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Nothing's quite as good as a solid, soulful R&B record to chill you down or warm you up, depending on your mood or...ahem, your company. But real R&B has been hard to come by lately. Sure, artists like Rihanna are often identified as R&B, but that kind of hip-hop-influenced R&B is but a pale shade of the real thing that crooners such as Luther Vandross, Aretha Franklin, Barry White, Grover Washington Junior, and Deniece Williams have put out. Fortunately, thanks to the good folks at Little Dizzy Records, a Sherman Oaks, CA-based independent urban digital record label, aficionados of real R&B--the smooth and soulful kind--will find their palates sensuously courted by newcomer Angie Whitney, whose first solo album, That's What Love Is All About, is out now.
Angie Whitney's been singing since the age of four. A native Californian, as a child she began singing duets with her twin sister Rachel, and soon became members of their father's church choir in Vallejo, California. The twins were soon in demand by many local groups and organizations, but Angie's career as a professional singer really gained credibility and notice when she and her sister and cousin formed their own group, The New Horizon, and were also selected as background singers for one of my alltime favorite soul groups, the legendary Spinners. Whitney now performs with the Angie Whitney Jazz & Blues Clique and Easy Street Big Band Orchestra, but her debut solo album is all her--and she's all you really need.
Despite its almost clichéd title, That's What Love Is All About is a lovely collection of soulful tunes that will heat up dancefloors and bedrooms. The lead track, "Don't Tease Me Now," is an upbeat, funky, almost disco-like dance track propelled by Whitney's smooth, silky voice and a sultry sax accompaniment. The song has a distinctly '80s kind of sound and calls to mind Sade, which is a very good thing--but Angie Whitney has a vocal identity all her own. The music, composed of soul staples bass, piano, and strings, is accented uniquely with smoky saxophone accents that play off of Ms. Whitney's voice as if she's actually singing a duet with the instrument in the intro to "Now Baby or Never," a finger-snappin' little number with a jazzy, 1920s Cotton Club sound. The title track, "That's What Love is All About" is a lovely romantic ballad, but is somewhat overshadowed by the minimalistic beauty of the eminently-soulful "Love Me By Name," which is smooth as eighty-year-old scotch and just as heart-warming. And definitely check out the straight-up elegant funk of "Excuse Me (I've Got A Life To Catch)" which features the slickest interplay between synths and sax that I think I've ever heard.
All in all, Angie Whitney's first solo effort is a sexy, sophisticated, accomplished album that gives its listeners a true, unadulterated soul/R&B experience. Her voice is not as powerful as Aretha Franklin's, but is much more energetic than Sade's, so I would say she covers a middle-ground between each...a territory little explored by soul singers these days, who all aspire for Aretha's mighty pipes or Sade's slinky purr. So put this album on the next time you come home from a long day at work. Mix up a martini, relax with yourself and a significant other, and let the music give you a nice mental massage that might...well, who knows what it might lead to, if you get my drift. ;)
Links:
angiewhitney.com
myspace.com/angielwhitney
www.littledizzyrecords.com
I Love the Olympics. So many stories come out of them, remarkable people, incredible performances, great stories. I know many people are not pleased with the venue this time around. I myself am not pleased at all. After a lot of thought though, I know the atheletes didn't have any choice about the venue and there is for many, just a short window of time for this experience. I can not imagine how the qualifiers for the 1980 Olympic team felt after working so hard for no opportunity to compete. I can not wait to see the spectacular track and field events!
Today I want to write a little about Lopez Lomong. Lomong is a fairly new citizen of the United States. He is one of the legendary Lost Boys of Sudan. These were boys who had essentially raised themselves in the refugee camps in Northern Kenya.
Lopez credits running for saving his life, as he was able to escape a camp for child soldiers through a hole in a fance and run to the relative safety of a Kenyan Refugee camp.
He then came to the US, where he is now known as the King of Flagstaff, running for Northern Arizona Univeristy, is competing in the 1500 agaist better know greats such as Bernard "Kipo" Lagat who actually competed for Kenya in the 2004 Olympics, but now is a US citizen, and Alan Webb .
Lomong comes from a world which I know, but only superficially. Many of you know I worked in South Sudan in 2004-5. I was there when the Peace Treaty was signed (Actually I was on R and R in kenya, but well, I was still in service, just resting). I've visited a variety of those refugee camps and know the conditions aren't really good, despite the best efforts of relief agencies. He, like most Lost Boys had to make big adjustments in coming to the US. Everything was new, electricity, elevators, McDonalds, supermarkets.... and running, I am sure was somewhat different. Because of my own work in Akuem, South Sudan, I feel a very strong connection to this remarkable young man who I will probably never meet. While I certainly had a taste of life in The Sudan, my life there was considerably easier and more secure than Lomong's. I served as a witness to the tragedies, while Lomong experienced them personally.
