rescuing musical virtue in distress.
Music may have first been created as a form of devotion to a higher power but I bet more songs have been written about girls than any other subject. From lewd Dark Age poetic recitals to love-lorn Troubadoic ideals of chivalric romances to the more sophisticated dedications of the pop world, boys have always been... Continue Reading →
You could make an argument for the R&B and soul music of today being very different from that of the past. But you could also make that argument of all genres, music, after all, needs to move with the times to keep appealing to the audience of the moment. The art, I guess, for any... Continue Reading →
I first got a taste of Rebecca Jade's fabulous voice when she guested on Kevin Flournoy's masterful cover of Alicia Key's No One. There, she was the focal point of what I described as "A reggae groove wearing a pop hat!" This time out we find her pushing her own brand of sparkling R&B. R&B... Continue Reading →
Blending the coolest, sultry R&B grooves with some smart and accessible pop moves, Emotions is perfect for the modern mainstream scene. It leans on timeless soul traditions, but if the vocal delivery seems to have simmered and sashayed down through the ages, the beat and body of the song are very much the product of... Continue Reading →
Never Ready is one of those effortlessly cool songs which crosses a lot of generic boundaries. It has a solid R&B groove, one heightened by some quick and clever digital drum manipulation, it is sassy, sensual and soulful and it is infectious enough to cross from those more urban realms into straightforward pop pastures. It... Continue Reading →
You Are My Friend nestles into a neat little space that exists in the gap where modern R&B, forward-thinking pop, neo-soul and the vague echos of hip-hop (the chilled and humourous De La Soul end of things rather than the shouty and aggressive NWA stuff) almost, but don't quite meet. It is relaxed, almost to... Continue Reading →
Shake n Bake is a playlist that speaks volumes about not only where grassroots urban music is at the moment but also how rebel musicians and creatives can subvert and change the agenda and do so without playing the traditional record label/big studio/big bucks game. The music found here shows an eclectic array of references,... Continue Reading →
The fact that Brittaney has trained in classical, gospel and jazz seems to come through clearly in her music. The clear diction of the former, the avant-garde leanings of the latter and the emotional heights that comes from spiritual music, all weave and wander through the vocals of this latest release. But rather than look... Continue Reading →
Recalling some of the great pop-soul ballads of the '90s, Now's The Time is one of those absolute dedications of love. And the art of making such songs work is to take such a personal and intimate sentiment and make it instantly relatable to anyone who hears it. And that is exactly what Carla Marie... Continue Reading →
The term concept album seems more associated with unwieldy and outdated progressive rock than fast-flowing, up-to-the-minute hip-hop but this is a concept album nonetheless. 7 DEADLY SINS takes…well, I guess I don't have to spell it out to you…let's just say, seven tracks, seven sins, seven extremely cool songs. PRIDE kicks us off, a hip-hop-driven... Continue Reading →
Mixing a slow and sultry vibe with an effervescent and energetic rhythm, Let Go is the perfect blend of grace and groove. On the one hand, the beats are full of life, bustling along vivaciously, helped by encouraging harmonies and sweeping strings washes. On the other, the main vocal is perfectly poised, sensual and seductive.... Continue Reading →
A lot of music that is made today is hard to put into a single, all-encompassing category or a specific genre, not because it is unfocused or unsure of what it wants to be but because it knows exactly what it wants to be. And what it wants to be is unhampered by the rules... Continue Reading →
Wandering through a sonic playground that takes in all manner of hip musical strands, from modern R&B grooves and hip-hop vibes to more soulful forms and a few unexpected influences and infusions, A Playlist Made For You is as good a marker as any as to where modern, urban music is today. You & Me... Continue Reading →
Eugene Cole, that's Gene-O to you and me, has made a name for himself through a string of smooth and seductive R&B releases, as well as from collaborating with the great and good of the scene, everyone from Tank and Monty Seward to Cal Harris Jr. and Darryl Williams. So to find him and Con... Continue Reading →
If you are looking for a slice of cutting edge R&B which acts as the perfect snapshot of where modern, edgy pop music is today, then you have come to the right place. Come Alive is one of those songs which has both the brooding vibes and frission of the underground scene and the accessibility... Continue Reading →
