After being embraced wholeheartedly by the music blog community with his 2008 pop twist on Kanye West’s “Flashing Lights” (re-dubbed “I Want Those Flashing Lights”), it was looking like Canadian singer-songwriter-producer Colin Munroe was on the fast-track to doing big things. Following the release of the equally-adored mixtape, Colin Munroe is the Unsung Hero, later that year however, Munroe-as-solo-act faded from the scene, only popping up on occasion via guest spot gigs in the time since (including collabos with Black Milk, Slum Village, Travie McCoy and Kidz In The Hall) with little word on when his official debut project was to arrive.
This week, Munroe contacted us via e-mail to explain what the bleeping deal was: “There were some things that needed dealing with and that dealing is almost done.” A bit cryptic, but, hey, at least we know that the album is still on the way (hopefully sooner rather than later)…and look at that, he’s even opted to bring his solo hiatus to an end with an offering of a brand new cover. Of Prince’s “I Would Die 4 U”, no less.
Admittedly, it’s not as amazing as the Kanye re-do nor as dynamic as the Purple Rain original (it’s impossible to beat Prince), but Munroe’s thumping, electro-shimmered production against his plaintive, Auto-tune-tweaked croon creates a fairly pleasant ethereal allure, making it an easy-to-appreciate re-introduction to the man’s appeal.
Monica featuring Missy Elliott & Notorious B.I.G. “Everything To Me (Remix)”/ “Blackberry”
While most other mainstream R&B artists are too busy trying to keep the kids’ attention by sounding like malfunctioning robots and wannabe rappers, or awkwardly straining (and usually failing) to inject as much soul as possible in between club-happy house thumps and electro bleeps and bloops, Monica aimed to keep it simple and just saaang on her Missy Elliott co-produced lead Still Standing single “Everything To Me”, a vintage-hugging, Broadway-sized tribute to the “perfect man”.
Though the back-to-basics move has proven successful (the track is currently spending it’s third week atop the R&B/ Hip Hop singles chart, making it Monica’s first #1 in seven years), the song falls a bit on the bland side, mostly making us wish to hear the tune it samples (Deniece Williams similarly theatrical, albeit far more dynamic, ’81 classic “Silly”) more.
Slightly better is the summer jeep jam-styled remix, which again lifts it’s musical foundation from the ’80′s R&B world (this time, Rene & Angela’s “I Love You More”), as well as a completely unnecessary re-heated Notorious BIG verse from the Life After Death number “I Love The Dough” (tie-in for the confused: both songs sample the R&A joint), though we should note that the best song we’ve heard from Monica so far in 2010 was one that didn’t even officially make the album. That would be “Blackberry”, a midtempo cut that brings back the dual joys of both snap & b and Monica’s sassier side as she hits the roof after breaking the code to her man’s titular cell phone and finding out, through texts and voice mails from another chick, that he’s not being on the up-and-up. Oh, the drama.
It usually takes a good month or so for us for a new T-Pain single to make the transition from being just plain dumb to severely addicting (but still dumb), so it makes sense that right about now, after weeks of the Auto-Tune soul-man/ walking spoof’s latest bringing about all kinds of raging “What’s wrong with music today!?!” and “Why his this guy still around?!!” tantrums, we would start coming around to admiring “Reverse Cowgirl”.
Of course, like all the times before when it came to taking a liking to this guy’s solo material, we were drunk and “slow-dancing” (read: dry-humping some chick on the dancefloor) when we reached this epiphany, but admit it: there’s something awe-inspiring about the way T-Pain excels at making the silliest lyrics/ concepts (in this case, a certain sexual position and bleats of “Giddy up girl” and “Yee-haw”) sound SO DAMN DEEP with just a sprinkle of his yearning, “studio-sweetened” vocals.
Plus, we kinda dig the “artsy” moves of it’s video (see it below), where, especially under the influence of things we don’t feel the need to mention, watching T-Pain shake his dreads in slow motion is on par with seeing Avatar in 3-D for the first time.
More surprising than discovering that Next, the late-’90′s/ early-00′s hit R&B boy band who turned a song about getting erections on the dancefloor into a five-week #1 US pop smash, are still together and making music?
Finding out that their recently dropped cover of Michael Jackson’s “You Are Not Alone”, done in the synth-bedazzled Euro-R&B style of the inexplicably currently popular Taio Cruz/ Jay Sean/ Jason DeRulo (we know they’re different artists, but deep in our hearts we think they are all one person), is kinda-sorta not all that bad.
