Thursday October 23

A Soulful Noise

Alternative Soul Topping The Charts

 

Thumbnail image for mark_farina-adele-FE-thumb-473x473.jpgPlease give me the luxury, if you will, to refer to UK Blue-Eyed Soul and Downtempo for the majority of music consumers as "Alternative Soul." Following this logic, that there are now people purchasing music that you and I take for granted and consume in mass quantities, it stands to reason that Adele's 19 and Mark Farina's Mushroom Jazz 6 earning top spots (#3 in Pop for Adele and #1 for Farina in Electronic) on iTunes is kind of a big deal. After all, most times I click onto my iTunes' Music Store, I am bombarded with images of "popular" musicians I have never heard of. Adele's jump in sales is being attributed to herself and her sculptured nails' appearance on Saturday Night Live this past weekend (the highest-rated SNL episode ever due to Caribou Barbie's appearance), while Mushroom Jazz 6's sales is being attributed to just plain old hard work since after six compilations, one would hope that it would monetarily pay off somehow and not just in adoration from its fans. In related news, The Foreign Exchange's Leave It All Behind also topped iTunes' R&B charts the week of its release. Remember way back when we gave you the heads up on Adele? And when we started the countdown to our new favorite album, LIAB? We don't want to say we told you so, but...we did. And we're not mad that the rest of the world is taking notice. We doubt these artists aren't either. 


Comments

Gotta tell you...it was a live performance that made me buy Adele's CD immediately after i woke up the next day and I've been grooving to it ever since. And Mushroom Jazz is also on my "I'm picking it up this week" list. Got the first 2 editions of the series as goody bag gimmes way back when, and have been hooked ever since. This one is better than most. I'm fine with the alternative term. I hardly consider my tastes average. :)

I first heard DJ Mark Farina over in Europe 8 years ago even though he's from Chicago...Mushroom Jazz series is one of the best.

@Mutada: I think some folks may prefer the "alt" label over the "neo" one. In any case, it's for the sake of conversation and not to lock any artist into a box. All things considered and by comparison, the alt classification is apropos.

What is alternative soul? Do we need another "Neo-Soul" like label ?










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