July, 23rd 2011. One of the brightest supernovas of the contemporary music scene implodes, pushed away by her own talent and fragility at the same time. I am talking about the last soul lioness of present days: Amy Winehouse. The first white soul lady borned 29 years ago in Northern London suburbs, in Southgate neighborhood. Don't worry this is not a wikipedia page! Isn't it?
What I wanna do, in beloved memory of the passed lioness, is to write about her (commercial) masterpiece: Back to Black.
1. Rehab 3:34 2. You know I’m no good 4:17
3. Me & Mr. Jones 2:33
4. Just friends 3:13
5. Back to black 4:10
6. Love is a losing game 2:35
7. Tears dry on their own 3:06
8. Wake up alone 3:42
9. Some unholy war 2:22
10. He can only hold her 2:46
11. Addicted 2:45
11 tracks of pure nu-soul. The comparison with contemporary Lauryn Hill, Macy Gray, Duffy and so on goes 100% natural. But Amy's voice has something that turned herself into the huge star she's been: I am talking about pain, inner pain. A cursed artist whose only way to express herself was shouting loud her powerful voice outside. I'd say Amy is pretty similar to those big past stars, too much six-feet-under to be remembered by the frenzy mainstream scenario. Who remember Doris Duke or Esther Phillips, just to quote two of the biggest? Certified soul atmoshperes cover the whole EP: He can only hold her, Wake up alone and Addicted are nice examples of a fresh blast of past memories. "For you I was a flame/Love is a losing game": that's how the only ballad of the EP, Love is a losing game indeed, begins. Beyond the combed notes, I think that the power of this track is the perfect fit between music and lyrics.It just says things in the right way those things should be told. Another great example of it, is Rehab, lead single of the whole EP. For 3:34 minutes AW shows her impertinence by joking on her little bad habit: drinking. Rhythm, rhythm, rhythm. On Me and Mr. Jones Amy argues on her boyfriend who stopped her from watching the concert of her idol Slick Rick. Regular soul notes leave the space to hip-hop beats in You know I'm no good. Syncopated intro in Some unholy war and the rocksteady of Just friends send the listener back in the '50s. The AW, with the help of producer Mark Ronson, decided to introduce a Marvin Gaye flavour: Tears dry on their own is so damn similar to Gaye's Ain't no mountain high enough that I just can't understand when Amy's voice finish and when Tammi Terrell's begins! And then the lioness ends the album with Back to black: a creepy prophecy. Amy warned us that soon we'd have gone back to black. R.I.P. Amy, even one year later.
Six years after the planetary (and commerical) success of Loose, Miss Furtado is planning her come-back on the mainstream pop english-spoken music scene. She just released, one after the other, two singles Big Hoops (the bigger the better) and Spirit Indestructible, that anticipate her 5th studio album: The Spirit Indestructible.
Many voices, and I have to agree with them (at least by listening at the two anticipating tracks), associate The Spirit Indestructible to the sound and atmospheres of Nelly's previous EPs Whoa! Nelly and Loose itself. But let's proceed with order.
Let's start with Big Hoops. For this track the canadian-portuguese lady counted on the help of Mr. Rodney Jerkins, producer of stars like MJ, Whitney and sweet Spice Girls. The track is definetely a pop song, characterized with hip hop veins. It starts and proceed with Nelly's Auto-tuned voice singing on nice and keen percussions. Rhythm mainly based on Furtado's song proceed until she declares in the lyrics "I thought this song was over\ Nope, it ain't over yet". All of a sudden the track disguises into 40 seconds of hard drum'n'bass. Nice song. But it kinda reminds me of On the Radio from the good old days of Whoa! Nelly.
Spirit Indestructible starts with Renaissance-style keys. When the song picks up its true rhythm, with lasery beats and drums, NF voice is kinda overwhelmed by the music. Despite lyrics contains a very positive message, about the true strenght of spirit, the whole songs remains not so convincing. In fact, @ mid-song, Miss Furtado falls into a chant of the 5 vowels “A-E-I-O-U”, definetely not coherent with the whole song’s message. I'd say that Spirit Indestructible dancy atmoshperes bonk with Say It Right beats (is it just me or the track are almost the same?!).
I really don't know what to expect from the last effort of NF, which will be available starting from September. Fingers crossed. In the meantime enjoy the wader Furtado in Big Hoops.
Can't believe it. I just read on NME that original former members of Sugababes, Mutya Buena, Keisha Buchanan and Siobhan Donaghy are going to recreate the original asset of the notorious UK girl band.
The new band name will be (are you kidding me?!) Mutya Keisha Siobhan (MKS?). Is that a girl band name? It seems that for legal reasons they cannot use the name Sugababes, still in use by the Mutya, Siobhan and Keisha copycat. However I am happy that the last remaining members of Sugababes (Heidi Range, Amelle Berrabah and Jade Ewen) will definetely fade away.
It seems that the re-united girls will soon deliver some new music
materials in a period range going from 2 to 10 weeks. Does it mean that soon
we will se another MV with the three girls returning on stage
"Overload"?Maybe yes!
