R&B 2014

considering the 2013 only got one Brainwasher post the whole year, i'll just go ahead and start this off with a list of artists maybe probably dropping albums this year, feel free to add to it:

Miguel, Frank Ocean, Mariah Carey, D'Angelo (????), Maxwell (?????), Jeremih, Chris Brown, Omarion, Elle Varner, Jennifer Hudson, Trey Songz, Melanie Fiona, Jazmine Sullivan

also presumably Sevyn Street, August Alsina, Bridget Kelly and Jhene Aiko will follow-up their 2013 EPs with albums, and all other new artists will be stuck in EP land

the Toni Braxton/Babyface album is out in Feb, shaping up to be pretty promising:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEw_t9jR8Yc

r&b gods have been smiling on london - in the past week i've found out about imminent shows from king (next week!), teedra moses (feb) and jazmine sullivan (march)

is badu on deck this year or did i hallucinate that

I dunno, if so that's great news

Also I guess this year we'll get lots of Tide Dolla $ign and other Mustard&B hits

what is going on with KING, did anything come out after 'in the meantime'?

i'm really into this song. bieber sounds mostly whatever but future's vocals esp those super-high backing vocals in the chorus are amazing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoRT0Wa5OrY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxPDAtWnqN0

Track of the year so far for me. Some vintage Polow-throwback production

Oh damn there's already a three month old Complex article on him. I regret everything

Can a mod please delete my post and ban me from ILX

gahhhhhh king in london is sold out ;_________________;

Now that Terius is no longer on Def Jam will we see more collabos with Tricky?

lol wow in googling around in forlorn hope i just learned that king apparently did backing vox on avicii 'lay me down' o_O

http://m.essence.com/2014/01/08/lionel-richie-mary-j-blige-and-erykah-badu-added-2014-essence-festival-lineup

Lionel Richie, Mary J. Blige and Erykah Badu will join previously announced headliner, Prince.

Main Stage performances this Fourth of July weekend will also include Jill Scott, Ledisi and Charlie Wilson. The Superlounges will see electrifying performances from Sevyn Streeter, Marsha Ambrosius, King, 112, Sebastian Mikael, Naughty by Nature, Doug E. Fresh, Stephanie Mills, PJ Morton, Eve, Robert Glasper, Amel Larrieux, Big Sam's Funky Nation, Raheem Davaugh, Kourtney Heart, Elle Varner, Leela James, Liv Warfield, The Original Pinettes Brass Band and more to be announced.

also that Avicii song is really good. Adam Lambert on lead vox, Nile Rodgers guitar.

least surprising news: i really love that toni braxton/babyface song

Maxwell has posted non-vocal clips of a new song to his Instagram, along with footage of him running around in Dubai or something:

http://instagram.com/p/i83NCoRjLa/
http://instagram.com/p/i84yWdxjM2/
http://instagram.com/p/i86GrJxjOa/

what the fuck

oh cool this song was supposed to debut "in days".... in summer 2012 http://singersroom.com/content/2012-05-24/Maxwell-To-Debut-Of-All-Kind-New-Single-In-Days/

sounds like chris dave is on it, so that's good.

shit, i was wondering what happened to jade alston last year after dropping her mixtape in jan - seems she spent a lot of it in hospital having been diagnosed with a "potentially fatal heart condition"

the good news is that she seems to be managing it and (while we weren't looking) set up a kickstarter to fund her proper album and smashed the target: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1412324390/jade-alstons-first-album-we-will-live

btw, new yummy bingham mixtape is pretty decent on first listen: https://soundcloud.com/yummybingham/sets/no-artificial-flavorz

also, way late on this but tiara thomas's "4dolla bill" bangs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzYTLyvG1Gc

yeah, that was her initial 'follow-up to "Bad"' a while back, never took off. i still have hopes for her but i dunno if her being signed to Rico Love's label while his solo record is taking off is a good or bad thing for her momentum.

btw, new yummy bingham mixtape is pretty decent on first listen: https://soundcloud.com/yummybingham/sets/no-artificial-flavorz

^^ just like that? never expected anything else coming from her after (the quite great) 'the first seed' sinked. better google megan rochell, just in case - 'you, me & the radio' 4 life.

