Taking on the dreamy, compelling sound of the lost soul decades is a damn high bar to set for yourself. Soul revivalists usually don’t get very far in my book, because what’s the point of competing with the likes of Sam Cooke and Otis Redding? Listening to Leon Bridges made me do a 180 on that stance. See, if you actually can hold a candle to legends like Cooke and Redding — and Bridges can — then there’s no reason not to indulge in some nostalgia. “Lisa Sawyer” tells the story of Bridges’ mother with such grace and aplomb it sounds plucked right out of the ’50s. This is no simpering modern equivalent; he stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the voices from the past, and it’s astonishing to hear. Bridges recorded the track, along with the rest of his forthcoming debut album, in his hometown of Fort Worth, TX, and his previous releases are of the same caliber, so check out “Coming Home” and “Better Man” if you missed them. “Lisa Sawyer” is the dreamiest of them all though. Listen below.
Showing posts with label Soul Music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Soul Music. Show all posts
Monday, February 23, 2015
Leon Bridges | Lisa Sawyer
Taking on the dreamy, compelling sound of the lost soul decades is a damn high bar to set for yourself. Soul revivalists usually don’t get very far in my book, because what’s the point of competing with the likes of Sam Cooke and Otis Redding? Listening to Leon Bridges made me do a 180 on that stance. See, if you actually can hold a candle to legends like Cooke and Redding — and Bridges can — then there’s no reason not to indulge in some nostalgia. “Lisa Sawyer” tells the story of Bridges’ mother with such grace and aplomb it sounds plucked right out of the ’50s. This is no simpering modern equivalent; he stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the voices from the past, and it’s astonishing to hear. Bridges recorded the track, along with the rest of his forthcoming debut album, in his hometown of Fort Worth, TX, and his previous releases are of the same caliber, so check out “Coming Home” and “Better Man” if you missed them. “Lisa Sawyer” is the dreamiest of them all though. Listen below.
Monday, February 2, 2015
Saturday, January 10, 2015
Sango & SPZRKT | JMK | New Music
Listen to JMK, the new collaborative track by Sango and SPZRKT.
Sango and SPZRKT have collaborated before, and we’re glad they continue to do so with “JMK.” Sango brings out the more subtle side of his sound, sampling a gospel song to back SPZRKT’s heartfelt words. SPZRKT delivers a genuinely heartfelt performance, as he testifies to the effect that Jesus Christ has had in his life. Stream “JMK” below.
Monday, December 29, 2014
10 Best Music Books of 2014
By: Rolling Stone
From the stage to the page: The year's best biographies, rock crit, photo essays and more
In 2014, the rock star tell-all autobiography train rolled on with Jimmy Page, Joe Perry, Carlos Santana, Mick Fleetwood, George Clinton, Paul Stanley and Billy Idol among others all getting their turn. But some of the years best books were the stories you didn't already know, including a great alternate history from Greil Marcus and a closer look at a post-punk pioneer
10 'The Haight: Love, Rock, and Revolution: The Photography of Jim Marshall,' by Joel Selvin
Jim Marshall, one of rock & roll's greatest photographers, was at counter-culture ground zero in San Francisco in the mid-to-late Sixties. This gorgeous oversized book documents the era through iconic images — the Beatles at Candlestick Park in '66, the Grateful Dead at a mobbed street fair in '68, Hendrix torching his guitar at Monterey Pop. Just as illuminating are verité shots of street life, hippies and straights rubbing wary shoulders as the Age of Aquarius, for a magic moment, dawned over them all. By Will Hermes
9'Special Deluxe: A Memoir of Life & Cars' by Neil Young
Neil Young is a man of obsessions. Over the years he's fixated on everything from toy trains to digital audio quality, but the one constant has been classic automobiles — which meant many fans groaned when they learned his new book would focus on the many cars he's owned over the years. Thankfully, their fears were unfounded. The car angle is merely a clever framing device for Young to tell his life story in a more linear fashion than his scattershot 2013 memoir Waging Heavy Peace. Along the way we learn about the making of After The Goldrush ("I had just purchased a pound of Panama Red"), his regrets over his mistreatment of the members of Crazy Horse and Buffalo Springfield ("I was mostly juvenile and had no patience") and a crazy morning last year when his electric car LinkVolt broke down in Manhattan on his way to film a bit with Bill O'Reilly and Stephen Colbert, almost stalling out in the Lincoln Tunnel ("It was not a good day for us"). People wanting a straight account of Young's life will still be better served by reading Jimmy McDonough's definitive biography Shakey, but Special Deluxe is an enjoyable trip into the singer's endlessly fascinating mind. By Andy Greene
8 'Brothas Be, Yo Like George, Ain't That Funkin' Kinda Hard on You?: A Memoir,' by George Clinton with Ben Greenman
