José James – Blackmagic

The smooth and stylish José James is back with his sophomore release, Blackmagic.  He’s been called a jazz singer for the hip hop generation which is particularly fitting for his collaborations with Flying Lotus who produced several songs on the new album.  Blackmagic was released on February 1st.

MP3: José James – “Blackmagic (Produced by Flying Lotus)”

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Blackmagic (Brownswood, February 2010)

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Jose James – the SoulCulture interview

SoulCulture in the UK recently interviewed jazz, neo-soul singer Jose James.  SoulCulture is a great place to find more news, interviews, and videos like this one.  Check out the video below and more at SoulCulture.co.uk.
In the interview below, Jose James shares his thoughts on today’s music and reveals some details about his upcoming album.  I especially enjoy hearing that he’s working with Flying Lotus again.  I didn’t know who Jose James was early in 2008 when I saw that he had covered Freestyle Fellowship’s “Park Bench People”.  The song is creative but complicated- it’s not for everyone.  Performing the song requires an incredible sense of timing and rhythm.  Jose James nailed it.  The song was featured on James’ debut album, The Dreamer, which also had a bunch of other impressive tracks that instantly turned me into a fan.  The new album is something you’ll definitely want to check out.

MP3: Jose James – Visions of Violet (Produced by Flying Lotus)
MP3: Jose James – Park Bench People

Jose James – Love

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Weekly Dose (9/6/08)

First song is not just another remix of “Paper Planes” by MIA (the song that the film Pineapple Express turned into an insanely popular remix track for DJs and hipsters across the world).  This one is the DFA remix, and it’s really good.  No clue who DFA is, or if it’s a label, or what the hell it is, but if I was a DJ at a party or in a bar/club, I would bust this remix out at the right time and I know the crowd would love it. So you can be the crowd to my DJ fantasy, and I know you’ll love this track.  The beat is really funky and in a very strange way, something about it reminds me of the beat from Lyrics Born’s track with Muallem, “2 Hot 2 Cold”.  Let me know if you want me to send that track over to you so you can tell me they don’t sound alike at all…

MIA – Paper Planes (DFA Remix)

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Second song is a new Jose James track, produced by Flying Lotus called “Visions of Violet”.  It comes from the Park Bench People EP which was just released a week or 2 ago.  I’ve sent tracks from both Jose James and Flying Lotus, separately, on earlier SOW emails.  This collaboration between the 2 is something I’ve been loving.  Hope you guys are into it too.

Jose James – Visions of Violet (Produced by Flying Lotus)   (Click here to play in Hype Machine)

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Third song is the 11th track from Roy Ayers’ soundtrack for the 1973 film Coffystarring Pam Grier.  The song is called “Exotic Dance” and it’s definitely my favorite pick of all the great songs on the soundtrack.  The file I attached is in m4a format but you should still be able to play it.  Let me know if you’re having trouble playing it and I’ll send you the mp3.  Some of you know that I rate all of my music in itunes and, you might not agree but, this one’s a 5 star song for me.  I love these funky, soulful instrumental jams.

Roy Ayers – Exotic Dance    (Click here to play in Imeem)

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Weekly Dose (7/27/08)

First song is from an album of A Tribe Called Quest remixes called Revised Quest for the Seasoned Traveler which came out back in 1992.  The song is called “I Left My Wallet In El Segundo (Vampire Mix)” and the album gives credit to Norman Cook for the remixing.  That’s Fatboy Slims real name, so this remix of I Left my Wallet in El Segundo was made by Fatboy Slim before he became Fatboy Slim.  Coincidentally, after getting the first email most of you didn’t get, Eric showed me a blog he saw earlier this week that points out the fact that this remix was sampled by Bangladesh to make the “A Milli” beat for Lil Wayne.  Here’s the link he showed me: http://dontgetgassed.com/2008/07/16/how-to-make-a-milli-in-60-secs-or-less/.

A Tribe Called Quest – I Left My Wallet In El Segundo (Vampire Mix)

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Second song is from 
Jose James’ January 2008 release Dreamer and it’s a cover of the Freestyle Fellowship track, “Park Bench People” which originally came out on the album Innercity Griots in 1993.  When I first heard this song, it reminded me of why I love searching through the web and keeping my ears open for new music.  I used to love Freestyle Fellowship and Mikah 9 did a track called “Park Bench People” that I couldn’t get enough of.  It’s definitely still one of my favorite all time tracks, but I wouldn’t expect a lot of people to share my opinion because of the nature of the song.  It’s almost too chill and jazzy, and the style of Mikah 9’s rapping is experimental and unfamiliar to most people.  Not sure if any of you will enjoy it as much as I do, or maybe at all, but Jose James does a great job in his version of the Freestyle Fellowship track.  James’ voice is impressive to say the least.  He’s got a track with Flying Lotus called “Visions in Violet” and you can rest assured that, as soon as it’s available, it will be included on a future SOW email.  Really curious to know what you all think about this one though…

Jose James – Park Bench People

Third song (attached to the part 2 email), is from the new Dr. Dog album, Fate, and it’s called “Hang On”.  The Dr Dog album just came out this last week and, as you may have heard Little mention, they’re playing August 8th at the El Rey with Delta Spirit (the attached show list has it on August 4th… But that’s wrong).  I’m definitely going to that show.  I saw them at the Hotel Café not too long ago and they really amazed me.  The dynamic between the singer/bass player and the singer/piano player combined with the rest of the band and the fact that they sound like Beatles wannabes that actually pull it off, it really makes them something special.  I think a lot of people are really going to get into them if they aren’t already.

Dr Dog – Hang On

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