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“Drips To Sip… Refills”

28 October 2009 No Comment

By Dj Pelau (Swagger Lifestyle DJ)

djpelau@swaggerlifestyle.com

…drips to sip…

By dj pelau

Ratings:

5Star (St. Regis) – King George V, Gran Patron Platinum or 1775 Sherry Massandra wine

4Star (Waldorf Astoria) – Blue label, Patron Silver, 1800 Silver or 1919 Angostura rum

3Star (Westin) – Green label, 1800 tequila Reposado or greatly mixed mojitos + caipirinhas

2Star (Best Western) – Black label, your typical Bacardi & Coke, Heineken or apple martini

1Star (Motel 6) – Red label, Jack Daniels or free water at the bar from tap!

refills!

VARIOUS ARTISTS, Black Dynamite (Wax Poetics)

Menu: black-exploitation soul, funk and blues

Tastes like: a retro-soul soundtrack patterning after 1970’s classics such as Superfly

Ingredients: Arranged, written, produced and recorded by Adrian ‘AJ’ Younge, the music for one of the most buzzed films of 2009, Black Dynamite, is specifically retro-fitted with that yesteryear soulful sound of wah guitars, flutes and vibraphones underneath the crying and screaming vocals by Dione Gipson on “Shine” and the macho bravado of poetry sang by Loren Oden on “Man with the Heat (Superbad)”. Of course since this is a sort of replicated piggy-backing on an era long past in soulful history, it’s somewhat unfair to pretend that these young yet talented musicians who, although entertaining, are the real deal here. The concept isn’t original and since they’re drawing from their late 20^th century and modern 21^st century experiences, it’s hard to be convinced that this type of soul is authentically reflective of their lives. However, with that in mind, other brilliant butterfly-collar grooves such as “Chicago Wind” and “Jimmy’s Dead (Instrumental)” remind you of classics such as “Freddie’s Dead” by late great Curtis Mayfield and by others who’ve passed away like Isaac Hayes, or others forgotten yet resurrected in the underground like Darondo and Lee Fields, all true masters of creating this original form of soul, still respectfully mirrored nevertheless, by these ‘younge’ stars in their own right.

Rating: 5Star 4Star 3Star 2Star 1Star

Q-TIP, Kamaal The Abstract (Battery/Jive)

Menu: jazzy, soulful hip-hop

Tastes like: Q-Tip’s recipe and deeper moments expressed in a hip-hop state of mind

Ingredients: Originally slated for a release in 2001, Q-Tip’s Kamaal The Abstract got shelved but some of you out there got your hands on it. However, many never did, and now in ‘09, we’re all able to enjoy pieces of Q-Tip’s deeper thought process along the experiences he’s had (mostly with the opposite sex) on stand-out tracks such as “Feelin’” and “Barely In Love”, the LP’s lead single. His vision and continued connectivity with his surroundings, especially in tuned with the intelligent, progressive-thinking international hip-hop community is always evident, and on “Even If It Is So” and “Make It Work” (the LP’s new bonus) he pushes his nu form of jazz further than just getting you to bop your head by always gracefully raising the bar… ‘damn you’re cool’!

Rating: 5Star 4Star 3Star 2Star 1Star

MASSIVE ATTACK, Splitting The Atom EP (Virgin)

Menu: trip-hop, downtempo, lounge and spooky-pop

Tastes like: a perfect soundtrack to accompany your Halloween killing-spree…slowly!

Ingredients: the British duo unleashes their first material in 3 years with this 4-track EP, teasing fans with a taste of their deep, demented atmospheric trip-hop as a precursor to a much-anticipated 5^th full-length studio album for Spring 2010. The lead title single is enjoyably haunting to say the least, as 3D and Daddy G join forces with usual suspect, legendary reggae songbird, Horace Andy, who glides his gloomy tones over the chorus hook. TV On The Radio frontman Tunde Adebimpe guests on “Pray For Rain” where the beat flips-up midway through into the most delightfully, relaxing groove inducing nothing but smiles for miles ahead in your troubled life.

