All of 16 years old and has the vocal chops of a well seasoned and saged vocalist conjuring the spirit of Nina Simone on this track. Already Gabriella has been on tour supporting Rufus Wainwright and Novelle Vague. She is produced by the big production pop house Xenomania in the UK. They producted tracks for the likes of Sugababes, Girls Aloud, Kylie Minogue, Cher, and Shakin Stevens to name a few. They will release their second full length effort with singer Annie in July called “Don’t Stop”.

Gabriela Cilmi – Sweet About Me

Former Fine Young Cannibals bass player, David Steele produces Fried (aka New Orleans native, Jonte Short).
“You’re with the Wrong One Baby” is a smooth soul track with R &B Vocals. The music reminds me of Gnarls Barkley.

Fried – You’re with the Wrong One Baby

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Here’s the latest from Gnarls Barkley off their upcoming release titled, “The Odd Couple”, which is going to be released April 2008. Has a nice old school motown feel to it with very energetic vocals, and hand claps… I love me some hand claps!

Gnarls Barkley – Run [removed by request]

What does country guitar picking, R&B vocals from the motown era, slide guitar, drum samples, and a 1950′s slow jam all have in common?  Well, they are used to make this wonderful collage by Kaada entitled, “Care’.  Kaada is from Norway and makes his own brand of electronica.   This track can be found on his 2003 release entitled, “Thank You For Giving Me Your Valuable Time”.  More recently Kaada has devoted his time to movie scores such as the motion picture “O’Horten” [2008].

Kaada – Care

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Here’s something in the vein of Amy Winehouse but with a bit more soul and strings. This track is brought to us from the 23 year old singer from Kansas City. She’s previously provided vocals on OutKast’s Idlewild soundtrack.

[audio:http://www.audiodrums.com/audio/Janelle_Monae_Sincerely_Jane.mp3]

[download]

[myspace]

Dani Siciliano started her music career as both a DJ in San Francisco and as a vocalist with a jazz quartet.  It was in San Francisco where she met Matthew Herbert who she would later collaborate with and ultimately saw Matthew co-produce both of her solo albums.

This track is taken from her second solo effort titled, “Slappers” that was release in 2006.  “Be My Producer”, has a nice glitchy soundscape that showcases Dani Siciliano’s R&B vocals.

[audio:http://www.audiodrums.com/audio/2007/12/dani-siciliano-be-my-producer.mp3]

[download]

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This tracked has appeared on several Blues and R&B compilations and most recently found on The Champion Records Story Vol. 2 – Rockin’ R&B, which was based in Nashville, Tennessee.

When this track was originally released in 1959, it sold around 50,000 copies – not to bad even by today’s standards.

Jimmy Beck & His Orchestra – Pipe Dreams

Buy Album:The Champion Records Story Vol. 2 – Rockin’ R&B

We (the misses and I) caught Shapeshifter at DiscoCult at The Sugar Factory in Amsterdam Friday October 12, 2007.  This was a great performance and I’m sure the “special” smoke in the air didn’t hurt either.  The crowd was great, and  Shapeshifter brought it, and found ways to keep taking it up a notch through the set.  This was an explosive and vibrant show and one of the best I’ve seen in years.   

Here’s a track they played that night called “Electric Dream”. 

[audio:http://highrize.wordpress.com/files/2007/10/05-shapeshifter-electric-dream.mp3]

[download]

[myspace - The Sugar Factory] 

[myspace - Shapeshifter]

PS. Be sure not to confuse Shapeshifter (drum n bass) with The Shapeshifters (House)… and yes, I did confuse the two hence my warning.

PSS. More post plus videos from this event coming soon including the smashing DJ from Germany who followed the shapeshifter set, Lars Moston — btw, this guy killed it…

Here’s a hip hop/soul track from Kevin Michael who is out of Chester, PA.
I dig the gospel break towards the end of the track.  His album goes on Sale OCT 2.

Kevin Michael – We all want the same thing (ft. Lupe Fiasco)

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Buy Album: Kevin Michael