Billboard: “James has lost none of that mesmerizing talent as listeners revisit a time when both singers and songs overflowed with substance. James delivers a fresh take on R&B/pop old-school heritage….Recorded live in the studio, the album deliciously captures James’ multifaceted musical aura. ”

Boston Globe: “With this set, Leela James isn’t doing things “again,” she’s doing them right.Yeah, this is a collection of great (mostly soul) songs, but the big-voiced James interprets the tunes with the kind of juice only terrific vocalists can offer….This is R&B so real the record jacket pulses.”

Leela is performing this week, March 25th at SOB’s in New York for her album release party. This promises to be a memorable night at the legendary S.O.B.’s with the soulful Leela James taking the stage in an intimate atmosphere and serenading fans old and new.

Post the Leela James music player on your site/blog (contains 6 streaming tracks). Roll over the top-right corner, then click on Copy Me to get the embed code.

Promotional download of “Change 4 A Dolla”
http://www.mobileunderground.com/blog/replife-change4adolla.mp3

Videos:
http://www.mobileunderground.com/blog/replife-music-videos/

Purchase link:
http://www.mobileunderground.com/artist/replife/

Images:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mobileunderground/tags/replife/

REPLIFE – THE UNCLOSED MIND (FUTURISTICA)

gilles peterson – “an amazing debut … replife is one of the freshest rappers out there.”
rich medina – “a brilliant debut.”
mark de clive lowe – “the first time i ever heard replife, i knew he was the truth.”
groovedis – “‘the unclosed mind’ will set a new standard for the nu-jazz, downtempo scene.”
the east bay express – “a strong contender for rap record of the year.”
jay scarlett - “a future classic.”

Replife is an artist like no other.

Based in Cleveland, he began riming at the age of 12 and enjoyed early success gaining national recognition both as a poet and rapper. However, in 2001 he decided to hang up his microphone believing that his days as a performance artist had passed him by and settled into another successful career as an award-winning journalist, columnist, editor and educator. Luckily in 2004 he was finally persuaded by the young producer aLIVE (of the Cleveland based Muamin Collective) to drop by the studio and pick up the mic again. This prolific collaboration helped to define a new Cleveland sound that fuses musical genres and yet manages to remain rooted to the essence of their home city – the realities of living in which have become the source of inspiration for Rep’s solo offering “The Unclosed Mind”

Much more than ‘just another hip hop album’, the Replife sound is often described as a fusion of hip hop, nu-jazz, future soul and broken beat – although even this description fails to capture the freshness and innovation behind the music and artist! And with this album Replife shows himself not only as a gifted rapper, poet, singer and writer, but as a master of ceremonies, pulling together talent from across the globe to complete one sonorous musical thought.

“The Unclosed Mind” is enriched and deepened by collaborations with a who’s who of talented contemporary musicians, producers, and vocalists. Dego of 4Hero fame and Bugz in the Attic’s Kaidi Tatham combine to produce the spaced-out J Dilla tribute “Spirit”, Mark de Clive-Lowe drops the heavyweight “Emerald City”, Atjazz produces the infectiously bouncy “Put It Down”, featuring rising Swedish vocalist Kissey Asplund, then there are the warm, intricate duets with vocalist Deborah Jordan (Silhouette Brown and Robert Mitchell’s Panacea), “Elevation” and “Pangea” to name but a few. It is these collaborations and more that make “The Unclosed Mind” appealing to more than just traditional rap music listeners – but to those who simply love good, soulful music. As Rep himself says “At a fundamental level, all of the producers contributing to the album are manipulating break beats, so the album is hip-hop based, but really this album isn’t about making good hip-hop. It’s about making good music.”

“The Unclosed Mind” is a journey through the thought-provoking, the abstract, the inspirational, the danceable, and the musical. With lyrics both challenging and inspiring Rep affirms his place as an original and unique emcee through the trials and tribulations of urban life and creates a musical soundscape that inevitably captures the ear and mind of the listener.

So let your mind too be unclosed.

http://www.myspace.com/danielgraykontarisreplife

Jonas started playing music at an early age- initially banging on pots and pans but quickly moving on to guitar, bass, drums and a bit of piano. The greatest revelation to Jonas though, was when he discovered Stevie Wonder’s album “Songs In The Key Of Life” in his fathers record shelves. Stevie landed on the recordplayer and ignited Jonas’ passion for singing. This passion has stayed with Jonas to great success ever since.

