Sharon Jones And The Dap Kings "Naturally"

Sharon Jones And The Dap-Kings "Naturally" (2005)
download link
rs / 192kbps / 54.9mb / slsk

Label: Daptone
Producer: Bosco Mann
Tracks: 10 (check: Amazon)

woah. funk revival 101 plus 1! forget david holmes and his pseudo (but addictive!) 60s spy-jazz riffs. this is a producer who's such in a denial that he's in the 2000s, he even dresses up like in the 50s. bosco mann knows pioneering funk and soul records. hell, he LIVES it. with an impressive cv of catalogues of this kind, i'm surprised he doesnt get contracted for retro movie remakes that we get an abundant of these days.

the dap kings are full of riff-hooks that would make any heist movie starring george clooney suddenly seem so full of credibility and true stylisations. sorry mr holmes, your filmscoring in oceans12 was brilliant, but bosco mann is such a better liar about his age when it comes to his productions. and he doesnt loop breakbeats either. respect.

of course, sharon jones's amazing heavily-motown-styled vocals and the dap kings' brilliant era-manipulation musicability adds to the effectiveness of this record, but still - who would think of NOT recording the piano with stereo mic-ing these days?! i dont think you could even get mono pianos in even software samplers anymore! bosco mann is crazy. the only things missing from this record are vinyl warps and crackles.

hard-panned melodic instruments (really!), near-mono non-confrontational drums, intentionally lack of bottom-end throughout - all contribute to this very dated sound on the record (and that's a good thing). i particularly like the non-over compressed of ms jones's vocals and the reverb treatment she's getting. the whole band apparently, is magic live. and on this record the producer just makes it scream exactly that. actually, the more i think about it, the more i feel that this record is a 180° flip of what modern music production is these days. and that's just a beautiful breath of fresh air. as much as i try to keep reminding myself while listening, that these tracks were recorded in only the last few years, i couldn't. i seriously could not.

the pattern i see these days with records like this is that, it's far much easier to make a record 'timeless' today - something that all producers (should) strife for. just make it somewhat (retro) dated, and today's ears will consider it 'timeless'. contradictory, i know, having 'dated' and 'timeless' in the same description, but music post-2000 is fucked up anyway.

from my (rather narrow) personal musical experience and exposure, the only other retro-remake of this magnitude worth mentioning is 4 hero's "les fleur" record. even that one sounds too modern for it's own good now after listening to "naturally". and this is 4 hero we're talking about here. their 60s-70s-80s funk soul record production knowledge is pristine. or so i've i thought.

mr bosco mann has done it again. he may not be jack-of-all-trades (it's something that's somewhat of an insult to a producer these days, if you're NOT a jack-of-all-trades. weird.) but at least he's a master of one. and a very skillful master at that. if i was him, i'd keep doing what i'm doin, and just wait til the next 1960s funk soul trend to make a comeback in 2012. if not, to hell with it. my name is bosco mann, and i make fucking cool music, bitch.

Clipse "Hell Hath No Fury"

Clipse "Hell Hath No Fury" (2006)
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mp3 / vbr kbps / 72mb / 41strip

Label: Re-up Gang / Star Trak
Projected release date: 28 November 2006
Producer: The Neptunes
Tracks: 12 (check: Amazon)

clipse hates jive. jive dont give a shit. "hell hath no fury" is now finally gettin dropped. the retail leak is here. and clipse is back. now that's outta the way lets talk about the album. clipse are good / crap lyrically etc etc (boring). you can google for an actual clipse review, coz i'm not gonna do that here. i'm goin straight to the productions on this one.

unless you've been following hiphop only through bbc news this year, you will know that this is one of the most anticipated all-neptunes-produced album in the industry in the past few days. ever since the hiphop-changing clipse/theneptunes track "grindin" a few years back, the birth and evolution of clipse and the neptunes have been on constant watch by the who's who as well as nobodies of hiphop today.

the thing about the neptunes that you have to understand first is that they have their good and bad days (albeit their production fees are relatively constant, regardless). and the subjectivity of this matter is what is driving the industry - in this case, in the direction of the neptunes, fortunately for them.

"hell hath no fury" sees the usual charmingly egoistic neptunes, with a few new mood twists (and directions?). now, the last recent work of this proportion is pharrell williams' "in my mind" record. personally, that felt to me like it's the attempt of neptunes (pharrell?) approaching near commercialism without actually having to collaborate with the more radio-friendly britney and justin - thus probably lessen the need for the productions to be commercial-compromised (too much). that said, "hell hath no fury" throws away that concept in its entirety. no easy listening here, boys and girls. not like jay-z's new one. not like snoop's new one. i get a feeling this has almost been expected in this record. "lord willin'" was not that, why should this be it. good logic.