As funk's bravest cosmonaut, George Clinton spent the acid-fried Seventies in a world of Doo Doo Chasers and Thumpasorus Peoples and Psychoalphadiscobetabioaquadooloops. But his look back on the methods to his madness are as clear-headed as a textbook, reading less like a gauntlet of antics (and there are antics — including a donkey taking a "regal shit" on the steps of London's Albert Memorial) and more like a great piece of rock criticism with himself at the center. He's a fan first, with omnivorous taste, and can break down theories with zeal, whether its meetings with fellow boundary pushers ("Listening to Sly Stone was like taking a master class in brilliant nonsense") or talking about how keyboardist Bernie Worrell used Bach-esque counterpoint. By Christopher R. Weingarten
7 'Clothes, Clothes, Clothes. Music, Music, Music. Boys, Boys, Boys.,' by Viv Albertine
If Viv Albertine's memoir had only focused on the broadest outlines of her life — her six years as the guitarist in influential post-punk band the Slits, her return after a decades-long absence — this would have been fascinating enough. But Albertine's approach is far closer, pushing past candor into the uncomfortably honest. Some of this memoir involves talk of romantic liaisons in the heady days of London's late-Seventies punk scene, but there's also a harrowing account of her struggle with cancer and grapplings with suburban isolation decades later. A fully realized portrait of its author. By Tobias Carroll
6 'Songs Only You Know: A Memoir,' by Sean Madigan Hoen
"My bandmates saw me at my most inspired, screaming every pain I had access to," Sean Madigan Hoen writes in his gritty, gripping punk-rock memoir, "though I had told them next to nothing of where I'd come from." Hoen, it turns out, had plenty to scream about — a father addicted to crack, a sister consumed by depression, his own feelings of alienation, helplessness, adolescent angst; if his former band, Detroit art-core self-immolators Thoughts of Ionesco, was his young-adult self's cathartic outlet, Songs Only You Know is his older, wiser reevaluation, no less vein-bulgingly visceral but infinitely more nuanced and poetic. It's funny at times, always brutally honest; a half-healed bruise, tender and multi-colored. Few books convey the fever-pitch intensity of youth with such vividness and so little glamorization, or as deeply explore the heartbreaking complexity of family — both those we're born into and the ones we choose. By Brandon Geist
5 'Dancing With Myself' by Billy Idol
In his self-penned memoir, Billy Idol fleshes out his charmed life with an even mix of thrilling tales of sex, drugs and rock & roll. The singer is refreshingly candid about his heavy heroin addiction in the Eighties, a regrettable Rolling Stone cover story interview when he got too drunk and yelled at the writer, an unrequited threesome that landed him in court on sexual deviancy charges and the harrowing motorcycle accident that stymied his acting career (he says he'd tried out for the T-1000 in Terminator 2 but lost the role due to a limp). He also recounts some of the weird stories behind some of his greatest hits — "Dancing With Myself" was inspired by a Tokyo disco where people stared at themselves in mirrors and "Rebel Yell" was named after a whiskey he drank once with the Rolling Stones. He also writes about his post-drugs fallout in such a heartfelt way that he almost makes a case for reconsidering Cyberpunk. By Kory Grow
4 'Glow: The Autobiography of Rick James,' by Rick James with David Ritz
Those looking simply for stories of sexual and pharmaceutical excess can re-read Mötley Crüe's The Dirt. In Glow, Rick James' posthumously published autobiography with author David Ritz, the funk pioneer surprisingly eschews repetitive freaky tales for a deeper look at an insane life. Sure, there are unflinching looks at the singer's crack binges and violent behavior — an already unbridled id made worse by the death of James' mother — but it's the lesser-known adventures that make this essential reading for those only familiar with James' dark side. A mob-connected dancer mom who smuggled James into the club as a child to see Miles Davis; a chance encounter with future members of the Band, who saved a teenage James from getting his ass kicked; a headache that prevented the musician from hanging out with people who would be murdered by the Manson Family that night. Any hack can make a lost weekend enthralling, James and Ritz can make the history of "Super Freak"'s four-note descending bass line as intriguing as a pipe-filled motel-room breakdown. By Jason Newman
3 'Respect: The Life of Aretha Franklin,' by David Ritz
Back in 1999, David Ritz helped Aretha Franklin write her memoirs, sanitized enough to be allowed into an operating room. This year, he issued Respect, his uncensored 520-page biography of the Queen of Soul, and it's clearly the book he's been preparing to write his whole life. It's stuffed full with revealing interviews from Franklin's family, her musical collaborators and subjects of Ritz's other books, from Smokey Robinson to B.B. King. MVP interview: the saucy Etta James. ("Who wants to admit that you're praising the Lord at the 8 p.m. service and servicing some drop-dead gorgeous hunk of a singer an hour later?") Knowing the details of Franklin's complicated, sometimes painful life — starting with the two sons she had at ages 12 and 14 — helps deepen an appreciation of the pain and passion that fueled her music. By Gavin Edwards
