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Pop Rock Nation

Author: Money Mike

  • New Release of the Week 5/5/09: Elliott Yamin

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    Happy Cinco de Mayo, everyone!

    Elliott Yamin’s debut album became one of the more unexpected successes of 2007, scoring Gold sales and spawning a huge hit single with “Wait for You”. After releasing a pair of holiday albums, Yamin is officially back with his second proper album, entitled “Fight for Love”. Elliott took a more active role in the songwriting this time around, and also found the budget for some more big-name collaborators. While Yamin has thankfully not gone the guest rapper route, he is collaborating with the likes of Stargate (who also co-composed “Wait for You”) and Jermaine Dupri. We’ve premiered the single and the video here on SonicClash, so rest assured that this is an album we’re pretty excited for.

    Here’s what else is arriving in stores and online this week:

    Ciara Fantasy Ride– Ciara’s third album was originally scheduled to come out last fall, but got pushed back due to a variety of reasons. Now, with a pair of hit singles under her belt (“Never Ever” with Young Jeezy and “Love, Sex & Magic” with Justin Timberlake), Ciara is ready to unleash her latest project onto the world. Other collaborators on this album include Missy Elliott and Chris Brown, who was somewhat controversially not removed from his featured track after the whole Rihanna brouhaha.

    Chrisette Michele Epiphany-Still an unknown to most people who aren’t fans of contemporary R&B, the jazzy-voiced Michele initially scored as a hook girl for Def Jam labelmates Nas and Jay-Z before scoring a modest hit with her debut album “I Am”. She even won a Grammy earlier this year for the song “Be OK”, which featured will.i.am. Michele’s second album moves her into a more contemporary zone, with up-to-date writing and production by the likes of the ubiquitous Ne-Yo. This one might be worth checking out-look for it to be the sleeper hit of the week.

    Ben Harper & Relentless 7 White Lies for Dark Times-I’ve never been much of a Ben Harper fan-he’s always struck me as a milquetoast version of Lenny Kravitz (some of you may argue that Lenny’s already milquetoast enough). Anyway, he’s certainly prolific, releasing albums at an almost once-a-year clip. “White Lies” features a new band called the Relentless 7. The jury’s out as to whether that’ll make his music any more interesting, though.

    Peaches I Feel Cream-If Prince had never found Jehovah and was still putting out nasty records by his female proteges, it would be pretty easy to see him getting behind Peaches, for whom filthy is an understatement. I’m not exactly sure what “electroclash”, but I guess that’s a hipster way of saying she makes modern-day dance music, kind of like a Lady GaGa with a much worse attitude and stronger libido. She’s an acquired taste, but if you’re into her, you’re probably already on your way to the record store to pick this up.

    As usual, get your full list of this week’s new releases here.

  • Respect Due: Teena Marie

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    Of course blue-eyed soul existed before Teena Marie came onto the scene. After all, what the hell was Elvis other than a blue-eyed soul singer? That said, though, the singer/producer/multi-instrumentalist is one of the rare white artists to achieve near-constant R&B success while only making a couple of sporadic blips onto the pop chart (she’s hit the Top 40 twice in her career). Originally a protégé of Rick James, Teena has become a legend in her own right-and she just might have Diana Ross to thank for the kickoff to her career.

    Teena was signed to Motown in the late 1970s, but as legend has it, no one was able to come up with the right material for her. Rick heard her singing and playing piano in a Motown rehearsal room and immediately signed up to work with the young upstart. Rick had at the time been working on material for Diana Ross. When Miss Ross rejected the material (which was far more funky and risqué than Diana would ever allow her to be), Rick gave the material to Teena. “I’m a Sucker for Your Love” became a Top 10 R&B hit in 1978 and started a decade-long run of soul hits.

