itt: kinda out there, maybe kinda experimental, maybe kinda pretentious modern r&b

I figured Leave It All Behind was fair game, given that it was brought up two or three times, and the prominence of Muhsinah on the album. Sorry.

Regardless, the highlight of a lot of it for me is the disconnect between the three-part harmonies, lush production and the almost mundane quality of some of the lyrics. (Not in a bad way...just...it's a lot of day-to-day details of relationships. Bringing you wings for yo' lunch break, and so forth.) Entrancing stuff.

Sorry, that was in reponce to nick's post, not yours. As far as I'm concerned, FE are fair game for this thread. I posted a couple of their tracks earlier. And your post is totally otm. One of the best albums of the year. I love how it captures both the mundanities and complexities of a relationship... and shows how they intertwine.

I also love how the Phonte vs female vocals are played against each other in unexpected ways throughout, avoiding cliched duet formats.

This thread is particularly perfect given the nebulous status/release dates of Pts. 2 and/or 3 of New Amerykah. I desperately need more stoned afrofuturist science-funktion in my life.

Need to give LIAB a few more spins before I can comment on more than the first impression of WOW.

Shit sorry man! FWIW I have listened to almost all of these posted on here, I own the Flying Lotus LA album and Georgia Anne Muldrow's Olesi Fragments on Earth. Whatever. Sorry.

Also I figured it fit in under the "maybe kinda pretentious" label but like I said sorry.

Naw, I should be the one apologizing. Sorry I was such a dick. And yeah, the Saadiq album is kinda pretentious in it's own way, but the emphasis I wanted is more on the out-thereness and experimentalism. (I might be undermining that with my pimping for Foreign Exchange, but they at least have a v. modern sound and run in these circles.) I just kinda had a "oh no!" moment because slavish retro-soul is pretty much 180 degrees away from what I wanted this this thread to be about. (Btw, how is Olesi?)

haha I am almost afraid to start seeking out the stuff on this thread I don't already know (i.e. most of it) simply because I'm trying to ease into '09 rather than keep digging into '08, but when I like this kind of stuff I like it a lot. thanks for starting it Rev! I'm looking fwd to seeing how it develops.

A good amount of the stuff in this thread predates the past year, and I have no idea what I'd be easing into in '09 anyway. It just feels like in the past couple months this sort of stuff has really captivated me.

This thread is particularly perfect given the nebulous status/release dates of Pts. 2 and/or 3 of New Amerykah.

There should be Muhsinah and Platinum Pied Pipers albums coming in the couple months. XD

what ive heard of the new ppp album is (not great) retro 60s soul. was never crazy about them in the first place but theyve done quite a turn around.

some of my favourite experimental R&B stuff from the past year or 2 are the tiombe lockheart tracks on the wajeed war album. really incredible. better than georgia anne any day ;)

greg tate on MeShell Ndegeocello's The World Has Made Me the Man of My Dreams: "stupendously, consistently genius"

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― K DEF FROM REAL LIVE (deej), Monday, December 22, 2008 2:15 AM Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Just checked out this album and ^o^. It strikes me as an album that will take a while to unpack. "Elliptical" is my initial favorite.

xp: I still haven't heard any of the new PPP so judgement reserved. I still need to check out Lockhart.

DAMN Janelle Monae's unreleased Audition from 2003 smokes!

Especially:

Letting Go

My Favorite Nothing (despite its production being an obv Hey Ya knockoff)

Also, Sincerely, Jane from her 07 EP has caught me

"Letting Go" has been a favorite since it appeared on Big Boi's Got Purp? vol. 2 comp

I regret waiting so long to check it. It's my favorite song at the moment.

Another thing I love about the Foreign Exchange album: It totally captures that Aaliyah-style future-classy vibe.

I can't find it to post here, but Tiombe Lockhart and Bilal's duet "Strange" is very much worth checking out. It's built very minimally, mostly around a simple, unvarying string bass loop, and features Lockhart and Bilal, using phrasing that signifies jazz moreso than soul, completing each other's thoughts until they finally come together for the chorus. It is tremendously sweet.

anyone check out the new theo parrish single, "chemistry"? it's got om'mas from sa-ra and steve spacek on it, as well as plenty of other collaborators. i personally found it a little too jammy at first but it's seriously growing on me. also the new moodymann ep does a similar thing (all by himself) but even better i think. i linked to this on another thread, but i reviewed the moodymann here, if anyone's interested in checking out the house end of the spectrum on r&b experimentalism:
http://bassandsuperstructure.blogspot.com/2008/12/moody-detriot-67.html
unfortunately these are both only available on vinyl i think, but if you do vinyl seriously worth it.