Rating: 5Star 4Star 3Star 2Star 1Star

BASEMENT JAXX, Scars (Ultra/XL)

Menu: R&B, soul, house, dance, techno, hip-hop, brokenbeat, nu world beat

Tastes like: the productions and guest artists BJ use got so much more DIVERSE!

Ingredients: Illusive and mysterious, Basement Jaxx duo Simon Ratcliffe and Felix Buxton return to their dance roots on their 5^th album, and it’s enough to blow out your subwoofers with the opener, “Scars” featuring Kelis, Meleka & Chipmunk, who all gather over this hip-hop banger! The group’s lead single, “Raindrops” is reminiscent of the soulful energy from yesteryear’s hits that brought them to fame, but what really stands out in this LP is the diversity of guest artists matching BJ’s just-as-versatile beats ranging from the dubstep power of “Saga” featuring Santigold and the go-go beats of “She’s No Good” featuring Paperboy, to the old school acoustic soul on “A Possibility” sang by Amp Fiddler and the nu world beat feel of “D.I.S. tractionz” by Jose Hendrix Ndelo. Yo, that’s not to say this LP doesn’t carry the weight and strength of BJ’s worth, which is in their dancefloor-filling house/techno, pushy and wildly energetic beats. On “Feelings Gone” featuring Sam Sparro and “My Turn” featuring Lightspeed Champion, two anthem-like winners on any dance floor, I could see in any country, at any hour and for any crowd, these tracks creating a frantic frolic!

Rating: 5Star 4Star 3Star 2Star 1Star

NITIN SAWHNEY, London Underground (Cooking Vinyl)

Menu: acoustic folk, trip hop, downtempo, drum n’ bass, pop, Indian lounge

Tastes like: too many fusions of genres to describe in one sentence to read right here

Ingredients: The prolific producer, Nitin Sawhney sure named this LP appropriately. London is as diverse as it gets as far as any of the metropolitan cities worldwide goes. The LP is a direct reflection of the changing pulse of London’s mainstream, and Natty who similarly sounds like Michael Franti on the album’s opener “Days Of Fire,” flares-up some beautiful melodies, rapping in a harmony perfectly fitting for the guitar-fury of acoustic rhythms, as he delivers traumatic details to his witnessed story. Tina Grace on “October Daze” and “Transmission” compliments Nitin’s work making the material into some of the LP’s most distinctive. Even the interludes as exposed on “Interlude IV – Identity” has worth adding to the authentic make-up of London’s significant East Indian and South Asian population, not to mention lovely, lullaby-like lounge grooves on “Shadowland” by Ojos De Brujo, representing a fusion of Spanish and Indian sounds. Paul McCartney helps out on his “My Soul” while others such as Roxanne Tataei on “Distant Dreams” and Aruba Red on “Last Train To Midnight” invite you into the true underground vibe through the dub and downtempo feel London’s known to have mastered through groups such as Massive Attack, Tricky and Smith & Mighty.

Rating: 5Star 4Star 3Star 2Star 1Star

NOISETTES, Wild Young Hearts (Mercury)

Menu: pop, go-go, soul, electro-rock

Tastes like: the sound of a band destined to become larger than life in the rock/pop world

Ingredients: If by some chance so far, you’ve not heard Noisettes’ Shingai Shoniwa, their lead singer and a fierce diva at that, ring out her sharp soulful tones over “Never Forget You,” you need to up your social, traditional and new media connections immediately! This should definitely be in the running for song of the year. Based in London, this trio (adding Dan Smith on guitar and Jamie Morrison on drums) doesn’t follow, and it’s evidenced on this Jim Abbiss-produced LP on the wide assortment from dance tracks such as “Don’t Upset The Rhythm” to the title track which just makes you want to catch them live – which I’ve heard before I’ve actually seen them, to be one of the best live shows around today. And it’s so true! With such great material throughout, especially for other songs such as “Every Now And Then” you’ll have to take my word that this is an adventure in sound, experiencing love and feeling proud that modern music can hold its own against the majestic brilliance of music from yesteryear.

