Rolling R&B Thread 2012

Alright, so 2011 is over. Looking forward, 2012 could end up being a great year. There are albums scheduled to drop from: Ciara, Monica, The-Dream, R. Kelly (Black Panties!), Brandy, Mariah Carey, Melanie Fiona, K. Michelle, Alicia Keys, Keyshia Cole, Ameriie, Tank, Algebra, Trey Songz, Mario, Ryan Leslie, Tamia, Tiffany Evans, Chris Brown, SWV, Mary J. Blige, Estelle, Maxwell, D'Angelo, and Cassie (this will happen).

Notable Debuts:

Jhene Aiko
Dawn Richard
Elle Varner
Frank Ocean
Luke James
Timothy Bloom
Stacy Barthe
Kalenna
Mindless Behavior
Shanell
Ester Dean

I'm excited! What are you guys looking forward to? What did you think of 2011?

to start with, I'm really feeling this Teyana Taylor track (produced by Hit-Boy):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKWcMplz6KA
clearly she's grown a lot as an artist since "Google Me" (which was dope imo)

also, don't remember if this was covered in the sandbox but BROOKE VALENTINE IS BACK:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PNzpAOzIOc

...Ameriie...
Still can't get over how funny inserting an i in your name is going to get you out of perpetual flopdom

dodgy brooke valentine screengrab

haaaa

well, that brooke valentine song is ok but how is it, in any way, an "R&B" track? it sounds like an indie rock song with a good singer. i'm not trying to troll here - just confused.

i'm most looking forward to the Melanie Fiona album, although i'm also getting REALLY impatient for that Maxwell to drop, last one was so incredible and he was acting like the next couple albums were already pretty much done but it's going on 3 years now and no sign of the follow-up.

what did we think of dawn richard's first official single?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgaEfg0M9b0

it didn't blow me away immediately like the mixtape songs did, but i went back to it a lot over december.

she's on a terrible chris brown-led posse cut version of "marvins room" that's been charting and getting radio play lately :(

The opening posts on these threads seem immediately sad to me now. It's like when a mid-tier character in a film or tv show suddenly gets a lot of screen time in preparation for their impending, sudden killing-off.

love that dawn track

There's tons of good stuff on Jade Alston's mixtape. Well worth the download.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32tIQ3EbQXQ

that teyana taylor track BW posted is incred btw

mariahhhhhhh

that Jade Alson track is pretty good, nice find Evan.

the teyana taylor song is very good

first thing to ever justify her baffling existence

shes also wearing a bulls hat in the cover shot

So yeah, this Jade Alston mixtape is very good! I love her voice, it has a smoky, smoldering quality to it that kind of recalls Toni Braxton a bit. This is gorgeous:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_737w0emkZo
Like a depressive Teedra Moses lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B793cUI0ZhQ
!!!

I really appreciate how she undersells each song, even a banger like "Bill Gates" (which is really great, too). Last year a lot of singers in this mold went BIG AND LOUD so much of the time, this is a nice break

Yeah definitely, she's very understated. I prefer her in mid-tempo/slow jam smoldering mode over the "Bill Gates"-type stuff though.

I would really love a new Solange album this year, Sol-Angel is one of my favourite records of the last five years.

Her voice reminds me of Naomi Allen's a bit xpost

yeah I can hear that

btw here's Dawn's new single from Golden Heart:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9JXm-csjQg
wouldn't sound out of place on Brandy's Human album.

no more hashtags in song titles. besides, the time already took that to its logical extreme

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APsNgDUTYE8

the teyana taylor song is very good

first thing to ever justify her baffling existence

― J0rdan S., Wednesday, January 4, 2012 7:18 PM Bookmark

"google me" was a banger, fuiud

hellloooo jade alston

really like "searching"

not a fan of the new drum loop or synth part of SFMU

toooo excited about brandy's album right now

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4nCj1vVNp0&fmt=18

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nu6-C60dcQ&fmt=18

These are pretty cool but I hope she isn't rapping on her new album >_<

http://www.drudgesiren.com/siren.gif*BREAKING NEWS*http://www.drudgesiren.com/siren.gif

JAZMINE SULLIVAN IS WORKING ON HER THIRD ALBUM

New Tiffany Evans is excellent!:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRBHgb7aTJI

how has it taken me until now to hear melanie fiona's "4am"? this is fucking epic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgmHOcPDSso

I posted that on the sandbox r&b thread - it's doing well on the radio here

That new Tiffany Evans song is seriously great, maybe even better than Won't Find Me from last year. Is there a new album due soon?

Like the Fiona track quite a bit. Would it be too controversial to note that I get a real Weeknd/"Marvin's Room" vibe off of this one?

nah it's definitely there, it's kinda like "marvin's room" x "try sleeping with a broken heart". i mean, jojo already showed us that the problem with the drake aesthetic isn't necessarily the nothingy atmospheres or mood or whatever, those only become inadequate when the artist/song is also inadequate - the problem is all HIM

putting someone like melanie fiona on top and letting her sing the HELL out of a strong song is obv a good move

i listened to it walking home drunk at 4am last night btw! it was a moment

yeah when "4 AM" first came out i thought it was probably from the Noah Shebib Submarine Sound Factory and kinda resisted it because of that and because it's SO different from what i liked hearing Fiona do on "Gone And Never Coming Back" and "Fool For You," but it grew on me anyway.

The new Melanie Fiona single is even more stunning:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdwF4R9i0q4

Elle Varner released a mixtape, btw. I've just skimmed through out but it sounds cool so far:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYXWFr68bMs

Really feeling this, I was hoping the Dawn single would be more like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1i_2vvbprM

And the new Teairra Mari single is a banger, though rooting for her to actually have a hit single again and release an album is a lost cause of Cassie-esque proportions at this point:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeJtdHHOjw4

really like that elle varner track

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21wO14g9714
R.I.P. RichGirl :(

Yikes; the pacing on that song is excruciating. It just runs in place for three minutes that feel like eight.

Two great ones right here. This Yuna track is the best Pharrell production I've heard it way too long:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fITyU9KM3CU

And this Jahah is an awesome surprise:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVWp0ineOf0

It's like Glenn Lewis, if Glenn Lewis loved huge breakbeats.

whoa, this jahah is sweet.

so what do we call that beat in the elle varner song - breakbeat? sounds like idm to me

i fuck w/ this new slim song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNvdUH7buBM

this mixtape has a bunch of really good stuff on it, but the mastering is fucking awful

http://www.datpiff.com/Slim-of-112-Cruisin-Da-City-Vol-1-mixtape.308742.html

Always a welcome voice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4I1-aVZj1s

^ from kalenna's new mixtape

digging the elle varner mix tape, it's like a purer + better version of the janelle monae album

this mixtape has a bunch of really good stuff on it, but the mastering is fucking awful

http://www.datpiff.com/Slim-of-112-Cruisin-Da-City-Vol-1-mixtape.308742.html

― J0rdan S., Monday, January 30, 2012 12:33 AM (4 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

pedantry alert but when a mixtape sounds like shit it's usually that it wasn't mastered all rather than mastered poorly

bachelored

idgi, was the first ginuwine album mastered badly or something?

^phd in dad jokes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vxjn7R_TU0o&feature=g-logo&context=G2fe938fFOAAAAAAABAA

total sadlol at "Art Dealer Chic Vol. 1" (is that what he's saying in the backgroun?) but OH FUCKING SHIT THIS IS GOOD

*on repeat*

yeah this is great

oh shhh

think miguel is reaching own thread status tbh

ah man this is great

Excellent. Short and sweet. Concept for video is kind lame, cool hair though.

Let my loove adooorn you

sounds kinda 80s, no?

Some of the intermittent synths have some 80s to them.

"art dealer chic vol 1" is totally *smh... head flies off of neck and out of window* tho

whoa this is good

what a pleasantly surprising turn, didn't think he had this in him for some reason

I've listened to this 20+ times already.

yeah this is amazing

what a pleasantly surprising turn, didn't think he had this in him for some reason

― tebow gotti (k3vin k.), Saturday, February 4, 2012 7:00 PM (54 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

um aren't we talking about the guy who no matter how you slice it has made between 1 and 4 of the best R&B singles of the last 18 months?

someone plz immediately bump w/ an HQ mp3

def prefer this to 'sure thing'

wearing this song out

ART DEALER CHIC VOL. 1

what a pleasantly surprising turn, didn't think he had this in him for some reason

― tebow gotti (k3vin k.), Saturday, February 4, 2012 7:00 PM (54 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

um aren't we talking about the guy who no matter how you slice it has made between 1 and 4 of the best R&B singles of the last 18 months?

― some dude, Saturday, February 4, 2012 8:00 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

oh for sure but it's just such a stylistic shift, didn't mean that as a diss. this is exactly what i wanted and i didn't even know it

art dealer chic apparently = wearing suspenders over a sweater

smhiguel

dunno why but something about this song reminds me of aaron neville, it's a good one though

ART DEALER CHIC VOL. 1

― J0rdan S., Sunday, February 5, 2012 1:07 PM (38 minutes ago) Bookmark

this is actually a great title, fuiud

Well fuck me in that case.

This kind of reminds me of "Try Sleeping With a Broken Heart".

