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Toshi Kubota, Nothing But Your Love
(Epic)
If you're a normal stereotyping jerk like me, your first
instinct when you hear the phrase "Japanese R&B singer" is
to cough impolitely. But Nothing But your Love, the
second English language album by Toshi Kubota, has got the
major funk on. On songs like "Sha-Ba-Da-Bu-Doo (Go with the
Flow)" he is reminiscent of Stevie Wonder, though the
Philosopher Kings keep popping into mind, especially on the
smoothly aloof title track. Guests the Roots, Angie Stone, and
Raphael Saadiq round out the album, adding hip hop and various
other types of general hipness to the already oozing
cool-o-rama. Somewhere in the middle of "Someday," an
unapologetically slick ballad, your brain begins melting out
of your ears. And when he breaks into falsetto, he brings back
that old Stylistics glow.
Most R&B singers find themselves with the problem of
sounding like glorified lounge acts. Nothing But Your
Love manages to escape this trap, partially due to
seasoned producers in the genre, and partially because Kubota
slips into the sound so naturally, odd as it seems to anyone
but a Japanese funkster. "I'm not your Chardonnay/Not your
sushi bar/Nothing but your love," he sings on the title track
– it sounds better than it reads – and allows us to spread out
the analogy. Kubota is nothing but straight funky soul, and he
croons it out just fine. "Never Turn Back," which features
Pras ("Never turn the tide back baby/Gotta leave your frozen
paradise/Turn away and never look back now"), may be one of
the album's most playable tracks, but there isn't really a
single miss throughout.
It's a sweet, aesthetically pleasing album. The man has a
smooth voice, a clean sound. If you're into R&B, I'd
recommend you add Kubota to your playlist, or if you just want
a nice album to relax to into the evening, you should
definitely pick up Nothing But Your Love. There's
something to be said for having an open mind.
Note: Especially recommended for the ladies, or guys
looking to make amorous advances.
Fuel, Something Like Human (550
Music)
Fuel's second album, Something Like Human has a little
something for everyone, and a little of everyone in it. The
CD's first single, "Hemorrhage," will do well, if not just
because Vertical Horizon, Matchbox
20, and Creed
do well. Because they have the same sort of catchy melodies,
the same pop rock written for listeners who need the harder
bass and drums but who aren't quite into heavier metal (this
album was produced by Ben Grosse, who produced Vertical
Horizon, and it shows). It's the type of heavy-ish, but not
too heavy, rock that can get airplay on both Z100 and K-ROCK,
depending on which particular single Fuel choose to release.
For Z100, "Bad Day" is pure top-40 material, somewhere between
Matchbox 20 and Toad the Wet Sprocket, with hooks that make
you want to hear it again and again, if not just to get it out
of your head. "And she swears there's nothing wrong/I hear her
playing that same old song/She puts me out and puts me
on/...I've had a bad day again." Please God, make it stop.
Make it...
Actually, "Bad Day" is a clever inclusion that makes the
rest of the album seem much heavier, though the eleven other
songs on Something Like Human are no less hooky. "Last
Time" starts the album out with a kick in the neck, and lets
the listener know that the album is certifiably programmed to
sell (and sell it will). "Hemorrhage" has the smooth melodies
and hopelessness that represent Fuel well; it rolls between
slow harmonies and driving rock, garnering its own individual
feel after a few good listens. Something Like Human
does deserve at least a few good listens, and by then you
won't really be able to stop. After a few years, however, the
music may find itself dated in the way that a band like Def
Leppard was prime rock in the '80s.
No, these girls are not
the band, or else
we'd have 1000 copies on order.
They
are the models on the band's CD
cover. |
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Seventeen, Bikini Pie Fight (Xoff Records)
Yeah, no one's expecting a musical masterpiece that has
entitled itself Bikini Pie Fight, and includes songs
like the infamous "Porno Getaway," the illustrious "Big Gay
Friend," and the gut-wrenching "Mountains, Literally
Mountains, of Coke." It's not surprising, really, that the
promos for Seventeen all make sure we're aware that two
members of the band went to Harvard. (And there, I've played
into their hands by letting you know as well. The clever
bastards.) Unfortunately for them, the Yale-educated Weezer
always pops into mind as the punk-pop prototype, and as much
as I used to hate them, I now feel that they set the glowing
standard for this type of band. To compare and contrast,
Seventeen use the same dumb humor and the same toned-down
sense of musicality, though they're quite a bit heavier and
don't come across as "devil-may-care" as they really want to.
They do their vocals dead straight (regardless of their often
incoherent lyrics), though their lack of complete silliness
makes them less dismissible.
What Seventeen have put together is a somewhat incongruous
album, an otherwise decent, original punk album wanting to be
sillier than it is, though their reputedly "zany" live
performances probably benefit the lyrical value of the songs a
great deal. Otherwise, lines like "When I come to your door
I'll leave my pants in the car, baby/I'm your pizza man, I got
your pie/I'm keeping it hot" go to waste as "Fingerbang" heads
into a hazy Zappa-inspired bridge. "Return to Disco Mountain"
is one of those obnoxious tracks you play for your friends
first to amuse them, then to piss them off. On the other hand,
"It's All Good" is grungy garage rock at its best. "T-22" tops
off the listed tracks with a sleazy conversation in French set
to elevator music. And leave the CD playing for a bonus hidden
track on the history of computers.
If you're going to buy the album for the sole reason of
getting several pictures of three pie-covered models in
bikinis, it's all according to plan. I'm sure Seventeen would
be pleased. Clever Harvard bastards.
September 2000
RealAudio
Clips...
- Toshi Kubota: "Nothing
But Your Love" (30-sec. clip) from Nothing But
Your Love (© 2000 Epic)
- Fuel: "Hemorrhage"
(30-sec. clip) from Something Like Human (©
2000 550 Music)
- Seventeen: "Porno
Getaway" (2-min. clip) from Bikini Pie
Fight (© 2000 Xoff Records)
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