So, Gabriella Cilmi is the latest in a long line of female artists seemingly exploiting the old jazz/blues/soul genres. Sweet About Me is reminiscent of Norah Jones and Katie Melua at their absolute best, cool and subtly flirtatious (well, Melua in that respect).

PopJustice wittily remarked that Sweet About me could become #1 by Christmas, noting that the single has had a slow burn effect, gradually climbing into the top ten after initially entering the charts at a very low position.

The thing that surprised us here at Unreality Music was that Cilmi is deeply involved with the Xenomania team - best known for their cutting edge work with Girls Aloud and Sugababes. Take a listen to the other songs on Gabriella’s MySpace page and you’ll discover a far more musically diverse set of songs than you might expect.

This is refreshing for us - Cilmi is obviously not going to be pigeonholed (as so many young female artists are these days) into the ‘who’s the new Amy Winehouse this week’ box.

The song itself is just brilliant - a sexy vocal performance, with Cilmi alternating between strong and bluesy on the “If there’s lessons to be learned” line and girly-innocent on “Nothing’s sweet about me”. Yes, this tune gets a thumbs up from us.

First single from Gnarls Barkley’s second album, Run isn’t a massive departure from the hip-hop/soul fusion of their first album.

But then why mess with success? The Gnarls Barkley sound was a breath of fresh air when they first surfaced and there’s really little to challenge their monopoly on the sound today.

Run is a frenetic, trippy soul number. It’s not quite as immediate as perhaps Crazy was, but after a few listens you’ll really appreciate the thick wall of sound coming out of your speakers at ya.

Cee-Lo’s vocals are as powerful, throaty and soulful as we’ve come to expect, and the pair manage to capture a fast-paced retro soul tune, maybe more accurately than even Kravitz could done have in his heyday.

The cool thing about Gnarls is that they never overplay it. Another minute, and the repetitiveness of the song would have become annoying. But 3-and-a-half minutes is just right.

Of note in the video (below) is an appearance from Justin Timberlake wearing a jacket scarily like the one Bo Selecta wears for Michael Jackson impersonations.

Run is the first single from Gnarls Barkley’s second album The Odd Couple.

Duffy is one of those acts that we’ve been told we’re going to love this year. Mercy is the second single from her forthcoming debut album, Rockferry.

Mercy isn’t the first song in recent history to play on the iconic bassline from Stand By Me. It starts out that way, but it isn’t long before the hammond organ is tooting away and we’re transported back to Dusty Springfield-era soul.

Duffy’s voice lives up to the hype alright - she carries off the authentic soul sound and displays a good range at the same time. She avoids making the song a complete retro anthem by having an almost rapped vocal line in the middle.

I can’t help drawing comparisons to the once-celebrated Joss Stone and how she was initially lauded as a big star of that retro soul scene. Unfortunately, the music industry is trying to tell us that Duffy’s ability to recreate the 60s soul sound is the big thing in music for 2008.

I don’t blame Duffy for the unrealistic hype. That’s the fault of the overzealous marketers who’re trying to convince us that 60s soul is the big innovation in music this year. Bullshit. It’ll be good for a couple of novelty singles, but it won’t spark a resurrection of the genre. I guarantee it.

Amy Winehouse pulled off the retro thing with Back To Black because she had an edge and the backing of the genius that is Mark Ronson.

Verdict: On its own, Mercy is a decent pop song. Duffy has an excellent voice and she’s a beautiful girl. But as for being at the cutting edge of music, well this track is a good 40 years too late.

Watch The Video:

Here’s the Mercy video. Watch out for the dancers catching fire toward the end. Disconcerting.

A London-based Reggae artist with a major label deal and a support slot on tour with Brit music darling Adele? That’s Natty, one of MTV UK’s big tips for 2008, as highlighted in their Spankin’ New For 2008 poll.

His music is a sweet blend of reggae, soul and urban influences all delivered acoustically with his band. The music weaves “between playful love odes and socially conscious compositions”, and Natty was the only new artist to be included on the NME Love Music/Hate Racism compilation.

I love his understated goals, almost as laid back as the music:

“I want to slightly alter the complexion of western music. Not in the way hip-hop has done, nothing too dramatic you know. Just a little bit”

Anyway, if you want to check out some of Natty’s music, try his MySpace page or the excellent live performance of Badman over on the MTV Overdrive website.

It’s be nice to see something a bit more interesting like this in the charts. Here’s a live performance I dredged up on YouTube:

During the Brit Awards announcements, Adele said that she couldn’t understand all the hype surrounding her. After all, it’s not like she’s done anything yet.

I get the impression that’s all about to change with the release of Chasing Pavements today (21 January 2008). You’d be forgiven for thinking this was Adele’s debut, but Chasing Pavements is actually her second single (after October’s Hometown Glory).

I’m going to avoid comparisons with Adele’s London-based peer group, and instead focus on the song. It’s a beautiful tune which has all the hallmarks of an old soul classic. Despite an understated vocal intro, Adele is soon surrounded by swirling strings and delivering the lyrics with heartfelt intensity throughout.

It’s an interesting video, featuring a pair of car crash victims ‘dancing’ horizontally (not in the dirty sense, mind you) along a pavement. Adele clarified the meaning of the video on her MySpace blog:

i had a shit boyfriend who i knew would be shit, and i knew when i started fancying him, let alone when i got with him it would be a ‘ car crash relationship ‘ ……thats the crash bit in the video!

and me and my lovely “on screen boyfriend” Josh are in the car in a que to mess up basically! we’ve had an argument, i storm out the car then the rest of the vid is us contemplating it!

