The nice thing about Youtube is you can listen to entire albums people have uploaded, yay. The first full album that came up was The Electric Lady, so I listened to that first. Upon Googling I discovered it was her most recent work; very eclectic. Parts of The Electric Lady actually reminded me of old Parliament/Funkadelic albums and early Prince that I own but haven't listened to in years (no longer have a turntable). The Prince-ish feel was explained by, hello, it actually *was* Prince (I discovered by Googling/Wikipedia)!
So, then I listened to The Audition and Metropolis: Suite I The Chase Special Edition and ArchAndroid. She's got retro-girl-group-ish sounds, way early synth-pop-ish sounds, almost disco-y sounds, symphonic sounds, just general genre-spanning sounds including film soundtracks (especially like scifi-movie sound tracks) and musicals -- throw-back-y but really fresh the way things are sampled and remixed; it's just delightful. Must listen repeatedly (and with earbuds) for full effect. And, wow, what an incredible voice -- and NO AUTOTUNE! -- which is an interesting choice considering the whole android/cyborg thing she has going on. Definitely someone to keep an eye (and ear) on. Thanks for turning me on to her.
digging the Janelle Monae
So, then I listened to The Audition and Metropolis: Suite I The Chase Special Edition and ArchAndroid. She's got retro-girl-group-ish sounds, way early synth-pop-ish sounds, almost disco-y sounds, symphonic sounds, just general genre-spanning sounds including film soundtracks (especially like scifi-movie sound tracks) and musicals -- throw-back-y but really fresh the way things are sampled and remixed; it's just delightful. Must listen repeatedly (and with earbuds) for full effect. And, wow, what an incredible voice -- and NO AUTOTUNE! -- which is an interesting choice considering the whole android/cyborg thing she has going on. Definitely someone to keep an eye (and ear) on. Thanks for turning me on to her.