I WAS JUST THINKING THAT

It makes sense as this is something that would be played at an art dealer's apartment. I like the song. My attitude towards Miguel has changed (even though he embarrases himself a lot). He should've been lumped in with Frank and Weeknd with the whole "new r&b guy" trend. I guess he isn't drugged up or skeezy enough.

He should've been lumped in with Frank and Weeknd with the whole "new r&b guy" trend.

fux no.

He should've been lumped in with Frank and Weeknd with the whole "new r&b guy" trend.

god no

Jesus I mean as getting exposure from a different audience. Yes he is probably more commercially successful than them but a little bit more wouldn't hurt. You guys are just reactionary as fuck.

'sure thing' was def mentioned in the original weeknd thread

yeah they have that same morso tone in their voices. Just Miguel knows not to sound whiny unlike The Weeknd.

The discourse around the Weekend and Frank Ocean sapped any enjoyment of them I'd had. I'd hate for the same to happen to Miguel.

I guess because I've been busy working a lot in 2011 that I didn't read much (if at all) on the discourse around them. I only read rave reviews about them around the blogosphere. (I read plenty of discourse on Tyler, The Creator though ugh).

omg this miguel

This kind of reminds me of "Try Sleeping With a Broken Heart".

― lag∞n affiliated (The Reverend), Sunday, February 5, 2012 1:53 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

troo

my favourite part is 0.00 to 2.28

lol

even tho miguel was sorta new like frank ocean and the weeknd, the audiences aren't really the same so it's sort of a weird thing to bring up

it would make more sense imo to talk about how miguel is a much more creative, fun and singular songwriter than trey songz... or how something like "adorn" is like if jeremih had a second hit off of his last album

miguel is a much more creative, fun and singular songwriter than trey songz...

a bit premature to say this imo, songz is a very good songwriter.

http://artdealerchic.com/ is pretty funny too. LENON.

LOL:

http://www.tumblr.com/photo/1280/miguelunlimited/16892987528/1/tumblr_lyqqosCoBT1r9vju3

lol @ track listing font choice

thought that was the new weeknd tracklist

btw if you like sleepin w/ a broken heart, I dig this remix

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-B8O-bb5pdk

the painting isn't the worst thing in the world

god I wish the terry richardson photo aesthetic would just die

yeah seriously

this new miguel song is so delicate. the production really leaves room for his voice to soar at the end there.

<i>He should've been lumped in with Frank and Weeknd with the whole "new r&b guy" trend.</i>

...

<I>even tho miguel was sorta new like frank ocean and the weeknd, the audiences aren't really the same so it's sort of a weird thing to bring up

it would make more sense imo to talk about how miguel is a much more creative, fun and singular songwriter than trey songz</i>

I interviewed Trey Songz the other week, and he touched on a lot of the points this thread has over the last couple of days. His big-picture take on R&B is that it's a good time for the genre, with young blood like Miguel, Frank Ocean and The Weeknd (he listed them in that order, I think) doing great things that are possible in part because they've done their own thing instead of trying to cater to a Top 40 radio climate that doesn't have much interest in R&B right now.

(sorry I used the wrong HTML for those italics)

I think Miguel is a better songwriter than Trey Songz, but My Mans is more singular. It's often his clumsier aspects that are the most distinct.

http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRvdppj5moIFtoIwOpNZdCvC3GUtxYFdpsG7OyDJ9ECwTYgHlxiMXwh-Q
http://snd.sc/z1PP2d
http://snd.sc/z1PP2d
http://snd.sc/z1PP2d
http://snd.sc/z1PP2d
http://snd.sc/z1PP2d
http://snd.sc/z1PP2d
http://snd.sc/z1PP2d
http://snd.sc/z1PP2d
http://snd.sc/z1PP2d

^^^^^^^^^ NEW BRANDY AND MONICA SONG ^^^^^^^^^^^

^^^ AWESOME ^^^^

just heard that on the radio coming home, pretty good

Sorry bwasher, didn't want to squash your enthusiasm, not feeling this really at all. Nothing particularly memorable about any of it.

I wish there was some good reason for it to be a duet

Somehow never found the R&B 2012 thread until today. Hm. Excited to work through all this.

Ok. That first Dawn Richards single does sound very Brandy.

Listening to the Jade Alston tape and she had me from the Single on a Saturday Night Intro which is A++ gorgeous. Like the guitar counterpoint going on in at the end of 'Missing You Lately'.

She's got a beautiful lower register - I can't think of the last time we had a R&B singer who consistently hung out in that part of her vocal register. Very sultry.

The Elle Varner mixtape is also pretty good, even the R&B cover of Ani Difranco.

New mixtape from Kalenna of Dirty Money, a few dope cuts on it

http://www.datpiff.com/Kalenna-Chamber-Of-Diaries-mixtape.312046.html

Another mixtape

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/music/2012/02/14/take-a-trip-to-raheem-devaughs-loveland/

usher - climax

http://soundcloud.com/diplo/climax

:o

yes,

:O

Yeah. I was just coming here to post that. Was a bit skeptical at first, but it's one of my favourite Usher tracks in ages, notwithstanding Diplo's involvement.

Market forces + Guetta pushing Usher away from his totally awesome balladry towards Autotuned Taio Cruz/Derulo ish was/is incredibly depressing. This doesn't quite match the best of old-Usher, but this is /DAMN/ good.

I mean. It's no 'Burn' or 'U Got It Bad', but I'll take what I can get.

Real good.

yeah this is incredible

it sounds cool but think the songwriting is a bit lacking

it kinda needs a hook... as far as astral third era usher songs go, "mars vs venus" >>>>>> climax

'astral third era usher songs' is going to be the name of my sci-fi paperback

I think the songwriting is actually really sharp. There's a lot of layers of deliberate ambiguity behind what on the surface seems a shitty double entendre. It doesn't hit me as immediately as "Papers" (or even "Stranger") but it's the first Usher track in a while that leaves me something to chew on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nf9Sz7MpCbw
<3

annoying pronunciation aside this tinashe tape is sounding very very good. she commands the tracks, some of which sound like the weeknd with competent vocals. actually these are way beyond just competent... please, school me on tinashe. easily debut of the year so far

I interviewed Trey Songz the other week, and he touched on a lot of the points this thread has over the last couple of days. His big-picture take on R&B is that it's a good time for the genre, with young blood like Miguel, Frank Ocean and The Weeknd (he listed them in that order, I think) doing great things that are possible in part because they've done their own thing instead of trying to cater to a Top 40 radio climate that doesn't have much interest in R&B right now.

― Evan R, Monday, February 6, 2012 2:48 PM (2 weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this seems like a pretty pat summary of it, esp considering that one song aside neither of the latter artists have done any damage to the charts either...

fuck evy jane

more fucking tumblr&b. JUST FUCK OFF

new nikkiya song is really excellent though

Just tried that Evy Jane track. Not good, but it's not that different from some of the more ephemeral stuff in the outsider R&B thread. Why such hostility? Did a pitchfork writer recommend her or something?

It showed up in FACT today and they're white and from Vancouver?

Unless there's a more tangible reason.

all fair enough reasons to hate tbqh

I feel like half these acts would be better if they used snare in their beats

("these" being ppl like Evy Jane)

Listening to Evy Jane and don't really understand why we're even discussing them as R&B (and by extension why their existence is threatening to R&B).

This sounds far more like Purity Ring or random witch house stuff than anything that's been claimed to be 'an evolution of R&B' - I understood the frustration w/ the discourse around Frank Ocean and The Weeknd even if I couldn't entirely get behind it, but this sounds like a different thing altogether.

I didn't love the A-side, "SaySo", but OhSo was okay. But they're basically a b-grade Purity Ring.

it was described as r&b it's shit let's talk about and listen to something else

weren't you the first person to bring them up? unless there's an unlabeled Youtube that I can't see

why even mention them in this thread if you don't want to talk about them?

been digging that alunageorge track from last year lately

i thought everyone would just ignore it à la what happens when i bring up artists and songs i'm really into

Yeah, exactly - no one knew about them (or at least no one was talking about them until you did!)

But anyway - R&B - Melanie Fiona's new album is confusing me. We have three lead singles so far.

I love 4 AM but it's totally Drake-y and not really what her general style is. Gone and Never Coming Back is a good big ballad, but didn't blow me away.

And now there's 'Wrong Side of a Love Song' which is breathtaking but a total throwback - right down to the organ.

Most people do not ignore the songs and artists you're really into. Two people said that in some other thread in a manner that was blatant trolling - while about 6 other people were actively saying that they pay attention to your recommendations.

Anyway.

re: Melanie Fiona - it just got delayed until May. Does this mean they're retooling it to fit the success of 4AM?

Because her chops would be wasted on a whole album of 40 copycat beats.

i started a melanie fiona thread about an hour ago which has gotten zero answers so far

lex you're being a weirdo

hahahaha I thought you were kidding

I've already said all I had to say about melanie fiona the other times you and I have posted about her, which is that it's a fucking awesome song

My bad. I've been on my phone and just checking bookmarks.

people kept saying they wanted track threads during the EOY polls! i just have no idea what people want

MF is probably my most anticipated album of the year right now. "Wrong Side of a Love Song" is just amazing. I have mixed feelings about the latest leak, though, "Change The Record." Ugh, B.o.B. makes me appreciate all those so-so J. Cole guest verses.

people kept saying they wanted track threads during the EOY polls! i just have no idea what people want

― lex pretend, Wednesday, February 22, 2012 12:44 PM (38 seconds ago) Bookmark

to stop whining to people who clearly respect your taste and follow your recommendations about how no one cares what you talk about

also, the track threads that DO get made maybe aren't very popular, don't get a lot of posts, but still seem to have a big effect on year-end poll results, like seany mac & des piccalo

And sometimes it just takes people a while to discover things. I posted "4 AM" to the Rolling R&B thread last August; it's kind of silly to huff about a thread started an hour ago

Whoa... the new Lloyd (UK-only) single is a total mess. It samples "Take My Breath Away" AND features Nelly.