^^^ I will be checking that out, as I'm currently playing Steve Spacek's 2005 album and is growing on me (in an Amp Fiddler way)

*****SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION*****

Wrote an article about Georgia Anne Muldrow here.

Since I've properly tagged "Strange" as being by Leron Thomas, anyone heard more from dude?

Curious if I should prioritize his Dirty Draws series.

and lol @ lastfm tagging Strange as featuring "Tiambe Lockhart"

I should probably get that whole Tiombe project that track comes from. Looks intersting.

anyone check out the new theo parrish single, "chemistry"? it's got om'mas from sa-ra and steve spacek on it, as well as plenty of other collaborators. i personally found it a little too jammy at first but it's seriously growing on me...

― unclejam79, Monday, December 29, 2008 11:29 AM (5 days ago) Bookmark

Fucking hott

Lovin Tiombe's Electric Bullets now (almost as much as Johnnie Walker)

Waajeed & Tiombe Lockhart interview.

She immediately cites the band Suicide (twice) as inspiration for Soul music.

Waajeed being crazy.

is he wearing a fucking morning star around his neck? that is the punkest thing I've seen all day

http://www.gourmetretailer.com/gourmetretailer/photos/stylus/27223-20080501_hm_morningstar.jpg

I don't know if this fits with this thread but I don't know where else to post it right now. The Dazz Band "Let It Whip".

Completely fucking bad ass, if you ask me.

it doesnt really fit in with this thread no

Anyone hear Fader Suite903 No.15? Has a lot of overlap:

http://www.discogs.com/release/1107955

1-1 Garth Trinidad Intro - Thank You
1-2 Sa-Ra Creative Partners Space Fruit
Producer - Sa-Ra Creative Partners
1-3 J*DaVeY Dancehall
Producer - Brook D'Leau
Rap [Featuring] - Kardinal Offishall
1-4 J*DaVeY Lalalaland
Producer - Brook D'Leau
Rap [Featuring] - Elucid
1-5 Coultrain vs Waajeed The Hustler
Producer - Waajeed
1-6 Chuck Brown Block Party
Rap [Featuring] - DJ Kool
1-7 Cool Kids What It Is
1-8 Wale Good Girls
1-9 Wanlov The Kubolor Never Die
1-10 Vieux Farka Touré Sangaré (DJ Center Remix)
Remix - DJ Center
1-11 Mark Pritchard & Steve Spacek Turn It On
Producer - Mark Pritchard
1-12 DJ Vadim Got To Rock (Aaron Jerome Remix)
Remix - Aaron Jerome
1-13 Politik, The Money (Don't Let It Catch Ya) (Maddslinky Remix)
Remix - Maddslinky
1-14 Taylor McFerrin Broken Vibes (Isoul8 Edit)
Remix - Isoul8
Vocals - Vincent Parker (2)
1-15 Ruth Ann Cunningham* Be Free
1-16 Vikter Duplaix Make A Baby (Remix)
1-17 Stoney Rock A Song About Her
Producer - Stoney Rock
1-18 Jill Scott Epiphany
Producer - Scott Storch
2-1 Rocket Science (3) Intro
Producer - GE-OLOGY
Voice [Drop] - Benji B , Waajeed
2-2 Black Pocket U're A Sta
Producer - Steve Spacek
2-3 Bilal Heaven
2-4 Kim Hill Nutshell
2-5 Politik, The She's Gone
Producer - Mark De Clive-Lowe
2-6 Deborah Jordan Home
Rap [Featuring] - Replife
2-7 G&D Time
Producer - Georgia Anne Muldrow
2-8 DJ Spinna Tribute To The G.O.A.T.
Producer - DJ Spinna
2-9 Electric Conversation Hey
Vocals [Featuring] - Patricia Marx
2-10 Replife Spirit
2-11 Umod U Better Recognise
Producer - Domu
2-12 Paola Jean Featherlight
2-13 Spacek They Don't Know You
Rap [Featuring] - Common
Vocals [Featuring] - Ledisi , Raphael Saadiq
2-14 Dolphin (9) Airsounds For Libras
Producer - Dolphin (9)
2-15 Tiombe Lockhart & Waajeed The Overtaking
Guitar - Saadiq
Producer - Waajeed
2-16 Cuba After Market Without Regrets
Producer - Roddy Rod
Vocals [Featuring] - Muhsinah
2-17 Morgan Zarate M.A.B.
Producer - Morgan Zarate
Vocals - Sarah Anne Webb
2-18 GE-OLOGY Longin'
Producer - GE-OLOGY
Vocals [Featuring] - Yukimi Nagano
2-19 Jack Sample Pros Perskryptshyn
Co-producer - JackSmiles.aka.Chordz*
Producer - FlyJack
2-20 Replife Put It Down
Vocals [Featuring] - Kissey Asplund
2-21 Q-Tip Work It Out
2-22 Common Drivin' Me Wild
Keyboards - Omar Edwards
Producer - Kanye West
Vocals [Featuring] - Lily Allen
2-23 Angie Stone Baby