Lomong says now that he is running for both the United States and for the Sudanese who never had a chance to run.
I'm cheering him on in the trials, and hoping he gets a chance to represent the many who have experienced the violence, hunger and poverty due to the war in Sudan.
Go Lomong Go!
I was astonished to see these three taking a stroll literally 500 feet from my apartment here in Florida. I have been taking my camera on walks with the dog so I quickly (poor Puppy) tied the dog to a tree and tried to sneak up on these guys. I actually had to stand there for a few minutes to adjust to he reality of these large birds being so close to me.
My first impression is that these cranes (which I at first assumed were herons due to the fact that really only herons live where i grew up), are really really large. In the photos they appear somewhat delicate. In real life, I sort of hoped I did not provoke any aggression They were at least 5 feet tall, which is essentially my size, soooo.
I then took my photo to whatbird and discovered that it was indeed not a heron, but a crane. Many of the Cranes look rather a like, but after looking and reading about the Cranes, and their range and habitat, I decided these are indeed Sandhill Cranes.
These cranes make a very surprising K-aaaa-rooo type of sound while walking along. It;s quite different from the "cry" that you might hear in other situations. It was a raspy clucky noise. I'll admit that the recording of this sound on WhatBird didnt entirely represent how unusual it is. I'll also admit perhaps one of these Cranes had a sore throat?
Apparently while the birds are naturally grey, they often preen with mud, causing them to appear brown. Initially this is what gave me a lot of trouble identifying them, so learning this information was helpful!
I was hoping the cranes would take off in flight or at least spread out their wings so I could get an image of those things, but no luck. I've had terrible luck trying to take photos of birds in flight as it is (any hints anyone???) .
I had been feeling the crunch of Gas prices and have not been going on too many Florida Excursions. It's nice when the wild life comes to you!
In other exciting news...I signed up to work the 4th of July for the extra Cash, so I will get 4 days in a row of 12 hour shifts. I'm hoping I hold up. Work has been terribly tragic lately.
Watching sitcoms where Brussels Sprouts were compared to feet, I never really fully understood the analogy. Granted, I was eight or so at the time and many thing in the big world eluded my young mind. I loved vegetables as a child. Even the bitterest greens were like candy to me. It's all about your attitude and your openness to new tastes. I created this completely vegetarian meal to defy the common childhood stereotype filled with Fido-worthy veggies. We've got sweet steamed corn with miso butter and Parmesan, crunchy stir-fry of yellow/orange carrots and protein-rich edamame, garlic braised spinach and a bowl of multi-grain brown rice mix. If vegetables were always this pretty, who wouldn't lick their plates clean?
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Labrador Records (labrador.se) once again turned to Pirate Bay to help distribute their Labrador Summer Sampler 2008. If you remember, they did the same thing last year after their servers crashed due to a high volume of demand.
If you already use BitTorrent, then downloading it from Pirate Bay is easy enough, but unlike most people, I don't use the torrents. Instead, I had to get the files from a friend. If you're in the same boat, regarding not using bittorrent, I have made the free sampler available for download: sendspace.com/file/2yaj76 (154 mb).
Please note: I am acting under the assumption that Labrador wants as many people to download their sampler as possible. So please share this with your friends.
Although compared to last year's massive 68-track-sampler, this year's new 30 tracks is smaller... but it is still a lot of music to listen to. Since we've covered many of these bands (see corresponding links to previous W♥M articles), I was more interested in the bands I hadn't heard of: Leslies, Caroline Soul, and Johan Hedberg. Although Leslies previously appeared on their 2007 Sampler, this is the first time I paid attention to them due to their poppy "Dear Friend" song.
01 [Ingenting] - Här Kommer Solen |
11 Chasing Dorotea - Dark Angel |
21 The Radio Dept. - Pet Grief |
In other news for this past week, we find Devo asking "Are We Not Toys?" after suing McDonald's for using their likeness in one of their McToys. CNN reports that "Kid Rock Was Only Kidding" when he told people to "steal everything". This tells me a lot about Kid Rock fans if he had to EXPLAIN that it was only a joke. Duh?
DMX is arrested (again), "Fly - The Musical", Adele won some awards and people seem to be happy she doesn't want to kill herself like Amy Winehouse, and you also found out that Kanye West LIKES TO TYPE IN ALL CAPS, DUDE! His defense blog on the whole Bonnaroo fiasco comes down to the venue's ability to setup the stage and that Pearl Jam was an hour late. That's right, Vedder is a slowpoke.
See links below for news source:
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Coco B's originates out of California, which is very evident in their music. Many similarities could be made to Californian grunge and alternative rockers. Coco B's has captured the alternative rock sound perfectly. Though at first their music may sound very generic, they could be easily described as the very definition of alternative rock. The vocals borderline the emo sound, but those who can't stomach emo rock will likely still be able to appreciate Coco B's for its alternative side. Their general composition is held together by strong baselines and hypnotizing choruses.