with weird, yet signature grooves of the neptunes, like no effort at all the neptunes puts forward their darkest, most-experimental (as if the neptunes don't get 'experimental' on daily basis) hiphop beats. these are the collection of instrumentals not for the faint hearted - reserved only for within the radius of neptunes' fans, music production appreciators and beats connoisseurs, making the neptunes today indeed, the producers' producers - but nothing more. though, this very credibility, as proven throughout the years, is sufficient enough for the neptunes duo to (continue to) dictate an impressive high-end production fee charge. but then again, it's never about the money. of course.

all the necessary unquantised hi-hats, dark synth melodies and of course cheesy preset patches (bagpipe? and pseudo saxophone?! and near-generalMidi samples?!!) are present on this record, this time with more-than-the-usual-dosage of percussions come into play - an attempt that the neptunes would have to take the effort to do, but timbaland does in his sleep, but i digress.

if you look for it, you could almost hear the pre "in my mind" sounds, as well as never-heard-before neptunes in there (maybe even may never be heard again outside the clipse scope). i say this because you almost get this sense of the neptunes always seem to be using clipse records as a nuclear testing ground for their other production techniques and methods. clipse dont care, the neptunes have their own army of diehard fans.

to many producers, hiphop or outside hiphop (duran duran, dj teebee, rjd2 all are known to have mentioned their respect for that neptunes sound in various interviews), this record, like "in my mind" will surely be on their shelf along with their other music production 101 manuals of what to do, as well as what NOT to do, in the case of some tracks on this record.

i find myself having trouble classifying the productions this record as either a neptunes classic or the neptunes' bad day at the office (which i'm sure mr williams and mr hugo will choose to be oblivious to because they know how good they are - the very charm that makes that neptunes sound). nonetheless, clipse fan will love clipse, neptunes fans will love neptunes - it's the rest of the crowd that should worry the people at jive records.

as a producer, after listening to "hell hath no fury" i still cant decide if the neptunes are mad, or geniuses, or mad geniuses.

Jay-Z "Kingdom Come"

Jay-Z "Kingdom Come" (2006)
download link
mp3 / vbr kbps / 89mb / rnsrip

Label: Roc-a-Fella
Projected Release Date: 21 November 2006
Producers: Just Blaze, Pharrell Williams for The Neptunes, Dr. Dre, Kanye West, Chris Martin, Swizz Beatz, Ghettobot & Scyience
Tracks: 14 (check: Amazon)

omfg. jay-z just leaked.

Snoop Dogg "Tha Blue Carpet Treatment"

Snoop Dogg "Tha Blue Carpet Treatment" (2006)
download link
mp3 / vbr kbps / 115mb / rnsrip

Label: Geffen Records
Projected release date: 21 November 2006
Producers: Dr. Dre, The Neptunes, Timbaland, Will.I.Am, Niggaracci, Frequency, Rick Rock, Nottz, Nate Dogg, Terrece Martin, DJ Pooh, Daz Dillinger, LT Hutton & Battlecat
Tracks: 21 (check: Amazon)

Boyz II Men "The Remedy"

Boyz II Men "The Remedy" (2006)
download link
zs / mp3 / vbr kbps / 74.1mb

Label: Avex / Cut
Producer: Boyz II Men
Tracks: 13 (check: Amazon)

RETROSPECTVE: Emiliana Torrini "Fisherman's Woman"

Emiliana Torrini "Fisherman's Woman" (2005)
download link
rs / mp3 / 128kbps / 36mb

Label: Rough Trade
Producer: Dan Carey & Emiliana Torrini
Tracks: 12 (check: Amazon)


ok, just to be a bit left of the middle from the obvious references and on-the-fence reviews you'd get from your usual amazon.com or other music blog sites about this female individual named Emiliana Torrini, i have to say she is a genius. well, i might as well since everybody these days is using that term as much as starbucks make decaf latte daily.

sitting on a dangerous plateau held up between "angelic" and "sex", it works well as a style for Emiliana. i've read somewhere that claimed she's only the poor man's bjork. grow up, Bjork would kill to have Emiliana's sane complexity. This is Jose Gonzales on estrogens we're talking about here. The image Ani Difranco (and Sia?) probably inspired but never managed to pull off themselves. kylie minogue definitely had to thank her for penning UK's #1 (and THE sex soundtrack of the decade) "slow".

the production seems to be playing *around* on Emiliana's distinct voice on this record, using it as a focal point. which can quite be risky, since that usually comes with full on audience concentration on the lyrics (watch out massive attack, sigur ros!) BUT i have to say although the topics are not exactly my cup of tea, i quite enjoyed it - pardon me for my lack of folk-pop knowledge, radio raped me and i'm rather scarred. production values on this one lies almost between timeless but quite fortunately, accidentally. but then again, people could argue it's probably the only way to record Ms. Torrini and acoustic guitars on record.

i'm listening to this now as i write, i just have to say that Emiliana shines well on the more melodic tracks on this record, where it almost opens up to a sugary world of addictive numbness.

with this record, i continue my phase of charmingly lazy female vocalists' records. ive been through a few these days (thanks to 3 friends of mine) which have got me to conclude that, there are a two types of female vocalists in this world: female vocalists who sing, and female vocalists who sing like angels.