Music Notes: Avant, Director

October 10th, 2006

Tanja received a box of promo CDs from a record label, so I think it will be fun for me to post my aging, Gen X thoughts about this â€œnew music.â€

Amazon link

Music Director by Avant is an R&B album (a style I’m not really into) by a really soulful singer. I’m actually surprised how much I like some of these songs, largely because of the production, but also because of Avant’s singing style. These songs are very sparse, with hardly any instrumentation, and some tracks seem built over short musical loops that are more reminiscent of electronica than hip-hop.

Avant’s singing style is very wordy, sometimes sounding like vocalized rap. His impeccable timing, vocal control, and syncopation over the sparse beats is really all that’s needed to make a song interesting and fill it out. A good example of this is 4 Minutes with a ticking clock, and a pre-apology if he talks too fast. The chorus sounds very active in contrast with the wordy verses. But take a step back and realize that this whole song is built from beats, a few piano notes, and 75% Avant’s vocal gymnastics. Not an easy feat to pull off.

Another amusing surprise is Stickwitu featuring the Pussycat Dolls. For reasons mentioned above, I actually prefer Avant’s version than the one on PCD, as it has a more laid back, intimate feel.

A few of the songs rub me the wrong way (no pun intended) with their blatant, sexy, seductive subject matter. There’s only so many times I want to hear a guy talking about the things he’s going to do to someone and getting some legs wrapped around him - even if he sells it with soul. So the times when Avant makes references to Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson, and Motown are much appreciated.