itt: kinda out there, maybe kinda experimental, maybe kinda pretentious modern r&b

Let's just call this the "sideways r&b thread". We can discuss, post youtubes, whatever. This is what I'm really into right now.

I'll go first.

J*Davey: Spaced out, warped, synth jams with sexy-time female vocals

"Mr. Mister" (Future Screw Remix)

Muhsinah: Sometimes off-kilter, lo-fi, samplebased stuff, usually pretty cheerful

"Construction"

More to come.

whoops, forgot the youtube for "Construction"

you started this for me rev, didn't you

just cataloged the G&D album

snagged tons of this weekend

will be posting tons on this shortly

really feelin "mr. mister"

G&D = Georgia Ann Muldrow and Dudley Perkins

They did one album with 2tall billed to him, and one w/o billed as G&D.

Both in 2007

DL'd so many of your suggestions today too.

haha, me & brainwasher have been talking this stuff for a couple hours

Finally checking out Spacek (waaay behind on this one)

but I knew you'd be down

ahhh, all I've heard Spacek-wise is the (mostly instrumental) Black Pocket album. Which is pretty good in a dilla x timbo instrumental jam way

Steve Spacek guests his vocals on several things in this vein outside of Spacek (the group).

Platinum Pied Pipers should be listed here too.

What other Waajeed should I have other than Triple P???

Right now, listening to this Swedish group called Little Dragon that Brainwasher just introduced me to. Good so far!

I don't really know much about Wajeed

Little Dragon's chick singer was famed for her work with KOOP, which is more loungey or whatever.

I'm going to check more into Waajeed this weekened.
http://www.discogs.com/artist/Waajeed
Will report back.

kinda off topic: this 80s jam was remixed by sa-ra...and the original itself fits into this mold w/o the remix effort

Speaking of 80s jams, Phonte Coleman of Little Brother/The Foreign Exchange and a producer named Zo! have an awesome EP of 80s covers called Zo! & Tigallo Love the 80's. There cover of "Take On Me":

Where the Erykah New Amerikka fans out on this thread???

oh cool, you made the thread! here's some stuff I've been into recently:

M$NEY "Future": sort of janelle monae-ish futuristic house&b about aliens and shit:

Little Dragon "Test" : whole album is crazy, this swedish experimental deconstrted r&b type stuff with very soulful half-japanese vocalist:

Flying Lotus & Andreya Triana "Tea Leaf Dancers" - Flying Lotus' album Los Angeles is getting lots of love, but this song >>>>>> that album, it's the song that really got me into him last year... really spacey, reverby, hazed-out dilla-esque production and equally hazy vocals:

Dudley Perkins & Georgia Anne Muldow:

will come back to thread with more later, but really we need jaxon to come back lol

and Shafiq Husay'n from Sa-Ra released this really cool instumental EP recently, everyone who loved New Amerykah should check it out:

http://www.dustygroove.com/images/products/s/shafiqhusay_jankrando_101b.jpg

damn this thread is some hot fire, keep it up

Fair amount of overlap here: platinum pied pipers/sa-ra/the new downbeat-rnb thing: why don't i like this stuff more?

Just happened to listen to Spacek's Curvatia for the first time in a while -- it has held up really well.

For out-there Waajeed R&B, the epitome is the Tiombe Lockhart feature "O'Bloody Days, O'Starry Nights on the Bowery" off The War LP.

Has anyone heard the Shafiq instrumentals on Poo-Bah?

haha xp

Not to get too Dilla on this thread, but he overlaps in places:

Dilla's remix of the first Spacek single back in 2000 should get note
Steve Spacek - Eve (J Dilla Remix)

This was my summer jam!!!Soo off kilter
Lucy Pearl - Without You (Jay Dee Remix)

I'm looking to hearing more from Rozzi Daime. She got a hot song currently on Brownswood Bubblers 3, but no youtube yet.

Her with Sa-Ra in 2007:
Sa-Ra ft. Rozzi Daime - So Special

xxp

Though obviously more of a house record, Moodymann's "Freeki Mutha F cker" (finally out, after all these years) deserves mention here.

http://www.myspace.com/araceofangels

http://www.myspace.com/tiombelockhart

http://www.myspace.com/tyandkory

hi dere

so where's the line between stuff like "zo! and tigallo" and stuff like "the cool kids"

Cool Kids are a rap group

(a v. boring rap group)

if youre talking about the retro-humping aspect in particular, the big problem with Cool Kids isn't the retro thing, it's that they can't rap at all

Before this thread gets too okayplayer-ish, here's Muffy Cakeopia:

http://a913.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/39/m_e428452480e5806d011bcfa4649696f8.jpg

Muffy is to Bangladesh as Kelis is to he Neptunes .. she's got cool style, she raps & sings, and has one of the craziest producers behind her... check out "Dope Boi" are retarded:

http://www.myspace.com/muffymommy

lmao that was supposed to say "the beat switches in 'dope boi' are retarded"

I was all excited about Spacek's Space Shift when I first got it, then I realized that it was so xx-ed out that it almost doesn't exist. Great in places, just wheezy in others.

