Fedoras Are Just For Outcasts Again

By now you may have heard the rumors that Amy Winehouse has brain damage, due to a recent 36 hour pot binge (yes, it can happen. I think my old college roommate is further proof of this), thus further endangering the career of the Neo-Retro poster-child, and further killing the trend that she & Mark Ronson helped stoke last year. That's right, it's another nail in the coffin of the retro style "revival". Does this mean that wearing a fedora can finally be considered weird and geeky again? Hopefully so. I for one, am glad the hipsters are starting to abandon the Mod look and are back to looking like they got dressed pulling from a Goodwill pile while being beaten across the head with a neon pipe. Now I can wear my Ray-Bans and cardigans out of the house without fear of being part of a movement. Or maybe I got it wrong; now I'm the guy who everyone thinks just missed the memo and am fashionably behind........regardless, as the trendy music has also marched forward, I present examples of artists with no connection whatsoever to Mark Ronson who are still dabbling in retro-funk and soul, or were simply doing it before it became cool. By the way, you're not wrong. Today's post is actually quite pretentious.

First up is perhaps my favorite hidden gem of the past ten years, and a song that was released about five years too early (or forty years too late) to be a radio smash. British duo McAlmont & Butler released two full LPs and a disconnected single (to a still-unreleased album) before going on an indefinite hiatus (Butler has a new band called The Tears, McAlmont is.....well, I have no idea). The sound is exactly the kind of stuff that drove Brits crazy all of last year, but it's slightly more genuine. The production isn't intentionally scratched-up or made to feel old; the songwriting and performance themselves make this one feel like it's from another era:


McAlmont & Butler - "Different Strokes" (right click to save)

A great one-two punch of a concert is hitting LA soon. On Sep 29th, Jamie Lidell and Janelle Monae play The Avalon. Lidell has made a strange genre shift mid-career from Electro-Pop to New Soul, and while he's no Al Green, he's certainly a cut above the Robin Thickes of the world. PS: I'm grateful to be able to post this song in good conscience after New Orleans lucked out yesterday. Otherwise this would be a tad awkward...

Jamie Lidell - "Hurricane" (right click to save)

As for Janelle Monae, well she's a different story altogether. Hailing from my glorious hometown of Atlanta, GA, Monae is like a cross between a young Grace Jones and Andre 3000 (whom she's previously collaborated with). She's also inexplicably signed to Bad Boy Records, thus standing as the only hint that somewhere in Diddy's brain lies the ability to recognize and nurture genuine talent. On top of that, she's cute as a damn button, and has more charisma than 90% of other young female artists right now. Here's a track from her EP:

Janelle Monae - Sincerely, Jane (right click to save)

Even the Germans are up on the retro stuff. Considering they were too busy starving behind a giant wall for the 60s & 70s, they have a right to celebrate the decades now....

Jan Delay - Klar (right click to save)

And finally, here's the genre's tragicomic heroine herself, proving why she became a star in the first place, Ronson and gimmicks removed:

Amy Winehouse - Love is a Losing Game (Live at the 2007 Mercury Awards) (right click to save)