Category: "new music"
RIDING OUT OF 2008
Since I spend so much time buried in older music, my end-of-the-year lists can never properly be based around just new tunes. Especially in 2008, I'm certain I spent considerably more time listening to music from 30-40 years ago than I did new material and so my list of favorites would feel artificial without including old and new together. With that, onto my picks of the year.
NEW:
Solange Knowles: I Decided
From Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams (Geffen, 2008)
When I first heard this in early summer, I kept thinking, "it's got the build-up of a Supremes song but then never delivers. The Neptunes' beat just felt weird as a result and I initially dismissed it. Yet, each time I'd hear it, I'd just want to keep listening longer, maybe subconsciously waiting for the "real" beat to drop, but whatever the case, I soon enjoyed it for what it was - infectious pop in the best tradition of Ross and her Supremes. This was, much to my surprise, my favorite pop single of the year.
Q-Tip: Getting Up
From The Renaissance (Motown, 2008)
Not that I haven't already written enough about Q-Tip this year but I'm still marveling at how good a comeback he's made. It's one thing to want to champion an artist, it's another thing when they exceed your expectations. Q-Tip's return was set off by the excellence of this first single that told you some of his ol' magic was back.
Raphael Saadiq: Seven
From The Way I See It (FYE Exclusive) (Columbia, 2008)
For all my reservations, I still think Saadiq pulled off one of the best crafted albums of the year, bringing together a masterful blend of '60s soul styles onto one album. However, my favorite song of his this year was actually a bonus cut from the "FYE exclusive" version (who the hell is FYE?): "Seven." I was told that this song is actually a veiled reference to Michael Vick (#7) and if you listen to the lyrics with that in mind, you can hear it. Even without that weird, pop culture nod though, I like how everything on this song comes together: the reverb on the melancholy guitars, the tap of the tambourine, and most of all, that synthesizer that comes in on the chorus with its buzzy texture.
Menahan Street Band: Home Again!
From Make the Road By Walking (Dunham, 2008)
Funk instrumental albums are a relatively rare breed but Brooklyn's Menahan Street Band pulled off one of the slickest albums in that vein this side of the James Brown Band circa Popcorn. Off that, I couldn't stop listening to "Home Again!" which has this beautifully laid-back feel thanks to the mellow guitar and horn section. Not sure why they put a ! on the title of such a languid composition but I'm more than happy to shout its praises.
Mayer Hawthorne and the County: Just Ain't Gonna Work Out
From 7" single (Stones Throw, 2008)
This Detroit native turned L.A. transplant takes Allen Toussaint's drums and lays it under a simple but catchy melody and then unleashes that soulful falsetto to get the groove right. Heartbreak rarely sounded so achingly sweet.
OLD:
Edwin Starr: Running Back and Forth
From War & Peace (Gordy, 1970)
My friend Hua Hsu put me up on this after I had bugged him for some music recommendations. The best known song off this album is, of course, Starr's "War," and it's easy to have lost sight of this other track compared to the sheer magnitude of "War's" success and iconic stature. But this song oozes with classic Motown production strengths of its era (RIP Norman Whitfield!), especially in its brass and the driving push of the sound bed. Seriously, try to piece apart all the little bits of the music; it is dense yet comes off sounding clean and simple. In contrast to Starr's forceful polemicizing on "War," here, he's in classic love man mode, trying to kick some game. (Bonus points for the Sam Cooke nod on the bridge).
Labi Siffre: A Little More Line
From S/T (Pye, 1970)
This British singer, songwriter and poet has a voice you can't soon forget - it's not the most powerful, nor the most dynamic - but it is so distinctive and soothing, it stays with you long after the song's end. I especially love how this song builds from an almost hymnal opening only to swell in size and sound with the string orchestration and some killer work on the drums. Siffre's entire catalog from the '70s is classic material (even if many of you probably have never heard of him). This was from his debut album and it's just as good of a place to start as any to enjoy his gifts.
