... but I've been on a bit of an '80s R&B/Dance/Boogie kick lately, so get ready... it's that "big Kentucky Fried Chicken eating motherfucker" Luther Vandross, ladies! Drop those panties! I'm not saying I'm a big Luther fan, per se (because slow jamz are for GIRLS!)... but this is a nice little funky number from '82. Dig it..
Funky white boys are all the rage nowadays, aren't they?
I mean, you got Jamie Lidell, Mayor Hawthorne, Ben Westbeech, that Benny Sings cat and all that lot. It's like the white guys of the world all decided at once that they wanna get laid, too. Nothing wrong with that. Look, I'm sure that knob-twiddling producers get their share of the ladies, but nothing matches some good old-fashioned crooning ability to get straight to sexytime. So Ladies, here comes Aussie ex-pat in L.A. Sam Sparro with some smooth-sounding pipes of his own...
(Look, I could have gone the "former child actor" route with the guy, but that just led me to Corey Feldman jokes and then I might have had to post of video of Corey Feldman's band... and you did NOT want that.)
Keeping it international for the third straight post, we are heading due south...
... to New Zealand, where there is apparently there are people there who do things other than work on Peter Jackson films. I had no idea. But I kid. Because although it seems that not that many Kiwi acts get noticed internationally, the ones that do tend to be pretty fucking good. Case in point... Electric Wire Hustle and their amazing Future Soul vibes. This one features eccentric earth mama Georgia Anne Muldrow (who's got a nice new record out herself) on the vocal. Sublime and prime for sexy time...
Mucho bummed about the passing of my man Don Cornelius, but more on that later perhaps. In the meantime, here's an artist that could definitely rock Soul Train...
Who he is: The crooner in the Odd Future posse. I'm not really sold on their whole thing, but this guy's the exception.
What he sounds like: It's that new, moody R&B that's been growing on me lately. Not to mention The Weeknd again... but it's this guy and The Weeknd that are the ones doin' it best. Hell, I can almost even get behind Drake... almost... Now I know this song has been blogged a-plenty, but how can I not blog a song that talks about Coachella in my Coachella blog? Say that shit five times fast...
You are in luck today, 'cuz this song comes off an amazing free mixtape that you can grab right hurr.
What I think: I think "Novacane" was easily one of the best songs of 2011 and I'd want to see this guy based on that song alone. You know the Coachella lines will make everybody all like "WOOOOOO!" and it'll be one of those nice moments... then, of course, some sweaty, shirtless guy will bump into you, somehow transfer 2 gallons of sweat into your shirt and your entire being will reek of his musky man-scent for the rest of the day. Oh, and somehow he knocked your phone out of your pocket, but you won't realize that until you're at Amon Tobin and then you'll be so pissed that you won't even properly enjoy it. Then all your friends will be like "HOLYSHITAMONTOBINAMAZEBALLS!!!!" and you'll be like "fuck off" and go sulk in a corner while the girl you were trying to get with all day gives the guy in the better mood a blow job. THOSE BASTARDS DON'T TELL YOU ABOUT THAT PART ON THEIR FANCY WEBSITE, DO THEY? Where was I? Oh, the Youtubes...
'Til next time, and watch out for that fuckin' shirtless guy...
Which member of a band is the most expendable? Well, it's certainly not the hot, angel-voiced lead singer, dipshits...
Skye Edwards was, of course the only true reason for the success of the singer for Morcheeba before the brothers that turn the knobs decided they didn't need her, shitcanned her, vanished almost instantly into obscurity and then just recently (you must assume) came groveling back to her to rejoin the band so they could make the payments on their new kitchen appliances. In the time when she wasn't in the band, she made a couple solo albums that pretty much sound exactly like Morcheeba, in that, well she was the only true reason for the success of the singer for Morcheeba. If this sounds like I'm being hard on the guys, listen to one of the albums they did without Skye and get back to me. But first, enjoy the silky goodness...
That's what Prince asked the crowd as he started his third and final encore Friday Night at the Fabulous Forum of Inglehood (always up to no good). Then he pounded through a quick medley of 5 or 6 huge hits that he hadn't gotten to in the main show. And lemme tell ya, he got to a lot of damn hits in the main show. It ain't braggin' if you can back it up, right? But I suppose we should start at the beginning...
