Infrasound: Sadsic – [b. now]

Posted on July 29, 2011 by 2020k | RJ Kozain

Sadsic - [b. now]There is an experimental Electronic musician that’s been around since 2006, based out of Florida/Maryland called Sadsic that I’ve literally been introduced to this morning and he’s very, very good. His newly released EP [b. now] is a short 26 minute journey of music that takes you through the valleys of optimistic sounding synths, vocals, and samples that come together to bring you a great combination of Trip-Hop, Chill out, and even little dashes of Alternative Hip-Hop.

The album’s opener, “Tango Down” begins with two different samples spelling out what you’re about to listen to: Sad. Sic. Sad. Sic. Sad. Sic. Sad. Sic. It’s an interesting twist in introducing yourself on record the way emcees often hype themselves up (think “This is a Missy Elliott one time exclusive..” her catch phrase throughout most of the Under Construction era, but better). The sample is repeated a million times in it, but blends so well with the organized chaos, including string and horn samples and sonics that are reminiscent of viral Chillout artist Pogo‘s work that it doesn’t get tiring or overrated by the end of the song’s run. There is also an interesting parallel compression technique (or perhaps just manipulation with the sample’s envelope) used on the outro of the song that provides a bridge into the last 38 seconds of the morphing track.

Track 2, “Alone”, sounds like a lovechild between Mono and Terranova with Sadsic creating a musical soundscape of record hissing, choir-oohing, hard knocking percussion and supportive samples that create layers and layers of dense sound, providing the foundation for the several melodic aspects of the track that play off of the stereo image to add added chill and trip. The most impressive parts of this song comes from all of the attention to detail in the production of the vocal, a rap provided by Jstjr. They’re doubled and panned in some parts, several reverbs are added and manipulated throughout the 4:44 run and it’s sometimes chopped up, delayed, and reversed through the bulk of the track. (This also holds true for “Homesick Mountain” with vocalist Willie Versteeg).

Though there’s extreme praise for “Alone,” it and most of the other tracks on [b. now] focuses a bit too heavily on ensuring the kick & low frequency aspects of the songs have a lot of high energy, which sometimes can be a distraction to the other loops, samples, and instrumentation going on. It’s one of the only downfalls on the EP, but the consistency of trying to use a lot of something is heard throughout it and on several other aspects of the record, including the beautiful and emotional Boards of Canada sounding “2 + 2 = 22” in which an effect is used to distort a synth on several aspects of the song. While the idea of using distortion to give the the loop-esque sound that’s created an extra punch is great, however the setting, which sounds like an extreme EQ boost in the high frequencies, with some intentional clipping and a compressor so it’s not actually distorting the track, is a bit too extreme and is mildly grating on the over all sound of the song.

All in all, it’s an EP that obviously draws from it’s influences, but comes off sounding genuine and fantastic sounding for an unsigned artist. You can download it for free or at your own price through Sadsic’s Bandcamp website. We recommend throwing in a few dollars, because it’s worth it. Click here to stream the record and/or download/buy it. Then, leave a comment on what you think of this record! Sadsic’s awesome! Especially all of the amazing panning and play with the stereo sound that he does! We want to hear more!

Album Rating: 3/5

Got an unsigned or indie artist you’d like us to take a listen to? We love exposing talent and expanding our musical knowledge of the underground scenes on 2020k! Shoot us an E-mail, send us a wall post on our Facebook page, or Tweet us what you think we should be writing about.

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2020k Giveaway: Win One of 3 Copies of “Pennies in a Jar” by Nikki Jean (One Copy is Signed!!)

Posted on July 28, 2011 by 2020k | RJ Kozain

Nikki Jean
It’s safe to say that 2020k reps Nikki Jean pretty hard. You’ve read our interview with her, seen the celebration post, and enjoyed our album review. Now, to close out our excitement and exclusives upon the release of her debut Pennies in a Jar, we’re proud to say that courtesy of the songbird herself, we’re giving away a few copies of the record!

ACTUALLY, WE’RE GIVING AWAY THREE COPIES OF PENNIES IN A JAR. AND TO MAKE IT BETTER, ONE LUCKY WINNER WILL RECEIVE A SIGNED COPY.
Are you excited? Good.

HOW TO ENTER: All you have to do to enter the contest is follow us on Facebook and then shoot an E-mail to cras.rkozain@gmail.com telling us your name and why you’d like to win a copy of the flawless disc.

Submissions for the contest close on August 15th and the three winners will be notified by E-mail soon after.

Good luck! Pennies in a Jar was released on July 12th, 2011. (iTunes) Check out her major cable debut performance on David Letterman where she performed “How To Unring A Bell” below!

Posted in Contests, Exclusives | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Track Review: Starsmith – Lesson One

Posted on July 25, 2011 by 2020k | RJ Kozain

Starsmith Lesson One CoverIn March of 2011, producer, remixer, artist, and human being Starsmith took to his Tumblr to give some very valid and respectable reasons as to why he chose to postpone the release of his upcoming debut album. He felt he was too new in the entertainment industry, he felt silly for not working on other artist’s projects, and the finances for the record were taken away from his former label, Island Records. All valid reasons and ones that should be applauded. Though, in the same Tumblr entry, we were told that he was able to keep all of his songs when parting ways with Island and there was a track that was recorded with Alex Brake that was too precious to keep locked away. That song is “Lesson One” and it’s finally been delivered as a summer release, just as it was originally planned! (It’s always extremely nice when an artist sticks to their word).