Alton Ellis: What Does It Take To Win Your Love
From Sunday Coming (Coxsone, 1971)
There is something humbling discovering this song the year of Ellis' death. My awareness of him preceded his passing but I had been giving Ellis' cover of Jr. Walker's hit much spin in the first part of the year that when Ellis passed away in October, I found myself coming back to his catalog again and again. Ellis was arguably reggae's finest soul man, not just with his covers but also original compositions.
The Impressions: I'm Loving Nothing
From This Is My Country (Curtom, 1968)
In a year of Obama's ascendency, there are no doubt more apropos songs from the Impressions' catalog but the song of theirs that will haunt me is "I'm Loving Nothing." Its beauty seems almost profane given that this is all about the death of love. Not something you'd want as a first dance at your wedding but doesn't it sound like an embrace rather than slow turn away?
Bonnie and Shelia: You Keep Me Hanging On
From 7" (King, 1971). Also on New Orleans Funk Vol. 2.
King is best known as the home of James Brown for many of his pivotal funk productions of the late 60s but at least for this single, the Cincinnati-based label picked up a slice of NOLA funk thanks to this excellently produced tune from Wardell Quezerque. One of my new favorite femme funk tracks, "You Keep Me Hanging On" reminds me a lot of the snap and sass of Jean Knight's "Mr. Big Stuff." Hang with it.
BOTH OLD AND NEW:
Alicia Keys: Teenage Love Affair
From As I Am (J Records, 2007)
I know this album came out in 2007 but, um, I just started to listening to it this past week and "Teenage Love Affair" has been on constant rotation since. Single-song-repeat rotation. Part of why I'm so taken by it is how Jack Splash juices up the loop from the Temprees and gives Keys' tune such a richness and catchy drive. The other half is how Keys handles this song with just the right blend of coquettish sexuality and chaste charm. I think I have a school boy crush on "Teenage Love Affair."
DJ Day: What's Goin' On (DJ Day Edit)
From 7" single (MPM, 2008)
This single just came out a week or so ago and it finds California's DJ Day reworking an alternative version of Marvin Gaye's classic "What's Goin' On" in a way so clean and organic that even Motown fanatics would swear it was a lost tape from Motown's vaults. I don't know why it sounds so perfect with the season but there's something warm and comforting about this that makes you want to wrap yourself in it.
KANYE WEST: TUNED OUT
Kanye West: Say You Will
Kanye West: Coldest Winter
From 808s and Heartbreak (Roc-A-Fella, 2008)
I have to admit: when I first heard Kanye West was going to record an entire album singing - with Auto-tune no less - I figured it was going to be an unmitigated disaster.
Then I heard the album.
808s and Heartbreaks isn't going to end up as my favorite West CD (that still is Late Registration) but it's surprisingly more compelling than I would have predicted and as clear a sign as any that West's creative vision is far more ambitious and grand than his public exploits may suggest.
For one thing, this album is a stark departure from his last three and I do mean stark. The entire vibe of the album is stripped down, cold and mechanical - that's the "808s". His dabbling into more electronic production (vs. sampling soul records) has never been more thoroughly explored; many of the songs feature surprisingly minimalist textures (let the Kid A comparisons begin!)
This, of course, is what bridges in the Auto-tune effect. If you already have a musical bed that's mechanized, dropping in robotic vocals fits right in but the connection here goes beyond just the complementary sound.
After all, 808s was recorded following the tragic and unexpected death of West's mother last year and given that the album is 12 tracks of songs about lost love, even though he never addresses his mother by name, it's enough to assume his focus on heartbreak isn't strictly about romantic failures.
In essence, West is distancing his grief topically (by talking about failed relationships rather than personal tragedy) and the sound of the album abets that too. Singing through Auto-tune is a way to NOT sound human, to hide ones pain or intimate affect behind a wall of software artifacts. Especially considering how warm West's albums usually sound, 808s is an ice cold effort, a further way to push the sonic force of the album outward rather than inward. 808s may be an R&B album (it's certainly pop and definitely not hip-hop), but you can't really call it a soul album since "soul" is precisely what's absent here. West is digitally distant, both in sound and emotion. In that respect, this may be one of West's greatest creative achievements - capturing such a distinct mood and carrying it through an entire album, sonically, lyrically, etc.
