Brandon Ousley
@brandonousley • 4,705 subscribers
Music enthusiast. Writer. Creator. Student. Bylines (so far): @discogs, @bandcamp, and others. Inquiries/contact: [email protected]
Videos
Àngela Winbush wasn't fooling anyone, but both are '80s R&B classics.
Brandon Ousley112,063 views • 1 year ago
Album of the day. It's hard to believe Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite is now 30. Concept albums seemed passé in modern R&B/soul until 23-year-old New York-born, creamy falsetto-voiced Maxwell arrived. Taking cues from Marvin Gaye's mid-'70s work like 1976’s I Want You and 1978’s Here, My Dear as well as Prince's '80s-peak classics, Maxwell drawed his sound on warm, analog '70s soul and funk with the help of Sade alum, Stuart Matthewman, beloved session guitarist Wah Wah Watson, and smooth soul maestro, Leon Ware. The result was an undeniable masterpiece of '90s soul, a romantic song cycle that traced the monogamous relationship between a young Black couple, from them first hooking up to making love, then breaking up to matrimony. Starting off with the slap bass-imbued funk instrumental “The Urban Suite” all the way to the slow-build seduction of “The Suite Theme,” this is first-rate sophisticated modern soul that’s dancefloor friendly as much as it’s bedroom-centric. Classics like the Leon Ware-assisted “Sumthin' Sumthin’” and the loose nu-disco funk jam, “Dancewitme” conjures the scene of Maxwell and his love eyeing each other in a club as they start to dance before heading back to his pad for some conversation and love-making on steamy seducers like “Ascension (Don't Ever Wonder)” and “...Til the Cops Come Knockin’,” the former of which is steeped in the tradition of Marvin Gaye and continued by Prince of melding eroticism with divinity. In fact, it always tripped me out how this album dropped on Marvin Gaye's birthday. Coincidence, eh?
Brandon Ousley10,632 views • 2 months ago
Album of the day. What I admired most about Prince's later work was his ability to churn out contemporary music that didn't stray too far from his retro Minneapolis funk roots. While he was miles away from his creative peak by this point, he still made worthy music that more or less showcased his incredible pop craftsmanship. This is greatly evident on solid late-career gems, such as his 31st (yes, he was that prolific) studio album, 2006's 3121, which was released 20 years ago today. Similar to its successful predecessor, 2004's Musicology, 3121 was consciously helmed as a radio-friendly, mainstream release meant to revisit facets of his past glories while whetting the appetites of the large pop following he won over again. Only this one went a few steps ahead of Musicology, thanks to the Purple One stretching out and toying with Latin-tinged numbers ("Te Amo Corazón," "The Dance," "Get on the Boat"), mininalist, futuristic funk ("Black Sweat," "Love"), optimistic love songs ("Beautiful, Loved, and Blessed"), guitar-laden rockers ("Fury"), and bedroom burners ("Satisfied," "Incense and Candles"). It's the kind of album a veteran makes when they have nothing left to prove. And thanks to Prince, it never fails to be an engaging portrait of a master at the top of his game, making well-crafted music in the fourth decade of his storied career and having fun doing it.
Brandon Ousley11,190 views • 2 months ago
There are many great Aretha Franklin performances, but the one that lives rent-free is her covering "The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss)" during a 1965 taping of the Shindig! TV show. From Aretha belting a gospel-fueled E5 note to girl group The Blossoms cheering her on (notice Darlene Love's reaction), there are many layers to this early performance.
Brandon Ousley33,595 views • 1 year ago
Album of the day. Prince's jazz ambitions were quite obvious from the very start before Madhouse. But this 1987 side project with reedman Eric Leeds remains one of his most delightful forays into instrumental jazz-funk. Eight compositions — entitled "One," "Two," "Three," etc. — make up the first Madhouse album, 8. A largely relaxed and jam-centric affair, 8 features Prince layering his piano and synths on top of his own bass tracks and virtuosic drumming, continuously reacting to himself as a stranger from a musician's point of view. Saxophone and flute work came courtesy of Eric Leeds (of Prince's backing band, The Revolution and other side project, The Family). The way Leeds' sax flourishes riff with Prince's quirky keyboard lines in a funky, rhythmic groove on the album's only single, "Six" (a top 10 single, by the way) is nothing short of amazing. Other key moments can be found in "Four" and "Five," which are a one-two punch combo of Prince and Eric improvising sinuous, frisky grooves right on the spot. Nothing too serious or complex. Just straight jamming. The best part? No one knew Madhouse was actually Prince (well, except if they were real diehard Prince fans.) And diehards will also recall that Questlove and D'Angelo first met largely because of their love for this project.
Brandon Ousley15,995 views • 1 year ago
Very much unheard of for its time. Songs in the Key of Life was so huge that Motown came up with a novel idea to promote it by outfitting a bus in Sydney, Australia with a sound system and played the album in its entirety to the delight (and sometimes annoyance) of passengers. It was called the Wonderbus.
Brandon Ousley18,588 views • 1 year ago
Album of the day. Today is the 'eight wonder of the world,' Stevie Wonder's 75th birthday. On a momentous milestone as today, it's more than apt to revisit one of the rarest, least traveled roads of his remarkable catalog. It's difficult walking away from an institution that made you a household name, but that's exactly what Stevie planned to do when he almost walked away from Motown. He'd grown tired of the famed label's assembly hit machine approach and wanted to do more. At the cusp of renewing his contract at age 21, he threatened to leave the label. Soon, Motown eventually saw the light, and with co-writing provided by then-wife and collaborator, singer-songwriter Syreeta Wright, he embarked on what would be his most ambitious work to date, 1971's Where I'm Coming From. A pivotal turning point, the album contains one of his biggest singles, the buoyant "If You Really Love Me," which bridges his past classic Motown style and his future. But the rest is nothing like what came before it. And with songs like the apocalyptic Detroit funk of "Do Yourself a Favor," the psychedelic baroque pop of "Look Around," and the classic weeper "Never Dreamed You'd Leave in Summer," it stands as the true beginning of his classic period. This is the sound of an artist blossoming into a mature one. This is the sound of freedom.
Brandon Ousley11,420 views • 1 year ago
Album of the day. D'Angelo's crowning achievement, Voodoo, was released 25 years today. What more can be said about it that hasn't already been said? It's easily one of the most influential and singular modern soul albums of the last 25 or so years. In the wake of Brown Sugar's success, Richmond, Virginia's son of soul, decamped at New York's famed Electric Lady Studios to deepen his soul and funk vocabulary with a motley crew of musicians. This five-year gestation spawned this long-awaited magnum opus. In honoring Black music' glorious past while mapping its future, D'Angelo went for an esoteric groove-centric style and flipped the R&B game upside down. Now, a quarter-century later, it's hard to imagine what 21st century R&B would've sounded like without its seductive allure, hypnotic atmosphere, and heady, laid-back grooves.
Brandon Ousley12,013 views • 1 year ago
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