Rating: 5Star 4Star 3Star 2Star 1Star

PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS, 7: Carried Away (Om Hip Hop)

Menu: west coast underground, comedic hip-hop

Tastes like: P.U.T.S. got an ill foundation (+ great sense of humor) on authentic hip-hop

Ingredients: Here’s another group, whether listening to one of their 7 studio albums, including this one, or catching a live show of them across the globe, you’re fully entertained by talent and some funny, idle gimmicks. As much as they’re VERY humorous on tracks such as “Much Too Much” or “Beer” or “Letter From The Old School,” these cats are as real as they come in their dedication to keeping their hip-hop pure, always putting their fans first. Nothing light about their beats either, P.U.T.S. raise the spirits of original hip-hop from the park on “Hit The Top” so well, you could play tracks like this back-to-back with rap jams from the 1980’s and it’ll blend perfectly. On their lead single “Trippin’ At The Disco,” the disco ball glitters and spins, incorporating groovy orchestra-samples to lively-up any feeling of nostalgia onto the dancefloor! Other standouts include “DQMOT,” “Down In LA” and the title track, sure gems to make any hp-hop lover refute that infamous Nas song…

Rating: 5Star 4Star 3Star 2Star 1Star

RITA J, Artist Workshop (All Natural Inc)

Menu: east coast underground, soulful hip-hop

Tastes like: some of the best underground hip-hop beats and feline flows for ‘09

Ingredients: At this stage of her young career you may not even know her name, but Chicago-born native Rita J, who’s now based out of Atlanta, is privileged to have producers such as Black Spade, Kenny Keys, Yuani, Rashid Hadee, Tre Styles, Willowtreez, Vick Lavender and K-Kruz. Some here are unknown no doubt, but provide excellent beat-driven, pore-raising productions that fit perfectly to Rita J’s slashing and dashing lyrical style on such bangers like on “Body Rock” featuring soulful chorus-hooks by Steph Staa, “The Address” and others like “Surrender Remix” which will be gaining the attention of fans of Little Brother, Pete Rock, Bahamadia, Foreign Exchange and No I.D. With guest rappers such as Guilty Simpson on hot-buttered, jazzy tracks such as “Outlasted” and my favorite, “Dreamin” featuring Ka Di, her squeaky vocal chords should be lacing the airwaves of many cities in and out of the USA for months to come…

Rating: 5Star 4Star 3Star 2Star 1Star

BAABA MAAL, Television (Palm Pictures)

Menu: world beat pop, electronic-pop

Tastes like: a soothing blend of West African traditional music w/ European electronica

Ingredients: It’s been since 2001’s Missing You, that Senegalese superstar Baaba Maal released a studio LP, and even though his latest has only 8 songs – maybe a song per year of his absence – this pairing with Brazilian Girls for the entire LP and lead title single makes for a truly interesting, fitting and global pop album that doesn’t need specific language to connect. One of the most distinctive songs here is definitely “Cantaloupe” with its whistling harmony, rich in a melody that seems ripe for the musical backdrop to some classic romance movie. The incorporation of traditional talking drum, sabar and djembe with the electronica productions of faint house music, light sprinkles of drum n’ bass underlying throughout make others such as “A Song For Women” and “International” nice accessible and acceptable in homes throughout our planet.

Rating: 5Star 4Star 3Star 2Star 1Star

HEATHER JOHNSON, Happiness (King Street Sounds)

Menu: soulful, deep house

Tastes like: those who mistake techno for house would hear this and be BLOWN away!