Surprisingly too, the Auto-tune becomes far less relevant to the album's strengths or weaknesses once you've sat with it. Perhaps it's because we're so used to it but it's also that the sound of it melds so well into the rest of the album, its artificialness is actually rather natural in context. I do hope this is Kanye's first and last experiment with the program but far from ruining the album, I have to admit it actually enhances it.
ILLA J: THE OTHER YANCEY
Illa J: Timeless
Illa J: All Good
From Yancey Boys (Delicious Vinyl, 2008)
I have to admit - there's something just slightly unsettling about the younger brother of the late J-Dilla releasing an album, featuring all Jay Dee beats, and named "Illa J" to boot. At the very least, it has the appearance of coattail-riding - not the best way to make a debut as your own artist, least of all when the person wearing the coat is passed.
The thing is though: Illa J actually has strengths all his own as both rapper and singer so he could have found a way to make his mark without necessarily needing to flash the Yancey name but of course, for the legions of folks still mourning Jay Dee's unexpected death in 2006, any excuse to hear more beats from him, whether for his lil bro or not, is a good thing. And overall, Yancey Boys is a good thing, nagging perturbations aside.
Apparently, the bulk of the beats are taken from Dilla's 1990s vaults which would explain why they do sound closer to the kind of Ummah-style tracks he was making with A Tribe Called Quest and Pharcyde. For those who've meticulously analyzed Dilla's styles, Yancey Boys offers a treasure trove of beats to ponder; like uncovering a stash of early career Van Goghs previously collecting dust in a warehouse. Expect a lot of mellow, ambient textures, lurching keyboard slaps and crisp drums (ah, remember when all hip-hop songs had "crisp drums").
"Timeless" is actually more conventional though - a simple (but sweet) jazz piano loop and basic drum track. "All Good" has more of that off-kilter Dilla magic going on with its muted horn snippets playing "The Look of Love," while a güiro rip unexpectedly enters the frame; many of the best Dilla tracks sounded best when they sounded just slightly wrong.
As for Illa J, I found him much more interesting as a singer than a rapper. He has this post-D'Angelo falsetto going on that works quite well with the soft fabric of the tracks and more to the point, helps accentuate the inherent soulfulness that permeates the album. You hear that well on "Timeless," which is suffused in the kind of melancholia that was always an undercurrent in his brother's production. As a rapper, Illa J is competent enough, with a precision flow that hits all the right rhythmic marks but isn't that memorable otherwise, topically, lyrically or otherwise.
However, as someone who can sing and rap, Illa J - like fellow L.A. artist Aloe Blacc - is a double-threat in terms of versatility. And while it's a pleasure to listen to practically any Dilla beats from the vaults, it will be more interesting to see Illa J go off on his own and make a name for himself and not just as "the younger brother." On "Alien Family," cameo guest Frank Nitty suggests that unworldly talent runs through the Yancey veins - Illa J deserves the chance to prove that theory.
Q-TIP REVISITED: THE RENAISSANCE
Tags: samples
Q-Tip: Won't Trade
Q-TIp: Believe (feat. D'Angelo)
From The Renaissance (Motown, 2008)
Ruby Andrews: You Made a Believer Out Of Me
From 7" (Zodiac, 1969). Also on Casanova.
Large Professor: For My People
From The LP (Geffen, unreleased, 1995)
I know I just wrote about Q-Tip the other week but having sat with the new album for a few...I have to say, this is one phenomenal album. I know I may be biased - like many rap fans who grew up in the 1990s, Q-Tip and A Tribe Called Quest might very have been to us what the Beatles were to my parents' generation. Especially given that Q-Tip has been incognito now for the last 9 years, since Amplifeid dropped (and Kamaal The Abstract did not), Q-Tip's coming back into the game at a risky time. Young bucks don't necessarily know him and old heads might have too-high expectations after such a long hiatus.
