Discovering new pop music with POWER – pop with heart & soul! Enjoy!!
Tag Archives: Soul
LISTENING BOOTH – THE NEW ROCK N ROLL FT. VAN BOBBI, MAVRICK, SAMUEL PROFFITT, CRIS JACOBS & ALLELUJAH!!!
Rock ‘n’ roll might not have the same commercial or cultural impact it used to have but we promise to keep fighting the good fight.
Here are streams of new music that expresses the spirit of rock ‘n’ roll. Discover! Enjoy!
PoPTV: BLAST FROM THE PAST – ROCK N SOUL! FT. SLY & THE FAMILY STONE, THE TEMPTATIONS, THE SUPREMES, EARTH WIND & FIRE AND PARLIAMENT + FUNKADELIC!!!
It’s impossible to strip rhythm ‘n’ blues and soul music away from rock ‘n’ roll as the latter would not even exist without the former. In the late 60s, the likes of Jimi Hendrix (above) and Arthur Lee (Love) would combine the flowering of psychedelic rock with R&B (funk ‘n’ soul) to create a sound that emphasises the best of both worlds.
BIRTH OF THE NEW COOL: THE STEVE MCQUEENS SLAY AT THE ANNEXE SESSIONS
The Steve McQueens found time in between tours of Australia and South Korea to bring their magic jazz-soul-funk ride to home fans at the Annexe Sessions on Thursday, September 29th.
Continue reading BIRTH OF THE NEW COOL: THE STEVE MCQUEENS SLAY AT THE ANNEXE SESSIONS
SINGAPORE MUSIC SPOTLIGHT: GARETH FERNANDEZ – BIT OF YOUR LOVE
Soul boy Gareth Fernandez is back with “Bit Of Your Love” a guaranteed earworm that needs to be on your playlist.
Continue reading SINGAPORE MUSIC SPOTLIGHT: GARETH FERNANDEZ – BIT OF YOUR LOVE
ALBUM REVIEW: RJD2 – DAME FORTUNE
Background
RJD2 (a.k.a. Ramble Jon Krohn), is an American DJ/producer/electronic musician based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is best known perhaps for the theme of the Mad Men TV series.
ROCK HISTORY: LOVE – REEL TO REAL (1974)
The late Arthur Lee and Love (the band Lee led & fronted) remains one of the most under-rated bands from the 60s/70s. Well, at least compared to their peers. Already well-documented is the fact that the likes of Jim Morrison (The Doors), Jimi Hendrix and Robert Plant (Led Zeppelin) were massive fans of this ground-breaking iconoclastic band. Certainly, the backward gazing bands of the 90s British indie scene owed a thing or two to Love.
One of the most freewheeling eclectic 60s bands, Love (which also included guitarist-songwriter Bryan Maclean, lead guitarist Johnny Echols, bassist Ken Forssi & drummer Michael Stuart) were never constrained by genres or styles and dabbled in folk, baroque pop, psychedelia, acid rock and even proto-punk (check out “7 and 7 Is” is below).
Not only that but the band can lay claim to producing one of the bona fide rock masterpieces of all time – the magnificent Love Changes.
However, due to drug problems and internal disagreements, the band’s commercial success dissipated in the late 60s, with Lee fronting a new set of musicians, but this incarnation of Love never garnered the widespread acceptance or acclaim of the original group.
Reel to Real was Love’s final official album and until now, has never been issued on CD! By the recording and release of this album, Love was essentially Lee with an assortment of session musicians but despite its marginalisation in rock history, deserves serious re-examination.
Not least for its daring coverage of a multitude of styles, despite its primary focus being on soul, R&B and blues-rock, one could imagine the young Prince, Lenny Kravitz or Terence Trent D’Arby listening to Reel to Real and copping one or two musical ideas.
Whilst modern pop fans would probably find themselves grooving to soulful gems like “Time is Like a River” and “Stop the Music”, alternative rockers might take a shine to off-beat numbers like “Singing Cowboy” and “You Said You Would”, which sound like Hendrix channeling Buck Owens! And that last song – “Everybody’s Gotta Live” – is the Lennonesque anthem Noel Gallagher wished he was smart enough to rip off!