2'Jerry Lee Lewis: His Own Story,' By Rick Bragg
"He did not need a song to make him inappropriate. Jerry Lee Lewis had always been inappropriate, and being a little bit famous did not change it; you can paint a barn white a thousand times, but that won't make it a house." In this gripping biography, Pulitzer winner Rick Bragg tells the story of rock legend Jerry Lee Lewis with the full force of history, poetry and two years of exclusive interviews with the Killer himself. Bragg grounds his story in the texture and tradition of the South, but when he tells the epic tale of the creation of "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On," he captures Lewis's divine madness. Reading the saga of rock's piano pioneer, you will likely agree: "It was like any life, really, but with the dull parts taken out." G.E.
1 'The History of Rock 'n' Roll in Ten Songs,' by Greil Marcus
Greil Marcus carved his stern visage into rock criticism's Mount Rushmore decades ago, but he won't rest on his laurels — and he won't let rock & roll either. And so he kicks off this ferociously cerebral and warmly empathetic super-listicle with a monster sentence that reels off lots of critically acclaimed musicians — it takes, like, five pages — and by the time you've gotten from the beginning (Chuck Berry) to the end (Jay Z), his intent is clear: Forget all of this. Rest assured the 10 songs he picks from there will surprise, and/or amuse, and/or enrage and undoubtedly challenge you: They span from Joy Division (as filtered through that goofy Ian Curtis biopic) to Phil Spector (as filtered through Amy Winehouse) to Etta James (as insufficiently filtered through Beyoncé) and beyond. Whether he's talking Buddy Holly or Cyndi Lauper, Robert Johnson or the Flamin' Groovies, Marcus writes with a philosopher's zeal and a superfan's joy, drawing connections between artists and eras and solar systems you'd never even imagined. It's revisionist history of the best and most necessary kind. By Rob Harvilla
Jim Marshall, one of rock & roll's greatest photographers, was at counter-culture ground zero in San Francisco in the mid-to-late Sixties. This gorgeous oversized book documents the era through iconic images — the Beatles at Candlestick Park in '66, the Grateful Dead at a mobbed street fair in '68, Hendrix torching his guitar at Monterey Pop. Just as illuminating are verité shots of street life, hippies and straights rubbing wary shoulders as the Age of Aquarius, for a magic moment, dawned over them all. By Will Hermes
9'Special Deluxe: A Memoir of Life & Cars' by Neil Young
Neil Young is a man of obsessions. Over the years he's fixated on everything from toy trains to digital audio quality, but the one constant has been classic automobiles — which meant many fans groaned when they learned his new book would focus on the many cars he's owned over the years. Thankfully, their fears were unfounded. The car angle is merely a clever framing device for Young to tell his life story in a more linear fashion than his scattershot 2013 memoir Waging Heavy Peace. Along the way we learn about the making of After The Goldrush ("I had just purchased a pound of Panama Red"), his regrets over his mistreatment of the members of Crazy Horse and Buffalo Springfield ("I was mostly juvenile and had no patience") and a crazy morning last year when his electric car LinkVolt broke down in Manhattan on his way to film a bit with Bill O'Reilly and Stephen Colbert, almost stalling out in the Lincoln Tunnel ("It was not a good day for us"). People wanting a straight account of Young's life will still be better served by reading Jimmy McDonough's definitive biography Shakey, but Special Deluxe is an enjoyable trip into the singer's endlessly fascinating mind. By Andy Greene
8 'Brothas Be, Yo Like George, Ain't That Funkin' Kinda Hard on You?: A Memoir,' by George Clinton with Ben Greenman
As funk's bravest cosmonaut, George Clinton spent the acid-fried Seventies in a world of Doo Doo Chasers and Thumpasorus Peoples and Psychoalphadiscobetabioaquadooloops. But his look back on the methods to his madness are as clear-headed as a textbook, reading less like a gauntlet of antics (and there are antics — including a donkey taking a "regal shit" on the steps of London's Albert Memorial) and more like a great piece of rock criticism with himself at the center. He's a fan first, with omnivorous taste, and can break down theories with zeal, whether its meetings with fellow boundary pushers ("Listening to Sly Stone was like taking a master class in brilliant nonsense") or talking about how keyboardist Bernie Worrell used Bach-esque counterpoint. By Christopher R. Weingarten
7 'Clothes, Clothes, Clothes. Music, Music, Music. Boys, Boys, Boys.,' by Viv Albertine