I can't speak to whether The Renaissance is going to intuitively appeal to the same cats bumping T.I. and Young Jeezy (though, in T.I.'s case, maybe they are) but as an old head, The Renaissance not only reminds us why Q-Tip was one of our favorite MCs a decade but he's also - remarkably - improved in that time off. I can't think of too many other rappers who could claim that but Tip's upgraded his flow. It's more rhythmically complex, more in-the-pocket yet can play off the beat when it wants to. Listen to how he just darts effortlessly on "Won't Trade" - this is not the same laconic, breezy flow from the days of "Bonita Applebaum."
Personally, I was also tickled by the fact that Tip uses one of my favorite femme funk singles of all time: Ruby Andrews' "You Made a Believer" out of me. Andrews' original is ferocious - I think that's the Brothers of Soul backing her and they cook up a monster of a funk mover here.
Q-Tip's sample choice actually has some Native Tongues resonance since De La Soul used the same loop all the way back in 1989 for a bonus skit called "Brain Washed Follower."
However, as I just suggested, Q-Tip is still down with the Abstract Poet vibe, recreating some of the magic of the Tribe era with songs that have a rich, emotional resonance thanks to the soul and jazz stylings and accented by Tip's own philosophical meditations. A track like "Believe" (the album's penultimate song) embodies the same qualities that Tip's embodied throughout his career - putting the MIA D'Angelo in the mix only enhances the sweetness.
I was enjoying the track so much, I didn't notice this right away but it dawned on me that it sounded familiar and then it hit me - this version of "Believe" interpolates a very similar beat to what Large Professor cooked up all the way back in 1996 for his doomed solo debut, The LP. In some ways, the two men share more than just musical tastes - both had bitter label experiences resulting from unreleased projects. Though Large Professor's new Main Source hasn't garnered the same attention (or strong reviews), there's a nice serendipity to having the unreleased song from one man's album being remade for the comeback album of the other.
Seriously though, The Renaissance is a great listen; highly recommended. (Be sure to check out "Move," an incredible two-part song.)
Lastly, we have to acknowledge and celebrate what an incredible new day it is in America:
MUSIC FOR OUR MESS-AGE
Tags: mixtapes
Whatever you may think of Barack Obama as a potential president, it's undeniable that his candidacy has spurred a reaction from the hip-hop community the likes that I haven't seen in a generation. I don't want to go off on the typical "rap these days is so apolitical, blah blah" routine but let's be honest about this - for the last eight years, in one of the most divisive political climates we've seen since the Vietnam War era, the amount of political content in hip-hop has been stagnant at best, regressive at worst. You can blame that on apathy (or equally/more likely - media consolidation that's cut off avenues of dissent in mainstream music) but whatever the case, it's only in the last few months that I've really seen a major change and that's largely because of Obama.
The symbolic import of potentially seeing a Black person become president cannot be understated. Pundits joke about Obama being treated as a Messiah and while there is certainly a significant amount of facile hype, for several generations of Americans, the prospect of seeing our national leader finally be someone other than another White guy justifiably fills folks with sense of giddy excitement. Heck, I'm not even sure I like a lot of Obama's policies but even I can feel the power of the moment. Symbolism may not translate into material improvement but symbolism is important, especially in a society through which so many mythologies are woven.
This, I'm suggesting, explains why there's been so many "Obama mixes" created over the last few weeks, now circulating through the interweb. And I, for one, am genuinely impressed by these acts of inspiration. Here's a Side Dishes pick through some of the better ones:
King Most is a Bay Area DJ who first released this about a month ago. Most's mix is built around a series of songs that, thematically, match up with what he sees as the spirit of the candidate. The track selection begins excellently with with Smoked Sugar's "I'm a Winner" and from there, Most crafts a party mix that jumps from contemporary soul remixes (Erykah Badu's "Soldier") to some classic, dusty crate funk (Skull Snaps' "It's a New Day") to politicized hip-hop (Pitbull's "American War"). The mixing is smooth and consistent with a little flavor thrown on top but not too much. At various points, Most mixes in speeches and other spoken word bits to remind you that's there's a message behind the music.