The song itself fades in quickly and opens up to us a clean and warm laid back house vibe. It’s an extremely melodic piece and one that follows the traditional instrumental driven song, coupled with a vocal hook and chopped up vocal pieces that help give “Lesson One”  an extra chilled out, rhythmic, melodic, and creative push. Even the bass is giving away more than a rhythmic pulse to aid the track – it’s rocking with the rest of the instruments, playing off the notes emitted by a secondary lead synth that comes in on the second half of the song.

“Lesson One” also contains synth chords that subtly swell in and fade out, which some may find reminiscent to early Daft Punk records. It’s also similar to the french duo rhythmically due to the sample based kick drum, compressed with a subtle breathing technique that sounds surprisingly clean and pristine and is not pushed to the front of the mix to give it an overall “CLUB YOUR ASS OFF” vibe that a lot of dance musicians try to emulate. It’s a little bit Discovery, a little bit Homework, but all Starsmith and should absolutely not be taken as an imitation track in the slightest. Just someone who got it all right.

The mixing falls in line with “got it all right” as well because it’s flawless. Every single instrument has it’s own space to live in, every synth has it’s distinct frequency-filtered and EQ cut outs to live inside and nothing is fighting for your attention. It’s all subtle and gives way for the listener to focus on whichever section of the track they want to subjectively listen to as opposed to trying to listen to that hidden part of the song (you know the part..the one where the track is brickwall mixed so hard that the vocal and kick drum overshadow any kind of beautiful melody in the underlying track that you’re trying to closely listen to). Everything is present. Everything sounds wonderful. There’s a reason Ellie Goulding’s Starsmith produced debut album Lights was at the top of BBC’s Sound of 2010.

“He’ll never love you don’t you ever start to think he will. Honey, you’re the one that got away. I’ll be there waiting if you ever want to feel the thrill. This is the lesson that you’ll learn someday.” – Beautiful and simple lyrics that repeat themselves through layers, vocoder effects, and chopped up, panned, chorused, and short reverb times to help fill up the mix a bit more and give it an extra push toward perfection.

Perfection. It’s a good word to describe a lot of things Starsmith does.

Don’t get too excited and expect an album soon. This is just to hold us off until Starsmith gets back into the studio to rework parts of the record and ensure it’s the best it can be before it’s released for all of us to thoroughly enjoy. For now, enjoy the adorable video that accompanies the track, pre-order your copy of the EP, let’s get in the convertible and put the top down because I’m proclaiming “Lesson One” to be the summer anthem in the Electronica/Dance genre of 2011.

Track rating: 5/5

Purchase “Lesson One EP” [iTunes]

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2020k Presents: An interview with Nikki Jean!

Posted on July 22, 2011 by 2020k | RJ Kozain

NikkI Jean2020k is proud to present it’s very first exclusive interview on it’s website ever! …With Nikki Jean! Her debut record Pennies in a Jar (which we reviewed upon it’s release, click here to take a gander) has made quite a splash since it’s release last week and we’re proud to give 2020k readers and Nikki fans some insight into the record, her feelings on her unique bond with her followers, and some information on what we can expect in the near future (hint: it includes videos and Patty Crash)!

In conjunction with our feature interview, we will also be running a contest in the next few days to give away a couple copies of Pennies in a Jar! If you’d like to find out how you can win your copy, be sure to like us on Facebook and/or follow us on Twitter! But, for now, take a read below to find out Nikki’s thoughts on her David Letterman performance, taking over Lupe Fiasco’s Twitter, and more!

First and foremost: Hello, how are you?!

I’m doing very well, thank you. 🙂

You sounded & looked flawless on your Letterman gig and performed “How to Unring a Bell,” which is my favorite from the record! Your whole band looked like they were having loads of fun as well. How was that experience?

The Letterman show was an ENORMOUS opportunity. The guys and I practiced a lot to prepare for it, but when we got there the staff at the show were so amazing that it was easy to relax and have fun.

What was the motive behind your ambition to travel across the United States, track down various legendary songwriters, and strive to create the 21st century’s answer to Carole King’s “Tapestry”?

I was completely inspired by the songs I loved as a little kid, and also what I perceive to be a downward spiral of song quality in popular music. The melodic vocabulary of the average listener has shrunk so much. There’s no problem with the music of today, the challenge is to create a space for a counterbalance. So that’s what I wanted my statement to be. Also, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to learn from the greats.

Have you gone to the record store to pick up a copy of your record yet? How does it feel to finally be able to hold the album in your hand and say “This is mine. I made this!”?

Not YET!! I’m not entirely sure which stores have the record and I don’t want to walk in and be disappointed, but I know we’re shipping a lot of them soon, and then I’ll go for sure. 🙂

What’s your favorite song on the album and why?

I love “China” – It’s both my favorite song to record and to listen to. When we went into the studio to record the vocal on that song, it was kind of a magical day. Everything just fell into place and it was really joyful. When we finished everyone was like “yeah . . that was . special”. When I listen to the record I always remember that so it makes me smile and it’s a song that says something about the world, which is important to me.

