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  • 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.

  • The More Things Change: Of Montreal Concert Review

     

    May we never go go mental, may we always stay stay, gentle. Of Montreal’s flamboyant front man, Kevin Barnes, undoubtedly relishes in the irony of these lyrics as he performs what he dubs the “sissy dance” and shares the stage with four people in black, body-hugging one-pieces, and alien masks. For the next song, the actors peel themselves out of their extra-terrestrial leotards and put on tuxes and huge animal heads. They bumble around on stage, often roaring at or colliding with the band members.

    You’ve got to hand it to a band capable of producing such a bizarre spectacle. Even if you don’t like the music, you can’t help but watch and wonder what they’re going to do next. Trying to discern a narrative thread is impossible – the folks sharing the stage with the band change their costumes ten times during the show, wearing everything from hot-pink, one-legged flared onesies to jungle furs. During one song, the guitarist simulates humping one of the animals with the head of his guitar.

    An Of Montreal show is organized chaos. It’s like Carnival on stage. The audience goes along for the ride, largely because they maintain at least a vague belief that there’s some method to the madness.

    The show, especially the costume changes, reflects a band that constantly destroys borders and boundaries – even the ones they themselves have established. Whether during a two-hour show or a 10-year career, Of Montreal’s sound never stays the same. They reinvent their sound and aesthetic, and aren’t shy about borrowing inspiration from other bands and performers. The songs on their most recent album, Skeletal Lamping, provide funky pop hooks while pushing the band into new terrain. Barnes has fully embodied the alter ego he began developing for their previous album, Hissing Fauna Are You the Destroyer? He wears face paint, a puffy purple shirt that would make Seinfeld proud, and shiny red platform shoes. The overall effect offers a “Ziggy Stardust for the new millennium” vibe, while his voice and the band’s backing suggests a Scissor Sisters sound mixed with hints of psychedelia.

    Despite the band’s varying visual and aural aesthetic, their set list revolves around songs from the Sunlandic Twins era that have emerged as classics. These songs provide an armature for the mad dash costume and chord changes. Just when Of Montreal seems to be veering off the map (or stage), just when the audience starts wondering who or what they’re listening to, the band plows into a song like Oslo in the Summertime, which grounds both them and the audience. They push the envelope, but just when the audience gets antsy or uncomfortable, they rein it back in and reestablish their vintage quirky and contagious pop.

    Of Montreal might spin heads with their musical ADD, but any band that refuses to rest on their accumulated success and instead chooses to reinvent itself both on stage and in the studio deserves props, which the audience was more than happy to give them. Their encore of The Party’s Crashing Us, brought down the house and left the audience with the sense that while the band might continue morphing, they’ll always be a sight to behold.