I've been waiting ages for the Timothy Bloom album, and it does not disappoint.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWY3hxApp3I

https://soundcloud.com/beyondthesky/the-morning-after

oh i'll def have to check that!

feeling this singer i stumbled on, satin beretta: https://soundcloud.com/mhpr/got-me-satin-beretta

i was wondering what he had been up to. it seemed like he lost some momentum after "'til the end of time" and the other one that i don't really remember but glad to see he's putting a record out

Yeah, "End of Time" was a tough one to follow. He continued releasing really fantastic tracks with kind of a Raphael Saadiq, Stone Rollin' sort of feel, but they weren't enough to keep him on his label. The LP is great, though. Plays like a more concise, rocking Channel Orange at times. Hope it finds him an audience so he keeps recording on his own; he's too gifted to just keep writing songs for other people.

That Satin track is nice. Good reminder that vibey music can still bump.

Missed K. Michelle's headling W. DC area club gig the night before Thanksgiving, but not sure I want to see her open for Robin Thicke at the Patriot Center basketball arena in February though. She's doing a number of gigs opening for him that month.

headlining

i like this song... it's basically what you would expect but mustard throws this little string riff in here that is pretty cool

http://www.xclusiveszone.net/2014/01/tinashe-ft-schoolboy-q-2-on-prod-by-dj-mustard/

i mean it sounds to the T like "cassie as produced by dj mustard" but i'm not mad at it

http://www.youtube.com/v/DxPDAtWnqN0&fs=1&hl=en

Track of the year so far for me. Some vintage Polow-throwback production

― 龜, Wednesday, January 8, 2014 5:16 PM (6 days ago)

this is a nice song to hear when you're hung over because it reminds you that somewhere life is worse

These Mae Oriel and Elli Ingram tracks have stuck with me for the last couple of months

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9Jzzo69A-E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSkjyT3PDSU

That beat should be off limits. My fav Big song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rogvlB2SP4k

Irv Gotti put his fist through a wall when he realized he hadn't already turned it into an R&B song himself

lol. Yeah that track is all time. Too many R&B singers are beat-jacking '90s hip-hop, which annoys me on paper, but the results are usually pretty effective, so I understand why they do it even if it's lazy.

I won't embed it here, but there's a new-ish Eric Bellinger/Problem track that's just Kris Kross's "Jump." And I hate it, but I also kind of don't hate it.

it can be done well and it can be done poorly, i try to be case-by-case with it. love the Ariana Grande album, hated Tamar's "Juicy" jack.

ariana grande album has all those trap snares tho, kinda takes it out of the 90s sound

reusing the pun sample sounded v fresh to me tho

sort of a timeless sound maybe

yeah they at least put a spin on the beat. that link up there is like a straight rip of everyday struggle with like one pointless touch added

'trap snares'??

snare rolls

http://soundcloud.com/satinberetta/got-me

the tink mixtape is good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzH2u9dqwAc

"trip-hop dub" missing a comma sorry

I think his style and sensibilty makes it cohesive *enough*, considering that he's into flashy, even dazzling effects (oh yeah, somewhere in the initial tracks, I was thinking of Erasure, or some other kind of Vince Clarke patterns, behind him: "Brit," but not "Afri," 'til James made use of 'em)

i don't think a single thing usher did this year inspired any thoughts or feelings in me

nice list shipz, albeit all my favourites off it are mostly the carry-overs from 2013 albums; i might have to go back to the usher, khaled, alsina ones to see if there was anything i missed in them the first time round

really expected sevyn streeter to happen a bit more in 2014 :(

i really liked that luke james album in the week i first heard it and then i never felt compelled to return to it and can't remember much of it now; it felt v ~serious. and now he's dating jessie j????