Since having a YouTube account, you’ve used other social media platforms such as Formspring and Tumblr to keep a tight connection between you and your fan base. How important is it to you to have that connection?

It is very important. Musicians need music lovers. It’s that simple. I’ve been fortunate to have a unique and close relationship with many of my youtube viewers. They have been such a source of inspiration and strength throughout this journey. My goal is for there to be no artificial barriers between the music and the people who’s lives it is mean to touch.

Nikki Jean

How is it interacting with all of the Lupe Fiasco fans now that he’s temporarily quit Twitter and handed the reigns of his account over to you? Has anyone said anything crazy yet?!

The brilliance of Lupe allowing me to tweet from his page is that he shared access one of his most valuable assets. . his PEOPLE.  They’ve been very kind for the most part and open minded considering I was thrust upon them involuntarily. I love the power and thoughtfulness of Lupe’s fans. It was an amazing experience.

Speaking of Lupe, “Hip-Hop Saved My Life” was a huge opportunity for you. What was it like for him to return the favor and spit a verse over “Million Star Motel” along with Black Thought from The Roots?

Lupe Fiasco and Black Thought are two of the most thoughtful lyricists ever to hold a mic. I am inspired by their lyrics and to have either of them on a song would be an honor, but to have them both really blows my mind. It’s a treat for me as a fan, and hopefully also for their fans.

Previously, you graciously released two EP’s with your band Nouveau Riche for free through file hosting websites. Fortunately, your solo debut didn’t have a chance to leak to the same websites before it’s release, but the tracks have inevitably begun to spring up on various other outlets. Do you have a take on file sharing? Has it helped or hurt the industry? You?

I have given, and will continue to give away a lot of music. With that in mind, when I FINALLY release something, of course you wish people would purchase it. If they don’t, and they appreciate the music, I hope they come to a show, or buy a t-shirt or in other way show their support. At this point, file sharing can’t be helped, so attaching emotion to it good or bad is pointless. It’s like. . Sometimes it rains. . It’s just a fact.

What albums and artists have you currently been listening to?

I’m currently listening to Ellie Goulding, and this new mixtape that 88 keys is putting out. There’s some really amazing unknown lyricists on it.  I also, of course, am always listening to Elevator Fight, and J*Davey.

The most adorable song on the record has got to be “Patty Crash”. Considering you two are best friends I’m going to assume she’s heard the song, so what’s she think of the track!?

It’s such a complimentary song that I would be totally bummed if she hated it. But she seems to like it 🙂 We’re making a video for it . . starring. . PATTY CRASH!

You’ve opened up for Train, was featured on the Glow in the Dark tour, and even basically toured through people’s living rooms. Are there any plans to do more touring in the recent future? Are there any shows coming up?

We are currently in the process of trying to fill up my schedule with shows as much as possible. I’ll have more information soon. . sit tight.

In the same vein of planning, what can we expect in terms of promotion for “Pennies in a Jar”?  Music video? Future single releases? Radio and TV interviews? Etc.?

We’ve been doing a lot of radio promotion on NPR which is amazing. In addition to Letterman, we also just finished taping Tavis Smiley, which I’m thrilled about. I’m planning 4 videos for the album right now. . but I look at the promotion of the record more as a journey than a destination and look forward to rolling them out over the next year.

You mentioned several times about “The Complete Artist’s Way” and Morning Pages. Can you expand a little bit more on how those helped you and if you have any other certain processes or rituals when it comes to songwriting?

Morning pages are a practice I started doing 10 years ago. It helps me connect to what I consider to be my inner wisdom. At the end of the day, we all have a gut feeling about what we SHOULD be doing with our life, or the right or wrong decision in any given situation, morning pages help me identify those. I try and look at the world around me with an eye for detail and the relationships between seemingly unrelated things when songwriting. . Things that make me wonder about the world and our place in it.

Nikki Jean

In the years leading up to the release of “Pennies in a Jar” and through all the ups and downs of working toward putting it together, what would you say is the biggest lesson you’ve learned & kept with you? And what advice can you give to other aspiring artists (or people with ambition to follow their passion in general)?

I don’t think that a career in music is something that should ever be encouraged.  I think a professional music career is for people who are so passionate and hard headed that no matter how much discouragement is hurled their way they fight through it. If you want security, a retirement plan, health insurance, the ability to care for your parents as they age, the ability to have kids, and buy a house in a timely or predictable manner. . IF ever. . make music your hobby, not your career.

Do you have any announcements, closing comments or statements in general that you’d like to throw out into the world to the readers of 2020k?

I would like to thank the amazing people who have helped and supported me along the way.  I hope you always believe in yourself, the way I believe in you.

2020k would like to thank Nikki Jean for taking time out of her schedule to take the time to talk with us! Her debut record Pennies in a Jar was released on July 12th, 2011 under S-Curve Records. Click here to download it from iTunes! Leave a comment below to let us know your thoughts on this piece!

