Sade Adu - "Young Lion"

Iconic Sade singer Sade Adu has released "Young Lion" a song featured on the Red Hot Organization's upcoming compilation Transa. It's dedicated to Adu's son, Izaak, a trans man. In true Sade Adu fashion, it is exquisitely beautiful. 

Arooj Aftab - "Raat Ki Rani"

Grammy-winning Pakistani singer Arooj Aftab channels her inner Sade on this achingly beautiful song. It will appear on her upcoming album Night Reign. 

Naomi Sharon - "Definition of Love (Live)"

Naomi Sharon's album Obsidian was another record that was a stunner last year. She effortlessly works Sade-esque vibes on the emotional track "Definition of Love (Live)." 

Majid Jordan ft. Naomi Sharon - "Waiting For You"

Gorgeous ballad from Majid Jordan and Naomi Sharon that gives off serious Sade vibes. 

Babeheaven - "Cassette Beat"

 

Warm and luminous new song from London-based five-piece Babeheaven called "Cassette Beat," which will be on their upcoming debut album.  The song focuses on a languid beat, soft synths, strings and horns, and vocalist Nancy Anderson's heavenly vocals that are like an earthier Sade.

Jam of the Day: DRAMA - "Days And Days"

Chicago duo DRAMA cultivates a moody, emotional sound on their new record Dance Without Me. "Days and Days" sounds like Sade crashing into The xx.

Album Review: Milosh - Jetlag

Milosh
Jetlash
Rating: Woof Daddy

Last year, Mike Milosh and Robin Hannibal released the stunning bedroom R&B album Woman under the name Rhye. Few people at the time knew that the evocative vocalist was male, his voice trailing in the upper registers with such command and force that confusion was likely. Woman was a success because Milosh's voice paired so well with Hannibal's lush, atmospheric backing tracks. A mere 8 months later, Milosh has released his solo record Jetlag, which trades the warm environs of Woman for chillier, electronic climes; it sounds like Kid A as recorded by Sade. What prevents the record from being an icy tableau is Milosh's gorgeous, inviting voice which adds intimacy and warmth to the delicate balance of stark electronics. Ostensibly a portrait of his relationship with his wife, actress Alexa Nikolas, and the highs and lows that accompany any giving up the single life, Jetlag, which was also named for the fact the record was recorded in many locations, is 10 tracks of impeccably produced electropop, and a good start to the new year.

Jetlag works best when it lets Milosh's voice do all the heavy lifting, allowing the music to ebb and flow in its minimalist fashion. Milosh's voice wraps around the stark piano chords of "Stakes Ain't High" like smoke coiling about outstretched fingers, while on "Hold Me" Milosh's voice actually gets heftier, dropping into lower registers as the clipped beats and intertwined analog synths push and pull against it, and on the delicate and fragile opening track "Do You Want What I Need," you can feel the ache and yearning in Milosh's voice as he draws out each syllable in his breathy coo as the whirring electronics sputter in the background.



This is not to say that the music is not the focus of the record or that it is merely background wallpaper. On first listen, of course, the music seems deceptively simple, yet further listens unfold the different layers going on. Milosh layers his vocals beautifully over the tense electronics on "Skipping,"



subtle programming underlies the twisting and twinkling keyboards of "Hear In You,"



but lets his voice stand prominent in the haunting piano ballad "Slow Down."



The only real quibbles I could find with the record are there are a few tracks that could have been shortened a bit, and the back half of the record is not as strong as the first half. But these issues aside, Jetlag is a beautifully produced and arranged set of tracks that perfectly highlights the enigmatic vocals of Milosh. It has been on constant repeat for me the last couple of weeks, and promises to be played even more.

Rating Scale:

Chilfos: masterpiece; coolest thing I've heard in ages.

Woof Daddy: excellent; just a hair away from being a masterpiece.

Grrrr: very good; will definitely be considered for my top releases of the year.

Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It: good; definitely invites further listens and piques one's interest for more material.

Meh: not horrible, but certainly not great; could have either been polished, trimmed, or re-thought.

