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 The fashionably retro Toshi Kubota. Photo courtesy of www.toshikubota.com A Time For Toshiby Chi Tung Soul lovers rejoice; Toshi rejects the salacious slime of modern R&B and scores on cadence and feel-good vibes instead.
Toshi Kubota A Time To Share [Sony Urban, September 21, 2004]
Soul is a suit that many may try on, but few really know how to wear. Today's R&B is cluttered with mostly bland, saccharine facsimiles of an era where the Greens and Gayes who presided not only crooned, but actually knew that down below all that oohing and ahhing was heavy, feel-it-in-your-marrow, gospel truth. Usher may think his confessions illuminate some sort of halo over his inner-being, but his baby's mama and I-done-you-wrong platitudes are only trojan horses; ostensibly allowing him to worm his way into our hearts when it's our wallets he's after all along. Fortunately, there remain a small minority of soul devotees who seem determined to play devil's advocate; these artists (e.g. the D'Angelos, Erykah Badus, Jill Scotts ) hearken back to the delicate warmth of their forefathers, even while carrying on the torch of contemporary expression--a stroke of hip-hop here, a dash of neo-jazz there. With A Time to Share, newcomer (at least to the American mainstream) Toshi Kubota makes a well-founded case for his own inclusion into this out-of-style, but never out-of-stride niche. Although he's far from the physical incarnate of Stevie Wonder, Toshi inherits that man's interpretative-tightrope-act like a half-remembered memory; at times, his voice flickers and teases, other moments it's taut and unabating. And yet, the phrasing that is so crucial to separating soul from schmaltz is omnipresent; in the throwback tune "Breaking Through," he steadies the tone and tempo from start to finish, while his captivating duet with Angie Stone deftly struts the interplay between chanteuse and tenor. The production too is tasteful, though when it's coated over the span of 11 tracks, begins to sedate rather than satisfy. The same can be said for the singer himself; his sweet-tooth, sunny-side-up demeanor is so overpowering that it removes all possibility of woe-is-me semantics, which for better or for worse, makes A Time to Share at times a slightly more impersonal, low-maintenance record. Which isn't meant to suggest that Toshi fronts like he's too cool to care. In "Living for Today," a luscious groove featuring the stylings of rapper/activist Mos Def, he unabashedly lobbies for reveling in the moment. And "Hope You'll Be Well" holds no hidden metaphors, just an earnest plea for safety and health propped up by a sprightly synth-bounce. If it's social consciousness you seek, Marvin Gaye's What's Going On is a great way to start. But for soul food that tastes a little bit like sushi--soothing, crunchy and appropriate for any occasion--Toshi arrives just in the nick of time.
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