Posted on 09/23/2009
A few years ago, I was invited to the Tribeca Film Festival’s “Music Lounge,” where musical acts the likes of Elvis Costello, Martin Luther, and other artists performed as an accompaniment to the yearly, New York city based, movie mania. As one of the features, there was a group of wily young people, with a fresh energy and a hunger to shine, different than the previous acts. And the kicker was that they weren’t just an act, but they were also there to promote themselves, and their movie, The Hip-Hop Project, which was a face to face look into the lives of young people whose, for lack of better words, lives have been saved by hip hop music. They put on an incredibly soul-stirring show, but one of the most electrifying of the bunch, was the one whose name fit most appropriately: Live Wire.

Posted on 09/23/2009
Mayer Hawthorne's debut album, A Strange Arrangement moves along at a steady clip, taking pride in its early soul homage, but never belaboring the fact. The songs are full of sincere feeling and familiar rhythms, so its lackluster impact may be more a sign of poor timing than any ill-conceit. Though Hawthorne is as talented as his predecessors in the male revival of blue-eyed soul, he's too little, too late for this sinking ship. He's too faithful to the '60s soul genre to give Daniel Merriweather's hip-hop leanings a scare and too one-note to challenge Robin Thicke's diverse moods.

Posted on 09/23/2009
Stop me if you've heard this one - teenage piano prodigy rebuffs the classics oft-heard in recital halls to pen original soul inspired Otis Redding, Marvin Gaye, Jill Scott, et al. In the spirit of this album's title, it's time for a little truth. If you opened a can of Adele, dumped her on a plastic Dixie plate with Alicia Keys and stuck it in the microwave, you'd have a perfectly nuked R&B TV dinner, evidently 21 year old Laura Izibor's favorite dish. Her voice is fine, the songs are decent, but the bland, piano-led tracks are familiar and uninteresting. Everybody can't be as charismatic, soulful and clever as Santigold, Lauryn Hill or Amy Winehouse, but you'd think more singers would try. With such strong predecessors from this generation, anything less feels like a waste of time. The album is okay, but who wants to spend 5 whole minutes downloading 'okay?'

Posted on 09/23/2009
Straight out of the Northeast comes The Truth For The Youth, the debut album from the bold and brash Solo for Dolo, whose thirst for success is clearly evident throughout this 10-track player. On this recording, the 22-year-old New Jersey native discusses his upbringing and spits raw rhymes about the lack of overall talent in hip-hop, among other topics. Simply put, Solo’s album is less about ideas and more about displaying his aggressive lyrical cadence. He comes off cocky and slightly arrogant, yet passionate and honest. While Solo shows some promise on The Truth for the Youth, it’s a little too raw to push him into the limelight, so his quest for dominance continues.