R&B could definitely use some fresh new leading ladies to spice up its scene a bit  – & perhaps Rochelle Jordan, a Toronto born /LA living soulstress, is a potential top contender.

My ear will be on Rochelle & her upcoming album, R O J O for a few reasons;

*Her voice is undeniably beautiful. Simple & slightly traditional, but still packs a nice punch. She proved this to me with her version of “Marvin’s Room” – which stood out over the other 5000 versions that were floating around.

*Her newly released teaser single “Earth To Your Brain” totally caught me off guard (in a good way). I was never expecting anyone to sample Kelis’ song, “Mars” – (off of her debut album, ”Kaliedoscope” – produced by The Neptunes). Rochelle & her producer Klash  are the first singer & beatmaker team (that I’ve some across) to use that “earth to your brain”  sample … & they used it well.

*I like her style. Yeah, of course you can’t judge a singer by her cute boots .. but the fact that she’s a cute fashionista, on top of all that talent makes her an artist I’m gonna seriously watch.

R O J O drops next Tuesday(August 23). Crossing my fingers I’ll be back with a dope review of it.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Stream: Benny Benassi – Spaceship feat. Kelis and apl.de.ap | Buy From iTunes

The new Benny Benassi single “Spaceship” features Kelis, apl.de.ap from the Black Eyed Peas, and producer Jean-Baptiste as well as Benassi’s trademark thumping bass line. The intro features that deep bass line and then quickly evolves into a very catchy pop dance number.  Kelis’ light vocals are the perfect accompaniment to the spacey mood of the track.  Apl.de.ap’s rhymes during the first verse bring the familiar voice of the Black Eyed Peas to the song and immediately gives it Top-40 pop legitimacy.  The lyrics “get high” are repeated throughout the track and as usual Benassi’s mix will make you want to get off your couch and get on the dance floor, or in this case get on the “Spaceship” and get high…..into space.

This new track is a perfect single to drum up excitement for his upcoming “Spaceship” remix album appearing on Ultra Records.  It features mixes from many outstanding artists including; Fedde le Grand, EDX, Kris Menace, The Toxic Avenger, Datsu, Alex Gaudino & Jason Rooney,
Nadastrom and Pance Party.  Benny is currently finishing up a US tour, heading to Canada, and then to Europe next month for many festival appearances.  You can find more information on Benny Bennassi and the tour at BennyBenassi.com.

Keep chillin’

-Chris

Chris@ChilloutScene.com   Twitter.com/ChilloutScene   Facebook.com/ChilloutScene

Side note:  Kelis’ new album “Flesh Tone” is scheduled to drop on July 6th if you’re interested in hearing more of her lovely voice!

Kelis – In For The Kill (La Roux Cover)

Even though Billboard’s Mashup Mondays has given the US a taste of cross genre collaboration, the OG genre-bending performance series, BBC 1′s Live Lounge is proving it still has relevance.

Case in point: Kelis’ cover of La Roux’s In For The Kill. Kels goes in on this track, and her re-work is again better than the original (along with the subsequent dubstep remixes).

Kelis’ album Flesh Tone debuts next month.

Download: Kelis – Flesh Tone Mixtape

I saw this on the Internets last week but I’m rather surprised that more blogs didn’t pick up on this. DJ Replay from FreeSchool dropped the Flesh Tone Mixtape, in anticipation for Kelis’ latest album of the same name, which is set to drop on May 17th. DJ Replay of Free School fame worked closely with the singer on her latest album, and the mixtape contains previews of several tracks from there including “4th of July”, “Home”, “Scream” and “22nd Century in addition to some uber-dope remixes from David Guetta, Switch, Crookers and Bart Bmore. Tracklisting below.

1. Handful (intro)
2. No Security (Crookers vs. Bart Bmore)
3. Acapella (David Guetta vs. Benny Banssi)
4. Bossy (Switch vs. Alan Braxe and Fred Falke)
5. 4th of July (Flesh Tone Album Snippet)
6. Grey Goose (Free School feat. Apl d ap vs. Stardust)
7. Milkshake (Mighty Fools vs. Major Lazer)
8. Get Along with You (Laidback Luke vs. Mstrkrft (Goldenchyld Blend))
9. Home (Flesh Tone Album Snippet)
10. Caught Out There (Eric Prydz Blend)
11. Scream (Flesh Tone Album Snippet)
12. Lil Star (Linus Loves Remix)
13. 22nd Century (Flesh Tone Album Snippet)

Is it me, or did they rework this track slightly from when we first heard it? It sounds a lot better than the tracks that leaked on the Internet before IMO, or maybe I’m buggin’ because we finally get some visuals to the track. The video of this is rather superb, although most people will accuse her of trying to rip off Lady Gaga. What do y’all think?

Kelis’ album Flesh Tone drops this Summer.

Lady GaGa – Kandy Life (unreleased)

One of the most impressive performers I saw while I was out in LA was Lady GaGa. Not only is she a walking work of art, but she’s got impressive songwriting and performance chops as well. Even tho I’m not really into her music, I’m loving this track “Kandy Life,” which unfortunately was left off her her album and the subsequent re-release.

GaGa fans are already panning the song, which is a lot deeper and less danceable than her pop hits, but I love it. Actually, this sounds more like a Kelis song than anything, and it’s too good to sit on the shelf. I hope Kels picks this one up for her next album.

Via follow Connoisseur of Culture, Please Don’t Stare

A new song by Kelis was ‘leaked’ a couple of days ago called ‘They Say’ and there seems to be some confusion as to whether or not the song was produced by Kid Cudi or John Baptiste… Either way it’s finally something new from Kelis. I’m loving her promo pic but I’m not quite sure yet if I’m loving the song. I may need to give it a few more listens. I am digging the soft but raspy sound of her vocals but the male voice in the background (Cudi? Baptiste?) sort of reminds me of Jules De Martino from the Ting Ting’s circa ’That’s Not My Name – LA Riots Mix’… What y’all think – hot or not?

When I think about what I was listening to say 10 years ago, I’m quite surprise that a lot of my favorite artist from back then aren’t like wam-bam in your face today. Kelis being one of those artists. I mean she’s in the spotlight due to personal drama but as for the music she’s pretty much null and void.

She first came around the scene in 1999. The year I was deeeep into alterative ish: Esthero was my ruler, Soulstice was my peer, and Lenny Kravitz was dream man. Although I was into the left sided genres of music, hip hop and R&B were still my heart. So when I first caught glimpse of Kelis in her video ‘Caught Out There’ from the album Kaleidoscope, musically I thought I was hitting my crescendo.

The the track (which was produced along with the entire album by the Neptune’s) was just ill on some many different levels (it was r&b, hip hop and alternative all in one) and the video which was directed by Hype Williams when he was just on fiyah starred a new chick to the game, who appeared to have a really bad temper, an unusual dope kind of voice and an ill style that to this day is still being replicated. Her anthem stated “I hate you so much right not – ahhhhhhhhh” This song was ballsy, artistic and debatably daring. I loved it! And I thought everyone else would too but I was surprised not to see her on TRL or hear the song being dreadfully repeatedly on the radio every day.

Her next video which was even doper than the first, ‘Get Along With You’ looked like Tim Burton had sneaked into Kelis’ dream – chilled there for a minute then reiterated the whole thing to Paul Hunter (the director). And again Kelis looked like no other female vocalist in the business at that time. She uccessfully showed off her unique vocals on a song that was or at least should have been an anthem for young heart-broken girls. But it was getting very little  play on BET and I don’t think I ever saw it on MTV.

And then like that she was gone – and re-emerged a couple of years later singing the infamous Milkshake song, which to this day I believe was her biggest hit. I mean she ‘blew’ per se once this joint dropped; from the hip hop clubs to the gay clubs – Milkshake was the summer anthem and everybody could sing along to it (but honestly, because of the hotness that came off of Kaleidoscope, this was not one of my favorites, but whatever). Interestingly enough, most people who were in the club shakin’ their milkshakes had no idea who Kelis was. Most thought it was her first single and I along with them waited for the next big ‘hit’. But nothing came.

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Her last, I guess ‘hit’ was  Bossy which dropped in 2007  and I thought the song was pretty hot ( honestly anything featuring my man $hort – I’m gonna jump on). But it really was good and like all her other songs,  Bossy was bold, it contained a great hook and was accompanied by and tight video. And again like all the other it too also came and went. And since then the silence has  became deafening.

And now here we are 2010 and word on the street nets is that she’s in the studio working on the her next project and who’s to say if it’s just going to be another case of history repeating itself… But if you look at all these videos you would think Kelis at this point would be on some Beyonce, GaGa, Rhianna, type of stat – right? And my question is why isn’t she?? Is the problem the major labels -who still just don’t really know what to do with her, so maybe she should consider going indie? Could it be that (we) the music consumers are just somehow unconsciously missing the boat? Or is she just a one hit per album type of artist?

I’m not sure at this point but Kelis is my girl and here’s hoping that she finally somehow breaks through sometime this year.

Jack Splash feat. Kelis – In The Future

I’ve been wondering what happened to Jack Splash. The LA based musician is a king of the underground, but has also produced for such artists Alicia Keys, R. Kelly, Kelis, Estelle, John Legend, Solange, Anthony Hamilton and a Cee-Lo album (The Heart Attack) which needs to see light of day.

This track with Kelis is warming on me and is from a 3 Part Mixtape series which he will drop on the world soon.

BONUS: Since people asked about them a LONG time ago, here is the re-up to a couple of tracks from the Cee-Lo/Jack Splash collabo that never saw the light of day.

Basement Jaxx – Scars feat Kelis, Meleka & Chipmunk

Most of y’all who have spoken to me in the past 10 years know that I’ve been down with Basement Jaxx since the beginning of time. No fair weather fan here, I remember buying my copy of Remedy at an HMV store when I lived out in London back in the day. I’ve had their current project, Scars for a hot minute now and it is truly a step above their last effort Crazy Itch Radio, and features a host of collaborators from Couch Sessions Approved artist Yo! Majesty to Kelis, Amp Fiddler, Chipmunk, Sam Sparro and even Yoko Ono (!).

To celebrate the release of the album the Jaxx are going on a mini tour of the United States. Unfortunately and predictably the only date on the East Coast is in New York at Santos.

10.30.09 – San Francisco, CA – Cow Palace (Live 105 event)
10.31.09 – Los Angeles, CA – HARD Haunted Mansion party
11.03.09 – Toronto, ON – Century Room
11.06.09 – Chicago, IL – Congress Theater
11.7.09 – New York, NY – Santos Party House