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By Malcolm X Abram
POSTED: 08:08 p.m. EDT, Oct 08, 2009
In the late '90s, mainstream R&B got a soul injection when young artists such as Erykah Badu, D'Angelo, Jill Scott and Raphael Saadiq began mixing the sound and feel of the classic R&B, soul and funk of past eras (as well as ''antiquated'' notions such as using live musicians) into their new music. The movement was dubbed neo-soul, and for the remainder of the decade, these artists found themselves welcomed to mainstream R&B radio.
In the 21st century, the neo-soul tag has become a bad buzzword to some artists (singer Jaguar Wright titled her sophomore album Divorcing Neo to Marry Soul), while others don't care what people call their music, as long as they're listening.
Singer/songwriter/producer Dwele (Andwele Gardner), who will be performing at the Stage Door at E.J. Thomas Hall on Saturday night as part of the Keepers Lounge series, leans toward the latter category.
''If you look at the rest of the people who are categorized as neo-soul people like Jill Scott, D'Angelo and Erykah Badu, I really appreciate their music, so in a way, I feel blessed to be considered a neo-soul artist,'' he said from his home in Detroit.
''But I want to be more than that. I don't want to be labeled. I want to show I can do other things as well.''
What he's done so far has been pretty good and garnered him a sizable following among those who like their R&B ''grown & sexy.''
His first album was the self-released 2000 CD Rize, which brought him to the attention of Detroit hip-hop crew Slum Village. It enlisted him to apply his smooth, honeyed voice to the hook of its hit single Tainted. That led to other collaborations before he was signed by Virgin Records for two albums, Subject (2003) and Some Kinda (2005), both of which featured his low-boiling grooves, the familiar sound of the Rhodes electric piano, actual bass lines and hints of jazz, hip-hop and classic soul.
His most recent album, Sketches of a Man, (2007) was released on Koch, which he calls a ''major independent.''
''I get a chance to do my thing, to express myself creatively through music and video, and I have a lot more say-so in what I get to do,'' he said.
Like D'Angelo, Dwele is in love with harmony, sometimes at the expense of melody, but his warm croon always gets heads nodding and his songs usually focus on affairs of the heart, making them easily relatable.
Though he's between albums, he hasn't been invisible on the national scene. Most recently, he's been featured in a series of commercials for McDonald's McCafe advertising campaign, for which he wrote a song. He also recorded a duet with Cleveland soul singer Conya Doss (''Yeah, Conya, that's my peoples,'' he said), who also will be performing at the Stage Door in November.
Though the vagaries of love are his staple subject matter, Dwele said that on his next album, which he hopes to have ready by the second quarter of 2010, he will look outside the bedroom and follow the lead of many of his musical heroes from the 1970s.
''It's not cool to talk about what's happening right now. It's cool to talk about the rims and the women and the money, and that's all cool, too. But somebody has to take on the responsibility of talking about what's going on,'' he said.
''I think it's our job as musicians and writers to talk about the things that are going on right now in 2009 for the future, so they can look back and hear what was happening. So I'm going to really push for it this time [on the new album] now that I have the creative freedom to do that.''
Details
What: Keeper's Lounge presents Dwele and DJ Krate Digga
When: 9 p.m. Saturday
Where: Stage Door at the University of Akron's E.J. Thomas Hall, 198 Hill St.
Tickets: $10 general admission, $5 UA students
Information: 330-972-7570, www.keepersoftheheart.com, http://uaevents.com
Malcolm X Abram can be reached at mabram@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3758.
In the late '90s, mainstream R&B got a soul injection when young artists such as Erykah Badu, D'Angelo, Jill Scott and Raphael Saadiq began mixing the sound and feel of the classic R&B, soul and funk of past eras (as well as ''antiquated'' notions such as using live musicians) into their new music. The movement was dubbed neo-soul, and for the remainder of the decade, these artists found themselves welcomed to mainstream R&B radio.
In the 21st century, the neo-soul tag has become a bad buzzword to some artists (singer Jaguar Wright titled her sophomore album Divorcing Neo to Marry Soul), while others don't care what people call their music, as long as they're listening.
Singer/songwriter/producer Dwele (Andwele Gardner), who will be performing at the Stage Door at E.J. Thomas Hall on Saturday night as part of the Keepers Lounge series, leans toward the latter category.
''If you look at the rest of the people who are categorized as neo-soul people like Jill Scott, D'Angelo and Erykah Badu, I really appreciate their music, so in a way, I feel blessed to be considered a neo-soul artist,'' he said from his home in Detroit.
''But I want to be more than that. I don't want to be labeled. I want to show I can do other things as well.''
What he's done so far has been pretty good and garnered him a sizable following among those who like their R&B ''grown & sexy.''
His first album was the self-released 2000 CD Rize, which brought him to the attention of Detroit hip-hop crew Slum Village. It enlisted him to apply his smooth, honeyed voice to the hook of its hit single Tainted. That led to other collaborations before he was signed by Virgin Records for two albums, Subject (2003) and Some Kinda (2005), both of which featured his low-boiling grooves, the familiar sound of the Rhodes electric piano, actual bass lines and hints of jazz, hip-hop and classic soul.
His most recent album, Sketches of a Man, (2007) was released on Koch, which he calls a ''major independent.''
''I get a chance to do my thing, to express myself creatively through music and video, and I have a lot more say-so in what I get to do,'' he said.
Like D'Angelo, Dwele is in love with harmony, sometimes at the expense of melody, but his warm croon always gets heads nodding and his songs usually focus on affairs of the heart, making them easily relatable.
Though he's between albums, he hasn't been invisible on the national scene. Most recently, he's been featured in a series of commercials for McDonald's McCafe advertising campaign, for which he wrote a song. He also recorded a duet with Cleveland soul singer Conya Doss (''Yeah, Conya, that's my peoples,'' he said), who also will be performing at the Stage Door in November.
Though the vagaries of love are his staple subject matter, Dwele said that on his next album, which he hopes to have ready by the second quarter of 2010, he will look outside the bedroom and follow the lead of many of his musical heroes from the 1970s.
''It's not cool to talk about what's happening right now. It's cool to talk about the rims and the women and the money, and that's all cool, too. But somebody has to take on the responsibility of talking about what's going on,'' he said.
''I think it's our job as musicians and writers to talk about the things that are going on right now in 2009 for the future, so they can look back and hear what was happening. So I'm going to really push for it this time [on the new album] now that I have the creative freedom to do that.''
Details
What: Keeper's Lounge presents Dwele and DJ Krate Digga
When: 9 p.m. Saturday
Where: Stage Door at the University of Akron's E.J. Thomas Hall, 198 Hill St.
Tickets: $10 general admission, $5 UA students
Information: 330-972-7570, www.keepersoftheheart.com, http://uaevents.com
Malcolm X Abram can be reached at mabram@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3758.
Comments
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Akron, Oh
Posted 07:28 AM, 10/09/2009
Hey, Morris Day and The Time "sold out" at UA's Stage Door presentation. Of course, I'd sell out too if I put my audience on my backyard deck. What a shell game!
A true sell out at Thomas Hall is when all 2,955 seats are sold. Claiming "SOLD OUT" for anything less than that is simply a LIE!!!
