Comments:
<br />
<br />
Artist : Jem <br />
Album : Down To Earth-(Advance) <br />
Bitrate : VBR kbps <br />
<br />
-[Release Info] - <br />
<br />
Label : ATO Records <br />
Year : 2008 <br />
Genre : Pop <br />
Rip date : Sep-03-2008 <br />
Store date : Sep-16-2008 <br />
Size : 62,9 MB <br />
<br />
[Track List] <br />
<br />
Track Listing: <br />
<br />
01 - Down To Earth 04:34 <br />
02 - Crazy 03:39 <br />
03 - I Want You To 03:39 <br />
04 - It's Amazing 03:58 <br />
05 - Keep On Walking 04:12 <br />
06 - You Will Make It feat. Vusi Mahlasela 06:12 <br />
07 - I Always Knew 03:10 <br />
08 - Got It Good 04:27 <br />
09 - Aciiid! 02:57 <br />
10 - How Would You Like It 04:02 <br />
11 - And So I Pray 02:42 <br />
12 - On Top Of The World 04:52 <br />
<br />
ÄÄÄÄÄ <br />
48:24 min <br />
<br />
-[Release Notes] <br />
<br />
Enjoy this highly anticipated follow up... <br />
<br />
Before work had even begun, Jem knew what the title of the follow-up to <br />
her acclaimed 2004 debut, Finally Woken, would be. "Even around the <br />
making of the first album, I wanted to call this one Down To Earth," she <br />
recalls. Although the title song incorporates the reflections of an <br />
extraterrestrial, those three little words suit Jem and her aesthetic <br />
for myriad other reasons. <br />
<br />
In the four years since Finally Woken dropped, Jem has spanned the <br />
globe. Born in Wales, she now resides in Los Angeles. On the same day <br />
that a family friend sends a text about hearing Jem's music in a café in <br />
China, an e-mail arrives from a fan listening to her in Bahrain. <br />
Taste-maker Nic Harcourt, Music Director of KCRW 89.9 FM Los Angeles, <br />
was one of her earliest supporters. And thanks to exposure via TV shows <br />
including The O.C., Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, CSI Miami and <br />
Six Feet Under, literally millions of listeners worldwide have heard her <br />
music.s <br />
<br />
Has all this gone to her head? Hardly. Like that title, Down To Earth, <br />
also implies, Jem remains grounded. Perhaps that has something to do <br />
with her early experiences behind-the-scenes, working with electronic <br />
acts such as Adam Freeland and Fatboy Slim, co-writing the Madonna <br />
single "Nothing Fails" with producer Guy Sigsworth (Björk, Alanis <br />
Morissette). But mostly, it stems from the fact that her prime <br />
motivation remains the joy of writing, recording, and performing music. <br />
Everything else is gravy. <br />
<br />
Down To Earth was recorded in Detroit and Los Angeles, with production <br />
and writing duties shared with cohorts both old and new. In the Motor <br />
City, she worked with Jeff Bass, one of the two brothers credited with <br />
discovering Eminem. Not that either party was preoccupied with crafting <br />
straight-up hip-hop tracks. "Jeff actually loves making all types of <br />
music, which is awesome, we really clicked." Los Angeles found her in <br />
the studio with Lester Mendez. His impressive résumé includes Shakira, <br />
Santana, and Nelly Furtado, but it was his arrangements for The Love <br />
Album by Chris de Burgh, one of her mother's favorites, that clinched <br />
it. ("It was a sign," she chuckles. "I thought, I have to meet this <br />
man!")s <br />
<br />
On three other selections, she joined forces with Mike Bradford, who has <br />
played bass with Kid Rock, and counts Uncle Kracker and Deep Purple <br />
among his production credits. "He's an old friend, and he has a great <br />
musical sensibility, so I thought it would be great to do some tracks <br />
with him." Finally, to keep things good and lively, the leading expert <br />
in the field of smart dance-pop was enlisted for the club cut "Aciiid!": <br />
Greg Kurstin (Kylie Minogue, Beck, The Bird And The Bee) "I was thinking <br />
along the lines of 'Edge 1' for any hardcore fans still out there (1991 <br />
UK dance movement led by the Prodigy, preceded drum-n-bass) and Greg's <br />
electronic skills were perfect." <br />
<br />
Down To Earth reflects the far-ranging influences of the <br />
singer-songwriter. The sensuous "I Want You To…" kicks off with <br />
rapid-fire Spanish chatter. Produced by Mendez, this tempestuous, <br />
Latin-flavored track was initially a collaboration earmarked for a solo <br />
album by turntable whiz Cut Chemist (Ozomatli, Jurassic 5). "My first <br />
version of that song was so sexy, it was ridiculous," laughs Jem. "We <br />
really had to reel it in." The inspiration, she admits, was a bit <br />
salacious, but not autobiographical. "I just had this vision of two <br />
people meeting on the dance floor, and basically wanting to ravish each <br />
other right there." In the end, the co-creators decided that, to <br />
paraphrase pop psychology, Jem needed to own these feelings herself. "We <br />
decided to put it on my album instead." <br />
<br />
At the other end of the spectrum, the contemplative "And So I Pray" <br />
interpolates a sample of "A Summer Long Since Past," a bucolic 1983 <br />
piece by British cult artist Virginia Astley. Co-writer Kevin Beber <br />
(electronic producer/artist who was signed to the breakbeat label she <br />
used to run out of Brighton) plucked the sample from a CD his mother <br />
listened to whilst gardening. Her response was immediate. "I had never <br />
heard of [Astley], but the song was so beautiful, it just hit my heart." <br />
<br />
Such experimentation continued throughout the making of Down To Earth. <br />
Which is how the hip-shaking "Crazy" came to feature one of the album's <br />
more surprising timbres: "Yes, that is a funky banjo," she laughs. "Part <br />
of what I love about music is, because I'm not trained in a certain way, <br />
I don't have worries about can you do this or that," she admits. "I just <br />
go for sounds." Most elements, such as the Brazilian percussion on "Down <br />
To Earth," evolved spontaneously, while others simply started life on a <br />
rough mix and never went away. Through it all, an unerring sense of <br />
structural minimalism ensures the arrangements never feel busy or <br />
cluttered. <br />
<br />
Jem had no preconceived notions for Down To Earth, save for a decision <br />
to limit the ballads to a few choice specimens ("You Will Make It," <br />
written with her brother Justin - aka the artist Glass Pear - who <br />
collaborates on three songs on the album, is a song about loss and 9/11, <br />
featuring the soaring vocals of Vusi Mahlasela). Hence, when it came <br />
time to spice up "Aciiid!," she did not shy away from the nagging voice <br />
in her head suggesting singing in…Japanese. A colleague sent around two <br />
Japanese-American music fans to help translate the lyric and tutor Jem <br />
in phonetic pronunciation. "It was just about having a different texture <br />
and flavor on the chorus," she explains. "Why not? I remember listening <br />
to French hip-hop, and having no idea what they were saying, but really <br />
loving the melody and the tracks." <br />
<br />
One last thought on that album title: No matter how rapturous a <br />
reception she receives, Jem shows no interest in the fame game. "Ever <br />
since watching There Will Be Blood, I've been thinking about Daniel Day <br />
Lewis. He's such a wonderful reference. He does his own thing, comes out <br />
of the woodwork, is absolutely incredible…" and then discretely steps <br />
out of the public eye. Point taken. Down To Earth will surely push Jem <br />
even further into the stratosphere, but she intends to remain securely <br />
rooted on terra firma. <br />
<br />
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