^^^ got me more curious about GE-OLOGY

ws sy smith /ws
http://www.soulbounce.com/soul/blog_images/sy_smith-thumb-473x314.jpg
http://mosaicthump.com/soulpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/sy-smith-conflict-201x300.gif
(but i'm a sucker for style)

Listening to the Sy Smith album now and it is sweet.

which sy smith album? i got one of hers a while back cos i loved one or two of her early songs and thought it was really dull. great production but totally song-less.

Yeah, I haven't heard her albums, but that's the impression I got from the track posted upthread.

i tend to think that about a lot of this kind of music though, esp georgia anne. although im not sure she even has the great production thing going for her.

Checking out disc 2 of Fader Suite903 No.15 now.

2-6 Deborah Jordan Home

WHOA!

This track is exclusive to the mix. Was unaware of her before this.

A youtube search turned up one tacky live jazz show that she was featured at. Not worth posting.

Anyone know of any decent tracks out there featuring Deborah Jordan other than this?

2-12 Paola Jean Featherlight

This one's nice too. Also claims to be exclusive to this mix.

Youtube on this one is completely fruitless.

livebloggin my listening...

2-14 Dolphin (9) Airsounds For Libras

ESPECIALLY nice. Possibly the best on this disc yet.

So much of this mix is like early bootlegged Sa-Ra, all off-kilter beat programming.

Including this Cuba After Market & Mushinah jam, which is the jam.

SOO much good stuff on here (with a fair amount of filler that doesn't end up being distracting)

Q-Tip coming off like the Coleman Hawkins on this affair. Like, the old guard who is down, but not fully developed into what's going on.

This Common/Lily Allen track is surprisingly great. Like, GREAT great.

Angie Stone sounds exactly like Angie Stone, kinda O_o why is it on here? Not a bad jam, but typical.

Listened to the Kissey Asplund album last night. Didn't do much for me. Her voice is very slight and her cutesy tendencies grate.

Ahh, that Common song is the worst track on it's not-particularly-outstanding album.

i tend to think that about a lot of this kind of music though, esp georgia anne. although im not sure she even has the great production thing going for her.

― titchy (titchyschneiderMk2), Monday, January 5, 2009 5:10 AM Bookmark

Eh, I get "freeform" out of Muldrow's tunes, whereas I get "poorly structured" out of Sy Smith's. One seems to use it as a virtue unto itself, whereas the other just seems to not know any better. I know you don't like GAM at all, so you're not likely to agree.

Wait, what Rev?

Yeah, Common's lyrics are soo ugh, but that beat is hot. Different than the rest of the disc, but you already stated aversion to Dilla-esque production (which that track is).

The album is like most mixed cd's that comes with mags, full of filler, but the idea that even you would dismiss that mushinah jam comes off as ilm contrarian style.

Having only heard disc 2 and finding 5 songs for regular rotation is a better track record than most of my recent acquisitions.

I didn't offer any opinion on the Muhsinah jam!

I haven't heard it.

The "not-particularly-outstanding album" was Common's Finding Forever.

And the Common/Lallen beat doesn't sound like Dilla to me, it just sounds like Kanye being weak sauce. All of Ye's other beats on Finding Forever are better, and so is the Dilla beat! And the will.i.am beat!

WHOOPS, sorry, once again, reading comprehension problems on my part.

I never heard the Common album.

And good call, like a Kanye/Dilla babby, which is more Kanye.

For whatever reason, the mix in question gets "normal" in the last few songs.

On a side note, I still cannot find a taste for Dudley Perkins. The G&D track on here is |>|>

Kanye said he was specifically trying to imitate Dilla in his production on that album (which was recorded in the year after Dilla passed)

I don't got any love for Dudley P. either. What a cornball.