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Music - New Reviews
5 Discs = Classic | 4.0-4.5 Discs = Impressive |
3.0-3.5 Discs = Noteworthy
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4.0 out of 5 discs |
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Common
Finding Forever
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The
Renaissance man has returned with another stunning album for
the true hip-hop heads and the bandwagon fans to enjoy.
After garnering some well-deserved mainstream success in
recent years, Common is practically a common household name.
With critically-acclaimed albums, a growing movie career,
and appearances far and wide, you would think that Common’s
ego might be a little bloated and that his music will suffer
as a result. After listening to Finding Forever,
it’s apparent that the fame and fortune hasn’t changed him
at all...not even in the least bit. With a brief
musical introduction, the album starts off with “Start The
Show,” a song that has a great beat for Common’s verse but a
mediocre beat for Kanye’s input during the chorus.
“The People” featuring Dwele is a great lead-off single
since it has a familiar sound reminiscent of tracks on Be
and The Light. “Drivin’ Me Wild” is a highly
creative yet enjoyable cut that features the musical talents
of British songstress Lily Allen. Common ponders a
lost love on the Will.i.am-produced track “I Want You,”
while Kanye West offers an annoying hook as well as an
average verse next to Common’s on “Southside.” “The
Game” is a selection produced by Kanye but features a taste
of DJ Premier for the chorus, so you already know it’s
slamming considering Common’s knockout lyricism and Primo’s
turntable techniques is basically a no-brainer. “U,
Black Maybe” is about as philosophical as you’re going to
get with Common, reflecting on the ways of the world and the
Black experience. D’Angelo makes a special guest
appearance for “So Far To Go” to tantalize all those waiting
on the soul singer’s next release. The sound on “Break
My Heart” is very soulful and pairs up nicely to Common’s
storytelling verse. The same can be said about
“Misunderstood,” a song that samples "Don't Let Me Be
Misunderstood" by Nina Simone. He closes the album
with a calm, composed song titled “Forever Begins” with
Lonnie ‘Pops’ Lynn offering his distinctive spoken word
towards the end of the track. Common might not have
outdid his last two albums, but Finding Forever shows
a lot of maturity and ingenuity that is lacking in most
Hip-Hop albums out right now. |
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4.5 out of 5 discs |
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Don’t
let the album cover scare you away from this highly
entertaining album from one of the industry’s most
underrated emcees for the past decade. Pharoahe Monch
(formerly of the equally underrated 90s Rap group Organized
Konfusion) is still trying to break the proverbial glass
ceiling that keeps the talented tenth fighting for any
recognition from the masses. After many years away
from the mainstream and underground radar, Monch makes mad
moves with the release of Desire, an eclectic
hodgepodge of high-energy and laid back grooves for the
listener to enjoy. “Free” is an edgy, guitar-heavy track
that starts the album off on the right foot. The title
track “Desire” featuring Showtime is where Pharoahe lays it
all on the line and gives us the skinny on what keeps him
motivated. He continues with words of encouragement on
“Push.” “Welcome To The Terrordome” borrows from the classic
Public Enemy jam that Pharoahe Monch expertly repackages
into his own. Longtime fans will enjoy the wordplay
and experimental instrumentation on “What It Is.” On
“When The Gun Draws”, a West Coast musical styling is mixed
with Monch’s intuitive imagination of a bullet’s intellect
for one dynamic track that also features Mr. Porter.
“Let’s Go” is another hard edge party cut for diehard fans
to enjoy, while the bebop appeal of “Body Baby” will put you
in the mind of a Gnarls Barkley joint. “Bar Tap” is an
tale about hooking up with a girl you met at the club.
Erykah Badu teases us once again by popping up on yet
another album (where’s your album, Erykah???) for the
harmonious offering “Hold On.” Pharoahe Monch goes
left field and does a super slow cut for the ladies titled
“So Good.” He closes the album with “Trilogy,” a song
that is divided into three acts featuring Mr. Porter, Dwele,
and Tone. You can tell that Pharoahe Monch took his
time putting together this album, making sure every track
was unique and at the same time showcasing the vast
abundance of his raw lyrical talent. If you are
looking for a musical experience like no other album out
right now, Desire is definitely the album for you. |
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4.0 out of 5 discs |
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Guru
Jazzmatazz 4: The Hip-Hop Jazz Messenger: Back To The
Future
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It’s
been a minute since the release of Jazzmatazz Vol 3:
Streetsoul, an album which featured Guru collaborating
with many R&B and Hip-Hop superstars from that time.
And the formula stays the same for the newest installment
titled Jazzmatazz 4: The Hip-Hop Jazz Messenger: Back To
The Future. But this is definitely not a bad thing
considering the star power lined up this time around.
Slum
Village lend their
expertise to the opening track “Cuz I’m Jazzy,” followed by
the incomparable Common trading verses with Guru on “State
of
Clarity.”
“Stand Up” is very high-energy, “Look At The Sun” showcases
Guru for all the vocals, and R&B artist Kem comes out of his
comfort zone of smooth, mellow cuts for the ‘electronic
funk’ of “Connection.” Vivian Green rides the hook
while Guru delivers his signature verses for “Fine and
Free.” Raheem Devaughn fits the Jazzmatazz sound
effortlessly with his crafting of the cool chorus for “Wait
On Me.” Bobby Valentino is appropriately placed on the
song “International,” while Dionne Farris resurrects out of
nowhere and rocks “Fly Magnetic” like she’s never
disappeared in the first place. British soul singer
Omar does well on the head-nodding groove “The Jazz Style,”
“Follow The Signs” is very hypnotic, and “Universal
Struggle” depicts problems that most everybody deals with.
