Is Happening (available legally May 17th) here, then, below, catch the video for the album’s first single “Drunk Girls”, as well as a bonus offering of Diplo’s years-old mash-up/ remix of LCD Soundsystem’s “Someone Great” and Justin Timberlake & T.I.’s “My Love”.
While nothing could match the heights that Snoop Dogg scaled when his lackadaisical delivery was paired with Dr. Dre’s G-funk beat terrains, in his late-career excursions, it’s been The Neptunes who have consistently provided the Doggfather with the material needed to remain just as commercially relevant as he nears closer and closer to age 40 and his twentieth year in the game, whether it’s through digitized updatings of the rapper’s old hood-boy bop (“From The Chuuuch To Da Palace”, “Drop It Like It’s Hot”) or radio-friendly ditties that paid tribute to his undying adoration for summertime soul (“Beautiful”) and sleek, ’80′s-era disco-funk (“Let’s Get Blown”, “Signs”).
For “Special”, the Neptunes’ lone offering to Snoop’s tenth album Malice N Wonderland, that hit-making chemistry is kept afire with the Virginian production duo lacing Snoop’s eased flow and Valentine’s Day promises with another one of their purrty, keyboard-dominant arrangements while Pharrell and (a suddenly everywhere) Brandy blissfully croon sweet nothings back and forth on the hook.
It’s a blatant “Beautiful” re-write and far away from the aggressive, undercover cop-spooking lyricism that Snoop became a household figure with so long ago, but of all the various ’90 hip hop sub-genre detours Snoop (sometimes awkwardly) skips through throughout Malice, “Special” is the one where he fits in the most comfortably, not only because you could totally envision Snoop giddily vibing with the instrumental on loop as he rides through the streets of Cali, but the “grown man” way he praises Wifey (“I’m puttin out the blunt cause I see/ That I need you more in my life than I need a bag of weed”) carries this endearing grasp of authenticity and intimacy, sounding like something that could have actually been in his vows during his 1997 wedding (or 2008 vow renewal) to high school sweetheart Shante.
“Special”:
BONUS DL: Snoop Dogg featuring Justin Timberlake & Charlie Wilson “Signs (Siik Remix)” (alt)
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.
A Belgian singer-songwriter remaking a 50 Cent/ JT/ Timbaland strip club jam in the form of an acoustic ballad strum-along!?! And it works (maybe even better than the original)!?! 26-year-old Milow accomplishes just that with this striking entry.
One of the original “Ayo Technology”‘s biggest flaws was that the sheer weight of the A-list crew behind it (pre-establishing it as a hit before it even dropped) sort of distracted away from the scary-cool intricacies of what the song could really be about: a tale of an introverted porn-addict on the verge of randy implosion at the mouth-drying gyrations of the talented pole dancer in front of him and how seeing her in a three-dimensional form could inform some dastardly deed later on. Neither 50 nor Justin could really be all that believable in bringing that creepy role to life since at the end of the day, they probably would get the girl to their respective cribs to bring their private fantasies to fruition with little to no hesitation.
For the relatively unknown Milow, that option isn’t there, so his take on “Technology” lends itself easier to the song’s inherent skin-crawling air, his every-man vocal yearns (and nerdy adoption of Fiddy’s “make it rain” prose) against the guitar-lain frame conveying the spooky intimacy of a computer screen ogler tracking down his ideal porn beauty at the local strip joint and mind-conjuring up some nefarious after-hours plot that involves him following his target to her home and really finding out “just how it be/ On top of me/ Backstokin’, sweat soakin’”. When he sings “I’ll be in this bitch ’til the club close” or howls “I’m tired of using technology/ I need you right in front of me”, the creepy desperation in his vocal paints him as a haunting figure who’s en route to doing something really really wrong.
Now if only we could get him to do a whole entire album’s worth of 50 Cent remakes; could you imagine how much more menacing tunes like “Wanksta” or “Many Men” would sound “unplugged”?
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!)
Sheryl Crow and Justin Timberlake semi-duetting?…On a cover of Terence Trent D’Arby’s sexy 1988 smash “Sign Your Name”?…That’s done in the style of ’70′s-era Al Green? No doubt we’re sold, if only because the younger generation deserve to know about the artist formerly known as D’Arby (now Sananda Maitreya), a late-80′s breakout superstar who at one-time was showered with straight-faced praise of being the “new Prince” and “next Michael Jackson”. 
While nothing could match the heights that 
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 
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