April 30, 2010
Listen Up :: Tracey Thorn, Fedde La Grand. Jamie Foxx
Kevin Mark Kline READ TIME: 2 MIN.
As fast as you can say uno, dos, tres, cuatro, Cuban-American rapper Pitbull is back with a brand new summer single "Alright" featuring Machel Montano. After last summer's success of "I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho)," Pitbull may be feeling the summer lovin' again from fans with this new '90s-club-meets-Carribean track from his forthcoming album, Armando, slated for a late May release.
Another male artist back in a big way is Jamie Foxx. While we haven't been a big fan outside of his acting, we can say his latest track, "Winner," is exactly that-definitely due in part to the featured vocals of Justin Timberlake (Foxx doesn't even appear on his own track until the second verse at 1:28 into the song!). An appearance by T.I. and an incredibly hot hip-hop beat add to the winning formula. We can practically hear this as the theme to every sporting event over the next year.
Travis McCoy has caught himself some Ke$ha fever-putting her on "Want U Bad," a potential single from his forthcoming album, Lazarus, due June 8.
Giving us more traditional dance is sexy Fedde Le Grand, who debuted his "Back & Forth" remixes at the Winter Music Conference in March. The progressive house track includes the line, "Put your hands up for New York/I love my city." Adding their own back-and-forth remix prowess are Eric Chase, Promiseland & Provenzano, Jordy Lishious, Ren� Amesz, Youri Donatz & Franky Rizardo and La Grand himself.
Another progressive house track, Deadmau5's "Ghosts n' Stuff" featuring Rob Swire boasts a totally adorable video where Deadmau5 dies in the hospital and is resurrected as a ghost in a bedsheet stomping around the city. It kind of makes the song!
Finally, on the mellow side of things, former Everything But the Girl (EBTG) singer Tracey Thorn returns with a new solo effort, Love and Its Opposite, on May 18. Thorn describes it as being "about real life after 40," and it's beautifully muted with sparse arrangements and her hauntingly intimate vocals. Pairing again with Ewan Pearson (who produced her 2007 album, Out of the Woods) Thorne is joined by such guests Hot Chip's Al Doyle and The Invisible's Leo Taylor. Addressing the everyday realities of middle age, Thorne traipses through some torrential territory-divorce (on opening waltz-pop "Oh, the Divorces!), the tension of youth, adulthood and growing up (on upbeat, soft rock "Hormones") and accepting life alone (on "Singles Bar" with cute, knowing lines like, "Can you guess my age in this light?/Who'll be taking me home tonight?"). It's far different from the later EBTG stuff, but it's perfect for a chilling out and reflecting on love and its opposite.