So Good So Right (2013)
Most people who feel that they were born in the wrong time also believe that they would have fit better in some time in the past. I guess that’s because the past is a formed concept in our minds while the future is just an opaque notion. The past has already happened, and we can […]
Love Songs (2013)
Think about it: thanks to the chart-topping success of songs like “Jumpin’Jumpin’,” “Bootylicious,” “Soldier” and “Independent Women (Pt.2),” the quartet/trio known as Destiny’s Child is primarily remembered for—and defined by—- bombastic, booty-shaking and pro-woman pop and R&B grooves. Although their vocals were delivered with power and precision, it was easy to write them off as […]
Beautiful (2013)
Genuine, generous and gifted with a down-to-the-bone level of soul: before there was a Duffy, an Adele or an Amy Winehouse, there was the incomparable Christine Marie Brockert, a.k.a. Teena Marie. A porcelain-complexioned, green-eyed wisp of a woman that drew shock, then lifelong street cred, for her undeniably urban aesthetic, Ms. Marie’s sumptuous soprano and […]
Something Good (2013)
People who sing as good as Martha Wash tend to get heard – if not always seen. That’s why Wash has been a mainstay in the music business for more than 30 years as both a backing and lead vocalist. If you were dancing in a club, in a fitness class or as a member […]
Sun Money (2013)
He’s soulful, with a dash of folk, a little bit reggae and a slight peppering of everything else in-between; yet Tondrae Kemp possesses an engaging, yet unstructured approach to his music that isn’t exactly easy to overlook. As he occupies both the Sun Belt and the East Coast (and has traveled everywhere throughout his […]
Abandoned Tracks (2013)
You understand just how deeply this soul music thing has engrained itself into the world’s conscious when you hear Swedish vocalist Per Grell sing “I got a girl in New Orleans, sure know how to cook good collard greens” on the tune “International Playboy.” It can be argued that at a time when the nation’s […]
Angela Clemmons (Reissue) (2013)
The essence of soul lies in striking a fine balance between power and subtlety. Many vocalists are revered for captivating belting that brings down the house, while others are admired for rich and smooth tones of seduction. Fewer, though, manage to glide through both realms—especially doing so without showing off one stylistic feat at the […]
No Beginning, No End (2013)
This has to be one of the most hotly anticipated jazz projects of the New Year. Only, it’s not a jazz project, not in the purist sense of the word, not even in the fusion and smooth jazz derivatives of its father genre. No, James on his fifth solo album joins a movement spearheaded by […]
The Gospel Truth (2013)
Authenticity is a major currency for gospel artists. Both artists and fans tend to define authenticity in gospel music as living in a manner that is consistent with the Christian principles by which the performer professes to live. That explains why many Christians have a problem with secular artists who release gospel recordings. R&B artists […]
London 2 Atlanta: The Ultimate Collection (2013)
Although the major-label world of R&B has historically been closed to openly gay male artists, a small collective of out and proud, independent menfolk have bravely chartered same-sex matters in their music over the past 15 years. One of the most notable figures to do so is New Jersey-bred singer-rapper Anthony Antoine. Whether the subject […]
