The one hard-and-fast rule of the Modern Soulness mixes is they must all be under 80 minutes. If you’ll notice, that’s the typical length of audio that can be written onto a CD-ROM. This was once how I did all of the mixes, back when I was a pimply-faced hormonal teenager, then into my college years as a less hormonal yet equally pimply, bad-hygiene exhibiting twenty-something. Between heapings of bad grocery store spaghetti and paste and my morning cocktail of orange juice and Mountain Dew soda (no wonder I had the “Freshman Twenty”), as well as attending class, I would work on these mixes. Hard to believe it, but I actually used RealPlayer as my primary music/media library throughout high school and college.
Back in those oily heydays I would carefully craft a mix to be quickly burned onto a CD and played at leisure in the car or on an old and battered Sony Walkman. Soon music consumption took place via ITunes and an oft-synchronized Ipod. The practice of making mixes of a length under 80 minutes was maintained throughout my early and mid-twenties as it appears I still viewed my mixes and burning them onto CD as sacrosanct. There may be an argument in there that the differentiation between a “mix” and a “playlist” resides in the length, if not the medium the music is played – and I tend to favor this distinction if not just to keep the integrity of the classic mix intact. Nevertheless, popular opinion nowadays is the length of a mix can be arbitrary, and I typically have a fair balance of shorter “old-school” mixes, as well as extended playlists designed to play for hours on end in “shuffle” mode. I have many of both types of playlists on various devices, as the right time and application varies. There are playlists for work, for travel, for exercise, for many other scenarios that last hours upon hours, and then there are just as many under 80 minutes usually played when I know the task is within the same range of time. In that regard, despite all of ways I have changed, it does still appear I treat the selection and listening of playlists as a sacred ritual. In fact, taking an honest glance at myself, I don’t believe my opinion of the art of mixes will ever change – for I do believe there is something beautiful and precious about creating a superb 80-minute mix.
In these modern days of indulgence, irreverence, and distraction there is a virtue in the method of making a limited mix. Not only is this amount of time the perfect length to formulate a cohesive mix, but it also requires a level of patience and thoughtfulness rarely exhibited in these times. The restraint required to take somewhere from 16 to 22 tracks to make a unified statement, a singular concept of music, is a quality I value that brings enrichment to the entire process, and I think this process has only become better over time (in regards to my mixes). Mix-making has been a constant in my life, a consistent practice if you will; and when it comes to making the 80-minute mix, the tradition of respect and love for the process has only strengthened.
THE PROCESS
What I usually end up doing is taking a quick scroll through my entire library, regardless of genre, to find 40 to 50 tracks that hold a couple overarching themes or penchant qualities in common. Sometimes this common thread is as vague as on overall mood or shared sounds, other times its specifically about direct relationships or particulars of the artists selected. I pour five or six tracks from the given artist into a “playlist” format and then make a deliberate decision about which tracks from the artist will work well in the overall context. Whatever the selection process may be, soon comes the difficult task of cutting the number of tracks, and often coincidentally the length of the mix, in half. I will either work concurrently or directly afterwards to order the tracks in a way that makes the transitions between tracks and sections of the mix work as seamlessly as possible. It’s usually a process of subtraction rather than addition. Lately the additions come in the form of transition or “segue tracks” that are short in length and help to bridge a gap between disparate parts that wouldn’t work well together back-to-back.
In three or four hours, often after listening to the first and last 30 seconds of each track at least a dozen times to check the transitions and segues, a mix is completed (but never really finalized). I’ll admit, sometimes I still burn a CD immediately after making, yet other times it syncs to my phone or Ipod and I listen to it the next day. Normally I’m not satisfied or have a couple tweaks after the first listen. I don’t think I’ve ever made a mix that was finished after the first attempt. More often it’s after four or five iterations that the process starts to settle down and satisfaction draws near. On some rare occasions it has taken months of small tweaks, large overhauls, and sudden shifts in tone and concept before the blurry image becomes clearer in view. Take for example the mix featured in this post, Modern Soulness Vol. VIII; this mix has gone through several different incarnations and shifts in identity, it didn’t look to ever take a modest form. I think it’s safe to say now it is one of my favorites, and flows better than most all my other mixes. Very few, in my opinion, have come together as a unified whole as well as this one, and when you consider it use to be this ambitious mess of electronic rap-jazz fusion tracks (like Shabazz Palaces, The Avalanches, and Hiatus Kayote tracks all mashed together), it’s a small wonder it ever took a decent shape.
