Madonna - Rebel Heart (Review)

The highly anticipated 13th studio album from the Queen Of Pop is slated to be released next month, and there are rumors it may be moved up to next week to coincide with her Grammy Awards performance on Sunday.

Madonna began work on this album last year. She was very active on Instagram throughout that year documenting her process with many collaborators including Alicia Keys, Avicii, Diplo, Kanye West, Mozella, Nas, Natalia Kills, Nicki Minaj, Ryan Tedder, Toby Gad, and many others.

Nearly a week before Christmas, a number of unfinished demos and work in progress versions of songs from the album leaked online forcing Madonna and her team to release the first 6 songs as 'instant downloads' when fans pre-ordered the album on iTunes. The lead single "Living For Love" was one of the songs to be released then. A full remix package has also been released and a music video is in the works. The album was originally envisioned as a concept project with two discs each containing a particular them with one being "Rebel Heart" with the more socially conscious and emotional songs and then "Unapologetic Bitch" with the more playful and light-hearted songs. That concept was abandoned due to the leaks and it is now one album going back and forth between the themes.

Here is a track by track writeup.

Jim Heinz Mixes Now Streaming!

This is a special posting announcing that a number of the mixes Jim Heinz produced with Jonathan Peters from the late 90s up until about a couple of years ago are now being streamed as a part of the Melodic House Renaissance project. Jim was known for his work on the harder, darker mixes often bearing the Sound Factory Mix or Dub name. He has also done a number of solo mixes.

Several of the famous mixes he worked on include Amber's "Above The Clouds" (the Velvet mix), Aubrey's "Angel" (a solo mix), Donna Summer's "The Power Of One" (the Sound Factory mixes), Karissa Noel's "Corrupt", Luz Divina's "In Your Eyes", SaFire's "Exotique" (a solo mix), and Whitney Houston & Deborah Cox's "Same Script, Different Cast" (the dub).

The playlist in which all the mixes are:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgQAQxV07PGnubqgOhLKNaCoo_byTtc0t

Nearly all of the remixes are unreleased and previously unavailable. Some of the highlights include remixes of Alicia Keys, Gloria Gaynor, Kanye West, Kelis, Luz Divina, Roxette, Sash!, Whitney Houston, and many, many more.

-Jim Heinz's Facebook Fan Page is available here for the latest updates and other information.

Alicia Keys - Girl On Fire

This is the latest single from the R&B chanteuse's new album. It's co-written by Alicia herself, Jeff Bhasker, Billy Squier, and Salaam Remi. Alicia delivers a really stellar vocal on this well-written song. Her vocals on the chorus are fantastic. There are multiple versions of the song to make it more suitable for airplay on different formats. The main version has a Pop/R&B type production. The beat calls to mind fun.'s "We Are Young." The Inferno mix has harder beats and features rapper Nicki Minaj delivering some guest verses. Her verses feel a little pedestrian, but they work. The Bluelight version is more suited for CHR/Pop and AC with the lighter production. Overall, this is an excellent song.

Listen to the versions on YouTube:
-Original buy it here
-Inferno Version buy it here
-Bluelight Version buy it here

Grade: A

Alicia Keys - Doesn't Mean Anything

This is the latest single off of Ms. Keys' forthcoming new album. While this single was highly anticipated, this song covers little new ground. It instantly calls to mind earlier hits "No One" and "If I Ain't Got You" in terms of both the production and lyrics. "Doesn't Mean Anything" feels almost too identical. This is pleasant and will probably do pretty well.

Listen to the song here (YouTube)

Grade: C+

Whitney Houston - Million Dollar Bill

This is the next proper single from her comeback album I Look To You. Written by Alicia Keys, this one is an uptempo. This is the first uptempo that the general public has heard from this album. It is an R&B/Disco-oriented track. It sounds like it came out of the mid 70's. But it does not sound dated (think of Mary J. Blige's "Just Fine"). It has that classic feel. Some may consider this to be a departure from the Whitney of the past, but she sounds quite at home on this track. With an extended version and some club mixes, this could be massive in the dance clubs. Whitney's vocals are in finer form on this. She just lets loose and has a great time, as will the listeners when they hear this song.

Grade: A