In keeping with my promise to start reviewing records, I'll start with this little gem of a mixtape from a fellow named Colin Munroe.
I've been partying pretty hard lately, mainly crashing at my friend's apartment and staring at the ceiling while my friends play beer pong for hours on end. Over the past few weeks, there have been few jams coming out of the stereo system that I didn't recognize: songs like Fabolous' "Throw it in the Bag (ft. The-Dream)," Swizz Beat's "When I Step In the Club," MSTRKRFT's "Bounce (ft. N.O.R.E.), Drake's "Still Fly," and especially Sean Kingston's new, indelible pop smash "Replay" have kept me company through many a ceiling-staring session and have helped set the perfect early-summer, haven't-a-care-in-the-world party atmosphere.
But there were a few tracks I didn't recognize: poppier than the electronics-soaked hip-hop around them, with delicacy and intricate arrangements, tight lilting harmonies surrounding the lead vocals - what or who was this? It turned out to be Colin Munroe.
Munroe's music is pretty unique. He creates bouncy, upbeat pop music akin in production sparkle to Maroon 5 or Passion Pit, but his forte is adding in a flavorful twist of hip-hop. His mixtape "Is the Unsung Hero" features spots from some of the best underground rappers of the now, including Mickey Factz, Drake, and Wale. The track that first really got my attention, though, was a re-working (or as Munroe calls it, a REVOX) of Bob Dylan's ballad "Who Killed Davey Moore?" Munroe takes a live version of the track and, as if dusting off an old '78 and transfering it into his computer, makes it shine and sparkle with 21st century intensity. He essentially only adds multiple harmony tracks to the chorus ("Who killed Davey Moore?/Why and what's the reason for?), allowing Dylan's storytelling to shine through with its necessary directness and indignation. But the harmonies that Munroe adds are astounding; they surround and compliment Dylan as if they were spotlights shining down on him from above.
The standout single, "Piano Lessons," is just as captivating. The song uses a pop bounce to tell the story, through pitch-shifted vocals, of a young man forced to take piano lessons against his will. The lessons, though a bore and a task, do of course contribute to the boy's later blossoming interest in music; and we can safely assume that the boy in question is Munroe himself. But the music he makes here would not have come about through any conventional career in classical piano. The track features gorgeous pop-bounce production from Black Milk (sounding something like his track "Without U" from his last mix, "Tronic") and a guest rap from Joell Ortiz (because who else could name drop Mozart and Beethoven in the same line?), but the star here is clearly Munroe's voice. He plays two parts: the storyteller, who shares his natural singing voice, and the young man who is the subject of the song, a persona created through some nifty pitch-shifting. The end result is indistinguishable from either hip-hop or conventional pop, but can also sound a hell of a lot better than popular examples from both genres. The music shows what can be done when creative artists meld genres together to create new experiences for the listener, and this mixtape is perfect for any occasion, beit picnics, parties, barbeques, road trips, or whenever you want to take a break from the radio.
Other standouts include "Will I Stay" (the track featuring Wale), "Cannon Ball" (featuring Drake), and "One More Chance" (featuring Mickey Factz). If this guy could get a spot on the charts, I guarentee that the Jonas Brothers would disappear into obscurity. God, please make this the sound of pop in the future.
The mixtape is available on Munroe's MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/colinmunroe
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