Faith Evans “I Wanna Rock (Snoop Dogg Freestyle Cover)”
The Former First Lady of Bad Boy peaks her head out of hibernation (really, where has Faith been)…with an unfortunate alter-ego tag (“Fizzy”)…to drop some boasting “rhymes” about her flow over a 2009 Snoop instrumental…and then some cat named Deuce Hanna (who?) raps.
Yeah, we don’t know what to say either…but here you go:
Foreign Exchange-affiliated singer-songwriter (and former Erykah Badu vocalist) YahZarah previews her forthcoming fourth album, the enticingly titled The Ballad of Purple Saint James, with “Why Dontcha Call Me No More”, a song that finds her going through the blues over a cheating beau (“Obviously you never had a broken heart/ Or you would’ve known better than to play with someone else’s”).
Don’t think that the song is another one of those depressing slow burners though. In fact, it plays more like a mood-lightener thanks to punk-ish kiss-off dialogue like “I hope you’re happy or whatever/ On second thought…not really” and a boppy, new wave-inspired backing beat that, in our heads, would be featured as the walking-down-the-aisle soundtrack for the wedding of Prince and Janelle Monae.
Newbie girl group, and latest Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins find, Purple Reign position themselves as ones to watch in the two-thousand-and-dime on this R&B twist of Timbaland & Drake’s “Say Something”. Of special note is the acapella intro, in which they both introduce their solid three-part harmonies and give a shout out to the inspiration behind their name with a melodic swipe from Prince’s “Purple Rain”.
Head here to hear the ladies tackle Drake’s “Fear”, Waka Flocka Flame’s “O Let’s Do It” and Young Money’s “Bed Rock”.
What happens when Tegan & Sara‘s Sainthood highlight “Alligator”, a dainty ’80′s-disco-tinged number about clingy girlfriends, gets a chance to spend some time on remixing wizard Doctor Rosen Rosen‘s operating table? Just like everything else Rosen puts a scalpel to, it emerges from surgery a far more dramatic electro-pop beast!!
Grab the “Rx” below, followed by MP3′s of the Canadian twin sibs taking on David Bowie’s “Rebel Rebel” and Prince’s “When You Were Mine”.
After discovering Mariachi El Bronx via their gorgeously festive remake of Prince’s “I Would Die 4 U” from SPIN’s Purplish Rain tribute mixtape a while back, we were surprised to learn, after a couple seconds of Internet sleuthing, that MEB was not only this amazing band with an expert handling of the mariachi musical style (at least, what sounds like “expert handling” from our limited-knowledge-of-the-genre standpoint), but actually the alter-ego of The Bronx, a well-established hardcore punk band out of L.A.
And we thought we had heard it all.
The Bronx recently dropped the first album under this guise (entitled El Bronx) and to further hype the project, they’ve allowed a free downloading of album track “Quinceniera”, an tenderly crooned nugget about a night-creeping mystical Goddess that’s pleasantly built on a romancing sway of jolly Spanish guitars and soothing trumpet and violin contributions.
Pick up that freebie here, then sample the rest of the quite marvelous El Bronx album either through their MySpace or the Amazon widget below.
Summer vacations/ distractions have brought things around here to a near-standstill, but in an effort to play a bit of catch-up, check out some of these noteworthy tunes below pulled from the ever-packed in-box and various other sites we’ve been digging lately from around the Inter-Webs:
JDP featuring Chester French “She Loves Everybody (Part Deux)”
This up-and-coming Chicago indie-hopper latches onto CF’s most well-known track, the shoulda-been-bigger slut ode “She Loves Everybody”, using it to support his own adventure with a promiscous groupie who has foolishly mistaken him for being a more high profile rap star (“I suppose someone told her we rich,” he sing-song quips at one point).
A bit Flo-Rida-ish, which-at least in this case-isn’t at all a bad thing.
The Honey Brothers are a quintet from New York who call their sound “new wave folk”, and while most talk of them will surely be centered on their superstar drummer (Entourage lead Adrian Grenier), the music found on their recently released Demonstration EP definitely deserves it’s own hype as it’s some of the most feel-good stuff to touch our ears in recent weeks.
Check out the title track, a groovy lil’ indie-rock number that’ll likely have you tapping your toes to it’s summer-ready shuffle within seconds of it hitting the speakers.
On first listen to the output from this mysterious UK-born collective, you’ll probably end up with your head cocked to the side and a confused look pasted across your face.
But give these songs some time, as repeated doses of the spell-binding ambiance of “Summer Games”, “Soft Silver Young” and the rest of the band’s uniquely weaved creations reveal a trippy charm that’s quite the soothing aural experience.
