The unstoppable Azealia Banks (recently confirmed to join the line-up of this year's Coachella ) makes some serious R&B-Girl moves on her latest insta-banger "NEEDSUMLUV", a contagious force of all-sung, forward-thinking urban-pop (based around the beat of producer Machinedrum 's Aaliyah-sampling "SXLND" ) in which she takes on the role of the "other woman" with the goal set on eventually becoming the "main woman". "You ain't in love with her/ But she still lives in your heart/ But you be in my apartment, tearin me apart...", naughtily sings Banks, lacing the [...]
After first catching our ears with debut entry "Falling" a few months back, Swedish electro-R&B duo Newtimers have returned with a second preview from their upcoming Ego project in "January Love", a mid-tempo ballad that continues to see the act toiling in a 802s soul-inspired vibe with fantastic results. Whereas "Fallin'" leaned more youthful freak-you-up funk though, "January" is all grown-folk soul seduction, a DeBarge-meets-Maxwell slow jam pondering over the exciting unpredictability of a romantic union's future possibilities ("Love keeps asking where to go/ Honestly, honestly I don't know/ But let's carry [...]
Following the crisp clarity Nite Jewel (aka L.A.-based DIY pop-funk chanteuse Ramona Gonzalez) somewhat shockingly brought forth on the highlight title track of the act's 2010 Am I Real? EP, new single "She's Always Watching You" finds the entity settling even more comfortably in woozy-free/ "lyrics you can actually understand" territory. Miles away from the murky, four-track-based experimental feel that typified NJ's earliest material, "Watching" takes all the sweet R&B, funk and freestyle-pop references that teasingly simmered beneath their initial lo-fi production aesthetic and pitches them in [...]
Reason No. 44,567 why the Swedes are incapable of making bad music: This sexy-time gem from the Stockholm-based Newtimers (songwriter/ producer duo Andreas Cavaco and Tim Lundblad) that conjures up an 8-bit electro-soul wonderland seemingly built from the combined inspiration of Chromeo and '802s funk acts Slave and Ready For The World. Boasting images of "naked bodies on the kitchen floor" that make the "neighbors envious" and brow-raising lines like "Singing while you cumming/ I could hear you falling for me" atop a cheap-sounding Casio groove, the naughty "Falling" inches pretty close into being some SNL [...]
It's too bad we've just come to discover the gorgeous, glistening electro-based R&B-pop sounds of DIY UK/ US duo Pandr Eyes with summer now coming to a close, because we're pretty sure the few songs the unsigned act have out would've earned heavy rotation by us throughout the hotter-than-hot season. The dreamy "Little Bit", with it's floaty, understated coos (brought to life by singer and songwriter Ferren) and shimmering layers of synths that seem to drift by in slow motion (helmed by producer Tom) sounds like a demo-stage The-Dream/ Mariah Carey collaboration made in the bedroom [...]
With highlighted appearances on recent projects from Gorillaz, SBTRKT and Maximum Balloon, not to mention an ever-increasing cult-like fandom surrounding their first two albums (20072s Little Dragon , 20092s Machine Dreams ) and live shows, it's safe to say that the hype over Swedish experimental synth-pop-meets-neo-soul outfit Little Dragon is in peak form right about now, creating the perfect climate of buzz and anticipation for them to release a brand new album in, especially one that easily steals the prize in being their best so far. [...]
Swedish electro-neo-soul outfit Little Dragon have seen their fanbase expand greatly over the past year thanks to their high-profile two-track guest gig on the Gorillaz' Plastic Beach album and word-of-mouth hype over their live shows fueling Johnny-come-lately appreciation for their first two releases (20072s Little Dragon and 20092s Machine Dreams ); now, amidst their biggest buzz yet as a band, curiosity is high for what's to be delivered on their forthcoming third effort, Ritual Union . Judging by [...]
With their 2010 EP Social Studies (we're a bit tardy with the love, but so what), Brooklyn four-piece Body Language prove that all electro-pop needn't be soulless whiz/bang/whoosh exercises: music made by Robots From The Future can have groove and be sensual too. On delicious opening cut "You Can", BL give us both, delivering hypnotic layerings of strobe light synths and sharp claps that seem to just melt into the ears, while filling the room with a thickened naughty naughty wink wink vibe further heightened by the flirtatious quotes ("You play my [...]
Electro-pop newcomers Smokey Robotic are one of those acts who strain to be "unique" by hiding behind non-human characters (bear aliens, or something, in their case) and mythological origin stories only to push out less-than-extraordinary anonymous club fare that one would hear backgrounding a "night out" scene on prime-time TV or the big screen to the faux-delight of non-line-having extras all giddily dancing to their own individual beat. Typically, getting something like this in the inbox would lead to a quick dismissal to the Recycle Bin, but after a couple curious listens led to [...]
For most of 2010, Last Train To Paris felt like a...well, train wreck waiting to happen. With some questionable leakages, flop singles and numerous push-backs of the album's release, it felt like the album would never come out, let alone be one anyone wanted to actually listen to (was anybody really looking forward to an Auto-Tuned Diddy's own version of 8082s & Heartbreak ?). And don't even get us started on the name change from Dirty Money to the clunky Diddy-Dirty Money . Upon [...]
As lame as adding an extra "i" to your name in an attempt to give your stagnant career some sort of re-boot might seem, it's quite understandable why the artist formerly known as Amerie would want to start anew: despite being the voice behind some of the past decade's most exciting R&B singles (the critically acclaimed 2001 jam "1 Thing" being at the top of the pile), girl has struggled to catch a break commercially, her last effort, 20092s In Love And War , failing to get anywhere close to the [...]
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), [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
"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 [...]
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Karmin – “Broken Hearted” and “I Told You So” 2/11 SNL
The Best Whitney Houston Covers: A Tribute