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Track Review: m83 – Midnight City

Posted on July 20, 2011 by 2020k | RJ Kozain

m83
According to Hype Machine, M83 completely dominated the blogosphere and took the #1 spot as “Most blogged about” throughout the entire internet yesterday. Why? Well, they gave away a song off of their upcoming 2-disc Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming record! It’s called “Midnight City” and here is what 2020k has to say about it: IT’S THE FIRST M83 SONG I’VE EVER HEARD IN MY LIFE AND IT’S EXTREMELY GOOD.

Now, I’d love to say the song is perfect, but the download is only offered at 160 kbps MP3, which means a lot of sound degrading, and since 2020k is a blog thrived upon the engineering, mixing, and mastering process of a song, we’ll save the actual review for when a lossless quality is released.

As for the actual composition and song structure that is featured on “Midnight City”? It’s flawless. Gorgeous bass, lots of gorgeous sounding synths, 80’s drum sounds, and spaced out sounding vocals. They all give way to a great Electronic nighttime summer anthem. And there is a saxophone part? How wonderful!

The best part of the track are all of the vocal layers. There are lots of them, they are dry, they are wet with reverb, they ooze vocoder, they spring delay and the main vocal yelp that provides one of the strongest melodies throughout the track is a standout.

Along with the release of this track and news of the record, the band has announced official North American tour dates. Venues and more information are available here.

Admittedly, I haven’t listened to much M83 in my lifetime. There’s far too many legendary acts in this world for me to possibly follow all of them, but after the release of “Midnight City” there is an eagerness inside to check out more of what they’re about. Have any suggestions? Tweet me, Facebook me, or leave a comment below!

Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming is due for release on October 18th, 2011 on Mute Records. Expect a review from us!


Download “Midnight City” for Free [M83’s Official Website]

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Flashback: Madonna & Massive Attack – I Want You

Posted on July 18, 2011 by 2020k | RJ Kozain

Madonna I Want You
At 81 Beats Per Minute and 6 minutes and 24 seconds long, “I Want You” embodies the slow, drawn out, hypnotic depression and desperation of the internal pain associated with unrequited love so perfectly that it could be considered the epitome of it. It is perhaps one of the biggest injustices in pop music that it was scrapped as the lead single off of Madonna’s 1995 ballads release, Something To Remember because of trouble between Warner Bros./Maverick label and Motown.

Why the trouble? In case you didn’t know, this is a Marvin Gaye cover and was originally recorded as a tribute that was included on an all star tribute-album Inner City Blues: The Music of Marvin Gaye. It was released on both Motown and WB/Maverick and we all know what happens when something is released on two separate labels. Money becomes an issue and if they aren’t figured out, they get scrapped. It’s a sad and dangerous game to have your song associated in so many different places. If you didn’t think it was enough to have them spread out onto those labels, Massive Attack, the track’s producer obviously owned some rights to the record because they also had the song internationally released on the special edition of their greatest hits album Collected, which is under the Virgin Records label.

Motown is under Universal Records. Warner Bros. is under their own company.  Virgin is a subsidiary of EMI. That’s THREE out of the Big 4 record companies going at each others throats and bank accounts. Can you see the financial battles they were probably having play out in your head? I can. But, let’s put aside our rant about the business side of the recording industry for another day and get onto the good stuff, shall we?

To say this track is just another moody arrangement would be an understatement. One of the most interesting things about the mechanics of “I Want You” is that despite the abundance of strings throughout it, the heavy percussion, and overwhelmingly big bass sound, the track isn’t all that complicated from a basic mixing standpoint. None of the strings flow back and forth through the stereo speakers, but instead seem to focus most of their energy in the left side of the channel, allowing the supporting percussive instrumentation and Madonna’s vocals to have a bit more breathing room on the right. Together, with this mixing technique, both speakers create two separate moods. The left speaker providing a more densely layered but hopeful and light lift, and the right channel providing a more sparse and dark playing field. The right channel is not too dark though because it’d completely throw off the balance of the track, leaving it sounding 100% mentally unstable instead of just being temporarily down, so the main string line still has some give to the right speaker and every now and then a supporting string part will pop it’s way into that side of the mix as well.Massive Attack

Regardless of the landscape Massive Attack and producer Nellee Hooper created for us to sink our teeth into, Madonna rides above it and creates a vocal mood that’s both mournful and seductive. Throughout the verses, the lead vocal track finds her singing, and another finds her talking and playing around with the wording and melody of each phrase, making the track more haunting. Eighth-note stereo delay gives her background vocals an extra kick and lush reverb surrounds her the entire time. All in all, there aren’t many vocal tracks through the song, but the production on them makes them sound huge, emotional, and triumphant in some areas where the strings become more overcoming.

On the subject of strings, even when listening to the Orchestral Version of the track, it’s hard to distinguish whether any of the strings are actually programmed MIDI sequences or samples. I’m going to guess that the answer is no, but even when flipping through liner notes on both Massive Attack & Madonna’s albums there are no credited musicians. If any of it is MIDI, it’s damn good and flawlessly programmed and same goes for of it all is (but I highly doubt it. If anyone has any information as to who played on this track, please leave a comment below or tweet me!) As for the rest of the track? It’s all sample based with the exception of maybe the subtle guitar parts and bass. As with any great programmers, they’re damn good, high quality, great sounding samples that enhance the track instead of giving it a synthetic, cheap production sound.

