Saturday, April 11, 2009

The Rascal Theorist - The Understanding

Hear The Track Here

Not quite sure whats going on here but apparently The Rascal Theorist isn't/shouldn't be such a new name to us. The review request came through Muse Machine's byte19 so maybe TRT is yet another name they intend to work under. In case you don't know who Muse Machine are, they are a bunch of guys out of Chicago who have made some excellent tracks (and more than a few friends) even though they have only been on Soundclick for a while. My feeling also is that previous tracks were just testing the water, as it were, and The Understanding is the real deal. My first impression of the track certainly convinced me on that score. Normally I just load the review tracks up on my Ipod and let them spool out constantly and whenever this track came on, my ears perked right up.

As they do.

The Understanding is a sharp slice of R&B/Pop that screams for radio play, sounding like some of the best R&B tracks of the past. For sure the instrumental owes a lot to Stevie Wonder, certainly in the tone if not the execution. It's obviously a keyboard track featuring piano, organ and synth bass but its very simplicity and structure fits the lush, very confident vocal style. At first, I wasn't sure about the beginning of the track but once it got into it's stride (around the first chorus) it became obvious that a lot of time, effort and love went into the making of this track.

Nowhere is this more evident than in both the vocal performance and the production thereof. If you need to see just how to sing, record and mix vocals this is a track that could teach you. Everything, right on the money. Funnily enough, the backing vocals became - with time - one of the major hooks of the track and that in itself is unusual. Whichever way you look at it, The Understanding is a very classy track and - if you like R&B flavoured pop - is a shoo-in for your collection. It's also, by way of a diversion, pretty sharp lyrically too, so do take a look at them when listening, it helps.

Highly Recommended R&B pop

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