Shamir – Northtown EP (2014)

Shamir – Northtown EP

Shamir Bailey, better known simply as Shamir, has a knack for making music. The Las Vegas-based singer made a surprising impact with his Northtown EP last year. With a new album, Ratchet set for release this May under famed British label XL Recordings, Shamir seems set to make a big breakthrough in terms of pop stardom. The young singer has been making some big waves lately, due to his impressive countertenor voice and the club smash “On The Regular” gaining significant traction on the club charts. Shamir’s debut from 2014, Northtown sheds a little context and gives an insight into the young singer. With a sound informed as much by R&B and hip-hop as it is disco and Prince, Shamir has his sights set on blazing his trail in the musical landscape.

“If It Wasn’t True” sets off quite nicely. A funky house number that slinks its way off of the dancefloor into your head with ease. Subtle bass notes mix in with oldschool drum machines to craft a woozy, yet alluring number that see’s Shamir showcasing his signature vocals. Shamir sounds wise beyond his years, as he sings ” Northtown has a great retro vibe about it, not retro in the revivalism sense, but more that it sounds like it crawled out of the ground from another time. The disco vibes that ring out via “If It Wasn’t True”, the acid house-channeling of “Sometimes A Man” and the R&B slow-jam that is “I’ll Never Be Able To Love” don’t necessarily sound en vogue, in terms of the current musical climate. But Shamir hasn’t got time for that, he seems content to do his own thing on Northtown, rather than blindly follow trends like some fame-obsessed madman.

“Sometimes A Man” mixes a low budget disco beat with the buzzing pulse of a 303 bass synthesizer, to create an electrifyingly potent dancefloor smash. Shamir’s distinctive countertenor voice is the standout element with his music and sounds highly reminiscent of disco divas from years past such as the late Sylvester, or even a less-annoying Sam Smith. His voice is arguably the one factor that strings Northtown together, since the rest of the tracks here have little to nothing in common aside from Shamir’s sensual vocals working their magic over them. “I’ll Never Be Able To Love” sounds like The Weeknd doing “Purple Rain”, with Shamir’s high-pitched vocals mixing in well with the songs woozy and tripped out beat.

The one major downside to the EP would be the lackluster balladry of “Lived And Died Alone”, which closes out the EP. As a lo-fi acoustic song placed smack bang at the end, It sounds like an unfinished bedroom demo. The song’s country twang and acoustic strumming isn’t a good mix, and doesn’t suit Shamir’s voice at all. It just sounds Shamir got drunk and listened to way too much Daniel Johnston and Hank Williams records, then thought it’d be a good idea to record the aftermath of the night. It’s not a bad song by any means necessary, but when you stack it up against the first four tracks, the dissonance is staggering.

For all the comparisons to fellow R&B singers and disco divas, Shamir really has crafted a sound of his own on Northtown. His distinctive voice is unmatched, and blows most cut-and-paste ‘Alternative R&B’ singers out of the water. Plus Shamir’s ability work the dancefloor as well as the bedroom should be enough to place him up in the big leagues once the Top 40 comes knocking at his door. The twenty year old singer pretty much knows just how to mix introspection, danceable grooves and beautiful singing into pop music with ease, as well as making it sound just so god damn appealing in his execution. Ratchet quite simply cannot come fast enough.

7/10

Mark Ronson – Uptown Special (2015)

Mark Ronson – Uptown Special

The past few years have seen a strange upswing in veteran producers gaining sudden latter day hits via collaborations. Take Pharrell for instance: well known for his work with The Neptunes and N.E.R.D. in the early 2000’s, falls of in the end of the last decade, hooks up with Daft Punk (themselves fellow veterans) for a smooth disco throwback which earns both artists their first number one, before finally becoming the hottest producer in the world in the space of a year. After witnessing Pharrell’s meteoric rise to prominence throughout the past two years, you could easily make a similar case for Mark Ronson achieving the same feat.

Ronson is no stranger to pop music,. His production resume includes artists ranging from Amy Winehouse to Ol’ Dirty Bastard, and the man even won a handful of Grammy’s back in 2005 for his work on Winehouse’s seminal Back To Black. He’s always been the go-to producer for artists trying to find the sweet spot in-between critical acceptance and commercial friendliness His 2015 album Uptown Special treads a familiar ground where smooth funk mixes with nu-disco cuts to create a masterful dance-oriented pop album that’ll wow the critics and have the general public shaking their hips like crazy. Much like how Daft Punk reinvigorated disco by giving it a fresh lick of paint and some modern context, Uptown Special is a funky throwback to the coke-fueled heydays of the 70’s and 80’s, brimming with guest appearances and enough synthesised bass stabs to make your toes curl.

Mystikal channels the spirit of James Brown with much aplomb on “Feel Right”, while Ronson displays his mastery of the funkiest basslines this side of Les Claypool’s . Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker shows up on the blessed-out “Summer Breaking”, which builds its twisted melody through the use of enough distorted guitars and organs that it bears more than a passing resemblance to Parker’s own band. Parker also shows up on the tracks “Daffodils” and “Leaving Los Feliz”, both of which blend Ronson’s penchant for danceable grooves with Parker’s love of hazy psychedelia and blissed-out textures. The enigmatic and explosive “Uptown Funk” is a gloriously brilliant slice of synth-led dance pop that brings to mind Prince in his early 80’s heyday or Zapp at their most electrifying. The presence of Bruno Mars on the song seems eye-roll worthy on paper, but his vocals are quite strong and suit the songs retro vibe quite nicley. In many ways “Uptown Funk” functions as a sort of pseudo-sequel to Mars’ 2013 disco-channeling “Treasure”, and it’s quite easy to see its wide appeal.

The album continues its hot streak well into the middle of its runtime. “I Can’t Lose” is a ferocious slice of P-Funk intensity, with singer Keyone Starr’s gritty Lauryn Hill-esque vocals pumping the track with heart and soul, while Ronson handles the production duties, giving the bass a gritty edge pPossibly the most surprising out of all the featured artists would be Stevie Wonder’s, showing up on both “Uptown’s First Finale” and “Crack In The Pearl, Pt. II. On paper, Mark Ronson working with the Motown woner kid sounds like a match made in heave. However on record, you can barely tell Stevie’s there at all, since all he does is play a harmonica and sing a line or two. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but you could’ve chucked any old session musician in and the general public wouldn’t have been able to tell the bloke who wrote “Superstitious” had anything to do with either track.

Probably the one thing that makes Uptown Special so damn intriguing is that, despite the presence of Bruno Mars on the chart topping “Uptown Funk”, nothing on the album seems like a cheap attempt at gaining a hit. It’s a delightfully anachronistic romp back to the heyday of synth funk and my god is it ever a fun trip. What Random Access Memories did for disco back in 2013, Uptown Special does for the funk in 2015. It takes the fuzzy, synth-led basslines and processed drums which defined the Minneapolis Sound and gives it a sparkly modern update, fit for Generation Y consumption (that EDM buildup on “Uptown Funk” can’t be the sole reason it got to number one, can it?”). If you’re looking for a smooth, radio friendly album that’ll make you want to put on your dancing shoes and move on up to a higher plane of funky goodness, Uptown Special is the album for you.

7/10