Keith Sweat - Just Me

04:11 - 6 May 2008 - comments {0} - post comment

Earl Klugh - The Spice Of Life

This new collection touches on the many inspirations of Klugh's lifetime, playing through with the authority and impact of a greatest-hits album, and at the same time, the fresh discovery of a journeyman still in the prime of his creativity. The many pleasures of THE SPICE OF LIFE encompass solo, trio and full-band pieces, lush orchestration, warm and vibrant production, and original solo guitar compositions - all of these in Klugh's unfailingly positive, fresh and imaginative style. In an album full of highlights, Klugh reinterprets four of his favorite standards, and three-time Grammy winner and longtime collaborator Don Sebesky contributes five orchestral arrangements, including Earl's boyhood favorite "Canadian Sunset"; his reinterpretation of the Thelonious Monk classic, "Bye Ya"; and a beautiful, witty retro-style revival of "C'est Si Bon." Grammy-winning flute virtuoso Hubert Laws guests, and award-winning composer Eddie Horst arranges the chamber-group string accompaniment, on the Klugh original "Heart of My Life."

THE SPICE OF LIFE also features a clutch of memorable yet effortless Klugh originals, among them: the properly atmospheric "Ocean Blue"; "Driftin'," a warmly melodic pop piece; the forward-looking funk "Sleepyhead"; and "Snap!," a taste of the "old school" suggesting Klugh's Detroit childhood, where he first encountered such musical mentors and influences as Yusef Lateef, Chick Corea, Bill Evans, George Benson and the members of Motown Records' ace house band, the Funk Brothers.

01:36 - 3 May 2008 - comments {0} - post comment

Melody - Various Artists

04:06 - 27 April 2008 - comments {0} - post comment

Lyfe Jennings - Lyfe Change

01. Change The Game (Intro)
02. Keep On Dreaming
03. Warriors
04. Never Never Land
05. Brand New (featuring T.I.)
06. It's Real
07. Cops Up
08. You Think You've Got It Bad (featuring Wyclef Jean)
09. Wild, Wild, Wild
10. Midnight Train
11. Hmmm
12. Old School (featuring Snoop Dogg)
13. Us (Interlude)
14. Will I Ever
15. Baby I'm A Star (Bonus Track)

01:28 - 26 April 2008 - comments {0} - post comment

Lizz Fields - Pleasureville

03:04 - 25 April 2008 - comments {3} - post comment

Mint Condition - E-Life

12:52 - 21 April 2008 - comments {3} - post comment

Estelle - Shine

She has denied any extra-curricular involvement with Legend, but hearing them together on the rhapsodic soft-soul shuffle of You Are, it’s understandable that many were moved to ask the question. Retooled from the verses of George Michael’s Faith, No Substitute Love is full of the sorts of things you hope Cheryl Cole might have told the faithless Ashley once the game was up. The romantic overtures of Come Over fit snugly into the hook-and-pull of an ace lovers’ rock melody.

Best of the lot, though, is In the Rain, on which Estelle apes the mores of a classic R&B summer jam, until declaring, “I’m talking about English summer/ You know, where it rains”. And if, on the same song, she appears to smirk a little on the line “Apparently you only get one chance”, you can hardly blame her. There’s a nothing-to-lose confidence in these songs that defies resistance.

04:46 - 4 April 2008 - comments {1} - post comment

Conya Doss - Still

Like many artists these days, Doss doesn't have a major-label budget or marketing machine behind her. She recorded most of Still at her house or Davis'. She collaborated with Japanese labelmate Angela Jones by sending files back and forth via the Internet. And though Still will be her third disc distributed in Japan via Dome Records, she handles her US business by herself (with Davis' help) on Conya Doss Songs Inc., juggling music-career work with her other career as a special-ed teacher in the Cleveland Public Schools. But her work life is becoming undeniably more complicated. She's performed in London, where she's developed a following and has sold enough CDs in Japan now that she's looking toward going there. And she recently recorded and performed in Switzerland with popular European artist Seven.

"We'll see how long I can do it," she says. "I won't compromise either one. But the experience of being able to travel and do what I do is effortless, not stress-free but it reduces stress. Sing, get paid for it, go back to your room and relax. Trying to do two careers running parallel, it's difficult. I'm doing everything, getting the CD mastered, getting the artwork done, making sure the posters are printed up, driving to get the posters, driving to the next city to play. It's not so much about being a control freak, it's just about getting things done."

03:31 - 31 March 2008 - comments {0} - post comment

Jay-Z - American Thriller Off The Wall (Produced By Wizz Kidd)

02:53 - 31 March 2008 - comments {0} - post comment

TQ - Paradise

06:25 - 28 March 2008 - comments {0} - post comment

Lina - Morning Star

02:59 - 28 March 2008 - comments {0} - post comment

Don't Mess Wit Me - Various Artists

04:18 - 25 March 2008 - comments {0} - post comment

hush hush - various artists

07:57 - 8 February 2008 - comments {3} - post comment

Bees & Things & Flowers - Various

06:06 - 7 February 2008 - comments {0} - post comment

Jarrard Anthony - Don't Sleep...Just Dream

04:34 - 7 February 2008 - comments {0} - post comment

Cryptic - It's Been A While

06:56 - 28 January 2008 - comments {0} - post comment

Jimmy Sommers - Sunset Collective

04:50 - 23 January 2008 - comments {0} - post comment

Cynthia Jones - Soulology

07:57 - 19 January 2008 - comments {0} - post comment

Mondo Grosso - Closer

06:22 - 18 January 2008 - comments {0} - post comment

Q-Tip - Kamal The Abstract

06:48 - 16 January 2008 - comments {0} - post comment