One-upping the traditional "Concert In The Round" format, this was the first ever "Concert In The Unpronouncable Glyph That I Totally Made Up Because I'm Fucking Prince And That's How I Roll"
As far as I can remember, Prince's When Doves Cry was the first 7" single I ever bought, so it's kind of incredible that this was the first time I ever saw the Purple One live. But this $25 deal on a 21-show run in L.A. was just the ticket to right that wrong. Shit, you can barely get lunch and a beer in this town for 25 bucks, let alone a Prince ticket. So I found myself in those seats up there as the show began with... "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today..." which... perfect, right? And then it was just on, hit after hit (how many does Prince have again?) after funky-ass hit. No Chaos & Disorder in it's entirety, which was my fear. Hell, Sheila E. was even there and got plenty of time. Ya can't front on Sheila E., kid. So the place was jammin', bodies heck a' slammin... we were dancing like white folks and then we got to move down to join a friend in these seats here...
Not to talk shit, but I hope I'm not that blurry when I'm 52...
Don't you love a high-quality phone camera? Anyways, down at the side for all of the encores, especially the "Purple Rain" confetti drop, because fuck yeah! I won't bore you with the song-by-song rundown... just know that yeah, he played your favorite. And this one, which may be lesser known but was Top 20 on the charts itself... and an unexpected highlight for me...
So in summary... Prince fucking rules. If you're in L.A. and don't go see one of these shows, you're losing at life. Oh, and to answer Prince's question, I looked it up on Wikipedia. The correct answer... a fuckload...
What is Cesar Chavez Day, you ask? It's the holiday where you drive a half hour through morning traffic to get somewhere and when you get there it's closed because apparently today is Cesar fucking Chavez Day. Yep, it's that one...
I will admit to knowing next to nothing about Fedde Le Grand outside of the fact that his House may be a bit fidgety. But he does have one stone cold classic to his name, and you can peep it at the the Facebook page, the home of fine bonus content since, oh, about a month ago. Added incentive: the video has sexy nurses in it...
Being the Brit Rock whore that I am, you'd think I'd be all excited about Suede, but for some reason they are one band in that area that flew right on by me. I know zero about them. So yeah, fuck 'em. Just kidding...
One Day As A Lion is the new band of Zach De La Rocha from Rage. I think of that guy as the Sean Penn of music. I pretty much agree with his politics but man, I just wanna punch him in his stupid face. Him and Sean Penn. Punch face, punch face. Punchy Facey Punch...
I thought I'd posted on Broken Social Scene before, but apparently not. They're another one of those Canadian Indie groups with a whole bunch of members and well worth a listen...
Who she is: She's The Badu. Shame on you if you don't know... and that's not just me being a lazy blogger. SHAME!
What she sounds like: Shame on you if you don't know what Erykah Badu sounds like. (Now THAT is me being a lazy blogger). Here's a neat jam that somehow encompasses Sylvia Striplin's "You Can't Turn Me Away", Junior M.A.F.I.A.'s "Get Money" (which samples Striplin) and a bunch of orginial Baduizm all in one funky little package. Dig it...
(DMCA'd. These assholes are on fire this week.)
What I think: A normal Erykah Badu show is akin two a two-hour Earth Mama Freakout, that's the only way I can explain it. I don't know if I've ever seen a better Soul show in my life. Of course, the festival set will be shorter. But it'll still be damn good. But there aren't a lot of quality live videos out there for some reason, so here's one from the TV because it has good sound...
And once more, Happy Cesar Chavez Day to my many immigrant field worker readers. Those guys love the Dubstep...
I'm running a contest on the Facebook page right now where if you can guess this post is going to be about Raphael Saadiq, you win some shit. Of course, if you're reading this, it's too late to enter. But hey, if you'd already "liked" the page, you might be a winner right now! I'm mixing time frames like a Terminator aren't I? I've confused even myself. Anyhoo...
Only one act to skip today, the extremely odd rapper known as Lil B a.k.a. the Based God, whatever that means. In olden days, when Hip-Hop came on large black vinyl records, "base" was a crack reference... and I would not be surprised to learn this dude is a crackhead. He's kinda like Lil' Wayne meets Wesley Willis. I'm not sure if it's a good thing. Again, me confused...
What he sounds like: No New Jack Swing, unfortunately. My man is on a seriously retro '60s Soul tip these days. Notice I didn't say Funk... I said Soul. Important difference. But nope... not a high-top fade in sight, although I bet he throws some "Feels Good" into the set... right? RIGHT?!?!?
And now I'm about to post this, and no one has won the contest. Oh well, I tried. ALL I DO IS TRY MY HEART OUT FOR YOU PEOPLE!!!! Unless, you know... I've got something else to do that day...
