Jessie Ware – That! Feels Good
According to a recent interview Jessie Ware admitted that prior to the release of her 2020 album What’s Your Pleasure she had come to terms with the idea that her solo career was in its twilight. It was with a sort of fatalism that she headed to the studio and threw all pretense out the window to make one of the best albums of the year. Consequently she also activated a new era for herself filled with some of the best grooves, funkiest rhythms, and irresistible dance tracks in recent memory. Three years later we now have That! Feels Good which carries the same fire lit in 2020 and expands the light it casts around this shadowy world.
Starting off the album we get the title track ‘That! Feels Good’ which starts off with a litany of pleasure-filled voices repeating the title to a near cacophony before it slaps down a bassline that would make the Brothers Johnson proud and declares the central thesis of the following 40 minutes, ‘Freedom is a Sound, and Pleasure is a right!’ Following up we have the two singles ‘Free Yourself’ with its liberating chorus and irresistibly crawling piano and ‘Pearls*’ with its inhibition shredding, vanity purging call to dance. On the offset Jessie’s already strong voice is here to blast the hinges off the doors and burn the disco to the ground.
*I know you wanna go to the moon
But if you don't go, you'll never get there, oh
I know you wanna go to the moon
Won't you take a hold of me and shake it 'til the pearls fall off?
Let it go, let me dance
And shake it 'til the pearls get lost
In romance, let's just dance
And shake it 'til the pearls fall off
The momentum keeps going with the 90’s House inspired ‘Freak Me Now’ with what may be my favorite performance by Jessie on a sea of perfect performances, and ‘Shake the Bottle’ with its spoken word verses giving us some of the most overtly sexual lyrics on an album shrouded in innuendo. The spoken word moments like ‘Shake the Bottle*’ and the celebratory ‘Beautiful People’ add a layer of sass that wasn’t as plain on What’s Your Pleasure and makes this album even more playful.
*Jimmy lies, Jimmy cries, Jimmy's just like other guys (That's right, that's right!)
Benny wants what Benny gets, broken hearts and cigarettes (Oof... ah!)
I really liked Jackson, but he lived too far away (Uh!)
Eddie was romantic, but he never, ever paid (Uh, ching!)
Matthew was a classic (Uh-huh), just like his pick up truck (Mhm)
He still lives with his mother but he sure could— (Ooh!)
There are moments where the tempo slows just enough to catch your breath, such as the stunning Orchestral Soul of ‘Hello Love*’ where we get the story of someone who has resigned themselves to a lonely life only to be pleasantly surprised when ‘love’ showed up in an unexpected place. We also get the albums biggest outlier with ‘Lightning’ which creeps in slowly on the album's latter half with some alt-R&B infused strains and a wounded vocal performance and while this song does seem a little out of place on the album, it's hard not to love it on its own merits as a moody-groove in a mass of disco-bangers.
*Don't know where you were
Don't know what became of us
And I don't know what went wrong
Time had turned its back on us
It's not that I gave up, I just stopped trying
I had my mind made up on no more crying
I thought tonight would be just me, myself and I'ing
I guess I'm not the one that's deciding
That! Feels Good not only takes the strengths of What’s Your Pleasure and magnifies them with a glitter covered microscope but also adds some new levels of funk and disco that set it apart from all that came before. It’s a perfect (and naughtier) sister album to the 2020 release. Jessie Ware has released one of the most liberated and liberating albums of the decade so far, and I cannot get enough of it.
Q – Soul,PRESENT
A little over a year ago I reviewed the first (and second iteration of the first) album by Q; The Shave Experiment (Directors Cut) and wondered at why an artist would seemingly wait to release the second half of a full album after so long a time from its original release. The answer was clear, and the project was markedly improved with the Directors Cut with some more up-tempo songs to balance out the slower psychedelic tracks, but nothing towered over the monumental first single ‘Take Me Where Your Heart Is.’ In its original release I wondered if Q would be able to capture the magic of that mountain of a track but with the director's cut, I saw that he had more tricks up his sleeve. A few years later we have his second full release (released all at once this time!) with Soul,PRESENT and what is clear from the start is that Q has far more tricks and surprises than even a Director's Cut could reveal.
Where's my soul? Where's my soul?
Where's my soul? Where's my soul?
Where's my soul goin'? Where's my soul goin'?
Where's my soul goin'? Where's my soul goin'?
