It’s always better when you get to watch it on TV. I’m just as hyped up as I was when I first saw “This Could Be The Night” on Vh1 Soul for the first time three years ago almost to the day (February 14, 2011)… Trust me, this never gets old. Shouts to everyone involved, particularly Phonte, Gwen Bunn, Kenneth Price, Darion Alexander, Chris Boerner, Nick Baglio, and Aimee Flint for pushing the video through the process.
It will be shown on Vh1 Soul’s Sub Soul program.
Author: Carlita
Source: Music Emissions
INTERVIEW: Zo!
Remember when video channels actually played videos and you came across a new one that made you want to know more about the artist and the album attached? Yeah, me too. A few weeks ago, I encountered R&B artist Zo’s new video ” We Are On The Move” featuring Phonte (who I’d interviewed a few months ago with with his partner, Nicolay, in FE), Eric Roberson and Darion Alexander that lifted spirits, brought the funk, made me want to get down via the underground interweb (which has great taste, btw) and I needed to know more. I discovered a talented (music and baseball wise) producer, composer and musician from the D that delivered a 2013 album , “ManMade” combining with other R&B singing talents, that deserves all the accolades it’s received.
There are only two rules I have for watching this new video:
1. Leave your cool at the door…
2. HAVE SOME FUN.
The day before this video shoot, I was catching up with Eric Roberson in the car where we had the heat blasting as it was cold as shit outside (of course with today’s ‘Polar Vortex’, it probably seems like nothing now). Anyway, as we were talking… almost in mid-sentence Erro stops and said, “Hol’lup, we’re shooting (the video) outside tomorrow?” …To which I responded, “Yeah.” It was supposed to be 30-35 degrees (F) in the morning and top off at about 40 in the afternoon. We all met up at around 7:30a the next morning, threw a couple of dance moves together, looked at each other like, “It’s cold as hell, but we’re out here… Let’s have some damn fun.” And that is EXACTLY what happened…. Enjoy!!!
Zo! “We Are On The Move” featuring Eric Roberson & Phonte (OFFICIAL VIDEO)
Directed by: Kenneth Price
Eric Roberson, Darion Alexander, Phonte, and I on set in NC (Dec. 2013)
With 2013 being the most successful year in my music career, it’s only right that I share the pictures that documented it. Looking back, I released my newest album, ManMade, and had the pleasure of visiting Brooklyn, Baltimore, D.C., Chicago, Richmond, Philly, Pittsburgh, LA, Tucson, Detroit, Vegas, Seattle, Austin, Durham, Atlanta, Charlotte, San Diego, Houston, Dallas, St. Louis, Indianapolis, and Cleveland in support of it – I was even asked to perform on the eight-day Capital Jazz Cruise at the beginning of November. I contributed to the new The Foreign Exchange album Love In Flying Colors with “Listen To The Rain,” and The Reworks with a remix for Phonte’s “Gonna Be A Beautiful Night”. I hung out with Bobbito and Crazy Legs of Rock Steady in NYC, began endorsing Lewitt Audio, released an ode to Sesame Street in the form of the “Count To Five” video, was the subject of my FIRST documentary, and even had a day named after me in Las Vegas.
Things to look out for in 2014…
• Making the music for Black Dynamite – The Animated Series (Season 2) with Fatin “10” Horton
• My very first trip to South Africa with The Foreign Exchange at the end of March + a world tour with +FE
• A brand new single + video from ManMade + more solo dates
• New, original music… Including a collaborative EP with…………………………
…….anyway, thank you, 2013… Here’s to one helluva productive and positive new year in 2014. Cheers!!
Sent to me last night from @missmalumo from South Africa… This is her niece Zawadi Lalah who has decided to pick up her pink microphone, introduce herself, groove to the intro music some and then sing the first 7-8 bars of “We Are On The Move”….
Maybe I need to consider having Zawadi on the next album…. I love it!!
It looks like “Making Time” from the ManMade album received some love from Bossip.com for being one of the “10 Essential Cuffing Season Anthems”. If you don’t have a clue what “cuffing” is, I suggest you find somebody special and get tah discovering… In the meantime, shouts to Bossip for showing kats love.
The Foreign Exchange
“Listen To The Rain”
Produced by The Foreign Exchange & Zo!
Piano, Rhodes & Bass by Zo!
From the album Love In Flying Colors
Buy Now
“Ayo, I’ve got one question for you…. WHO IS TINA???” © Every damn body
Well…. I’m gonna get to that in a minute..
