A Magical 1st

Once again, a UK group blows my mind with their musical loveliness. Thirty-one year old producer Dan Jones and twenty-seven year old singer Ellie Hajee form D’Nell. What kind of music do they do? Well, they are an amalgam of neo-soul, R&B, jazz, with a dollop of hip-hop (we club heads call this music “chillout” or “late night downtempo”). Producer Dan Jones is one of those rare people that has an uncanny feel for arranging music samples in a way that makes them sound fresh, new, and oh so groove-like. Singer Ellie Hajee sings with so much natural soul, conviction, and skill that I had to do a triple-take to make sure my eyes weren’t deceiving me. D’Nell makes music and makes love (they are a couple). Their first CD, 1st Magic, is such a treat. My wife and I have listened to it at least 10 times so far. Are we tired yet? Uh… Nope! My favorite song, even though I’m loving all of them, is “This Thing”. Damn, I’m getting da smoove groove feelin’ just thinking about that song.

On a related note, I’m a little upset that the majority of my music purchases the past 4 - 5 years have been from non-American artists. It just seems that the folks overseas are spending more time being creative musically instead of whipping out “beats” with half-baked and predictable “hooks”. Except for the indie music scene, creativeness is at an all-time low here in the grand ol’ USA. The rest of the world is making us look bad, my friends. We have WAY TOO MUCH TALENT here to sell ourselves so short musically.

2 Responses to “A Magical 1st”

1. Stone says:

   January 19, 2006 at 9:52 am

   I used to be that way about 5 years ago, only gettin’ stuff from the UK, France, etc, but seriously, I think US artists have caught up: Check Sy Smith, Platnum Pied Pipers, J*Davey, etc.

   Only problem is that that type of music ain’t accepted here like it is over there, so it’s hard to find, especially if you don’t live in the same town as the artist or you don’t have an internet connection.
2. T-Steel says:

   January 19, 2006 at 9:12 pm

   Your right Stone. That type of music isn’t accepted over here. Instead we get alot unmusic thrust at us on the mass marketed stage. It’s just depressing that good American artists like Platinum Pied Pipers, Sy Smith, Kindred the Family Soul, Amel Larrieux, etc are relegated to the “secondary” market.