Week in Review (Jan 15-21)

by Jay Mattson

Top News Story:

COACHELLA!  The 2011 Coachella Music and Arts Festival artist lineup has been announced and is currently flying all over the Internet, kind of like a little indie-rock Christmas present for the kids.  Exciting acts include Arcade Fire, The Strokes, Kanye West, the reunion of Death From Above 1979 (!!!!), Animal Collective, The Black Keys, Lightning Bolt, Best Coast, Ms. Lauryn Hill, Tame Impala, and many, many, many others.

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New Tracks:

Wavves – Mutant

* A reported b-side left over from the King of the Beach sessions, “Mutant” is Nathan Williams at his best with Wavves.  Hazy instrumentals and Williams’ unique vocals swim through the first half of the track before breaking down into a full instrumental movement.  Williams has stated that “Mutant” may appear on an upcoming 7” single… maybe.

Nicki Minaj – Roman’s Revenge 2.0 (featuring Lil’ Wayne)

* The only thing that’s changed on this 2.0 version of “Roman’s Revenge”, from Nicki’s debut, Pink Friday, is that Lil’ Wayne contributes the featured verses instead of Eminem. Overall, “2.0” isn’t better or worse than the original, it’s just different.  Wayne’s tempo doesn’t fit as well as Eminem’s, and it shows when each version is played consecutively.

The Mountain Goats – Damn These Vampires

* As the first new track from John Darnielle since the Mountain Goats’ The Life of the World to Come way back when in 2009, this track held a heavy burden.  Would Darnielle choose to continue down the dark and relgious path he set for himself, or would he start climbing toward a lighter tone and less serious tone?  The latter is proven true, as “Damn These Vampires” is a spirited acoustic jaunt through some of the Mountain Goats’ greatest strengths.

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Best New Album of the Week:

Smith Westerns – Weekend

Smith Westerns – All Die Young

Smith Westerns – Dance Away

If you wish you were born in the 1970s, Dye it Blonde is for you.  Built upon the jangle and swoon of the beginning of psychedelia without sounding too…well, psychedelic. More so, Smith Westerns manage to match the tone of psychedelic past, but crank the tempo up a few notches and add more electric guitar than hazy sitar.  In today’s increasingly niche-based musical world, it has become increasingly difficult to record an album that audiences will willingly listen to from start to finish without skipping a track.  Dye it Blonde accomplishes this through songs that consistently grab your attention with their lighthearted melodies and catchy instrumentals.  More often than not, the guitar work carries the tracks, which is not a bad thing at all.  Smith Westerns have carved a sound for themselves that’s simply enjoyable to hear and Dye it Blonde is the result of that.

BUY

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Song of the Week:

Beirut – Elephant Gun

Everyone has a few songs that stay with them.  There are those few tracks that hold meaning, no matter what that meaning may be.  Perhaps it is a memory of a specific summer, or a feeling of happiness or depression rushes over you.  Maybe you actually become frightened, or it could simply that you really love the song.  For me, “Elephant Gun” is one of those songs.  It was the Beirut track that truly made me fall in love with Zach Condon’s mesmerizing vocals and uncanny arrangements.  And while Beirut’s entire catalog is genius, “Elephant Gun” is my favorite track by Condon and company.  The blending of instruments evident throughout the song is gorgeous, as Condon seamlessly adds and removes different layers of horns, strings and vocals.  When I first heard this song, all I could think about was a parade, a procession making steady progress down a smallish street in a populated French city.  Condon is, of course, the leader, but he’s not walking in front.  Instead, he’s sitting atop an elephant in a carrier while he strums away at the ukulele while his marching band whimsically plays along.

BUY

The post Week in Review (1/21) appeared first on Obscure Sound: Indie Music Blog.

by Colleen Seidel

If Lil’ Wayne tells a burgeoning artist to stop giving their songs to other people and start recording them for their own sake, that is advice you would do best to heed.

Shanell, aka SNL, can testify as such. First a former backup dancer for NeYo, then a steady collaborator with Lil’ Wayne, and now a female vocalist for Young Money, the songstress stands ready and willing to break out on her own with her first release, Shut Up ‘N Listen.  She says it was a chat with Lil’ Wayne in a hotel room one night that served as the early catalyst for her decision.

“I was a dancer on a tour that he was a part of,” Shanell remembers. “I was in my hotel room recording music, trying to grow as a writer, and Lil’ Wayne was like ‘Why are you giving your songs to other people?’”

“I was so in love with being a dancer, I didn’t take it seriously at the time,” she adds. “But I stayed in touch with Lil’ Wayne and we worked on Tha Carter III together, and that’s when I decided to become a recording artist.”

A year and a half removed from that decision, Shanell is now promoting her mixtape, Shut Up ‘N Listen.  Featuring many of the heavyweights she has written for in the past, the recording is heavy on the beats and high on Shanell’s vocal stylings.  The eclectic mix of R&B, rap, hip-hop, dance and even a little techno on the release was intentional, the Atlanta-based singer insists.

“Hair Down My Back” pulses with the low bass dub sounds of a underground dance club while the singer goes into her higher octaves for the verses.  The chorus – “I got hair down my back, b***ch, hair down my back” – while not the most original of lyrics is certainly an entertaining way to express the female bravado Shanell possesses throughout the entire mixtape.  Not to mention, it’s catchy as hell. “Otherside” offers a twist of sorts for Shanell in that it features two of the biggest names in the hip-hop industry, the aforementioned Mr. Wayne and Ne-Yo, on the track instead of the other way around.

A seasoned veteran at collaborating with other artists on their work, Shanell admittedly says it was a struggle sometimes to focus on her own work. “You think too hard when you’re doing something for yourself,” she explains. “It flows freer and a lot easier when you’re creating for other people.  The pressure of having a successful album… it makes the process a little harder.” But so far, the reception to her solo work has been positive.  “I haven’t seen or heard anything negative, which is just amazing to me,” she says.

One of the best tracks on the mixtape, “Tell Me”, highlights a trend seen throughout the entire record: remakes of older songs.  This one, featuring Young Money’s Jae Millz, is a remake of the 1995 track from Groove Theory, and it stays true to the slower groove of the original song while simultaneously revamping it for the 21st Century. “It wasn’t even my idea,” Shanell confesses about the song.  “It was Jae Millz’s.  He sent it to me first and said ‘It would be really cool to remake this.’  I just kept the first verse and the essence of the way it was sung, but I played around with the bridge.  That was more my character coming out.”

With the mixtape released back in April – at Shanell’s own tongue-in-cheek “baby shower” playing off rumors of the singer being pregnant – Shanell has done nothing but promoting, touring and playing her material. “The fun part is putting together the shows and the choreography,” she admits, spoken like a true dancer and entertainer. “But it’s a lot, a lot of work… just running around, having to tell different people the same things over and over.”

Fingers crossed, soon enough those same people will come running to her. Her debut album will be released next summer.

RIYL: Lil’ Wayne, Jae Millz, Ne-Yo, Nicki Minaj, Janelle Monae, Trina, Trey Songz, Ciara, Birdman, Usher, Amerie, Omarion, The-Dream, Cassie, Kelis, Tyga, Brandy, Kelly Rowland, Beyonce

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Lil’ Wayne – Prom Queen (ft. Shanell)

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Shanell – Party All the Time (ft. Aubrey O’Day)

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Shanell – Deadliest Catch (ft. Lil’ Wayne & Mack Maine)

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Official Site

MySpace

BUY

Download Shut Up ‘N Listen: Primary, Mirror

The post Interview with Shanell appeared first on Obscure Sound: Indie Music Blog.