Is there really such a thing as a Neo soul bass line?

Dude, you really need to broaden your horizons and learn to listen more! Sure, you are entitled to your opinion, but it would be best to have an educated one...

Folks here are passing out knowledge for free, but you would rather pay for it, that is, according to your BFA.

That's just my opinion.

I'll get back to you later!

 

"Neo soul" is a marketing term just like "Smooth jazz",as billy said this is music that has a huge influence from the black church and is built on a foundation that is decades old. What people call Neo soul I refer to as organic soul because the main difference between it and current R&B IMO is the fact that "Neo" soul uses more live instrumentation,real Bass,real drums,horns ect. There is also a hip hop influence but that mainly sonically IMO,I also work as a producer/remixer/engineer and I definitely seen a change in how soul music is mixed over the last 20 yrs. The Leon Ware cut is not Neo soul because if you go back 30yrs and really listen to the original recording there's nothing different about how their playing it; same Rhoads,wah wah guitar,real strings, the main difference IMO is the drum mix. The Neo soul movement hit the mainstream in the '90's because of a guy named Kedar Massenburg,who was the guy who signed Erykah Badu and India Arie,and later became President of Motown/universal for a short time. Kedar recognized that there was a movement that was running parallel to the hip hop movement that involved singers and musicians. As important to the music as D'angelo was/is one connot disregard Rapheal Saadiq who produced many of the cut's on D'angelos first CD and with Tony toni tone had been utilizing classic R&B styles in their music for quite some time.

 

Let's put it this way;I saw a commercial for Pepsi that said that it had real sugar in it,my wife said "what have they been putting in it?" and actually googled the ingredients,turns out they had been using fructose but they used to use real cane sugar. So we both said "it's just the same pop in a new can" that's how I feel about Neo Soul

 

This is all very interesting. I have to say - as someone currently working on his Masters thesis in musicology - that there are some issues regarding musical "genres" that aren't being discussed here. First, I'd have to say that genre classification can fall into several categories. For example, the record industry tends to favour very broad definitions of genres, as this helps them categorize and sell music ("Worldbeat" is a perfect example). There are also genres as defined by fans and people within a given scene (look at the number of sub-genres of house music: acid house, happy, hardcore, trance, gabber, garage - the list goes on). Music can also be classified based on actual content - shared aesthetic elements, instrumentation, production techniques, tempo, rhythmic patterns, etc. The existence of elements common to a specific "genre" are independent of whatever fans, the industry or even musicians might think. Cultural context can also be a factor in the existence of a given genre. The British "acid jazz" scene of the early-to-mid 90s is a good example. It wasn't just about the music, but also about poetry, dress and even vocabulary. The same could certainly be said about rap, reggae and many other genres. Some musicologists, in fact, will differentiate between "style" and "genre". When it comes to "neo-soul", it may help to take into account not simply whether or not a bass line was "regurgitated" but also the production aspects (which, I would suggest, go a long way in helping to distinguish a lot of what would be labeled "neo" or "nu-soul" from 60s and 70s soul) and the scene/ideologies which are connected with the music. Genres such as "neo soul" are often spoken about as being part of a "movement". This indicates that some of these terms are perhaps not simply industry creations, but are in fact legitimate labels for actual phenomena. And yes, a lot of musicologists are narrow-minded, but they're not all bad...

 

great post!

 

Pepsi gives me gas.

 

And what would that movement be?

 

That would depend on the genre in question.

 

Are we arguing semantics here? I'm failing to see how it is relevant whether or not neo soul is a 'genre.' I'm guessing that there is something deeper in the original question (statement.) Knowing Jauqo, I would guess that is has to do with individuality.

Do you not find alot of growth potential in looking to the past?

 

I am the Godfather of Flatulent Funk.

I'm in the same boat as others (as I said earlier) in saying and agreeing with those who have said new titles to "define" music is just in fact repackaging, reconstituting, or regurgitating (or any other re word that you'd prefer) the same format and styles that have been performed for years.
Otherwise their will be no more "pioneers", "innovators", "fathers" of music.

Get over defining music.

God Bless, Ray

 

So, is the main point of this thread that neo-soul is a regurgitation of the past that is being presented as something fresh and original???

 

Haha.

Well, if it is, how does that affect you?