Somehow mainstream is paradoxal. You publish your EP in 2010, you get famous in 2012. In the meantime you could have died and no one else cared. I am talking about Ellie Goulding, sweet 26yo british talented Polydor singer and songwriter, currently @ #5 on Billboard's top 100.
I discovered the poptronic Ellie by browsing on YouTube some Bat For Lashes music quite a while ago. Similar sounds yes (also reminds me a lil' bit of Dido), but I think Goulding has something very unique. Should it be her scratchy breath-less voice when touching high notes? Maybe. I think is a matter of style. So I decided to get back at her roots. And found out this little precious surprise: Lights. A pop-electro-base EP produced by DJ Starsmith and Frankmusik among the others.The result is good. Maybe a little bit too mono-chords (sorry but I love heterogeneity).
1. Guns and Horses 3:35
2. Starry Eyed 2:57
3. This Love (Will Be Your Downfall) 3:54
4. Under the Sheets 3:45
5. The Writer 4:05
6. Every Time You Go 3:25
7. Wish I Stayed 3:40
8. Your Biggest Mistake 3:25
9. I’ll Hold My Breath 3:44
10. Salt Skin 4:15 11. Lights 3:31
Homonymous single "Lights" is a good example of catchy song with brain: keys with a repeated drum+bass repetitive pattern, broken up here and there by light violin at mid track, freshen the whole track. "Starry Eyed" left me suspicious: at first I thought "well...another junk track to put in the trash can". But listening at it twice I appreciated the effect of over layering vocals. I would say only but good thing in this track. Shuffling, I ended up on "Guns and Horses" and...wait a minute: no synth? is that a '60s style acoustic guitar riff?.Yes! Appreciate the combination between old and modern chorus waves: worthy listening. However the EP contains also some (very) conceptually basic tracks:"This Love", "I'll Hold My Breath" and "Everytime You Go" left me a bit disappointed. However Goulding recuperates confidence with '80s sonorities in "Under The Sheets" (love the heavy drums) and "Your Biggest Mistake": key & drums, drums & key for a nice rhytmic track (though could have been more mature), just like "Wish I Stayed". With "The Writer", EG leaves her femtronic aura and open the doors to a good ballad but I'd say a little bit too basic even though pretty natural. And what about the dark and gothic-like sonorities for "Salt Skin" track? Still don't get this track.
Net: nice effort, but maybe deserved a bit more details' care. Too many things, mostly disconnected. But I trust this girl. 3* OUT OF 5*.
I simply love Norah Jones. I think she has the capabilities to evoke universes into the listeners' mind. She never bothers me, simply because she always changes. That's why, today, I decided to do a quick review on the enchantress last studio album: Little Broken Hearts. 12 tracks of...jazz?? NO!! 12 tracks of I'd rather say indie alternative pop. A tough revolution if we consider that exactly 10 years ago this young lady came up with a "little" jazz masterpiece: Come Away with Me, more than 25milion copies sold worldwide. Cannot explain why, but with this step change NJ seems more than ever (even more than CAWM) to use the most correct melodies to link music with the exact feelings contained in each track. Convincing with this new shape.
Here's the tracklist:
1. "Good Morning" 3:17 2. "Say Goodbye" 3:27 3. "Little Broken Hearts" 3:12 4. "She's 22" 3:10 5. "Take it Back" 4:06 6. "After the Fall" 3:42 7. "4 Broken Hearts" 2:59 8. "Travelin' On" 3:06 9. "Out on the Road" 3:28 10. "Happy Pills" 3:34 11. "Miriam" 4:25 12. "All a Dream" 6:30
In LBH, the old little Norah varies such a multitude of sounds, with unexpected surprises. Beyond "Good Morning" sad acoustic violins and synth atmospheres, tracks like "Say Goodbye", "Little Broken Hearts", "Happy Pills" (leading single of the album) and "Out on the Road" lead to more rhytmic and slightly happier (because of pills) moods. I say slightly happier because in "Miriam", in good company with back guitars and synth, Norah imagines to kill her love rival. BLOOD atmosphere ladies and gentlemen! Not bad for a jazzy girl turned into an indie Femme Fatale. Apparently Miriam is (or was?) 22. In "She's 22", in fact Jones ask herself how her lover could be happy with such a young lady. Truth is that I hardly remember such sad almost country-style guitar riff in the background. Folk sonorities also contained in "Out on the Road"."Take it Back" is one of the few tracks in this album with still piano notes, clear clue that the good old jazz stereotype has almost definetely faded completely. Mystical and I'd say slightly trip-hop sonorities characterize "After the Fall" and "All a dream"...Norah please, he's gone! Convince yourself! Maybe by jumping on your car and "Travelin'On"... sad-relaxing track, perfect to get asleep, somehow.
The new Norah still convince me, I must admit. I would have add just some more drums here and there, but I appreciate her effort. Destructing such a big and strong wall, like the image of jazz-melancholic sad girl, is not that easy.
