Rolling R&B Thread 2012

Wonder if (the very good, all-R&B) Two Eleven has a shot at the Top Ten of the Billboard 200. "Put It Down": 70-76-72 last three weeks on Hot 100 and 16-5-3 last three weeks on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop. Doesn't really bode well.

2 columns that chris molanphy and i wrote about r&b's hot 100 decline that get into how itunes changed things:

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/2011/05/chris_brown_look_at_me_now_hot_100.php

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/2012/07/sales_slump_usher_chris_brown.php

i read both of those at the time - they were great and i think i may have linked one in my independent r&b piece - but what is it about itunes that means it's an inefficient driver of r&b? it's so geared towards casual/spontaneous consumption that it inherently privileges pop?

whereas radio-driven r&b is dependent on gatekeepers to an extent?

those might be factors but the more simple truth is just that demographically speaking the songs and artists that get chart boosts from iTunes sales, particularly single sales, strongly skew pop and not urban

Itunes, Billboard, and the marginalization of black music and black audiences in America

what's the word on the new brandy album

I like it. It feels too long and a bit old fashioned but it's mostly good stuff. The Mike Will one is probably my favorite. I'll need to digest it some more though. Just listened to it today.

yeah i heard a few cuts on the radio last night and only the mike will one stood out

I'm halfway through it and it sounds really nice on first listen. "So Sick" sounded like vintage Terius/Tricky to me; I never would have thought that was a Bangladesh track

Washington Post freelancer says in part:

Although commercial R&B is deep in the throes of a love affair with dance-pop, Brandy returns to the sort of sweet, earnest R&B she put out when she was barely a teenager. There are a few tracks that work as up-tempo radio singles, including the fizzy, burbling Chris Brown collaboration “Put It Down,” and the Bangladesh-produced “Let Me Go,” which samples Swedish singer Lykke Li, but most of the album is a showcase for Brandy’s powerful, gusty voice.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/brandy-two-eleven-album-review/2012/10/15/d2736414-159d-11e2-bf18-a8a596df4bee_story.html

"put it down" is pretty eh but i will always give brandy a shot

Brandy's voice is remarkable, but that Lykke Li song is aural vomit

i've liked "put it down" in the right context. kingdom's no breezy edit was nice and it sounded awesome when brenmar dropped it for a bit in a set i saw.

brenmar is probably the one usa dj of that ilk i'll give daps to

yeah i had an utter blast when i saw him last month

xp my eyes just rolled so hard i had to go across the street to collect them

brandy album was alright on one listen, but it didn't draw me in as much as human or afrodisiac

vocally she's sounding really fantastic these days though

it's also another weird one where your attention perks up when the bonus tracks arrive

xp my eyes just rolled so hard i had to go across the street to collect them

― Cap'n Hug-a-Thug (The Reverend), Tuesday, October 16, 2012 5:38 PM (13 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

which djs do u like?

i've never been able to get into brandy albums. her voice is def v goo/singular but idk it doesn't grab me.

http://www.eastlondonlines.co.uk/ell_wp/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Norwood_Junction_stn_signage_2010.jpg

recently i attended a dinner party near norwood junction and as per usual was so late and disorganised that i forgot to put the nice wine i'd bought into my bag, and tweeted to this effect. cue defensive south "londoners" telling me that they do have shops down here you know.

all i'm saying is, i didn't see any

This Neva End remix is pretty fantastic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gR1M-CaZV-4

He is being blatantly dorky and uncool. It compliments his usual overly sincere thing more than it contradicts it, I think.

Yeah, she's always been someone who when I've liked her, I've liked strictly for the songs, never as an entity really. I look forward to hearing this one tho, even though I don't like the single much.

which djs do u like?