MODERN SOULNESS VOL. VIII – “LATE NIGHT R&B GLITZ”
Every Modern Soulness mix takes on a distinct identity. As mentioned above, it’s often a broad idea of desired tone that starts the selection process for the tracks making the installment. The only real criteria for Modern Soulness is they must be modern R&B tracks showcasing the innovative, genre-blending (or genre-defying) spirit of current R&B, Rap, Hip-Hop, and Soul. So many influences have mingled together over the last couple decades to make these new forms of R&B/Soul music. There’s a cosmos out there, and some corners will never be found just by shear quality and quantity; the coffers are interminably being replenished with brilliant new music from fearlessly brimming artists. If I could make a broad and sweeping declaration about this installment of Modern Soulness, I would say this one captures the spirit of late-night R&B, at least when it leans more towards flashes of funk and showtime glitz. Whereas Volumes VI and IX also seem marked by the identity of being smooth lounge-worthy R&B/Soul, they both have an inclination towards being mellow and downtempo in a less glamorous manner. VI is the “dark and sinister” late night version, IX is the “jazzy lounge” version, but this one, Volume VIII, is simply the one with more flurries of glimmering funk and bouts of dramatics. To be concise, the stretch from tracks 1 to 14 has the best flow of any of my Modern Soulness mixes to date, and has some great segues/transitions between tracks.
I used the Australian Electronic R&B producer Ta-Ku a couple times in this album, mostly for transitional tracks, as his music captures the essence of this playlist. It’s late night R&B with elegance, with undercurrents of hope and melodrama buried within tracks gleaming with echoey synths and guitars. Some might even go as far to say some of the tracks on the mix contain hints of drama, in production techniques bordering on the symphonic or orchestral. Either way, there’s a feeling of lushness in many tracks including Ta-Ku’s track “Beginning to End”, which has a gorgeous orchestral build-up adding a feeling of impending beauty that may unfurl within the next 18 tracks of the mix. That was, at least, what I was going for….
The next two tracks help to reinforce the concept set forth with the opening instrumental track. Both “Weight in Gold” by emerging D.C.-bred artist Gallant and “Guns and Roses” by Canada’s Tory Lanez, utilize big epic falsettos (albeit in very different ways) accompanied by music vibrating and echoing throughout the space like brimming light running over rippling water. A lot of the tracks on the mix start with instruments reverberating or gently caterwauling, others emerge quietly in slow-builds. I like the tone created in the beginning of many tracks, this sense of fragility and elegance established early on with this form of R&B.
“Losing” displays another form of elegance and sumptuousness by way of Gabi Wilson’s voice. H.E.R. is one of my favorite R&B artists, and this is my favorite track she has made due to that casual beauty exuded within the vocals. This was the first track I wanted to use in the mix, and it sat in several different positions throughout the iterations, however, it was always early and featured. The slow entry and exit of H.E.R.’s track worked well with the way the dearly departed Mac Miller’s sensual track “Dang! (Feat. Anderson .Paak)” just kinda sidles up to you with the swagger and charm of a “Mac”. I always enjoyed the segue between “Dang!” and Elhae’s “Doesn’t Matter (Feat. Kehlani)” because it felt like the perfect switch you would make between radio stations while cruising late night in a big city. Kehlani steals the show with her angelic voice as well as the way the strange electronic palpitations of the backing music complements the flow of the vocals in an alluring staccato. However, my favorite transition on this mix, hands-down, is the curious way “Doesn’t Matter” cuts away abruptly into the smooth and luxurious bubble bath that is Solange Knowles’ “Cranes in the Sky”. Now I admit to not being the biggest fan of the Knowles sisters, and didn’t really enjoy her album A Seat at the Table (2016) for its brash and antagonistic interludes and lack of focus, but I have always loved this song for it’s beautiful orchestral composition, brilliant production, and those absorbing lyrics I find myself drawn to again and again.