I actually kind of liked it, sans Nelly. Turning "Take My Breath Away" into a club anthem deserves some props.

anyway, thoughts on Jessie Ware? She's being lumped in with the whole "alternative r&b" (***rolleyes***) thing but I'm really feeling this song, kind of has a nu-age Lisa Stansfield thing going on:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvlFWmvgeVI

Good stuff! I could definitely listen to an entire album of that.

Whoa... the new Lloyd (UK-only) single is a total mess. It samples "Take My Breath Away" AND features Nelly.

― Evan R, Wednesday, February 22, 2012 4:15 PM (21 minutes ago) Bookmark

any song that samples "take my breath away" has like, a 95% chance of being good imo

NB: have not heard this song

i haven't heard jessie ware's new one yet but i loved "strangest feeling" from last year - she's in with glasgow's numbers crew i believe, her first release was with sbtrkt on their label

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQ1-EAZ2eYA

the Lloyd track:

http://youtu.be/7_eYfz743YU

it's... not good

I mean, maybe you dig a budget Ginuwine singing over what sounds like an unfinished demo beat but I do not

and wow does it get super embarrassing when Nelly shows up

damn... that was not what I was thinking of at all

"Strangest Feeling" is nice, too—love the way she her voice alternatingly blends into and cuts against the track.

was thinking of a lush and smooth jam like "you"

basically that whole Lloyd song has "American Idol runner-up" written all over it; if you had told me that was Just Guarini's comeback single I wouldn't have blinked twice

<i>damn... that was not what I was thinking of at all</i>

hahaha, I wish I could hear the song you imagined in your head. I think Lloyd's parts are actually pretty sharp, but the track is just not salvageable

i was just listening to the latest T.I. mixtape today and thinking about how odd it is that Nelly still exists and people keep working with him as if he still existed

the new Wale single would be a really dope King of Hearts-worthy Lloyd jam if you deleted all the Wale bullshit off it btw

haha well like I said, I was just thinking of how lloyd turned 'true' into a jam for 'you,' so something along those lines xxp

i was just listening to the latest T.I. mixtape today and thinking about how odd it is that Nelly still exists and people keep working with him as if he still existed

the least you can do after releasing a double LP titled Sweat/Suit is disappear in a cloud of embarrassment

every new lloyd single seems to have a faster tempo than the last lloyd single

^ yeah, it's becoming a problem, huh?

"Sabotage" is a killer choice for a Wale single though. That shit jams.

haha maybe someone should stage an intervention before Lloyd tries singing over Moby's "Thousand"

the jessie ware thing is great, it's produced by the very talented julio bashmore

the disclosure remix is great as well if you like house-y stuff

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITGjO212KrA

i was just listening to the latest T.I. mixtape today and thinking about how odd it is that Nelly still exists and people keep working with him as if he still existed

― TERMAINTOR 2 (some dude), Wednesday, February 22, 2012 4:52 PM (57 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

ha over the weekend i put "nelly" into my itunes filter the other day and was like "damn, t.i. really likes to work with nelly. they must have a good time together."

http://www.thefader.com/2012/02/22/video-fortebowie-impala/

ethan p put me onto this dude, i like his shit

really like that

yo that is awesome

Amazing.

The internet is saying it's produced by friendly fires o_O

yeah that's what the official mixtape version is tagged as

just a sample surely?

the song is tagged as "produced by friendly fires"

miguel just tweeted a link to art dealer chic vol. 1

mediafire.com/?15v7cf2ic9bexx6

whoa love that fortebowie. the rap is pretty jarring at first but i think he pulls it off

gravity is on par with adorn

wow yeah gravity is great

just listened to "adorn" for the first time in a couple weeks and wow is it still incredible

This is all exceptional

for those who missed the dl links it's on datpiff

new volumes will be released on the 27th of each month

fyi the estelle album is pretty damn good despite how transparently she wants to be lauryn right down to the classroom interludes about love that you have to program out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5innG_SeKcQ

diggy is kinda lame but jeremih remains great as usual

"diggy is kinda lame" may be the understatement of the year

are we on "gucci this, gucci that" at all?

sounds like a pretty great throwback to crunk & b to me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GSyrnsn4WI&ob=av2e

and if you're like me you're just pretending that it's the return of vistoso bosses

wow they've grown since we last saw them

great to see their production strategy continues to be daddy's leftovers

(i knew i'd fuck with it before i even pressed play and it didn't disappoint)

i love the hook & cute happy vibe of "do it like you"

it's also hilariously comes off as a direct response to "gucci gucci"

"diggy is kinda lame" may be the understatement of the year

― J0rdan S., Sunday, March 4, 2012 6:29 PM (44 minutes ago) Bookmark

yeah I watched the video after I posted it and I think he's a bieber clone? wikipedia sez he's the son of rev run though!

i love the hook & cute happy vibe of "do it like you"

― flopson, Sunday, March 4, 2012 6:40 PM (33 minutes ago) Bookmark

I knew you would come through :-)

is diggy diggy simmons or something? think he was xxl freshmen last year? or is he young money? or both?

definite post-drake vibe

song is straight up adorable though

it would be hilarious if there was more than one kiddie rapper named diggy but yeah diggy simmons just decided to go mononym

jeremih needs to come with that third album already and stop giving hooks to wack rappers to stay on the radio

sh1pley go hard otm

apparently this leaked in novmeber, but i guess the NO DJ version has leaked now --

pretty interesting line up... t-pain ft petey pablo & magoo + lil jon and fatman scoop shouting shit, but it's kind of a chill joint -- at least for something called "bring the club back"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmKDk5DKFPY

maybe more rolling pop than rolling r&b but figured the audience for it is here

ignore the first 7 seconds of that video

the fatman scoop shouting is mixed so loud lol, sounds terrible

I kind of love this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=575DbfYEDCc

Apparently this guy Marcus Canty was on the American version of X-Factor? At least something good came from that show; I'd buy a full album of this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JDephJ_a1o

i had to listen to some jade alston to cleanse my ears after that shitty fortebowie song (well, WHAT SONG indeed)

just this dreadful amateur attempt to recreate "sex intelligent". NO THANKS

There's some pretty good stuff on the new Teyana Taylor mixtape. Solid release.

Some of these Hitboy-produced Taylor tracks are just gorgeous. Not sure how I missed "Gorgeous" when it came out in 2009. "You Know" is really pretty, too.

anyone have XM radio? this one dj, cayman kelly (@CaymanKellyshow), just has the best fuckin taste, love listening to his show. slow jam heaven

just followed up the new eric benet single (which is nice!) with kut klose "i like" (!!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63wo5Hh-fXs

awesome

it's all getting a bit obvious, this late night laptop melancholy stuff

inclined to agree

i still find jhene interesting; her voice and songwriting just hit it for me

<3 her

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5FFljQvW3M&feature=youtube_gdata_player

i like this song

feeling the melanie fiona album so far. guest rappers could do better without exception though.

did she just channel nina simone there on "bones"?! rather incredible, that one.

hahahaha "6am"!!!

The MF Life is sort of like 2012's answer to Lloyd's King of Hearts for me. A back-to-back strong album that's maybe a few missteps away from being the indisputable masterpiece I really wanted it to be, but still probably the best album I could have reasonably expected.

I do like how in his guest verses Nas always mentions the name of the artist featuring him. It's a little thing, but that personal touch makes them feel less remote than the usual copy-and-paste verse.

http://www.youtube.com/v/L5FFljQvW3M&feature=youtube_gdata_player&fs=1&hl=en

i like this song

― been to lots of college and twitter (k3vin k.), Tuesday, March 20, 2012 12:04 PM (11 hours ago)

whoops here's the actual song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGwUyuSHomk&ob=av2n

relistening to melanie fiona's debut - so much better than i thought at the time, but i'm remembering why i dismissed it - around that time everyone was doing these chintzy retro 60s sounds, it was kind of like labels were trying to cast around for a non-scary winehouse without the crack and ink, so we got adele and duffy and several others i probably forget, and melanie fiona fit a bit too snugly into that. a few years later it sounds a lot better.

but the mf life is still a huge step up.

also if i may repeat myself, the estelle album is EXCELLENT

The MF Life is dope, exactly what i was hoping for

maybe not as good as the Lloyd album but the missteps are WAY less glaring imo

Yeah, the missteps are pretty forgivable. "6 AM" is like a bad joke to me, and the sappiness of that John Legend track seems to cut against the rest of the album, but those are pretty minor quibbles. Mostly her voice is so fantastic that I just want more of it, in any context.

"6 am" is a good joke! r kelly worthy tbh

"bones" is def the most amazing after "4 am" though

"Bones" is the type of retro I usually reflexively hate, but it's so damn flawless it just totally wins me over

nice to see a couple productions from Jack Splash of "Fool For You" fame (4 counting bonus tracks!)