Keri Hilson featuring Kanye West & Ne-Yo “Knock You Down (Chew Fu GhettoClub Fix)”
Even after hearing this billions of times (*thanks radio*), we still find this hit single oddly put together (anybody else left cold by the fact that the three headliners barely seem to recognize the efforts of one another?), but the Chew Fu crew help calm that sense of underwhelmingness a bit with this dancefloor-targeting rehaul which nicely gives a repeated spotlighting to Kanye’s “Michael Jackson” line.
It’s been twenty-five years since we were first introduced to the greatness that is Prince’s film and album Purple Rain, and in honor of this event, the folks over at Spin Magazine have cooked up an entire track-by-track cover set of the classic album (entitled Purplish Rain) and are offering it for free (well, almost free, as you must deal with answering a trivia question correctly in order to receive the download).
But as much as we dig “The Kid”, it was a little hard trying to muster up much excitement over this thing, given that tribute records rarely ever sustain much interest beyond a single curious listen and we’ve probably heard each of Rain‘s nine entries covered over a million times over the years (with some being amazing, but most being…well, yeah).
To our non-surprise, Purplish Rain lands as a decent listen that’ll mostly leave you with a desire to re-check out the original; but if you do snatch up the free-load, the tracks you should most look out for include The Twilight Singers somber “When Doves Cry” (featuring the one and only Apollonia), a festive mariachi-styled run-through of “I Would Die 4 U” by Cali punk force The Bronx‘ alter ego Mariachi El Bronx, and the always-impressive Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings doing “Take Me With U”.
The final single stripped from Rain, the original “Take Me With U” paired Prince and Apollonia for a breezy duet celebrating their unbridled devotion to each other (“I dont care where we go/ I dont care what we do/ I dont care pretty baby/ Just take me with u”). Jones and the Kings relieve it of any pop stateliness (and, in a sense, familiarity) in their sassy rendition though, constructing this big band soul tour-de-force that sits comfortably in unison with the rest of their spirited old school-soaked output.
Twista speed-rhyming verses about the nastiest thing he could do to a lady isn’t anyhing new (from a distant perspective, it seems to be the main lyrical focus of about 90% of his output), but like his previous no-brainer smashes “Slow Jamz” and “Overnight Celebrity”, recent leak “I Can Make You Say” is mostly a keeper for the going-ons that surround his still ridiculous, uzi-fire flow.
In this case, a delectably chopped sampling of Prince’s 1981 late-night bedroom jam “Do Me Baby” which reduces His Purple Majesty to a loop of orgasmic falsetto yelps, the empty spaces between the diced-up groove filled in with Cali producer Doc Savage‘s somersault-like percussion tricks.
Too bad it won’t become the major hit it feels destined to be with Prince not being in the mood to officially clear the sample. Damn you and your fun-stifling ways, Mr. “Purple Rain”.
Hear the track below, than peep the video for Twista’s latest, official single “Wetter” (from the forthcoming Category F5 album) afterward. It’s nice and all (and, unsurprisingly, another sensual one), but definitely less interesting than the Prince-affiliated number.
“I got a box of chocolates that’ll rock the socks off any girl that wanna come my way,” teases His Purple Majesty, right before he calls on the arrival of a killer Linn-Drum strut.
For any longtime Prince fan, all it takes is these simple intro ingredients from his new single “Chocolate Box” to set them in an over-excited frenzy, as they’re once again faced with the possibility that the musical icon is delivering what has been desired for far too long: a return to his late-70′s to early-90′s pop, rock, funk and soul heights with a fresh, modern twist.
For the most part, “Box” does exactly that, pulling together several familiar Prince signatures (the orgasmic moans and squeals; a fierce synthetic funk groove; the new wave-y breakdown accented with a lil’ electric guitar spark) into an enjoyable enough whole. We even get glimpses of Prince’s clever pimp gab (at times, via the Auto-Tuned effect) as he plays mind games with some hot dame desperate for his goodies (“You can try to get it/ But I can’t let you hit it, cause you’re never gonna be the same”; “What’s the deal?/ Are you gay or poppin’ pills?/ Why you still wanna take my hand”; “You know you can’t make chocolate cake if ain’t nobody ever showed you how”), as well as a solid sixteen from featured guest Q-Tip.
Of course, it’s only when it’s compared to “Erotic City”, “Baby I’m A Star”, “Gett Off”, “U Got The Look” or any one of the other numerous delights from his heyday that “Chocolate Box” comes up short. But A: that’s a bit unfair, B: we should REALLY come to grips with the sad reality that the ass-less chaps favoring, floor-grinding Prince we loved so hard is no more, and C: we should just be thankful that “Box” isn’t another one of those boring, self-indulgent, forever-long noodlers the man has fancied so much in recent years.