The new reissue has rather illuminating outtakes which on occasion outshine the original tracks with their spontaneity and raw energy. There’s also a sloppy studio rehearsal of that classic Forever Changes outtake “Wonder People” for all your Love completists out there.
A hidden treasure re-discovered. Essential!
Buy now!
PoPTV: DRU CHEN PROVES HE’S STILL GOT IT WITH NEW SINGLE “YOU GOT IT BABE”
Let’s say it plain, LOVE LOVE LOVE Dru Chen’s songwriting. He seems to come up with these soul-inflected pop ditties so effortlessly that it’s almost criminal!
“You Got It Babe” finds Dru once again putting together yet another winner. Trust me when I say that once this groovin’ earworm hooks you, it is not gonna let go too easily. Diggin’ Dru’s old skool soul vibe once more! Check it out!!
Pick up “You Got It Babe” at iTunes.
PoPTV – THIS IS ROCK!
Rock music is a genre of popular music that originated as “rock and roll” in the United States in the 1950s, and developed into a range of different styles in the 1960s and later, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. (W. E. Studwell and D. F. Lonergan, The Classic Rock and Roll Reader: Rock Music from its Beginnings to the mid-1970s)
So yeah, rock came from 40s/50s rock ‘n’ roll, which in turn is a form of pop music. So even The Carpenters or ABBA is rock, by that definition. So I am always comfortable to use the terms “pop” and “rock” fairly interchangeably, and get rather annoyed by the insane categorizations that is now so common.
In that light, let’s take a look at some of the different kinds of pop music, I am confident to label as ROCK!
BLUES
WHO SEZ JAZZ IS DEAD IN SINGAPORE? TAJ’S NEW EP PROVES OTHERWISE
Tim De Cotta (Bass/ Vocals), Audrey Tengkey (Piano, Keys and Synth) and Teo Jia Rong (Drums) make up TAJ, bringing forth an exciting new venture, and great contribution to Singapore’s contemporary jazz scene.
Now the above (from the Darker Than Wax press release) sums it up pretty well. 70s jazz fusion lovers (with emphasis on ‘fusion’) will dig TAJ’s debut EP – The Astral Journey – for its grooves, virtuosity and attitude. Followers of old school soul-R&B-funk will thrill to the authentic spirit behind songs like “Taj Yo’self” and “Old Town MOFO”, not to mention the dreamy title track that demonstrates so much emotional resonance, it’s hard not to fall in love with Audrey Tengkey’s fingers… and the sultry vocoder-ized vox on “Daydream”. Too much sexy. Something for everybody here! Get in!! Now!!!
But of course, we wanted to know more about the folk behind the awesome music and so I present to you… TAJ, in their own words…
How did the band get together?
We got together by chance actually. It was 2012 when Tim and Audrey went with the Singapore contingent to MIDEM in Cannes, and through rehearsals for this showcase Audrey and Tim got to know and like their musical styles in their respective bands. So when they came back Audrey invited Tim to an open jam session at LaSalle with other young musicians and students. It was a shed session to just have fun and also to try new things. Drummers, keyboardists, bassists and turntablists even. So JR was one of the drummers there and as the jam went on, it was clear that the chemistry between the 3 of us whenever we were on our instruments together was really strong! We didn’t just jam the songs per se but we moved and evolved them in a matter of minutes. So eventually, we started meeting more and more often, till it became just exclusive to the 3 of us, jamming covers and then eventually writing our own music. It happened very naturally and faster than usual, also because we became great friends. TAJ was born and on 1 Oct 2013, we released our single “The Astral Journey”.
Continue reading WHO SEZ JAZZ IS DEAD IN SINGAPORE? TAJ’S NEW EP PROVES OTHERWISE
DISCOVERED @ SPOTIFY – NEW RELEASES 14TH JANUARY 2015
What’s new this second week of the year? Let’s check in with Spotify, shall we?