Very good song. Adele’s tipped for big things this year, so I expect there’s plenty more good songs waiting to be released…

The Good

Almost universal rave reviews with this album. Like me, most people found the mix of old soul with modern day sensibilities (not to mention swearing!) a refreshing change from the manufactured pop de jour.

• The real strength of Back to Black is its ability to maintain a strong theme, which with its nostalgic feel, nearly qualifies it as a concept album. Even with each song seamlessly tied to one another, however, Back to Black is also like nothing we’ve heard before. [Helium]
• I can’t stop listening to it… Amy has a textured vocal delivery, an almost raspy voice, combined with her contemporary song lyrics. Hailing from the U.K., she is truly inspiring and her music is full of soul and quite funky. [Dana Tuszke]
• Winehouse pushes the musical envelope even further than the innovative Motown artists who pioneered the genre, with provocative lyrics that would send Motown founder Barry Gordy over the edge. [Daily Nexus]
• She can also be witty, as on “Me & Mrs Jones” when she berates a boyfriend with “You made me miss the Slick Rick gig”. Back to Black is a refreshingly mature soul album, the best of its kind for years. [New Music Review]
• I believe Amy has just started a new change in music and soon everyone might want to have the same quality of music like her. The production was tight and classy and I believe is the winner album of the year!! [Stupid Thought]
• I enjoyed some of the poppier numbers more so than the tortured woe-is-the-Jew-broad slower numbers. The singing is pretty damn good throughout though. [Byron Crawford]

The Bad

When you thought the whole world was raving about Back To Black, it also got some people foaming at the mouth…bring on the haters…

• A sizable chunk of Back to Black…sounds like…white people copping black soul in order to sell booze and ribs. Songs like “You Know I’m No Good,” “Me & Mr. Jones,” and “Wake Up Alone” are nothing more than cheap retro-R&B novelties. [Cleveland Scene]
• The album is almost entirely set in the sixties, reminiscent of The Supremes and Diana Ross, which makes for a good change of pace but also a lack of originality. [Love The Music]
• This album has good production and lyrics(most of the time), but it seems like something is missing. This album is really nothing to rave about, I like some songs, but I doubt I?ll be listening to this whole album all the way through ever again. [Sum Of Everest]

The Summary

Some critics have accused Amy of being a copyist of the old Motown sound. These curmudgeons are missing the point completely - Winehouse reinvents the genre and lyrically deals with subjects that would have been major taboos in that era. I mean, can you imagine Aretha Franklin coming out with “fuckery” in a song?

Many of Amy’s songs tie back to her life, and that autobiographical element is refreshing. What would you rather have - teenagers singing twee lyrics written for them by faceless producers, or real songs written by someone dealing with what seems to be a crazy lifestyle?

As I said back at the beginning of this post, Back To Black is probably one of the best albums I’ve heard this year.

And while the melody in Tears Dry… has a major-key, upbeat 60’s soul style, the lyrics betray that vulnerability and sadness. Based on her delivery, I do believe the song’s autobiographical:

He walks away, the sun goes down
He takes the day, but I am grown
And your way, in this blue shade
My tears dry on their own…

Tears Dry… is yet another tune that proves Winehouse is a major British talent. One I’d be loathe to lose. I know Sloppy Dog agrees with me:

While she pushes herself more and more into the public consciousness as a coke-addled, skeletal pisshead, her music continues to underline her significance and inimitability as an artist. A summery Sixties masterpiece, and a decent enough swansong should she drown in the next few months (either in Regent?s Canal or neat vodka).

I just hope Amy can pull the public image back a bit - I’d hate to see her getting tarred with the Pete Doherty brush. Her public persona shouldn’t be overshadowing her talent.

Tears Dry On Their Own is the fourth single from Amy’s Back To Black album.

One of my paltry claims to fame - I met Duke Special a few years back at an event his sister was working on. He was a bit of a cult hero back then, and seemingly even more so today - his MySpace page has almost 12, 000 friends!

Everything about Duke Special is unique, from the eccentric dress sense to the seemingly absurd range of props he uses to create his sound (cheese graters, wardrobe doors, pianos, harps, brass, strings and an old gramophone).

What you end up with as a result is a genre-busting category-defying artist who seems to be immune from trends in pop music. I’m not drooling, honest. After listening to so many canned acts in the charts, it’s refreshing to hear an artist doing something completely different.

Probably the quote that warms me most to Duke Special is “I wanted to find a way to play the piano and sing that didn’t make me sound like Elton John or Billy Joel.”

Saying that, I think Freewheel is probably the most mainstream of his material (that’s available on MySpace). Duke sings in an unashamed Northern Irish accent, something we’re hearing more of these days. As I said in my Snow Patrol review, the NI accent can sound really vulnerable and emotional when done right. And both acts know how to milk that accent to perfection….

I’m hoping to get my hands on some other Duke Special material in the near future. If everything is to the same standard as Freewheel, then this should be pure gold!

Never in a million years did I think the shouter singer of Caught Out There could do sensitive. But that’s exactly what she manages to achieve with Little Star. It’s a funky soulful collaboration with Cee-Lo. Funny, but the name Cee-Lo meant nothing to me, until I saw the video and recognised him instantly as ‘the big guy from Gnarls Barkley’.

You know, I only heard Little Star for the first time during the week and it’s already becoming a firm favourite. It’s just a beautiful positive song, and you don’t get many of those for your money, do you?

Anyway, check out the video. It’s very cutesy. Well, apart from Kelis’ hair, which is frankly brutal looking, although some seem to like it. I can handle the shiny jacket, just put on a damned hat, woman!