★★★★★
More from the previously CMU approved Solange, who as boss lady of young label Saint Records is shooting at "100% artistic control", assuming its true bosses Sony allow that, via a new compilation spotlighting her fave artists. Whilst some of its featured tracks are still TBA, they'll be by Solange (duh), Cassie, Sampha and Jhene Aiko, and relative freshers BC Kingdom, Jade de la Fleur, Iman Omari, Petite Noir, Starchild and India Shawn...
- www.completemusicupdate.com
2013-10-24
★★★★★
The thing about debut albums is that, with a few exceptions, there's not much to compare them to. Maybe there will be a buzz-building EP (Black Kids), or a few singles that no one can get enough of (Lorde). But generally, they're a clean slate.
Other than live performances, most of the expectations surrounding L.A.-based singer Kelela's debut mixtape were culled from her collaboration with Teengirl Fantasy, "EFX...
- www.cmj.com
2013-10-23
★★★★★
Joe Martinez
From left, Kevin Cribbin, Kyle Reynolds, and Zack Weil of Oozing Wound, whose debut album is called "Retrash."
August AlsinaDOWNTOWN: LIFE UNDER THE GUN
"Somebody gotta survive," August Alsina says in one of the spoken interludes on his debut major label EP, "Downtown: Life Under the Gun" (Radio Killa/Def Jam)...
- www.nytimes.com
2013-11-21
★★★★★
It used to take ages for underground sounds to find their way into mainstream pop music. Information moved more slowly, recordings took more time to produce, and there were layers of cultural gatekeepers to be navigated in the process, so subcultures that craved obscurity could usually find it. The internet and digital recording technology have changed that...
- pitchfork.com
2013-10-18
★★★★★
Singers teaming up with forward-thinking dance producers to make pure pop has become a trend--think of Jessie Ware and Julio Bashmore, or Katy B and Geeneus. But the idea of that taking place within the Night Slugs / Fade To Mind axis, which includes some of bass music's most exciting and experimental artists, is downright salivating. Kelela thought so, too...
- www.residentadvisor.net
2013-10-16
★★★★★
"I've seen the future/ And it's already over." Kelela sings from beyond the void of what has already happened, which is everything. Dance music has digested R&B, which has digested dance music, which has digested itself. Kelela has seen the recursive figure-eights her emotions mimic when locked in play with another ego, sometimes forming a shape familiar to her and to the society to which she belongs as love, but more often in a shape less easily identifiable, something more insidious...
- www.tinymixtapes.com
2013-10-11
★★★★★
Los Angeles-based, Washington, DC-raised vocalist Kelela has quickly emerged as one of the strongest voices in contemporary underground R&B, recently providing standout guest vocals for Teengirl Fantasy ("EFX") and Kingdom ("Bank Head"). Cut 4 Me marks her solo debut release and it's a breakout set of cutting-edge electronic/R&B jams showcasing her sultry, stunning vocals atop supremely slick production from producers on both Fade to Mind and their UK sister label Night Slugs. 10/11/2013
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- kexp.org
2013-10-12
★★★★★
Available on: Fade to Mind One of the threads that defines the Fade to Mind label/collective is the promise of boundaryless club music for a generation that has never really gotten over the death of Aaliyah. Beneath every masterful bootleg by the likes of Kingdom, Nguzunguzu, and Total Freedom is a hypothetical: what if there was a singer who could bring new life to these "sad, sexy, scary" compositions? With her eagerly-anticipated debut Cut 4 Me, Kelela delivers on that promise...
- www.factmag.com
2013-10-03
★★★★★
Without any context, the title of DC-born R&B;/soul singer Kelela's sounds like some NEET-inspired, suicidal novel. Instead, it's a credible cohesion of '90s house-ish sounds and soul. With production being handled by Fade to Mind founder Kingdom and the rest of the collective, each beat features a flash of character that somehow never overwhelms and, at times, yields to Kelela's strong vocals...
- exclaim.ca
2013-10-30
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