Currently browsing author

JaSupreme, Page 34

Mateo | Love & Stadiums

Album Review: Mateo | Love & Stadiums
By Susan Mutharia


I liked his voice when I first heard him sing Til She Goes.  I developed a crush on his voice when I heard him sing Complicated. I knew it was love when I heard him sing Don’t Shoot Me Down featuring Goapele & Ab Liva.  After the release mixtape Love and Stadiums, I affirmed my deeply rooted love and appreciation for the music of the incredible new voice of Mateo.

Mateo to me represents the power and effect of social networking. I first learnt of his work after reading a tweet from the actor and author Hill Harper. As much as I love and appreciate music, I must confess that at first I checked him out because I thought he is hot. Then I heard him sing and thought, “…wow, he can sing too.”  Later, I came to learn that Hill Harper was indirectly responsible for getting Mateo signed to his former label MySpace records. To continue, please click “MORE”!

Deirdre Gaddis | Life in The Key of Dei

Album Review: Deirdre Gaddis – Life in The Key of Dei

By Peggy Oliver
 
It
has been proven through the dawn of time that music in any shape and
form can be that great yet reasonable escape; whether for the listener
or the songwriter.   Deirdre Gaddis knows how to share her dark and
victorious times through the gift of songwriting and she is not afraid
to use it. The Birmingham, Alabama born vocalist began her expressing
herself in song at age eight. And her life has been quite a roller
coaster ride. But Gaddis is fully able to mold those experiences into a
soulful, spiritual quest that empowers and encourages. Her debut from
the very busy folks at 111 East Records, Life in The Key of Dei,
is a no-nonsense handbook on love lost, stalled and found. The team of
Brian ‘B-Flat Trax’ Cook and Will aka Slick and Dboi from soforrealproductions.com creates picturesque silky jazz/R&B grooves to match Gaddis’ gospel-like and soulful intensity. To continue, please click “MORE”!

Musiq Soulchild | Musiqinthemagic

Album Review: Musiq Soulchild | Musiqinthemagic
by Brent Faulkner

After nearly a three year hiatus since the fall 2008 release of
Onmyradio, Musiq Soulchild returns in top form on his under-the-radar
2011 Atlantic release Musiqinthemagic. On Musiqinthemagic, the formula
is mostly unchanged for the most part, though Musiq ‘amps’ up the
‘soul-factor’ on this album more pointedly than his last go-around which
was the talented vocalist’s least successful (undeservedly) effort.
Regardless of commercial expectations, aspirations, or successes, as
always, the quality of Musiq’s sixth LP speaks for itself.

There are no misses and as always, consistency plays a major role in Musiq’s music. To continue, please click “MORE”!

Aretha Franklin | A Woman Falling Out Of Love

Aretha Franklin - A Woman Falling Out Of Love
 
Aretha Franklin
A Woman Falling Out of Love
(Aretha’s Records)
by A. Scott Galloway
 
For every longstanding fan that has been waiting for The Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin to turn back the hands of time and deliver an album of goose bump-raising performances, this is the answer to every little prayer you’ve said. Talk about inspired. Sister Franklin has been clandestinely finessing this 12-song labor of love for many years, producing much of it herself and giving every component two bosoms worth of tender loving care.

Kelly Price | Kelly

Kelly Price - Kelly
 
Kelly Price | Kelly
by Brent Faulkner
 
It is not unusual for artists who are namely R&B/soul artists to venture into the world of gospel. Oft times, the ‘change of pace’ is only for a season, with the occasional gospel release interspersed between R&B releases. Al Green and Aretha Franklin, both of whom have released gospel albums, for example, returned to their R&B ‘stomping ground.’

Kim Burrell | The Love Album

Kim Burrell - The Love Album
 
Album Review: Kim Burrell | The Love Album
By Peggy Oliver
 
When Kim Burrell was introduced to the gospel world on Everlasting Love in 1998, the anticipation was justified; from her fellow peers to being rewarded with the prestigious Stellar Award for urban gospel excellence. Many musicians were awed by her rich husky voice dropped an array of gorgeous colors with stunning timing and total ease.

Soul Tempo | Doing Our Father’s Business

Album Review: Soul Tempo – Doing Our Father’s Business

By Peggy Oliver

Listen
to song samples from “Dong Our Father’s Business” by Soul Tempo,
exclusively from Amazon, on our Gospel
Page by clicking
here!!

 

In
the 1996 movie The Preacher’s Wife, Soul Tempo performed on screen with
an acappella reading of the Swan Silvertones, “The Lord’s Prayer.”   It
is hard to top for any modern quartet to touch one of gospel music
legends who were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2002. But
experiencing groups like Soul Tempo who cover a whole lot of ground in a
classy manner from the traditional to hip-hop is quite extraordinary
this day and age. Formed in 1985, brothers Kevin and Phillip Mitchell
and their childhood friends Jeremiah Brunson and Anthony Burnett are
‘sort of latecomers’ to the gospel industry who won the 2009 McDonald’s
Gospel Fest. They also sung for the Democratic Debate on PBS moderated
by Tavis Smiley and have inspired audiences on several stages, including
the Apollo Theater. To continue, please click “MORE”!

Tony Adamo | What Is Hip?

Album Review: Tony Adamo | What is Hip? 

by Brent Faulkner

Listen to song samples from “What Is Hip?”, exclusively from Amazon on our R&B/Soul Page by clicking here!!

Covers
albums are the least likely to garner strong, universal critical
support.  The artistry of making something classic  ‘new’ or matching
the level of the original is often a gargantuan, sometimes impossible
task. Tony Adamo takes on this battle on his 2011 effort, What is Hip?. 
Tony Adamo’s What is Hip? consists mostly of  covers doctored up with
horns, a taste of soul, and jazz affections. Overall, the album proves
to be enjoyable, though rarely ‘revolutionary’ per say. When Adamo takes
risks and achieves more than a ‘breezy’ vocal performance (achieves
vocal grit and assertive nuances), that is when What is Hip? really
catches fire.  While the covers never eclipse the original, Adamo has
some signature moments on What is Hip?. To continue, please click “MORE”!

Noel Gourdin | Fresh: The Definition

Noel Gourdin - Fresh The Definition
 
Noel Gourdin | Fresh: The Definition
by Brent Faulkner
 
2008’s debut effort After My Time was a solid first showing for R&B talent Noel Gourdin, but failed to make Gourdin a commercially successful artist. That said, the Epic debut was an album that was critically sound and characterized Gourdin as a new R&B artist who talents harkened back to “the old days.” With the exceptional single “The River,” Noel Gourdin established he was an anti-establishment R&B artist who wished to preserve the ‘glory days’ of soul and chivalry, something so much R&B music today fails to highlight.

Hide