Even with the extremely powerful bass track, it’s not bothering any frequencies. The engineers ensured that there are distinct EQ differences between the bass and kick (which are the most problematic low frequency instruments to mix, as they share most of the same frequencies), giving the bass a more low roar and nurturing the kick to have a more mid-range punch. There is one complaint that on smaller speakers, the bass seems to overpower a lot of the other things that are going on in the track.Madonna

In regards to a first impression on the track and to defend the almost too massive power that the low end carries throughout “I Want You,” I asked my brother, completely impromptu, who has no engineering training or interest in pop music in general, to lend a hand on the blog and inquired what he thought of the song I was playing. Normally, his response is that what I’m listening to is horrible and he’ll return to his room with the death metal blaring. His response to the Madonna song though? It was that “it needs to be played in a car with subwoofers.” Translation: it has a lot of bass. (One day I’ll review a metal album for you, little brother..I promise!)

You’d think that with Madge singing as low as she does in some parts that issues would arrive on her tracks with the low frequency focus and even have some issues with the higher frequencies of the strings, but nothing is wrong anywhere, not even with the mixing of the effects on her voice!

We’re dealing with a group of highly trained professionals in the industry and it’s great that nothing short of sonic perfection and emotional landscape was achieved on “I Want You”. Marvin Gaye would be proud.

Don’t even get me started on how emotionally tearing the Earle Sebastian directed music video is. It’s extremely subtle and repetitive. But don’t you ever tell me (loveeee isn’t true, it’s just something that we doooeeoooo) you haven’t waited by the phone for hours for someone at least once in your lifetime. The realism surrounding this song in every aspect of the sense is exquisite. Bravo!

What do you think about the track? Like Madonna? Like Massive Attack? Let us know in the comments section and be sure to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for all of the up to date information on 2020k and other endeavors!

Track rating: 4.5/5

Purchase “Something to Remember” [iTunes]
Purchase “Something to Remember” [Amazon]
Purchase “Collected: Special Edition” [Amazon]
Purchase “Inner City Blues” [Amazon]

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Album Review: Nikki Jean – Pennies in a Jar

Posted on July 14, 2011 by 2020k | RJ Kozain

Nikki Jean Pennies in a Jar

NOTE: 2020k is delighted to announce it’s exclusive interview with Nikki Jean coming! CLICK HERE to read it! There will also be a contest for a giveaway of the album for a few selected individuals – if you’d like to participate, please like the official 2020k Facebook page for more information as it becomes available about the contest and ways to win!

Nikki Jean and her fan base have been longing for the release of her debut album Pennies in a Jar for a long time. Through it, we’ve seen several music projects, collaborations, cookie sales, apartment moving, living room tours, meetups, and even personalized Christmas cards from the singer, written out to fans who submitted their names and addresses before a selected cut off date. It’s been a lot of hard work, but it’s finally upon us. During that time, Nikki set out across country to write and record with some of the world’s most legendary songwriters to make what one may call the 21st century version of “Tapestry” by Carole King. On July 12th, 2011, the debut album was released into the world and it’s one heck of a collection

To start, the biggest stand out to Pennies in a Jar is that a lot of what went into mixing and creating space within the mixes doesn’t have so much to do with fancy outboard/plug-in dynamic settings and techniques, but rather the use of creating a broad and beautiful stereo image with the use of panning. For example, the stereo-paired guitars in the Bob Dylan co-penned “Steel and Feathers (Don’t Ever)” are complimented by an overdubbed guitar panned left and a piano panned right, all the while having a small stereo choir of backup singers give Nikki’s centered voice an extra glow.

The bulk of the album features the main vocal line, kick, and snare giving themselves to the traditional method of staying centered throughout the song and ultimately achieve their goal of acquiring the most focus throughout the song by having the dry signal in mono, but still maintaining a sense of multi-direction with the help of stereo reverb and delay to subtly spread out their sounds to the left and right speakers.

Further using alternate techniques on creating space and making a mix work appears more clearly on the Bobby Braddock aided “Million Star Motel (Featuring Lupe Fiasco & Black Thought of The Roots)”. The gear gets a little more creative in that toward the end of the song there is an automated reverb and slapback delay that slowly becomes more prominent at the end of each vocal line until the last phrase of the song becomes fully engulfed in the elegant settings and eventually spreading through other instruments of the track. It’s one of the greatest mixing moments that this record possesses and makes for a smooth ending, where as some of the other tracks, such as “How to Unring a Bell” give for a little too much of an abrupt ending that leaves you wanting more.

Nikki JeanSpeaking of “How to Unring a Bell” co-penned with Thom Bell, it does an astounding job at opening up the album as it gives you a little taste of everything that’s featured on it. The various melodies unfold in a fluent manner, going from aggression through the verses to drawn out silky strings and keyboards giving a platform for lamenting some of the more simple, but effective lyrics of the 41 minute record. “Yesterday, I never thought you could cry. Such a shame I can never say that again. Yesterday, I never told you goodbye. Such a shame I can never say that again.” It’s a song sung of lost love, but one that knows it’s lessons and holds brightness throughout it, as most of the album does.

