Pre-listen here @ Curlysoul the new album of Dwele:

He mentioned his new single “I’m cheatin’” during the concert I attended in Paradiso Amsterdam.

Now Dwele has teamed up with his friends of Slum Village to bring you a great remix of this track.

[Click here to listen]

Looking forward to see his new album “Sketches of a man” which is in stores on June 24th ’08

No explanation needed, just listen to Smooth Beats [stream].

This is what hiphop is:

[youtube WwT_aSfTOXU Common ft Dwele - The People]

Floetry’s hour-plus set Wednesday at the Roxy blended insightful lyrics, solid stage presence, a tight band and intricate vocal weavings to satisfy their fawning audience. Riding the recent release of their third album, “Flo’Ology,” and with six Grammy nominations for their first two albums, the concert sold out quickly.

Yes, Finally! This is the kind of news we are waiting for!

I really enjoy the fact that a kind of undervalued duo like Floetry finally gets some mainstream attention… in this case in a very nice article on Reuters.

I hope to see this in the very near future for some other “underground” artists, that simply have to be heard by more people.

This is good for soul, this is good for music.

This is simple: Download – listen – enjoy.
Some great mixes with even bigger artists, emerging from the underground.

Karma Soultra by Tymeek [right-click here]

Tracklisting:
Intro – Kama Sutra
Stay Down – Velben (Exclusive)< --- DDJ's Own
Sexual Alchemy - LadyBug Mecca
Tired - Sebastian ft B.I.G. (Me7ek RMX)(Exclusive)
N2U - Eric Roberson ft Marcia Ambrosius
Ketch A Vibe - Julie Dexter
Una Palabra - Carlos Verela
Cant Get U Out of My Mind - Blackstreet
Every Women's Dream - Shanice
Softest Lips - Eric Roberson
Lets Get it On in My Jeep - Marvin Gaye ft LL Cool J (Me7ek RMX)
4 Da Luv of Da Game - Raheem DeVaughn & E.Roberson
Holla - Dwele
Close Your Eyes - Lorenzo Owens
Around the World - Lina ft Anthony Hamilton
Dreamin - Jill Scott
Too Close - Next (Me7ek RMX)
Call Block - Jaguar Wright ft Obie Trice
Ha Ha - Toni Blackman (Exclusive)
Rocket Love - Stevie Wonder

(more…)

Never too sick to miss a good concert… After taking some painkillers, vitaminsupplements and a tea with rum and honey, I had pepped myself enough to see Jaguar Wright perform at Rotown in Rotterdam.
Rotown is a cafe slash restaurant slash popstage and as a venue for concerts quite okay as it has to limit audiences to about 250/300 peeps. This makes it intimate, but as the night proved it also had some negative side-effects.

The gig started with a sweet performance by Keke Wyatt. Together with Jag’s band and backing vocals she gave quite a taste of her capabilities. Great voice, funny girl, good interaction with the crowd and definitely not shy.

After a short intermezzo by Jag band – big-up to the guy on keys! This Ghostface Killah look-a-like kept smiling and enjoying himself all night during all performances, even to Jaguar’s (ironical) annoyance – Miss Wright entered the stage.
Standing not far from the stage, I was amongst the real fans, and we really enjoyed her first three songs… all in an extended version and vocally impressive.
Then she wanted to do a slow and delicate track which she hardly even started… when she stopped the band, set aside her mic and started singing/screaming to the crowd: “If you came here to talk… you came to the WRONG place !!!”
Ouch. I was ashamed, the constant mumbling and talking of about half the crowd was really disrespectful and I really admired Jaguar for directly appointing the frikkin’ peeps for doing so.
So she continued to sing… but after a few songs the same happened and she even talked to the manager of Rotown on the audience’s behaviour. Thank God for the real fans she came back and did the rest of the concert without interruptions.

Jaguar Wright is a all-round singer with an outspoken view on life in all ways. Vocally she showed the many sides of her voice and I really do not exaggerate to compare her to Jill Scott. Besides all I really respect the fact that she was able to let go of the negative vibe and even talk about how lucky we are not to live in the USA, how much respect she gets in Europe etc… wow.
Tonight her last performance in her European Tour… in (still my favourite) Paradiso – Amsterdam

Yet another artist high on my list… Thanks Jag!

The Roots drop a double greatest hits album “Home Grown! The Beginner’s Guide To Understanding The Roots Volume One And Two” on November 15th.

To summarize the album, some comment by ?uestlove: “This is a love letter to our Okayplayers and an introduction to the fans that have yet to dive in to see what the madness has been about for the last 13 years,” he says. “This should prepare them for the next 13.”

With guestappearances by Eve, Common, Beanie Sigel, Jaguar Wright, Jill Scott, Raphael Saadiq, Roy Ayers, Dice Raw, D’Angelo, Mos Def and others, this will surely be some massive introduction to newcomers, and pure pleasure to those familiar with The Roots.

Special features on this double disc are a radio performance of “Sacrifice”, the unreleased cut “Quicksand Millennium” and a remix of “Don’t Say Nuthin’ “. Extensive backgroundreading can be found in the enclosed booklet.

Tracklisting as known:

Volume 1:

01 – Proceed 2 (featuring Roy Ayers)
02 – Distortion to Static
03 – What They Do (featuring Raphael Saadiq)
04 – The Next Movement
05 – Good Music
06 – The Lesson Pt 1 (featuring Dice Raw)
07 – Star
08 – The Hypnotic (featuring D’Angelo)
09 – Silent Treatment
10 – You Got Me (featuring Jill Scott and Eve)
11 – Clones (featuring MARS and Dice Raw)
12 – What You Want (featuring Jaguar Wright)
13 – Act Too: Love of My Life (featuring Common)
14 – Do You Want More?!!??!?!
15 – It’s Coming (live 1993)
16 – Double Trouble (featuring Mos Def)

Volume 2:

17 – Sacrifice (live on BBC Radio One)
18 – No Alibi
19 – Essaywhuman?!?!?!?!
20 – Break You Off (live 2003)
21 – Quicksand Millennium
22 – Pass the Popcorn (Revisited)
23 – Dont Say Nothin’ (Remix)
24 – Adrenaline, (featuring Beanie Siegel and Dice Raw)
25 – The Lesson Pt 3 (featuring Jag and Dice Raw)
26 – Y’all Know Who (Ruff Mix)
27 – Thought@Work
28 – BOOM!
29 – The Seed/Melting Pot/Web (live on BBC Radio One)
30 – Din Da Da

Yes, I was disappointed in an undescribable way. But as things like this can happen (Losing your passport!!! Aaahh!!!) to any person, I will just hope that Dwele will consider scheduling some new concert in Holland. P’lease???

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