weekend:

feature roundup (issue#7)

May 31st, 2009; 9:25 pm (GMT+8) 0


Our feature editor, Rickified has been vomitting out features almost everyday during weekdays. Other than that we have a spanish feature column - Columna Española. And also other nonsensical things that we call features.

p/s This issue i featured stuff that have been posted for the past 2 weeks

A recap of features posted this week:
dirrtyfeature:

Esmée Denters "Outta Here" Album Review

May 29th, 2009; 4:28 pm (GMT+8) 0




"Outta Here" is the debut studio album by Dutch R&B/Pop artist Esmée Denters. It is released on May 22nd 2009 in the Netherlands. The US release date is still unknown yet. Esmée is the first artist signed to Justin Timberlake's record label Tennman Records in association with Interscope Records and Universal Records.

First Impressions

rickified:
Ok, I know that I've overhyped this album a little. With "Outta Here" sounding so good as the lead single, expectations are definitely high. This album is a mix of Pop and R&B with both ballads, and uptempo tracks. Plus working with with well-known producers and writers, such as Danja, Polow Da Don, Justin Timberlake, Ryan Tedder and Stargate would allow us to think that this album will be filled with hits. It does, but it does have some bland moments too.

Standout Tracks

  • Admit It
    It sounds like what Ashley Tisdale would do for her Headstrong era kinda stuff. Not bad I guess.

  • Victim
    Esmée co-wrote it with Ryan Tedder and produced by Ryan, chorus is like a lite version of "Halo". A girl power anthem.

  • Outta Here
    Been ranting and raving about this song, what's not to like about it. Heavy beats, destined to be a banger. Co-produced by Polow Da Don and Justin Timberlake, a great lead single.

  • Love Dealer
    Co-produced by Stargate and Justin Timberlake, it's my fave song from the album. Uncredited vocal appearance by Justin. Hypnotic beats, THIS SHOULD BE RELEASE AS A SINGLE!!!! An instant catcher, I could memorise the song within a few listens. =)

  • Getting Over You
    A nice midtempo. Love the part when Esmée and Justin sings in harmony, even it's not on the verses. An interesting detail though.

  • Just Can't Have It
    Another great production by Stargate, this mid-tempo ballad doesn't sound like "Irreplaceable", which is good. =)

  • Bigger Than The World
    Produced by The Y's (Justin's Production team), it does have Justin's signature sound on the instrumental.

Final Verdict

rickified:
Nothing groundbreaking with this album, but it's definitely above average compared to some recent releases. Being a pop-lite album with R&B influences, it's hip enough and fits into the current Top 40 format just right. =)

Rating

rickified:        


Recommended Tracks



artist of the month:

Ciara

May 28th, 2009; 11:26 pm (GMT+8) 0


I'm sure everyone would be familar with Ciara. For those who ain't, I've compiled some background info about her music career, starting from the highly successful "Goodies" album. But first, some random fact about her. Born in Austin, Texas on October 25th 1985 (she's turns 24 this year), with her birth name known as Ciara Princess Harris. That's interesting, but she is known just as Ciara.

During her early years in life, Ciara stated that watching Destiny's Child perform on a TV program at home inspired her to pursue a career in music. Later on, she found a "musical soulmate" when she met producer Jazze Pha, who would eventually produce her debut hit single, "Goodies". After Ciara graduted from High School, she was signed by LaFace Records (Pink's record label too) with the help of Jazze Pha. She began production on her debut album.

Goodies Era
Goodies is the debut album by Ciara and was released on Spetember 28th 2004 in the US and January 24th 2005 in the UK. The album focuses on mid-tempo R&B songs, hip hop-influenced dance tracks, catchy pop hooks and smooth ballads. She's one of the artists who started the Crunk & B craze, along with Usher (Yeah!). Ciara co-wrote a demo with songwriter Sean Garrett, who was co-writer of Usher's "Yeah!" and Hip-hop-crunk producer Lil Jon heard the demo and wanted to record the full song which became "Goodies".

The album spawned 4 singles. Lead single "Goodies" featuring Petey Pablo, 2nd single "1, 2 Step" featuring Missy Elliott, 3rd single "Oh" featuring Ludacris and 4th single "And I". "Goodies" reached number one in US and UK. The second and third single "1, 2 Step" and "Oh" peaked at the number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. "And I", the fourth single, did poorly compared to the first three releases. The song peaked at 96 on the Billboard Hot 100. Ciara also appeared on Missy Elliott's "Lose Control" from her album "The Cookbook" and won her first Grammy Award for "Best Short Form Music Video" for it.

