Madcon is a hip-hop group with a huge dose of soul production. If the Roots went all out with the funk soul music, you'd pretty much have Madcon. There are keys, horns, and soulful choruses. Beggin' is an immediate hit that you may have already heard. The question is will these guys be the next Black Eyed Peas, the next Outkast, or more tragically, the next Pharcyde?
I also like Wholehearted, Liar, and Shine.
Admittedly, this video is not so great with the respecting of the women, but what can I say, I like the song.
I always believed that New Orleans funk outfit, Galactic, is at their best when they have vocals and a full horn section. Witness this amazing song, You Don't Know, from their latest, Ya-Ka-May. I dare you not to move, in particular when the horns start really hitting it hard. I also recommend Boe Money, Cineramascope, Double It, Heart of Steel, and Bacchus.
Ozomatli's new album, Fire Away, is strong through and through with radio-friendly gems like 45, It's Only Paper, Elysian Persuasion, Malagasy Shock, and All Around the World. It's sort of surprising and expected at the same time to hear such a mature, strong album from a group that's been around for so long, but if anything, they're getting better. My favorite track, though, is Love Comes Down; it bends one's expectations of Ozo, showcasing a slower, more melodic, emotionally weighty side of their music. The only place I found online where you can hear the whole track is on myspace.
Daniel Merriweather is the latest English soul singer to benefit from Mark Ronson's slick and solid soul production. They collaborated on both of Ronson's solo albums. Their cover of The Smiths'Stop Me was about a million times better than the original. On Merriweather's solo debut, his duet with DC MC Wale, Change, is of note, as well as Not Giving Up, Water and a Flame (another duet, this time with fellow Ronson collaborator Adele), and Chainsaw. I'm not a lyric fans, but I do love when Merriweather sings, "Giving myself to you is like giving myself to a chainsaw. You keep cutting me open wide. Is that the only thing that you're good for?" It seems like a heavy metal lyric, but it fits perfectly in this sweet little number.
How You Like Me Now is a modern-day James Brown jam. If you like the Godfather of Soul, this track is for you. The drums are slammin and the horns are jammin. It's classic soul from some white guys from Britain. Makes sense.
No Time is a grimey, blues-rock tune. It starts with a scream and drives on through. My man sounds dirty and angry. I wonder how many packs of cigarettes a day he has to smoke to get that growl? The song really tears it up about two and a half minutes in when there's a marching drum breakdown over an urgent horn riff. Unh!
Loving a band that hails from Australia ain't easy. On the plus side, they can rhyme Karma with Armor, which an American band can't get away with. After being a huge fan of these guys for a couple years now, I finally had the opportunity to see them on this North American Tour, but NYC was the closest they came to DC, so I made the trip up. I convinced Alex and Jon to go with me. The venue is right in Times Square, which is pretty amazing on a Saturday night. It's not much bigger than 9:30 in terms of the floor, but then they have a huge back area with seats. I'm not good at estimating seats, but I'd guess a couple thousand were packed in there. It was sold out. Oddly, they ran out of room in the coat checks, which just seems like bad planning for a venue in Northeast after all.
The show took a little while to get going, but around the fourth or fifth song, they did a Middle Eastern flavored song called The Darkness, where they just killed it for what seemed like ten minutes. After that, each song was better than the last, and the sweaty intensity of the show just went through the roof. Even though they don't have a guitarist, they make up for it in terms of rhythm with a DJ scratching around and one of their lead vocalists plays percussion. As for solos, the keyboardist is pretty damn good, but their trumpet players are outta sight. The lead trumpet also sings lead vocals and he blazed on both.
In terms of comparisons, they most reminded my of Ozomatli in terms of their sound and their live show experience. There was a lot of jumping up and down, hand waving, clapping and singing along. The energy was fantastic and no one wanted the show to end. It was good times.
If you're into latin jazzy, reggae, hip-hop influenced, high energy jam band-ish music, definitely check out the Cat Empire. Two Shoes is the albums to start with.
Janelle Monáe's music is a combination of throwback sensibilities with modern production values, and the result is outstanding. Her EP, Metropolis: The Chase Suite is based on the Fritz Lang movie from the early 20th Century of the same name. I've never seen the movie, but I know it involves robots and stuff.
Monáe's voice is reminiscent of Shirley Bassey. In fact, when I played one of her songs for a couple of the kids on my XC team, they said it sounded like a James Bond theme, which makes sense since Bassey sang at least three that I know of.
*** Bonus points for anyone who can name which Bond themes Shirley Bassey sang without looking them up on the Interwebs.
Sincerely, Jane is by far the standout track. It combines a full orchestra with amazing vocals and DJ breaks. It's just not often you hear horns that.... brassy.
I also recommend Many Moons and Violet Stars Happy Hunting.
At some point, Monáe made her way to Atlanta, and not surprisingly, she's been involved in projects with Big Boi of Outkast. When I listen to her music, I can definitely hear the musical connection. She appears on Big Boi's Got Purp? Vol II with an incredible dance track called Lettin' Go. It sounds like she's channeling Rock With You era Michael Jackson, and she's almost as good as MJ here.
I don't know exactly what Will "Quantic" Holland does. I don't know if he writes, plays, produces or all three. All I know is that anything with the Quantic name is going to be interesting. A few years ago, he moved to Cali, Colombia and began soaking up the local sounds. This summer he released his latest project, Quantic and his Combo Barbaro's Tradition in Transition. It's a melange of latin jazz, soul and funk. All 13 tracks are worth a listen, but my favorites are:
The Dreaming Mind, Part I Mas Pan Linda Morena Un Canto a Mi Tierra I Just Fell in Love Again
The Dreaming Mind, Part 1 has an amazing string section and harp backing up a slow, breezy tune inspired by beaches and sunsets. It reminds me somewhat of Cinematic Orchestra.
Mas Pan is a Latin jazz jam. The expert horns blast a contrapuntal melody over a basic Latin jazz rhythm.
Linda Moreno is the centerpiece of the album. It's an eight minute epic of Afro-Cuban rhythms and traditional story-telling lyrics.
Un Canto a Mi Tierra is the "single". It's short and punchy. The female vocalist croons smoothly in Spanish backed by a salsa rhythm.
I Just Fell in Love Again shows Quantic's soul side. It sounds like a Sam and Dave song, complete with hot organs, plaintive soul vocals, doo-wop girls and those funky horns.
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