On Wednesday of this week I was lucky enough to accompany my good friend and superstar singer, Neha, to Radio 2RDJ. She was invited to join the most lovely DJs Liche and D for their Mixxbosses radio show – a 2 hour slot dedicated to Neo/Soul music!
The evening ended up being a lot of fun for us – getting to play a few songs unplugged (an American Boy/Kiss medley, and a rendition of one of our original tracks, Your Love), as well as general chit chat with the girls in between their regular show features. Neha’s vocal performance was angelic (as always), and despite having some butterflies before going on air, she kept myself and the listeners well entertained with her amusing anecdotes.
I must be honest and say that I was not expecting a whole lot from the show in terms of the playlist (although admittedly I had never heard of the station/show before we went on). Much to my [pleasant] surprise, DJ Liche dropped a whole bunch of awesome music – some sexy, some groovey, some funky, some old school, and some fresh new stuff. Props to Liche for her knowledge of soul/RNB, and for her exquisite taste in tunes!
Some highlights for me were tracks by Ryan Leslie, Pharrell, John Legend, and a couple of new artists that I have since been exploring. They also had an interview with the one and only Gary Pinto, and a couple of tracks from his newly released album (awesome, banging tracks – might I add).
Here is a little snippet from the show (I don’t know if the full performance is up anywhere, but this was a sassy little freestyle that Neha conjured up at the end of the show)
Thanks again to Liche and D for the fun times and hospitality, and I look forward to tuning into their show for more great tunes
It was definitely worth standing through 45 of minutes of (t-)PAIN for this! Not once have I had the pleasure of seeing a live performance for my ‘track of the moment’. 26 years into this thing we call life that moment had arrived!
Somehow Ne-Yo got stuck headlining a Hip-Hop Shout-Fest (Big Boi aside) @ Winterbeatz in Sydney. It just so happens that my ‘track of the moment’ is Champagne Life so this event was a must see!
The band was tight, the sound was killer and Ne-Yo killed track by track until bringing out 2 glasses of Bubbly to start Champagne Life and top the night off! Running a close second for moment of the night was Hearing a 3 piece horn section playing the Synth parts in Miss Independent. Gold.
Here’s a vid of Champagne Life live;
Let’s hope Sydney doesn’t have to wait another 3 years for a top class RnB Artist to hit town.
One of the most exciting things for me in life is finding (or being shown) new music from which i can draw musical influence!
This weekend saw the discovery of a few new tracks that i would like to share with u and also give a brief review.
It is no secret that here at Jaden, we are big fans of the production of Mr Ryan Leslie. My first discovery is a song titled “Get it right tonight” by an artist named Corey Gunz ft. Ryan Leslie. As always Leslie drops a simple yet PHAT beat, along with a hypnotizing synth hook (think it sounds a little like the one in Coolio’s “gangsta’s paradise” – musical coincidence?) which has my head bobbing throughout the whole track! Leslie is a master of keeping the right tracks simple and once again he has achieved another killer track while keeping this formula. This is the first time i hear any track by Corey Gunz and must say that i am a fan of his flow. Somewhat similar to that of lil wayne, but has his own vibe and as for lyrics, they’re on the money for this track.
The second discovery excites me for a few different reasons. The track is titled “Killer instincts” by Rick Ross and Produced by Cool and Dre.
The first reason this excites me is because my good friend’s band will be heading to Miami in a month to record their album with Cool and Dre. This dynamic producer duo have been recently producing their Hip Hop tracks with a lot of rock influence so i can’t wait to hear what else these guys will be coming up with.
Back to the track……It has a killer beat with a raw sounding live kit (as a drummer i love raaaaaaawwww sounding kits!), great vocal production, and one catchy ass vocal hook! Another track that has me bobbin my head and i’m loving the flow of Rick Ross’ verses.
Third track! – “Believe” By Q-Tip and D’Angelo! – I did find 2 versions of this track so check this 1;
Without even listening to the track i already had a feeling this would be an awesome track! Well, why wouldn’t you……Q-Tip and D’Angelo wouldn’t drop an ‘average’ track.
Once again……raawwww live kit, with a slight swing to make it sound as if its just ahead of the beat. LOVE IT! The key chords are amazing and the little guitar licks throughout the verse are sooooooo tasteful. Great lyrics, great production……and what can u say about D’Angelo’s performance?? well lets just say it’s what anyone would expect. – Smooth.
“Your Love” was the first track I recorded with Neha, and the also my first time experimenting outside the box with heavy syncopation in RnB music. At the time I wrote the track (around 3-4 years ago now), I was just starting to discover artists like Aaliyah and Brandy – and I was beginning to take a real interest in the likes of Timbaland and Darkchild. I was absolutely fascinated by their complementary (or perhaps opposing) use of cabasa and electronic hats, and the off-beat snare and kick work.
A year or two after completing the track, Neha and I were asked to play a charity benefit gig in Sydney. I jumped at the chance, and saw it particularly as an opportunity to re-arrange some of the harder, beat driven RnB tunes we had worked on just for acoustic guitar and a single vocal (as opposed to the layer upon layer of vocal harmonies that are typical of our songs, but also of RnB in general).
We performed Your Love and a number of other originals as acoustic tracks on the day, and the reception we received was so good that we quickly made the decision to record Your Love again, but this time as an acoustic track.
The intention for this track was to go for a really stripped back feel, and keep it very organic and live sounding. I promised Danny that we would take it easy on the harmonies for this version (this is always easier said than done for me – a self-proclaimed harmony lover), and I think I was more or less true to my word.
You can check out the finished product below, in all of its acoustic glory!
Since coming across Ryan Leslie during one of my workhours Wikipedia/YouTube benders in early 08′ I have been hanging for his album to drop.
08′ was a forgettable year for RnB releases so by the time the little Amazon package arrived at my place last week I was dying for some fresh, classy RnB.
I was familiar with a couple of the tracks from Ryan’s YouTube vids but nevertheless I could not put the CD down. Track for Track this is one of the best RnB releases I have heard in years!
Classy Beats, Melodic Synths, Live Bass, Guitar and Pimp lyrics are features on an album which has too many quality tracks to even begin listing my favorites!
If you haven’t heard of R.Les or his music you’ve gotta check it out;