Ah (Wow)
Welcome
Thank you for joinin' me here
In the place to be
You'll understand
That the rhythm of this night lay in our hands*
Starting things off we’re introduced to a newly synth-funk flowered world with the opening track ‘*Welcome to Soul, Present,’ an intro title if ever there was one. We’re greeted by some 1999 era Minneapolis Sound with a distinctly 80’s vibe attuned to the Bad/Thriller era and Pre-Purple Rain Prince. It’s a nice throwback that is in line with other acts like the Weeknd’s two most recent releases, while leaning less toward the post-punk/synth-pop and more to the twinkling R&B and adult contemporary infused funk of the era. With the irresistible synth-stings of ‘Not Alone*’ and the psycho-funk of ‘The Hide’ which flies down the highway with a chaotic confidence of Funkadelic in their prime.
*You don't have to, you don't have to (You don't have to)
Ah-ah, be alone in this, oh-ooh, now
You don't have to, you don't have to (You don't have to)
I don't have to be alone in this, oh-ooh, now
I see all the shame, it's a strain to get off the ride, ride
And no one's not around to be your friend and have your hand to fight
The bass and synths are as playful as they can be throughout with tracks like ‘Sow’ which breaks in with a stuttering piano chop under a moody vocal performance by Q and the majestic harmonies in the Baby Rose featured ‘Understand.’ The former track brings in some of the more tender and sober moments of the album which gives the album a romantic-beating heart. No moment reaches this better than the first single and album highlight ‘Stereo Driver*’ where Q performs at the top of his vocal game with one of the tenderest and precious instrumentals of the year. Easily my favorite on the album though other tracks like the 80’s dance-hall vibe of ‘Incapable Heart’ and the thumping beat of ‘Luv (I know I Want This for Real)’ come close.
*Time will tell if you really grown or you stayed
Facing the worries of all your mistakes
But I could be your stereo driver
Just come and see
Ooh, ooh
I'll be your stereo driver
I'll be your stereo driver
By the time Soul,PRESENT closes with the wounded and building climax of ‘Today’ (which feels like the closer every time) and the solid epilogue ‘Presence’ we’ve seen that Q knows how to create an album that can stand on its own without further additions down the road. Here we have an arguably more cohesive album than The Shave Experiment and even when it seems a little aimless it not only meets the heights of his earlier album, but at many times exceeds them. Q has easily created some of the greatest love songs of this year and if this album is any sign, he’s only getting better.
Tyler, The Creator – The Estate Sale and Living Art
When Tyler released Call Me if You Get Lost in 2021 it was a refreshing blast of classic rap and an overall ode to self-reflection, gratitude and, yes, a dose of unfiltered braggadocio. It was one of my favorite releases of 2021 and during the pandemic it was a rare moment of positivity mixed with stunning moments of honesty and a showcase of a fully formed ‘artist’ in the midst of one of the most undeniable classic eras in recent memory. Two years later we have Call Me if You Get Lost: The Estate Sale, which (not unlike a certain ‘directors cut’ mentioned earlier) is an upgraded experience of that 2021 classic, with the addition of 8 new tracks recorded during the same session.
It would be very easy to write this off as a rerelease with some ‘B-sides’ added to encourage people to come back to something they already experienced but, that couldn’t be further from the reality of these tracks. Every new track expands the established vibe from the original release and adds a few new elements that settle in snuggly with the rest like a perfectly packed suitcase at the end of a vacation.
I could go through each new track and give my impressions as I try to with a normal review but from the banging, Vince Staples featured ‘Stuntman’ to the defiant and self-aware ‘Sorry Not Sorry’ you’re getting something different than a simple collection of new tracks. For me, Call Me if You Get lost was a victory flag planted on a hill of self-actualization at a time when many people around the world were re-evaluating what really matters in life.
Now, considering the disruptions of the pandemic it may seem odd to have released an album built around themes of travel and breaking outside your comfort zone, but instead of a reminder of what we had lost it was a realization of what we can achieve. This, I feel, was the primary intention with its release, and judging from interviews and concert clips, something I feel like Tyler wants all his fans to understand at a deep level.
Furthering that thought, The Estate Sale comes out in 2023 as a reminder of the promise that we saw in ourselves and in our futures. It’s a reminder not to forget the promises we might have made to ourselves and to hold on to that while the cold and indifferent machine around us grinds forward as relentlessly as ever.
May Revisions - A Playlist
For this month's Playlist I took the trend of improving something already released and curated a list of tracks that have been covered by other artists as well as the originals (including three versions of ‘Black Betty’.) I thought it could be interesting to listen to them back-to-back and think, who did it better? And what makes one version stand out from the other? I know that it will come down to personal preference but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a fun exercise to take part in! Let me know what some of your favorite cover songs are and, once again, thanks for reading!
I do love Nirvana's cover of The Man Who Sold the World (originally by David Bowie) - Cobain's raspy vocals just work really well for that song!