Like my run in with Tommy Lee and even our first time with Solange, I didn’t recognize the name until I looked it up. And unlike her sister, Solange has taken the alternate route and we keep digging up one fine style of soul after another because of it. First, her collaboration with Theophilus London – it’s worth a listen – and now with her single, ‘Losing You.’ Beyonce may have the popular vote, but Solange is teaming up with some quality producers who are putting the progress back into soul music.
[soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/61770754" iframe="false" params="player_type=tiny&font=Arial&color=292929" height="18" /]Bruno Mars is among the many mainstream musicians with so much talent in that voice of theirs and yet don’t seem to be hanging out with the right crowd of producers. Thankfully, my reliance on the remix community has paid off once again, this time Whyel goes electro-house on the Mars man. I can’t say I like the house solos that appear a few times throughout the ‘When I Was Your Man’ remix, but now that I figured out Whyel use to go by YoungLife, it makes a lot more sense. He’s done a few good house remixes.
[soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/128377471" iframe="false" params="player_type=tiny&font=Arial&color=292929" height="18" /]Headnodic’s The Iguana album is all sample free, but I’m still dying to figure out what lovely lady he got to lay down some vocals for Zaya. And until I do, take a listen to Headnodic’s smooth, culture song and help me figure it out.
[soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/71969421" iframe="false" params="player_type=tiny&font=Arial&color=292929" height="18" /]Terror Tone’s Tundra instantly reminded me of times out in London, back when I was there in ’09. I worked for Universal Music at the time doing digital marketing for a few of their rap artists. And as terrible as they all were and the rap scene in general out there, I think I’ve finally found something from England, and technically Toronto too, that’s got potential. And even though the Ragga Twins are nothing new to the scene, if anything quite the opposite, with Terror Tone’s garage edit, this puts a whole new spark to “UK rap.”
[soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/72633390" iframe="false" params="player_type=tiny&font=Arial&color=292929" height="18" /]Ghetto Funk’s yearly roundup of electro funk remixes wasn’t as eventful this year compared to last, but of course there was at least one funkadelic remix to highlight. Lewd Behavior’s remix of ‘Fell in Love with a Girl’ by The White Stripes is a bass rollin fanfare, ‘specially with those drops. I bet if Mr. White himself went funky with the electro, he’d probably tune the bass to something like this – it matches his sound that well.
[soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/71268098" iframe="false" params="player_type=tiny&font=Arial&color=292929" height="18" /]Luminaire is such a favorite of mine because he picks such good vocals. ‘Like We Used To’ is a simple dirty disco beat with a few verses repeated, but the vocals are chosen so well and the beat is matched up so right. –Gotta get him doin legit collabs soon though.
[soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/75311682" iframe="false" params="player_type=tiny&font=Arial&color=292929" height="18" /]Heading to San Fran tomorrow for the day, so I thought I’d share this treat with y’all. Sun Rai’s San Francisco Street sounds straight out of a hit tv show from the 70’s, 80’s… or today. But I can’t say I share the same sentiments of San Fran as Rai seems to – too dreamy. Hopefully one day, though.
[soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/71144593" iframe="false" params="player_type=tiny&font=Arial&color=292929" height="18" /]More recently I’ve been looking deeper into the remixes I post and comparing them with their originals. The reason is because I started getting quite a few remix submissions that sounded great, but really didn’t do anything drastically different from its original.
In Bishiclet & Super Fuzzy’s remix of ‘Like The Dance Floor,’ the two take the best part of A-Trak’s single, the chorus, speeds ’em up and pushes out one easy-going, fun-loving reinterpretation – far different than its original. Trust me, this versions is much more satisfying.
[soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/70871253" iframe="false" params="player_type=tiny&font=Arial&color=292929" height="18" /]I’m still quite stricken by how well music has been progressing these last few years. If you can’t see (or hear) what’s going on creatively around the world, you’re not exploring it enough. It’s out there, in all forms. Jessie’s ‘What You Won’t Do For Love’ is the latest distinction I’ve come across. It feels like she’s singing straight to me and isn’t that what music’s about. And who did this beat woofta.
[soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/74954971" iframe="false" params="player_type=tiny&font=Arial&color=292929" height="18" /]SF MusicTech is by far my favorite tech education account on SoundCloud right now. Even though I usually don’t take the time to go through too many sounds over an hour on SC, with this many good talks it’s worth a break from music for a bit.
Fortunately, for 2013 I’ll be attending my first summit in San Fran this Tuesday (the 19th). If you’re already going, let me know! I’ll be the 17-year-old lookin kid tryin to figure out what the hell he’s going to write about (I’m sure there will be a lot).
[soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/65854400" iframe="false" params="player_type=tiny&font=Arial&color=292929" height="18" /]