Also, MF takes all the right cues from Mary, Mariah and Alicia, but more than any of those influences she comes off as really sympathetic and relatable. I can't quite pinpoint what it is that makes me connect to her so much, but there's something about these songs that leaves me really vested in Melanie Fiona and her happiness.

the comparison springing to mind to me throughout was NEW JAZMINE

yeah thematically and musically there's a lot of shared territory, although i think the grain of each's respective voice is distinct enough that it's a non-issue while i'm listening.

she could never compare to Jazmine! and she's definitely not more sympathetic than MARY of all people!!!

still haven't listen to this yet though, will give it a spin l8r.

I think public image plays some role in it. Mary is MARY, all caps. Melanie is just Melanie. Not royalty or anything.

And yeah, I definitely hear the Jazmine now; both have the Salaam Remi thing going on. And now I am really nostalgic for "10 Seconds," which I miss hearing daily

MF Life is projected to sell a disappointing 23k - 27k. We complain about this all the time, but I'm still a bit stunned by how bad the publicity campaign for this album has been, especially on the print side. There have been hardly any newspaper or magazine reviews of it.

i like the jessie ware stuff. sort of like if azari & iii made 2-step or something? really nice.

ART DEALER CHIC Vol. 2. Can we talk about it? Can we talk about how great 'Arch n Point' is? And "...ALL"?

There's no 'Adorn' here but this is such a great way to consume music. Every month getting a little three track parcel of awesome from Miguel instead of having to wait for the next full album.

haven't heard it yet but there's a thread: thread of miguel

on the off chance you guys arent up on your eastenders actresses' sanging careers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOC9hGGs5GM

shockingly impressive imo!

(in a remedial uk kinda way, natch)

nobody here likes 'the misunderstanding of teyana taylor'? i know 'armor on' is the best thing in the world, right now...but that mixtape deserves some love, i guess (better than 'mf life' imho)

some dude wrote this on thread Kanye West - Dark Twisted Fantasy on board I Love Music on Nov 26, 2010

i literally had to google teyana taylor to remember whether she was the person who did "google me" -- prophetic song

i always forget that i actually liked "make your move". idk whenever i remember teyana taylor exists i just get that na'tee line "teyana taylor got your girl doing sit-ups" in my head

i should probably check out that mixtape though

people have been sleeping on the estelle album too, it's really v strong and perfect for this weather

^^ forgot about that too (damn you dawn richard for being so incredible!), tho i've never been that hooked on her in the first place. will check that.

(in portugal it's raining, so 'armor on' is a perfect fit - if a setting was ever needed)

the first single from the Estelle album was on the radio so long ago that i didn't even realize that the album itself only just dropped last month

Still sorting out my feelings about this guy, but I'm really into the new Bei Maejor mixtape

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMA40d0C904

he has a new one out again?

i always feel like this guy's stuff is a lot more slight than it should be, but the tape sounds pretty good

it sounds pretty radio ready

he shouldn't be rapping this much tho

There's a disconnect between his voice, which is the definition of slight, and his songs, which can be super bold ("The Truth" is really chilling). His rapping is just dreadful, but his storytelling is really vivid.

Goapele 'Tears On My Pillow' got visuals (from 2011). I love the last minute of this song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eOBNiYDuPY

New Monica album seems like a mixed bag—Rico Love seems off his game on a lot of these ballads. But I'm listening to the album preview stream of the new SWV album and everything sounds absolutely incredible. Can't wait to hear the real thing.

I'm ready to write the Monica album off as a total disappointment.

Someone on twitter called it the aural equivalent of a Tyler Perry movie.

Ha, that's kind of spot on, sadly. One of the non-Madea ones where you actually kind of begin to miss Madea.

Yeah, I had to sit through The Family That Preys once and I know exactly what you mean.

damn i saw that Monica's album was out and was looking forward to listening to it this morning before i looked at this thread. will still check it out and see if there are any standout songs, because i love that woman's voice.

The new Brandy single is beyond awesome

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uHCVaVZfQ4

love it!

That is brilliant, even with Chris Brown.

either this thread or You forgot how incredible SWV were... needs more people talking about the great new SWV album

New Jessie Ware is very pretty:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eblGD5yuid8&feature=player_embedded

Produced by Julio Bashmore too! Didn't really see that coming but it makes perfect sense.

really feeling the new usher single - between this and "climax" it's boding v well for his album

http://soundcloud.com/usher-raymond-music/lemme-see-feat-rick-ross

sparse and minimal blah blah but it sounds HUGE too

ha for a sec i thoguht you were going to say you were feeling the max martin-produced "scream"

oh no i didn't know about that :(

i take back my positive prediction

oh dear i just noticed the trayvon martin reference o_0

I hope this post-F.A.M.E. bifurcation of R&B album singles into "pop" and "urban" subsets isn't a lasting trend; it's just so shameless

it's here to stay, at least for the artists who are big enough to shoot for the pop market

I'm just gonna dream of the early 2000s, when a great song could play in both formats without pandering to either. Better times.

oh dear i just noticed the trayvon martin reference o_0

Yeah, it's really tasteless, but still better than Childish Gambino's Trayvonsploitation hashtag from hell

ha for a sec i thoguht you were going to say you were feeling the max martin-produced "scream"

― some dude, Monday, April 30, 2012 1:43 PM (40 minutes ago) Bookmark

lol me 2

I hope this post-F.A.M.E. bifurcation of R&B album singles into "pop" and "urban" subsets isn't a lasting trend; it's just so shameless

― Evan R, Monday, April 30, 2012 10:55 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

pre-dates FAME but for sure this is the worst thing to happen to pop in the past five years, even worse than everything sounding like gay club tourism music or rap songs with white people singing

Part of the magic of "Climax," I think, is that it bucks this trend. It sounds amazing on both pop and urban stations, and that hasn't been true of an Usher single in ages

"gay club tourism music" is my favourite descriptor ever.

less gay club tourism music, more gay 90s house music is my new mantra.

rap songs with white people singing

ha, never really thought about it, but this is another great example of the marginalization of R&B. Scabs like Skylar Grey and Matthew Santos are stealing all the prime guest spots

can we count bruno mars as white for this exercise?

he's not white?

wait, Bruno Mars and Matthew Santos aren't the same person?

which one was in Coldplay then?

bruno maris is puerto rican/fillipino

i'm well aware of that.

Part of the magic of "Climax," I think, is that it bucks this trend. It sounds amazing on both pop and urban stations, and that hasn't been true of an Usher single in ages

― Evan R, Monday, April 30, 2012 8:30 PM (13 minutes ago) Bookmark

it's barely on pop stations, in america anyway

Part of the magic of "Climax," I think, is that it bucks this trend. It sounds amazing on both pop and urban stations, and that hasn't been true of an Usher single in ages

― Evan R, Monday, April 30, 2012 8:30 PM (13 minutes ago) Bookmark

it's barely on pop stations, in america anyway

― some dude, Tuesday, May 1, 2012 1:45 AM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark

Yeah, I've not once heard this on my pop station, though I've never heard it on my hip-hop/R&B station either. I've heard "Without You" and "Scream" on the latter, but it plays so much pop that they don't stand out.

"Climax" is on r&b stations a ton. i will challop and say i prefer "Without You" though (or for that matter, "Papers").

"without you" is one of the biggest shitsacks ever

there are plenty of usher singles that are better than "climax" but none of them have been released post-confessions era

yeah srsly man that is a remarkably horrible opinion even for you

climax is mad wack idgi

and so is this new song

there's better shit on both here i stand and raymond v. raymond

"IMO"

i like "climax" but ursh had put out plenty of singles post-confessions that are its equal, at least

yeah srsly man that is a remarkably horrible opinion even for you

― r|t|c, Monday, April 30, 2012 6:20 PM Bookmark

sorry for not sticking up for "omg" and "moving mountains"

not you dumbass

i like climax a lot but yeah ok i wouldnt say its miles and miles ahead of some rvr stuff

however 'without you' sucks and here i stand was wall 2 wall interminable garbage iirc

why do you all hate "moving mountains"

it is NOT a bad song!

first couple times i heard "Without You" i thought it was Mario, still really think he sounds more like Mario than Usher on that song. it's a good vocal, though.

"Trading Places" is prob my favorite post-Fesh era single, no Teriustan

an "xp" goes a long ways, rtc

tbh i prefer the funkystepz remix of "climax" to the of but then again i would

"moving mountains" is kind of amazing and epic (esp with that video!) but not in a good way. i will here i stand up for "trading places" just cause of lol lyrics tho

hot toddie, papers, omg, there goes my baby, love in this club, dj got us falling in love, love in this club pt II <-- all songs i more or less enjoy as much as "climax"

He's made better singles than "Climax" but I'm a sucker for this kind of production and singing.

and, yeah, "Climax" has had no pop exposure down here at all.

saying that usher has made better singles than "climax" may be the greatest understatement i've ever read on ilx

understatement's not a virtue for which ILX is famous.

haha rev his "yeah" was clearly kind of piggybacking off your post to also respond to me, don't blame him that you didn't read the post right

I pretty much view it in the same lineage (and inferior to) "u got it bad" and "burn" but with more production frippery that doesn't really add to the song. which is a better look for him than anything else he's done in the past five years, mind you.

yeah, i read from where i had it bookmarked and ended up looking like a dummy. my bad.

