“B4 The Night Is Thru” is taken from Jesse Boykins’ upcoming release Love Apparatus. I think it’s probably his best track yet so I’m kinda curious to see how the whole album is. With this catchy, polished track it seems as though his sound and skills have matured. BTW you can download it from his website.

Listen to “B4 The Night Is Thru”:
[See post to listen to audio]

Jazzy is a local LA R&B singer and songwriter who deserves mainstream attention. Her debut release Oh Jazzy, released back in 2007 is one of the better indie soul/R&B releases you’re likely to come across. She is an excellent songwriter and has a unique voice – paired up with the great production talent she seems to find – the combination is stellar and matches, if not surpasses, 80% of what you’ll hear on commercial radio these days. Her latest jam (discovered via FRSHPulp‘s Twitter) “Off My Square” has people around the interweb mis-crediting it as either Keri Hilson or Letoya, produced by Timbaland, which gives you an idea of the sound. So I can only assume a new album is on its way although there’s no specifics on her Myspace. She is scheduled to perform at the December 16th installment of Los Angeles’ progressive soul monthly – Strictly Social. So if you’re in the area, be sure to check that out.

And now on to the music! Check out the track below and let me know what you think.
Listen to Jazzy – Off My Square:
[See post to listen to audio]

Download Jazzy – Off My Square

And for old times’ sake, here’s the classic “In Love” taken from Oh Jazzy, which you can purchase at:

Jazzy  – In Love
[See post to listen to audio]

New joint from funky n’ talented white boy Colin Munroe. “Start A War” is another funky, electro-y jam taken from his forthcoming album Don’t Think Less of Me. I’m diggin’ this one.

Listen:
[See post to listen to audio]

Download Colin Munroe – “Start A War”

I do love me some MJ Cole. I haven’t been keeping up with him over the past few years, so when I came across this track, it reminded me of my younger days (sigh), discovering 2-step/garage and MJ Cole’s wonderful album Sincere back in 2000 or so.

This new track “Gotta Have It” has a strong pop sensibility, it’s true, in that it’s slickly and shinily produced, but damn if that bassline and 2-step beat don’t getcha every time :)

Listen to “Gotta Have It”:
[See post to listen to audio]

What is it with major labels scooping up talent and then not doing a damn thing with it – J*Davey, Miguel to name a couple, and in this case – Steph Jones. He was signed to DTP/Def Jam for about 5 minutes but now he’s a free agent again. Hating that played-out vocal effect on this track (when will that lame trend end? I almost didn’t post this on principal) , especially when Steph Jones has a great voice au naturale – but the song is good n’ catchy.

Download Steph Jones – Shooting Star

Listen:
[See post to listen to audio]

Found via Next-Thing.

The interweb is just too darned big for one wee blog to cover. So here’s some interesting finds you’ll no doubt enjoy, courtesy of my soulful blogging brethren.

Nu-Soul Mag has a review of the awesome new Yellowtail album.
SoulBounce has got some steamy shots from Maxwell’s new project…which is up there with D’Angelo’s allegedly forthcoming album as the most waited on, and possibly mythical soul album to come this decade.
The Audio Diva has a limited-time only collection of rare gems from Janet Jackson. So grab ‘em while you can.
N’Dambi fans head over to Songs In The Key of Life to get the latest on her upcoming album release.
Great animated video for Mateo’s “Complicated” is available over at Pinboard

It’s good to see Leela James back on the scene. Her authentic and earthy style of soul broke out with her debut “A Change Is Gonna Come” and the long awaited follow up “Let’s Do It Again” hits the streets March 24th:

Let’s Do It Again, is Leela’s long-awaited follow-up to her powerful debut which scanned over 200 000 units. The new album delivers a powerful set of soul music, recorded with her own band in the studio. Highlights include Leela’s interpretation of such well-known songs as Etta James’ “All The Way Down” and John Legend’s “We Don’t Have To Change” as well as previously unexposed gems.

From the sounds of it so far, Leela’s speaker-shaking vocals are well complemented by the live band on the track which lends some funk undertones. I’m feelin’ ya Leela!
Listen to the single “It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World”:
[See post to listen to audio]

DOWNLOAD Leela James -”It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World”

So I just stumbled upon some new stuff from Goapele. Kinda new, cos it looks like these songs have been around for a couple of months now, but I hadn’t seen them anywhere until now. Firstly she released a new single on iTunes called “Don’t Be Shy”, which is signature Goapele – smooth, soulful, jazzy. Listen and buy below:

Secondly, she was evidently commissioned by LG to write a song for their new Chocolate phone. This is available as a free download – see below. It was produced by Amplive. Now while I hated that Dwele did that McDonalds ad I’m NOT hating Goapele for this LG track. That might seem hypocritical but maybe it’s because I just hate the way McDonalds have jumped on every musical trend bandwagon in recent years in the hopes of appealing to an “urban” audience. And then they had the nerve to come out with the recent parody of an R&B song. I say they have some nerve only because they have been so shameless about co-opting other trends and doing it in such a clumsy and cheesy way, that the parody element of this is lost – it’s just too close to their other “serious” ads. If another brand had used this concept, it may have worked better.

But back to Dwele. So he’s basically contributing to the shamelessness of McDonalds advertising dept. And more importantly, Goapele’s “Chocolate” track stands alone as a quality song in its own right. If you didn’t know it was commissioned by LG, you would be none the wiser.You can read the lyrics on her Bandcamp page. In contrast, Dwele’s song, with its overt namechecks is  little more than a glorified jingle – not something I want to rock on the ipod. Ok I’m getting off the soapbox – check the track below.

Here’s a new joint from Peter Hadar. “Watermelon” is a collabo with producer Nicolay and features one of his trademark soulful hip-hop beats. It’s taken from a new mixtape from DJ Jamad. Also in the works is a an EP of baby-makin’ music, “She’s 4 Months.” Don’t forget that you can also cop Peter’s excellent albums Memories of The Heart and Well Dressed For The Art Show at MobileUnderground.com.

Listen to “Watermelon”
[See post to listen to audio]

Download “Watermelon”

Miguel is an LA-based artist who was  signed to Jive Records earlier this year. He’s also appeared on Blu’s Below The Heavens and the Johnson&Jonson album (under the name Jontel). And I learned via FreshSelects that he co-wrote Musiq’s “If You Leave” and Usher’s “Revolver”. He recently dropped a free ep/mixtape which is pretty hot and filled with radio-friendly but still a little edgy, R&B. My fave track is probably “Dig”.

DOWNLOAD HERE