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

lol after a few months i deleted Finding Forever except for Driving Me Wild. Amazing hook, wish it had been a massive hit.

I liked Lily Allen for about 3 month when I first heard her album and haven't been able to stand her since, so my opinions on anything Lily Allen related are probably taken with a grain of salt.

Yeah i'd agree with this exception, i just really like the floatiness with the rolling piano, poppy and exhilarating to me. BTW this was Duff/G Rap level of o_0 when i realized who it was.

But back to this excellent thread. The things I like a lot: Musinah, Foreign Exchange, Commix, 2nd JDavey, old "hey love" sa-ra from another thread. Things not sure: Little Dragons, Asplund. Things dislike: 1st JDavey. Things I have to contribute: 0 :( Sowwy.

(Anyone know the sample in the Musinah song? Madlib used it for "Happy Home" in Liberation.)

As of the early hours of Wednesday, January 07, 2009, "Ladies Sing" by Sa-Ra is my favorite song ever.

this thread makes me love the world.

Sorry for merely generic comments (maybe it's better that way anyway, because I'll probably just say something stupid otherwise), but I'm struck but how much of this I kindof like, given that I know nothing about almost any of this.

(Oh jesus New Mexico's slow internet speeds plus old Gateway PCs in the library make it impossible to do anything in timely manner.)

Another (2008) double disc mix to fuel the fire of discovery.

Plenty of Muhsinah, SA-RA, and Steve Spacek included:

http://www.discogs.com/Various-Various-Assets-Not-For-Sale-Red-Bull-Music-Academy-Toronto-2007/release/1274001