Ingredients: Most of these incredibly produced soulful, house grooves have been tackled by Chris Brann of Ananda Project fame, with a few exceptions where DJ Kawasaki, Tomo Inoue and Frankie Feliciano handle a couple others. The opener, “Washes Over Me” enters you into a world of Heather Johnson who glides like a true songbird over this refreshing atmospheric dance number that ripples a bass line to take you into heaven. As only Chris Brann could create, the additional heavenly chords make you never want to return to earth, and it’s a theme to keep in mind as Heather becomes your pilot for deep, reflective and super sensitively-written jams such as “Home” and her house music cover of Sade’s “Love Is Stronger Than Pride” which is making me pour tears and sweat! Armed with other perfect, right-on-time deliveries such as “Under My Skin,” “Love Alive” and “Who Knows” all satisfying the emotions of love’s cravings, don’t sleep on “Jazz (Sunday Morning)” and the bonus remix tracks of “Washes Over Me (Rasmus Faber Epic Vocal Mix)” and “Under My Skin (MF Rebirth Remix)” for shifting and moving your behind, butt, bamcee or whatever you choose to call it, from side to side!

Rating: 5Star 4Star 3Star 2Star 1Star

JAY-J, Love Alive (Shifted Music)

Menu: soulful house, funk, nu jazz and chill-out

Tastes like: a sophisticated form of house music, ready-made for first class seating

Ingredients: Jay-J, the ‘Godfather of the SF sound’ brings forth his productions and arrangements on this LP, one he’s been preparing for house heads for the last 2 years. And it doesn’t disappoint your dancing feet as you’d come to expect with his silky, smooth, soulfully-driven grooves aided by vocal specialists such as Michelle Shaprow on “Start Where We Are” and Big Brooklyn Red on “Into The Light”. When it’s time to cool off from the dancing heat, Jay-J comes at you from all angles, slowing the pace on a much mellower, poolside house music elixir, “Hundred Proof” by Leo Fabian, who also delivers his scintillating, sexy funk on “Reforminator”. But undoubtedly the album’s best offering is by Michelle Shaprow on “If I Wanted You,” who spills her complex yearning for love and in her effort to take control of the emotions and keep some sort of control, doesn’t want her target to lose the grasp of her expectations. All against the prettiest music, her sailing vocals give me goose bumps…

Rating: 5Star 4Star 3Star 2Star 1Star

SARAH LINHARES, Messages From The Future EP (Public Transit)

Menu: nu funk, nu soul and brokenbeat

Tastes like: progressive & electronic soul from Montreal making it warmer in the winter

Ingredients: With producers (who maybe unknown to you) such as Moonstar, Camplaix and Aklimatize all behind the futuristic soulful beats that Montreal’s own Sarah Linhares sings over, it’s not surprising that the nu funk opener “It’s All True” immediately ropes you in to take a closer listen to the way she further rides the brokenbeat rhythms on her loving cry on “No Question”. The EP’s obvious winner – yet another brokenbeat blast – “Step Up” could just be one of those potential anthems amongst the cool, hip and soulful massive. This team definitely has its place amongst the electronic soul elite, it’s just a matter of time…

Rating: 5Star 4Star 3Star 2Star 1Star

THE CLONIOUS, Between The Dots (Ubiquity)

Menu: spacey beats, glitch-driven beats, funk-drenched beats, abstract beats and nu funk

Tastes like: Dilla beamed-up to Mars, befriended E.T., flew back down to earth…stoned!

Ingredients: Producer, arranger and beat-technician Paul Movahedi, known as The Clonious, is all about the beats. Those hip-hop driven, slashing and choppy beats that get your neck snapping back and forth. On “One at a Time (funked up)” featuring the alternative soulful style of Muhsinah, the blend is delightfully chaotic, the only way to describe how well it actually works. Most of these tracks need no aid from a singer or rapper, even though Georgia Anne Munroe and Dudley Perkins offer up their talents. This becomes so unmistakably true on “Emora,” “Oily Glue” and “Bugs N’ Fools”, three of the LP’s strongest instrumentals powering funk-filled, build-up highs to cloud your mind into thinking you’ve left earth’s stratosphere. But the instrumental of all instrumentals is “Wolfteethgrind” for me, on that one I definitely left earth and still don’t know if I’m back yet.