I disagree on the frippery. The arrangement and singing is thought-through. I suppose it's not much different from "There Goes My Baby," which I dig too.

bad/burn/papers are are most comically transparent in being rewrites of each other but i don't really hear climax as being in that tradition

"Papers" is the gold standard of post-Confessions Usher singles imo, but that's because it's the only one that strikes me as genuinely sad

What I do find encouraging about the new Usher singles, though, is that they've really put the emphasis on his voice again. After the Versus era dude is really flaunting his range

haven't much cared for many of his club bangers tbh

why do you all hate "moving mountains"

it is NOT a bad song!

― Peace (peaceful) (The Brainwasher), Tuesday, 1 May 2012 02:28 (22 minutes ago) Bookmark

http://i.imgur.com/U05aq.gif

yeah to be honest i've never been big on club banger usher -- love "u don't have to call" but compared to his other clubby hits it's downright cozy

climax is super entertaining to sing along to in ::dramatic:: fashion

mind u so is lotus flower bomb and best believe i'm not officially cosigning that

"lil freak" is easily the best post-confessions usher single for me and even then it's hardly amazing

smh @ j0rdan slipping "omg" and "dj got us falling in love" in his on-a-par-with-climax list

"omg" was kinda trolling but "dj got us falling in love" is basically the classic eurohouse r&b song of the past few years

"post-Fesh"

simultaneous desire to paypal and sb you for this

lol

usher/ross song is good... beat kinda reminds me of "i'm on one"

http://www.thisisrnb.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/usher-l4m-cover.jpg

Also, Nikkiya Speakher Overload Deluxe Edition is out. Has a few new tracks on it and a remix of 'I Like What Your Doin Main.' Just listening to this now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nf9Sz7MpCbw

Kevin Cossom mixtape 'Hook vs Bridge II' produced mostly by Danja:

http://www.mediafire.com/?36l36jbbjtt3t0l

Actually really digging the new Ne-Yo track (save for one sub-Bruno Mars line right at the beginning)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KZtKAVfdvk&feature=related

This is actually pretty great.

Have we talked about Emanny's Songs About Her? I know I got it from one of y'all either here or on Tumblr or somewhere. It triangulates Drake, The Weeknd and Ne-Yo basically but it's awesome because he has actual songwriting chops and just uses that post-40 soundscape to really dig into solid songs.

http://www.datpiff.com/Emanny-Songs-About-Her-mixtape.354536.html

That might have been my rec. I'm still really digging it. Seems like he's sort of positioned himself as a more traditionalist Bei Maejor; he embraces a lot of the same post-Anticipation sounds, but usually stays grounded in Mario/Ne-Yo balladry. This one's probably my fav right now

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3hjmRYo_pI

lolling at both the phrase 'post-Anticipation' and its intended meaning

yeah. forever is really pretty.

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/news/a384612/ciara-confirms-new-single-sweat-album-one-woman-army.html

Ciara has revealed the names of her comeback single and album.

The singer confirmed that her new single will be called 'Sweat', while her fifth studio album will be titled One Woman Army.

1) SCREAM
2) good Ciara titles
3) ominous lack of release date

RocaBoi18
YES CISUS! I am ready!!! I'm buying 5 copies of the album!!!!
May 31st 2012 at 1:29pm

Jason Butcher
YESSSSSS!!!!! CiCi is about to slay!!!! people need to remember how talented this woman is!!!! can't wait till shes back in the uk!!!! Csquad STAND UP!!!!!!
May 31st 2012 at 11:41am(+1 like)

ha i know a guy name jason butcher but he is not a british ciara stan

would make more sense if it was him in that case

"Cisus"

RocaBoi18 would later be c-sectioned under the r&b mental health act

reference to slayyyyying reminds me, has anyone else sampled the latest delights at stan wars yet?

http://stan-wars.com/knockdown.html

new jhene aiko - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DREkQjsQnJU

wow that's great

and she's still really freaking hot

huh, jhene aiko and adiah were the same person to me until a minute ago

seriously, k3v? totally different vibes, to my ears.

adiah's stuff is much more, for lack of a better word, tropical? upbeat? i dunno. 'drumz' and that new song are both 'fun' or whatever.

jhene is basically the female sonic equivalent of drake and the weeknd for r'n'b but lex likes her. sometimes. she's also affiliated somewhat with kendrick + the black hippy crew and it sounds like it.

also affiliated w/ miguel + fisticuffs

never been grabbed by her stuff for w/e reason

i mean, they both kind of sound like cassie, i guess, but not even in the same way

yeah i mean in fairness i've heard like 2 songs by each of them and they're both incredibly hot, aiko moreso i think

in fairness

i find jhené aiko really uncompelling actually

it's kind of like someone trying to deliberately recreate the prime cassiefanclub aesthetic (which cassie herself seems guilty of as well these days)

I don't really see the Cassie/Jhene comparison besides the thin voice? Cassie's songs, while sort of detached in performance still have a certain air of either (a) menace a la Me & U or (b) sweetness a la most of the rest of her stuff. It's bubblegum, and it's thin but it's polished and 'pop'. Jhene's stuff seems like Cassie trying to do Drake.

Much closer to the sonic universe of Drake/The Weeknd/this new Emanny album/Anticipation-era MMTS/whatever.

Old-school Cassie was always much tighter, either in her post-Neptunes R-Leslie incarnation or the more actively R&B but also club music era of Connecticut Fever, or King of Hearts, which is straight-up dance music, beautiful-detached-robo-Cassie vocals or no.

god, Connecticut Fever will never not be hilarious

that's why it's my favourite! it was never a real album and it never will be, but it's such a great name and it's the best way to shorthand

i really wish drake would've named a mixtape Toronto Fever

I mean, his first mixtape was called "Room for Improvement" which is almost as great.

"Degrassi Fever" would be better, tbh.

he called himself the Tony Montana of Toronto, that's enough for me

jhene has this kind of subtle jazzy element to her that cassie does not (nor drake/weeknd)

I mean, his first mixtape was called "Room for Improvement" which is almost as great.

― twinkin' and drinkin' and ready to fly (Alex in Montreal), Monday, June 4, 2012 11:06 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark

wishing it was called Room for Home Improvement, featuring tim allen

SWEAT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ntfHBPpcon4

CISUS

no this is JUST WHAT I NEED though

the wait for the HQ mp3 is already killing me GIMME THAT BASS

new thread time i think

tweet covering aretha. so soooooo good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiWLkrAApSU

The new Brandy single is beyond awesome

― Evan R, Thursday, April 26, 2012 4:56 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark

needs to be mentioned again

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTO0GJFYH1k

nguzunguzu played that brandy single at the last night slugs - it's great

but fucking chris brown goddddd

ikr? someone release a brown-less edit asap

ignored kelis demo sounding shit wasnt the tea in 2005 and still isn't today

xp I dunno; I wish Chris Brown all the misfortune in the world and I hate the idea of all Chris Brown guest verses on principle, but he actually brings it on that song

i love the chorus on this and also, surprisingly, the beat

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OL1GcXuP9GM

not so much uncredited and frankly unwanted dude but good song nonetheless

yeah it's okay! gone off it a fair amount since i first posted though, the whirring clunkiness endears then annoys

briefly just flicked thru this usher album, think i'm gonna like it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZgDRRBzZsE

probably not gonna be the best song on there but it pleased meh

I had a real short turnaround when reviewing this one, and I'm a bit bummed b/c it's still growing on me. It's a total grab bag, even by Usher standards, so I actually like it more now that I've heard the bonus tracks, which only make an already sprawling album that much more eclectic. (I really, really wish labels included bonus tracks in early review streams).

the bonus tracks are possibly the best (and they did include them in my review stream) (though fret not the label made themselves unhelpful in several different ways)

shit i need to get the bonus tracks

really annoying me that i can't place the classical sample on "ifu", it's really familiar

I try not to vent about this stuff too much, but every stream is a massive battle for me lately, especially the ones 2+ weeks out. The original Usher stream they gave me expired after three (3) listens. That's not enough for me to review any album. It also seems stupid b/c most music tends to grow on listeners over repeat listens; and this album in particular seems like a grower

it def needs time to settle because of how big and bloated it is

they sent me the stream on a wednesday - my deadline was the following monday - and they told me it'd expire on friday. i wouldn't have been able to listen much before friday so i said i'd need it over the weekend. they said nuh-uh, not in our power to do that. but when (after consulting w/my editor) i then said "if you don't let me listen over the weekend we won't run the review at all" suddenly magically they found a way!

cunts.

also it was a stream where you had to go back to your computer and press play for each individual track rather than running straight through. some people at record labels need a punch in the face

Yup. Those individual track streams are most of the ones I get; they make PlayMPE seem like the most convenient format in the world. Best part of the three-listens only stream? Nowhere did it warn me I only had three listens. So it surprise-expired on Friday, and of course they couldn't renew it until Monday, my deadline.

