When I'm looking for music to post here, I look for something special tucked inbetween the melodies. It's that feeling that you can't really put your finger on. Still that feeling manages to force your body into movement, stirring up that place in your soul that I believe is reserved not for good, but for great music.
As soon as I heard the first few couple notes of this song, I knew that it would have that feeling.
José James - Trouble
I'm not the only one feeling the jazzy sounds of José James. The slick-voiced singer was recently voted Rising Star Best Vocalist this year by DownBeat Magazine. But then again, how could it possibly go wrong? James is bringing a new layer to modern jazz, scenting it with the soulful rhythms inspired by the likes of hip hop and spoken word. Trouble is a new song surfacing on Youtube from the Allsaints Basement Sessions, a selection of live sessions played by different artists. The song is completely new, and will probably (and hopefully) find it's way onto James's next album. Seems like we can look forward to a new swirl of musical influences, deeply rooted in finger snapping jazz.
UPDATE: I had the chance to interview James at his first show at a New York Jazz Club. You can find my interview, and a review of the show (hint: one of the best I've been to) at The Epoch Times, right here.
Trebles And Blues of The Soul Dojo is releasing his debut, an instrumental 11-track EP, and it's good. Really good. Smooth jazz and soul, great sampling and some inspiration from Japan, you'll find all of it on The Blue Note. Trebles And Blues is no doubt a talented producer, and he's got an especially good ear for everything jazz. On his own page you'll find lil descriptions of all of the tracks, sometimes accompanied with videos. For the ones interested in producing, you can see how he's working on the drum machine.
Favorite tracks? The EP is good enough to give a complete listen through out the whole thing, but the songs I'm first to replay are The Tempo and 808s and Quintets.
In conclusion, a talented guy, and a high quality album.
It's all available for free on bandcamp, and definitely worth the download.
2011 is the year of the music video. It's only February, and we've already been served with a number of notable videos. Instead of just a showcase of the artists looks and cars, these music videos have had capturing story lines and detailed production, more like mini movies than mere music videos. Some of the credit for this should probably be given to Kanye who forced artists to step their videos up with his... special movie Runaway.
The next one in line to give us something to watch is Cee-Lo Green. Today his new video for Bodies was released, directed by Mikael Columbu. With this video, Cee-Lo proves not only that he is a good singer, but also that he is indeed crazy. Fortunately, he uses his crazy to make good music instead of, say, collecting shoes of the women he kill. In the Bodies video, we not only see Cee-Lo himself, but also catch glimpses of Kerry Washington, Janelle Monae, Common, and a duck.
