Rolling R&B Thread 2012

but "cool on your island" is amazing

Who here hates "Take Care" for its music / general structure?

AFAIK most people dislike Drake for his voice, then his lyrics, then maybe the really really wishy-washy sonics of stuff like "Marvin's Room" (but that is the smallest group of Drake haters).

So invoking Drake as the boogeyman because an R&B tune is all emoto-house seems like missing the point of Drake hate.

but "cool on your island" is amazing

yeah sorry "damning" was meant to be in scare quotes. I agree!

anyway even a novice like me can hear the afropop foundations of "stimela", from its name to the rhythms and the ululating. this is the track it was based on, it seems

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4Bb7p9gggc

and yeah a lot of the rest of the EP is weirdly 90s female singer-songwriter alt-rock which is a GOOD THING, if surprising

plenty of actual drake tracks can be made pretty good, even great, by the simple step of Removing Drake, tim otm. not that he's a particularly useful comparison for dawn (especially not "faith"! that's far more in line with that kelis rave album) or wynter (at any point really)

I wasn't trying to use Drake as a pejorative. Armor On just always seemed to me like Dawn's (often smarter, deeper) spin on the same chilly sounds. There's a lot of Kanye West in there, too. She was working from a foundation that those two really popularized.

I don't mind the rest of the Wynter Gordon release—that track rtc posted is ok—"Stimela" just lays on the shrillness and Lion King mysticism way too thick for me

chilly electronics in r&b hardly began with drake and kanye though

I know. But for better or worse they've led the current zeitgeist

i hear tons of '808s & heartbreaks' in dawn's record but then again i don't think that's a bad thing

drake, less so

i was also rather unimpressed w/ that wynter gordon song

yeah 'giving in' is my fave track on the thing i must confess

can see where the cranners comparisons come from but that one reminds me most of when britney does it on her album cuts and i luv those

i think it's readily evident and hardly a controversial assertion that we play in a larger, greyer area than the shrillest weekend/drakephobes ever care to admit

still kinda sad that my boo wynter sold out tho :/

yeah i remember she had some bangers back in the post-flo rida days

haha i was going to ask if anyone remembers her pre-fame stuff from when she was just another r&b blogfailure but having searched it turns out i have nothing less than a whole folder of 2008 demos on a old hd...? why man why??

btw wiki reveals she goes way back with d'mile who is all over various ddm stuffs

inviting anyone who might know to tell me some beautiful lies about how the teairra mari mixtape's worth hearing

someone recommended it to be the other day, i haven't got round to it yet though

"coins" from the other year was such an underrated jam

*me

My underrated Teairra jam from the other year was "Body". And her turn on the "Pum Pum Shorts" remix.

okay beautiful lies time: Leaving aside "I Do Like" (exactly what you'd expect) and "Click Flash" and "Mercy" the thing done got this kind of electrik red meets journey vibe, the beyond of beyonce's "dance for you", all power sex ballads, over sung and over produced and lacking in tunes, but sort of in the best one night only way. Check "Another Round" and "Lovemaking" and "U Did That" on this tip.

Hey R&B peeps, is there a separate thread for new classic sounding soul & R&B anywhere? Didn't wanna start one if it'd be redundant but also didn't think posting Lee Fields gorgeous "moonlight mile" cover would be appropriate here.

traditionalist stuff doesn't get a ton of attention itt but it's perfectly welcome when someone does want to talk about it, in my experience

I'd be interested in being exposed to more classic sounding soul. It'd be nice to hear something beyond the one obligatory retro-soul track that is now a staple of every big R&B album

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jzfy7aKB9oo

^dig this!

'wrong side of a love song' is freakin' amazing. actually on some hot buttered soul shit

Hey R&B peeps, is there a separate thread for new classic sounding soul & R&B anywhere? Didn't wanna start one if it'd be redundant but also didn't think posting Lee Fields gorgeous "moonlight mile" cover would be appropriate here.

― to welcome jer.fairall, pie is served. (jer.fairall), Friday, July 13, 2012

Xchuckx and I talk about Lee Fields, some classic soul and current Southern soul (with the tacky sounding synths that many folks hate) over here:

Chitlin Circuit Double-entendre -filled Soul 2004 (and onward) Theodis Ealey's "Stand Up In It" is a song of the year

Sometimes even tim f. will weigh in with a line-dance favorite

cross-post from pop thread but this new jojo/shebib single is the shit

serious "promise" vibes

free tape store

http://soundcloud.com/futuresounds-bgr/jojo-demonstrate

i was wondering lately what happened to tapestore p

haha

i haven't talked to him in a bit... i should reach out. i think he's really focused on film stuff. miss him tho.

i can't quite decide on first blushes if that song's kinda underpolished or if it's a persuasive roughness

good though

it didn't strike me as immediately amazing but i think it really opens up

demmmmonnnnnstrrraaaaaatte

also that chunky, stuttery pre-chorus thing is hella 'writing on the wall' or something, i really dig

where are the "promise" vibes? seriously. "promise" is huge and lush, this is...underpolished doesn't even begin to cover it.

this just makes me think about how once again jojo's official singles don't live up to the promise of her unofficial stuff

idk mans, personally if it sounds like you can ride a horse to it in super slow-mo with a romantic sense of purpose i file it under promise

defence calls for the world renowned promise arbitrator k3v to resolve this thorny dispute

it's a bit static and small-sounding for that imo

rtc otm on both accounts

defence calls for the world renowned promise arbitrator k3v to resolve this thcorny dispute

― r|t|c, Wednesday, July 18, 2012 12:51 PM (6 hours ago) Bookmark

haha guys

i dig this definitely, and can see some "promise" in it - the percussion follows a somewhat similar cadence (sorta pushing it tho), and parts of it match the weightlessness of "promise", one of its finer characteristics. the production is a lot sparer, especially in the verses, which i think is what lex is referring to, which makes it feel a little less smooth i guess. good find nonetheless

http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/4fec9ea16bb3f76373000010/john-roberts.jpg

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/images/smilies/smash.gif

lol @ smash.gif

this is super-dope btw, esp the parts right before the chorus where it goes all double-time just for one line

i really don't like the drum sounds either - they're too loud and they kind of thud in a really unvibey way - cf how light and soft the percussion in "promise" is. iirc this is one of those things that repelled me about the production on take care as well.

and the song is just not there, god, my attention just wanders about 5 times in each verse.

yeah it does need a big breakdown or something, gets a bit circular and anaemic

generally agree about 40 beats but jojo has enough about her to plump it up to an extent so to speak

it's good, flirts with dope, def not super-dope

It makes me think of "Final Warning" more than "Promise". :O

yeah.... those guitar stutters are def "final warning".... not sure how i didn't place that

i think when the chorus opens up it resembles "promise" a bit

yes

these comparisons to all-time-classics are doing this song absolutely no favours you guys

you know what totally bangs? this robin thicke single

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8f2EYdR3uw

old news i know but it never really caught my ear much when i listened to the album. really suits his voice well

Gonna save myself the embarrassment of trying to embed a Bandcamp track here (can it be done?) and just link to the page, but this Melodie "Classic Love" track strikes me as a better stab at '70s soul than most of the R. Kelly album

http://melodiesoul.bandcamp.com/track/classic-love

these comparisons to all-time-classics are doing this song absolutely no favours you guys

― bitch I'm on the 242 (lex pretend), Thursday, July 19, 2012 11:50 PM Bookmark

Come to think of it, "Demonstrate" might be better than the entire oeuvres of Aaliyah and Ciara combined. Little to do with Jojo, though. It's all the genius of 40 Shebib.