MARK RONSON – UPTOWN SPECIAL
Fairly old school soul in tone from the British famed producer. Actually though the album’s introductory track was a rip off of Stevie Wonder, when it’s the man himself. Doh! Probably the hipster-est release this week.
Continue reading DISCOVERED @ SPOTIFY – NEW RELEASES 14TH JANUARY 2015
SOULFUL BLUES ROCK FROM MICAH OLSAN & THE MANY’S NEW EP “ALL AROUND”: NOW AVAILABLE FROM BANDCAMP
There’s much to admire on this new EP from Micah Olsan & the Many. According to his bio, “Micah has been an active performer in the Midwest music scene for the last seven years. His diverse songwriting takes folky storytelling, interlocking guitar parts, and passionate, soaring vocals and places them smoothly on top of a funky, jazz and world-infused rhythm section. Micah’s writing draws on influences from Paul Simon to Radiohead and the Talking Heads.”
Certainly, tracks like “Trouble” and “All Around” will appeal to the punters who love trawling blues-rock pubs with the songs’ authentic roots demeanor. One to consider. Check it out at Bandcamp.
Official Site
EIA RELEASES SOULFUL NEW SINGLE “THAT’S THE WAY” ABOUT BEING IN LOVE
Eia (aka Maria Grace Koh) has just finished her studies at LASALLE College of the Arts, where she graduated with First Class Honors in a BA (Hons) in Performing Arts – Music, Vocals and her calibre is self-evident on her soulful new single “That’s the Way” off her upcoming new album. The Bruneian singer-songwriter worked with Marc ‘M. Doc’ Williams (Madonna, Kelly Rowland, Jordin Sparks, K-Ci & Jojo) and C-Ray (EMI Music Publishing, K_Ci & Jojo) of Indasoul Records on her new material and fans of modern R&B will love what Eia has to offer. You can purchase “That’s the Way” at iTunes.
Check out a live performance of “That’s the Way” below.
HOT BUZZ: MARTIN CARR – THE SANTA FE SKYWAY
Ex-Boo Radley Martin Carr is back with a new single and a new album. Absolutely digging the old school soul vibe! Watch the official video now!
Carr’s new single “The Santa Fe Skyway” is available at : http://tinyurl.com/l2nwffu
His new album The Breaks will be out on CD/LP on September 26, 2014.
All info here: http://tinyurl.com/k6ndgp3
POWER OF POP INTERVIEW: THE AMANI CONSORT
Aysha Amani, the frontperson of infectious Aussie funk-soul-hiphop combo The Amani Consort was so easy and fun to talk to as she (together with keyboards player Gordon Cant) answered my questions about the band – past, present and future. Listen to the audio for the full details! (Sound quality is a little rough but I hope you get the gist of what was going on – lots of laughter!)
(Part 1)
(Part 2)
(Part 3)
We promise to be back with a review of The Amani Consort’s Better Way EP pretty soon! In the meantime, connect with the band over at its Facebook page.
HOT BUZZ: DRU CHEN – TURNAROUND SINGLE
It’s funky & groovy in a understated way. To these ears, there are elements of Prince & Mayer Hawthorne embedded in this slab of coolness. Oh yeah, it’s Dru Chen’s latest single “Turnaround” now available from Bandcamp. Go. Get!
MARK BONAFIDE – ISSUES (W/ KIM OLSEN & ZAHIDAH)
Here’s a sweet, catchy and soulful fuck-off song from the ever-smooth Mark Bonafide. It’s pretty short too, clocking in at 2:53! That’s my only issue with “Issues” (ouch!) – I wish I could get MORE of its goodness! Nice interplay with Kim Olsen and Zahidah provides a riveting contrast. Taken from the forthcoming e.p. “LOVE/REBEL” it seems – can hardly wait! Check it out!
GREAT DIVIDE – S/T [REVIEW]
Chicago quintet Great Divide (Teddy Grossman – vox, guitar/Josh Teitelbaum – drums/Jeff Leibovich – keyboards/Josh Kahle – bass/Jeff Burke – guitar, vox) takes the rock and roots maxim to its logical conclusion. If a cursory listen to the band’s eponymous sophomore album suggests to you The Band, Van Morrison, Bob Dylan, Elton John, Tedeschi Trucks Band and the like, then you’d probably be better off exploring Great Divide, don’t you think? Yeah!