I can't fault these protections too much, because they do curb leaks, and that's obviously the #1 goal. But it does seem like it's turning the publicist/critic relationship adversarial. We're a far cry from the days of stacks of unsolicited review copies of CDs, weeks before their release

every UK journalist I know has joined a facebook group called something like "PlayMPE is the worst thing in the universe"

does no one just record the streams...?

anyway had this on a couple of times and the sprawl isnt really shaping itself for me yet (suspect perhaps that's the point) but it's certainly less luridly jarring than nicki's. ursh is a agreeable and deft charmer though, much more so than usual, and comfortably shepherds his weird herd well. not sure i'm going to be as into it as i first thought i'd be however

they do curb leaks

do they? i mean...the usher album has leaked pre-release. every album does. and the leaks never came from journalists anyway.

it's certainly less luridly jarring than nicki's

i thought the opposite - nicki's album was at least divided into sections that made sense, whereas usher's is all over the place from one track to the next

also i keep coming back to 'ifu' and i can't decide if it's cos it's the best or just cos it comes as such a relief

I hate reviewing rap albums from streams more than anything, because I feel I can't properly judge most rap until I've heard it at least once in my car. But if I've got to stream, PlayMPE is at least an orderly system I can access both at home and at work.

It's inevitable that all albums leak about a week before their release; I think the labels have resigned themselves to that (and maybe even allow it). But five or six years ago, big albums were leaking three, four, or even five weeks before their release. That barely happens anymore.

nah i feel there's much more of an amalgamating sensibility, maybe even a line running through it albeit a vague one

usher is always a lot closer to his stages than nicki is though, it's inherent

besides that the divisions are what precisely didnt make sense with nicki's

it's certainly less luridly jarring than nicki's

i thought the opposite - nicki's album was at least divided into sections that made sense, whereas usher's is all over the place from one track to the next

― kanye kardashian (lex pretend), Friday, June 8, 2012 10:58 AM (2 minutes ago)

For as much as it style-shifts, there are some subtle throughlines that tie this Usher album together, some repeated sounds and textures. The Nicki album was just spaghetti tossed at a wall, cynically divided into groupings of pasta and sauce once the mess hit the floor

yeah i don't agree with that at all. i mean they're both segregated... nicki's is half & half (more or less) while w/ usher it's the first two tracks & then the last one (at least as the super pop stuff goes). otherwise i think it flows pretty well, the uptempo songs in the middle of the album aren't jarring to me at all.

"climax" -> "i care for u" -> "show me" -> "lemme see" is a great stretch here, "twisted" & "dive" i'm not crazy about, but it picks up with "what happened to u" thru "sins of my father"

"show me" is fucking amazing

Yeah, can't deny the dance tracks are pretty glaring outliers, but at least they're smartly sequenced to bookend the record. If you replaced "Can't Stop," "Scream" and "Euphoria" with three of the better bonus tracks, this would be one hell of an album, more or less.

"Twisted" is pretty lame. "Dive" sounds like a Savage Garden cover or some shit.

sav garden would probably have the panache to get away with "precipitating walls" solecisms tbf

Yeah, can't deny the dance tracks are pretty glaring outliers, but at least they're smartly sequenced to bookend the record. If you replaced "Can't Stop," "Scream" and "Euphoria" with three of the better bonus tracks, this would be one hell of an album, more or less.

yes

i enjoy "can't stop won't stop" an unsettling and disturbing amount

AND RIGHT WHEN I SAW YA!
I FELL IN LOVE!

that's the one where he says "i'll be your skin lotion" right?

feeling the new mmts clapper

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itnvwZ4Z1Hc

Trey Songz is really good at making the most of shameless club songs about being in the clubs.

"Heart Attack" has totally won me over. It just sounds bigger than most radio R&B right now; it's a total power ballad.

think there was some elle varner talk earlier but this sounds great on the radio

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJIbNepRCS8

yeah i love it (despite reservations about her squeaky oversinging), although rtc already told me that my enjoyment of it is a symptom of being stuck in 2004

I've never listened to that song in its entirety because I seriously cannot sit through the chorus. I like the fiddle, though.

i love that!

verging on some kelsian yodelling towards the end there <3

haha don't make me sound like even more of an ogre than i already am you dick

lol

feel like i should know better than to love that mmts, and then i feel like i should know better than to know better

how can you ever resist that operatic hamming tho, STOP TRIPPIN U CAN'T CONTROL THAT FREAK!

what i would say to trey though is, hey, my mans, you are keeping it rolling and that is all well and good but where is your defining thong song that etches your silly swag into the public consciousness forevermore, reach for them stars homie

yeah it definitely feels like now that he's conquered his lane, both his bangers and his weepers aim to just maintain what they've already accomplished and not go any further. which is still kinda admirable given the desperate crossover splatter everyone else is going for, but it would be nice if he seemed to still have some unrealized ambitions.

thank god he's not following CB's lead and rapping on singles, though -- his flow on the "bait" remix and that dreamchasers 2 track are just horrifying.

his "flow"

i liked his rapping on "wonder woman" fine, at least as far as r&b dude rapping goes

yeah he's done some pretty decent rapping and rapping-ish stuff on random remixes like "I'm The Ish" etc. over the years but on those 2 recent tracks he's just annoying as fuck

both his bangers and his weepers aim to just maintain what they've already accomplished and not go any further. which is still kinda admirable given the desperate crossover splatter everyone else is going for, but it would be nice if he seemed to still have some unrealized ambitions.

I can't argue with the gist of this, but I think it undersells him pretty badly. There's a clear advancement of his craft from album to album, ending with PP&P, which was a rock solid through and through; it was a traditionalist contemporary R&B album that never felt stiff or classicist, and that's an impressive feat in its own way. He's not dazzling anybody with innovation, but if his plan is to keep making bigger, better R&B albums in hopes of having a pop audience come to him, rather than having to chase them, I'm OK with that.

not sure who this guy is... miguel tweeted a link to this last week or something

really strong song imo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKfrhDmhbqI

every time Trey drops an album or mixtape i think "maybe this'll be the one i actually listen to" and then i don't. he can be great in small doses but an hour of all that emphatic vibrato just seems exhausting.

he's pretty uncompelling all told

every time Trey drops an album or mixtape i think "maybe this'll be the one i actually listen to" and then i don't.

ha otm

These #TweetTuesdays tracks are making me pretty excited for a new Tweet album. The new one is super soft.

new kellz is quintessential "tasteful mid-tempos for the moms, with a couple of oddities to leaven it" but it's v enjoyable anyway

that was the last album too, the question is is it better/worse than that

These #TweetTuesdays tracks are making me pretty excited for a new Tweet album. The new one is super soft.

― Evan R, Tuesday, June 19, 2012 10:18 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

officially obsessed over here

not as great on one listen, the last one seemed kinda more opulent and lavish than this

xp

what is the new tweet track called?

Have we discussed this yet?

https://twitter.com/_MAXWELL_/status/205133542668251137

Lead single from blackSUMMER'Snight forthcoming soon! Which means the album can't be far behind. So excited about this.

oh thank god, three years was way too long a wait

It's ironic that #SUMMERS almost certainly won't be released until fall, earliest

Also, Lex, the new Tweet song is called "C 4eva". Acoustic is a good look for her, even if I think I like "Trouble" more

we fuckin w/ this new jeremih single?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOwEddREowI

production is interesting

oh it's the same beat as that goapele song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRn2DAggPEE

of course! was just scratching my head for a few minutes trying to place that. i really love that goapele song so can't really get into this.

Can't get into the new Jeremih song---his pseudo-rapping on it is just dreadful---but that ultra-Teriusy "Late Nights" track from a few months ago that never made any waves still pushes all the right buttons for me. Hoping his mixtape drops soon so I can enjoy it in the summer.

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m5uo2eZmF01rxlzpfo1_500.jpg

wtf kinda tumblr bullshit is that

just think its funny that gross rockist rap nerdery has infiltrated R&B discourse thanks to frank ocean and the weeknd. congrats

lol yeah cos r&b fans never ever made assertions like that prior to the scapegoats de nos jours showing up

Yeah this isn't really that different to people comparing say Jill Scott and Destiny's Child a decade plus ago is it?

Except that there's now no hard distinction sonically (i.e the old battle lines were drawn on an organic/soulful vs electronic/beat-heavy axis as much as lyrics/persona).

theres very much a diff i'm saying this is outsider rockism as opposed to old ppl rockism

Except that there's now no hard distinction sonically (i.e the old battle lines were drawn on an organic/soulful vs electronic/beat-heavy axis as much as lyrics/persona).

this also strikes me as a p notable change too!

yeah I was just thinking I suppose the difference is that the current distinctions are drawn as between individuals' relationship with (roughly) the same culture/aesthetic rather than as between two competing (and stylistically/arguably generationally distinct) aesthetics.

It's kind of like a fusing-together of the old authentic vs plastic division and the old innovators vs campfollowers division - the treatment of e.g. Frank Ocean is neither as another (say) Musiq Soulchild nor as another (say) Timbaland but a kind of combination of the two.

In some ways this kind of approach is harder to argue with (though that doesn't mean it's correct) because the protest "why shouldn't I want in-effect contemporary popular R&B with modern production and 'smarter' lyrics / subject matter?" seems more reasonable than "contemporary popular R&B is the very devil."

