Raleigh Ritchie – You’re a Man Now, Boy Album Review

April 7, 2016April 7, 2016 MarcyB0yLeave a comment

If you aren’t already familiar with Raleigh Ritchie (real name Jacob Anderson) in terms of music, chances are you’ll have encountered him as an actor. He has developed a name for himself starring in various high-profile roles over the last four years including Omen in the film Adulthood, Grey Worm in Game of Thrones and Dean Thomas in Broadchurch. He is now in the process of building a whole new side-career for himself as a singer-songwriter, set off to a promising start by single ‘Stronger than Ever‘ which has become something of a staple as dramatic background music on reality television in addition to receiving much airplay on the likes of Radio 1.

‘This is no p***-take’, sings Anderson on ‘Never Been Better‘. Indeed, ‘You’re a Man Now, Boy’ is a determined and well-crafted album which avoids filler album tracks, resulting in an intriguing album from start to finish. It’s an album which explores the pertinent and stimulating themes of confusion, depression and vulnerability through the on-trend genre of alternative R&B. Threaded together by sweeping strings, brass instruments, simmering synthesisers and fierce live percussion, it’s dramatic, bold and powerful, delving into elements of R&B, Soul, electronica and hip-hop.

The likes of ‘Stronger than Ever‘, ‘Bloodsport‘ and ‘Never Been Better‘ are explosive and emotive works which showcase Anderson at his best, featuring thunderous percussion and sweeping strings not dissimilar from Massive Attack’s ‘Unfinished Symphony‘. They are bold and soulful, breaking out from the norm yet remaining contemporary.

Elsewhere, the album possesses a lighter tone which punctuates the album nicely. Quirky and de-tuned synthesisers skip playfully on ‘The Greatest‘ and ‘A Moor‘ whilst Anderson’s love of hip-hop is evident on ‘Cowards‘, a buoyant track abundant with frolicking samples, programmed percussion and a gorgeous neo-soul middle-eight. Likewise ‘Young & Stupid‘ addresses the naivety and recklessness of youth through lyrics such as “I’ll be a star, I’ll be the boy who lived, Taking my car and driving it off the bridge” over hip-hop piano riffs. Then there’s the catchy dance-R&B of ‘Keep It Simple‘, a breezy collaboration with grime act Stormzy which provides some much-needed light relief.

The album is closed perfectly with the tender ‘The Last Romance‘, a mellow R&B ballad which documents an ‘us against the world’ relationship over driving, barely audible percussion, soulful layered vocals and gliding keyboards.

Anderson’s vocals aren’t necessarily the most powerful, yet they are a perfect match for the rich and luscious soundscapes featured here and at times are blissfully soulful.

As the album comes to a close, it is evident that the album is worth far more than its #32 position in the UK album chart. It may not be perfect, but it’s sturdy, compelling and fantastically-written, addressing powerful themes through contemporary alternative-R&B. Most importantly, it is an album with soul and a personality – a rare feat in today’s music.

Rating: 4/5.
Highlights: Stronger than Ever, Bloodsport, Keep it Simple, Never Been Better, Cowards, The Last Romance.

‘You’re a Man Now, Boy’ is available now on Columbia Records.

January Mixtape

January 20, 2016 MarcyB0yLeave a comment

After adapting Music Monday to make it strictly about current and new music, we realised that there was no way to draw focus to older music on this blog. So we have decided to publish a mixtape (or Spotify Playlist) of 20 songs on the first day of every month.

This makes January’s rather late but with no further ado, here’s the Music Box’s January Mixtape:

Music Monday – Volume Eighty Three

January 18, 2016January 16, 2016 MarcyB0yLeave a comment

1) Sia – Reaper

Australian songstress/hit songwriter Sia delivers a hot new Pop track co-written with none other but Mr Kanye West. Relatively jovial and laid back compared to Sia’s other works, this is a catchy chilled-out track with bizzarely, hospital-like beeping, rich harmonies and a seriously funky bass line.

2) Raleigh Ritchie & Stormzy – Keep it Simple

Raleigh Ritchie delivers another hit, this time aided with a rap from Stormzy. Warm synthesisers, Ritchie’s rich vocals and catchy dance beats carry this utterly brilliant R&B track.

