Everybody knows Motown was great, but few realize what an incubator the entire City of Detroit was for soul music in its heyday. For each artist on Berry Gordy’s label there were several more just as good who went with another major, or with a smaller, local indie. Some made their names in r&b, vocal groups or gospel before evolving into soul; others started in soul but had their greatest impact in funk. But even… more »
At eMusic, we take pride in being the place you hear about artists first. Whether it's through our eMusic Selects program - which brought you the first releases by Best Coast, Crystal Stilts, Strand of Oaks and more - or our Breaking Artist features, our editorial team is always on the grind to bring you the best new artists first. Our eMerging Artists station is your chance to be first on the Next Big Thing. more »
The office folks at Righteous Babe Records put this playlist together for eMusic. It has some choice songs from the Righteous Babe catalog but also some friends, openers and influencers we either work with or just plain like to play. Hope you enjoy! more »
Whether your tastes skew toward classics by The Smiths and Wilco or current cutting edge tastemakers like Sleigh Bells and Neon Indian, you're sure to discover something you love on Indie Hits, Past & Present. more »
While the legendary voices of such jazz icons as Billie, Ella and Sarah still ring true, subsequent generations of female jazz vocalists have taken the music in new directions, especially in the '90s, ranging from Cassandra Wilson's new-standard caress to Diana Krall's classics with a twist. Taking their lead, young singers over the last decade have been swinging the vocal tradition onto a new plateau with a pop sensibility. In the mix are tunes by… more »
This mix is not for the faint of heart, so all you groovy geezers take it easy with this one, and let the Daptone crew guide you through a soulful journey of some of our favorite party starters, and late night movers.
Get ready, cause we're gonna swing folks. There's a Happening going down in Bushwick, and we here at Daptone Records would like to share it with you. You don't have to be hip, but… more »
Nirvana and Pearl Jam. This is who you'll hear about when the topic of Seattle's music scene is brought up in a historical context. It makes sense. Alternative music has always been the face of the Seattle scene. But before Kurt and Eddie, there was Ray and Quincy and Jimi. Seattle has soul, and the hip-hop community in the 206 is the living proof. They love their hometown and the music reflects that. "Townfolk Hip-Hop"… more »
Turn your subwoofer into an impact crater. The best new and classic Drum & Bass, Dubstep and Jungle with smatterings of IDM and downtempo. Leaning towards the dark end of the spectrum, the only hard rule is it must have massive amounts of low end. You will be guaranteed to drive your neighbors insane with Mortar Bass Bomb. more »
After Elvis went into the Army and before the British Invasion, the years 1958-63 were rock's forgotten years. But they were the years that shaped the musical tastes of baby boomers and of acts from the Beatles and Rolling Stones to Bruce Springsteen and the Ramones. Hear the dance sensations, the one-hit-wonders, the girl groups and doo-wop singers, surfers and rockabilly twangers, the birth of Motown, the evolution of R&B into soul and so much… more »
One of those rare remix albums that exceeds expectations, DJ Spooky’s Creation Rebel is a “Re-Mixed, Re-Visioned, and Re-Versioned” journey through the Trojan Records vaults with the experimental maverick bringing the spirit of the legendary reggae label into the laptop age. Spooky may add modern beats, hip-hop influenced scratching, and other manipulations only possible with computers, but what makes this album so special is how Trojan the whole thing sounds, as if the label was jettisoned into the future with all their dirty six-foot bass cabinet charm intact. By opening with the same Mad Professor sample the Orb used for their chillout room classic “Blue Room,” Spooky immediately connects the dots between electronica and Jamaican music, making the same argument he introduced in 2003 with Dubtometry and then continued in 2006 with In Fine Style, his unmixed Trojan compilation. In the liner notes, Creation Rebel features another essay by Spooky that relates modern sampling and turntablism to the Jamaican style of borrowing riddims along with the sound system culture of early dancehall. His insight is well appreciated and thought provoking, but the richest reward here is the music. Whether the DJ is shaking the rafters with an especially aggressive mix of “Under Mi Sleng Teng.” or slowing down Michael Rose’s voice DJ Screw style for hallucinatory effect, everything works. With its infectious beat and air horn blasts the celebratory remix of “Soul Rebel” creates a feeling of a future dancehall session, while the usually slick “No No No” from Dawn Penn gets wonderfully disheveled with grimy bass, making its story of heartbreak sound all the more desperate. Mutabaruka’s dub poetry is absolutely at home on top of the two trippy soundscapes Spooky lays underneath, and if you don’t think a remixer could do something amazing with just a couple knob adjustments and a Marley a cappella, you’re gravely mistaken. Whether or not Spooky is referencing producer Adrian Sherwood and his Creation Rebel project with the title, he does share Sherwood’s skill for making Jamaican influenced music that’s both otherworldly and intoxicating. Spooky’s Creation Rebel begins where Sherwood’s left off and forward-thinking reggae fans couldn’t ask for more. – David Jeffries
