Like most people, I would imagine, as I listen to more and more music from more and more different artists I tend to not only develop favourites but I also develop different methods in which I deal with those favourites as well. And this is in general, of course, you kind of deal with certain artists in certain ways and approach them differently but my ABSOLUTE favourites tend to get such an incredible amount of leeway with me and besides that, they definitely are the first choice the SECOND I get something new. Probably the best example of this would be Beenie Man. As the most talented and downright BEST pure Dancehall artist that I’ve ever heard I listen to Beenie Man’s music in such a unique way, even when compared to my other favourite artists. Beenie Man may not be (he isn’t) the best album artist but his just random songs on any random riddim tend to stand out SO MUCH when compared to even his most addictively vibed peers and really even after all of these years he still manages to impress by simply being himself on a given riddim. The King Indeed. So I’ll listen to a Beenie Man tune, first and foremost over almost anyone else, all things being equal. That phenomenon DEFINITELY extends to Soca as Beenie Man’s apparent ‘cross genre equal,’ Machel Montano, also receives similar attention from me also. Now Machel is definitely one of my favourites but not my absolute number one (Destra is) but he is able to simply ‘go BIGGER’ and crazier and madder than almost all of his peers and consistently do so in a way which is very polished and refined, its not just jump up until your feet ankles break and wave your rag until your wrists cramp up! On the album side however, things are a bit different. For Machel, things are very different as, with the way Soca works, almost every time I’ve heard not “some” of the album but just about all of the album and the only matter of concern is to see how the tunes work together (and to look at the nice pictures on the inside of the cover) and, as I said, Beenie Man’s best work tends not to come on albums for the most part. However, the artists who I do rate on albums do definitely get far more and ‘better’ spins around these parts, even on albums that I don’t necessarily enjoy. Right now the man of the moment is definitely Lutan Fyah who is simply rhyming with so much knowledge these days and is just such a genuine talent that I have a ridiculously hard time not booting whatever is on my players at any given time in favour of him, with very few exceptions. Although Sizzla was and is my single favourite (and is the ONLY artist probably who I would push aside a new Lutan Fyah release (very briefly) for) Lutan Fyah fits into a very small category of that next tier of artists, which includes, beside Fyah, artists like Luciano, Natural Black and ESPECIALLY Queen Omega, all of whom routinely release albums and will have NO COMPETITION (save for each other and Kalonji) gaining my attentions on an said releases and WRECKING my schedule with them also. I do give preferential treatment in that regard. No shame.
So having covered the furthest corners of Reggae music and Soca there is one all but forgotten genre of music, Zouk, which I kind of gotten started in but (shamefully) haven’t followed through with as much as I would liked to. During this past Carnival season in St. Maarten I did catch one VERY memorable show full of some of my favourites but I didn’t really maintain the interest after that as I thought I might (my wife did!). However, as I said, with me, my favourites tend to change the landscape of things. Thus, not that concert and not a handful of pretty big releases including Soleil from the divine Tanya St. Val, the double release Forever Young by superstar Kaysha, and Confidences from Soumia and Black Madonna from Isah (although that’s working on me pretty good these days) both artists on Kaysha’s Sushiraw imprint and not even Talina’s new album Plus Jemais De Larme (which is lovely) could REALLY kick start my interest back into Zouk. It, of course, would take my absolute favourite Zouk singer today who, in very much Lutan Fyah style comes out of virtually nowhere with her new album. That, of course, is Gwada native Kénédy who absolutely LOCKED ME DOWN with her debut album back in 2007, the absolutely sublime Mon Oasis. And, again, I hadn’t exactly been paying great attention (and I’ve been on the road quite a bit as of late) so who even knew she had a new tune out? Who even thought to go and do the research and find out what she was doing these days? Apparently not me but in typical fashion, any notion I may have had of scrutinizing ANY Zouk album for the point of a review went completely out of the window in favour of Kénédy’s new release, Entre Toi Et Moi [Between You And Me]. Kénédy has apparently been doing the work to set up the next album and with the results here it really shows and when I FINALLY did get around to doing the necessary research I was actually quite impressed (DUH!). Once again, just like its predecessor, Mon Oasis, Entre Toi Et Moi comes via DeeJay Slam BB although Kénédy has taken a few twists and turns with the production on the album (which is definitely a great thing) the magic that she planted in my head back on the first album is still well evident this time around. I always find it quite interesting when examining Zouk artists (which is a genre which, from a technical standpoint, I know VERY little about) that Kénédy didn’t really seem to fit in with most of them in terms of how she approached her music (which was maybe why I liked her vibes so much at first) and from a strictly MUSICAL standpoint, that’s still true as her slight differences from her peers are still quite evident. However, what you hear on Entre Toi Et Moi is definitely a more focused version of Kénédy and one who has either been directed so nicely or one who has found her own direction. I say this because as ENCHANTING and LOVELY and at times BREATHTAKING as Mon Oasis was and still is, Entre actually ends up topping it in more ways than one.