Funded by a successful Kickstarter campaign, Great Divide is a evocative, soulful rock n’ roll record in the old fashioned way. In other words, it is as smooth as you like, bringing together a veritable buffet of influences, spanning soul, folk, country, pop and rock with the dynamic horn section providing the proverbial icing on top.
First-rate musicianship, competent songwriting and the honey-dripping pipes of Teddy Grossman make Great Divide, essential listening for the true-blue pop-rock fans out there. How can one argue with genuine articles like the slick opener “Ain’t No Roads”, the lush “Easy Chair”, the gospel-tinged “Moorie” and the Stevie Wonder-channeling “Shine”? Simple, you don’t!
Check out the live clip of “Ain’t No Roads” below
Official Site | Facebook
DRU CHEN – INTENTIONS TOUR: SINGAPORE/MALAYSIA [NEWS]
(Press release)
Modern Soul singer-songwriter Dru Chen will be on tour in Singapore and Malaysia from March 8 to March 17 to launch Intentions EP. Successful lead single “You Bring Out The Best In Me” (http://youtu.be/LGi6Q5WsvtM) has been played on Australian radio stations Southern 88.3FM, Triple R 102.7FM, Joy 94.9FM and is looking to hit Singapore radio/blog soon. Dru Chen will be performing 8 shows, radio spots and filming 2 videos during this trip, including collaborations with Charlie Lim, Kerong Chok, For This Cycle, Charles J Tan and an appearance at Mosaic Music Festival.
Continue reading DRU CHEN – INTENTIONS TOUR: SINGAPORE/MALAYSIA [NEWS]
SARAH CHENG-DE WINNE: BRAND NEW ALBUM SHOWCASE [NEWS]
Here’s your chance to catch Sarah Cheng-De Winne live as she delivers her soulful pop music with her deep, sultry vocals.
The showcase is open to the public, as long as you bring a physical copy of Sarah’s album that you have previously purchased, or you can purchase a copy at the venue (one per person). Check out the album sampler below.
Official Facebook Page
PoPTV: DRU CHEN – “YOU BRING OUT THE BEST IN ME” [OFFICIAL VIDEO]
This is so infectious it should be illegal! Seriously!! I first saw Dru Chen at an open mike years ago and was deeply impressed with his swagger and innate soulfulness BUT this new single from the Melbourne based modern soul singer-songwriter exceeds all expectations. I mean, “You Bring Out the Best in Me” should be blaring out of every single radio station in Singapore. Be warned though, once that groove hooks in, you’re in trouble. Awesome.
Official Page
Buy now!
JOSE JAMES – LIVE IN SINGAPORE [NEWS]
Very smooth vibes going on here. Check it out!
SARAH CHENG-DE WINNE – BRAND NEW [REVIEW]
There is a nice balance of pop sounds and styles in Sarah Cheng-De Winne’s new album. Previously categorized as a jazz-folk-pop singer, this single-minded lady (and her production team) has done a bang-up job in taking different strands of the pop milieu and incorporating the same into her own distinctive soulful pop brand.
LISTENING BOOTH: THE SAM WILLOWS EP
The Sam Willows will be launching its debut EP next Saturday, 27th October at TAB. Here’s a preview of the EP streaming now at Soundcloud. Check it out.
Official Site
PoPTV: WAVES OF FURY – BUSINESSMAN’S GUIDE TO WITCHCRAFT [OFFICIAL VIDEO]
It’s not often that I come across a sound that is unique and different but this track from London band Waves of Fury certainly qualifies! Imagine the classic post-punk sound (The Fall, Echo & the Bunny men) performed by a Stax-Motown group from the sixties (Temptations, Smokey Robinson & the Miracles)!?! Off the album Thirst, this is one to keep a close eye on. Review to come, folks.
You can purchase Thirst from the Alive Records mail order page.