    Teena’s voice was alternately seductive and rambunctious. Over the next few years, she scored hit singles with disco jams (“Behind the Groove” and “I Need Your Lovin’”), proto rap (“Square Biz”), steamy slow jams (“Fire & Desire”, the classic duet with mentor/lover James), and even stuck a toe in genres ranging from Latin music (“Portuguese Love”) and rock (1981’s “Revolution”-inspired by the murder of John Lennon’s murder). The album featuring the latter two songs, “It Must Be Magic”, became the biggest of her career, soaring to #2 on the R&B albums chart and staying there (ironically, behind Rick’s “Street Songs” album) for 4 months.

    Unfortunately, trouble loomed right around the corner. After “It Must Be Magic”’s success, Teena started thinking her money was funny and sued Motown, an action that took her out of commission for 2 years. After returning on Epic Records with 1983’s “Robbery”, she spent the rest of the 80s as a near-constant on the R&B charts with hits like “Lovergirl” (her only Top 10 pop hit) and the #1 smash “Ooh La La La”. Marie also recorded the rock/funk classic “Emerald City”, an album that was unjustly ignored upon it’s release and is now looked on as sort of an unsung classic amongst folks who like their soul music to have a little bit of rock ‘n roll edge.

    Teena then faded from view, only releasing two albums in the Nineties (including the very rare “Passion Play”, released independently). However, anyone who counted her out was very wrong, as her comeback album, 2003’s “La Dona”, became the highest-charting album of her career, spawned two hit singles, earned a Grammy nomination, and went Gold, sticking Teena straight in the middle of a list of 70s and 80s soul icons who’d made some of the best music of their career long after they’d been counted out professionally (Chaka Khan is another example). She’s released one album since (and has another one scheduled for release this summer), and is climbing the charts again with a duet, “Can’t Last a Day”, featuring Faith Evans, one of many singers today who have been influenced by Marie’s dramatic vocals and musical adventurousness.

    Lady T deserves props just by virtue of her staying power. She’s part of that small club of female R&B/funk artists (Patti, Chaka), who has managed to stay relevant for thirty years now. Extra props are due for being one of the few female artists to write, produce and perform her own material. Mostly, though, props are due to Teena just for being one bad ass chick.

  • Tinted Windows: The Soundtrack to Summer 2009??

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    Tinted Windows is probably not a supergroup you would’ve seen coming, but that doesn’t stop their debut album from being one of the most fun pop records to come down the pike in a while. Who’s in the band?, you might ask. Well, on drums there’s Bun E. Carlos, of legendary power-pop band Cheap Trick. On guitar, there’s James Iha, formerly of Smashing Pumpkins and A Perfect Circle. Your bassist is Adam Schlesinger, primary songwriter and chief wiseass for Fountains of Wayne, and on lead vocals…say hi to Taylor Hanson. Yes, THAT Taylor Hanson. Don’t lie. You know you’re still interested.

    Actually, if you’ve actually been following Hanson since “Mmmbop” turned them into teen sensations, you’d have known that they’ve released several highly entertaining albums recently, and that Taylor has grown into quite the assured vocalist. His voice is still boyish, and can alternately sound innocent or snotty, depending on what the song calls for. He’s the perfect fit for this band, bringing a bit of soul to what would still be a killer power-pop album. The riffs are crunchy, the drumming swings, and the hooks (mostly written by Schlesinger-is it me or is FOW one of the most underrated bands around these days?) are golden. These songs are perfect for dropping the top on the car on a nice summer day and singing at the top of your lungs.

    Tinted Windows uses the half-hour or so and 11 songs to pull just about every earworm trick out of the book. Whether it’s the “uh oh’s” and “whoa whoa”s in the frenetic album opener Kind of a Girl, the chorus of Doncha Wanna, which gets repeated so much it’ll ingrain itself in your head for at least a week, or the stut-stut-stuttered chorus of Take Me Back, these guys prove themselves masters of the great pop song.

    You know what the coolest thing about this album is? These guys sound like they’re having a fucking blast playing together. Most music is so processed and serious now-you rarely ever find anything in the mainstream that sounds as tossed-off (in a good way) and fun as Tinted Windows. So, if you’re looking for a great pop/rock album that you’ll be singing along with all summer, look no further than Tinted Windows. If you let the preconceived notions of a band with a Hanson brother keep you from checking this out, it’s your loss.