FIrst, let me break down how the music came about and then I’ll clarify who Tina is. I clearly remember creating this one on a Wednesday afternoon in March 2012. In typical fashion, I can remember laying the drums out first (on the original drafts, the snare has a light single echo, which I ended up not missing at all upon hearing the final mix), which then influenced a chord progression I worked out on the piano to hit right before the “2” and the “4” within each measure. To thicken the chords up some, I layered them with some Rhodes keys that had a panning phase effect on them that created a “spacey” feel when I arpeggiated the chords. The strings that appear at 1:03 were originally only brought in for the hooks of the track and because of its movements, combined with the bass notes that seemed to almost “grow” on each hit reminded me of a movie score. As a result of the feel and the day of the week that it was made, I originally named the instrumental, “Wednesday Soundtrack”. Once everything was finished, I sent it on through to Phonte… The original instrumental was about four and a half minutes long.
This one wasn’t written to for months and musically it’s the “oldest” track on ManMade (all of the music that made the album was completed between March 2012 and January 2013). When Phonte and I spoke about the idea he had for the lyrics, he just told me, “It’s gonna be almost a part two of “Show Me The Way”… I can’t really explain it…. Just wait ’til we record it, you’ll get it when you hear it.” At that particular point in time, the only thing we had vocally on “Show Me The Way” was Carmen Rodgers’ hook, so imagine my reaction when I got Sy Smith’s vocal reference for “For Tina” and I heard her come in immediately with…
“Show me the waaay back baby, show me the waaay back baby…”
I leaned back in my studio chair as if I had just uncovered one of life’s greatest equations…. “AhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhHHHHHH…. I see now!” It all made sense. The lyrical continuation added cohesiveness, which is always appreciated when producing a full album… On TOP of that, flautist Claudia Hayden (“For Leslie”, “Driving”) was back on board adding light touches of absolutely BEAUTY to the song. When I heard her come in on the intro portion, fluttering those carefully positioned notes, I was like… “Yoooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!” …We even positioned it so that it was a MUSICAL continuation of “Show Me The Way” …It felt perfect.
But still, who is Tina?
I wanted to listen to the joint to hear if I was able to catch anything that would have clued me in without Phonte telling me who Tina was in advance. Going through the music, I didn’t hear anything ………until it hit that second half. Have you ever heard a lyric interpolation that sounds familiar as hell, but you can’t seem to place it? Well when I heard Sy sing…
“Show me the love, don’t playa hate me, show me the love don’t playa hate meeee…. Show me the loooooove / Show me the loooooove….”
…that’s exactly how I felt. “I’ve HEARD that before!! Where to I KNOW that LINE from???” Now, I need y’all to follow me on this one. For my Dwele fans and/or those who are familiar with his FIRST release entitled Rize, there was a song on there called “Timeless”. ON the song “Timeless”, there was a young lady who most of you may be familiar with as Airasoul who sang the hook on Slum Village’s “Climax”. Well, Airasoul better known as Tina Marie Glover is the sister of the late, great Baatin OF Slum Village. On Dwele’s “Timeless” featuring Tina Marie, she closes the song with the line…. and THAT is where I remembered hearing it. So, while “For Tina” was serving as a part two of “Show Me The Way”, it more importantly was a tribute to Tina Marie and how dope her contribution to that song was – or just how dope the song was in general. In Phonte’s words… “Maaaaan, I used to RUN that jam!” To me, not only it is a tribute to Tina herself, but an ode to Detroit and all of its TALENT. Shit, I could write a novel on that subject alone.
Soooooo… I hope that clears everything up… Shouts to Tina Marie, Dwe, and to the city of Detroit.
Shouts to Meri Hyöky Photography for these pics from Thursday’s show at Casbah in Durham, NC. We had a BALL.
Personnel included: Myself on keys, Deborah Bond on vocals, Zach Cutler on guitar, Jon Laine on drums, Dennis Turner on bass, Phonte on vocals, and Jeanne Jolly on vocals.
Author: Brandon Soderberg
Source: Indy Week
Lorenzo Ferguson, or Zo!, as he’s known to fans, released his new album ManMade — a rakish collection of house and ghettotech-tinged slow jams — back in May. It’s another idiosyncratic and uncompromising release from Foreign Exchange Music, fueled by intense collaborations between Zo! and the Foreign Exchange’sPhonte Coleman (credited as writer and producer). The second single, “Count to Five” featuring Gwen Bunn and Phonte, is propulsive soul-pop about real-life concerns like anxiety and transition. And don’t miss the charming video, which pays homage to the ’70s era of Sesame Street when the kid’s show was almost activist in its embrace of multiculturalism and positive vibes. We spoke over the phone about the new album, being doggedly independent while the music industry crumbles, “jheri curl music,” and even afforded some music nerd trivia about ’80s softies Mr. Mister. Zo! is celebrating the release of ManMade at the Casbah in Durham tonight along with the exploratory jazz trio the Hot at Nights.
Zo! 