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Here are the album reviews I wrote for the December issue of EL Magazine, which was distributed in Tokyo last month.

Warm on a Cold Night
-Honne (Atlantic/Warner)
Eric Benet
(Victor)
Blood Orange deserves all the accolades he’s received for making sexy music safe for electronica, and it should be remarked that it took the world something like half a decade to fully reach that conclusion. Honne, a white British duo, is thus spared the heavy lifting with their debut album, which isn’t half as good but actually gets to where it’s going in half the time. This is the sound of the slow jam taken to its natural end as a construction fully purposed for making out. As locals will immediately note, the duo’s name is Japanese for “true feelings,” and the tracks are nothing if not earnest attempts to find the appropriate musical equivalent for gushing. Though the two members, who go by their first names, James and Andy, cite Al Green and Bill Withers as influences, there’s nothing here that recalls those two pioneers’ funky sides. And while “warm” is the operative adjective, the heat very rarely rises above room temperature. Because everything is electronically derived, including the percussion, the beats don’t always penetrate to the spine. What you’re left with is hooks and vocals that lack distinction as far as soul music goes but do the job with regard to those feelings they’re so intent on conveying. The Izzy Bizu Collaboration, “Someone That Loves You” (sorry, shouldn’t that be “who”?), stands out for its bright sheen, which may simply be a function of the guest’s brighter, more traditional vocal style. The gospel intonations on “It Ain’t Wrong Loving You” also bring the album out of its cave, while the closer, “FHKD,” could pass as a dance track and may point the way to Honne’s future. This sultry stuff is all well and good, but eventually they have to play it live in front of people who may not want to remain seated for a whole set. Eric Benet is one of those so-called nu soul artists who rejiggered the slow jam for the new millennium, and he had a nice run with the concept while it lasted. His latest, for an indie, is self-titled, thus indicating a fresh start, and the first thing you notice is how he seems determined to jettison the “nu” from his soul music. He even brings in a big band, complete with horns, on the seriously funky “Cold Trigger.” And while I’ve never held Benet and Prince in the same thought, the late purple god is the first person I think of when I hear “Insane,” with its hell-bent falsetto. Of course, there are plenty of ballads, which have always been Benet’s calling card, but they convey a more lascivious state of mind than his past lover-man work. In a way, it’s as if Benet, after years of struggling to make sense of a style he had obviously outgrown, returned to the music he liked as a child but had never really explored as an artist, and it fits him like a tailored suit. Continue reading →