3) Chairlift – Crying in Public

Cool, chilled-out synthpop track from American duo Chairlift. The care-free, minimalistic production and Caroline Polachek’s syrupy sweet vocals are perfect.

4) Birdy – Keeping Your Head Up

‘Keeping Your Head Up’ marks a significant musical departure for Birdy, best known for her haunting, heartfelt piano ballads. Channelling Foxes, ‘Keeping Your Head Up’ is a catchy dance-pop track full of hand claps, catchy piano riffs and an irresistibly catchy hook.

5) Frances – Borrowed Time

Co-written with Howard from Disclosure, this chilled-out house track mirrors 70’s Pop with lushly layered harmonies, rich gospel-like vocals and squeaky synthesisers. It’s a different side to Frances but one which works beautifully.

6) Dua Lipa – Be The One (Club Edit Remix)

Hot, idiosyncratic club record featuring a reggae-like bounce, clinking synths and a devilishly catchy chorus.

7) Prince – Baltimore

The King of Cool, Prince released ‘HitNRun Phase 2’ in December. This is its funky opening track featuring polished brass elements, raw acoustic guitar strums and a dirty rhythm, it’s Prince at his best.

8) Laura Mvula ft Nile Rodgers – Overcome

Chic legend Nile Rodgers lends his production to funky jazz/R&B fusion. Mvula’s pure, soulful vocals are perfect as always and lushly layered into a glorious wall of sound over Rodgers’ funky guitar riffs.

9) The 1975 – The Sound

The second single from The 1975’s upcoming second album ‘I Like it When You Sleep For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware Of It’, ‘The Sound’ is a huge tropical-house influenced Pop track. Incessantly catchy with a brilliantly buoyant Chorus, it’s one of the funkiest and catchiest Pop tracks in a long time.

10) Allie X – Never Enough

Sultry electropop track with an insanely huge Chorus. Clearly influenced by 80’s Pop, it’s cool, brilliantly layered and an overall huge song.

Music Monday – Volume Eighteen

June 30, 2014October 28, 2015 MarcyB0yLeave a comment

1) Michael Jackson – Cry

One of Michael’s more understated and underrated tracks. Written by R.Kelly, this was the second and final single off what was to become MJ’s final studio album in his lifetime, 2001’s ‘Invincible’. It’s one of my favourite MJ songs and it’s such an uplifting beautiful track. In the same vein as ‘Man in the mirror’ and ‘Heal the world’, it’s an inspiring change-the-world song.

2) Ed Sheeran – Afire love

This is so beautiful it’s unreal. Fell in love with this upon hearing it on the radio the other day. Ed is such an incredibly talented guy.

3) Ed Sheeran – Bloodstream

‘X’ is an amazing album. I really love this track. It’s a little dark but it’s catchy. Interesting that Rudimental was involved in the creation of this track.

4) Mark Morrison –Return of the Mack

An absolute classic. Heard it on the radio and was reminded what an awesome tune this is!

5) Raleigh Ritchie – Stronger than ever

Love this. So powerful and emotive.

6) Michael Jackson- Man in the mirror

Classic Michael Jackson song. I always loved it but the fact on the day of his death, this was being played everywhere, this song now has an even deeper meaning for me. Beautiful lyrics and a beautiful song.

7) United we stand – What more can I give

Between 1999 and 2002, Michael Jackson organised an almost Part 2 of USA for Africa (who achieved major chart success in 1985 with ‘We are the world’.) Michael was inspired to write the song after meeting President Nelson Mandela in the last 90’s and was originally rumoured to perform it live at some of his concerts. The song was pushed aside, however, until the 2001 9/11 terrorist attacks. Encouraged by a friend, Michael re-wrote the song and selected a team of A-list artists to contribute to the project. Artists such as Beyonce, Nsync, Celine Dion, Usher, Luther Vandross, Anastasia amongst others contributed vocals towards this incredibly beautiful song. They also performed it live at 2002’s ‘United We Stand’ charity performance. Ultimately, the song was never fully released as a singe. It’s a terrible shame when it’s such an incredible song.

8) Blackstreet – Joy

An idea by Michael Jackson sparked this track off. Teddy Riley (producer of Michael’s Dangerous album) then took this idea and turned it into a full-blown song with his band Blackstreet. I love how smooth and soulful this is.