And you can attack the implied definition of 'smarter' as myopic and occasionally eye-rolly but outright objecting to stuff in that mould is difficult to justify objectively.

this tweet stuff is ridic good

sayin

holy shit @ "c 4eva" this is beautiful

"trouble" too

what other tweet tuesdays tracks are there?

http://soundcloud.com/dubose-music-group

^ they're here

Lead single from blackSUMMER'Snight forthcoming soon!

yessss

xp cheers

new brooke valentine official single - liking this on one listen, surprisingly lite and airy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzB5Cn0tGEU

um this new wynter gordon is kind of WOW

http://soundcloud.com/andygensler/01-stimela-by-wynter-gordon

looks like she's doing a dawn richard with her imminent EPs... http://www.billboard.com/news/wynter-gordon-goes-d-i-y-for-new-eps-exclusive-1007383752.story#/news/wynter-gordon-goes-d-i-y-for-new-eps-exclusive-1007383752.story

:-O Not what i was expecting at all...

Maxwell tour canceled due to 'vocal hemorrhaging' :(

Tweet, Mama's Gun-esque

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTbgTADYhl4

These have all been so good

Have we had opinions about the new R Kelly album yet? I haven't heard past the two singles and I'm curious what the verdict is.

wasn't a huge fan of Love Letter but it worked for what it was, and this feels like diminishing returns. love the MJ riffing on "You Are My World" though.

Only listened to it twice, but it seems pretty solid. With the 70s vibe its more of a sequel to Happy People than Love Letter, really. Given how terrible Kels' recent contemporary shit has been, I'm fine with him riding the retro lane a bit longer

i say this a lot, but i'd rather see black panties right now

I don't think this was posted elsewhere, but our first taste of black panties (ha) was really dire. "Its On" (sic) makes me long for that Mark Morrison song we were all laughing at last year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wr1VVtIABjM&feature=player_embedded#!

I was going to post about how amazing the Wynter Gordon song was before I got distracted by Miguel.

Matos quite likes the Kells.

wait a minute, how has "love letter" not being amazing been rewritten into the narrative without me realizing?

the song or the album? song was v good, album was fine, but "amazing" is an absurd word touse

an absurd word to use, not the absurd word "touse"

who you calling abtouse

i meant the album, tho obviously that applies to the song too. alubm runs out of steam toward the end for me but there are a ton of gems too, things like "#1 hit" and "lost in your love" are better than he's done in years

also i had no idea he had a new album, nice

the kellz is good, maybe not as whoa or noteworthy as love letter but def worth hearing - more "step in the name of love"-style midtempos than big lavish balladry. "believe in me" is kind of amazing, "fool for you" is prob my fav.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDeFJHirxpY

I like this random alt-soul EP I picked up. Really good production, but the singer seems kind of lobotomized and I'm not sure I've heard an altogether necessary cover of "Sour Times" yet. Best track, I think, is "Free" which kind of sounds like Dawn x uk funky.

http://soundcloud.com/chericoke/sets/x-coke/

is this the official point where there is no longer any point in posting things in the "kinda out there, maybe kinda experimental, maybe kinda pretentious modern r&b" thread instead of this one

yeah, maybe

errr, by Dawn i mean Druski tbh

the kellz is good, maybe not as whoa or noteworthy as love letter but def worth hearing - more "step in the name of love"-style midtempos than big lavish balladry. "believe in me" is kind of amazing, "fool for you" is prob my fav.

I think I could listen to R Kelly stepper tunes forever. "Believe That It's So" is so lovely, I just want it to keep going and going.

"Fool For You" is lovely, yes.

i worship "Step In The Name Of Love" but the newer stuff really doesn't remotely hit the same mark imo

Timothy Bloom, reliable jaw-dropper:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qmxPPMLII4

Also, don't want to dwell on it too much, but Ne-Yo just put out a shitty Euro-pop single called—I shit you not—"Let Me Love You." Sacrilegious.

wtf

the album after titling a song "one in a million" !!!!

also he's on that new timbaland song which seemed really soupy in that bad over-the-hill timbaland way

This stings that much more b/c he's been hyping his new album as a return to basics, true R&B record. He's doing that thing I hate where artists straight up lie about what their new album is going to be

(I actually sorta love his "One in a Million," though, so I can't complain too much about the title-aping, I guess)

Haven't heard this latest Ne-Yo track yet, but is the R&B trend in 2012 dropping a compelling single and then following it up with a shitty Guetta-esque club track? See also, Usher.

it's more like dual-singles than follow-ups

and artists have been releasing songs to diff radio formats for years

yeah ne-yo's "one in a million" is good but still

I feel like as one of the few listeners who values albums as albums, I'm doubly fucked over by the Guetta-ization of R&B. Because almost without exception, those singles not only suck, but they totally fuck up the flow of an entire album

^^^

this.

I feel like I'm the only one around here who likes "Scream".

I think it's decent, I like a lot of what follows it on the album more tho

Still haven't listened to the full album. Can I expect more "Climax" or more "Scream?"

song for song, more like the former than the latter, but lots kind of in between.

I pulled out the album after a two-week hiatus and loved the misshapen, misbegottent thing to bits.

The Usher album is a $35 bottle of wine with a bunch of little pieces of cork in it you can't fully fish out

The extra tracks on the Usher album are the date who helpfully picks out the cork pieces.

now hearing 'i.f.u' as a seductive address to the prudishly stubborn listener

works

I don't think I actively dislike a single song on the album, I just don't really unabashedly love any of it either, so when you folks get all on about THESE are the great songs and THESE are the terrible ones it's all greek to me.

I pulled out the album after a two-week hiatus and loved the misshapen, misbegottent thing to bits.

― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 9 July 2012 21:59 (46 minutes ago) Permalink

Yeah, not sure if I'd put it in quite so strong terms but I find this album a really enjoyable straight-through listen, in part because of how it jumps all over the place.

I skip around but am too committed to the songs I adore.

for me tracks 1-7 are mostly worthless and tracks 8-14 are solid (w/ bonus tracks mostly on the good side)

my two-week hiatus from ~music listening~ made me, uh, forget the usher album existed. don't really feel compelled to go back to any of it tbh

the bieber album is basically a better usher album

there are hardly any songs i even want to skip on the nicki album though!

hahaha

forget the ibiza bloodfarts, but if you can sit thru nicki's inspirational track with drake, nas & young jeezy, you're more barbs than i

the bieber album is basically a better usher album

― bitch I'm on the 242 (lex pretend), Monday, 9 July 2012 23:55 (Yesterday) Bookmark

bollocks it is

Hate to throw a new topic into a really vibrant conversation, but K. Michelle dropped a new mixtape today, and it is often exceptional and I want Lex to hear it immediately because I gotta believe he'll really dig it

she's got the title right at least

The timing is really interesting (if coincidental) in the wake of the Frank Ocean reveal, since K. Michelle has been openly bi for a while, and she addresses it smartly on the opener: "I done been around the world, slept with some girls, smoked a little weed but that don't define me..."

"There are hardly any songs I even want to skip on the Nicki album though!" the alleged attacker was quoted as saying on a message board Monday night. Friends insist he was acting "normal" in the days leading up to Tuesday's incident, which is being considered the worst act of violence against primary school children in London's history.

the best songs on the bieber album pass the drunk-on-the-night-bus litmus test of pop easily, the usher album seems more and more try-hard with every listen.

what is the k michelle mixtape called? i can barely download music or watch youtube any more

i've always liked nicki's verse on the inspirational track! but that is, in fact, one of the few songs that i do skip

xp It's called "0 Fucks Given," which is about right.

It's streaming/downloadable here: http://www.thisisrnb.com/2012/07/new-music-k-michelle-0-fcks-given-mixtape/

she's got the title right at least

― r|t|c, Monday, 9 July 2012 23:15 (Yesterday) Permalink

lolled twice.

considering 90% of what ilm has given a fuck about this year that's practically a recommendation at this point

for serious she was talking about ilm?

in truth i want to hear the k. michelle mixtape - perennially an artist where my failure to fall head over heels in love feels like a problem with me rather than a problem with the music.

what?

everything i read on the internet atm makes me want to hear no music ever again and talk about nothing that i'm actually listening to

i dare you

http://i.imgur.com/MWVTy.png

So K. Michelle definitely picked the wrong day to release her mixtape. Ah well.

i saw her video about masturbating on MTV Jams today

of the three r&b things released this week that i listened to today, the wynter gordon ep was the best. bit more straightforward than "stimela" would have had you expecting but still pretty good.

the k michelle one has me a bit worried about her tbh, it has its high points but overall has this vibe of someone who missed her moment. what is she doing in a reality tv show and naked on the cover and talking about her ass somuch :(

still better than frank ocean, mind.

K Michelle is autotune hell

(at least on the first track)

please don't listen to this if it's your introduction to her!!!!!

her mixtape from a couple of years back, what's the 911, is AMAZING

this is just odds and ends of someone who has no idea what she should be doing

though dan should def hear wynter gordon's "stimela"

http://soundcloud.com/wynter-gordon-doleo/stimela

I want to go back to K Michelle but my first impression is "imagine if Keyshia Cole wasn't completely terrible and could sing"

okay "Stimela" is great

even if it does sounds like it's named after an STD

it sounds like an outtake from So

these are my top 5 k michelle joints

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sH21KcQzI1M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlCMetckhu8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xi1mhFQjhu8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1exXltbeIW4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRF6inHDMlc

"stimela" is the zulu word for locomotive

if she would holler less and sing more, she wouldn't be so flat at the end of that performance of "Where They Do That At"

I like her voice a lot, tho

Yeah, there's a just-fucking around quality to a lot of this mixtape, and at 24 tracks it is scattered by nature—definitely a mixtape, not an album—but there are a lot of gems throughout and I'm constantly in awe of her voice and her confidence. I think "Irrelevant" holds its own with most of the tracks Lex posted above, too

yeah i like "irrelevant" - it was on a previous mixtape tho

That Wynter Gordon song is like listening to Dolores O'Riordan from The Cranberries try to sing Drakewave. Ugh.

am I more out of touch than I thought or does that comment make absolutely no sense

I mean, I do admit part of me was thinking "lol Wynter's backing track is a little like sped-up Frank Ocean" but how do you get any type of Cranberries vibe off of her

I'd say Shakira.