Jeez Lady: what the hell happened? Just plain bad. They should hang their heads in shame and be forced to listen to Lady Gaga ad nauseam as penance.

Tragicistani: so bad, armed villagers with pitchforks and torches should run the artist out of the country for inflicting this abomination on the human race.

Album Review: Rhye - Woman

Rhye
Woman
Rating: Grrrr

Opening with lush strings, harp, horns, and a Sade-like coo, Woman immediately establishes itself as something subtle and haunted. The lyrics for "Open" are painful, the singer caught between the "gentle sting" of a love fading. That you believe the vocalist to be female is your first mistake, and over the course of the album creates a strange tension that subverts your take on gender roles and what constitutes the and feminine and masculine. Paired with Danish producer Robin Hannibal (of Quadron), Rhye’s vocalist Mike Milosh, a Toronto-born, Los Angeles-based singer, toys with the listener, using the upper range of his register to provoke feminine allusions, while dropping into the lower register on occasion to reveal his more masculine traits. The songs, all of which deal with relationships in some shape or fashion, take on a slightly schizophrenic air, as it feels like internal personalities are all jockeying for position. But ultimately what wins out on this record is that songs are so good. Using a minimal palate of strings, keyboards, and hushed percussion, Rhye comes across like Sade working with The xx, utilizing silence just as much as instrumentation. This approach comes across as fairly simple at first, but over the course of the record it reveals itself to be masterful, never adding too much or subtracting too much.

Woman provides a slew of amazing singles to sink your teeth into. The aforementioned "Open" is the perfect entry to Rhye's charms; the delicate instrumentation caressing the aching tones of Milosh's voice imploring his lover to stay with him.



"The Fall" is more spritely, with a subtle groove and broad piano chords belying the somber lyrics about another lover running away.



Other standouts include the gorgeous harmonies and doo wop choruses of "Major Minor Love." Almost no instrumentation begins the track, with only a subterranean bass and gentle drumming, before minimal piano keys are brought in with sting accents. Milosh's voice is all throughout the track, pushing and pulling it to its haunted conclusion. "Hunger" provides a disco workout, amping up the pace a bit, Milosh's breathy coo dancing around the slinky beats. "Shed Some Blood" sees Rhye hitting a sleek Sade-esque groove, crisp guitars gliding over tinny, skittering beats.

Throughout Woman, Milosh's voice is definitely the focal point. He knows just how to ache out the right emotion at the right time. Hannibal is the perfect foil for him, never overstating the musical accompaniment, knowing exactly when to add the right embellishment or let Milosh's voice alone do the work. On one of my favorite tracks on the record, "One Of Those Summer Days" is almost acapella aside from gentle Cocteau Twin-like guitars and sax accents. While on tracks like "Last Dance," synth stabs and horns push Milosh's wounded voice along adding just the right amount of framing. After a gorgeous harp intro, stunning mid-tempo ballad "3 Days" takes off with a lite jazz feel, the horns sliding in and out of the piano and bouncy keyboards, until the end when the strings overtake the track as Milosh's voice gets more and more despondent.

Woman is a gorgeous record that will completely captivate you with its intense spell. Milosh's androgynous voice takes a while to adjust to, but somehow it all works, even though you tend to lose track of what gender is singing. Like the debut album from The xx, which basically appeared fully formed, Woman arrives in its own hermetically sealed universe that almost can't be tampered with. It will be interesting to see what direction they take Rhye, but for now, it is a perfectly enticing universe.

Rating Scale:

Chilfos: masterpiece; coolest thing I've heard in ages.

Woof Daddy: excellent; just a hair away from being a masterpiece.

Grrrr: very good; will definitely be considered for my top releases of the year.

Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It: good; definitely invites further listens and piques one's interest for more material.

Meh: not horrible, but certainly not great; could have either been polished, trimmed, or re-thought.

Jeez Lady: what the hell happened? Just plain bad. They should hang their heads in shame and be forced to listen to Lady Gaga ad nauseam as penance.

Tragicistani: so bad, armed villagers with pitchforks and torches should run the artist out of the country for inflicting this abomination on the human race.

