With an opening track that ruminates on an extended sample of one of the most melodramatic songs in soul music history the Chi-Lites The Coldest Day Of My Life Quiet Village serve notice that theyre the newest contestants in the two-decade-old practice of retrofitting vintage soul music for contemporary ears. Following a trail blazed by Coldcut and Pete Rock, records like these usually consist of well-chosen samples barely bumped with extraneous production touches. The epic nature of the source material speaks for itself but gains new meaning in its tweaked context. Theres a fine line between wholesale thievery and the right amount of new ideas, which makes such projects difficult to pull off. When it works, it sounds effortless. Song titles like Too High To Move and Keep On Rolling indicate what frame of mind you should be in to appreciate this. (K7)
Estelle -
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The endless months of next best thing web buzz no doubt culminating in a lead-off single featuring guaranteed success bringer Kanye West certainly assured that Brit R&B stalwart Estelles first North American release would get attention. But the singer/rapper/producer has seized on the moment
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Weezer. For her.
A prolific, popular group for 16 years, Weezer must be aware that fans cite their 1994 self-titled debut and its 1996 follow-up, Pinkerton, as their best works....
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Kick-Ass 3292 (Matthew Vaughn) Kick-Ass an intense superhero movie based on an indie book by comics vet Mark Millar doesn't just want to play in the big boys' sandbox; it wants to piss in it and run away giggling. Reasoning that if people want to be Paris Hilton, why can't they want to be Spider-Man, high school nerd...Full Review
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Blitz The Ambassador -
In stamping his latest musical endeavour with the one artistic trait he most seeks to vanquish, Ghana-born lyricist and musician Blitz has ensured the goal of avoiding run-off-the-mill hip-hop conventions would never leave his line of sight. As such, Stereotype places high emphasis on live,...
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