The track's good.

xp yeah, wtf.

I didn't realize her EP was out tho. Gotta check that. "Stimela" is one of my favorite songs this year.

Could go Cranberries or Shakira, since they both since in half-yodeled Alanis Morissettisms. I went with Cranberries, because I like Cranberries less

by that logic you could say Jordin Sparks sounded like Dolores O'Riordan on "No Air"

which no one would actually say because it would be super stupid

nice

It's a lot closer to Dawn than Drake anyways.

Yeah but even the Dawn EP is closer to Drake than some ppl here want to admit

Guys did you know that everything in this thread is R&B and Drake is R&B ==== you are all listening to DRAKE.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ajKytShi_c

can we least get the correct case study up?

xp Oh come on; is that seriously what you thought I was suggesting? Do I really have to post side-by-side embeds of "Faith" and "Take Care"? Obviously the two acts share a fair amount of common influences, especially when they are both in their downtempo modes, which is often lately

Surely the real damning comparison is that Wynter sounds like Y Kant Tori Read (e.g. "Cool on your Island").

But I generally approve of this sound being revived.

but "cool on your island" is amazing

Who here hates "Take Care" for its music / general structure?

AFAIK most people dislike Drake for his voice, then his lyrics, then maybe the really really wishy-washy sonics of stuff like "Marvin's Room" (but that is the smallest group of Drake haters).

So invoking Drake as the boogeyman because an R&B tune is all emoto-house seems like missing the point of Drake hate.

but "cool on your island" is amazing

yeah sorry "damning" was meant to be in scare quotes. I agree!

anyway even a novice like me can hear the afropop foundations of "stimela", from its name to the rhythms and the ululating. this is the track it was based on, it seems

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4Bb7p9gggc

and yeah a lot of the rest of the EP is weirdly 90s female singer-songwriter alt-rock which is a GOOD THING, if surprising

plenty of actual drake tracks can be made pretty good, even great, by the simple step of Removing Drake, tim otm. not that he's a particularly useful comparison for dawn (especially not "faith"! that's far more in line with that kelis rave album) or wynter (at any point really)

I wasn't trying to use Drake as a pejorative. Armor On just always seemed to me like Dawn's (often smarter, deeper) spin on the same chilly sounds. There's a lot of Kanye West in there, too. She was working from a foundation that those two really popularized.

I don't mind the rest of the Wynter Gordon release—that track rtc posted is ok—"Stimela" just lays on the shrillness and Lion King mysticism way too thick for me

chilly electronics in r&b hardly began with drake and kanye though

I know. But for better or worse they've led the current zeitgeist

i hear tons of '808s & heartbreaks' in dawn's record but then again i don't think that's a bad thing

drake, less so

i was also rather unimpressed w/ that wynter gordon song

yeah 'giving in' is my fave track on the thing i must confess

can see where the cranners comparisons come from but that one reminds me most of when britney does it on her album cuts and i luv those

i think it's readily evident and hardly a controversial assertion that we play in a larger, greyer area than the shrillest weekend/drakephobes ever care to admit

still kinda sad that my boo wynter sold out tho :/

yeah i remember she had some bangers back in the post-flo rida days

haha i was going to ask if anyone remembers her pre-fame stuff from when she was just another r&b blogfailure but having searched it turns out i have nothing less than a whole folder of 2008 demos on a old hd...? why man why??

btw wiki reveals she goes way back with d'mile who is all over various ddm stuffs

inviting anyone who might know to tell me some beautiful lies about how the teairra mari mixtape's worth hearing

someone recommended it to be the other day, i haven't got round to it yet though

"coins" from the other year was such an underrated jam

*me

My underrated Teairra jam from the other year was "Body". And her turn on the "Pum Pum Shorts" remix.

okay beautiful lies time: Leaving aside "I Do Like" (exactly what you'd expect) and "Click Flash" and "Mercy" the thing done got this kind of electrik red meets journey vibe, the beyond of beyonce's "dance for you", all power sex ballads, over sung and over produced and lacking in tunes, but sort of in the best one night only way. Check "Another Round" and "Lovemaking" and "U Did That" on this tip.

Hey R&B peeps, is there a separate thread for new classic sounding soul & R&B anywhere? Didn't wanna start one if it'd be redundant but also didn't think posting Lee Fields gorgeous "moonlight mile" cover would be appropriate here.

traditionalist stuff doesn't get a ton of attention itt but it's perfectly welcome when someone does want to talk about it, in my experience

I'd be interested in being exposed to more classic sounding soul. It'd be nice to hear something beyond the one obligatory retro-soul track that is now a staple of every big R&B album

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jzfy7aKB9oo

^dig this!

'wrong side of a love song' is freakin' amazing. actually on some hot buttered soul shit

Hey R&B peeps, is there a separate thread for new classic sounding soul & R&B anywhere? Didn't wanna start one if it'd be redundant but also didn't think posting Lee Fields gorgeous "moonlight mile" cover would be appropriate here.

― to welcome jer.fairall, pie is served. (jer.fairall), Friday, July 13, 2012

Xchuckx and I talk about Lee Fields, some classic soul and current Southern soul (with the tacky sounding synths that many folks hate) over here:

Chitlin Circuit Double-entendre -filled Soul 2004 (and onward) Theodis Ealey's "Stand Up In It" is a song of the year

Sometimes even tim f. will weigh in with a line-dance favorite

cross-post from pop thread but this new jojo/shebib single is the shit

serious "promise" vibes

free tape store

http://soundcloud.com/futuresounds-bgr/jojo-demonstrate

i was wondering lately what happened to tapestore p

haha

i haven't talked to him in a bit... i should reach out. i think he's really focused on film stuff. miss him tho.

i can't quite decide on first blushes if that song's kinda underpolished or if it's a persuasive roughness

good though

it didn't strike me as immediately amazing but i think it really opens up

demmmmonnnnnstrrraaaaaatte

also that chunky, stuttery pre-chorus thing is hella 'writing on the wall' or something, i really dig

where are the "promise" vibes? seriously. "promise" is huge and lush, this is...underpolished doesn't even begin to cover it.

this just makes me think about how once again jojo's official singles don't live up to the promise of her unofficial stuff

idk mans, personally if it sounds like you can ride a horse to it in super slow-mo with a romantic sense of purpose i file it under promise

defence calls for the world renowned promise arbitrator k3v to resolve this thorny dispute

it's a bit static and small-sounding for that imo

rtc otm on both accounts

defence calls for the world renowned promise arbitrator k3v to resolve this thcorny dispute

― r|t|c, Wednesday, July 18, 2012 12:51 PM (6 hours ago) Bookmark

haha guys

i dig this definitely, and can see some "promise" in it - the percussion follows a somewhat similar cadence (sorta pushing it tho), and parts of it match the weightlessness of "promise", one of its finer characteristics. the production is a lot sparer, especially in the verses, which i think is what lex is referring to, which makes it feel a little less smooth i guess. good find nonetheless

http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/4fec9ea16bb3f76373000010/john-roberts.jpg

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/images/smilies/smash.gif

lol @ smash.gif

this is super-dope btw, esp the parts right before the chorus where it goes all double-time just for one line

i really don't like the drum sounds either - they're too loud and they kind of thud in a really unvibey way - cf how light and soft the percussion in "promise" is. iirc this is one of those things that repelled me about the production on take care as well.

and the song is just not there, god, my attention just wanders about 5 times in each verse.

yeah it does need a big breakdown or something, gets a bit circular and anaemic

generally agree about 40 beats but jojo has enough about her to plump it up to an extent so to speak

it's good, flirts with dope, def not super-dope

It makes me think of "Final Warning" more than "Promise". :O

yeah.... those guitar stutters are def "final warning".... not sure how i didn't place that

i think when the chorus opens up it resembles "promise" a bit

yes

these comparisons to all-time-classics are doing this song absolutely no favours you guys

you know what totally bangs? this robin thicke single

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8f2EYdR3uw

old news i know but it never really caught my ear much when i listened to the album. really suits his voice well

Gonna save myself the embarrassment of trying to embed a Bandcamp track here (can it be done?) and just link to the page, but this Melodie "Classic Love" track strikes me as a better stab at '70s soul than most of the R. Kelly album

http://melodiesoul.bandcamp.com/track/classic-love

these comparisons to all-time-classics are doing this song absolutely no favours you guys

― bitch I'm on the 242 (lex pretend), Thursday, July 19, 2012 11:50 PM Bookmark

Come to think of it, "Demonstrate" might be better than the entire oeuvres of Aaliyah and Ciara combined. Little to do with Jojo, though. It's all the genius of 40 Shebib.

this robin t is quite good in his usual sort of way

evan that melodie song is awesome, gonna download that EP

don't know a thing about time signatures but its pace is great, the thing is just in motion