Posted on 06/20/2008
This is the kind of album that, if played for a significant other, may cause someone to get pregnant. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but Rogiérs’ Life & Music: All of It is delicious, tailor made for baby-making practice. I’ll clarify: this is perhaps THEE MOST PERFECT bedroom soundtrack to come along since, well, Joe’s last album in ‘07.

Save for the same miracle that made Norah Jones a household name, this album may bypass a lot of American consumers. But I would be less sad for him. The boy is dope! People will know about him eventually.

Rogiérs, former keyboardist-organist-background singer to Alicia Keys, has an arresting voice, the texture of which is velvety and smooth; despite the beauty emanating from his mouth, his life so far had been hewn from the hard grind of surviving the music industry.

“For Rogiérs, observing the landscape of popular music during the last few years has brought both incredible hope yet despair…” according to the Fibby Music website, the label he founded.

Life & Music: All of It is solid from the jump. His voice, sweeter than New Orleans pralines, is what ignites this album. The soundscapes are pleasing enough, like the delightful romp of the title track, which is buoyed by handclaps and pulsing synths.

Or “Feel it Now,” which is four minutes and 57 seconds of sweetly rendered desire. Here he goes from tenor to falsetto on the chorus. He does this flawlessly, as his voice is the instrument here.

The enigmatic Bilal pops up on “Hollywood Story,” an airy but downbeat number where both he and Rogiérs attempt to assuage their women’s insecurities, but chide them for their materialism. Did I mention that the talented Robert Glasper produced this?

The pinnacle of Life & Music: All of It , arguably, comes with the next two songs “Fa Sho” and “Come When You Call.” The former is a simmering yet down tempo number where our hero takes a last stand for love; the latter is gorgeously melodic noise – in the vein of a Tim & Bob track – where Rogiérs pleads for his lover to make the first move. For those two songs alone, folks may beg you to borrow the album. Then you can break out with: “Nah, my sista. You got to get your own!”

But as with all gorgeously constructed entities there’s that one bump. On this album, the culprit is “Home,” which sounds like a retread of Justin Timberlake and Timbaland’s “My Love.” It even has the same catatonic synths as that song. Instead of T.I., a rapper by the name of Joseph Webb stars. He lends a verse that is about as memorable as Another Bad Creation. Who? Egg-zactly!

I’m sure the brotha can do better.

Other than that, this is a very good R&B album. Sure it has its conventions and familiar themes, but this man’s voice is remarkable. And the accompanying music suits him well. This album is an experience – one that could produce an intended or unintended outcome.

- A. Tacuma Roeback