Album Review: Jessie Ware - Devotion

Jessie Ware
Devotion
Rating: Woof Daddy

Jessie Ware's back story reads like a 50's musical, backup singer plucked out of obscurity on the strength of her voice and pushed into the spotlight. What's different about Ware is how she has taken all of this in stride, seeing it all as a lark, that she is somehow playing a role, and none of this should be taken all that seriously. While her self-deprecating view of being a pop star keeps her grounded, there is nothing in her music that shows her not taking her craft seriously. Devotion is one of the best debut releases in ages, and is quite simply the best pop album of the year so far.

Ware was noticed first singing on several EDM and UK bass singles from producers SBTRKT, Sampha, and Joker, her earthy voice the calm center around all the swirling electronics. It was fear at first that her solo material would stay too close to this type of track and that her voice would be lost within too much production overload. Instead, Ware chose to work with producers Dave Okumu (of UK art-rockers The Invisible), Julio Bashmore, and Kid Harpoon (who worked with Florence and the Machine on their sophomore album Ceremonials) and has put together a collection of tracks that put all the focus on Ware's amazingly supple voice, which can veer sharply from a Sade-like coo to a full on Whitney Houston rafter raiser in a split second. Main producer Okumu's touch is felt the most on the album, providing a subtle, and minimal backing but not providing merely aural wallpaper; the music works with Ware rather than overpowering.

Leading off with the title track, "Devotion" eases into the record, Ware's voice almost a hushed whisper as atmospheric guitars and keyboards guide and push her along, providing a modern update to Sade's elegant R&B sound.



Of course, Ware is not going to be satisfied just gliding along each song. New single and album standout "Wildest Moments" perfectly encapsulates her wonderful voice in all its facets. Under booming drums and stark piano chords, Ware bites her teeth into a meaty melody, singing about a doomed relationship where "maybe in our wildest moments/we could be the worst of all":



From there, Devotion provides a diverse and varied set of tracks that run from pop ballads, R&B funk workouts, and more atmospheric pop singles. In all, Ware's voice provides the guiding force. There is not one track on here that is a throwaway or inferior to the next; it all works seamlessly together. Highlights for me are the Soul II Soul referencing "No To Love," early single "110%" which puts Ware's voice against skittering beats and UK bass backing,



and gorgeous album closer "Something Inside," where Ware's voice, hushed and lovely at the beginning, drops out just before the chorus, rising into the heavens.

There is something for just about everyone on this record, from beautiful pop tracks like "Running" which picks up the beats a little more, and lets Ware explore her wide range,



to mid-section album duo "Night Light" and "Swan Song," two mid-tempo numbers that again showcase Ware's elastic voice,



to sweet pop numbers like the jazzy "Sweet Talk," finding Ware in a kittenish mood.



Devotion is a brilliant debut that really gives a true sense of who Ware is as an artist. She doesn't take herself seriously, but she takes her music very seriously. She could easily have let her producers take control of her sound and direction, and also could have just released 10 electronic tracks with her vocals on them, but instead, she worked closely with her producers to come up with something that was truer to herself. Devotion is a must have record.

Rating Scale:

Chilfos: masterpiece; coolest thing I've heard in ages.

Woof Daddy: excellent; just a hair away from being a masterpiece.

Grrrr: very good; will definitely be considered for my top releases of the year.

Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It: good; definitely invites further listens and piques one's interest for more material.

Meh: not horrible, but certainly not great; could have either been polished, trimmed, or re-thought.

Jeez Lady: what the hell happened? Just plain bad. They should hang their heads in shame and be forced to listen to Lady Gaga ad nauseam as penance.

Tragicistani: so bad, armed villagers with pitchforks and torches should run the artist out of the country for inflicting this abomination on the human race.

30 Day Song Challenge: Day Twenty Three - A Song That You Want To Play At Your Wedding

Day Twenty Three - A Song That You Want To Play At Your Wedding
Sade
"I Couldn't Love You More"

Considering I will likely be dead before Georgia approves of gay marriage, there is little chance of my being married in this state. That aside, this would pretty much be the song of choice for me. And yes, I know it is shocking that I could like something this mainstream, but it's Sade, bitches. She is sublime.