From the MPLSoUND portion of his newly released three-CD set(also including LOtUSFLOW3R and protegee Bria Valente showcase, Elixer), that’s only available via Target.
One of Prince’s slickest pop creations ever remains the 1980 Dirty Mind gem “When You Were Mine”, a quirky love letter to an ex framed in a buzzy new wave sheen. It might not hold ranking as an obvious Top 5 Prince pick (partly due to it’s never being released as an official single), but it’s nevertheless reigned as a fan favorite, spawning numerous cover versions over the years.
Up on par with Miss Cyndi Lauper’s brilliant take is this version from Animal Collective protegee/ Mississippi-born ukulele & retro-pop enthusiast Dent May.
May’s reading perfectly taps into the lyrics’ put-upon boyfriend woe: it’s sparse setting of handclaps and acoustic strums on the verses conveys a loneliness feel, while his cold, and quite odd, old crooner vocal gives him a dweeb-ish quality that makes believable the notion that he would be so head-over-heels in love he would allow his girlfriend to siphon away all his cash, stay mum despite being aware of her continued infidelity, and not even raise any questions when he wakes up post-threesome to see her spooned up with the other dude.
…Alas, all hope is not lost on May finding someone new to shack up with, as proven on “Meet Me In The Garden”, an all-original tune from his band’s recently dropped LP, The Good Feeling Music of Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele.
Bathed in a dreamy Tropicália lilt that’s humorously accented with exotic bird calls, “Garden” sees May’s geek-chic persona getting some older blonde babe named “Miss Caroline” so hot and bothered, she makes sure to contact him “every Tuesday and every other Friday or so” to schedule their next freak session.
He may wink “I’m young but I can do things”, but beneath this faux-cool front, he’s pinching himself, unable to fully wrap his mind around the idea that he could hold so much power over such a sexy cougar (“Under the oak, she’s having a smoke/ Just for me!!!“).
We say relish in this very-pimp moment Dent, just make sure you don’t invite any other guys into the bedroom (or, in this case, garden) to distract her attention.
It’s not fair that somebody like T-Pain could probably just sneeze on a track and it would be guaranteed a Platinum-selling download and heavy hitter at radio, while the far more deserving Raheem DeVaughn continually struggles to make a significant mark beyond his fanbase of critics, fellow artists and in-the-know soul-lovers. It’s enough to make you actually WANT to cue some Black Eyed Peas up just so you can scream “Where is the love?” at the top of your lungs.
Nevertheless, here’s something that should perk up more than a few ears and give this sadly still-underrated talent some major attention:
In a move that would’ve probably destroyed the career of a lesser crooner, DeVaughn bravely tackles and, a bit un-surprisingly (at least, to us), masters this dazzling remake of the Prince Purple Rain classic “I Would Die 4 U”.
Not only is DeVaughn’s (thankfully spoof-free) vocal performance killer, but the electric groove-handling of his backing musicians alone (love that hyperactive percussion underlining!!!!), makes us long for the days when R&B was ruled by the exciting twist-and-turn intricacies of REAL bands. By song’s end, even the hard-core atheist will be jumping out of their seats, engaged in the fiercest soul clap in reaction to the tune’s sudden detour into moving gospel extravagance. Yes, you read that right: GOSPEL DETOUR!!
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!)
After being embraced wholeheartedly by the music blog community with his 2008 pop twist on Kanye West’s “Flashing Lights” (re-dubbed “I Want Those Flashing Lights”), it was looking like Canadian singer-songwriter-producer Colin Munroe was on the fast-track to doing big things. Following the release of the equally-adored mixtape, Colin Munroe is the Unsung Hero, later that year however, Munroe-as-solo-act faded from the scene, only popping up on occasion via guest spot gigs in the time since (including collabos with Black Milk, Slum Village, Travie McCoy and Kidz In The Hall) with little word on when his official debut project was to arrive.
After discovering Mariachi El Bronx via their gorgeously festive remake of Prince’s “I Would Die 4 U” from 
It’s been twenty-five years since we were first introduced to the greatness that is Prince’s film and album 
“I got a box of chocolates that’ll rock the socks off any girl that wanna come my way,” teases His Purple Majesty, right before he calls on the arrival of a killer Linn-Drum strut. 
One of Prince’s slickest pop creations ever remains the 1980 
It’s not fair that somebody like T-Pain could probably just sneeze on a track and it would be guaranteed a Platinum-selling download and heavy hitter at radio, while the far more deserving 
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