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[review by heroin tracks] We are in a time where the R&B genre has been mixed and tampered with. Not that it’s a bad thing, but artists like Usher, Chris Brown, and Ne-Yo have blended genres like dance, house, and dubstep. Sure this new evolved R&B brings in chart-topping hits, but it all sounds the same! R&B has lost that personal touch. You used to be able to feel the artist’s emotions on a record. Thankfully, it only takes one person to remind us all that R&B can be artistic and still have meaningful content. Who knew it would be the rebellious group Odd Future’s Frank Ocean to revive that nostalgic R&B with Channel ORANGE.

At only 24-years-old, Ocean has already worked with iconic artists like Beyonce, Jay-Z, Justin Bieber, and Kanye West. It’s Ocean’s songwriting that captivates not only his fellow peers but his fans as well. When Ocean released Nostalgia, Ultra, songs like ‘Novacane’ and ‘We Try’ showed that Ocean’s love songs were smart and honest while his voice was ever so soulful, yet casual. Ocean’s debut album Channel ORANGE takes everything up a notch. The one-of-a-kind production by Ocean and Malay, Channel ORANGE is a story of unrequited love, living life in Ladera Heights, religion, and even drugs. Ocean is this generations poet when it comes to songwriting and on Channel ORANGE, he take a brave step in expressing his true self. On the standout backseat taxicab confessions record ‘Bad Religion’, Ocean expresses over the gospel style production that he was once in love with a man but had to hide his feelings from the world. While on the upbeat ‘Monks’ (my personal favourite) Ocean makes us feel like we’re in Nepal running away with an Indian girl while defying the odds of love. The Jimi Hendrix inspired ‘Crack Rock’ puts us in the life of a crack addict, while the California summer tune ‘Super Rich Kids’ takes us through the rich neighbour of Ladera Heights. Channel ORANGE features a few musical legends. Pharrell adds his signature Neptunes sound on ‘Sweet Life’; John Mayer gives a necessary solo on ‘White’; André 3000 spits a verse on the funky ‘Pink Matter’ and goes in on the electric guitar.

Channel ORANGE is an amazing piece of work by Ocean. The album channels so many great artists like Stevie Wonder, Al Green, Prince, Marvin Gaye, and even Pharrell. From the being track ‘Think Bout You’ to the ending with ‘Forrest Gump’, Ocean’s melodies and ballads go fantastic with the old school R&B and the Neptunes inspired beats. With Ocean’s intelligent and detailed songwriting, he creates a very vivid picture on Channel ORANGE. Whether you’re in love, broke up, or lost in between, you’ll be pulled into Ocean’s storybook. Channel ORANGE is just the beginning for Ocean and we are all witnessing another legendary musician in the making.

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[review by heroin tracks] We’ve heard many different musical styles from John Mayer throughout his career. Mayer’s soft-rock debut, Room for Squares had us all singing along to ‘No Such Thing’ while Heavier Things had better arrangement of records with cleaner melodies. But my personal favourite, the blues and soul sounding Continuum album, is what really changed Mayer’s sound. Working with so many different types of genres, Mayer had become a household favourite. Unfortunately, Mayer’s ego, careless lifestyle, and the terrible interviews with Rolling Stone and Playboy in 2010 shattered his image and dignity. Escaping the hollywood limelight, Mayer packed up his belongings and moved to Montana.

When artists usually have meltdowns, they write and create records as their therapy session. Gives them a change to truly release their darkest and emotional thoughts. This is what made Mayer’s lyrics on Born and Raised the most vulnerable and honest they have ever been. Produced by Don Wes and Mayer, Born and Raised feels like a full out country/folk album. Mayer will make you feel like you’re horseback riding in Montana with him on the opening record ‘Queen of California’. Mayer confesses on ‘Shadow Days’ that he promises to learn from his mistakes and will earn his respect again. When the world was against Mayer all he could do was drown himself in alcohol, and on western sound ‘Whiskey, Whiskey, Whiskey’ you can feel his sorrow. Getting kicked down, Mayer finally knows it’s time to grow up and act his age on the stand out record, ‘If I Ever Get Around to Living’. The sound of the acoustic guitar and his voice in the beginning and how it changes in the middle is so smooth and elegant. Now it wouldn’t be a Mayer album without a sappy love song, which is ‘Love Is A Verb’. The beautiful lyrics and soft melodies will make you hug your special someone very tight.

Born and Raised is definitely Mayer’s best album to date. Mayer was at a low point in his life and career and when you’re that deep, all you want to do is rise form the ashes. Born and Raised is like Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. When everyone was against West, he came back and created the best album of his career, and that’s what Mayer exactly did. Mayer’s songwriting is better than it’s ever been. Born and Raised is honest, raw, organic and doesn’t hold anything back. It’s great to hear the new mature Mayer born.

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[review by heroin tracks] With the beautiful summer season finally upon us, it is only right that we have the perfect soundtrack that can brighten up our days. Well, this is exactly what Slakah The Beatchild created. Beatchild is a Toronto-based singer, songwriter, producer, and is known for his signature “butta fat” soul beats. Unlike his awesome debut album Soul Movement Vol. 1, where he uses samples and keyboards that producers usually use; the records that Beatchild creates on The Other Side Of Tomorrow feel like they have life to them.

