My insane love for music led to an initial desire to become an A&R (Artist and Repertoire development representative). When that didn’t happen, I settled for talking about music via writing album reviews.
Ironically, this venture led to my current position as the editor-in-chief of rolling out. Today, my time is very limited, so I have to catch music on the fly … literally. I travel quite a bit, which finds me confined to an airplane seat for hours. That gives me the opportunity to explore some of today’s musical offerings. Whether it’s listening to my iPod that’s full of downloaded review advances that I haven’t gotten around to or listening to the airline’s in seat music player that’s full of new releases, from nose up to nose down, I’m engulfed in the embrace of my first love.
Recently, I’ve stumbled upon and grown fond of a list of newly released albums that are creative, lyrically substantive and comprehensive enough to listen to from beginning to end. Here are the ones that remain in rotation:
1. Passion, Pleasure, Pain – It’s Trey Songz’ third album and he doesn’t disappoint. The music is passionate, youthful and the production quality is great.
Favorite song: “We Can’t Be Friends”
2. New Amerykah Pt II – Erykah Badu has been known to venture too far to the left, but this project is perfectly original, with inventive yet familiar music, and the lyrics are provocative.
Favorite song: “Turn Me Away”
3. The ArchAndroid – Janelle Monae’s sophomore project is supremely creative, vocally sound, and industry-forward.
Favorite song: “Oh, Maker”
4. Floetic Soul – Once one half of the popular soul group Floetry, the Floacist has delivered a solo debut that’s sensual, lyrically enticing, and outside of the typical vocoder box.
Favorite song: “You”
