Electrik Red- How to be a Lady Vol.1 Terius 'n' Tricky make girl-pop magic

it still has a decent chance of being one of the best r&b albums of the year

whoa there with this high, high praise in 2010

more than anything you just fear for the balance between sass and vulnerability within each track that made vol 1 come alive

they managed it on "electrik city" with, like, darkchild, so...

the red panties joint? yeah, the emotional spectrum didn't really scream itself out to me there.

more than anything you just fear for the balance between sass and vulnerability within each track that made vol 1 come alive. i'm still confident they can manage each separately to a worthwhile degree, but yeah.

This is what I was thinking.

I love "Electrik City", and a whole album of tracks like that and "W.F.Y." would be great but it would also come on like a pretty different group (not that i really expect the next album to be just like this - see below).

What I feel like The-Dream did was to really push Naomi to the fore on the majority of tracks. That sass/vulnerability tightrope that Naomi walks so frequently can't really be done by any of the other singers except to the extent that they are in supporting mode.

They do great tracks without Naomi on lead but I feel that those tracks just form the outer points on a constellation with a cluster of Naomi-led tracks in the centre.

Whereas I could imagine a new album not helmed by The-Dream going a bit more bipolar, focusing on "Electrik City" style tracks while pushing the counterpart Naomi tracks into "Never Ever" zones of sweetness. It's the latter more than the former that I'm worried about. I don't know that many other producers/songwriters are um... is there a less poncy word than "nuanced" here?.. enough to get the right balance on any Naomi-led tunes.

A pre-falling-off Polow coulda done it maybe.

^^^sick wid it

I'm not sure I trust Terius and Tricky to give a new album their full attention and effort, given the massive drop-off in their quality control of late. A few more producers is probably a good thing.

yeah but non-washed up producers woulda been nice too

idk last time i got preemptively worked up over production credits was the gucci album and that turned out great, so we'll see

I've always been pretty willing to believe the narrative that ER brought a lot of their own personality/topics/opinions to their album, and would like to see them work w/ different producers and songwriters to verify that. Although as I said upthread, I'd be surprised if Def Jam ever releases another album by them -- really I'm still amazed and thankful that the first one was released.

Rock City really is the fuckin worst though

dont really think of Electrik red as a band that that is abt production?

um it was a huge part of the appeal of the first album to me

your average industry hack has at least a few tracks that justify their existence, but have r. city ever once did anything that didn't suck scrotum?

they were one that one semi-defensible Asher Roth song with Beanie and uh, i think their song on the Rich Boy album was alright? but yeah they are really the bastard stepchildren of the Konvict Muzik stable.

according to wiki, nicole scherzinger's "supervillain" and janet jackson's "rollercoaster"

"supervillain" is a masterpiece so there's hope

I've always been pretty willing to believe the narrative that ER brought a lot of their own personality/topics/opinions to their album,

eh what's the big deal? No snark intended, but these gals are only as good as their material.

but again, how can you make that call based one album done w/ all the same production team.

i don't agree that they're only as good as their material, but good production and writing > wack production and writing

those statements both essentially mean nothing, though

huh? i'm just saying that i think the girls are super talented but i'd rather not take a chance with lame producers (as spotty as tricky/dream have been lately)

"good production is better than bad production" isn't the same thing as "known quantity is better than unknown quantity"

dream & tricky are having a great year

well, idk what tricky has done actually -- terius is having a great year tho

interesting article with sarah rosete - http://www.hiphopcanada.com/2010/06/sarah-rosete-interview/ - inc. some behind-the-scenes management stuff on how the electrik red project got going and how it's going to keep going given what they sold.

i wonder what she's referring to with this:

A lot of decisions were made without any kind of confirmation from us. They were made just because they had to be made. That really hurt our image and Shakir wouldn’t have let any of that go down — he would have made sure everything was perfection before it was put out. We know now more than ever how great your first impression has to be. Anything less than a great first impression means that success isn’t guaranteed, so you really have to go hard or go home.

b-b-but their first impression was one of the best albums of all time

tbh i'm not sure how else they could've been marketed either...

I think the reason why they didn't "hit" is that the Prince-sound aesthetic might be on the way out in r&b. Maybe the kids were getting tired of the lin-drum sound. I personally loved it because it reminded me of Vanity 6 and Jill Jones. But I guess only a few people can remember those acts as a reference to Electrik Red.

9 to 5 soundin so good

has this been posted anywhere?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_dX0sqeYiU

Yeah I posted in the R&B thread the other day, forgot about this thread. I don't know much about Midi Mafia.

yeah im not really feelin it, i prefer when they sound a bit more decadent rather than stripped back

i think it's fun

Could really do with these girls returning ASAP

^^^^

http://twitter.com/LesleyER/status/45365257694224384

!!!!!!

well shit

we're all !!!!!ing at the background of that twitter, right?

because !!!!!

he loves electrik red, i found out about this album through him - can't imagine how hyped he was to meet her

http://twitter.com/BinkieER/status/57857485188509696

BinkieER

Swag low ill build ya up knees weak ill stand you up RED LIPS RED DRESS like em like a fire truck. #redlipandabadattitude
9 minutes ago via ÜberSocial

please let these be new ER lyrics

seriously please I CAN HEAR THEM IN MY HEAD, i want this song NOW

#redpandabadattitude

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vdI2KXwkaoc/R8FuGikUO1I/AAAAAAAADAw/OcxfonUd-UQ/s320/Red+Panda.jpg

red panda!!!!

also ugh never mind i just googled and they're from a chris brown song

lol u got breezyrolled

loooool

Whoever it was who decided to blast "We Fuck You" over the PA in the student union hall today, you are a fucking hero.

lol

have we discussed the female empowerment angle?

― have the lime of your life, heyyyyyy (Tape Store), Friday, May 22, 2009 4:06 PM (1 year ago)

^ one of my alltime fave ilm posts 4reals

haha yeah it cracks me up every time i open this thread