Blackalicious holds their own on “Infinite” and the
incognito Caron Wheeler shows up to assist Guru on “Kissed
The World.” Guru closes out the album with jazz great David
Sanborn tooting his own horn for “Living Legend.” Any
fans of the previous Jazzmatazz albums should run out to get
this one because Jazzmatazz 4 is just as good if not
better than its predecessors. |
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2.5 out of 5 discs |
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Kelly Rowland
Ms. Kelly
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Now
that Beyonce has gone full throttle with her solo career,
the careers of Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams are in
serious jeopardy. Sure, Michelle Williams will
probably continue doing inspirational albums (never
understood how she could flip flop between singing a gospel
song and then “Bootylicious”). But Kelly Rowland
hasn’t had very good luck on the solo tip. Most people
looked right past her first solo album even though she did
have a monster cut with Nelly. So now that Ms.
Kelly is out, Kelly will see if anybody is checking for
her. After popping this album in your stereo, you’ll
wish you hadn’t wasted an hour of your life. The
lead-off single “Like This” with Eve is only okay at best,
and does little for Eve either considering she has her own
album coming out soon. “Come Back” is another decent
cut, but it lacks any real appeal like the countless singles
that Beyonce releases. Snoop Dogg shows up for
“Ghetto,” yet another mediocre track that does nothing for
you when listening to the falsetto singing throughout.
“Put It On” follows the same mundane formula, along with the
strangely arranged and piss poor singing on “Flashback.”
Her standout single has to be “Every Thought Of You,” a
simple ballad you can actually groove to. Tank shows
up to give Kelly some much needed assistance on the
ultra-seductive “The Show.” “Still In Love With My Ex”
is Kelly’s heartfelt apology to the one she let get away
because she let their relationship move too fast.
“Love” could have been a decent song, but the accompanying
music is jumbled and perplexing at times. “Better
Without You” has a great melody and sensible lyrics, “This
Is Love” is a good slow ballad with a simple guitar in the
background, and the closing track "Gotsta Go" featuring Da
Brat is downright annoying musically and lyrically outside
of Da Brat’s misplaced verse. Kelly Rowland should
probably stick to ballads if she wants to make it in the
long run. And she needs to work on her fast cuts with
writers and producers known for great up-tempo cuts.
Ms. Kelly is an okay attempt by Kelly Rowland, but
that isn’t good enough to convince anybody (including
Destiny Child’s fans) to drop their hard earned dough on
this album.
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4.0 out of 5 discs |
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The
good ole days of music are long gone for a lot of people.
That would certainly include contemporary R&B music from the
90s that a slew of us enjoyed when groups like Boyz II Men,
SWV, and Jodeci ruled the charts. One group who had
rising potential was Groove Theory, headed by the
illuminating voice of Amel Larrieux. Her singing was
both simplistic and refreshing. And unlike some of
today’s singers, Amel never strained on her high notes nor
grunted on her low notes. Amel eventually broke off to
go solo and blessed the R&B world with the highly-underrated
Infinite Possibilities. Since then, she has
quietly released one independent album after another for the
die-hard fans who still have Amel Larrieux on their musical
radar. Now the songbird goes left field for Lovely
Standards, a collection of jazz tracks that expound on
her extensive vocal range. Most R&B fans won’t know
any of the songs that Amel covers, but that doesn’t mean the
girl can’t blow. Songs like the jolly tune “If I Were
A Bell”, the quaint sound of “Try Your Wings” and the silky
tune “Younger Than Springtime” showcase all of her
serenading skills that she’s perfected over the years.
Lovely Standards is purely Jazz music, so anyone wanting
more of the soulful ballads that they are accustom to
hearing from Amel will probably pass on this one. But
anybody that’s willing to step outside their comfort zone or
who likes hearing some traditional tunes from a singer
who continues to go against the norm should certainly give
Lovely Standards a listen. |
Amel Larrieux
Lovely Standards
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4.5 out of 5 discs |
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Down To The Bone
Supercharged
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Jazz music has
so many different subgenres. You have the traditional
jazz, vocal jazz, contemporary jazz, smooth jazz, and more.
The sound that Down To The Bone seems to go for is more or
less acid jazz, leaning more towards an upbeat, funky
flavor to liven up a party or club. The group’s formula is
no different for their latest release Supercharged,
an album filled with eleven energetic tracks to get your
body movin’ and your soul groovin’. The title track
“Supercharged” lives up to its name, incorporating many
horns and an up-tempo melody to get heads nodding right out
of the gate. “Funkin Around” has a similar style,
while “Parkside Shuffle” couples both the piano and the sax
together instead of one dominating over the other on
the track. The electric guitar commands the song
“Cosmic Fuzz” with a touch of ‘wah-wah’ and keyboards for an
eclectic flair. “Smile To Shine” has a relatively
brisk beat, and the knockout vocals by Hil St. Soul give it
even more smoothness. “Electric Vibes” has a noticeably
effervescent sound with the scattin’ and xylophone expertise
of Roy Ayers throughout. “Greedy Fingers” has the
bustle of a morning commute with its alternating horns and
rousing riffs underscoring the track. A lively
injection from British vocalist Corrina Greyson for “Shake
It Up” makes it a standout cut for the entire album.
“Space Dust” has a hint of bebop, “Hip
City”
is a relaxed cut that would be more suited as the album
closer, and “Make It Funky” sounds like a mellowed out
hip-hop beat with horns introduced more towards the end.
Fans of Down To The Bone will certainly get more of what
they’re looking for. And once they hear
Supercharged, they won't have a bone to pick with this
album. |
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