Pop music gets bad press these days because people have forgotten just how good pop music can be. Just because your average chart single seems to be a predictable slice of style over substance, throwaway, saccharine dross, doesn't mean that that is all it is capable of being. And just because a song is hovering... Continue Reading →
Although Marriott bases his sound on some classic and timeless urban styles, Reset proves that he is also an artist very much working in the here-and-now. The beats are drawn from skittering trap sonics, tracks such as Friend Zone cocoon themselves in R&B vibes and Cityscape owes as much to a soul groove as it... Continue Reading →
Blending a dark and brooding R&B vibe with a rapped vocal delivery, The Grudge is a reflective journey through past thoughts and relationships. We are all the product of the journey through life which has got us to this point in the present and Ukaga explains that it is past indiscretions and being let down... Continue Reading →
The name says it all really. Both the artist name and the album title reflect the positivity and courage which runs through the music that this duo makes. It is music that blends smooth R&B, sensual soul and more urban deliveries together but more important than the sound is the message that their music carries.... Continue Reading →
At a point where hip-hop grooves meet R&B cool, where understated deliveries merge with more energetic beats, where smooth and sultry soul slow dances with pop infectiousness, where past music references are reinvented for a whole new generation, that's where you find From Cozy With Love, the fourth music project from Jonah. Opening with the... Continue Reading →
Blending elements of 90's hip-hop with 21st-century r&b vibes, Crown is an understated slice of accessible urban electronica. In it, Malik Mos High talks of ambition, of aiming high, of not allowing others to hold you back, of having your sights set on the ultimate prize, the Crown and whatever that means to each individual.... Continue Reading →
Inspired by the romantic drama of the same name and based around a sample of Kanye West's Bound 2, which is why it might sound familiar to you, this latest single from Hi Love is a gorgeous R&B affair. A totally modern sound, smooth, sensitive… sensual even… it also echoes with sonic signatures from the... Continue Reading →
If there is such a genre as brooding pop or soul searching R&B or perhaps even trip-rock, then Still Matthews is to be found within. He makes the perfect post-genre blend of music that used to be separated by tribal boundaries and sonic demarcations, and which thankfully the modern world seems to be doing away... Continue Reading →
Using the act of making music, in some ways, as a redemptive process, Dorian has poured all of his traumas, feelings and anxieties into the making of this album. And what may have begun as a form of escapism, has emerged from the other end of the process as a gorgeously rich R&B infused soul-pop... Continue Reading →
Although pop music, in all its forms, comes in myriad different styles and sounds, there isn't a lot you can do that really brings something new to it. Not really. Long ago it found its perfect style and structure and most music adheres to that same template to some degree or another. What you can... Continue Reading →
Taken from the soon to drop EP Delilah, Often is a smooth blend of sultry, up to the minute R&B grooves, ambient pop vibes and sensual electronica. It runs on a platform of floating synths and skittering beats, a blend which brings just enough pace and structure to the drifting sonics but which never gets... Continue Reading →
Hostage is the perfect blend of past traditions and forward thinking. Alek Virago’s voice feels like an echo of earlier times, smooth, sultry, soulful, but it is how she uses those talents which creates this wonderful contrast of then and now. The song runs on a blend of spacious pop vibes, r&b groove and trap-infused... Continue Reading →
Soul Music never goes out of fashion, it seems to be able to move with the times, finding its way into every successive era and across all genres of music. Burned is the sound of it being wound around the core of a modern pop song and the results are as wonderfully accessible as they... Continue Reading →
Stephanie Rodriguez trades in soulful grooves, R&B-infused pop, slow-burning torch songs and, occasionally, euphoric dance music. She seems to have found a way to marry the smooth sonics of the past with a more cutting-edge delivery and in doing so she delivers a sound which will appeal to the traditionalists as much as it will... Continue Reading →
I sure hope that what New York popster Baby Storme is describing in this song really was all just a bad dream. If not, then she needs to be calling the police! But I guess that the fact that she got around to recording the song suggests that her narrative, which seems to wander between... Continue Reading →
