By Reece Jamison
Executive Staff
Music, the spellbinding phenomena that connects us all. Here, Reece pays that notion no mind as he gives his completely biased and totally arbitrary opinion on music and the culture around us.
Welcome back friends, family, crazies, hippies, whovians, aliens, normies, and jolly good fellows! This week in my hip corner of the paper, I will review Janelle Monae’s, “ Make Me Feel,” and Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats’, “Coolin’ Out (feat. Lucius).”
Janelle Monae is, in fact, one of the greatest artists of the past decade, and is grotesquely underappreciated. This new single, from her forthcoming third album, Dirty Computer, pops with an 80’s synth inspired manic charm reminiscent of past powerhouse acts as Prince and Michael Jackson. Janelle Monae, a six time grammy award winner, refines her retrofuturistic sound with “Make Me Feel,” composing a minimalist beat of 808’s, claps, and tongue clicks, a clean, groovy guitar riff, and spine tingling melodies that would make early 2000’s JT jealous. This tight and futuristic doo wop track is about Janelle Monae’s passionate desire for a romantic suitor and will supercharge any night out on the dance floor.
I must confess, I do not know anything about Nathaniel Rateliff. I apologize to any fans out there, but a quick internet search yielded some interesting information. Rateliff hails from Missouri, but has lived in Denver, Colorado since he was eighteen years old, and has been writing R&B and Americana hits since then. Now 39, the singer-songwriter finds himself, in my opinion of course, in a very fruitful and exciting period of his career and “Coolin’ Out,” proves it. The song features the typical lineup for a blues track: a crunchy, and full drum beat, subtly amplified rhythm guitars, the ever-so atmospheric organ and choir mix in the background, and a set of horns the give the track a greater feeling of grandiosity. If you are like me and have yet to delve into this talented songwriter’s discography, now is as great a time as ever to give him and his band a chance, starting with this charming jam.