If Viv Albertine's memoir had only focused on the broadest outlines of her life — her six years as the guitarist in influential post-punk band the Slits, her return after a decades-long absence — this would have been fascinating enough. But Albertine's approach is far closer, pushing past candor into the uncomfortably honest. Some of this memoir involves talk of romantic liaisons in the heady days of London's late-Seventies punk scene, but there's also a harrowing account of her struggle with cancer and grapplings with suburban isolation decades later. A fully realized portrait of its author. By Tobias Carroll
6 'Songs Only You Know: A Memoir,' by Sean Madigan Hoen
"My bandmates saw me at my most inspired, screaming every pain I had access to," Sean Madigan Hoen writes in his gritty, gripping punk-rock memoir, "though I had told them next to nothing of where I'd come from." Hoen, it turns out, had plenty to scream about — a father addicted to crack, a sister consumed by depression, his own feelings of alienation, helplessness, adolescent angst; if his former band, Detroit art-core self-immolators Thoughts of Ionesco, was his young-adult self's cathartic outlet, Songs Only You Know is his older, wiser reevaluation, no less vein-bulgingly visceral but infinitely more nuanced and poetic. It's funny at times, always brutally honest; a half-healed bruise, tender and multi-colored. Few books convey the fever-pitch intensity of youth with such vividness and so little glamorization, or as deeply explore the heartbreaking complexity of family — both those we're born into and the ones we choose. By Brandon Geist
5 'Dancing With Myself' by Billy Idol
In his self-penned memoir, Billy Idol fleshes out his charmed life with an even mix of thrilling tales of sex, drugs and rock & roll. The singer is refreshingly candid about his heavy heroin addiction in the Eighties, a regrettable Rolling Stone cover story interview when he got too drunk and yelled at the writer, an unrequited threesome that landed him in court on sexual deviancy charges and the harrowing motorcycle accident that stymied his acting career (he says he'd tried out for the T-1000 in Terminator 2 but lost the role due to a limp). He also recounts some of the weird stories behind some of his greatest hits — "Dancing With Myself" was inspired by a Tokyo disco where people stared at themselves in mirrors and "Rebel Yell" was named after a whiskey he drank once with the Rolling Stones. He also writes about his post-drugs fallout in such a heartfelt way that he almost makes a case for reconsidering Cyberpunk. By Kory Grow
4 'Glow: The Autobiography of Rick James,' by Rick James with David Ritz
Those looking simply for stories of sexual and pharmaceutical excess can re-read Mötley Crüe's The Dirt. In Glow, Rick James' posthumously published autobiography with author David Ritz, the funk pioneer surprisingly eschews repetitive freaky tales for a deeper look at an insane life. Sure, there are unflinching looks at the singer's crack binges and violent behavior — an already unbridled id made worse by the death of James' mother — but it's the lesser-known adventures that make this essential reading for those only familiar with James' dark side. A mob-connected dancer mom who smuggled James into the club as a child to see Miles Davis; a chance encounter with future members of the Band, who saved a teenage James from getting his ass kicked; a headache that prevented the musician from hanging out with people who would be murdered by the Manson Family that night. Any hack can make a lost weekend enthralling, James and Ritz can make the history of "Super Freak"'s four-note descending bass line as intriguing as a pipe-filled motel-room breakdown. By Jason Newman
3 'Respect: The Life of Aretha Franklin,' by David Ritz
Back in 1999, David Ritz helped Aretha Franklin write her memoirs, sanitized enough to be allowed into an operating room. This year, he issued Respect, his uncensored 520-page biography of the Queen of Soul, and it's clearly the book he's been preparing to write his whole life. It's stuffed full with revealing interviews from Franklin's family, her musical collaborators and subjects of Ritz's other books, from Smokey Robinson to B.B. King. MVP interview: the saucy Etta James. ("Who wants to admit that you're praising the Lord at the 8 p.m. service and servicing some drop-dead gorgeous hunk of a singer an hour later?") Knowing the details of Franklin's complicated, sometimes painful life — starting with the two sons she had at ages 12 and 14 — helps deepen an appreciation of the pain and passion that fueled her music. By Gavin Edwards
2'Jerry Lee Lewis: His Own Story,' By Rick Bragg
"He did not need a song to make him inappropriate. Jerry Lee Lewis had always been inappropriate, and being a little bit famous did not change it; you can paint a barn white a thousand times, but that won't make it a house." In this gripping biography, Pulitzer winner Rick Bragg tells the story of rock legend Jerry Lee Lewis with the full force of history, poetry and two years of exclusive interviews with the Killer himself. Bragg grounds his story in the texture and tradition of the South, but when he tells the epic tale of the creation of "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On," he captures Lewis's divine madness. Reading the saga of rock's piano pioneer, you will likely agree: "It was like any life, really, but with the dull parts taken out." G.E.
