Cleo Sol - Borderline

After 'Never The Right Time' Cleo Sol has been on a lot of people's radar, but it seems she has been pretty much undetectable since her August dropping of 'Code To Crack' with Scrufizzer and Toddla T. Well, she is back now, and to compensate for her brief absence on the sound waves, she has given us a 3-in-1 treat with new track Boderline where she has combined Kendrick Lamar's "The Recipie", Aaliyah's "More Than A Woman" and The Fugees "Ready Or Not" then seasoning it by laying down her own flavours.

Her vocals delicately grace 3 classic tracks from 3 generations and she has managed to add some of her classic SOuL to your time travelling experience making it a smooth ride. Her vocals are a spa session to my ears - soft, sultry and strong enough to stay significant in the presence of 3 ionic tracks while doing them justice.

Oh and you can download it..for free. Sounds even better.
 

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Miguel - How Many Drinks ft. Kendrick Lamar

Miguel goes down in the book with the likes of Bobby Valentino in the chapter of borderline offensive lines that still weirdly sound romantic. I'd say Bobby Valention's: "Slow down, I just wanna get to know you, but don't turn around 'cos that pretty round thing is good to me" makes you feel at least a bit more 'worth it' than "you look good, and yeah I got money but I don't wanna waste my time" from Miguel. But, albeit his dodgy lines, Mr Miguel has mastered sounding like an a** yet making you think "Miguelo Miguelo, where for art thou Miguelo?" at the same time. A good slow jam needs that va-va-voom passion, which Miguel formulates perfectly with his sweet tenderness balanced with blunt sourness. A TRUE slowjam though, is defined by peppermint-spray-in-the-eyes-worthy-chat-up-lines actually sounding like Shakespeare's finest sonnet. And that's exactly what How Many Drinks does.

After 'Adorn', 'How Many Drinks' was my FAVOURITE song off Kaleidoscope Dream, so when I found out it was being released I was happy happy happy. When I heard Kendrick was featuring though, I was a bit wary. I love Mr Lamar but I didn't think the song needed to be or should be tampered with. However, Kendrick pulled it off managing to match the boyish/cheeky side to the song, laying his verse over what was originally Miguel's half-rap. I like that the verse was really Kendrick-ish, even adding in a few "Swimming Pool" references but still actually relevant to the song. God knows how many remixes I've heard when an artist has jumped on a track with lyrics that don't fit with any part of the track except the rhyme scheme. Good job Kendrick, you didn't kill the vibe (harhar).

When I imagined the video to this song, I imagined there would be some sort of story set in a club with a few slick slides across the dance floor over to the bar where the pretty girl is standing. Instead they opted for the whole performance visual, which I think is a missed opportunity and a lazy lick of the envelope to seal a damn-good-package. I will be positive though, and say I like the way Kendrick throws the mic at the end of his verse and Miguel catches it - yeah, I'm amused by the little things... (and NO, that "little things" was not in reference to Kendrick - although he does look like an ikkle cutie in this video).

But yes, although the video isn't "extraordinary" and I think a lot more could have been done with it, it's the closest we'll get to being serenaded by Miguel... *sigh*

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Angel - About Time

If this album is your first experience of Angel, you'll think of him covered in tats, rocking the Trapstar hoodie and sporting the Nike Air Max - then you'll ready yourself to nod your head to a few gully beats underneath his stories of the struggle. Press play on his debut album and you will hear the sultry sounds of Angel's vocal pouring out your speakers and coating your eardrums.

Not to say he hasn't seen the mean side of the streets, but with this being a more commercial catalouge of his talents he had to replace the slight grittier, not-so-clean-cut side of his music with songs more focused on the struggles...of love, that is. That doesn't mean he didn't keep it real but About Time really is an album to show off Angel's musical capabilities (which are high) as well as appeal to a wider audience.

My favourite aspect of the album in general is the choice of collabs. Personally, this is one of the ways I feel he kept this body of work real. He has used artists that have helped nurture/maintain the originality and rawness of his music - the collaboration with H.I.M (his breddaaa from EARLY) is a display of the strength of the grip Angel has maintained on his roots - despite stretching to the heights of writing with Frank Ocean on the album. I love the link up with George the Poet because I love George the Poet. I think we could have done with a bit more George the Poet because I felt this was the only structure we really got on the album. After listening to Angel's commentary I realised I hadn't clocked the story hidden in this album. But then again this is Angel's body of work, not George's. Plus, as I said, this album wasn't primarily made to tell a story but to get his music out there. If people are interested enough, the commentary tells the story just fine.

For me there aren't tracks to top his previous works Ride Out and Forget About It. Circles In Squares and More Fire are probably my favourite tracks.  More Fire has got that energy - goooooood energy and the stronger and more powerful vocals deliver it well. Shakka was the perfect collab for this track helping build that organicity. Circles in Squares, is a different story - so calm. The subtlety and softness in his voice that plays with the ear is perfect. These two tracks come one after the other and not only show that Mr Charles can not only sing but sannnng, but also show his versatility in what he can create as a songwriter/producer too - a true musican.

