Onze laatste liverecensie.
Onze laatste albumrecensie.
Ons laatste interview.
Onze laatste video.
We techno boys and girls love Aaliyah. Together with Björk, she is truly a singer who is not afraid to ride the technological waves. When some years ago Dego from 4-Hero complained that, as a side-effect of dance music we were creating a period without songs, he spoke a bit prematurely. At that time, Aaliyah's second album 'One in a Million' was building a new kind of song. You could still trace lines to standard soul music or r&b, but there was definitely something different to Aaliyah's songs, compared to say Macy Gray, Erykah Badu, or whoever was lauded as the latest saviour of soul. An important part of this difference, other than her detached demeanour and calm, almost egoless, singing, could be credited to Timbaland and Missy Elliott's revolutionary production on the album's best tracks, especially the title track, a sort of slow-motion jungle love song, that became something akin to an 'I Feel Love' for the 90s. Timbaland declared he used Aaliyah for his most futuristic tracks, calling her a "probe into the future." Yet, for all the futurism, her next singles 'Are You That Somebody?' and 'Try Again' were international number one hits, proving that melody, intricate rhythms, and far-out production could come together in a beautiful pop song and even find a large public. And so expectations were reasonably high for Aaliyah's new self-titled album, which starts off with her new single 'We Need A Resolution' and ends with 'Try Again' (thankfully included). 'We Need A Resolution' is pure Timbaland genius, the rhythm track again builds like clockwork, the melody Aaliyah sings has a vague Eastern feel and is duplicated as a snake-like Beltram riff in the outro. This sets the tone for an excellent first half of the album. Producer credits are rotated between Rapture, Budda, and J-Dub without breaking the overall flow of the album: Aaliyah's voice is technically adept (although she seldom shows off) to link all of these disparate influences. 'Loose Rap' is a great song, which could have been produced by Kruder and Dorfmeister, 'Rock the Boat' is one of Aaliyah's more seductive and explicit songs, after which Timbaland drops another bomb in the form of 'More Than a Woman'. Here, Timbaland pulls the focus away from the rhythm, producing one of his more subtle tracks with a beautiful melody, clever effects on Aaliyah's voice, and great use of a very low acid bass. The album has a careful balance between mature ballads (which, bar the over-the-top 'I Refuse', never get too melodramatic) and more uptempo tracks (like the Latin-flavoured 'Read Between the Lines'). The only complaint I can think of is that Aaliyah should be allowed to space out a bit more, the brilliant 'It's Whatever' is the kind of song she should sing more of, with its blissful jazzy piano sample moving things forward. Or even more radical: the intro of 'I Can Be', which consists of Aaliyah's multi-tracked sighs and murmurs, but is frustratingly cut off when the real song starts. One hopes Aaliyah on her next album goes full-out into the future with more of these wordless washes, a heaven of voices. Until then, Aaliyah is the way forward for 21st century soul music, where sensuality, innovation, and style meet.
http://www.kindamuzik.net/recensie/aaliyah/aaliyah/765/
Meer Aaliyah op KindaMuzik: http://www.kindamuzik.net/artiest/aaliyah
Deel dit artikel: