In the Studio
Jamie Cullum Fights Heat with Cool Jazz
Album - London Rain
Due Out - May
Producer - Alan Bates
It’s 80 degrees inside a studio in Santa Barbara, California, and Jamie Cullum isn’t breaking a sweat – yet. He sits at a piano, brow furrowed in concentration as he attempts to pick out the notes to Pharrell Williams’ Baby. Williams looks on, visibly impressed, as Cullum fuses jazz vocals with rhythmic, gritty beats. “The air conditioning broke, but we’ve got something great going on right now, so we’ll stay til we melt,” the Neptunes producer says. “The sound of this just feels to good to stop.”
An energetic mix of jazz and rap is exactly what underscores and propels Cullum’s new album, London Rain. The 11 tracks planned for the album are a departure from typical contemporary jazz, however the smoky vocals infused with crossover vibes from swing, R&B, hip hop, and pop is similar to the genre blur of his previous album, 2005’s Catching Tales, except with a little more edge. Besides collaborating with Williams, Cullum has also worked with Kanye West, John Legend, and Joy Division to create an.
“The last record was a great prelude for this one,” says Cullum. “But I take jazz and stretch it to its furthest limits this time.” The buoyant tempos mixed with seductive jazz cadences are evident in “Once Again” and “Wrong,” with a salsa influence manifesting itself in “Stars Out Tonight.” Cullum even beatboxes on “Didn’t You?”
“Yeah, I beatbox at every concert, since I like to do a lot of covers, and people kept asking me when I was going to actually record a track like that,” Cullum says. “Then Justin [Timberlake] comes to me and says ‘I wrote this, and I want you to see what you can do with it.’ I wasn’t going to turn that down.”
However, a jazz record isn’t complete without brooding ballads, and a cover of Sinatra’s “I’ll Be Seeing You” and the original “On My Mind” are almost operatic in their composition. Cullum manages to stay true to his roots, though, paying homage to his hometown of Essex, including sounds recorded on the streets of Essex in the undoubtedly piano-driven “London Rain.”
“I felt like shit when I wrote that song, I was going through a lot,” Cullum says. “I tried to make it as raw and real as possible yet uplifting.”
The result is an album that is an eclectic mix of elements anchored by a jazz core. “A lot of people say I’m pretty young to be trying to completely revitalize the jazz genre,” the self-taught Cullum says. “But I’m not sure exactly what I’m doing, and I’m not sure I care, as long as I keep my jazz cool and my beats hot!”
Showing posts with label rolling stone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rolling stone. Show all posts
Sunday, March 29, 2009
emulation project, article 1
In the Studio
Inside the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s Rural Retreat
Album - It’s Blitz
Due Out -April
Producers - Nick Launay, Dave Sitek
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs were huddled over hot cocoa and roasting chestnuts in rural Massachusetts barn-turned-studio when they wrote “Zero” – a synth-charged dance-floor anthem that became the linchpin for their third full-length album, It’s Blitz. “I feel like my Karen O persona was born on the dance floor, so I really started playing around with that kind of stuff,” says the singer. “It’s purely feel-good song, and it’s impossible not to want to dance to it. For three days after we wrote ‘Zero,’ I was high because of that song.”
The boost of energy provided by “Zero” galvanized the trio and helped them move past the melancholy vibe of their previous album, 2006’s Show Your Bones. “That record felt so dark in many, many ways,” says guitarist Nick Zinner. “We were happy and thankful not to go back to that place.” The uptempo groove continue on “Heads Will Roll,” where O chants, “Off, off, off with you head!/Dance, dance, dance till you’re dead,” over a massive bass line and an orchestral synth sample. Even the weepers are sort of energizing: “Skeletons” and “Soft Shock” both crescendo from lullaby to rallying cry in under five minutes. “The new songs have an uplifting quality that we’ve never had before,” says Zinner.
For the first time, the band members recorded outside their hometowns – O lives in Los Angeles, Zinner and drummer Brian Chase in New York. Besides working in Massachusetts, the trio camped out for several weeks at a 1,700-acre pecan orchard in Tornillo, Texas, with producer Nick Launay (he helmed the YYYs’ 2007 Is Is EP). “We wanted to go somewhere where we could be detached in our own little word,” says O. (They also worked for a few weeks in Brooklyn with TV on the Radio’s Dave Sitek.) The process, Zinner says, ended up being the band’s most collaborative record yet. “It was all three of us working together, unless someone wanted to be left alone,” says the guitarist. “We were all up in each other’s shit.”
In the end, O is satisfied that the group came up with an album that will surprise and please its fans. “We’re always gonna have Yeah Yeah Yeahs hooks and energy,” says O. “But we came up with something new that we’ve never heard before from ourselves. Less angst and more positivity, man!”
Inside the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s Rural Retreat
Album - It’s Blitz
Due Out -April
Producers - Nick Launay, Dave Sitek
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs were huddled over hot cocoa and roasting chestnuts in rural Massachusetts barn-turned-studio when they wrote “Zero” – a synth-charged dance-floor anthem that became the linchpin for their third full-length album, It’s Blitz. “I feel like my Karen O persona was born on the dance floor, so I really started playing around with that kind of stuff,” says the singer. “It’s purely feel-good song, and it’s impossible not to want to dance to it. For three days after we wrote ‘Zero,’ I was high because of that song.”
The boost of energy provided by “Zero” galvanized the trio and helped them move past the melancholy vibe of their previous album, 2006’s Show Your Bones. “That record felt so dark in many, many ways,” says guitarist Nick Zinner. “We were happy and thankful not to go back to that place.” The uptempo groove continue on “Heads Will Roll,” where O chants, “Off, off, off with you head!/Dance, dance, dance till you’re dead,” over a massive bass line and an orchestral synth sample. Even the weepers are sort of energizing: “Skeletons” and “Soft Shock” both crescendo from lullaby to rallying cry in under five minutes. “The new songs have an uplifting quality that we’ve never had before,” says Zinner.
For the first time, the band members recorded outside their hometowns – O lives in Los Angeles, Zinner and drummer Brian Chase in New York. Besides working in Massachusetts, the trio camped out for several weeks at a 1,700-acre pecan orchard in Tornillo, Texas, with producer Nick Launay (he helmed the YYYs’ 2007 Is Is EP). “We wanted to go somewhere where we could be detached in our own little word,” says O. (They also worked for a few weeks in Brooklyn with TV on the Radio’s Dave Sitek.) The process, Zinner says, ended up being the band’s most collaborative record yet. “It was all three of us working together, unless someone wanted to be left alone,” says the guitarist. “We were all up in each other’s shit.”
In the end, O is satisfied that the group came up with an album that will surprise and please its fans. “We’re always gonna have Yeah Yeah Yeahs hooks and energy,” says O. “But we came up with something new that we’ve never heard before from ourselves. Less angst and more positivity, man!”
what is real?
So, I had an assignment for my PR writing class...I had to type up an article from Rolling Stone & then write an 'emulation' piece in the same style. Then the prof & the class heard me read both and then voted on which one was the bona fide Rolling Stone article...want to play? The following two posts will be either the real or emulation, emulation or real...guess!
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