Do you remember Neo Soul? That R&B sub-genre with the clichéd name? Neo Soul dominated my summers back in the early 2000’s. Dwele’s Subject, Jill Scott’s Who Is Jill Scott?, Raphael Saadiq’s Instant Vintage (‘Skyy, Can You Feel Me’ changed my life) and Lucy Pearl were all on my Mini Disc player and on constant rotation. Those summer days were defined by these tunes, my boys, the sunshine and the girls…I loved those days. Neo Soul was born out of frustration; mainstream R&B in the 90’s was cheesy, unoriginal and lacked real emotion. Neo Soul looked back to 1970’s legends like Stevie Wonder, Donny Hathaway and Weldon Irvine for real heart and the way forward.
Neo soul, like my Mini Disc player, became niche and defunct. With the lull in creativity, R&B was spearheaded by lazy music executives and returned to its tired ways. Only now this creative void is being filled and once again R&B has looked to a scene for inspiration. Stunning, unique vocalists like Fatima, Jack Davey of J*Davey, Yukimi Nagano of Little Dragon, Stacy Epps, Shunaise, Andreya Triana are pushing soul music forward with producers like Flako, Floating Points, Sa-Ra, Bonobo, Madlib and Oddisee at the helm. The results are bliss filled to say the least, touching on elements of hip hop, jazz, funk, soul and electronica.
Muhsinah is a name that should be on your lips. The singer/producer made a big impression when she dropped the single Construction back in 2005 and left me with in awe with her appearance on The Foreign Exchange’s Leave It All Behind (‘Daykeeper’ was among my top 3 songs in 2008, and I’m very happy to see the song is up for a Grammy). Her new album The Oscillations: Triangle is a stellar body of work which features production from heavyweights like Mike Slott, Exile, Oddisee and Flying Lotus. Muhsinah has a way of marrying sonic, bombastic production with her subtle, sweet vocals that always leaves us wanting more. There’s innocence and openness in her lyrics, the likes of which is rarely seen in the brash and overly revealing nature of mainstream R&B. Vocalists like Muhsinah have found the same heart that Neo Soul did but instead of looking back to the legends, her eyes are firmly forward. This sound might just define my summer in 2010.
Check the excellent video for Muhsinah’s self-produced track, ‘Always’
http://www.vimeo.com/7917854 Line BreakAuthor: D. D. Peltier (9 Articles)