1 'The History of Rock 'n' Roll in Ten Songs,' by Greil Marcus
Greil Marcus carved his stern visage into rock criticism's Mount Rushmore decades ago, but he won't rest on his laurels — and he won't let rock & roll either. And so he kicks off this ferociously cerebral and warmly empathetic super-listicle with a monster sentence that reels off lots of critically acclaimed musicians — it takes, like, five pages — and by the time you've gotten from the beginning (Chuck Berry) to the end (Jay Z), his intent is clear: Forget all of this. Rest assured the 10 songs he picks from there will surprise, and/or amuse, and/or enrage and undoubtedly challenge you: They span from Joy Division (as filtered through that goofy Ian Curtis biopic) to Phil Spector (as filtered through Amy Winehouse) to Etta James (as insufficiently filtered through Beyoncé) and beyond. Whether he's talking Buddy Holly or Cyndi Lauper, Robert Johnson or the Flamin' Groovies, Marcus writes with a philosopher's zeal and a superfan's joy, drawing connections between artists and eras and solar systems you'd never even imagined. It's revisionist history of the best and most necessary kind. By Rob Harvilla
Monday, December 15, 2014
Stream D’Angelo And The Vanguard’s ‘Black Messiah’ Album
The year 2000 feels like a lifetime ago. The world was much different from how it is today. There were no iPhones, no Twitter, no Facebook, and AIM was the way to communicate with your friends. The year 2000 was also the last time D’Angelo dropped an album. Until today. D’Angelo is back with his latest album, entitled Black Messiah. The album, which was first heard at an exclusive listening party in New York yesterday (Dec. 15), features heavy collaboration from fellow Soulquarians Q-Tip and ?uestlove.
The 12-track album features the neo-soul sound that so many artist strive for, but not many can replicate. D’Angelo is back. We predict a spike in the amount of babies born in September 2015. Check out the album stream below, and purchase the album on iTunes here.
Friday, December 5, 2014
John Legend ft. Common | Glory
The Civil Rights movement, in part, was propelled by phenomenal orators in leadership roles, the most poignant of which was Dr. Martin Luther King. As film fans await to see how Selma conveys that story on the silver screen, a powerful song from the official soundtrack called “Glory” by John Legend, featuring G.O.O.D. Music partner Common, has released.
Legend sings, capturing the feeling of a movement that once united a race of people and made the States a more livable place for underprivileged Blacks. Fans will hear the duo’s years of collaborating translate into great chemistry on the soulful, piano-driven record.
Selma hits theaters on Christmas day. Stream Legend’s “Glory” below.
Monday, November 17, 2014
Oyinda | Restless
New York based singer/songwriter/producer Oyinda made her official EP debut this week with the release of Before the Fall. “Each song explores the bittersweet aspects of experience. It marks the moment when I realized I had changed,” Oyinda told Billboard. Of the four tracks on the self-produced EP, “Restless” is the only one we hadn’t previously heard, and feels both timeless and vital as it vividly details feelings of anxiety and fear. Amidst rapid drums and thunderous guitars, the 22-year-old observes “Your mind is restless,/You’re feeling anxious,/You’re running rapid into the dark of your eyes.” With imagistic lines and a storm-like production of winding synths and echoes, “Restless” further proves Oyinda is a highly gifted lyricist with a great ear for palpable, darkly vibrant sounds. Listen to the song below, which premiered on Billboard. Before the Fall is available to purchase on iTunes and stream on Spotify now. Oyinda performs this Saturday, November 15th, at Baby’s All Right in Brooklyn. Follow Oyinda on facebook, twitter, and soundcloud.
