Incognito
feels 'Life's stranger than fiction'
Jean-Paul
'Bluey'
Maunick,
the mastermind behind my much loved
Incognito will release
their final album for
Talkin Loud
Records
(their label in England),
entitled 'Life Stranger Than Fiction'.
The album will hit store shelves July
23rd in the UK and
according
to insiders marks a different
approach
for the group towards the neo-soul sound.
So
what exactly brought on this approach well D'Angelo and seeing him live in concert. Says
Bluey, "One night, when
returning home from
seeing D'Angelo at the Brixton Academy, I got the driver to do an about turn and
headed straight for my studio and announced to everyone that I was scrapping
the album we'd recorded and starting afresh, right there and
then."
Bluey's
always been an innovator where his music is concerned, ever since his early
days with 'Light of the World'. (with whom he was one of the original founding members). His influences on rhythm and style is
very evident in his music, constantly pushing the boundaries of the
music gender barrier as we know it and this set definitely makes a mark in that direction. On
the album there are four new vocalists featured - Sarah Brown (on 'Slow
down, get a grip'),
Xavier Barnett (on 'Reach out'),
Diane
Joseph (on 'Bring
you down') and
Kelli Sae (on 'Stay mine'). All four
artists are
featured on the track 'There will come a day'. Be on the lookout for this one should be a
dandy.
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Silk
returns with latest effort 'Love Session'
I
remember when Silk first came unto the scene back in 92 with their
dance floor mover 'Happy Days' and the sultry balllad 'Freak me'
produced by Keith Sweat
(who discovered them). Both songs were hits and
you thought that they would blow up (so to speak). But they didn't quite
blow up and left the Keith Sweat fold for greener pastures.
Now
some 9 years later, after the success of last year's 'Tonight'
album the lads return with 'Love Session' their new
album for
Elektra, an album filled with smooth ballads and dance floor
groovers. The lead off single is the sensual ballad 'We're calling
u' presently making the circuit rounds to radio. Other notables include
'Treated like a Lady', 'Nursery Rhymes', 'Didn't mean to',
'Ahh' the
Rick James
remake 'Ebony Eyes' and the title
track. The album was co-produced by the boys and
Darryl 'Delite' Allamby
and will be in stores June 12th .
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Marvin
Gaye's 'Music' gets a revamp
The
world was saddened by the loss of musical maestro and genius Mr. Marvin
Gaye. His untimely death in 1984 was a shock to us all and left
a huge void in soul music. His
music however lives on in all of us and with this in mind it brings me
to Erick Sermon's excellent renindition of Marvin's 'Turn on
some music' amply retitled 'Music' taken from the movie
soundtrack of "What's the worst that could happen".
The
rapper/producer has turned out a masterful renindition here blending the old
technology with the new and vamping an otherwise classic track to a even
higher status which is what this track will do. Definitely the song for the
summer in my mind and I'm sure will introduce Marvin's music to new fans
worldwide.The album is in stores now and the movie starring Danny DeVito and
Martin Lawrence is in theatres now also.
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4 Hero -
'Creating Patterns' now a reality
4
Hero first came to my attention on the compilation
'Miles A Head' (Giant Step) back in '97 with the brilliant track 'Star
Chasers' from their then forthcoming debut album 'Two Pages'. Now
some 4 years later 4 Hero aka
Tek 9 and
Manix look set
to release their sophomore release called 'Creating Patterns'
(Talking Loud).
Following
the pattern formed on 'Two
Pages' 4 Hero's formula is true and consistence
giving way to improvement on areas they felt was needed. The lead off single
will 'Les Fleur' done originally by
the brilliant late Minnie Ripperton from years back. If you
don't have 'Two Pages' in your library then I do suggest you get
'Creating Patterns' its a must have if you like cutting edge music and technology.