Now, before you go accusing me of posting dirty, dirty hippie music, just hear me out here... because I was a fan of Ben Harper way before he became so beloved by the Bonaroo set. Nope, he was just a kid from the Inland Empire with a debut record with some soul whom I saw one evening at the House of Blues on Sunset, wondering why the hell the legendary Roots crew was opening for this guy I never heard of. And I left that night quite impressed with Mr. Harper. Not as impressed as Laura Dern, but impressed nonetheless. I stopped following him after about three records as my tastes migrated more and more towards Electronica, but here's one of the songs that made me take notice that night, and hey... it's still good stuff, so suck it...
Today, I'm going to start off by giving the official Tonegents Stamp Of Approval to the new kid on the blog, Sheblogsaboutmusic. This good friend of mine knows her stuff and specializes in music you won't generally find here... music with geetars and whatnot. Pop on over, dig the crunchy grooves, bookmark, RSS, follow and love... I'll wait...
...
...
Okay, good. You've done the right thing. And as a reward, here's a special pre-release sneak peek from the mighty Ninja Tune...
... and I think it might be one of, if not the first, female vocalist to have a full-length released on the label, which I think is a pretty fair achievement considering Ninja Tune's storied history. And no, I'm not going to look that up. Get me an intern if you want this shit fact-checked. Anyhoo, the name is Andreya Triana, she first appeared on Bonobo's latest record (which you need) and get used to her... because if you like Morcheeba, Corinne Bailey Rae and other such goodness, you've just met your new favorite singer...
(DMCA'd. I will, of course, also remove the link to buy, because two can play the fuck you game.)
Hells yeah, I am diggin' that smokey voice. And the tunes, in an incredible coincidence... were produced by Bonobo. It pays to keep good company. Here she is singing with them...
So pissed I missed that show when it rolled into L.A. just after Coachella. Grrrr...
More stupid virus issues = a light week of posting around here. It's almost as if Paris Hilton had been using my shit while I was away from my desk. So, I apologize for Bill Gates and his shitty Microsoft shitcraft. As a result, House Music Friday has been bumped because I had this one almost ready to go before Porno.com popped up and tried to prove to me that girls do, in fact, like it put in there (if you know what I mean)...
But hey, at least your House was pre-empted by The Badu, who is easily one of the 10 coolest chicks in the universe. It's actually kind of wild how this track popped up in the shuffle just a couple of days after I watched Dave Chappelle's Block Party again and was particularly lovin' this song in it. It's one of my very favorites of hers, let's just get to it...
I present to you today one stressed-out looking chick. What gives?
If you read the bio, you'd think that Texas-born Soul singer Gloria Scott should have been bigger than she was. Not in the hips, in the popularity. Discovered by Sly Stone, mentored by Ike & Tina and then given the full protege treatment by Barry White... she had all the right people in her corner, for sure. Under White's tutelage, she released this debut album, which people consider a forgotten classic... and then that was it. The music business, she's a cruel mistress... maybe that's why Gloria looks so sad on the album cover. She knew! Or maybe it's because this is an album of break-up songs, top to bottom. But they are some sweet Soul music break-up songs, which tend to be the best kind...
Ok, so... a lot happened in the last week, not much of which was blogging. Sorry 'bout that to the two people who care (number rounded up for simplicity). But I'm back and quite possibly not going to have any more long delays here. There's only a few more weeks left 'til the big show, so I better not, right? So, back to it.
Only one band to skip today... Local Natives are a relatively non-offensive Indie Rock group from Silverlake... actually scratch that. The fact that they're from Silverlake kinda makes them offensive by definition. My bad. But we do like...
What he sounds like: Very, very much like Jamie Lidell minus the electronics... or Amy Winehouse minus the uterus and crack habit... here's a track from the best Sixties Soul album of 2009...
What I think: Looking forward to this one... he actually sounds very good live and I like the energy... but since he's a rapper in other groups, hyping up the crowd comes naturally, I'd imagine...
I hope he plays early in the day, right after Hypnotic Brass Ensemble... MAKE IT HAPPEN, TOLLETT, OR COME GIT YER COCK-PUNCHIN'!
Do you believe it? Two good acts in a row on the Coachella poster? Geddafuckouddaheah! I kid, I kid... but no skippies today because next on the list is...
Who she is: The young British songstress that, with her debut album a couple of years back, exploded onto the scene so hard that the Grammys even got some on 'em.
