MuthaFunka said:

I kind of dug raheem's woman but when i saw him doing a track show
in charlotte he sounded awful. He was trying to hard. Dwele's first
album was decent and his second was nothing special. I liked his
collaboration with boney james. Dwele does seem one dimensional.

bobsteezy said:

I like that one song Dwele did called "Hold On" but Eric Roberson's version, while not as different, is technically better. But I cannot STAND "Find a Way". OMG, I've tried my best to escape it. To be honest every time I listen to a "neo-soul" song, I'm like " " Much the same reaction I give a fake hop song, lol.

Anthony Hamilton to me don't seem "neo" but unfortunately he's been stagnated by that tag. Plus as Andy said, he can rock it LIVE but studio work he's got the same kinda digitized production as every contemporary R&B artist has. He's that dude I can see around just live instruments tearin' it up Otis Redding/Bobby Womack/Al Green style.
[Edited 4/25/09 21:30pm]

phunkdaddy said:

I actually saw Raheem on Lyric Cafe. He doesn't have no stage presence whatsofuckinever. And all he was doing was yelling at the ladies to do something for him while he moaned, lol. Dwele just stands there and breathes a song rather than sings it. Michael Baisden promotes their music heavily every afternoon on the radio. One reason I don't listen to the radio anymore.
[Edited 4/25/09 21:30pm]
[Edited 4/25/09 21:31pm]

Timmy84 said:

MrSoulpower said:

MrSoulpower said:

phunkdaddy said:

You pretty much nailed my sentiments about Dwele.

Timmy84 said:

AH is the closest to a true "Soul Sanga" for the males and Ledisi is it for the females.

could you people stop speaking in absolutes?


it's not funny anymore
[Edited 4/26/09 6:32am]

Anthony Hamilton >>>>>Dwele & Raheem combined

Yall should also check out Muhsinah 's "day.break 2.0", Georgia Anne Muldrow's "Worthnothings" or "Olesi:fragments of an Earth", and Eric Lau "New Territories"...
3 of my favorite artists right now

junebug18 said:

MuthaFunka said:

[Edited 4/26/09 9:56am]

MuthaFunka said:

You see, once again you ignore an entire movement of artists. Ledisi may be the closest to a true "Soul Sanga", but Sharon Jones is a true "Soul Sanga", and she's been #1 of the oldschool sound for almost ten years now.

If you dig a little deeper, you'll find an entire new generation of artists who make music just like in the Stax/Motown/Fame/Atlantic way, so there's not even a need to wonder about which "Neo-Soul" artists are the closest to the sound you speak of.
[Edited 4/26/09 8:22am]

MrSoulpower said:

Dap Kings baybeeeee...If memory serves my man Kenny "Dope" Gonzales brought her on the scene on his own "Kay-Dee" label

IAintTheOne said:

Actually, no. Keb Darge and Kenny started Kay-Dee after Sharon hit the market. Gabe Roth and Neal Sugarman started Daptone in 2002 and the first release was Dap Dippin' with Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings. Sharon has never released anything on Kay-Dee, but Daptone licensed one Dap-Kings 45 to them.

MrSoulpower said:

- Sharon Jones was doing it long before anyone knew of Amy Winehouse?

MrSoulpower said:

Well that got straightened out. Kenny talks alot of shit

Mstrustme said:

Yeah, long before ...

MrSoulpower said:

Mstrustme said:

It was after Mark Ronson teamed her up with the Dap-Kings that she blew up ...
The Dap-Kings being the hottest Soul/Funk band in America these days, that really helped her ... these guys are truly keeping the old traditions alive.



But of course Amy can't touch Sharon with the Dap-Kings ... which is why it makes me chuckle when I hear about "Neo-Soul" artists keeping the old traditions alive ..

MrSoulpower said:

- You right, you right

MrSoulpower said:

Dude, "tons" ISN'T "A FEW ARTIST"! And it's the TRADITIONAL SOUND, not the HOW.

MrSoulpower said:

And again, that's YOUR opinion. You're entitled to that just as I'm entitled to mine. Fine, you think Sharon is the TRUE Soul Sanga. I'm takin' Ledisi. And you're hung up on "the making of the music" and I'm not. I could care less about how it's done, it's about the finished product not the journey itself.

MuthaFunka said:

I think you're not getting what I'm saying. Your initial point, the way I understood it, is that the "Neo-Soul" artists keep Soul music and its original traditions alive.

I argued against that, because I say they don't. They are modern R&B artists who have very little to do with traditional Soul music. You said that to you it doesn't matter how Soul music is created/recorded, but that's all what Soul music is about. That's what makes it Soul music, and it's what sets it apart from the stale and boring R&B sounds that dominate the charts today.

Bottom line is, the artists that you listed do not work in the tradition of Soul music, they just act like they do. I could be a snob and call them posers, but I'm not gonna go there. Maybe you haven't figured out the difference because you don't seem to be aware of the traditional Soul music that is still being created today (Sharon Jones just happens to be the most popular artist, because she crossed over to the mainstream).
The artists that I listed - and I could list many more - are in fact those who keep the traditions of Soul music alive. Not the Neo-Soul artists, because most of them are sell-outs who are trying to cash in on the little bit of retro-vibe they are trying to put on people.

MuthaFunka said:

It seems like you are avoiding my actual points. You claimed that new Soul artists are not going to record analog, and I said that they already do just that, and it's common practice today.

And yes, it is the traditional sound - but the sound and the how go hand in hand. Where do you think the sound is coming from? It's made, and how it is made determines how it sounds in the end. In Soul music, especially traditional Soul music, the how is what matters the most. You can have a great track and great lyrics, but if you record it the wrong way because you don't know how to record it, then you won't get that traditional sound that we are talking about.
[Edited 4/26/09 10:15am]

MrSoulpower said:

No, that's not ALL Soul Music is about. That's your interpretation that it's ONLY about how it's "prepared". For me, it's the sound itself, no matter how it's attained. Every Soul Artist doesn't work like the next person, just like in any other music genre. And what I meant by "tradition" was "the sound itself". Keeping the sound alive. Being the torch-bearers for the next generation.

And you don't know how ALL of those artists I listed "work" so you can't say that they DON'T work in the tradition that you see the artists that you listed work in. Also, every genre has its sell-outs that are trying to cash in the genre they're reppin', so Neo Soul isn't the only one that this has happened to.

MuthaFunka said:

[Edited 4/26/09 10:30am]

Al Green is a good example of how the how matters in recording.
Back in the day, Green was signed to Hi Records from Memphis, and he recorded exclusively at Royal Recording Studios, owned by Willie Mitchell, who also owned Hi. Mitchell produced all of Al's records, and his careful use of mics and the way he sets up in the studio led to a signature sound at Hi Records, which many artists and producers tried to imitate. You can hear any record of that era by Ann Peebles, Syl Johnson, etc .. and you'll know it comes from Hi.

When Al decided to try a comeback in secular music a few years ago (he had not recorded a Soul album since the 1970s), he went straight to Willie Mitchell, because he knew he had to have the same sound as back in the day in order to make it right. Willie recorded both of Al's recent albums with the same equipment and in the same studio, which is why the music picks up where Al left it in the 70s.

Of course Al could have hired another producer and recorded in the best hi-tech studio in L.A. or N.Y. if he had wanted to, but the records would have never sounded the same ... and they would not have had the same Al Green sound that we all love so much.

And that is why the how matters so much in Soul music.
[Edited 4/26/09 10:47am]

TD3 said:

Thanks for the recommends. I'm going to have to check them out.