Monday, October 27, 2014
WILLOW SMITH | FEMALE ENERGY | FREESTYLE
Willow has come a long way since “Whip My Hair.” The free-spirited Smith, who turns 14 on Halloween, floats above the clouds on her vibey freestyle “Female Energy,” which borrows lyrics from Jhené Aiko’s “The Pressure.”
“It’s really out of my control / How you feel is not my problem,” coos Willow.
Her EP 3 hits iTunes on November 10 featuring three new tracks, which she debuted last week at the Fader Fort during the CMJ Festival in Brooklyn.
Friday, October 10, 2014
ACTION BRONSON X BLACK ATLASS X PARTY SUPPLIES | THE LIGHT IN THE ADDICT
It’s no secret that Action Bronson shines on any beat provided to him by indie producer Party Supplies – just look at the strength of Blue Chips, Volumes 1 & II, or his recently released “Easy Rider,” from Bronsolini’s forthcoming debut studio LP, Mr. Wonderful. It is with great pleasure that we present another collaboration from the two, a jazzy, beautifully orchestrated, piano-driven number called “The Light in the Addict.” The producer’s Fool’s Gold labelmate Black Atlass also appears to provide a verse. While it certainly sounds like a melancholy affair, Party Supplies told Billboard that it’s the “sound of hope and survival and the crossroads of good and bad.” Hear it below:
Saturday, October 4, 2014
The Black Opera | Beginning Of The End | Starring Georgia Anne Muldrow
produced by Tall Black Guy
from The Black Opera's new album "The Great Year"
Stream or purchase The Black Opera’s “The Great Year” via Bandcamp:
Trusted with a culture kept under the concrete, the warning has been spread for years. Many assumed their operations were limited to underground societies or secret networks. But, The Black Opera have been among us all along. The time to hide is behind them. There will be no riot; the revolution has already taken place. The Great Year has come.
The newest movement from The Black Opera is truth. After the telling of the three part epic, The Black Op: Era I, TBO has returned without allegory or allusion. The Great Year is a modern story of emergence and art- a resistance to assimilation. It is a story of triumph and camaraderie and a renaissance of new thinking.
The new album’s influences musically are as diverse as they are aesthetically. From tribal rhythms to overdriven synths and from pulsing drums to intimate vocals, The Great Year’s sound is distinctly its own. Taking on a modern day palette, TBO has envisioned a new world, musically. With orchestration from creative minds like Tall Black Guy, Waajeed, yU and Arjun Singh, The Black Opera have assembled a team to help them communicate their message to the world.
Across the world, people put on the mask to reveal their faces. We are The Black Opera.
credits
released 30 September 2014
Producers: Tall Black Guy, Waajeed, yU, Arjun Singh, Jansport J, Slot-A, The Black Opera,
Featuring: Georgia Anne Muldrow
Executive Produced by Michael Tolle
Mello Music Group Copyright 2014
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Bipolar Sunshine Ft. Goldlink | Future | Part 1
Bipolar Sunshine has a growing rep for crafting soulful music with choruses that pound around your head for hours - but his new number sees things slowed down completely. The track features GoldLink - who's recieved love from Andre 3000 (present at the Old Blue Last for GoldLink's show), Kaytranada (produced one of GoldLink's tracks), Lil Simz (performed at GoldLink's OBL show) and Flying Lotus (booked GoldLink for support at XOYO) - and is pretty sleek and smooth.
We're guessing Part 2 will drop sometime during the near "future".
Saturday, July 19, 2014
DOPE | Bedford Box Office | Wax Poetics | Side C
DOPE by Bedford Box Office (Side C)
Hosted by Bedford Box Office & Wax Poetics
Riding high off the recent issue of Side B, Bedford Box Office keeps up the summertime momentum flowing with the anticipated release of Side C.
Taking on fresh perspectives of the hybrid genre of hip-hop/R&B—as well as classic soul—this tape is an exciting and futuristic mesh that celebrates a new standard for popular music.
Here's a toast to this promising class of newcomers. Enjoy.
DOPE by Bedford Box Office (Side C)
Tracklist:
"DSYLM (Don't Say You Love Me)" Rubee Rayne
"Love" Lauriana Mae
"Black Jaguar" Camille Safiya (Produced by Frankie P.)