Rating: 5Star 4Star 3Star 2Star 1Star

KAILASH KHER & KAILASA, Yatra: Nomadic Souls (Cumbancha)

Menu: Indian pop, world beat, drum n’ bass, folk roots

Tastes like: curry sweeter than the ever-so-popular Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack

Ingredients: Indian star Kailash Kher with his band Kailasa, aim for the rest of the world with their first international release, trying to reach even beyond and outside Southern Asia and Bollywood’s densely-populated expansive market. There’s a fusion of rock influences on “Na Batati Tu”, incredible musicianship in the chill-out feel of “Bheeg Gaya Mera Maan”, speaker-denting, organic drum n’ bass on “Rang Rang Ma” and body-moving, reggae-dancehall rhythms on “Turiya Turiya” that’ll make you forget about whatever barriers you once thought could hold you back from truly enjoying different beats accompanied by an unknown language, yet sounding so fantastic!

Rating: 5Star 4Star 3Star 2Star 1Star

BLANK & JONES, RELAX: Edition Four – 2CD (Sound Colours)

Menu: chill-out, downtempo, lounge and poolside house music

Tastes like: you’d hear this getting a spa treatment or shopping for trendy $$$ furniture

Ingredients: German electronic duo Piet Blank and Jasper Jones AKA Blank & Jones for their Relax 4 release on Disc One, define the European chill-out sound, providing the gentle strings and chords that make that hangover the morning after fade quickly while you get the perfect musical massage through calming tunes such as “Happy Dreamer” featuring Laid Back, “Relax (Your Mind) featuring Jason Caesar and one of my favorites, “Heart Of Wax” featuring the sensuously, graceful singing of Vanessa Daou. Closing Disc One is “Lullaby,” an acoustic masterpiece, glazed with chords to put your brain in exfoliation mode. On Disc Two, the duo’s disappointing house music at least has one benefit as far as getting my body to be moved for the song “Beauty,” luckily a title which reminds me, even though Disc Two doesn’t seem to live up to the high standards and expectations set by the first disc, the title seems very appropriate in describing Disc One’s potency for relaxing.

Rating: 5Star 4Star 3Star 2Star 1Star

VARIOUS ARTISTS, The Biggest Ragga Dancehall Anthems 2009 (Greensleeves)

Menu: dancehall-reggae, yard R&B, ragga hip-hop

Tastes like: Jamaican toasting heavily influenced by the R&B, pop and hip-hop world

Ingredients: Leading off this onslaught of heavy artillery from some of Jamaica’s gruffest dancehall stars, is actually a pop-friendly, rock-infused and soulful production by producer Stephen ‘ Di Genius’ McGregor on “Never Change (From Mawning)” singjayed by artist Chino, and the melody and feel is so bright and sunshiny, you’d think this track had artists like Sean Kingston, Shaggy or Nelly Furtado all lined-up behind it to take it to the top of the pop charts. And this theme of soft-rock, pop and R&B seems to be a trend on this LP, as artists such as Laden, Vybz Kartel and even gully-thug Mavado on his hit “Neva Believe You” ride the riddims that also seemed to have left the heart and soul of the streets of yard. However, keeping it ‘third world’ authentic is Busy Signal on “Da Style Dey” and Assassin on “Pre Dis” who both demonstrate the energy, unique lyrical flow and rhythmic offerings you can better identify as spiced, seasoned and set-up from the island of Jamaica, suited best for the rest of the Caribbean massive spread all over the world!

Rating: 5Star 4Star 3Star 2Star 1Star