― fanute da croupier (D-40), Tuesday, October 16, 2012 3:51 PM Bookmark

Americans in a similar style to Brenmar? In rough order of how good they were when I saw them:

Jubilee (if you have the chance to see her, just go. played a bunch of vibe music, a snap miniset (!), original and vogue remixes of "Long Heels Red Bottoms", and like infinite Trina besides that. talked to her for a min afterwards and she said she was playing just for me <3<3<3)
SPF666 (total unknown from PDX who was playing his own Jersey club remixes of all my favorite tracks, I went so hammer)
Total Freedom
Jacques Greene (not an American but CA counts for these purposes. peak moment: looping the horns from the opening of "Speechless" for like a full minute before dropping the DUET version)
Kingdom
Samo Sound Boy
Dave Quam
Salva (set was kind of inconsistent, would be awesome for ten mins, kind of lame for ten mins, still worth seeing tho)
Nguzunguzu (crowd was sparse and wack - they should have played a smaller venue)
Jerome LOL (played good stuff but was at this outdoor park venue that had been taken over by crusties and burner types and was ruined by this terrible local hiphop dj sent to do a dance dj's job who played before him)

I haven't actually seen Brenmar though, his last Seattle gig got canceled.

mm, that's nice dear

brandy alb is not bad but not good nor in truth acceptable either. fuckin itunes

'slower', 'do you know what you have', 'scared of beautiful', 'paint this house' are the picks i guess

lord spare me from ever hearing another bilious bangladesh beat

why is all this production so bloody wishy washy standoffish

match her, fight her, put some fucking drama into it

mm, that's nice dear

bite me?

i just read that brandy pretty much disowned human :(

which is a much better album than this

i really did think brandy was gonna bring it on this for some reason

You guys are being hella hard on a pretty good album

I guess that's what Brandy gets for a smart marketing campaign that created big expectations for this LP, but I think the album mostly sounds nice and it's likely to hold up pretty well

"a smart marketing campaign that created big expectations for this LP" = putting Chris Brown on the single so radio would play it?

Ann Powers talks to old-school critic Nelson George re the gender makeup of r'n'b live show audiences; low voices and falsetto, and more. Kinda interesting

http://www.npr.org/blogs/therecord/2012/10/17/163095398/for-the-ladies-r-kelly-teddy-pendergrass-and-the-state-of-r-b

wait a minute, there are going to be 20 new episodes of "trapped in the closet"?

welcome to hell

more "authentic" artists like, say, Brandy or Trey Songz.

The problem is with the "authenticity" tag in the first place, imo. It has ridden black music like a mare for some time now. Either something works or it doesn't. I'd gladly fawn over Chris Brown eurodance&b if it had been any good. (It is also part of the problem I have with the noz piece.) I do think ship managed to work around it though.

That Ann Powers interview briefly speaks to an alienation I've often felt at R&B shows as a guy (and to a lesser extent, I suppose, as a straight guy). It's weird seeing this music that speaks to me really deeply played as burlesque or some kind of Chip N Dale routine. I can appreciate the entertainment of it all—and I don't doubt its effectiveness, since it makes the audience go nuts—but it does create an uncomfortable distance for me.

haha oh trust me, I will gladly walk 4 extra blocks every time if I can manage a route that doesn't take me down Authenticity Boulevard

Hmmm, that article is interesting cause it ties into this conversation me and my mom had recently where she was saying she's always found falsetto lovermen comical (this was specifically when Ron Isley{!} was playing) and only found deep-voiced singers like Barry White or Luther Vandross sexy.

I, otoh, get all weak-kneed for falsettos though.

*braces self for discussions with acquaintances who check Trapped but "Oh? Huh" at mention of regular R. Kelly album released the same year*

Chip 'n' Dale, Chippendale, or both?

some dude OTM.

That Ann Powers interview briefly speaks to an alienation I've often felt at R&B shows as a guy (and to a lesser extent, I suppose, as a straight guy). It's weird seeing this music that speaks to me really deeply played as burlesque or some kind of Chip N Dale routine. I can appreciate the entertainment of it all—and I don't doubt its effectiveness, since it makes the audience go nuts—but it does create an uncomfortable distance for me.

― Evan R, Friday, October 19, 2012 3:11 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol plight of straight male?

Chip 'n' Dale, Chippendale, or both?

rescue rangers

Privileged marginalized thirtysomething straight married white male R&B listening party at my house (once kids are asleep, obv)

invite me! (but i'm twenty-something)

yeah that doesn't bother me at all personally. so much popular music is about some man glorifying their own ego and self-image, whether it's in an explicitly sexual way or just a showboating technical way, that when it is sexual it's like ok bro it's all good, i can get into the loverman mindset as a listener even if i'm prob not literally using that bedroom music in the bedroom.

xpost

Al OTM. Great post