On their 2007 album, songs like "Hot Pantz" and "Sunset City of Dub" demonstrate Coco B's relaxing side, which is very earnest yet relaxing. Tracks like "I Live In L.A." and "Access To No.'s" are good examples of their more upbeat songs, which usually have much stronger and rhythmic drum patterns.
In general Coco B's doesn't execute much variety, but they've definitely captured a noteworthy sound. Coco B's debut album (Fast Trak Holy Nova Symphony) was released under the label Grand Theft Autumn, since then they've released two EPs and their 2007 self-titled album under the K-Double Recording Co. label. Their "Basement Songs: Firehawks and Dirtybirds EP1" was also released cooperatively through RCRD LBL. Coco B's is definitely a band to be checked out by any fan of the alternative genre.
Links:
www.cocobs.com
myspace.com/cocobs
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07/04/08 1982 Bar Gainesville, Florida
07/04/08 The Atlantic Gainesville, FL 07/05/08 Big Monster Fest Jupiter, FL 07/06/08 Eclipse Riverside/Avondale, FL 07/07/08 Secret Squirrel Athens, AL 08/29/08 Bottletree Cafe Birmingham, AL |
I hate punk. I loathe "garage rock." And flatout despise any sort of music that is described as *-core. I like my music professional, well-crafted, and slick: none of that "lo-fi" recorded-in-some-jackasses-basement-on-a-Tascam-4track shite for me. So why, then, do I actually like We Vs. The Shark?
We Vs. The Shark is a loud, wild, thrashin' kind of pseudo-punk band from the music capitol of the southern states, Athens, Georgia--so it's only right that their music has a very strong B-52s influence. Information about the band is scarce, though we do know the group is composed of Luke Fields, Samantha Paulsen (why does the keyboard player always have to be a girl, and vice-versa?), Scott Smith, and Jeffrey Tobias, and they are mostly known for their energetic, ca-razy live shows. Jeff Tobias also works with Pegasuses-XL and Dark Meat, neither of whom I've ever heard of, but that's neither here nor there. What is here is a band whose latest album, Dirty Versions (on Hello Sir Records), was recorded "nearly live" in only two days to capture to spirit and power of their live shows...and if this album accurately captures the essence of their live performance, then I definitely want to see this band live.
Dirty Versions sounds like the twisted, mutated result of a high-speed collision involving the aforementioned B-52, Mister Bungle, and The Melvins. Despite being recorded "almost live," the mixing and production on this record is slick and clean: every instrument is clearly heard, which is vital when you're dealing with complicated arrangements like these. The music of We Vs. The Shark courts certain definitions while always ducking and weaving through them. Some songs have a grinding, heavy-metal feel to them; others are jumpy, almost poppy tunes. None of them sit still long enough to pin a definite classification to them, though, which makes songs like "Gothic Y'all" and "Mr. Ego Death" almost impossible to describe. There are grinding guitars, crashing drums, screams, howls, weird electronic sweeps. There are blast beats that would make Dragonforce proud followed by slow, quiet sections. There's a lot of energy packed into these songs, and it literally explodes from your speakers in tracks like "I Am The Contempt Machine" and "Keep It Wolf."
I hate The Dillinger Escape Plan, and in some ways, We Vs. The Shark reminds me of them--but in a good way. If you take Dillinger and strip out the abominable hardcore elements, but keep all the power of their music while adding a dose of melody and humor, you've got We Vs. The Shark, a band that exceeds all reflexive comparison and has an identity all its own. Fortunately, that identity is close enough to a number of different genres to draw a diverse crowd, all of whom will find something they like in We Vs. The Shark's music...and that's about the best thing you can offer as a band these days, especially one from a regional music Valhalla like Athens.
If this album has you itchin' to see the band live--as I (and they) no doubt hope it would--then you've got ample chances to see them in the next few days.
This is the first time I've made any Chinese porridge. The key is to mix the rice with some olive oil and salt very well before cooking. The porridge will turn out very smooth and creamy. I used 5-6 times the water that I normally use for cooking rice, but I accidentally used a little too much rice without realizing. So this porridge could have been a bit more watery. I loved it though, especially in this heat.
Work was so crazy today. Today was definitely a two fire day in a one fire truck town. Even though I'm irritated, it hasn't reallly bogged me down. Vacation may have helped more than I realize. We'll see. Tomorrow evening is going to be a little tricky. Then Friday, once again working on the 4th of July.
