Rolling R&B Thread 2012

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

lol plight of straight male?

Ha, yes, but in my defense, I grew up on indie rock, so I am used to music explicitly speaking to me, often to the exclusion of everybody else

When Booby Valentino was opening for Miguel and taking his shirt off during the first song I was thinking,he needs a manager to tell him to wait till the final song to do that. Build things up like the old-school soul guys

Ha, Bobby.

man i'd kill to see a bobby v/miguel bill

practically every other act miguel has toured w/ lately has been better though

who? (i don't know)

he was just here w/ 2 chainz and is coming back with trey songz and elle varner in a few weeks

lol RCA has been buying up 5-minute blocks of airtime on a couple local stations to play Brandy's new single -- is this that smart marketing campaign that created big expectations for the LP?

ha; I stand by my smart marketing campaign comment. There was more excitement and anticipation around this Brandy album than there's been around a Brandy album in a long time. Largely because it had a cool lead single, yes, but I like the way the LP was teased as a comeback LP of sorts, without the desperation that usually implies

brandy album's gonna do aight tho

people missed brandy - a reasonably reliable artist - and the r&b game is garbage right now. there was nothing else at play

way to pretend forget about that brandy/monica reunion abortion too

haha yeah lol @ that

brandy had more tastemaker hype than most older trad-r&b artists too - even with cut-up r&b vox being so dominant in hipster dance last year it still seemed like every second big track sampled brandy specifically

plus there's a weird residual affection for her among 90s kids that i think might stem from moesha

(like i'm not sure if, say, mya or ashanti or even ciara inspires quite the same affection as brandy)

ashanti & ciara were later

have we not done this keke palmer tape, it's pretty great for nowadays standards

did not expect frequent overwrought meandering straining against skyscraper beats drama, v baby dawn richardesque indeed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJrb9_zSnL8

this the best though

'so uncool' was a great teenpop&b album. glad to see she's still making music.

yeah i need to listen to that again, vaguely remembering 'game song' now and maybe some mini dawn richard was always kinda in her but underproduced

iirc the really disney teenpoppy stuff on there felt kinda tacked on, there was this kernel of truth with her and whatshername... tiffany evans where they seemed pretty much more grown up than most "adult" r&b at the time

actually haha wasnt it tiffany evans who later kept popping up deploring the whores of r&b babylon or whatever

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NE2XfyVbc0c

i think this was my fave cut on that, perhaps somewhat embarrassingly

so dramatical though!

I like the new one alright, "baby dawn richardesque" otm

She may have broken the record for body rolls per minute in this Dance Alone video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqgiI5_NRXI

oh that video makes me like the song less

i wonder if beyonce is the culprit that anyone else dancing looks so passé http://i.imgur.com/S6udB.gif

Video is super lame.
Maaaaybe to your second point, Janet before her?

huh i never thought of keke in the dawn line previously - she's always seemed fairly chameleonic to me, from the ultimate summer jam that was "keep it moving" to the lil baby like a boy outrage of "the game song" to jumping on the brief jerk wagon (to tremendous effect) with "superjerkin". i quite liked "show me" from last year, don't think it ever got released but i got some scherzinger vibes iirc. anyway i like "dip 2nite", haven't listened to the rest of the latest tape though

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-CNKdysXpo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1rlrwq3_OI

>>>>

hurt me to my heart to find out the origins of that beat

Yeah that song is way better. New tape didn't impress me much overall.

neither of those really grabbing me

Ne-Yo made an r&b song!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFB6eyNHz0A

real nice

new dawn : http://cosmicmediaworld.com/qdcey66korv8

there are two songs on the radio right now about diving into vaginas

i definitely fuck w/ the kelly/wayne redux

'too close' and 'turn on the lights'?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQHhccp24Bk

^^^baaaangs imo. "name on it" was nice too

finally listening to the Brandy album, not bad. weird to realize that the ballad off her '08 album was one of the earliest (maybe first?) charting writing credits for both Bruno Mars and Jeff Bhasker.

angie stone released an album a couple of months ago apparently, did no one notice? it's quite nice, gets better as it goes on and settles into its groove

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PsFG2GJYAs

"i can't take it" is another standout, not on youtube

i've never had a reason to notice Angie Stone before, tbh.

listening to the Ne-Yo, lol @ him opening the album w/ would-be title track "The Cracks In Mr. Perfect"