We love the emotive sexy-seductive combination of hip-hop vibe street rant and slick r&b vocal atmospherics on “Stay Up” the latest smooth-talking hip-hop joint production from Ottawa, Canada artist Maurice Moore and Toronto-based producer BNJMN (both artists featured here). The lyrics and vocals (the centerpiece of the song) have a deeply resonant effect of calm and cheer while remaining up-beat and energetic. Love love love it! On repeat. Reviewed by Erin Shay.
We’re spinning Hezekiah’s cool new mix of The Life of Pablo’s most meta track “I Love Kanye”. Sampling Joslyn Brown’s “Somebody Else’s Guy”, Hezekiah pushes “I Love Kanye” further down the meta rabbit hole by fixing KW’s bars to a “Old Kanye”-esque bit of fast moving chopped up soul. Love.
Beshken is a producer and artist hailing from Los Angeles and currently based in New York City who’s cultivated a unique sound revolving around electronic and hip-hop. Today he blesses us with his “Motley Crue” remix for THEY, which is a incredible listen from front to back. I definitely think that this is going to be a massive year for the rising beat smith. Enjoy! Reviewed by Simon Eng.
Tune into the muted street wise vocal flow, sunny-day keyboard sentiments, and outstanding Mndsgn-produced synth grooves of new track “Free Shit” from new-to-B3 Oslo artist Ivan Avenue. Stream “Free Shit” below. Reviewed by Erin Shay.
Australian R&B-stress Maribelle teams with production duo Penthouse on new track for Crush Club Records. Following a template of mid to late 90’s R&B (Aaliyah, Mya, Faith Evans) distilled through 2016 production ideas, “About U” wins on its very strong stable tuneful melodies and being very good at its particular template. Also Maribelle’s vocal is $$$$.
We are blown away by the amazing weave of beautiful vocals and classic instrumentals on “Higher” the latest star-studded collaboration from B3 fave dancehall-heavy bootleg style-setting Toronto-based producer and Film Noir: Sound founder Krs. (now he is taking on some boss original joint productions including B3 covered “Faking It” as a part of his debut “Season III” EP). Featuring the incredible vocal prowess and production talents of B3 fave San Francisco artist Mars Today and the vocals of LA via Toronto r&b/neo-soul singer-songwriter Noah, “Higher” is a dynamic velvety meld of melodious synth, sax and trumpet accents, and warmly enveloping vocals (including some playful spoken word elements). We adore the soothing-worded lyrics of Mars Today in particular and how they mix with the straightforward stinger (slightly more gritty) poetics of Noah. Stream “Higher” (song two from Krs.‘s upcoming debut “Season III” EP) now. Reviewed by Erin Shay.
New to the blog, Inland Empire (So Cal) producer Nick Pacoli remixes Joyce Wrice track “Take It Easy” to highly listenable results (we last covered Joyce Wrice for her Jay Prince “Beautiful Mercy” EP collaboration “Afrofunk”). We love how he maintains the focus on the original vocals (beautiful) while embellishing Joyce’s distinct vocal flair with a slightly more upbeat up-tempo dance sentiment (ie. subtle-vitality beats, classic symbol percussion and mellow minimalist synth accents). Reviewed by Erin Shay.
Sirenida-ceous Melbourne AU producer Dugong Jr. suits up a slick R&B-tinged new dance track featuring vocalist Tashka on new one “Secrets”. The stunner sounds of Galimatias and Alina Baraz are a good reference point for “Secrets”, the track’s deviation from the G & AB style comes from it’s more direct hook writing and more beefed up beats. Give “Secrets” a spin below.
Previewed below is “The Sheboygan Left”, the lead single from RJD2 upcoming new LP Dame Fortune. Dame Fortune will be the Philly-based RJ’s first album in three years and “Sheboygan” sets a best/soulful foot forward with its feel good classic soul samples and an airtight rhythmic production. Give it a listen below.
Turn yourself onto the soulfully-delivered, drop dead gorgeous vocals and tender-hearted sensational-vulnerability poetic warm-hug lyrics of “Fragile”; a recent melodic b-side down-tempo slow burner produced by Deventer, Netherlads artist Wantigga. Featuring the gentle sweetly-expressive vocals of Amsterdam artist Mar., the very lovely “Fragile” follows a-side gem “Stonecold” ft. Sasha Vee on Wantigga’s “Pillow Tal”k EP (out now via Roche Musique). Reviewed by Erin Shay.
2015 electric-soul hotlist duo HONNE have been on an exquisite streak of beautiful music since last year, with a slew of excellent singles. We’ve covered a number of their songs and rate them all as top notch in the pop, soul, and singer-songwriter genres (we placed HONNE on both of our 2014 year end lists and “No Place Like Home” made it to our staff top-10 lists for 2015). Their latest perfectly-pleasant sensitive-emotive singer-songwriter genius is apparent on their recent masterpiece “Woman”. The English duo’s vocals are so soulful and intimate (beautiful background melodies too) on the song that it honestly feels like they are singing directly at you (wouldn’t that be nice). You could also say that the sweet sentiment in the lyrics (love song) are exactly what any person might want to hear so therefore the track is anthemic. For anybody looking for a pick me up, the recent release has the steely emotive feel of their previous productions (maybe less sad and love-lorn) yet it manages to convey even more emotion and beauty. HONNE are indeed honing their style into a very classic sound. Reviewed by Erin Shay.
The lead single off the 8-track “Rocks n’ Gems” EP (out via Hot Record Société), recent tune “Dab Fingers” is a dynamic sweetly-melodic jazz diddy with a deep and compelling loung-y groove. Beautiful. From new-to-B3 Austin artist John Looke (named for Jean-Luc Picard), the track is a sumptuous blend of barely audible spacey synth accents, low-touch jazzy metallic percussion and Looke’s perfectly punctuating sultry staccato beats. New release “Dab Fingers” (which on the EP accompanies tracks “No Alliance w/ Contour”, “Discipline 99” and “Headz”), is a finely wrought electronic jazz gem to help you jump-start your weekend. Reviewed by Erin Shay.
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