Her debut album “Stranger on Earth” did not really get the spotlight, and considering the overall feeling and quality of the album, that was not without reason.
Having made the switch from Atlanta Records to Hidden Beach Records definitely contributed to her latest album: “The Inner Beauty Movement”.

Lina is an artist that will need a special audience, as she has found a sweet way of combining sounds and vibes of the late 50′s with what can be considered neosoul. Love for and knowledge of music by artists like Ella Fitzgerald and Dinah Washington will only help to appreciate Lina’s latest.

The overall sound of the album is old skool soul and storytelling, with simple and very recognizable situations. But the album has a variety of influences that gives each track a more defined colour: Harmonic Jazz, Late Night Groove, Funk and even French Soul.
Tracks that I really dig: “My Fix”, “Come to Mama”, “Leaving You”, “Hope Wish & Pray”, “I am” and “This Time”… well, must say the whole album really gives a good vibe and the track “All Around the World” featuring Anthony Hamilton is simply sweet!

When you have the right reference, this album should be in your playlist for sure. Otherwise, it can be appreciated as sweet background- or loungemusic… with a nice bottle of wine at night or a big latte in the early morning. Lina will enlighten the situation no matter what.

Curly

This is probably the sexiest phone to play your music on…

Opened up a Curlysoul Store… new designs available soon!

Finally another album by Warren G, featuring some hot artists.

Seems that the rumours are getting stronger and stronger…

- Jay-Z might announce a new album where he teams up with Nas
- kanYe West would be the executive producer
- This might even be the hot rumoured come-back album for Jay-Z

Rumours, rumours… what can we say? let us wait and see…

Any additional gossip on this?

Foxy Brown loses hearing and about to undergo surgery. Shocking!

For some people it was a bummer, for some just what they expected and for some it was big news. With the presentation of the 5th gen iPods with video capabilities, the new iMacs with built-in iSight and FrontRow, and the new iTunes library, Apple re-secured their leading position.

It seems that with the tremendous sales of iPods over the last years, Steve really said it right: “It’s all about the music!”. For Apple, their growing market, not only in iPods and iTunes but also in their computerhardware, has got its enormous boost through a carrier that is music.

And lately, with performances and appearances for Apple of kanYe West, Madonna, U2, John Mayer and others, the reverse contributes too. Apple definitely knows how to market their products, whether this is directly or indirectly.

Music simply says it all… and more.

So we have a new & blond James Bond… Are we finally going to get a good ol’ brown and soulful soundtrack again? P’lease?

When the intro of your debut-album is done by none other than Aretha Franklin, you might expect to get some attention. On top of that, when you are blessed with a truely soulfull and slick voice, combined with what women call “a tremendous body” and “lucious lips”, you can expect to have your album flying off the shelves.

That is what is happening to Trey Songz at the moment. Growing to the status of new R&B legend, his album “I gotta make it” is HOT in The States at the moment.
In Europe it seems that he still has to rise from the underground. We do hear some of his songs and some nice collabo’s with other artists, but he is no talk of the town yet.

Just to give an impression, let us take a look at some reviews on the internet (credit and copyright to the rightful owners):

Amazon editorial review:

Trey Songz is a 20-year-old singer/songwriter who hails from Petersburg, Virginia. Having drawn musical inspiration from a wide variety of contemporary R&B/ Hip Hop artists, his songs are filled with a passion and a mosaic of his young adult life. Though he is still a “baby” in the game he has cut his teeth writing and collaborating with some of the industries most respected artists and producers including: Juvenile, Twista, Scott Storch, Troy Taylor, Organized Noize, Dre & vidal, Lil Jon, Track Boyz, Patti LaBelle, Donnell Jones, Gerald Levert, T.I., Omarion, & Obie Trice. His music can best be described as, R&B with Hip-Hop urgency!

Virgin:

This boy can sing – period. He can also rap perfectly well too. The album opens with perhaps the coolest endorsement a young R&B artist could possibly wish for, namely Aretha “The Queen” Franklin warbling her best wishes to the man.
The album’s glossy sound – and boy, is it glossy – is thanks to Troy Taylor, whose credentials include work with Patti LeBelle, SWV and B2K. What follows Ms Franklin’s opening remarks is fairly standard fare, namely pop/R&B, served up with dollops of material that veers towards a more traditional soul sound with faint echoes of one M. Gaye.
It’s not stunning, but when the material’s fairly indifferent Trey’s voice manages to haul it up notch or two. One to watch…

Personally I hear R. Kelly, Usher and even Keith Sweat in his voice. With being only 20 that is quite some indication for what we may expect from this young fellow. Will keep tracking him for European performances.

[ update: check out his performances at AOL to get a good impression of his live skillz ]

Ow! Just heard the remix of “So High” by John Legend ft. Lauryn Hill… SWEET!