All of a sudden, pop is the new “indie”. Bands like The Ting Tings are the latest thing in the alternative world, but their sound seems taken more from Eighties pop like Madonna than it does from anything off-center or truly “alternative”. After all, how much difference is there between the Tings’ “That’s Not My Name” and Gwen Stefani’s “Hollaback Girl”?
Enter Boston’s Passion Pit. Formed and led by Michael Angelakos, this band combines falsetto and synth wizardry better than any act since the heyday of Prince. After releasing the well-received EP “Chunk of Change” last year, the band’s debut album, “Manners”, arrives in stores this Tuesday, May 19th. Check out their first video, for the song “The Reeling”. Make sure these guys are on your radar, they’ll be blowing up pretty soon.
Remember all the “The” bands and the frenzy around them at the turn of the decade? There was The White Stripes (who you’ll hear from as this list winds down), The Vines (who you won’t), The Strokes (who you also won’t), and Sweden’s The Hives, who supplied us with the delightfully messy song that kicks off this latest list (and hopefully my computer lasts until I get all the way to #1 this time).
Boasting matching black and white suits and a sound that harkened back to the garage rock bands of the Sixties,The Hives scored their one huge American hit with the insistent “Hate to Say I Told You So”. Unfortunately, the YouTube Gods won’t allow us to have the video (and for some reason, it’s not on Yahoo! music), so you guys will have to settle for just the song. Oh, use your imagination already!
There haven’t been a lot of newcomers in the R&B field worth mentioning over the past couple of years, but Chrisette Michele is definitely a star on the rise. Most people first heard her distinctive voice singing the choruses of Jay-Z’s “Lost One” and Nas’ “Can’t Forget About You”. With a vocal delivery and phrasing straight out of early 20th century jazz, she applied that voice to contemporary rhythms on her debut album, I Am, which was a modest commercial success (and a Grammy winner).
Two years later, album #2, Epiphany, is on shelves, and Chrisette has changed her style slightly. It’s a more youthful-sounding album:Â a more vibrant, sunnier effort from a musical standpoint, and there’s a little more of a hip-hop knock to it from a production standpoint (in simpler terms, the beats are harder) Vocally, Chrisette has mostly dropped the jazzy inflections, but still has a very mature voice, sorta like a younger version of Jill Scott. Very similar musically to Ne-Yo’s Year of the Gentleman. Small wonder, then, that Ne-Yo himself did a lot of the heavy lifting on this record, serving as executive producer and co-writing about 2/3 of this album’s tracks.
The cool thing about Ne-Yo’s productions is that he’s expanded his sound so that his songs aren’t immediately recognizable (unlike most other R&B and hip-hop songwriter/producers)-well, except for the ironically titled Another One, an acoustic-guitar-and-handclaps jam that sounds very much like Beyonce’s “Irreplaceable”. The album’s hit title track has a gently knocking beat, but Chrisette’s message is no-nonsense: “I think I’m just about over being your girlfriend/so I’m leaving”. It’s one of the better F.U. songs I’ve heard in a while, maybe because it’s so sweetly sung that you don’t immediately realize it’s a breakup song. Ne-Yo himself gives vocal assistance on the midtempo hand-clapper What You Do, with his Jackson-esque backgrounds providing the perfect complement for Chrisette’s tale of infatuation.
Chrisette definitely earns her diva stripes with the big power ballads Blame it on Me and I’m Okay, but she also proves she can get down on the dance floor with the bubbly, effervescent Playin’ Our Song. She sounds completely natural on both ends of the spectrum. Mostly, though, Epiphany stays grounded in midtempo territory. That would normally signify a boring album, and there are a couple of songs here that just kinda float by, but the majority of the album is well-performed. There’s just no bells and whistles, and every once in a while you have to remind yourself that sometimes good music comes without flash.
While Chrisette has changed her style ever-so-slightly, Epiphany isn’t going to scare away the fans who purchased her first album. It’s mature, well-crafted R&B, with classic melodies and lyrics against contemporary production. The songs have a little bit of bite in them, but there’s a high standard of craftsmanship here. Chrisette and Ne-Yo comprise one R&B partnership that I wouldn’t mind hearing again.