Am I weird in that I don't really like much Dilla stuff, but I like almost everything influenced by him? There's something about the way his tracks lurch in particular that I find offputting.

how great is her bio:

Muffy Cupcakeopia is Hip-Pop, Alternative-Glam Sweet! Muffy was born in Detroit to musical parents. Her mother sang with funk pioneer George Clinton, her father played the BASS and the "Real MAn" who raised her plays the piano and was a musical engineer out of Detroit "dats How he met mommy". From birth she was always encouraged to express herself creatively. As a teen she was unexpectedly uprooted and transplanted to Newark, N.J. Without the security of home, she felt she had to be "everything at once." This move spawned the emergence of Muffy Cupcakeopia. Cute. Independent. Sexy. Tough. Determination lead Muffy to Atlanta, GA. It was there in the southern music capital that acclaimed Platinum manager Coach K began guiding her career. He introduced her to Maverick Super-Producer Bangledesh . Together they have produced ironically titled tracks like "Dope Boy" which have nothing to do with drugs and everything to do with swag. Muffy now laughs at the days when she had to sneak and sell candy in school to buy her prom dress. Her quirky fashion is a reflection of her musical influences. Blondie to Beyonce. Bjork to Badu. All of these women represent independence. Her song "Let Em hate" dismisses anyone who isn't "On what I'm on." This attitude actually inspired her to coin the phrase YummyPops to describe her fans or anyone doing whatever they do to the fullest. YummyPops identify with her Uncensored lyrics and Unapologetic sexuality. Even though her mouth is Tart, she is still Sweet.

Come See da Duck (8:32:05 PM): yeah I think it's gonna be big next yr
Reverend Dollars (8:32:55 PM): the thread or the music?
Come See da Duck (8:32:57 PM): 'cuz I think J*davey will blow up next year and ppl will become more interested
Come See da Duck (8:33:02 PM): both
Reverend Dollars (8:33:43 PM): I don't think most of this has any chance of becoming mainstream, maybe j*davey, just because jack davey is such a persona haha
Reverend Dollars (8:33:59 PM): do they have a major deal?
Come See da Duck (8:34:09 PM): haha yeah she is, and their new stuff is sounding more accesible
Come See da Duck (8:34:12 PM): yeah they do
Come See da Duck (8:34:14 PM): I forget which label
Come See da Duck (8:34:24 PM): but they have some new stuff on their myspace
Reverend Dollars (8:34:57 PM): ahh, will check out
Come See da Duck (8:35:27 PM): the first song that plays "end of the world (mama's back)" is amazing
Reverend Dollars (8:38:08 PM): okay, this
Reverend Dollars (8:38:16 PM): this j*davey song
Reverend Dollars (8:38:56 PM): I dunno, I'm not sure j*davey stand much chance of being bigger than, say, janelle monae
Come See da Duck (8:39:25 PM): I think she's gonna be big too
Come See da Duck (8:39:37 PM): I mean, everyone seems to like her
Come See da Duck (8:39:45 PM): like, even people I know that aren't into underground stuff
Reverend Dollars (8:39:45 PM): maybe they have more of a sex sells going for them than monae does
Come See da Duck (8:40:11 PM): yeah thats possible beacuase Jack Davey is sexy
Reverend Dollars (8:40:25 PM): well, that's what I was trying to say haha
Reverend Dollars (8:41:00 PM): I think Monae is a ws, too, but she doesn't seem as confortable trading on sex appeal as davey does
Come See da Duck (8:41:17 PM): yeah thats true
Come See da Duck (8:41:26 PM): but I mean, she had a Gap ad campaign
Reverend Dollars (8:41:30 PM): did she?
Come See da Duck (8:41:31 PM): so she's not like
Come See da Duck (8:41:35 PM): a fringe artist
Come See da Duck (8:41:36 PM): yeah
sargnt88 (8:41:53 PM): critics love her
Come See da Duck (8:41:53 PM): I think she could definitely blow up
Reverend Dollars (8:42:00 PM): the new stuff on myspace seems a bit more streamlined then their earlier stuff
Come See da Duck (8:42:08 PM): yeah
Come See da Duck (8:42:17 PM): I mean, if Kelis can find an audience
Come See da Duck (8:42:22 PM): then I think J Davey can
Reverend Dollars (8:42:28 PM): good point
Come See da Duck (8:43:31 PM): speaking of, I should post about Muffy in the sideways thread
Come See da Duck (8:43:32 PM): brb
Reverend Dollars (8:43:37 PM): I could see J*Davey or Monae getting Kelis-big, but not achieving actual superstardom
Reverend Dollars (8:43:39 PM): lol muffy
Reverend Dollars (8:44:13 PM): but, a lot of what I like about J*Davey is they're messy

damn, "Dope Boi" is kinda ridiculous

still can't believe her name is "Muffy"

is this the time when i point out AGAIN that a lot of this was prefigured by Common's Electric Circus (largely inspired by Badu and Dilla? and then Shipley clowns me for repeating myself?, because let's just get that out of the way

or is this the time when I say MUFFY CUPCAKEOPIA CALL ME BOO

there's a lot other than Electric Circus that prefigures this. (some not even connected to Badu, Dilla or ?uesto) Don't give Com too much credit.

Although I'm tempted to divide a line between Kedar's Neo-Soul, OK Player, Soulquarians, and this, let's PLEASE not turn this thread into a tiresome debate over what the boundaries are.

If we just remain in the center here of what's what, we can continue with the jams for now.

I'm kinda dissappointed in the G&D project, but the 2Tall feat G&D so far isn't bad.

Waiting for Tiombe Lockhart & J*Davey to come in.

Haven't listend, but Steve Spacek's Space Shift came in. Dimension 5ive has given me a slight bit of cynicism about the listen though.

What more should I know about Bangladesh (insert joek here)?

he produced "A Milli" and "What's Your Fantasy" among other things

no duh rev but you know i'm partially right darn it

it's easy to keep going back in time on this, the black avant-garde did not even start with sly stone as you know but a lot of this stuff sounds like dubbed-out remixes of there's a riot goin' on

I was more talking in regards to the start of this current scene (as I'm sure you were) but lets not get lost in these sort of arguments. Please.

Oh, and why do I have to be the big booster for the Foreign Exchange album?

"Daykeeper"

cover of Stevie Wonder's "If She Breaks Your Heart" (my current last.fm count: 43)

I got it now rev. Wonderful stuff. Thanks for your rec on this!

XD

b-b-but i wasn't trying to...OH FORGET IT, I WILL GO BACK TO MY OLD MAN KIOSK AND LISTEN TO GOMEZ

I still need to listen to that Foreign Exchange album, I'll try to do it tomorrow.

Anywho, more Swedish weirdness, Kissey Asplund:

http://www.myspace.com/kisseyasplund

I meant to ask about Kissey Asplund, I heard something or other by her and liked it.

like holy shit - extraordinary. just finished now.

is there going to be a pegasus warning album?

This is pretty sweet imo: https://soundcloud.com/brainfeeder/taylor-mcferrin-decisions-feat

Thinking about seeing Foreign Exchange tonight, anybody seen em live before?

FUCK why didn't I remember to vote Pegasus Warning in the EOYs

my gf has unearthed the following

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

it's really good

shamir on the late show was interesting

ok this echelon the seeker ep is incredible, its basic set of sounds is very '80s but they're recombined into these unwieldy rhomboid compositions https://echelontheseeker.bandcamp.com/

accompanying bandcamp interview https://daily.bandcamp.com/2017/02/21/echelon-the-seeker-interview/

Sevdaliza's (rather extraordinary) album ISON, released a few weeks ago, seems like it belongs here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znV9KDsNtXY

holy shit harriet brown

loads of you have surely freaked upon hearing this?

well here you go anyway https://harrietbrown.bandcamp.com/album/contact

hmmmmm

In L.A.'s revivified funk scene, the 26-year-old Bay Area native is emerging as a potential torchbearer. On his debut full-length, Contact, Brown triangulates early Prince, a grown, sexy Janet Jackson and Mr. Contact himself—Carl Sagan, if you're nasty—connecting the corporeal, the spiritual and the extraterrestrial through vintage synths, bangin' drum machines and the occasional ripping guitar solo. And he does it while rocking a look best described as Lloyd Christmas-meets-new jack swing.

http://www.wweek.com/uncategorized/2017/07/05/harriet-brown-is-the-l-a-funk-scenes-new-resident-alien/