Although, as I said, Kénédy definitely seems to march to the beat of her own drum, she does so still very much within the overall concept (and sound, more importantly) of Zouk music. Just as on Mon Oasis (to the best of my recollection) you won’t find anything on Entre Toi Et Moi which breaks the mold of Zouk music for the most part and even on some of the more adventurous efforts and that’s a good thing. first up on Kénédy’s sophomore album Entre Toi Et Moi is a song which certainly doesn’t even come close to stepping outside of the scope of Zouk music, Cours Toujours. Virtually unbeknownst to me the tune had been doing quite a bit of damage (when I heard it on the album I realized that I had actually heard it but obviously hadn’t associated with either being a new song or a Kénédy song at all) and with a (GORGEOUS) video in tow is the first single from the album. The song, although not my favourite here, is excellent and it follows more in a kind of an R&B type of direction but, again, well within the kind of ‘abstract’ nature of Zouk. Big start and check out that video definitely. Next up is a step up over a the start definitely as the title track rolls in with what turns out to be one of the SWEETEST vibes you’ll hear on the album named after it. I always kind of find it difficult to kind of describe that vibes I get when I listen to what I think of as pure Zouk music and Entre Toi Et Moi definitely presented me with that dilemma again. I think I usually will refer to it as that ‘swing’ and that swing is well in effect on the title track. Even more remarkable is that, in my opinion, in the face of the opener and a third tune which is just as sweet, it’s the best tune of the opening bit. Locking off the opening of the album is the aforementioned third piece, Je T’aime Encore [I Still Love You]. This isn’t the slow and boring love tune you might be thinking with the rather corny title (and the rather corny phone ringing intro) AT ALL and I think the pure nature of the tune itself kind of makes it hard to get that boring really. Instead, what it is, is kind of a slow building nice tune which even features Kénédy stretching the vocals a bit later on in the tune (as she does on the opener as well). All in all the taste the first bit of the album gives you is one which so good and I loved it so much, thinking back to the Mon Oasis album. Kénédy still has it.
She also has herself a pair of ABSOLUTELY HUGE tunes wonderfully situated on Entre Toi Et Toi which really begin to give the title track from Mon Oasis a challenge as my favourite songs from Kénédy. The first jumps up just after the opening lot, A Raison Ou A Tort [Right Or Wrong] and from the HIGHLY ADDICTIVE drumming which champion its arrival the tune absolutely had me hooked. This is the type of song where even if you don’t like Zouk, you can listen to while sitting around your house playing with your special someone because the vibes are just so NICE! Seriously! And later on the record Kénédy changes up the vocals quite a bit, literally at one point sounding like an angel! HUGE TUNE! The next tune here which reaches those levels and is, as of right now, my choice as the best tune on Entre Toi Et Moi altogether is the Creole vibed Enmé Mwen An Kréyol which. . . Left me kind of speechless and for me, that’s a big deal definitely. That vibe is just SO powerful you almost have to start looking around and questioning completely unrelated things! It has a very powerful abstract type of nature to it and one which you’ll catch yourself singing along (and humming because your Kreyol still isn’t what it should be) and just admiring. Its very hard to explain but Enmé Mwen An Kréyol for me was on another level and one which thankfully came from my favourite artist. Now that isn’t to say after the opening three tunes and the two undeniably huge ones that Kénédy’s magic is running on empty for the next ten tunes because, of course, it isn’t. She does spread the wealth however and very thankfully on one tune, Nouveau Départ, where she is joined by neighbour (and cutie) Eleeza R. The two make a very nice pair (Eleeza’s voice is VERY impressive) and hopefully young Eleeza can develop nicely under Kénédy and Dee Jay Slam. Electrifiée had me very curious on title alone that it might be a Soca tune of sorts but instead its more of the same extremely high level straight forward material that dominated on Entre and I’m not complaining at all (although I’m ready to jump and wave should you need me to Kénédy. Immediately following Electrifiée is a similarly vibed, although clearly better, tune in Sans Rancune. The song has moments which are downright breathtaking and Kénédy, for the most part assumes a ‘louder’ tone through its duration and it definitely proves to be one of the album’s finest moments. Partir [Go] has a bit of a ‘poor man’s’ A Raison Ou A Tort vibes to it, it doesn’t reach those EPIC levels but in not doing that it still is a big tune. Now, on Aujourd’hui, my well worn Reggae ears hear a one-drop in there somewhere and even if there isn’t one, I’m still claiming it because the tune itself is just so cool! I could just go on and on really down the stretch of Entre Toi Et Moi: Ola Ou Yé is a crazy flowing tune which will just hook you definitely; I Still Believe sounds REALLY familiar because it sounds like Lettre Ouverte, a single from Thayna’s album Nouveau Depart, especially at the beginning which is a good thing; Bégéyé is GORGEOUS, one of the best here; Tou Lé Jou is very different sounding before developing into the master class that it is. And conveniently left to close things on Kénédy’s Entre Toi Et Moi is the high stepping Techno/Dancehall piece Lévé Lanmen Wo. This one isn’t amongst my favourites but the prospects of it growing on me someday aren’t completely out of the question AT ALL. And I do believe I hear some DJAYING from the songstress on the tune, perhaps giving us a taste of things to come for album number three on the way out.
Overall this one is pretty much a no-brainer. If you like Zouk, you’ll probably like this album. If you don’t like Zouk, you probably won’t like this album (DUH!) but if you like Kénédy, in particular, then its golden. Also, I would say it’s a rather ‘comfortable’ piece to pick up if you are new to the music, although Zouk, to my ears, is always pretty new fan friendly and not TOO hard to get into if you have the motivation. Take this review with the knowledge, however, that I AM PARTIAL AS HELL when it comes to Kénédy and her music because to me, Entre Toi Et Moi not only outdoes Mon Oasis, it outdoes every Zouk album so far this year (and although I haven’t been paying too much attention, I have picked up quite a few albums) and maybe every one I’ve ever heard. Of course, I’m still new, so that’s saying a great deal but I know good when I hear good and Zouk heads who have forgotten more about the music than I’ll ever know, I’m sure would agree: The album is top notch throughout.
Rated 4.75/5 stars
DeeJaySlamBB
2009
CD + Digital
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