Z-Trip's known for his eclectic mixes and this one is no different. Like King Most, Z's set is based off of thematic resonance with the election season - songs meant to inspire, uplift, outrage, etc. Keeping things on the hush, there's no tracklisting but from my ears, I caught some Last Poets, Public Enemy's "Black Steel In the Hour of Chaos," a Bob Marley cover, Arrested Development's "Everyday People," and...NuShooz's "I Can't Wait." Throughout, Z-Trip also sprinkles in bits from Obama's speeches, using them to play against the songs (as he does with that NuShooz track). His penultimate song? Sam Cooke's "A Change Gonna Come" - somewhat predictable but its impact is felt all the same.
Ok, technically, this isn't really an Obama mix since the bulk of it is like any other DJ Premier mixtape you'd hear - joints he produced, lots of mixing and cutting, etc. The main difference is the intro where Premier goes mad DJ on folks (as only Primo can). Here's the highlight: "if you want change, it's up to you motherf*ckers! Everywhere I go, across the world, people fight for their rights! Here in America, motherf*ckers is p*ssy, acting like they can't do sh*t, start doing some sh*t, otherwise you ain't doing sh*t! Make sense? It does now, because I said so!"
That alone is worth the time to download.
By the way, there was one other prominent mix:
And oh yeah: go vote on November 4th. You can't hope for change and not play your part by at least taking yourself to vote.
MENAHAN STREET BAND: THE ROAD LESS TRAVELLED
Menahan Street Band: Make the Road By Walking
Menahan Street Band: Home Again!
From Make the Road By Walking (Dunham, 2008)
The Menahan Street Band (MSB) comes out of the Daptone Records camp - the Band's leader, guitarist Tommy "TNT" Brenneck, is part of the Dap-Kings (of Sharon Jones/Amy Winehouse fame) and he branches off here with a remarkable instrumental soul album where Brenneck himself plays guitar, bass, drums, organ and piano while having back-up from some of the leading Brooklyn soul players such as Leon Michels (of Truth and Soul), trumpeter Dave Guy and vibraphonist Toby Pazner, among several others. (For the full line-up, see here).
"Instrumental soul" is a rather awkward label - most folks would just call it "jazz" and I'm not one to get too hung up on genre labels. At the end of the day, the music is soulful and that's all that matters. MSB does bear similarities to another underrated album in the same ilk from a few years back, the El Michels Affair's Sounding Out the City and both share a knack for patient, but intricate arrangements, strong rhythm sections and to me, the deal-sealer - excellent horn sections that fill the tracks with a sense of drama and intensity.
That's certainly the case on "Make the Road by Walking," which first came out last fall and was promptly (remarkably fast!) sampled by Jay-Z for "Roc Boys". You can hear how the power of the brass is what Jay-Z's track zeroes in on.
However, my favorite parts of the MSB album are sometimes the subtler, quieter parts - such as that guitar that begins "Home Again!" and how the bassline lines slide in as a warm, but understated complement to the brighter parts of the melody. There's a lot going on in the song and you have to marvel and how well the pieces fit together - it's sublime.
In case you're curious to hear what the MSB sound like with vocals thrown on - check out Dunham's 7" single version of "Tired of Fighting" with Charles Bradley singing over it.
By the way, it'd be wonderful for a week to go by without having to acknowledge the death - or deaths - of remarkable artists but these days, it just seems like we're losing more and more everyday. As some of you likely have heard, Levi Stubbs, lead singer for the Four Tops with his legendary baritone, passed away last week. My fellow Vibe.com blogger, Mark Anthony Neal, wrote an excellent post on Stubbs and his legacy.
I wanted to also acknowledge the passing of Dee Dee Warwick. Dee Dee was the older sister to Dionne Warwick but despite a long recording career, she never enjoyed the same successes as her younger sibling. It's a shame because Dee Dee had one of those voices that could pierce through any setting and demand attention. Here's one of my personal favorites:
Dee Dee Warwick: Foolish Fool
From Foolish Fool (Mercury, 1969). Also on Best Of.
