NEW SOUNDS

NORMANI

After this former Fifth Harmony member has been contributing her vocals to several successful singles for other artists, Normani has just dropped her first solo single, "Motivation". As the first taste of her long-awaited debut album, this track (co-written with Ariana Grande and producers, Max Martin and Ilya Salmanzadeh who produced this song) is taking us back with a slick, hip-hop flavored soul vibe that ruled the charts back in the '90's. And the music video for "Motivation" continues the homage with a tribute to the dance videos by some of the female artists who reigned in the 1990's.



MISSY ELLIOTT

Missy Elliott, one of the most unique and influential voices in hip-hop has finally returned with some new music. "Iconology" is the forty-eight year old rap legend's first collection of songs in fourteen years. With her long-time collaborator, Timbaland and Will Hendrix assisting her with production on this EP, Elliott has delivered four genre-bending songs that perfectly pick-up where she left off. The timing of this release is probably no coincidence since Elliott will be honored on Monday, August 26th with the Video Vanguard Award during the 2019 MTV Video Music Awards. Check out the ballad, "Why I Still Love You" and the video for "Throw it Back" which displays Elliott's eccentric style and visual innovation that helped earn her this award:

And we close with Ariana Grande who has somehow manged to become even bigger this year. The twenty-six year old pop sensation has yet another smash hit single with "boyfriend" that she has teamed up with Michael "Mikey" Foster and Charles "Scootie" Anderson of the production team and musical duo, Social House. This woozy pop-r&b jam is about not trying to label a relationship and redefine the concept of a romantic partnership. "boyfriend" is from Social House's debut extended play, "Everything Changed..." and the song could possibly be hitting close to home with rumors floating around that Grande is dating Foster.

THE 100 BEST SONGS OF 1969

Woodstock. The Manson Family murders. The Apollo 11 moon landing. The Stonewall riots. These were just some of the life-changing, mind-altering and Earth-shaking events that occurred fifty years ago this year. And this was the year when we began to see a shift in popular music. The era of factory-written, easy-listening expressions of life and love was being pushed away by singer/songwriters who were pushing the envelope to fuse together musical genres and communicate with unconventional ideas.

The staff of Billboard magazine have put together a list of the best one hundred songs that were released and charted in the year of 1969. As I went through the list (and I was a seven year old during this year), I found many songs that I loved and some that I had never heard of before. But what they all have in common is that they are all inventive and creative songs that helped shape and define a generation.

Click below to read the article:

The 100 Best Songs of 1969

And here are a few songs from this list that are my all-time favorites:

99. Friends of Distinction - "Grazing in the Grass"



89. Cass Elliot - "Make Your Own Kind of Music"



67. Blood, Sweat & Tears - "Spinning Wheel"



56. Tommy James and the Shondells - "Crystal Blue Persuasion"



44. Laura Nyro - "Save the Country"



24. The Foundations - "Build Me Up Buttercup"



5. Isaac Hayes - "Walk on By"

THE NEW ANTI-POP STAR

One of the hottest performers to have emerged this year is Billie Eilish, a seventeen year old Los Angeles native who just reached number one on the Billboard Pop Songs Airplay chart with her hit, "bad guy". She began her music career in the modern way by posting a song on social media that progressively helped build a following. In 2015, a fourteen year old Eilish recorded "Ocean Eyes", an atmospheric ballad written by her musician brother, Finneas O'Connell (who also co-wrote and produced her debut album, "When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?"), which found modest international success. More singles and an EP followed which lead to Eilish being signed to Interscope Records and her first album was dropped last March which reached number one of the Billboard Album chart.

Eilish refreshingly has no interest in falling in line with what is expected of a pop star, particularly a female vocalist. Dark, brooding and offbeat, she often wears oversized clothing, wildly colored hair and toys with goth imagery. And her music features provocative and confrontational lyrics paired with bold, distinctive beats. While the young singer does bring to mind Lorde and Lana Del Rey with her quirky and ethereal vocals, Eilish is far edgier and delivers her own singular style. Here are a few of Eilish's singles including "lovely", her duet with Khalid and the video for breakout single, "Ocean Eyes":

SUMMER GIRL

While it would seem late in the season to release a song about summer, this terrific new single by the sister act, Haim is not exactly referring to the weather. "Summer Girl" was actually inspired by the band's producer Ariel Rechtshaid (who is also Danielle Haim's boyfriend) and his early-stage cancer diagnosis. She wanted to be his "summer girl" to bring him hope and light when he was feeling down during treatment and a song was created. The sisters enlisted musician, Rostam Batmanglij (formerly of Vampire Weekend) for help on the track and he contributed the distinctive saxophone part. Although they later felt it was a little too similar to the sound of Lou Reed's "Walk On The Wild Side", Haim resolved that by giving the late rocker a songwriting credit. And Rechtshaid himself added a few touches to complete the track. Take a look at the whimsical music video for "Summer Girl" directed by filmmaker, Paul Thomas Anderson and was shot at some sites familiar to L.A. residents at the New Beverly Cinema, Canter's Deli and on Ventura Blvd:

RANDOM SIGHTS + SOUNDS

I'm sure many of you are well aware of Mark Wahlberg, the Oscar-nominated movie star who appeared in such films as "Boogie Nights", "The Departed", "The Italian Job", "The Fighter" and "Ted". But how many of you remember when Wahlberg was Marky Mark and a part of the Funky Bunch? Back in 1991, a twenty-year old Mark released the rap hip-house single, "Good Vibrations" (co-written and produced by his older brother, Donnie who was a member of New Kids On The Block at the time) with his group which went to number one of the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. While Wahlberg would release two albums with the Funky Bunch and a project with the late reggae performer, Prince Ital Joe, this million-selling song would be the highlight of his music career. Let's go back and listen to Marky Mark's hit as well as the 1980 disco single, "Love Sensation" by Loleatta Holloway which a sample is used as the hook on his song :





I guess country rap is now officially a genre. Following the incredible success of Lil Nas X's, "Old Town Road", Blanco Brown has brought us "The Git Up", another country-flavored hip-hop tune.  Brown, an Atlanta-raised producer who has worked with Chris Brown, Fergie and Pitbull, has been a big fan of hip-hop and country music and decided the time was right to merge the two vastly different genres. "The Git Up" has become a crossover sensation and managed to achieve what Lil Nas X could not; Brown's track reached the top of the Hot Country Songs chart. There is even a dance created for the song so check out music video so you can learn the moves:



Here are a few new tunes I'm in to right now:











And finally, here is an obscure musical pairing I never would have imagined but it absolutely works. While going down the YouTube rabbit hole, I stumbled upon the Welsh sex-symbol, Tom Jones and Broadway star turned r&b vocalist, Stephanie Mills singing together on a sensual cover of Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway's "The Closer I Get To You". I have no idea when or where this was done beyond it must have been performed sometime in the '80's. Their vocals are on fire and it's really a great version of the song:

MESHELL NDEGEOCELLO: LIVE

While a large, enthusiastic crowd gathered at Dodger Stadium for Paul McCartney's final U.S. tour stop on July 13th, I attended a more intimate concert by Meshell Ndegeocello at the Ford Theatre which was filled with an equally excited audience. Since her 1993 debut, "Plantation Lullabies", Ndegeocello (which means "free like a bird" in Swahili) has been thrilling us with her blend of jazz-infused, funky r&b and has been hailed as the the spark of the neo-soul movement.

On the road to promote her latest album, "Ventriloquism", the fifty year old performer has decided look back at pop and soul songs that inspired her through the years yet delivers each of them with her own special vibe. The concert largely consisted of material from this record with her live versions of Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam's, "I Wonder If I Take You Home", Al B. Sure's "Nite and Day", the TLC classic, "Waterfalls", Force MDs' , "Tender Love" and particularly the George Clinton song, "Atomic Dog" being twisted and mellowed yet still retaining the power of the originals.

Soft-spoken and low-key, the singer and bass player kept the conversation to a minimum. Ndegeocello really only spoke to acknowledge the love she was feeling from the crowd and how much she appreciated everyone coming out to see her. She simply allowed the music to communicate everything she wanted and with her small yet tight band, Jebin Bruni on keyboards, Christopher Bruce on guitar and drummer, Abraham Rounds, they were able to recreate some extraordinary sounds that smoothly washed over us. With the open-air stage at the bottom of a hill and birds (and helicopters) soaring over head, Ndegeocello was aided by this natural setting to deliver a serene show that left everyone in a wonderful mood.

ORIGINALS

The one thing you could say about Prince, the late great artist who brought witty and lusty funk-rock to pop music, is that he liked to stay busy. He was incredibly prolific, churning out music at a pace that seemed almost inhuman. There were rumors that Prince had a vault filled with unreleased material as he was unable to put it all out for fear by his record label of releasing too much music. And the most amazing part was that almost all of these extra songs that have managed to slip out over time were actually good, more than worthy to have appeared on any of his albums.

One example is "Erotic City", the now classic jam from 1984 that was simply put as a B-side to the single of "Let's Go Crazy" from the "Purple Rain" soundtrack. Prince would continue to put many interesting songs as B-sides of his singles and eventually put some of his most popular ones on the 1993 box-set of his first greatest hits collection as a bonus CD.

And other thing about Prince is that he liked to share. He was more than willing to provide music for artists that he admired like Chaka Khan, Sheena Easton and Patti LaBelle as well as lending a helping hand to many new musicians he would introduce that would go on to find some success like Sheila E, Vanity 6, and The Time.

"Originals" is the latest posthumous release, following last year's "Piano and a Microphone 1983", which features the demos of fifteen songs by Prince that he wrote and gave to other artists. This collection features his versions of Apollonia 6's "Sex Shooter"; "Jungle Love" and "Gigolos Get Lonely Too" which would be recorded by The Time; "You're My Love" that country music artist, Kenny Rogers would perform and "Manic Monday" which would become the breakout single for the rock band, The Bangles. And then there's "Nothing Compares 2 U" that was originally given to the band he formed called The Family which they recorded on their 1985 self-titled album before Sinéad O'Connor covered it five years later and made it a worldwide hit. Prince's demo version appears here on this album but it has been released previously. Enjoy a few examples to see how fully formed these songs were in demo and how he could have easily released these versions: