Blue-Eyed Soul

I've noticed a trend as of late: a resurgence of "blue-eyed soul."

Jamie Lidell (pictured left), Duffy (pictured right), Amy Winehouse, and Mark Ronson are the artists I've noticed. If anyone out there has any to add to the list, let me know. I'm into it. I'm into it because these artists take the sexiness, smokiness, and soulfulness of the genre and throw away the superficiality, name-dropping and super lewd lyrics of contemporary American r and b (T pain, anyone?).

At the same time, these artists are appropriating a typically American, heart-wrenching style for their benefit, making it super "fun," even fluffy (rhymes with Duffy...oooh, burn!) at times.  Are they sapping the authenticity out of this blues-based American tradition which has its not-so-distant roots in slave- and work-songs? There's always an argument there--is appropriation okay if you're really down with the meaning? Isn't music the universal language? Can't everyone relate to having the blues? I don't know, it feels weird that these artists should become so popular all at once. They're re-popularizing soul--except now it's mostly white British soul lite. But it's just so damn much better than most American radio r and b, in my humble opinion.

There are some American exceptions: Erykah Badu just dropped an awesome new disc of psychedelic soul entitled "New Amerykah"(best album title ever!), and Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings are finally getting their due. I'm still waiting for D'Angelo to release a follow-up to the ridiculously good "Voodoo." Jill Scott is awesome, in terms of a vocalist, but musically she doesn't bring it the way the British artists are right now. Again, any additions to this list are welcome. I want American socially conscious and musically creative soul--even if it's not political. Just not totally glossed-out to the point where it doesn't even sound like it was made by a human being. And Common doesn't count. Once he did the commercial for Coke, I lost faith.

Check out "Mercy" by Duffy (borrowed from the blogspot blog The Late Greats). Pretty good, eh? But slightly frustrating that it didn't come from my side of the pond.

Listening today:  Duffy, Dystopia, Band of Horses, Woxy Vintage radio station

AR