Meanwhile, be sure to check out Soul Sides for a sneak peak at new soul cover songs by John Legend and Seal.
ROBIN THICKE: MR. HARMONY
Robin Thicke: Magic
Robin Thicke: Ms. Harmony
From Something Else (Star Trak, 2008)
I've always found Robin Thicke to be a curious figure in soul. It's not because he's white, though race is never entirely absent from any discussion of American music; it's more because he manages to be recognizably derivative on so many levels yet simultaneously, compelling too.
When Thicke sings, it's easy to trace the lineages he's tapping into: most obviously Marvin Gaye (though what soul artist doesn't try to channel Marvin?), Donny Hathaway, Smokey Robinson and a little post-Jackson 5, pre-Wacko Jacko, Michael Jackson too. Even on this new album, his third, Thicke's songs often call up the memory of someone else: "Hard On My Love" sounds exactly like a Lenny Kravitz tune, "Sidestep" has a Boz Scaggs-swagger going for it and "Sweetest Love" recalls Stevie Wonder's signature inflections.
In post-modern theory, they call this "pastiche" but in simpler terms, I think it reflects how Thicke has studied and absorbed these styles from the past and synthesized them into his own range of sounds. It helps that he's an expert craftsman, especially as a producer. He's especially found of acoustic melodies - a stark contrast to the synthesizer assault elsewhere in pop and hip-hop - and accomplishes an astonishing amount with small textures that, added together, can create a "big" sound. It's no wonder that everyone from Lil Wayne to Jennifer Hudson want to work with him but with this new album (his third) Thicke shows that he doesn't need bigger names just to make his own.
I don't unconditionally love Something Else; there's a few songs I can do without, especially "Shadow of Doubt," which leans far too much on an obnoxiously aggressive chorus. Other uptempo songs are better - the most likable being his first single, "Magic," which sports some fantastically dramatic strings and a bank of horns that crash in on the dancefloor. However, Thicke's main strength is with the ballads - not only are these where his musical talents are given the most freedom to build more intricately but he also tends to bring out his falsetto on the slow jams (vs. his faster songs which use his tenor).
Oddly, for a singer whose voice is clearly patterned off the soul legends of the '70s, Thicke's falsetto lacks the kind of bare-chested sexuality you could hear in the crooning seductions of people like Marvin or Al Green. If anything, at its most wispy (such as on "Cry No More") Thicke's voice is much closer to that of sensitive folk rockers like Nick Drake. There's an emotional vulnerability in both styles of singing but soul falsettos harken back to the ecstatic-ness of gospel (with sin and sensuality waiting in the wings) whereas even when Thicke is singing his bedroom anthem, "Loverman," his singing is just a tad too icy in timbre to embody the sexual allure suggested in the lyrics.
That cool-ness serves him well elsewhere however, especially on the album's sweetest confection, "Ms. Harmony." Here, Thicke doesn't borrow from soul so much as bossa-nova; the song's mellifluent guitar, soft Brazilian percussion and Thicke's own honeyed vocals bring the legacy of someone like Antonio Carlos Jobim into the present but without losing the romantic melancholy that bossa invokes (listen also to "You're My Baby" for another example).
SOLANGE KNOWLES: STILL STANDING SOLO
Solange Knowles: I Decided
Solange Knowles: 6 O'Clock Blues
From Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams (Geffen, 2008)
It can't be easy being Solange Knowles; as much as she may insist on her new album's first song, "God-Given Name," "I'm no 'sister'; I'm just my god-given name" the first comparison anyone will make - and reasonably so - is to Beyonce. When you're the younger sibling of the biggest R&B diva on the planet, it's inevitable that you're going to get prepared. The question here isn't whether you're going to avoid the issue - it's whether you can step up like Venus and Serena or end up as one of the lesser Baldwin brothers.
