I’ve been following Jason Burns for a bit now and when I heard he teamed up with the lovely Jessie Andrews for a Drake retake I knew it had either bad or good written all over it – Drake is usually a big hit or miss for me. Thankfully though Drake has nothing to do with this, except in name and album art. His vocals have been completely removed. However, Sampha’s backup vocals are provided throughout and make this one beautiful deep house melt.
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Lee Everall helps push out some of the best deep house, disco shit with his label Never Say Never. And now he treats us to the first of a mixtape series that sports some of its finest and so much more.
Before Luminaire was Luminaire, he teamed up with Everall as Never Say Never. And the duo start this mix off right with their very own, ‘The Half.’ It’s been on repeat for days at this home.
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The melody isn’t half bad, the wobbles work well and the girl is good for a few cuts in, but that sax is what carries this tune. My obsession with the saxiness has gone back to one of our very first posts (3 minutes in, woof) and far before that. It’s the only instrument that can consistently replace the vocals as the backbone of a piece. And in ‘Jubel,’ the sax is its stature.
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I can’t believe I just posted a song about a glitter emcee, let alone the GlitterEmcee. Girls gotta flow a lot like Doja Cat’s, laid back and not as stale as these male rappers nowadays.
But I wonder how long she can keep my interests, I get bored with these female MC’s fast (males faster). I do appreciate ‘Hellorato’ though, it’s a cold trip with a lovely lyricist.
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Attended my first Beyond Wonderland festival in The Bay and as a helluva time as it was the music wasn’t really my thing (it’s about more than just the music). It’s not like they lacked good EDM artists, loved Zeds Dead & WhiteNoize, but the majority of it suffered from the dreaded dead beat (see dirty bit) loved by the Molly driven audience plaguing the EDM scene.
So after the festival was over Saturday night, I wanted to blast a little of my own EDM favs on the ride home. And first to pop in my mind was a newly discovered remix of Whitney Houston’s “It’s Okay” by Arches. It may cop out to sampling some of the finest of the 90’s, but with its deep house depths Whitney has been revived with one helluva banger set for a massive audience. I’d love to see this tried out on a similar audience.
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Jesus, I did not realize Brandy’s “Baby” was so hot! Thank ColeCo for the refresh with an all too funky bass. Makes me realize Brandy wasn’t just some 90’s teen tv actress. God, that voice with that bass!
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Repetition drives me nuts sometimes but usually feels just boring & unfinished, however, if it’s got a catchy melody with vocals it can go a long way. Toyboy & Robin’s ‘Jaded’ has a pretty standard house beat, but gets deep on the chords and varies it up just enough to rise above most.
And like with most upworthy music, the vocals set it further apart. I don’t know why I’m so obsessed with vocals pitched up or down these days, but it works well (up) here.
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This one’s even got a pretty sly message under it, but that’s not why Bodhi’s Imperfection has been keeping my attraction. Bodhi cuts up ‘Imperfection’ with finesse, giving a clean midtempo breakbeat performance. My favorite part comes 50 seconds in and lasts a good 15. A spine-tingling buildup.
One flaw I found in ‘Imperfection’ was at 2:47 and a few bars after, but after listening to it a couple more times through I realized that was all apart of the fun in ‘Imperfection.’
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I miss hip hop. I can’t believe how little I’ve posted of it this year, but it’s not for a lack of listening. And actually more of a surplus in other soulful styles.
Electro music has stirred up disco, funk and R&B’s past. And as many of you may well be aware, I’m obsessed with the trio. Unfortunately, hip hop & electro haven’t blossomed together to what they will one day. In the meantime, leave it to the mashup & remix artists to bring back our attention to hip hop for a bit.
The Hood Internet has been mashing up my favorite hip hop artists for a while now, many good ones, and now they’ve introduced me to two more. Hood took Gunplay and Isaiah Toothtaker in Blue Sky Black Death’s ‘Frown’ and plopped ’em into Sasac’s funky ‘All Pleasure’ original. And as much as I love that funkyass beat on top, Blue Sky Black Death’s dark remix sets a mood just as well, albeit the opposite.
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Someone needs to create a standardized database where samples are credited. Or maybe something like Shazam that can automatically figure out where the samples come from. Because so far on too many tracks today, noone credits nothin’ (you get what I mean).
The key to these disco-house beats are their vocals. Update vocals to something fresh like on ‘Get To This’ and trust me you’ve got me suckered in good. Solid bass line, Quinten 909.
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