After having played in numerous bands during his teenage years, Jonas formed the soul band Jonz with 4 other talented musicians. After only 3 gigs, the band got signed to a worldwide deal with Sony Music. This lead to a tight working relationship with manager Keith Harris (Stevie Wonder, Omar, Lynden David Hall) and producer Pete Smith (Randy Crawford, Joe Cocker, Sting) making the critically acclaimed debut album “Where It’s At”. The single “Sleeping” was #1 on the national danish airplay chart, and made waves in various parts of the world. Even Stevie Wonder was caught humming one of Jonas’ songs, and said “when can I get my copy of the album?”

After a couple of years Jonas parted ways with Jonz, and has since then been working on his own solo material. Besides this, he has been involved in countless projects on the side with other musicians, producers and songwriters all over the world including writing songs with the late Lynden David Hall; co-fronting the 17 piece soul collective Nu Soul Connexion; working as vocal-producer on many danish albums. The latest addition to collaborations is an EP and a full length album the hip hop and soul project SWEATSHOP (www.myspace.com/sweatshopdk) entitled “The Hustle”.

The last several years Jonas has been touring Europe extensively as backing singer and support act with the multi-ethnic hip hop group Outlandish. On the tour Jonas have received a hugely positive response everywhere. As a result of the Outlandish tour and Jonas’ undeniable talent, the music industry all over the globe started to take notice of his music. Jonas was acknowledged Unsigned artist of the month at www.vibinmusic.co.uk, and Essential Album in Blues & Soul Magazine. Many of the the album’s songs enjoying extensive airplay on radios from Nuuk to NYC…

Jonas debut album “Sweet Dreams Guaranteed” has been created with songwriters, musicians and producers from Copenhagen, New York, Milwaukee and London. Jonas spent time in the studio in USA with George Nash Jr and Demonté Posey – the main guys behind American soul icon Eric Benét. The time was used writing, recording and producing, which a.o. gave birth to the song “Things Gotta Change”, which features bass legend Pino Palladino and brass innovator Roy Hargrove. Both Pino and Roy are known for putting their magic touches to albums by the biggest icons in the genre, so this surely was a dream come true to Jonas.

Jonas’ music is a modern interpretation of soul. Inspiration comes mainly from the old soul classics, but also draws lines to jazz and hip hop. What shines through is the way Jonas succeeds in developing a sound that is completely his own. A warm gentle expressive voice and sound, combined with thoughtful, humorous and poetic lyrics, all adds up to a mixture that is super sexy and simply irresistible.

“Sweet Dreams Guaranteed” is an album that creeps under your skin and keeps growing and growing.

Catch Jonas on tour with Outlandish in June:
June, 18 2008 at ONUTSS – Jonas Listening Party @ Billie’s Black Bar Lounge , New York NY
June, 21 2008 at Heritage Forum•Los Angeles • CA •USA
June, 22 2008 at The Majestic Theater• Dallas, Texas • USA

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Promotional download of “Painted”
Purchase at:
Mobileunderground.com
Myspace.com/PeterHadar

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(NY, NY- June 3, 2008) Independent singer/songwriter Peter Hadar will release his highly anticipated album Well Dressed For The Art Show on his own Cool Weirdo Music label, Tuesday June 17th; but not before unveiling the project before a world-wide audience on June 3rd, for an advanced screening on BET.com’s “Listen Up”. In conjunction with this major exposure, the 13-track album will be available for download on his MySpace.com/PeterHadar site.

]]> http://elemental-consulting.com/projects/peter-hadar-well-dressed-for-the-art-show/feed/ 0 http://elemental-consulting.com/projects/calvin-richardson-album-preview-widget/ http://elemental-consulting.com/projects/calvin-richardson-album-preview-widget/#comments Thu, 24 Apr 2008 21:20:00 +0000 http://elemental-consulting.com/blog1/?p=148 Simply click on Copy Me (visible when you rollover the widget with your mouse)to get the embed code for your blog/myspace/facebook etc.
This widget will be updated with new tracks in the coming weeks. If you have the widget posted on your site, it will automatically update with the new track – you don’t have to do a thing!