Otis Brown III ft. Bilal: The Thought Of You - Part I

Happy Monday readers! Here's a brand new track to help get your work day started off on the right foot. Drummer Otis Brown III gives us a glimpse of his upcoming project titled The Thought of You, due out on September 23rd via Revive/Blue Note. The first of three parts of the title track features vocals from Philadelphia soul singer Bilal. The crew on hand to help kick off Brown's debut as a band leader are pianist Robert Glasper, trumpeter Keyon Harrold, saxophonist John Ellis, and bassist Ben Williams, with organist Shedrick Mitchell and guitarist Nir Felder. Other vocalist to round off the project are singers Gretchen Parlato and Nikki Ross.

You can pre-order the album now on iTunes.


Track Listing:

1. The Way (Truth & Life)

2. The Thought of You – Part I featuring Bilal

3. Interlude I – Truth

4. Stages of Thought

5. The Two Become One (For Paula)

6. You’re Still The One featuring Gretchen Parlato

7. The Thought of You – Part II

8. I Love You Lord/We Exalt Thee/In The Beginning featuring Nikki Ross

9. The Thought of You – Part III

10. I Am Your Song featuring Nikki Ross

11. Interlude II – Life

DJ Kool Emdee: Let's Get Closer

While listening to Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite yesterday and reminiscing about friends of the past, some of whom aren't with us anymore, and my days of spinning at gigs where the vibes were tremendously good, I decided to put together this mix of smooth grooves to help bring people closer, hence the title. Something that's well needed these days, especially when we are so divided in many ways. Hope this helps. ENJOY!



01. Maxwell - Lonely's The Only Company
02. The Isley Brothers - Footsteps In The Dark
03. Barry White - Playing Your Game, Baby
04. Total - Kissing You
05. Xscape - Just Kickin' It
06. Tony, Toni, Tone' - It Never Rains
07. Jodeci - Come & Talk To Me (Remix)
08. Patrice Rushen - You Remind Me
09. Mary J. Blige - Be Happy
10. DJ Jazzy Jeff ft. China Blacc - Touch Me With Your Hands
11. Bilal ft. Mos Def - Reminisce
12. Jill Scott - Slowly, Surely
13. Whitney Houston - One of Those Days
14. Zhane' - Vibe
15. Wajeed & The Jazz Katz ft. Marvin Gaye - I Want U
16. Erykah Badu - Window Seat

Plug Research Podcast #14: Tensei

No, this is not the Tensi anime or video game. However, their music is worthy of being featured in either. The united music powers of Simple X and Midas Wells form this duo that will be releasing material on Plug Research in the near future. To give you a taste of what to expect, PR has a podcast available for FREE download on their Soundcloud page, that features some older tunes made by the two.

In case you want to keep up with Tensi, to stay abreast of what's to come, log on to the Plug Research website. In case you don't know, PR is home to Bilal, Quadron, Hawthorne Headhunters, Exile, Sonny Moon, Szjerdene and a few other artists with some great talent.

Bilal: Restart

The last time we heard from Bilal was his Love For Sale album back in 2006. He returns on the Soul scene with Airtight's Revenge, which is due out on September 14th. His first single "Restart" was produced by himself and Steve McKie. Grab it while you can as a free download in the widget below. Enjoy!

Label Love 001

In my usual search for music, I came across another great freebie. This compilation contains tracks hand picked by the label heads represented on the cover art. Some of you may be familiar with some of these great artists who churn out the best in Soul/NuSoul, Acid Jazz, Trip-Hop, Funk and more. Download and Enjoy!

1. Quantic Presenta Flowering Inferno – Dog With A Rope
2. Kako & Orchestra, Vocals by Azuquita – Shingaling Shingaling
3. Shawn Lee and Bing Ji Ling – Who Are You
4. Paul White – Ancient Treasure
5. Shafiq Husayn feat. Bilal – Cheeba (Nottz Remix)
6. Ancient Astronauts – Put Em Up (ft. Raashan Ahmad)
7. Mophono’s Halftone Society – Bumps
8. Belleruche – 56% Proof
9. Nickodemus – 2 Sips and Magic (Second Sky / Thomas Blondet Remix)
10. Markolino Dimond con Frankie Dante – Sabroson
11. DJ Center – Center’s Groove (Captain Planet Remix)
12. Dimlite – Can’t Get Used To Those (Afterlude)
13. Twilight – Dance With Me
14. Quadron – Average Fruit

Download: Label Love Worldwide

Erykah Badu: Out My Mind, Just In Time 2010 Tour

The dates are set for Dallas, Texas native Erykah Badu's 2010 Tour that will also feature ?uestlove of The Roots, Janelle Monae, Maxwell, N.E.R.D., Bilal, B.o.B. and more. For complete listing of cities, go HERE