Various - Various Assets - Not For Sale: Red Bull Music Academy Toronto 2007

1-1 Muhsinah & Jake One You (3:56)
Vocals - Muhsinah
Written-By, Producer - Jake One , Muhsinah
1-2 Didem Süzen Something's Gone (4:33)
1-3 TRG , Benga & DJ Zinc Benga Woz Here (4:05)
Mixed By - DJ Zinc
Vocals - Zephec
1-4 Kez YM , David Ryshpan , Mara TK & Randy Muller Oniyama (4:32)
Mixed By - Erik Breuer
Recorded By - Erik Breuer
1-5 bRUNA (3) With Your Fingers (1:29)
1-6 Migumatix vs. MAT64 Toronto Mindgames (4:33)
1-7 Mara TK & Jake One Look What You've Made Of Me (3:23)
Mixed By - Erik Breuer
1-8 Om'Mas Keith Trouble Girl (4:08)
Effects (Talkbox) - Todd Osborne*
Vocals - Muhsinah , Om'Mas Keith
1-9 Akiko Kiyama & Ronald Kohn Found In Translation (6:43)
1-10 Africa Hi Tec feat. Rio* Too Late (3:59)
Trumpet, French Horn - Ben Lamar
Vocals - Rio* , Steve Spacek
Written-By, Producer - Mark Pritchard , Steve Spacek
1-11 Zephec Queen St. (6:55)
1-12 Samiyam & Hudson Mohawke Eff This (2:35)
1-13 Kat!Heath! , Dirty Sonix & M.J. Zilla Victoria's Secret (5:26)
Mixed By - Dirty Sonix
Vocals - M.J. Zilla
Written-By, Producer - Cosmin Nicolae , Kat!Heath!
1-14 Baris K. Show You Love (7:27)
Recorded By, Mixed By - Erik Breuer
1-15 Sara Lahey & David Ryshpan No Place (4:34)
Backing Vocals - Torreblanca
Drums - Kez YM
Producer [Additional] - DJ Zinc
Recorded By, Mixed By - Erik Breuer
Vocals - Sara Lahey
1-16 Dead Leaf Requiem In A-Flat Reprise (5:42)
Bass, Guitar - Lumi
Drums - Kez YM
Effects [Sound Design] - Deaf Leaf
Producer - Dead Leaf
Written-By - David Ryshpan , Paul Jebanasam
2-1 Juba Dance We Will Wait For You (3:59)
Backing Vocals - Aleisha Thomas , Samaek Thenci
Bass - Rio Hemopo
Drum Programming [Additional] - Waajeed
Electric Piano [Fender Rhodes] - Mauricio Fleury
Guitar [Electric] - Clonious, The
Percussion - Vario
Percussion [Body] - Shaheen Ariefdien
Recorded By - Erik Breuer
Synthesizer - Mark Pritchard
2-2 Marks & Muhsinah In Need Of (2:48)
Mixed By - Erik Breuer
Vocals - Muhsinah
2-3 Luis Davis & St. Göran* I Am Not Sure (4:17)
2-4 MarToRio Share Of (5:41)
Producer, Recorded By - Marco Passarani , Torsten Schmidt
Vocals - Rio Hemopo
Written-By - Marco Passarani , Rio Hemopo , Torsten Schmidt
2-5 Quareback Dark Ascent (6:02)
Written-By, Producer - Tomá Ivanov
2-6 Marks & Om'Mas Keith Streets Is Cold (3:22)
Backing Vocals - Mara TK
Guitar [Additional] - Kez YM
Mixed By - Erik Breuer
Vocals - Muhsinah , Om'Mas Keith
Written-By, Producer - Markus Salo , Om'Mas Keith
2-7 Tufan Demir & MAT64 Gone Away (4:35)
Mixed By - Erik Breuer
Vocals - Muhsinah
2-8 Kat!Heath! , Torreblanca & Sarah Lahey Qué Esperas? (2:48)
Vocals - Sarah Lahey , Torreblanca
Written-By, Producer - Katherine Heath , Torreblanca
2-9 Turbo-Rexx & Granufunk Re-Faust (6:18)
2-10 Clonious, The feat. n.i.a.m.h. & Granufunk Valediction (3:43)
Vocals - n.i.a.m.h.
2-11 Happy Melody Indian Summer (5:45)
Recorded By - Erik Breuer
Written-By, Producer - Marc Codsi
2-12 Makoto , DJ Zinc , Om'Mas Keith & Denius Close To Me (3:37)
Electric Piano [Fender Rhodes] - David Ryshpan
Recorded By - Erik Breuer
Vocals - Om'Mas Ketih
2-13 Tony Allen Jam Session* Interlude (4:00)
Bass - Rio Hemopo
Drums - Tony Allen
Electric Piano [Fender Rhodes] - Theo Parrish
Guitar - Paul Movahedi
Percussion - Ron Trent
Vocals - Steve Spacek
2-14 n.i.a.m.h. & Ronald K.* Falling Star (Reinterpreted) (4:06)
Mixed By - Cubist
Vocals - n.i.a.m.h.
2-15 Sarah Lahey & Om'Mas Keith Get Over It (4:24)
Mixed By - Erik Breuer
Vocals - Sara Lahey
2-16 Tufan Demir & Vélez* Send More Cops (6:57)

Something about The Foreign Exchange's "House of Cards" struck me as a bit odd and I figured out what it was. It's in 7/8 time.

Listening to Heavy's Jazz Money$$ right now. It's more toward the J*Davey/Janelle Monae precocious space-girl end of this, although they try to hamfist it with the lyrics in the way Monae would. Lots of tweaked synths and showy/skippy drum programming and the occaional talkbox. My favorite tracks as on one listen are "Countdown" and "Mylittlesong". Live clip of the former:

good call on the 7/8 time!

probably why i gravitate towards it so much when listening to that album

Yeah, it's been my new favorite this week. I've pretty much gone "If She Breaks Your Heart" -> "Daykeeper" -> "House of Cards"

offtopic, but I obsess over documenting hit songs that are in 12/8

i couldn't figure out why and how i got on this, then i realized it stems from my love affair with sly & the family stone's hot fun in the summer time. i have never gotten over that song being in regular rotation.

12 gives it so much room to stretch out the strings and such, while the piano is banging away in 8th notes. this quickly made me realize that the impressions' "it's alright" was built on the same idea, which probably all stemmed from fats domino's cover of blueberry hill.

despite 12/8 hits (billy swan's i can help, genesis' misunderstanding, toto's hold the line, whitney's i'm your baby tonight, etc), odd time signatures beyond 3/4, 6/8, and 12/8 freaked me out when i was little thanks to hearing dave brubeck's take five (5/8) in a local car add when i was maybe 11. got the time out album when i was about 18. became a fan.

i've since gotten into odd time sigs in a serious way (thus, becoming a stereolab fanatic)

I love odd time signatures, maybe even especially 7/8. "Unsquare Dance" is my favorite Brubeck. XD

new PPP mixtape: http://www.divshare.com/download/6302006-1a8

may end up liveblogging this haha

lol i just more or less did this in the PPP thread. go over there and correct all my errors.

oh no wait, haven't heard that. plz do!

was talking about platinum pied pipers/sa-ra/the new downbeat-rnb thing: why don't i like this stuff more?

Before I get into that, I have to post some Jesse Boykins III. This shit is ridiculous smooove.

lol @ the vid using that played out Hype Williams letterbox splitscreen effect

so nice! shit i've gotta make a mixtape of all the stuff i love on this thread and foist it on ppl.

Hold up. This PPP may have to wait, cause the Boykins stuff I'm listening to is incredible. Like swimming in a sea of warm butter and less describable fluids. Smashtape material if I've ever heard it.

What is it with all these r&b singers using that Curtis Mayfield "Think" instrumental? Beyonce AND Tiombe Lockhart AND James Boykins III. This killed my buzz.

odd time signatures beyond 3/4, 6/8, and 12/8 freaked me out when i was little thanks to hearing dave brubeck's take five (5/8) in a local car add when i was maybe 11. got the time out album when i was about 18. became a fan.

That's interesting to me. My parents always played several different versions of "Take Five" basically since I was born, so I always took it for granted. It wasn't until I was in middle school and started taking band class that I realized there was anything odd about it.

Speaking of time signature goofiness and "Think", "Think" is in 9/8.

PPP Mixtape: Starts with some washed out synth chords, then a "1 Thing"-ish remix of Coultrain's "Angel" by Waajeed that BANGS. Then a remix of a J Dilla track from the PPP debut. It's full of game boy sounds and is giving me a bit of a bad Crystal Castles aftertaste. Guilt by association.

"Your Day Is Done" featuring Georgia Anne Muldrow. It's pretty good, not great, gets better when she starts rapping. I have a feeling she knows better what to do with a straightforward Mary J.-in-92 hiphop beat when rapping than singing, but doesn't realize this.

A warped-out sub-house Waajeed remix of the warped-out sub-house Sa-Ra jam from the debut. Trades in the originals mechanistic stomp for mellow rhodes piano. Me like.

We also get an altogether nice and unassuming and by-the-books Waajeed and DJ Topspin of a Tiombe track and another Waajeed/Topspin remix, this one a very J. Dilla-ish (like more than normally) retouch of Zero's Fever, both from the first album.

"Goodbye" A rather straightfoward r&b track with some chick named Jamila Reagan. Love the stadium claps. Followed by "Stand For Something", a duet with unison vocals from Reagan and Coultrain over Muhsinah-ish chopped 'n' skittered drums. So far I've been enjoying the fuck outta this tape.

I'm going to stop liveblogging at this point.

this sounds like it fits with this thread a lot more than the album itself, tbh.

good werk, yer reverence.

The original version of the cover of "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" with Raheem Devaughn on vocals appears toward the end. Rogiers' vocal on the album version is a lot better. Devaughn doesn't fill out his note hear at all.

notes*

here*

hi

i would have posted earlier, but i was out of town for 2 weeks and when i got back this thread already had a billion posts and a billion youtubes for me to catch up on. there are so many artists on this thread i've never heard of. a lot of it is great, but there's so much that's kinda forgettable. i haven't really listened to current black music in at least a year or more so i have little to contribute.

the closest i've gotten was stealing a promo from my mom of the Aloe Blacc album (?!). kinda fits in here. a mix of post-dilla hip hop, post-sa-ra soul and even some latin stuff where he sings in spanish. not a bad album. but it's from 2006. here's the first track. really great http://www.robotsinheat.com/temp/WholeWorld.mp3

oh yeah, Flying Lotus had a bbc essential mix. it's really fucked up
http://www.newmixes.com/flying_lotus-essential_mix-sat-11-29-2008.html

and while listening to a lot of these youtubes, found this korean artist Asoto Union. not exactly this thread, but i think papawheelie would love it. smooth and funky. kinda like some japfunk thread he started

here's another one i thought was kinda rad

Samon Kawamura - Try (feat. Aloe Blacc)

this isn't r'n'b, but thought people here would be interested. post dilla chop'n'thump instrumental hip hop. amazing

Onra - for fans of dilla's donuts and sublime frequencies

Jaxon giving me some material to catch up on now!