Possibly the most underrated track on the album is “Blind Man” by Xavier Omar, a California-based crooner. This track was always on the mix, throughout the iterations, often alongside “Losing” by H.E.R. The most obvious reason is his vocals also exhibit that gorgeous glittering quality. The keys and electronic production backing his voice possess a rich elegance reflective of the mix’s identity- eliciting an image of sounds being washed in the sheen of a haunting moonlight. “Blind Man” feels like an old Soul song in it’s songwriting but has a lovely contradiction in the way the music employs all the modern production techniques, yet doesn’t betray the “old-timey” mood of the song lyrics and vocals. The next two tracks make up the “late-night funk” portion of the mix with Childish Gambino’s big hit “Redbone” and the under-the-radar gem “Dontcha” by the incomparable The Internet. See the simple, clean, and elegant music video at the top of the post for the reason why The Internet are my current favorite R&B band. Then comes in another downtempo track echoing with the haunting vocals of Daniel Caesar. “Get You (Feat. Kali Uchis)” might be my second favorite track on the mix. Frankly, I wish Daniel Caesar could make an entire album capturing the spirit of this track because it is simply gorgeous. I have found his other work, at least most of it, to be far less accessible and a bit too esoteric, whereas this one is just great late-night R&B.
https://youtu.be/uQFVqltOXRg
The track right after “Get You” has a similar mood, however, it displays more gravel and Southern-soul drenched charm. Khalid, with his Bill Withers-esque voice, is an artist to be on the watch for. He’s an absurdly young artist from Georgia emerging quickly on the scene. “Passionfruit” is another one of those sexy late-night Drake jams when I first heard, felt compelled to place on the next Modern Soulness mix. The warm and lavish synths are simple and charming, and worked really well within the context of this mix. I made a concerted effort to use “Passionfruit” to cap the first half of the mix, as there are a few overarching themes Drake’s track does well to summarize. After “Passionfruit” the album takes on a tone more akin to Modern Soulness Vol. VI, meaning the R&B takes on a colder, often darker feeling. I used another Ta-Ku track, the heart-wrenching “Love Lost” to make this transition to the back half of the mix. “I Lie Awake Every Night”, from British artist James Vincent McMorrow is a Top-3 favorite track on this mix. His falsetto has often been underutilized in past albums, ones that seemed to make poorly devised gestures towards the TV on the Radio brand of indie rather than the style of music his voice is more naturally suited for, which is slow and moody Electronic R&B. We Move (2016), seemed to be an album produced for this shift in style, and it marks a promising direction for McMorrow.
The Weeknd’s “The Party & The After Party” and 6lack’s “Ex-Calling” move more into the late night downtempo R&B. This portion of the mix feels less like the music of an upscale party and more like a seedy backroom drug orgy. These two tracks work well together side-by-side, and I have always enjoyed The Weeknd’s sampling of Beach House’s “Master of None” on “The Party…”, maybe a bit too much. I lament the way The Weeknd went from underground R&B darling to international mess of a pop artist.
The ending of the mix changed many times, never quite working the way I hoped until I heard the song “Right My Wrongs” by Bryson Tiller (off of his immaculate album Trapsoul (2015)). It has an epic finality to it befitting a plug-in at the end of this mix. Then I decided to use the simple and warm palette-cleanser of a track, DRAM’s nostalgia-ridden gem “Sweet VA Breeze”, to leave a smile on everybody’s face and to put a capper on this 19-track 79-minute mix.
At the end of the day, I am surprised at how well this mix turned out. As mentioned earlier in this post, this one went through several versions, all vastly different from one another. I was disappointed with the way it was working for many months, and then one day added the James Vincent McMorrow track as well as the Tory Lanez track, and suddenly felt like I was headed somewhere. Three hours later I saw a cohesive mix with great transitions and flow. The mix this one proceeded, Vol. VII, is very different in tone and concept yet also one of my favorites, and will be discussed in the next installment of this periodical. Excited to post that one as well, even if it will most likely be posted in the winter, timing that vies with the prevailing mood of summer the mix exudes.