To her credit, it's not like Solange just dropped in from nowhere; this is her second album (though you'd be forgiven if you forgot her first one, Solo Star, since it didn't make much of a splash) and she was an important contributor as a songwriter to some of Destiny's Child's hits. And with Sol-Angel, she has one bonafide great pop song on this album: "I Decided" which came out earlier, in late spring. I have to be honest: my initial reaction to it went in this order, 1) "sounds like Solange is on that Amy Winehouse/retro-soul tip", 2) "this is a weird beat...did Mark Ronson do it? What? The Neptunes? Really?" and 3) "I can't help myself - I'm really feeling this."
And seriously, it is a weird track, obviously nodding to Motown style production but usually, that clap track you hear at the beginning eventually gives way into the full band but in this case, "I Decided" is all build-up and never really gets to the expected release. It creates a strange - and ultimately infectious - tension to the song, always promising to drop the musical hammer but instead, keeps you waiting the whole way through. I still can't quite explain it but of all the summer songs I went through the last few months, this was, by far, my sustained favorite. Bonus points to Solange for this line: "your mind is like a prism/for God's light to shine through." I just like how that sounds.
This praise aside, as you listen through Sol-Angel, what becomes rather clear is that musically, this is a considerably better album than it is vocally. Beyonce doesn't have the greatest voice in the world either but she's good at knowing its limits and working with it. In contrast, Solange's voice has similar shortcomings - it's thin, rather tinny and lacks range - and this becomes painfully clear on more than a few songs, especially the chorus for "Would've Been the One" when she sings in a higher register that really exposes the limits of her voice and range (which is a pity since it's actually a really great vocal arrangement...just not executed well).
The better songs here are the ones where Solange keeps in a lower register and doesn't try for vocal pyrotechnics. That's why I really liked the slinky funk of "6 O'Clock Blues," which has a smooth charm to it that fits well with the singing as well. This, unlike "I Decided" actually is a Mark Ronson production but instead of working with a live band, he samples from Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings instead but the song neither sounds like a Winehouse or Jones tune; in that respect, Solange does a nice job of making it hers.
Q-TIP AND BLACK IVORY: GETTIN' ALL THE WAY UP
Tags: samples
Q-Tip: Gettin' Up
From The Renaissance (Motown, forthcoming 2008)
Black Ivory: You and I
From Don't Turn Around (Today, 1972)
I'm not trying to turn Side Dishes into a "hip-hop samples" column (though I'm sure some of you would be perfectly happy by that) but I couldn't really pass up writing about this new Q-TIp song plus its original source. I do feel slightly embarrassed to be writing about it now instead of back in mid-summer when "Gettin' Up" first started to make the blogosphere rounds but 1) better late than never and more importantly, 2) the song is barely "out" in any official way, with Q-TIp recently releasing a video for it.
One of Q-Tip's old nicknames with A Tribe Called Quest used to be Mr. Incognito and that's taken on a special irony with the last 10 years. Amplified came out in 1999, practically an eon ago in rap years, and though he was supposed to have followed it up with the ambitious Kamaal the Abstract in 2002, a series of problems killed that release and since then, Q-TIp has stayed largely out of the spotlight despite some occasional, random appearances.
"Gettin' Up" is easily the best thing TIp has touched in years and while I hesitate to call it "classic Q-TIp" (if only because I don't want to suggest it's stuck in a nostalgic rut), certainly what's appealing about this is similar to what was appealing about the best Tribe songs: a sublime musical texture and lyrics that are easy to absorb without being insipid. (It also helps that most of Q-TIp's best outings have often been love songs); the format works for him, no doubt.
