Thursday, June 4, 2009
And the Jaspects have just humbled me....
Their latest project, "The Polkadotted Stripe", is inspiring, innovative, and artistic. And I mean artistic in a Shakespeare/Picasso-type way. Its ridiculous. I haven't been so inspired in a while. And lately I've just been on some "different" stuff for my music fix. Artists like The Bird and the Bee and Sondre Lerche. Cuz quite frankly, regular old Hip Hop and R&B just doesn't cut it for me on the inspiration tip anymore. It doesn't really contribute to my GROWTH as an artist. Yeeeaaaa suuuure every so often I'll hear a new song on the radio I'm feeling, go illegally download it, bump it on my iPod for a week or two, then trash it. But I'm talkin more about the songs you can study, learn from, emulate, and even ... thats the type of music I'm on a never-ending quest for (dang that just reminded me about that movie Never Ending Story, with that big fluffy flying thing... I used to LOVE that movie!)
And Jaspects have produced a work of ART. My band Biscuits and Gravy had the opportinuty to open up for them when they played in Nashville at B.B. Kings, and I consider myself acquaintances of theirs. My band has always viewed them as our "big brothers" with them being a dope band making their name blending Jazz and Hip Hop. But anyway, that particular night I wasn't feeling too well, the my band didn't perform as good as we should have, so I just went home before their set. So I didn't even realize they had a released a new album!
A new friend of mine that I made from Twitter (lol.. my first Twitter friend btw) Ms. Beezy, posted a review about their album on her blog a few weeks back, and this was the first time I was able to preview a few tracks from the album. And I was blown awwaaaay. I copped the album immediately after.
The way in which "The Polkadotted Stripe" differs from the previous Jaspects albums is that it blends the Jazz aspect of their music so deceptively and intricately in their songs, that a non musician, or musically inclined listener can't obviously point it out. Each song is soooo detailed, from the instrumentataion, vocals, and the even the specifics of the engineering aspects (like the levels, automation, auto-tune, etc.). Its such a progressive album for the hip hop sub genre which has been emerging in the past couple years. I took notes the entire time I listened to the album. I DEFINITELY have to step my game up.
Even the album features are perfect. Janelle Monae and PJ Morton alone were enough to draw me in when I read the track titles.
I want you all to make your own opinion of the music, so I wont go into detail about my favorite tracks or what I didn't like, cause sometimes I can spoil the listeners experience (hey atleast Im honest!). But definitely go cop "The Polkadotted Stripe". Its a worthy purchase for Jazz, Hip Hop, R&B, and even the "out-there" lovers like me.
The more I listen to all these ATL artists on the rise like Proton, Hollyweerd, and the Jaspects, the more I wanna just pack up everything and move to the A-town so I can start soakin up whatever they got!
Best believe, my newest goal for the year is to try and collab with these kats. And trust me, its loooong overdue
PEACE
Labels: biscuits and gravy, hollyweerd, janelle monae, jaspects, PJ Morton, proton, the polkadotted stripe
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