Ciara: The Evolution Era
Ciara: The Evolution is the 2nd studio album by Ciara, released on December 5th 2006 in US on LaFace and the Zomba Label Group. It was released in the UK on April 9th 2007. The album debuted at number 1 on the Billboard 200 Album chart and the singles from the album are "Get Up", which features rapper Chamillionaire and also appears on the Step Up soundtrack, the top twenty singles "Promise" (which is Ciara’s first single to enter the top twenty without a featured act) and "Like a Boy". "Can't Leave 'Em Alone" which features rapper 50 Cent, was the fourth and last single from the album.

Fantasy Ride Era
Ciara released a promo song called "Go Girl", which features T-Pain, who also produces the single. The single was released on September 30th 2008. It was later announced that the single's performance wasn't enough to ignite the album's release so the album was eventually pushed back to Spring 2009 and a new lead single would be chosen. The album was released in the United States on May 5th 2009. The album debuted at number 3 on the Billboard 200 chart, with 81,000 copies sold on the first week.

"Never Ever", the first official US single, was produced by Polow da Don and co-written by Ciara. The song, which features Young Jeezy, impacted radio on January 19th 2009. The single is more successful than "Go Girl" as the single reached number 66 on the Billboard Hot 100 and reached number 9 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.

"Love Sex Magic" is the second US single (but first elsewhere) from the album. The song features Justin Timberlake, who also co-wrote and co-produced the track alongside upcoming production team, The Y's. The single reached number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and the top 10 in other countries including the UK.

Currently, it was announced that Ciara will be the supporting act for Britney Spears world tour. She will serve as the opening act of her European Leg in June. In May 2009, Ciara announced that she will also be going on a 10-city summer tour with fellow rapper Jay-Z.

Future Singles
"Work" which features long-time friend and collaborator Missy Elliott was recently confirmed to be one of two songs that Ciara would be creating a music video for. The other song receiving video treatment is "Like a Surgeon", the news was confirmed on her official website. Currently there is no official release date for either song and it is unknown whether the singles will be released at the same time as a dual release or separately. On May 24, 2009 she used her Twitter to confirm the video for "Work" was complete. Hmm, for explaination, usually a music video would signify that the song will be a single. Most of the time that is. =)
upcoming freshies:

by
May 27th, 2009; 6:24 pm (GMT+8) 3




Here's another music act to look out for. If you've been following our weekly UK chart updates, they have their 2nd single, "In For The Kill", peaked at number 2. Now on for some brief info about them.

La Roux are a British electropop synth duo band made up of singer and synth player Elly Jackson, and co-writer co-producer Ben Langmaid, Their music is largely influenced by 1980s synth pop including Eurythmics, Depeche Mode, The Human League and Prince.

As for the origin of the group name, Elly claims to have found a book of baby names in a bin and within the book was there's a name La Roux, French for "red-haired one" (although the actual French would be "La Rousse").

Signed with major record label, Polydor, they are set to release La Roux's debut album in June 2009. But their first single, Quicksand, was released by the Kitsuné Music record label in November 2008.

La Roux's second single "In for the Kill" was released on 16 March 2009. Debuted at number 11 in the UK Singles Chart on 22 March 2009, which would eventually peaked at number 2.

La Roux were the supporting act on Lily Allen's UK tour in March 2009 and obtained the fifth position on the BBC's Sound of 2009 poll, amongst critics and the like.

Their genre of music is Electropop and Sythpop, which I really adore loads. I didn't really get on the hype of "In for the Kill", but their 3rd single changed my mind. "Bulletproof" is the third single by pop duo La Roux from their upcoming debut self-titled album and the song is to be digitally and physically released on June 15 2009. Love the video too. It's very artsy. I'm sure Bulletproof would do well as the followup. It's electropop/sythpop madness!!! My kinda stuff. =)

Both the Foamo and Zinc remix are the bomb. The Tepr mix is not bad, sounds like a dub with only the use of the chorus. Enjoy!!!

Remixes

Track

Music Video

rickified's rants:

Adele - Cold Shoulder

May 26th, 2009; 5:54 pm (GMT+8) 0




"Cold Shoulder" is the third single from Adele, released from her debut album "19". It was released in the UK on March 31, 2008. This song is produced by Mark Ronson. A remix byBasement Jaxx has also received airplay for the dance scene and is digitally available.

Quite a popular song back then in the UK, the Basement Jaxx and Out Of Office mix are featured in countless MOS (Ministry of Sound) compilations. But my fave of the lot is the Basement Jaxx mix. A fun remix. =)


Remixes

Track


Follow this blog

Get a weekly email of all new posts.