Wow, can't believe how much he sounds like Prince vocally.

enjoying the MHYSA record from the quietus' year-end

oh my god L'Rain

oh my god

this album is like a sort of sad amazing dream

i'd post like 5 pages of trademark imago hype but rly i shdnt need to, just listen to it

listening to the new DoNormaal album again too, it's rly great

i really like both donormaal records

Sad amazing dream otm, L'Rain is great. We can send it up the EOY poll.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ja6cuCfML98

was only able to find one mention of DAVON BRYANT aka DREAMCAST on ILM (buried in a dj mix)

he is really good

yes he is, "Floral Place" is also lovely

that is one fabulous 7"

dreamcast only has the two 7"s out, right?

three 7”s and an LP

all available at earcave

the new Jai Paul release has shot straight to the top of the RYM 2019 chart. listening now I can't really hear what's so special and his stop-start production trick got stale very quickly but...why does RYM love it so much?

obviously ilx hates him, or at least did back when the lex posted

it's not exactly new since it first leaked 6 years ago but i haven't really given it much thought since then. i think it's just the whole cult of mystery thing - him releasing two promising and distinctive (though still fairly overrated) demos before all these other demos leaked and he disappeared for ages. it seems like a shame they did leak because hearing more polished versions of some of those songs would have been cool, instead of what happened which is that the leak freaked him out and frustrated him enough to not release anything until now. skimming through the 'album' again i still really like 'str8 outta mumbai' and some of the rest shows some promise but it's not too special and i don't get why people are so enamoured with it.

anyone here listen to black grapefruit? think they fit this thread and are also pretty wonderful

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOOBRAcV99c

They fit the thread, but that’s kinda the problem. They’re not doing much new with this approach. Not bad . Just ok imho

Maybe you don’t always have to do something “new,” but there’s something missing from the Black Grapefruit song that keeps me from being wowed.

reread this whole thread the other night. really miss this meta-genre lane in my ilx reading

curmudgeon was otm about black grapefruit i think, i am easily mesmerized by aesthetic

https://terence.bandcamp.com/album/v-o-r-t-e-x

really liking this! debut from someone more famous as a filmmaker

listening to J*Davey the beauty in distortion for the first time in 10+ years. Sounds f’in great. Love all the warm distortion.

The Niecy Blues record is really really good (sorta minimal, 'lo fi', spacey r&b)

https://niecyblues.bandcamp.com/album/exit-simulation

https://jouskajouska.bandcamp.com/album/suddenly-my-mind-is-blank-2

i liked this jouska album a fair bit

yo niecy blues is dope af. just gave the whole spotify availabilities a marathon run. got DAMN. from gothy ethereal sounds to ambient drones to straight up modern r+b... really thorough stuff.

also she kinda sounds like amber from we are king.♡

This new keiyaA thing is incredible so far

https://djcowriiie.bandcamp.com/album/rage-tape

Niall Ashley bringing something wild to this table from Englande

https://niallashley.bandcamp.com/album/subject-access

This would probably be the thread to discuss Dawuna? recently getting into his releases from last year, the album Naya and the EP Southside Bottoms. Very lo-fi, glitchy, spare--moreso sketches than fully crafted songs, but doing a lot interesting things sonically.

The title track from Naya has a dope sample of Badu's "That Hump"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXGqXnMmYA4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoFmea5u5_s

His 2021 album Glass Lit Dream is also great:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1yckUr1UTI

This is one of the great threads of ilx history

Omg that’s so funny b/c i have been lowkey obsessed with Dawuna lately and searched but couldn’t find any mention on ilx, surprisingly. I think xp is the first!
Southside Bottoms came out last year but was recorded even earlier than Glass Lit Dream if i’m not mistaken?
Anyway it reminds me of late 90’s electronic singer-songwriter stuff like Leila’s first album and Nearly God. I really like the sketchiness of it and the tactile sensuality.
need to dig around this thread more!

Or like if anyone wants to recommend me some droney, monotonous r&b?

she refuses to even consider missing, probably her best yet, second half goes wild

https://keiyaa.bandcamp.com/album/hooke-s-law

excited to listen to this one

this is great, basically from the jump

Or like if anyone wants to recommend me some droney, monotonous r&b?

― doe on a hill (Deflatormouse), Friday, June 6, 2025 7:25 AM (four months ago

feeo's Goodness fits the bill here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eO1BDLVZNEs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9VpAjc2uKw

"take it" from the keiyaa album is so good. heavily reminds me of the fantastic liv.e album from a few years ago

"break it" is a bit more than 'kinda' out there