Man I love what the kids are doing with Black music. I’m not sure what else to call it… it’s new music being put out by young, Black people but it does not fit in any strict category.
When I first heard Miguel I knew something good was happening and I needed more of it. I immediately started digging in the digital crates and scooped up all the joints I could find. Went in even deeper on his second album [do we still call them albums?] Then I stumbled onto The Weeknd and I was hooked on what he was doing. This dude had tracks all over the internet and I just kept grabbing them. I’m not talking about “I Can’t Feel My Face” Weeknd [cool track but he doesn’t have anything else that sounds like that – surprise! new audience – he mostly sings about drugs and sex… and cusses A LOT], I’m talking about “High For This,” “Next” Weeknd. This dude is clearly on some next shit… the grooves, the sparse tracks, the crazy falsetto. His stuff is almost mesmerizing enough to make you forget you wouldn’t let your sister get within 500 miles of him. Almost. Miguel is more accessible, but he still breaks boundaries, blends styles and gets a little raw too.
This is not R&B or even neo-soul but what it is for me is an alternative to the popular music that has left me behind. I can’t really mess with hip-hop right now [though there is the occasional single that gives me hope.] What is being offered up as R&B is embarrassing for the most part. For every cut I like there are 100 that sound ridiculous to my ears.
So I’ve been fiendin’ for some more of that new but have been coming up short [except for this.] Until I stumbled on The Internet. I’m pretty sure I heard Under Control from their third album, Ego Death, on XM, Shazam’d it and copped it that same night. It immediately became my new favorite song. Now despite grabbing the whole album I just elected to wear out Under Control. It was neo-soul, it was acid jazz [took me back to some Brand New Heavies] it had a dope drum pattern and a catchy guitar lick, Syd’s vocals were the cherry on top. I probably assumed they didn’t have anything else that could mess with this [XM has burned me before.] I was wrong. Despite having this album for five months I just listened to it all the way through this week. Now I can’t stop. I am mad. At myself. I could have been vibin’ to Ego Death for the last five[!] months, ’cause, yes, I would still be playing it. As I listened to the album it became clear it did not belong in any category I might have been tempted to slot it in. It wasn’t really neo-soul or acid jazz, but. it had some of those elements. As much as anything else it’s a hip-hop album, a trip-hop album, a smoothed-out, groove-heavy, funky album… it’s like neo, neo-soul. It has an attitude but it also has grooves. And it gives zero apologies, as Syd sings on Under Control, “fuck a critic’s advice…” – they don’t really care what you think if you ain’t down.
Get Away opens the album with a driving kick, a thumping bassline and the Syd lyric “Now she wanna fuck with me…” those first few seconds pretty much sum up what you are about to experience. Smooth and raw and a little unexpected. It’s criminal that this song is only 2:29. Gabby, track 2, helps you get over that some ’cause it’s also pretty dope. All is forgiven by track 3, Under Control. By the time this joint gets to cut #7, Girl, The Internet have you where they want you. Girl is getting some shine on the radio right now so you may know what’s up. To call this track smooth is just lazy. This joint is butter. And honey. It’s honey butter. Like so many of their songs, the cut is pretty simple – a stripped down track, minimal vocals, no gimmicks but it. just. works. In case you thought they were done Special Affair slinks in with its funky bassline and Syd’s haunting lyrics sounding all types of sexy – yeah, this ain’t a fluke… The Internet has joints! I don’t care who she is signing to, it sounds good to me.
Ego Death signals a group finding its groove and riding it out. It has the perfect blend of old, new and next, I hope this is a direction they move in for a minute. Intrigued, I copped their second album, Feel Good; a nice album and worth picking up but it’s not this. It’s like once you see someone master a skill you have no desire to watch their practice videos. All I want to see now is where they go from here.
If you like the new wave of Alt-Soul [we’ll keep trotting out terms until we land on something] then get on this, if not, buy it anyway. You need Ego Death in your life.
