May 6, 2009

Inside the Artists Studio with Erik Rico

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DJ Stylus and Lil So and So Productions recently took us inside the artists studio with Erik Rico, a writer, producer, singer and multi-instrumentalist whose albums Higher Frequency and Journey Back to Me have been in frequent rotation since I discovered him over at Industry Soul last year. I won’t attempt to pigeon-hole this man’s sound but when I want to be on my electronic soulful shit, I press play on his albums.

As he has with the other Inside the Artists Studio events, Stylus asked probative questions that allowed Erik to drop some serious knowledge on various topics like industry rule 4080 and the state of music (How the fuck DID we go from Coltrane, Gillespie, Quincy, Miles to Lil John and Lil Wayne?). We also got some very intriguing answers to the kind of record  he would make with artists like Al Green, Ray Charles, Aaliyah, Herbie Hancock, and Joni Mitchell.

This is an interview definitely worth watching and re-posting.

Before the interview, Erik performed several songs. You can check them out on my You Tube channel.

As you heard, Erik has a pretty aggressive release schedule. New music is a-coming. Sign up for updates at his website. I did and got this gem in response.

Get into this. Support real music.

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April 27, 2009

Stop the Presses! Did Maxwell Tweet the Track List for The New Album?

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Update: The press conference went down in NYC yesterday and Butta of SoulBounce was front and center. Check out her flicks from the event.

Get ready to send some hateration and holleration her way because yes, she did meet him up close and personal!

Of course you know she has live video. Check it out!

On Saturday afternoon, while most everyone was out playing in the sunshine, very quietly, without pretense, Maxwell tweeted what appears to be the tracklist for his upcoming album, Black Summer’s Night. You should already know it will be in stores on July 7th. But I, my friends, shall be getting a sneak peek at the Essence Music Festival. Hate on haters! :)

According to his tweets, on Friday,  he was headed to master the album. Then the next day he just randomly tweeted several titles in a row. I was confused until I saw “Pretty Wings.” It had to be the track list!

  1. Phoenix Rise
  2. Playing Possum
  3. Help Somebody
  4. Fistful of Tears
  5. Stop the World
  6. Love You
  7. Pretty Wings
  8. Cold
  9. Bad Habits

TOO Short and sweet, yet intriguing!

For those skeptical susies out there, I can confirm without a shadow of a doubt that it really is Maxwell tweeting. Can’t say how but Viv wouldn’t steer you wrong.

So it looks like we may be able to give our collective side eyes a much-needed rest. I think it will really happen this time. Looks like we will have a lot of little Maxie’s, Baracks, Michelles, Sashas and Malias making their debuts April 2010!

Stay tuned to SoulBounce (Did they catch swine flu on Spring Break or something? Nova does have a love jones for bacon. Just sayin.) to eventually get up close and personal coverage of the press conference for the album going down at Sony tomorrow.

Also, the video for “Pretty Wings” is completed and will be streamed here.

Note: I can’t confirm that this is the order the tracks will appear on the album. I’m just listing in the order he tweeted. I personally don’t care if  it went  B, C, A, F, D. Just as long as I see something on July 7th. Mmkay?

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April 27, 2009

Blog Checka: Take Off the Blues with Music News from Foreign Exchange, Sy Smith, Amel Larrieux, and Prince

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I’m a little tardy to the party this week. A sista has been enjoying the warm weather and indulging in some of her other passions like film, football and sangria!

Here’s a look at what went down around the music blogosphere last week.

  • This week we finally saw videos from two of my favorite songs of 2008. “Take Off the Blues” with Foreign Exchange and “Fly Away” with Sy Smith.
  • Hurry and watch Prince’s video for “Crimson and Clover” and the replay of his appearance on Ellen before he sicks his big, bad web sheriff on you. [via Pinboard]
  • As usual Nu Soul is confabbing with another great artist. Catch up with Amel Larrieux. [via Nu Soul]
  • Get to know Steph Jones [via Beatlife].

Support the blogs. Support the music.

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April 23, 2009

It’s Essensual That You See Omar in Concert

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You know it ain’t nothing but a thang for me to travel up and down the East Coast to see Omar perform. When the “godfather of British soul,” comes stateside, I come a-running. I was hanging with some people before the show and one asked, “Do you really have to go to this show?” After my head stopped spinning around on my neck I basically said, “Nothing but death can keep me from it.”

It was my first time actually seeing him perform in DC. I’ve driven to Philly and even down to Raleigh, NC. DC shows Omar major love. The venue was packed and people were pressed to be as close as they could to absorb the energy from Omar and the band.

You can see from my cheese-eating grin up there that the set was outstanding as usual.He performed about ten songs, a few of them from his latest album, Sing If You Want It. However, most of the sets featured classic tunes like “There’s Nothing Like This,” “Little Boy,” “Essensual,”  “This Is Not a Love Song,” the Roy Ayers cover, “Everybody Loves the Sunshine,” and the William Devaughn cover of “Be Thankful (For What You Got). He would have been up there all night if he would have performed the tracks folks were calling out from the crowd. His repertoire is just that deep.

Here are a few videos from the show. As always, the entire show is on the You Tube channel for your viewing pleasure.

My theme song, “Music,” (I live for the music too, Omar)

Little Boy

Essensual

No word on when Omar will release a follow up to Sing If You Want It, but if you’re feenin for new flavor, head over to his official website and listen to a snippet of a new track, “When You Touch.” Love it. I can see the crowd dancing with wild abandon when he starts performing this one at shows.