Going by the alias, The Slakadeliqs, the album takes inspiration from legendary musicians such as The Beatles, Earth Wind And Fire, B-52′s, Lenny Kravitz, and Jimmy Cliff. In reality, the album has no specific genre because each record sounds completely different. You’ll want to start your day, everyday, with the beautiful campfire song ‘Love Controls The Sun’ which features the smooth vocals of Justin Nozuka. On a side note, Beatchild and Nozuka make a fantastic duo! The funkadelic ‘Dear Lucy’ will make you feel like you’re back in the ’70s, while the reggae vibe ‘Perfect Summer Night’ will make you feel like you’re on the beach. The perfectly crafted song ‘Love Judge’ pretty much sums up the album. Everything from the flute, trumpet, violin, acoustic guitar, drums, xylophone, and more is heard on ‘Love Judge’, keeping that uplifting positivity tone. Beatchild also brings along a couple of close friends on the album. Fellow Canadian singers, Tanika Charles, Ebrahim, Sandie Black, lend their lovely vocals. King Reign and Shad also spit intelligent verses respectively on ‘Beneath It All’. Beatchild also introduces listeners to the Sweden artist, Tingsek, whose soulful voice fits superbly.

The Other Side Of Tomorrow is an amazing album from Beatchild. By using live instrumentals, the music feels like a breath of fresh air with an organic sound, that makes every record on the album unique. When you’re listen to the album, everything around you will feel warm and blissful. Beatchild created a timeless album that anyone can listen to and no matter what genre you prefer because it has a little bit of everything, you won’t be dissapointed. Albums like The Other Side Of Tomorrow come once in a blue moon, it’s unfortunate because this is what music should feel like. Soul is alive and it lives in Canada, thanks to Beatchild.

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[review by heroin tracks] That Rihanna reign just won’t let up, seriously! Just last year, Rihanna released her platinum selling album Loud, which saw the return of the vibrant upbeat girl. Now, looking like her dark past is finally behind her, Rihanna comes through with her boldest, sexiest and raunchiest album to date, Talk That Talk.

On Talk That Talk, Rihanna worked closely with Ester Dean to write the most mature and passionate lyrics that she has ever sung. Though Rihanna is a R&B-pop superstar, she has alway been known to blend different genres. Working with music industries top producers like The-Dream, Stargate, No I.D; Talk That Talk features a mixture of dance, hip-hop and dancehall records. Rihanna will make you fall in love on the Calvin Harris trance record ‘Where Have You Been’ which has the energy that makes you want to dance and sing out loud. Bangladesh delivers Rihanna’s raunchiest record, ‘Cockiness (Love It)’, which will heat things up in the bedroom. Rihanna also gets flirty on Hit-Boy’s bump n’ grind record, Watch N’ Learn. A record which you definitely want to play with you special someone. Rihanna also goes back to her “Umbrella” days on the straight hip-hop record, ‘Talk That Talk’, which features Jay-Z.

If you thought that Rihanna was a bad girl already, she shows you that she can go even badder. Rihanna craves for a one night stand and loves life to the fullest all over Talk That Talk. If there is one person that can take the smutty bedroom talk right to the dance floor and make it sound awesome, it’s Rihanna.

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[review by heroin tracks] It was just last year when Drake released one of the most important debut album’s in hip-hop (since College Dropout), Thank Me Later. Not only did the album go platinum but it gave Drake the respect from his peers like Jay-Z and Lil Wayne. The pressure was on to top his debut and instead of rushing out an album in a few months, Drake took time with his sophomore. Going back to where his whole hip-hop career unfolded, Toronto, Drake took his inspiration, love and memories from the city that made him who he is today on Take Care.

Drake’s signature style has and always will be rapping fused with singing. So stop complaining! On Take Care, Drake teams up with Abel Tesfaye (The Weeknd) to take his songwriting and harmonies to the next level, like on the track ‘Shot For Me’. With his right hand man, Noah “40″ Shebib, the duo crafted some of the most elegant and elaborate records to date, like ‘Over My Dead Body’. T-Minus handles the more hard hitting bass tracks like ‘HYFR’ and ‘Make Me Proud’. This time around Drake’s lyrics are more personal and raw. On the stand track ‘Look What You’ve Done’, produced by Chase N. Cashe, he raps about his lost romances while reflecting on his career. On the thunderous Just Blaze track ‘Lord Knows’, Drake makes it clear that he isn’t afraid of a little competition. It seems like people are forgetting where Drake came from, so on ‘Under Ground Kings’ he gives you a quick lesson. Just like So Far Gone, Drake really shines out more on the slow pace records like the ‘The Ride’ where The Weeknd lends his beautiful falsettos. Drake also carefully picked the features on this album. Except for Nicki Minaj and Andre 3000, no one ever really out shined Drake lyrically. The legend Stevie Wonder graced himself on ‘Doing It Wrong’ with a harmonica and Kendrick Lamar brings out  his inner Canadian and sharp lyrics on the interlude, ‘Buried Alive’.

Drake definitely took time and care while creating his sophomore, Take Care. The album is well more balanced than it’s debut and the content is much more moving, while the tone is slow and dark as Drake expresses his different emotions. The reason why people respect Drake, is because he doesn’t hide the fact that he is from Toronto. Having Chantal Kreviazuk, Divin Brown, The Weeknd, Chase N. Cashe, Carlo “Illangelo” Montagnese work on Take Care shows that Drake supports his fellow Canadian artists. Even the album cover  is shot by two young Torontonians, Hyghly Alleyne & Lamar Taylor. While Ross is the boss of Miami, Drake is the leader of Toronto. You’ll feel like your from his city too when your listening to Take Care, and you know what, it feels fantastic!

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