Anyone see this post from Muhsinah (who frankly, pwns this thread):

http://www.muhsinah.com/2008/11/11/check-this-out/

11 Nov 2008 | from www.muhsinah.com
My little brother’s EP drops today.11/11His name is 00Genesis.The future of the future.Get it. NOW.

I'll be hunting for 00Genesis later today along with Jaxon's additions.

I spent some serious time listening to Sy Smith recently. Yeah, I wasn't the only one underwhelmed, but far from terrible (some truly embarrassing lyrical moments though, for sure). However, the broken beat track (Art of You) found its way into regular rotation for me.

And speaking of Japanese additions to this, Cro-Magnon did a minimal, rhodes heavy track with Steve Spacek that's worth noting (Time Flies) in 2008.

Tonight's the night I play catch up on this thread again, so expect some live blogging soon
(especially on the Not For Sale: Red Bull Music Academy Toronto 2007 mix)

PPP album is sorta/kinda a live(-ish) band-oriented spin on Press Play (the back half of PP especially) with no rapping, a couple '60s throwbacks, and a couple nods to Basement Jaxx (at their most Funkadelic).

Remember when Britney and Waajeed were photographed together? Some of this stuff could be fronted by Britney -- "Go, Go, Go" especially.

Very different from Triple P. Love it.

Anyone know much about Computer Jay?

His song '1000 Fold' ft. Gray Kid on the 2007 'Art Don't Sleep' compilation (that also featured Flying Lotus) has entered my regular rotation.

Discogs entry shows little more than what I have (some edits on another artists project).

Youtube results are somewhat interesting live sets, and show a LOT of potential, but not quite on par with this track I have.

PPP album is sorta/kinda a live(-ish) band-oriented spin on Press Play (the back half of PP especially) with no rapping, a couple '60s throwbacks, and a couple nods to Basement Jaxx (at their most Funkadelic).

Other than liking their other work, the Press Play and Jaxx comparisons are the first things I've heard to make me enthusiastic about hearing it.

http://www.muhsinah.com/2008/11/11/check-this-out/

11 Nov 2008 | from www.muhsinah.com
My little brother’s EP drops today.11/11His name is 00Genesis.The future of the future.Get it. NOW.

I'll be hunting for 00Genesis later today along with Jaxon's additions.

I grabbed this compilation in search of 00Genesis and unearthed some other gems in that Flying Lotus/off-kilter Sa-Ra beats/Post-Dilla vein:

http://www.discogs.com/release/1221095

A1 Powell (7) Dimension X
A2 Jackhigh Arachnid Eyes
A3 Rustie Dog Mask
B1 Hubert Daviz Smut Cut
B2 fLako Inside
B3 00Genesis Dream Catcher

Also found a Jackhigh project (album? compilation?) that featured 00Genesis called Interplanetary Thoughts.

Been a bit busy to keep up with this thread this week, so hoperfully I'll be able to do that over the weekend. Btw, I'm totally down w/ international additions and some chop n thump instrumentals, so long as they don't become the focus of the thread (which they haven't, carry on).

Remember when Britney and Waajeed were photographed together?

I can't find this. :-/

and some chop n thump instrumentals, so long as they don't become the focus of the thread (which they haven't, carry on)

I've mostly been avoiding instrumentals, but I thought 00Geneis was worth nothing being Muhsinah's brother.

However, if occasionally welcomed: guided by seeking more JackHigh, I also grabbed a compilation called "Metro Sampler Line 2&3" that has some more of this off-kilter, sampler based, rhodes heavy, beats that fits the bill.

Loving the PPP albums so far, esp "The Ghost of Aveiro"