The real star here, besides Tip on the comeback trail, is the music (apparently also produced by him), a gloriously melancholy track with hints of gospel-esque uplight. For that, you have to give ample credit to Harlem's native songs, Black Ivory, and their biggest career hit, "You and I" from 1972. The original was far slower compared to the pace of "Gettin' Up" but the feel is the same - a sublime, slightly bittersweet feel captured in that beautiful melody that haunts every bar of the song (props to producer Patrick Adams who does some of his best work on this). When Leroy Burgess drops in with his bright falsetto, it takes the song to whole new proverbial level - heart-achingly sweet and emotional, made all the better by Stuart Bascombe and Russell Patterson's background vocals which give the song an even greater angelic lift. I like playing the Black Ivory song first - which, at seven-minutes, gives you much to absorb - and then drop the Q-TIp after as a kind of "best of" coda. Either way, you can't go wrong with the pair in whatever order.
RAPHAEL SAADIQ: MOVING PASTWARDS
Raphael Saadiq: Sometimes
Raphael Saadiq: Oh Girl
From The Way I See It (Sony 2008)
Raphael Saadiq has enjoyed a serendipitous path through the world of soul. He first came to fame in the Bay Area family group, Tony! Toni! Toné! and while most others from that new jack era of R&B-meets-hip-hop soon faded into obscurity (En Vogue anyone?), Saadiq has thrived over the course of his 20+ year career, whether it was the Lucy Pearl project of 2000 and more recently, taking the reigns of Joss Stone's Introducing Joss Stone album from last year.
Saadiq's solo career, by comparison, has been quieter. He had Instant Vintage in 2002 and Ray Ray in 2004 but despite that, his reputation as a producer has still outdistanced his other accomplishments. With The Way I See It, Saadiq makes a provocative shift away from the neo-soul sound of his previous works - think soft, mellow arrangements with a subtle hip-hop snap - and throws a hook at the retro-soul sound of Amy Winehouse and Sharon Jones. Obviously, Saadiq's not the first (see my Little Jackie post) but he's no newcomer just angling for any point of entry. I can't think of anyone with as deep a catalog as Saadiq trying out a retro-soul approach but it probably says a lot about his deep musical background that dude is pretty good with it.
That's not to say you're going to be magically transported by The Way I See It back to the heyday of the Supremes, Smokey, Otis and Aretha. But unlike the approach that Mark Ronson took with Winehouse (and subsequent producers have copied), you get the feeling that unlike younger cats who know about soul mostly though recordings, for Saadiq, this also means revisiting his own childhood and the kind of music he grew up with.
Take something like "Sometimes." The drum programming is definitely post-hip-hop but the string and piano arrangements have a deep, gospel quality that, combined with the vocals, is unmistakably a nod to the stirring soul that Sam Cooke pioneered in his tragically brief life.
Likewise, on "Oh Girl," Saadiq does a practically pitch-perfect riff on the Philly soul style of songwriters/producers Gamble and Huff that made groups like the Delfonics and Stylistics so popular in the 1970s. And his early leak, "100 Yard Dash" has that slick, slinky uptempo groove we associate the best of Motown's late '60s catalog.
What's different on Saadiq's album compared to other examples is that Saadiq goes beyond the musical arrangements and production and even finds ways to record his vocals as if they came from 40 years back. It's hard to describe - better to just listen and compare the sound of his recorded voice with, say, Akon's and it becomes pretty obvious that Saadiq purposefully opted for a more lo-fi or mono approach that recalls the oldies hits of yore.
All this good stuff aside though, sometimes the mark is so close, you have to ask if Saadiq's motive here is mimicry or if dipping to the past is meant to enrich the music of his present and that's harder to say. For one thing, Saadiq is effective as a singer but not the greatest voice you've ever heard - it's one thing to reference Cooke, it's something else to have the late singer's aural impact. The lyrics aren't as lazy as those from Al Green's recent album but I can't say I had magically memorized them either after a few lessons. That's the great thing about the best of Motown or Stax - they had great hooks that you had to try to forget. With Saadiq, there weren't many moments where I found the songs seeping into my subconsciousness even if my conscious self enjoyed the the experience.
If it sounds like I'm damning with faint praise - I'm not. I really like this album and historically, I've never been a big fan of Saadiq's songs. But I guess part of me, aware of his years of experience and expertise, wanted to see him do something more than making a really credible Smokey Robinson and the Miracles-sounding song.