Lyrics aren’t the only bright and hopeful aspects of the debut record. Crisp high frequencies surround the project as a whole, making it’s early Motown influence more apparent. The old school sonics heavily affected the throwback mixing of this record, being mostly reminiscent to the uplifting sounds of early Supremes (Think “Where Did Our Love Go” & “Baby Love”). Strip Amy Winehouse’s “Back to Black” from it’s darkness combine the sound of other modern British pop acts and you also have a taste of the sonics that Pennies possesses. It’s most apparent example comes throughout the realistic sounding claps, airy background vocals, and various hi-hats, bells, and percussive helpings on “My Love”. No surprise, was a track that was made in part of a collaboration with Lamont Dozier who not only worked with The Supremes themselves, but anything you can think of from the “golden age” of Motown.

Depending on the mood, Pennies in a Jar can sometimes become a bit too Motown and start sounding a little too blended together. However, “Mercy of Love”, “Sex, Lies, and Sunshine” and the semi-cinematic sounding “China” provide the more serious counterparts, and while they are some of the album’s more down moments, they do not breakaway from the summery, lighthearted qualities that Nikki Jean’s first solo attempt dignifies.

To close out this review, I wanted to give the title track a proper paragraph as opposed to the ecstatic and speechless post that was created upon it’s initial upload to Nikki Jean’s official Youtube channel. However, it still remains as stunning as it was when I reported on it then. It’s a magical number penned by Nikki herself and co-written with Burt Bacharach that best sums up Jean’s three year jump from working in a coffee shop in Philadelphia, PA to working her way up from collaborations with DJ Deckstream and the previously mentioned Lupe, albums with the amazing, but short lived alternative Hip-Hop style Nouveaue Riche, to where she is now.

Nikki Jean: bottling up the stars, pennies in a jar, and she’s earned every single one.

Album rating: 4/5

What do you think of the record? Leave a comment below!

Purchase Pennies in a Jar [iTunes]
Purchase Pennies in a Jar [Amazon]

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Track Review: Imogen Heap – Propeller Seeds

Posted on July 9, 2011 by 2020k | RJ Kozain

Imogen Heap Propeller Seeds

Track by track: Lifeline | Propeller Seeds | Minds Without Fear/Neglected Space | Xizi She Knows | Me The Machine| Telemiscommunications | You Know Where To Find Me

Imogen Heaphas always striven to find ways to invite us into her 3D world and keep us safe and sound in her bubble. We’ve had blogs, vlogs, tweets, vokles, ustreams, 12 seconds, Q&A’s, 3DiCD’s, and she’s continuing to achieve the ultimate balance of music, fan interaction, and innovation with the release what is perhaps the world’s first official 3D song, a release of her #heapsong series, titled “Propeller Seeds”.

First of all, pop on your headphones because unless you’re listening to this song through professional monitoring speakers or a great consumer based stereo system, you’re going to miss a lot of the work that went into making this track an actual 3D song. Got them on? Okay, let’s go.

Immi enlisted Nick Ryan, an accomplished sound designer and artist in helping create the soundscape for #heapsong2 aka “Propeller Seeds”.  The team used several techniques in creating a world in which you feel like you’re living out the song as it rolls along through your ears. One of these approaches to making this experience possible was by using binaural microphones to capture the audio of various scenes and places. Binaural recordings are a pair of microphones which fit over the ears to record a stereo sound and since they’re around your ears, what you record is what you hear. The sounds were then treated using 3D sound, which is an effect in which the stereo spread is widened by modifying the phase of the soundwaves along with smart panning and other stereo imaging techniques, then applying the affected recordings the same way you would mix a normal record: delay, compression, reverberation, etc.

Speaking of reverb, to get an accurate portrayal of the environments represented throughout the song, Imogen and Nick went to various buildings and public places and did what sound designers normally do to defuse any sound reflections within a room, so that they can create a space that is acoustically treated for recording audio. They popped balloons. The balloon popping was recorded for the sake of accurately pinpointing exactly how long a sound reverberates and says within the space Imogen wants to sonically recreate. But why is this done? Well, in a certain part of the song, she’s sitting in a restaurant and to better create the atmosphere of what a restaurant sounds like, the sounds within the setting are dowsed with reverb that is calculated almost exactly how the reverb sounds in the actual restaurant the recording is based off of.

You can hear the outcome of some of the sounds recorded binaural style and treated with 3D sound on #heapsong2’s soundcloud page. The hard part is over. Did you follow well or is your brain currently liquified and seeping out of your nose?

There’s a lot more that went into the engineering process as there still had to be an actual stereo song to mix and I’m sure that phase was a bit of an issue throughout the mastering process, but the final product sounds great! In my “Lifeline” review I stated that Imogen’s records after her Speak For Yourself seemed to go light on mastering and sound a bit flat, but this one sounds far superior and ranks up with the lush sonics that SFY delivered us. Thank you to Simon Heyworth, who once again handled the mastering work! (Again, just to be clear, I really do like and respect all of the mixing and mastering work done on Imogen Heap projects. These processes are subjective to what the artist wants done to their work and as long as the audio is handled with care, which all of Immi’s projects are, there’s no shade to be delivered. I just prefer a little more oomph! sometimes).

Though the entire songs is one amazing piece of work, the coolest parts throughout the track have got to be the section during Heap sings “I must be coming down with something to be thinking this!” The audio spins around the speakers and suddenly comes full focus and centered with the last word of the phrase. Throughout the second verse, there is a jazz band that was recorded live during their setlist and is also whirling around in the mix. They’re amazing touches to a song that tells a story of how Imogen met her current boyfriend, who is also featured on the song as one of the voices you hear in the background of the track.

