School me in neo soul/r'n'b and the like

So I've been on this board nigh ten years, and those who've chatted to me will know that I like to try and be open to as many different styles of music as possible. It's always been my belief that if someone appreciates a band or track or genre, there should be a reason for it, and if at first I don't "get" it, I try and find the reasons why I should. Often I'm surprised by how much I have managed to acquire a taste for things that I didn't like much at first - much of house and dubstep particularly I have had to "learn" to love as they didn't naturally flick my switches until I delved deeper.

One thing I've always had a bit of trouble with, often to my disgrace and the dismay of other ilxors, is contemporary r'n'b. Sure, I've enjoyed the odd Destiny's Child track and was pleasantly surprised in recent end-decade and end-year polls at how much I enjoyed by Neyo, Cassie etc. Yet it's still one kind of music that's evaded me until now. Something to do with the often over-polished production, melismatic vocals and often (to my mind) empty sentiments in the lyrics. I've always loved soul, funk, philly, disco, hip-hop and all the ingredients that ostensibly go into r'n'b, but the results feel flat; all too often commercial and wishy-washy sounding.

But recently, and also largely thanks to polls that took place in the last year, I feel like I've begun to open a treasure box. I can't get enough of Badu's Amerykah albums - so sonically interesting and spaced-out - surrealistically funky. Like nothing I've ever heard. Janelle Monae's album - dramatic and exciting. Solange too - there are things going on on this album, musical references from Boards of Canada to Marvin Gaye, which I feel I (as a British middle-class white corny indie fuxxor) can understand and hook on to.

So I guess I'm gonna get a bashing from some corners, especially for that last sentence, but I'd like to know what else I should check out. I'm not sure if the three artists I mention above are necessarily representative or subversing the idea of r'n'b or neo-soul or whatever it is; I just know I like them and it's pretty much all I've been digging this last fortnight. So what can I do to delve deeper?

I don't know enough to give a comprehensive answer, but Georgia Anne Muldrow is pretty great, if rather "looser" and incapable of self-editing compared to the artists you mention...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPyuNuIv5eg

If you are talking about neo-soul in particular I think one has to look at the genre before it was coined as such. You have 90s debut my Me'shell NdegeOcello, Joi, and Groove Theory.

Groove Theory - Tell Me
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THtqUDitQ4I

Joi - Sunshine and the Rain
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7FIfpdNEuY

Me'Shel NdegeOcello - If That was Your Boyfriend
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpdzEpGIqtY

And just to give you a transition from proto to "first wave"

D'Angelo - Lady (remix)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myXWAJi55v0&NR=1

Now that I'm thinking about it these proto- neo-soul artists were far more edgy than the official "first wave."

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

The whole 90s neo-soul/hip hop back packer era was so special to me during my high school/early college years. It kind of sucks now that access of the genre and the like has narrowed. Nowadays you have TV 1, Centric for television outlets and their is the website, soulbounce.com, which covers neo-soul. The problem with soulbounce.com is they are very much against mainstream r&b which just highlights the delusional elitism the writers have. But many music bloggers have that.

Some of those people really don't have huge fight with mainstream r and b, they are just protecting their own niche and its history. I don't care for heavy ideology on any music site but I would go to a site like that if I wanted "neo" soul specifically.

If ?uestlove played drums on it, buy it. (can refer to any badu or d'angelo album as well as much much more.) Also Jill Scott's first record is the dopest.

I like GAM but lol at the first post in this thread being probably the most willfully "difficult" artist working in the genre.

First response, I mean.

This is my favorite song this year:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cV5mNZ_fVnc

dope

GAM was more "Here's someone I love in a genre I'm not an expert on" rather than "Here's an ideal entry point". I could have been difficult and posted "New Orleans" instead of "Melanin" which is pretty much a crowd-pleaser.

Ha, I wrote a big long article about "New Orleans", which appears to have disappeared from the internet (hey matt c, if you are reading please send it to me)

Some of those people really don't have huge fight with mainstream r and b, they are just protecting their own niche and its history. I don't care for heavy ideology on any music site but I would go to a site like that if I wanted "neo" soul specifically.

― The Rich Man's 8-Track (u s steel), Friday, September 24, 2010 12:55 PM (43 minutes ago) Bookmark

Really? Because they have post sometimes that is devoted to bashing people like Kelly Rowland and Tank for making dance songs or just having overt synthesizers in their songs (whether the song is good or not). On one hand, I do see that they want to protect neo-soul and soul tradition, but on the other hand pretending like all mainstream r&b is horrible after the year 1998 is kidding yourself. As shown in this very website, mainstream r&b has some novel ideas buried in the genre. I wish soulbounce.com would stop posting about it in general if the writers don't like it so much.

I can't get enough of Badu's Amerykah albums - so sonically interesting and spaced-out - surrealistically funky. Like nothing I've ever heard.

I'd highly recommend Bilal's new album, Airtight's Revenge, then. Very similar vibe, seemingly free form but with a hidden underlying logic. I'm generally more of a commercial R&B type, but new neo-soul's been sounding great to me lately. Some of the golden-age, turn-of-the-century neo-soul could be too languid and noodly for my tastes, but new records in particular by Badu and Bilal are a lot bolder & pack a lot more of a punch.

soulbounce is great resource for finding new stuff, I just wish it was readable

― LA CANCION MAS PRETENCIOSA DEL MUNDO... (The Reverend), Sunday, December 13, 2009 10:18 PM Bookmark

Despite my bashing soulbounce.com, I did discover Jose James on the website. He is a jazz vocalist who recently did a soul album called, Blackmagic, that just screams "sitting in a dimly lit room smoking cigarettes."

Jose James - Blackmagic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P48Aru3S4U8&feature=related

I'm not very deep into this genre(?) yet, but I've enjoyed new 2010 albums by all of these R&B-related folks:

Janelle Monae
The-Dream
Erykah Badu
Kelis
Sade
Ciara (coming soon I guess?)

Also happy to cosign on Georgia Anne Muldrow, D'Angelo, Jill Scott as well as the thread Jordan linked, which is pretty much a goldmine for this stuff.

Absolutely lovin Georgia Anne and Jose James so far.

I came across this:

http://www.amazon.com/Ms-One-Georgia-Anne-Muldrow/dp/B001P7RABO

Which seems to be a mix by Muldrow or someone called Ms One (Can't seem to work it out). Anyway, I liked it. Lots of reggae and dub oriented stuff like Mortonette Sisters' "Magic Walk" which is always very welcome in my book.

Sorry, that's Mortonette Stephens

ELECTRIK RED

uh ... R Kelly?

This song by Beliu made my day. What an incredible voice. Warm, sunny and so expressive. An ode to the beauty of life.

https://beliu.bandcamp.com/track/winning

Btw is there actually a new soul thread with contemporary releases somewhere?