What she sounds like: Smooth soul with warm, organic instrumentation. The new album has a bit of a Zero 7 feel to it with the arrangements... which is, if you're scoring at home, a fielder's choice good thing...
What I think: I love it and think she'd make an amazing early evening, second stage act. Just as it's getting cooler out, a nice chill set before you go get all sweaty with Hot Chip or get your brains blasted out (in a good way, mind you) by Faith No More...
House Music Friday will be pre-empted this week...
... because no matter how much I'm into the new, the hip, the latest sounds, there is only one Best Dance Record of All Time, and that is Off The Wall. And if you disagree with that, I will fight you...
Today on Tonegents, it's the return of one of the smoothest Neo-Soul singers of them all...
So where the hell has Maxwell been, anyway? Dude was hot shit around the turn of the century... three nice albums, bona fide hits, tons of babies being made to his silky slow jams... then the brother disappeared. Maybe he got deep into World of Warcraft... Maybe he took time to travel the globe teaching playas in undeveloped nations how to get their swerve on (them Laotians is gettin' laid now)... or maybe it just took a reallllllllllllllllly long time to get his hair cut. And what a coincidence, reports just now surface about how Maxwell's back with no hair and my iTunes shuffle randomly picks a Maxwell track. No, really, totally random. Anyhoo, here's what we've been missing since '01 and hopefully will be getting more of soon...
The fine line between genius and insanity... usually depends on how much drugs are consumed, true... but here's someone who walks it, one way or the other...
Admittely, I'm a little bit behind the pack on this one. Everyone else was raving about Erykah Badu's latest record months ago, but somehow I just now managed to get my grubby paws on it. And I gotta tell ya, everyone else was right. New Amerykah is onsumuthasheeit, man. I mean, it became apparent on her Worlwide Underground tour, or the 2 1/2 hour Earth Mama Freakout as I dubbed it that night, that the sassy hood sister of "Tyrone" may have just been an act and Erykah Badu was, in fact, totally batshit crazy. In a good way. And this record just proves it. So freaking weird... and so freaking good. Put it on my retroactive Best of 2008 list, for sure...
Honestly, just taking one track out of this album does it an injustice, so you better go pick up the whole thing... before this crazy bitch finds out you haven't. Because I don't know what might go down if she did... :P
Some sample source fun today... I hope at least some of you get the Interwebs in your Swine Flu (Gaaaaaaah!) shelters....
O.V. Wright was a relatively lesser known but heavily sampled Memphis Soul singer. One of the folks who sampled him was RZA, which is probably why he's on this compilation of tracks sampled by Wu Tang. Took me a while to put that together, but I'm like Sherlock Holmes, yo. And... I don't really have a heck of a lot more to add today, so check it out...
What's that you say? You want to hear what the RZA did with it? Okay, fine... the track was on one of those "Red Hot" compilations... you know, the ones where they hate the AIDS...
Due to the shit nature of this new player I've been using, I can't seem to post two of them in one entry. I hope GoEar starts working again... grrrr... it's a good tune, though, so just download it already. 'Til tomorrow...
Hey all. This first week after Blog-achella has definitely had a head-nodding vibe to it, and today's selection is no different...
Detroit-based singer Dwele is a guy who doesn't get nearly enough love from the mainstream, probably because he's really good. He can sing on his own and everything... he shot an Autotuner once, just to watch it die. He's on criminally under-appreciated album number three now, and if you don't believe me, just read his Wikipedia... it calls Sketches Of A Man a "meticulously (baked) masterpiece of chocolate soul genius". I think I'm gonna write up a Tonegents Wiki, just so it can be officially known that Tonegents is an "brain-fuckingly amazing Rosetta Stone of musical omnipotence and raw sexual tension". Because I can. Wikipedia is cool...
Dwele's also been known to hang out with some of the coolest kids on the block (Jazzanova, Bugz In The Attic, Herbert...), and we know that old saying about blah blah blah judging by company you keep something something. I'm paraphrasing...
And I absolutely cannot leave you today without sharing what is now my favorite site on the Interwebs, Look At This Fucking Hipster. It so perfectly sums up my scorn that it deserves... The Slow Clap!
The music posted on this blog is for evaluation purposes only and will be removed after a short time... so if you like it... support the artists, dammit! Buy the records, go to the shows, give them a ride to the airport if they need it! Don't be a schmuck! If you are an artist or scary lawyer type and want something removed from here, just holla and it's gone! I'm easy like that!