Kelly Snook also took to recording, engineering, and mixing, a beautiful acoustic version of “Lifeline” that was played during the party for the release of #heapsong2. It’s available in a bundle from Imogenheap.com and includes a 9 minute explanation with Nick and Immi on how the song came about, and also includes the 3DiCD from Andy Carne and a way cool music video shot by Simon Henwood.

It’s mind blowing, I know. It’s what Imogen does best and it’s why we love her. Can’t wait for #heapsong3! What are your feelings on “Propeller Seeds” and the Heapsong series so far? Let us know in the comments below! And don’t forget to like us on Facebook.

Track Rating: 5/5


Purchase Propeller Seeds from Imogen Heap’s Website! There are a bunch of options to choose from. MP3 to Lossless. Just the song, to a bundle package! Click here to check it all out!

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Watch: Sade – Love is Found [Live from Soldier of Love tour]

Posted on July 9, 2011 by 2020k | RJ Kozain


After their 10 year hiatus from recording and touring, Sade is hitting the road on their 2011 Soldier of Love tour and after seeing their show on their stop at the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh, PA, I can assure you that it’s one show you don’t want to miss. Here, we see the band promoting the tour with a music video from a song in the setlist called “Love is Found,” which is off the album The Ultimate Collection (so they’re also smartly promoting the new record, a gorgeous 2 disc greatest hits album, which should be picked up).

In the video, you see pretty much what you see throughout the whole show. A very minimal, streamline, and modern looking stage set with the band spaced out, Sade walking amongst them, and a beautiful back-lit screen behind them, projecting out images from old Sade videos, or in this case, her silhouette dancing with another.

Musically? The musicianship is superior and as a result they closely recapture the sounds produced throughout their entire catalog of music, but most times better than what has been recorded in the studio (which cannot be said for acts touring more than 20 years into their career, or acts in general, really).

It’s pretty much impossible for me to review the tour because I’ll just keep saying the same words over and over again: gorgeous, beautiful, perfect, stunning, Sadeazing, amazing, etc. etc. I can tell you that there was one adorable moment after the opening song where the front woman modestly spoke about how she’s never been good at taking praise, but she’s getting used to it. Then, went into the second song and when finished, after the crowd was done roaring, she coyly muttered one word: “Woot.” An admirable stage moment for sure.

My favorite song of the night? It hasn’t been released professionally yet, but she sang her guts out of “Pearls” and the backdrop is beautiful. Check it below and GO SEE THIS SHOW. TICKETS ARE SURPRISINGLY AFFORDABLE!


Purchase tickets to the Soldier of Love tour [Ticketmaster]
Purchase Soldier of Love [iTunes]
Purchase The Ultimate Collection [iTunes]

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Album Review: Beyonce – 4

Posted on July 9, 2011 by 2020k | RJ Kozain

Beyonce - 4

There have been many setbacks with the release of Beyonce’s fourth solo effort, fittingly entitled 4. It leaked weeks early, promotion lacked, the lead single tanked, and overall the beginning stages of marketing the record was a music business trainwreck. When you place all of that aside, pop the record in your stereo, and have a good, hard listen, it’s a relief to know that music doesn’t always have to reflect on how it’s presented to the public. 4 is an extremely cohesive record, with some minor setbacks that cause it to sonically be a diamond in the rough.

The one thing that’s obvious with this record compared to the previous efforts by Ms. Knowles is that she’s using her voice in a more strong and commanding manner, which is in part because of her observation during the editing of the I Am… World Tour DVD in which she noted her studio voice is often different in tone than the one she uses when she’s on stage. The outcome is a much more abrasive, triumphant songstress compared to past recordings and comes out quite compelling on the tracks with more emotional subject matters such as “1+1” and “I Care”.

Actually, we’re going to spend a lot of focus on these two tracks, as they’re two of the most interesting ones out of the bunch…

“1+1” – I’d like to call this the most traditional and humanistic song on 4. Interestingly enough, it starts with a fade in of stereo panned guitars with a slapback delay on them. Granted, it’s a quick fade, but it’s still something not heard of too often in popular music, especially on an album opener. There’s also a little bit of noise floor seeping in and out of the track, heard mostly on the organ – which is refreshing to hear considering the extreme amount of noise reduction normally used on Top 40 records.

One thing that stays constant through “1+1” and pretty much through the entire record is that Beyonce’s voice is front, center, and loud, but why shouldn’t it be? Perhaps she’s compressed a bit too much sometimes, but she’s the artist and she sounds gorgeous. The short reverberation on her voice gives the track a bit more depth and the delays at the end of certain phrases are a nice creative touch in the mixing process as well.

1+1 does steer wrong though, in that there are several places where clear distortion can be heard. Check out the 0:30 mark where the entire track distorts, probably because of the high energy between the bass and vocal track at that particular moment. While it’s normally not too difficult to tell how the distortion happened, there are other instances throughout the track where it’s hard to tell whether distortion happens in it because of recording too hot at the sounds source or because of mixing and mastering techniques.