Meeting him afterwards, I told him how I had traveled far and wide to see him perform and that he needed to come stateside more often. He was genuinely grateful for the support and promised to do so. So if and when he comes to your area, it’s essensual that you have your face in the place.

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April 21, 2009

Underrated Soul Singer Spotlight: Debórah Bond

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I vividly remember the first time I saw DC-based songstress Debórah Bond perform live. It was back around 2004 and I was just starting to sporadically attend live shows. I was at a spot called Takoma Station and she performed several songs from her debut album, Day After. I was so enraptured by her performance that I immediately copped her album after the show, something I rarely did back then, and got her to sign it. As we chatted and I shared how much I enjoyed the show, I noticed her warm and genuine energy as she wrote a simple note thanking me for supporting the music.

Now, some five years later,  in anticipation of the release of her second album (of original material), I truly have a platform where I can tell the hundreds of people that stop through here daily to support the music of this underrated female soul singer.

The Connecticut native  cites her early musical influences as The Eurythmics, Janet and Michael Jackson (no Tito?), and Loose Ends. She studied the vocal stylings of Anita Baker, Sade and and Chaka Khan and their spirits are very much present in her live performances. 

With her band, Third Logic, she released DayAfter in 2003.  AfterDay followed three years later, which was an album mixed by DJ Stylus and featuring a cast of uber talented producers. From what I can hear, this is a must own. I should have copped it when I saw it at Moods Music.

Deborah has shared the stage with acclaimed artists such as Julie Dexter, Dwele, Mint Condition, Rahsaan Patterson, Ledisi and Omar. In other words, artists that wouldn’t allow no mess on their stage so you know she is the truth!

Still don’t believe me? Check out some video of some live performances.

Recently, here in DC, she warmed up the crowd before Omar took the stage (review coming this week). Check out her cover of Soul II Soul’s“Keep On Movin.’”

Here are two songs from her album DayAfter.

“Love’s Been Waiting”

Recently released official video for her hit song, “See You in My Dreams.” You may have seen this one on BETJ.

 Find out more about Debórah and her upcoming project at her official website. Meanwhile, support her past projects and those of other underrated artists that appear on this site and those right over there —-> on the blogroll.

photo credit: Debórah on Facebook.

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April 17, 2009

Blog Checka: Ayah, Yazarah, Diamond District, and Tiye Phoenix Buzz

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  • Shits and giggles+plus good music all in the latest episode of Gordon Gartrell Radio: The Wedding Bells edition. [via GGR]
  • Get to know half woman, half amazin femcee Tiye Phoenix. I’m digging her flow. [via Beatlife]
  • Be sure to cop Ayah’s new release, 4:15, and check out her snazzy new website.
  • Missed out on the World Music Conference again this year? Yea me too. Check out DJ Stylus wrap up with live video.  [via VC]
  • Paging Joy Denalane. Audio Diva has been revisiting her 2006 album Born and Raised. This is the last time we saw her. Let’s hope she hurries up this way again. [via AAA]
  • Watch video of songstress Maiysha’s road to the Grammys. [via Nu Soul]
  • Download for free.99 the album that DJ Stylus calls “the best hip-hop album of 2009,” Diamond District’s In The Ruff. [via Pinboard]
  • After checking hard for Yazarah’s 2008 EP The Prelude, I’m ready for the main course! Check out her interview with This Is Real Music.
  • Since this is the DJ Stylus edition of Blog Checka, I’ll also point you in the direction of the retrospective piece on his first 50 mixes  posted on his site for downloading.
  • While you’re downloading mixes, check out the Bama Love Soul podcast. Plenty of SITKOL-approved artists on this one. [via Bama Love Soul]

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April 16, 2009

Chrisette Michele Live in DC

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Last night I was invited to attend an industry event where Chrisette Michele was performing in support of her sophomore effort, Epiphany.

I was anticipating this event in part because as you know, I totally adore her and love seeing her perform. I have been looking forward to a strong comeback after what I consider to be a five star debut. I must admit after listening to the sampler recently, I wasn’t blown away None of the songs grabbed me on first listen so I needed her to sell me by killing it live.

She didn’t disappoint.

The mini-set only consisted of three songs, which wasn’t enough for me to evaluate what we’ll see on May 5th. I really wish they would have played the album in the background before she hit the stage. However, I can say that for me, her performance just cemented what I’ve always felt: that I am ride-or-die for CM. As long as she doesn’t do a track with T-(esticular) Pain, I will support anything she does. Or adhere to the “if you can’t say nothing nice” rule of thumb. I will always support artists that study and hone their God-given talent.

I also must say that I take back what I said about them photoshopping the album cover to death. Although I’m still not in love with it, as you can see from the picture above, she has been hitting the gym hard and looks great. That’s always a good thing. With a full schedule ahead in support of the album, she needs to be in the best shape possible I would imagine.

Here are the videos I captured of “Epiphany,” “What You Do,” and “Blame It On Me.” These are far from my best work but pretend it is and enjoy anyway!

“What You Do” doesn’t need Neyo. It’s a much prettier song with just her and the keys.

What do you think?

“Blame It On Me” is the perfect example of a song that didn’t grab me when listening to the sampler. However, now I’m playing video on repeat so I can hear the whole thing. I also loved how she connects directly with the audience. And you know how excited I get when an artist sangggs to my camera. It feels loved.

Thanks go out to DJ YZO for keeping this cool kid in the loop.

Remember folks, Epiphany drops May 5th. Support the music.

For day-to-day updates, follow CM on Twitter @epiphanygirl. She’s quite the entertaining tweeter. She talks to us like we’re her peeps. Gotta love that. She also has a You Tube channel as well. Subscribe!

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