I was anticipating this album to make movements in the progression of the UK urban music scene. R&B has never really broken into the commercial scene. I wouldn't describe Angel as a typical sweet-boy R&B artist. He's always had a little edgy vibe to him and his sound has always had that street influence. This vibe still vibrates through the album with that fusion of pop. He is not only helping the R&B genre break through the chart, but he has made his own mark by switching it up. He's complied a group of fresh, quality tracks. Some tracks are worthy of a sly shoulder shimmy on the bus while you vibes through your headphones and some are perfect to serenade me with (that's a demand not a hint, Angel).

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Angel - The World

Angel is one of those artists that when he brings out a track I want more straight away. After yet another mixtape (because there have been that many) 'Inbetween Time', my iTunes was definitely refreshed. To think that the tracks he delivered on 'Inbetween Time' were just mixtape tracks, hopefully means his debut album is going to follow suit and have the same effect...that is when he actually decides to drop it, because he did say it was going to drop July 2012...erm, yeah safe.

The World has brought us one step close to About Time. Within the first few seconds of the instrumental to it you'll think: club banger. But match it to the visual and it makes it something totally different. I can't even front - I got emotional. Starring Zaraah Abrahams, the video tells a love story and trust me it gets deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep! The fact the audio and the visual of the song contrast so much but compliment so well shows that Angel's edgy fusion of R&B and Pop is definitely going to have a positive influence on the scene. It's fresh and filling a gap that has been wide open for a while now. I have always been an Angel fan, but since meeting him (he is even prettier in real life - I swear) at SBTV-Xmas and watching him perform live, it hit me how talented he really is. He is got a good energy and he channels that through his music fo' sure.

So yeah, check out his new video here... p.s if you're a sap, you might want to grab a tissue

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The Music Scene So Far

Remember back in 2010 when JLS and Tinie Tempah release Eyes Wide Shut? They were probably the 2 biggest Urban music acts we had out there with mainstream success... and JLS weren’t didn’t even make urban music.

 But now when I switch on Capital FM (which I admit isn't often) I’m hearing Wiley, Wretch and Sway. Now to be fair, we’ve always had people in the Urban music charts - think So Solid Crew. But who else from them days had chart success and made a big enough impression for us to remember their names?

…Stop trying to think of names. Very few is the answer. Now just read on...

Recently the urban music scene has achieved a new type success, in which we don't just have one hit wonders, but artists that are creating history and are here to stay. I’d say we have to go back to the start of 2010 to find where this started...‘Pass Out’. 

Now this has been a progression, and it wasn't just this one song that changed the whole scene. Without the success of artists from way back such as Craig David, Dizzee or Tinchy from not long before, I don’t think it would have been as easy for Tinie Tempah to make such an sudden impact. But ‘Pass Out’ certainly gave the game a boost and opened the ears of the music industry.  

The success of Tinie and Labrinth with that track did many things. It connected mainstream music to the latest of underground urban music scene. Tinie was a grime artist before his chart success, and with Pass Out, he opened the music industry to the genre and made it accessible and available on a mainstream level. People who hadn’t even heard of grime or brushed it off with that same old guns, gangs and drugs stereotype, now saw a different side to the whole genre and culture... and actually enjoyed it! Not only that, but it inspired other artists on the underground that it was possible to break through the charts. Wiley has even said when talking about his recent success, that seeing people like Tinie Tempah having their success inspired him and made him believe it was possible. It does seem exaggerated, but it’s true. A year ago, did you ever think you’d see Wiley on a Now 83 CD?

After Tinie broke through, we got a whole bunch of artists hitting the charts with songs influenced from the bars they spit on Tottenham streets and beats they produced in their bedroom. Plan B, Wretch 32, Skepta all have had chart success and are now names that even your mum will recognise. 

Now I realise I’ve mainly just been talking about Grime, but I feel this is the one genre under the urban branch that has grown, evolved and made the most progress recently. It has been the dominant UK urban genre which has developed from some of our most prominent genres: bassline, dancehall, garage, drum and bass with, ofcourse, the influence of Hip Hop. 

But what is better, we’ve had other genres breaking through to, with the likes of Angel, Delilah and Katy B (to name JUST a few) and introducing not only a UK take on some of the USA's most popular genres, but they are even creating sounds so fresh and different it is hard to label them.

Giggs - one of the underground's finest is should be releasing
an album soon... it'll be interesting to see if anything he puts
out will make chart impact.

Like I said before, we’ve always had people from the Urban music scene in and out of the charts but I feel like urban music as a whole is being taken more seriously as a genre and a culture. SBTV, a company that began with Jamal Edwards filming MC’s spraying in the middle of the estate, is now a renowned and respected brand. People are beginning to understand more about the whole culture, and with that they understand the music and are more willing to listen to it. With this shift in the behaviour, the artists born out of urban music and culture are not only making an impact, but one that is lasting and they are staying there.

No I know there will be some of you saying something along the lines of “*insert artist here* is a sell out now”, but no one said it was perfect. It is progression and we are getting there. We’re a long way from being like the USA, where some of the realest Hip Hop and sweetest slow jams hold the number 1 spot but we’re getting there. If turning a bit mainstream is what it takes to hold a spot in the charts right now, then so be it… we can “re-evolve” later. All I'm saying is, I'm excited to see what happens in 2013.

p.s apologies for saying Urban so much...I know..it was probably as annoying as Tulisa's "Urban roots" *bbm cover's face*

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