Re: new music and funk

tobiasb@together.net
Mon, 25 Nov 1996 12:41:10 +0000


> However, I think the problem with originality prevails in quite a few
> > acts. For example, the Brand New Heavies singer...her voice is too
> > Motown-like, wouldn't u say?
> >
> > Shiva Trippz

> N'ea? isn't that her name? anyway, that's funny becasue I was thinking
> about that yesterday. first, i would likje to say that a music lover and a
> sister diva, she's cultivated a talent she's clean and got and got about
> perfect pitch. what i like to do and what i likr to hear is something
> unexpected. like, if i'm improv-ing on stage and i try something that
> pops into my head, most of the time it works and it feels real good, but once
> inn a while i turn to the sax player and i say, "what was that?" :)
> faith in letting your art guide you is what moves me the MOST...then
> taake it into the studio with you and stay with it...and of
> cours, singing in the shower helps :)
>
> peace, love, and beats,
>
> brenda brewer
> pdx

My first thought on the brand new heavies (specifically the singer) is
that it is good but, so what? Perhaps that sounds a bit too harsh. I
will admit that I don't own any bnh stuff but I have heard it often
enough to feel confident in saying that the grooves are tight, etc, but
it is generic. Particularly the singing. As a jazz musician and
composer working in the acid jazz world I feel continually challenged to
break out of the so-easy-to-fall-into generic funk/acid jazz vocal
melodies. So when I am listening to music I am always searching for
that new melody. For example, Groove Collective (let's just talk about
the first album) is good. They are different I really got into that
first album this summer. But then whenever they do vocal stuff (and this
isn't a put down on Roz-she is a good singer) it lands into that generic
mode that I mentioned above. This is particularly evident, I think, in
their second release. That first album obviously demonstrates that they
have it in them to be innovative and fresh. Why can't that be extended
to the vocal stuff? Perhaps because they feel that they need tunes that
perhaps aren't as alienating to the crowd and something that they can
*dance* too? Which is a bummer, because then that is just capitalism
getting in the way of music yet one more time. But that is a whole other
thread, I guess. . .

bye
brian