Yeah Sevyn Streeter was someone I thought might pop off. Also she's not really R&B, but what happened to Lulu James?

gotta give it up to shipley for repping that khaled record, which I agree is great & fun but gets virtually no love because its 'commercial' or khaled's not serious enough or whatever stupid reason

it's a great song -- shipley was right about how khaled's ad libs really add to the song

i heard it like 75 times on vacation and i still don't know who sings what parts -- jeremih has the chorus right? i really only recognize future's cooing + his repurposed "body party" ad libs

it also made me realize that i have zero idea what august alsina sounds like

the video makes it clear. jeremih does the chorus and the opening verse.
i don't get the love for that track; it's really boring

the only "hold you down" video i acknowledge is

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ao7LpSIL7A

i love "hold you down" it's so enveloping

i cant believe it and i was very nonplussed by hold you down but i heard it out in the wild w/ a few drinks in me tonight and it sounded great

my car performances of "Hold You Down" are legendary, i inhabit every role, flipping from Jeremih to Khaled to Future and back

you should teach your son the khaled parts

i relistened to the khaled song and idgi at all, what is special about this, it sounds very ordinary to me

i just listened to the omarion album and it's not really piquing the interest much either apart from one song near the end with a load of awesome harmonies

k michelle album is seriously great though, i started a thread for her. maybe my AOTY

like i feel what deej said about kehlani vs tinashe

this is a very good version of an unexciting direction to me, like the kehlani tape is making far more interesting choices but nothing is really quite as perfectly executed as this is

― deej loaf (D-40), Monday, December 1, 2014 1:22 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

applies much more to k michelle in terms of comparing directions (although k's execution is pretty spot-on these days) - i like the kehlani tape but it's a bit too all over the place for me to really have a handle on Who She Is yet

(i sort of agree that tinashe's overall direction doesn't excite me but sometimes you just can't argue with how impeccably something is executed and that album really is impeccably crafted, and not just in a boring sound design way)

On of the reasons I love kehlani is she seems preternaturally assured esp for someone so young! But i get it, I'll check the k Michelle tape

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/DJH98Z9FvOw/hqdefault.jpg

i respect 'hold you down' but everlasting shame on khaled for not keeping it 100 and making them all dress like this

otm

i wish the whole MJB album was on the level of "whole damn year" and "pick me up". those two songs are so so incredible

yeah "Whole Damn Year" is great but overall i prefer the album she did w/ Terius and Tricky a few months ago, it's a shame it being a soundtrack ended up making it so under the radar

The other Disclosure song on here is way better than the one they teased out earlier.

yeah "follow" is really good too

i completely overlooked then forgot to hear that soundtrack album

for all the LONDON LONDON shit the best dance song was done by darkchild

(imo)

second best after "pick me up" but yes darkchild being more talented than disclosure should surprise no one

the interludes make me want to commit acts of violence on them

haha is that them talking? i didn't even wanna investigate

I was gonna post your review, Lex. Good job! I've had this album sitting on my hard drive without getting past "Right Now."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgVvKMSooCQ

me like

i tried listening to her tape and felt like it was hit or miss

xp thx alfred, all the good shit is after "right now" tho

agree it's hit or miss, but love the hits.

The Rochelle Jordan album is really good.

p boring imo. amerie falls down a boutique minimalist well

ameriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiie

o god don't remind me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GVdwXo89EU

lightweight into this one for the personable fleet bounce

new jazmine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ed2nSh7QraY

this is probably the album i'm most looking forward to at the start of '15

wow this new jazmine is one of the best things she's done in a while (and i love her voice on this - subtlety at last)

MIRIAM MCCLEARY 1 hour ago
GREAT POINTS MADE IN THE SONG! BUT IS SHE SECRETLY HATIN'

haha this song (which is v good) makes me think of all that inside r&b scuttlebutt about missy being a heartless bull player turning casting couch pyt's with hits and then kicking them to the kerb afterwards #freejazmine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUHc0Cay89w

this record is sooo igno but

lol ty really is prolific and versatile with absolute garbage

haha to be fair she actually writes her own shit

not that that says much for him either way, just saying

there is a new ne-yo song called "religious/ratchet wit yo friends" and i am not sure it can live up/down to that title

"ratchet wit yo friends" doesn't seem to figure much

stealing this from Greer's twitter but I love this. (not quite as Tinashe-wave as title and screencap imply, mildly nsfw)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhsJxdYeGYQ

new teedra ep. she's moved to california.

http://teedramoses.bandcamp.com/