Otherwise? The mix doesn’t sound too shabby and the nice spacey synth pad fade out provides a nice comedown for a track so emotional and nice introduction to what we’re going to hear on the next track.

“I Care” – A warm, slowly oscillating synthesizer and obscure/spacey rhythmic drops begin our tour into this track with heavily coated reverberated percussion providing a strong drive into the track’s first verse. It’s a nice throwback 80’s sound with a modern twist, which is how most of 4 runs.

To give the drums more power, there are two kick drums that thump throughout “I Care.” One, most likely recorded live provides the foundation, while an occasional more prominent, deeper in frequency, and sample based sound comes in conjunction with it to provide an almost bi-polar like sound in that it’s a constant battle (in a good way) between the quieter and louder kicks. Unfortunately, there is a bit of a loudness problem during the busier parts of the song, but in a way it counteracts the quiet verses and causes the songs buildups and breakdowns to flow with less effort.

Continuing with the spacey atmosphere, Beyonce’s vocals have several stunning delays on them. One a slapback, set differently so it only gives a subtle accent on the more strong consonant sounds emitted onto the track and a second longer delay on the end of phrases to carry her voice through the areas where vocals don’t thrive (and occasionally throughout them, as shown more in the 2nd verse).  The mixing on the vocals is truly where this track shines and it would basically be an entirely different track in general, lacking power without them.

These two tracks provide the epitome of this album in that there’s great strength in the production and mixing that went into Beyonce’s vocals and also great suffer in taking care of the audio in certain places within them. Another thing these two have in common with each other and the rest of 4 is the presence of live instrumentation, which is something Beyonce’s uniquely had going for her since her sophomore solo record B’day and continues to impress the Pop world by exploring the seemingly dead art of making a record with actual musicians as opposed to sitting in front of Logic Pro and banging out a track.

“Rather Die Young” is a fine example of fusing together an eclectic list of instruments ranging from rhodes, pianos, brass instrumentation, and guitars with a sampled rhythmic sections that provides a hybrid-mix between traditional recording and programming. Not that she has to rely on the old school style of recording, as “Love On top” and “Party (Featuring Andre 3000)” thrive almost entirely off of synths, programming and come off as two of the songs on 4 with the most groove in them.

The craziest and most synthetic track obviously goes to the lead single “Run the World (Girls)” which incorporates a huge sample of “Pon De Floor” by Major Lazer. It’d hardly be an original track if it weren’t for the rumbling bass and overall facelift given by producers Switch, The-Dream, and Shea Taylor. It’s not a creative usage of a sample by any means (if you don’t believe me, click here and just start singing “Run The World” over the beat), but HOLLYYY SHITTT the vocal melody is to die for! Sometimes following the snare rolls, sometimes following the bass, but always standing out and having a mind of it’s own. It truly makes the track special and provides an amazing feeling of empowerment for anyone listening to the track.

Unfortunately, the most creative part of “Run The World” was the track’s opening and was cut from the release of 4. It provided an industrial synth, male rebel yells, and Beyonce vocal manipulation over the sample and gave the track a small experimental edge which saved it from starting out quick like a lead single does. If I had to guess, the intro was probably snipped because the song didn’t survive on radio. I’m sure they included the radio edit of the track on the record for familiarity purposes for those who have heard the song through radio format. (Still, it’s a shitty thing to do and I downloaded the Extended Version so I wouldn’t bitch every time I played it on my iPod. You should do the same).

Also, the Deluxe edition of this record includes three club mixes of the single by Kaskade, RedTop, and Jochen Simms and are pretty nice to listen to if you’ve heard the Major Lazer sample one too many times for one sitting.

Our last stop in this review goes to a track clocking in at less than three minutes, but is perhaps the album’s highlight. “I Miss You” continues along the emotional journey that 4 carries and lends some of the most brutally honest lyrics throughout Beyonce’s entire catalog. “The words don’t ever seem to come out right, but I still mean them, why is that? It hurts my pride to tell you how I feel, but I still need to, why is?” she laments over a swelling synth lead, minimal ambient guitar sounds, and a hypnotic downtempo drum track. Occasionally, haunting effects pop in and out to add to the track’s ethereal depression. It’s a track that packs pure honesty in every single aspect of the track and is sure to go down as one of the best recorded tracks of her career. It’s a shame there’s a bit of distortion here and there on it because of the high energy focus on the low frequencies of the track.

Lyrically? Great album. Instrumentation? Great album. Vocally? Great album. Variety? Great album. Technical audio love? It’s nice, but there shouldn’t be this much neglect on an artists album like Beyonce’s. Also, any catch the “Hand Covers Bruise” by Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross from the movie The Social Network‘s sample in “I Was Here”? It’d also be nice if Beyonce listed these things in the credits along with who played what instruments and assisting in creating the wonderful tracks we hear on 4.

Beyond it’s downfalls, it’s still a nice album and if you’re a fan of seeing the business side of things, there is a great documentary up on Vevo called “Year of 4” in which Beyonce tackles firing her father, Matthew Knowles as manager and taking on much more duties all in the name of artistic freedom. Click here to watch!

Album Rating: 3.5/5

“Countdown” and “End of Time” were not mentioned in this review but are also two uptempo bangers that should be noted.

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