Tag: R&B

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Black Yacht Rock Club Shares Sleek and Soulful “Wishful”

Black Yacht Rock Club is a New York-based emerging supergroup of songwriters/musicians/producers and artists — Jerome Jordan (vocals, guitar), Justo Ontario (vocals), Phearnone (vocalist, emcee and violin), Ramsey Jones (drums, songwriter, arranger) and Entrfied The God of Sound (production, songwriting) — that specializes in blending a number of classic genres simultaneously with a contemporary twist.

Their latest single “Wistful” is a two-step inducing bit of synth-driven R&B and funk that will remind listeners of the likes of The Whispers, The Gap Band and contemporaries like Dam-Funk, Tuxedo and others, complete with a remarkably catchy hook and soulful crooning.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: TANSU Shares Sultry “DOWNTOWN”

Deriving her artist name from a Turkish term for the sun’s radiant touch on ocean waters just before sunrise, the emerging pop artist TANSU has a diverse and global cultural background with roots in Turkey and Ireland. She spent her formative years in London and Connecticut, had a stint in Boston for college, and has called NYC home for the past 13 years.

During that period, TANSU has carefully balanced her life between music and fashion, which she defines as performing arts. While working in fashion PR, she lent her vocals to numerous projects as a session and featured vocalist, most recently releasing “The Wash Up,” co-produced with Lars Viola. She also performs extensively around both lower and Manhattan, including a monthly residency at Lafolia Restaurant, every first Thursday.

Back in 2015, the emerging pop artist reconnected with American Authors‘ Dave Rublin, a college acquaintance. Since then, they’ve been writing and recording music together, including her latest single “DOWNTOWN,” which has been released through Rublin’s Little Planet Records.

Featuring skittering, trap-like beats and glistening synths serving as a silky bed for the emerging New York-based artist’s self-assured and sultry delivery. Seemingly indebted to the likes of The Weeknd, SZA, Beyoncé and others, the anthemic and hook-driven “DOWNTOWN” marks a new sonic direction for the emerging artist, while being informed by the bitter hurt of lived-in personal experience, so the song sees its narrator expressing confusion, hurt, pride and then forgiveness within a turn of a phrase.

“I wrote this song on the heels of ‘The First Big Fight’ with, who was then, my new boyfriend,” TANSU explains. ” It was weird, because I was treating the fight with one-night-nonchalance; kind of a, ‘don’t worry baby, I never liked you that much anyway’ type of feeling. Because that’s how you were SUPPOSED to feel when dating in the late 2010’s. ‘Grabbing my scars/ and then deciding just to walk out’ is a very intimate line. It questions how we can be intimate with someone, touch each others’ bodies, our scars, our souls, and then pretend that we can just move on. It’s hard to justify an intimate fling with your soul. ‘DOWNTOWN’ speaks to the juxtaposition of that mind fuck,” TANSU shares. She continues, “fresh from the fight, I needed some glorifying attention from someone else. So I went to the studio to go write something. Luckily my producer was also going through a situational something, so we came up with a sexy song while both sexually frustrated. We ended up going out to Three Diamond Door in Bushwick that night after that session.  The bridge is an interpretation of what happened after Three Diamond Door. We were buzzed, music made us dance, I got the attention I thought I wanted… but as soon as I stepped outside, I knew who I was calling.”   

The couple eventually recovered from that argument, and they got married this past weekend.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Lyric Video: Indonesia’s Rinni Wulandari Shares a Fun and Infectious Banger

Rinni Wulandari is a Medan, North Sumatra, Indonesia-born R&B and pop artist. Wulandari grew up in a musical family: her mother was a vocalist and her father was a bassist and her two older sisters and brother are also in the music industry. So for the Indonesian pop artist, it was natural — and maybe perhaps fated — for her to be involved in music.

As a child, Wulandari used to sing for any kind of school events, including talent shoes and singing contests. As a high schooler, she was the frontperson of a band with a cousin, who was a dummer. She also auditioned for Indonesian Idol back in 2007, when she had turned 17, and became the youngest participant to ever win at the time.

In 2014, Wulandari came up with a new image for herself and transformed from pop singer to R&B singer. Since then she’s released four successful albums in her native Indonesia — 2014’s Independent Part 1, 2017’s I Am Independent and Independent Part 2, 2021’s Skins.

The Indonesian R&B and pop artist’s latest single “switch,” is the first bit of new material from Wulandari since the release of 2021’s critically applauded Skins. The song’s origins can be traced back to Wulandari struggling with insomnia during her pregnancy. Her spouse, producer and DJ Jevin Julian quickly recognized that her insomnia made her unproductive, and encouraged her to transform her sleepless nights to an opportunity to create new music.

“switch” pairs the Indonesian artist’s sultry delivery with a sleek house music-inspired production featuring glistening synth arpeggios and skittering tweeter and woofer rattling beats paired with euphoric hooks. Wulandari explains that “switch” delivers a powerful message to today’s youth, urging them to cherish their carefree moments, a time when responsibilities are minimal and freedom is abundant — and life is unburdened by responsibilities, obligations and commitments. The song was inspired by Wulandari’s nostalgia for own her youth, hanging out with friends and not stressed out over everything. But underlying all of that is a song that’s just a fun, night out at the club kind of banger.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy Belated 67th Birthday, Larry Blackmon!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms belated celebrates Larry Blackmon’s 67th birthday.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy Belated 82nd Birthday, Ronald Isley!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms belatedly celebrates Ronald Isley’s 82nd birthday.

singer/songwriters by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy Belated 81st Birthday, Taj Mahal!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms belatedly celebrates Taj Mahal’s 81st birthday.

singer/songwriters by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 73rd Birthday, Stevie Wonder!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Stevie Wonder’s 73rd birthday.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Sôra is an emerging Paris-born, Montréal-based singer/songwriter and composer. After completing studies in Modern Languages, music and jazz vocal, the Paris-born, Montréal-based artist sang in a number of different bands before stepping out into the spotlight as a solo artist with her debut EP 2018’s Number One.

