New Music: Roy G and the Biv

My friend Brett is a music manager, with clients ranging from the relatively unknown to the very known--like Eisley in their prime. We often discuss new music, but rarely is the subject of conversation his band. Brett's newest hire is Roy G and the Biv. An electro-pop band with hints of both disco and new-school hip hop, Roy G is destined to become the next It Band for both hip Urban Outfitters and Hannah Montana fans alike. (If you fit into neither of those categories, don't fret--Roy G is pretty freaking likable no matter who you are.)

I can't give out the link to their as-of-yet-unreleased EP, but I can link you to their Myspace. You can listen to two of their best tracks here, "Nicotine" and "Socks On," nostalgic disco tracks with a modern use of sexual metaphor; in "Nicotine," the lead singer tells a worried lover, "I can be your nicotine/it's heaven when you're smokin' me/I might not be good for you/but together we can pull it through." The bouncy blips and boops bring Beck's remix album (Guerolito) to mind, along with the obvious comparisons, Chromeo and (in an alternate, far more violent universe) 3Oh!3.

The strongest track on the EP is"Jungle Fever," a track that feels simultaneously unaware of its inspirations yet commercially constructed, with nods to Pharell Williams, Timbaland, and vocals in vein of Justin Timberlake--the vocals really are that good. The strength of Roy G's production is best showcased here--if I had not been informed I was listening to an unmastered collection I would have thought it was produced in some studio off the Sunset Strip.

There's no doubt Roy G's going to hit radio--keep your eyes on "Runnin"--but until then, they have an exciting period of bubbling under to look forward to. While the EP is not perfect--"Think You Might" is a bit predictable and expected--I am looking forward to the LP.

Mad Style: Lourdes Leon, + Don't Trust a ho!

I'm going to be honest here. I dislike blogger Perez Hilton for numerous reasons, most notably his inability to get anything right (but assume he is), and I only pop in on his blog when I'm at work and there's nothing to do. Scratch that, there's never anything to do, so let's just say I visit when I'm at work.

He posted this picture of Lourdes Leon, Madonna's eldest child, and was all raving about her clothing choices, and all I could think was, Don't you sell a freaking clothes line for girls at hot topic? I'm afraid anyone who sells their soul to any craptizzle store like Hot Topic has de facto bad taste. But seriously, I just write a blog with like 9 readers, so who am I to say...

Hilton's opinion notwithstanding, Lourdes happens to have an awesome pattern and color sensibility. I refused to borrow the image from Hilton's site, so I couldn't find a photo with her shoes in the frame. (She's got white hightop sneakers on.) I just don't understand how an 11 year-old girl can figure out high-waisted tights and sneakers all on her own. She's already a beautiful mini-chocolate-Madonna, but she'll probably be in rehab in a few years...she'll bunk next to Miley Cyrus.

Anyways, I've been listening to 3oh!3 a lot lately, as you know, and I downloaded another track last night called "Don't Trust Me." I'm sure this has already hit radio, in which case you can stop reading now because the coolness of "Trust" was just shattered by Ryan Seacrest. Hopefully I'm still ahead of the 3oh!3 hype wave, and this is all news to you.

"Don't Trust Me" is far gentler than the rest of the album--in essence, it's "I'm Not Your Boyfriend" without the anger. I love the track, more than any of the others, and I'm ashamed to say it's because of how, well, radio-friendly it is. Like "Hot N' Cold," off Katy Perry's One of the Boys, "Trust" is a strong enough song that it elevates the entire album, and for no reason other than likability. "Trust," like "Hot N' Cold," brings nothing new to the table, but the uppity vocals and killer base line carry the entire track.

Here's another picture of Lourdes. Who wears striped socks anymore? She didn't get this idea from Disney Channel.

Douchebag Music

Those guys on stage there? Yeah, they're douchebags. I've never met them, no. But I've listened to their stellar new album, Want, and that's all I need to summarize the characters of hip-hop group 3OH!3.

Ahem. The lyrics of "Starstrukk": I think I should know/ how to make love to something innocent/ without leaving my fingerprints out/ L-o-v-e's just another word I never learned to pronounce

Hip-hop is alive and well, ladies and gentlemen! And, thankfully, it hasn't been muted by the age of Miley Cyrus and 50 Cent's "Ayo Technology," arguably the worst hip-hop song ever created (it both single-handedly destroyed Fiddy's career and tarnished the slowly-fading image of superproducer Timbaland).

Rather, it's been revived by a white boy with Garageband on his Mac. Albeit a heartless, chauvinistic white boy with no ambitions beyond getting the girl in "the see-through shirt" and "daisy dukes." Which is cool with me.

Want is an album I'm not sure I could swallow completely. I mean, there's only so much yelling "BI***!"that a man can take, especially when it's blasting out of headphones or during rush hour. But three cuts off the album--which is fantastic in its entirety, by the way--are strong enough that I have to write about them.

(For the record, I heard about 3OH!3 when my brother showed me their Myspace a week ago. Thanks, Bo! You were actually helpful!)

Aside from "Starstrukk," with it's scratched-up beat and whistling effects, both "Punk Bi***" and "I'm Not Your Boyfriend Baby" impressed me. "Starstrukk" is the best track though, with brutal lyrics and an out-of-this-world instrumental during the chorus, which makes me wonder why producers like Nate "Danja" Hills are paid any money at all when a little white boy from Colorado can outproduce them in quality ten times over.

"Punk Bi***" has a typical hip-hop flow, which is a bad thing, with a Linkin Park-esque chorus, which is a worse thing. There's even "popping them bottles" in the chorus, which is the worst lyrical sin any artist can commit in my book. But "Punk" succeeds because of a fantastic synth line and enough tempo variation that similarities to other tracks (anything by...*gulp*...T-Pain) kind of melts away. It's the weakest of the three tracks, but I can see this attracting prepubescent boys to radio again, after Katy Perry's "I Kissed A Girl" scared them away.

I'm assuming "I'm Not Your Boyfriend Baby" is the highlight of 3OH!3's show at the Warped Tour. It begins with echoing arena synths and the lead singer yelling out the title of the song; as the chorus builds, he sounds so full of energy--even screaming out a victorious (or drug-addled) "WHOO!"--you kind of want to run someone over. Aggression can most certainly be transferred musically, and I promise you will be riled up after listening. With the exception of a whiny, Boys Like Girls-gross-out chorus segment reminiscent of something Panic! would write, "Boyfriend" is essentially the antithesis to all girl-pop. It's douche-y, but I think after Rihanna and Perry have dominated the men on the air for so long now the guys deserve an opportunity to vent.

On an entirely different note, Imogen Heap recently released a single off her upcoming album, which I did not take the time to look up. I love Imogen Heap--an adjective I rarely use to describe musicians--but the song, "Not Now But Soon" is like the worst songs off Frou-Frou's Details: beat-less, boring and far too ambient like for my taste. I think it hints at great things to come, though. There's a neat five-note trill during some segments, and her voice is still clear and distinguishable. I kind of fell out of Immi interest after seeing her in November 2006, but I'm totally ready for another Speak For Yourself.

Great haircut, though.