Got a lot of new DVDs. Family Values 2006. Sucks. Quality is basically bootleg. I like the groups, but damn. Steve Miller Band Live 2007. Actually pretty good. And even though I love Steve Miller Band's music, it actually makes for a bit of a boring concert. Deep Purple around the world. Excellent. Most impressive though so far is Judas Priest Rising In The East. Been a fan of theirs since 1982. Rob Halford can actually sing well. I'd never heard anything live from them. Today during my brief getaway for lunch, I went to Headstone's and bought three records, Deep Purple's "Fireball". The title track is probably my favorite Deep Purple song. Got Judas Priest's "Hell Bent For Leather" and David Lee Roth's "Eat 'Em And Smile". All for $9. A little more pricey than I'm used to for used LPs, but these are in really good shape. About 50 of my LPs got damaged when our basement flooded about 4 weeks ago. Damn.
Also bought some new CDs while on vacation. Disturbed's new CD "Indestructible" and their last one "The Thousand Fists". Also got Flyleaf's new album. Kinda good actually. Then Lacuna Coil's latest. Not entirely impressed, but haven't given them a fair shake yet.
Mariah and the kids cleaned out my car today. It looks brand new except for the growing rust spot on the rear fender and the eye sore of my right tire with no hub cap. Thank CSX railroad crossing for that.
Had an excellent run the last two days. Yesterday 3.25 miles in 20:28 with last mile in 5:52. Today, an even paced 5 miles in 33:12 with the last half mile in 3:08. It's been kinda cool. Right hip area is still a little tight. Right achilles isn't bothering me at all. I've got to get the miles back up. Maybe back up to 50 a week by the end of July.
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I was pretty thrilled when I received Connected: 90's 12" Mix to review, as I was already well familiar with all the songs and artists on the two promo discs. In fact, I had the review written weeks ago, but waited until it got closer to the release date of July 7th to post the review. I'm glad I waited because by the last hour, they decided to upped the anti and added a third disc and changing the cover artwork (and not to mention that they reshuffled the track listing). As you can see with the links to artists we've previously covered on W♥M, that we really like the first disc.
One of the major differences I've noticed right away was that they had replaced Electronic's "Getting Away With It" with New Order's "World in Motion", which is fine as they are more or less Bernard Sumner. If there were other artists and songs that were dropped, it's probably due to licensing issues.
I have to say that I did agree that "World in Motion" is better fitted for this compilation, because this song is so closely associated with the 1990 World Cup. It just feels good to hear the competitive "it's one on one", a song that's sure to be played at every World Cup.... although whenever I hear that rap from Jamaican-born football player John Barnes, it just drowns the songs in late 80s/early 90s.
In 80s and going to the 90s, the three major releases for singles were: 7", 12" and cassingle. The 90s introduced us to the CD single (and eventually the double CD singles, parts one and two), but this compilation collects all the 12" mixes. Usually the 12" mix were special because they're often exclusive to the 12" and were catered to underground DJs who needed them in this format to scratch and live mix.
Even if you know all these songs from hearing them on the radio, these dance remixes always adds something new to something already familiar.
These tracks demonstrate England's evolution of dance music. You see, in the early 90s, there was a breaking point in the music timeline. One group became what you might know as Britpop, while the other group focused more on dance (raves and techno). You hear the second group's diverse music on these tracks.
From early Madchester (Stone Roses, Happy Mondays) to funk (Deee Lite) to house (M People, Nuyorican Soul) to big stadium dance rock (U2, Primal Scream) to even trip hop (Tricky, Massive Attack, Portishead), it's all here: all the big hits!
There are a few outstanding tracks from the two discs: the remix of Deee Lite's funky "Groove Is In The Heart", the Bottom Won Mix of Stone Roses's amazing baseline of a dance classic "Fool's Gold", Stereo MCs' "Connected" (of course!), Snap's extended mix of "Rhythm is a Dance", and Soup Dragons' trippy "I'm Free" the 12" mix.
The new tracks that were added to the album, included two that I already know and love: Moloko's "Fun for Me" and Beats International's "Dub Be Good to Me". Since I've already mentioned Moloko's song in a previous article, I should tell you about Beats International.
The guy behind Beats International is really Norman Cook - aka Fatboy Slim. As you can hear from his remix of "Be Good to Me", he really knows how to manipulate the song. Check out that bass and the mixing of a DJ introducing the song "Tank fly boss walk jam nitty gritty, you're listening to the boy from the big bad city. This is jam hot" and also the outro.
There is one song that kind of bothered me, not that it isn't good (because I love "Jump Around"), but because it seems to me that House of Pain shouldn't belong here. You see, looking at all these artists, they all seem to be based in the UK and they're mostly dance, and House of Pain is from the US and leans towards rap. If you listen to this album, this song should definitely "jump" out at you.
Overall, this was a very enjoyable collection that made me a feel a little nostalgic of yesteryear.
Below are the final track listing.
Disc 1 |