Her full-length debut, 2021’s Long Life to Phil was written as a tribute to her father Phillipe — and was released through Colligence Records.

“You Love Me,” is the first bit of original material since the release of Long Life to Phil is a slickly bit of contemporary R&B/soul built around skittering trap beats, woozy and wobbling low end paired with the emerging Canadian-based artist’s sultry delivery. Inspired by the likes of Brent Faiyaz, Snoh Aalegra, and Jorja Smith, the new single is a wildly accessible bop but rooted in seemingly lived-in experience with Sôra expressing longing and frustration. “It reflects the difficulties one encounters in a relationship where love isn’t expressed the same way,” she explains.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 84th Birthday, Marvin Gaye!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 84th anniversary of Marvin Gaye’s birth.

Video by William Ruben Helms

Throwback: Happy 81st Birthday, Aretha Franklin!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 81st anniversary of Aretha Franklin’s birth.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Two More from Acclaimed Canadian Producer Harrison

This past weekend, I was busy covering the fourth edition of The New Colossus Festival. I managed to cover roughly 32.5 — 32.5! — sets of music in some way or another and interview two up-and-coming artists. And for my efforts, I managed to catch a terrible cold that has knocked me on my ass for the past couple of days. I’ve had odd bursts of energy here and there, and when I’ve had one, I’ve tried my best to get some work done. The show must go on, right?

So let’s get to the business at hand.

Harrison Robinson, best known as the mononymic Harrison is a 27-year-old, acclaimed Toronto-based jazz and R&B composer, musician and producer got his start making beats and uploading sample-heavy songs on SoundCloud, where he found a following and global community of like-minded producers and collaborators including Ryan Hemsworth, Star Slinger, and a list of others. 

His first two critically applauded albums, 2016’s Juno Award-nominated Checkpoint Titanium and 2018’s Juno Award-nominated Apricity, which revealed his versatility as a musician and producer, lead to him producing for some of Canada’s most forward-thinking, boundary-pushing artists including al l i e, Daniela Andrade, DijahSB, Sean Leon and Juno Award-winning artist TOBi, among a list of others. 

Over the past couple of years, the Toronto-based musician, composer and producer has been busy: He has released a string of standout songs, including last year’s “Outta This World” with TOBi. He also released a couple of instrumental singles, “Around You’ and “Like When We Were Kids,” which amassed over 3 million combined streams globally. The acclaimed Torontonian has also been busy with compositional work with Nintendo Switch’s LOUD and commercials for NERF and Play-Doh.

Harrison started off 2023 with two singles:

  • “Float,” feat. Kahdja Bonet, a slow-burning, Quiet Storm-meets-throbbing funk number built around tweeter and woofer rattling boom bap-like beats, a sinuous bass line, glistening synths paired with Bonet’s ethereal and sultry cooing. Fittingly, “Float” is a seemingly effortless love song that captures the dizzy swooning of new love but while subtly acknowledging the inherent uncertainty and fear we all feel. 

  • “A View From The Sky,” a  J. Dilla beat-tape-meets-bop jazz instrumental rooted in a swinging arrangement of twinkling keys, stuttering yet propulsive drumming, fluttering synths that’s simultaneously meditative and head banging. 

Both tracks see the acclaimed Canadian musician, composer and producer boldly pushing his sound into new directions while retaining the elements that have won him acclaim. Fittingly, the Canadian producer, composer and musician’s highly-anticipated, self-produced, third album Birds, Bees, The Clouds & The Trees, which is slated for an April 28, 2023 release through Last Gang Records, will reportedly continuing to demonstrate the evolution of his sound and approach over the past couple of years. .

Drawing from his artistic roots, love of old cartoon and musical influences ranging from instrumental hip-hop beat tapes to American jazz piano, like Vince Guaraldi’s Charlie Brown scores, the album is reportedly a nostalgic ode to the music that Harrison dreamed about making as a kid. But much like his previously released work, the forthcoming album sees a collection of guests seamlessly stepping into the acclaimed Canadian producer”s technicolored world.

Yesterday, Harrison shared two more tracks off the album:

“Bump,” a funky pimp strut built around twinkling Rhodes, a soulful and strutting bass line and stuttering boom bap that’s roomy enough for MED and one of my favorite emcees Guilty Simpson to trade coolly swaggering bars focusing on the endless hustle, keeping hackstabberrs and deceitful people out of your life, and so on.

“‘Bump’ Is a love letter to some of my favorite rappers growing up,” Harrison explains in press notes. “MED and Guilty have been huge influences on me since I was 16. Understanding their beat choices on producers they worked with was a really helpful growing tool. The instrumental for ‘BUMP’ was actually originally different. They found the pocket I was looking for on this new joint. I’m floored that they were kind enough to join me on this album.

“Inthecoupe” is strutting and funky bop with a playful air. Rooted in layers of fluttering and brassy synth arpeggios and twinkling keys, “Inthecoupe” recalls Dam-Funk and Cy Gorman‘s Carmen, “‘Inthecoupe’ is a reminder to myself to not be so serious all the time. My love for jazz is very deep but I still love making fun dance music. A playful song revolving around a brass synth and a bounce.”