"Smoke Pot" Dreamshow
"Bernal Heights" Duckwrth
"Guillotine" Ophelia Cache
Blended by DJ Crystalena
For more information on DOPE and upcoming concerts, please visit www.bedfordboxoffice.com
Free download
DOPE by Bedford Box Office (Side A)
DOPE by Bedford Box Office (Side B)
Thursday, July 10, 2014
Knox Brown | Harry's Code
You should never judge a book by how many superstars it’s written songs for, but with new artist Knox Brown’s star-studded roll call of Jay Z, Aloe Blacc and Mary J Blige, it’s almost impossible to look past it.
“They heard my music and wanted to work,” explains the Jamaican-born musician. “I feel so humbled and slightly gassed. This is what I’ve been dreaming of for the longest while!”
The first Knox Brown track to surface explored dreaming, but not necessarily his. In ‘Redemption Song’ he samples Martin Luther King, Muhammad Ali, Louis Farrakhan and Nelson Mandela to construct a powerful, piano-led track with a smooth Marley-inspired vocal hook over a Southern-style hip-hop beat.
“It wasn’t something I had planned, it sort of happened,” admits Knox, “but the message in that song is basically me looking back at the past and learning from these role models, seeing what people go through and still persevere. Out of a bad situation may come inspiration.”
He’s working on a EP now, and recently released another number called ‘Harry’s Code’ online. Where ‘Redemption Song’ felt more like a bite of Knox’s influences and beliefs, this track is a more complete single. He champions seeing music “without barriers”, and it starts off appropriately, like a classic dub cut, before the electric guitars and percussion slip into a funk and soul swagger, emphasising Knox’s lyrical potential and Jamaican English delivery.
“My first real introduction was when I was at a friend’s house,” begins Knox, explaining his musical genesis. “He put this game called Music 2000 in his PlayStation and my addiction for music production was born after seeing how he was making beats. Whilst in Year 10 at school, I made my first mixtape the summer after and sold 20 copies.”
It’s hard to believe, but the Knox Brown story is only just warming up.
SZA & JILL SCOTT | DIVINITY
Producer Om’Mas Keith (Frank Ocean, Earl Sweatshirt) brings together soul sisters SZA and Jill Scott for one chill collaboration. TDE’s First Lady and the Philly songstress craft an effortless seven-and-a-half-minute track entitled “Divinity” with Keith at the boards.
Friday, May 2, 2014
Mizan | Thru
NY-based Mizan is a relatively new songwriter and vocally-gifted musician who has released her debut Dark Blue EP, and is one by one unveiling each track off this nuanced release. Setting ahead the goal of creating and working by her own convictions, based on her Ethiopian upbringing, Mizan’s strong character has allowed her to define her individual emotive sound.
The third single off her Dark Blue EP is the deep, dusk-flavoured “Thru” and never could a title of an EP be so fitting for the musical tone of its tracks. Mizan creates an urban dreamscape of synthesised beats and minimal keyboard accompaniments, in which the upbeat motion of the track perfectly compliments Mizan’s soulful voice. While being softly-spoken, Mizan lyrically sounds at ease and confident, like a sort of metropolitan Sensei, philosophising and preaching about love, life and the universe.
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
Kelela x Tink | Want It | Behind The Scenes
Ever since she released her progressive and promising debut mixtape CUT 4 ME in 2013, R&B singer/songwriter Kelela continues to impress with new material like the bass-heavy “The High” and the Bok Bok-assisted “Melba’s Call”.
Her latest, “Want It”, is a collaboration with rising Chicago singer/rapper Tink and features production courtesy of DJ Dahi.
The song, which was commissioned by Yours Truly for its Songs From Scratch series, is sensual and understated.
DJ Dahi’s click-clack percussion and ambient synths provide an inviting canvas for Kelela’s soulful hooks and Tink’s laid back verses. Listen in below.
"Want It"
Produced by DJ Dahi
Additional production by J.lbs & Patrick Wimberly
Mixed by Patrick Wimberly
Mastered by Chris Gehringer
Watch a behind the scenes look at the making of the song.
facebook.com/kelelamusic
twitter.com/kelelam
www.instagram.com/kelelam
www.facebook.com/pages/Tink-G/507021099348104
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Monday, April 28, 2014
The Soul Diaries | Ch 14
The Soul Diaries : Chapter 14.
You know what to do - sit back, relax and let the chill vibes take over.
Track list Below
Tourist ft. Will Heard - I Can't Keep Up (Dub mix)
Mitch Murder - Mirage (@sevnthwonder rmx)
Alicia Keys - Feeling You, Feeling Me (@gdna-music rmx)
Kendrick Lamar – Swimming Pools (Sleepin Giant rmx)
@Goldbloc – Runaway
Logic ft. Jhene Aiko – Break It Down (Louis Futon rmx)
Natsu – Harikiri
Usher + DJ Clue = My Way (Duncan Gerow rmx)
Coming To (AbJo's Break you off refix) vip mix
@ChillChap & @sirabstraxxx – Bck & 4th
Aye, Yu – Open Mind
Lenny Kravitz - I Belong To You (Nick Wisdom edit)
Nice Guy x Vinny – Savannah
Jay Prince ft. Emmavie – Summer Breeze
Alina Baraz & Galimatias – Make You Feel
Mila J – Smoke, Drink, Break-up
Freshtone – Hazel Zebra
Kianu - Silky(prod. Waz)
Nick Hindu – We're all mad here (sunshine rmx)
Young G – Anti-Lilly (Phoniks rmx)
@Awon @Phoniks @Dephlow – Real Hip Hop
@Vainsmith – California Parkway prod. Omito
Prie – Time (prod. Chemist)
Sango x GoldLink – Wassup
Chuck Inglish – Money Clip
Letters to the sun – mile high club
Sunni colon – Temple (starRo rmx)
Sza ft. Kendrick Lamar – Babylon
Scenic Route – J Louis
Ayatollah – I Just Love Music (ft. Anthony Hamilton)
The physics – on deck
Moods – Hold Tight
D'Angelo – Spanish Joint (Kero One rmx)
Led Zeppelin- Ramble on (Souleance edit)
Friday, April 25, 2014
Kero One x D'Angelo | Spanish Joint | Remix
Thanks to Kero One, the already beautiful “Spanish Joint” gets pimped and polished into this upbeat and sunshine-y new remix.
Thursday, April 10, 2014
Boddhi Satva ft. Zé Péquénio | Stop Jealousy
Boddhi Satva Stop Jealousy feat. Zé Péquénio (Ancestral Soul Mix)
Known as the ‘Father of Ancestral Soul Music’, Boddhi Satva is a musician, DJ, producer and cultural ambassador …. His creativity and unique style of music is bewitching, his recent publicity ….”tour de France” saw him being branded the ‘Father of Ancestral Soul Music’.
Some years ago Grammy winner Louie Vega, also known as the ‘Godfather of House Music’, hand-picked Boddhi to be an elite producer for Vega Records and a resident of Vega DJ tours. From that relationship, under the watchful eye of this Master at Work, Satva created the beautiful album project Invocation.
Taken from that album is this monster remix package which features the production talents of Vega and Satva, along side king of techno Carl Craig and Simbad … who over 3 albums and more than 200 productions & remixes has built a solid reputation among his peers, making him a very in demand DJ on the international circuit with electronic sets full of surprises for the pleasure of smiling clubbers…positive vibes guaranteed!
● Boddhi Satva
http://www.traxsource.com/artist/1989/boddhi-satva
https://www.facebook.com/boddhisatvapage2?fref=ts
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
Lady Alma | It's House Music
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Yoruba Records is honoured to bring to you the incomparable Lady Alma.
Coming from the roots of that Philly soul sound, she quickly became synonymous with house music. Her powerful voice and empowering lyrics lift generations to fully understand self-worth and self-love.
Osunlade is a force within the foundation of house music. Born at the intersection of funk, jazz, blues and rock n roll, he injected new sounds into house with his pristine production and respect for the harmonizing roots of all music. These two dynamic souls join forces in an explosive song.
It's House Music takes us back to a time when one would stand in the alley of the warehouse district in sub-zero weather to hear the latest grooves of the night, dancing till dawn and emerging only for breakfast and a bed. It's House Music’ will have you dancing all night long with its infectious hook and anthem to house music itself.
Lady Alma's soul stirring powerhouse vocal perfectly marries the mood and movement of this multidimensional sonic offering. This mix will have the world passing the plate from the dance floors of Chicago, Detroit, New York and Philly to the shores of Cape Town and Nigeria.
Written by Osunalde & Alma Horton
Produced by Osunlade
Co-Produced by Rob Paine & Lady Alma
All Instruments by Osunlade
All Vocals by Lady Alma
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