Estelle, Samantha James, Kaskade, Lady Gaga

 
Cascading in this week is angelic San Francisco house songstress Samantha James with a brand-new single, “Waves of Change.”  Riding the wave is another SF music maven, DJ/remixer/producer Kaskade, who shores up a slew of remixes on the track. Admittedly, we don’t feel like it comes close to James’ amazing previous efforts like “Rise” and “Breathe You In” (the melody here is a bit clunky), but we still have high hopes for her upcoming sophomore album, Subconscious.
 
Speaking of Kaskade, he’s been a busy guy! Recently remixing Keri Hilson’s “Slow Dance,” he is also a contributor on the Lady Gaga featuring Beyoncé “Telephone” remix package. The hefty number of contributors makes this practically a phone book of remixes! Some of the remixers phoning-in some hotness include Crookers, DJ Dan, Tom Neville, and DJ Paulo,  among others. Most notable for several reasons, however, is the mix by Danish pop band Alphabeat—not only is the mix cute, but the band is currently opening for Gaga on the European leg of her Monster Ball Tour (which has been totally revamped with new costumes, set pieces and production different from its U.S. inception). Plus Alphabeat’s new album, The Spell (released overseas March 1), includes their own medley rendition of Gaga’s “Telephone/Bad Romance” with vocals by lead singer Stine Bramsen.
 
Mary J. Blige’s latest album, Stronger with Each Tear, hasn’t shown great strength on the charts. But remixes of her latest single, “I Am,” show some serious promise. Moto Blanco (who delivered on past efforts “Be Without You” and “Just Fine”) gives  the track a great (albeit predictable) dance-floor accessibility. But the surprise here is the Dave Audé mix. Audé delivers an early-’90s house–inspired 120-BPM mix. A great springtime jam!
 
Speaking of R&B divas with dance songs, “American Boy” singer Estelle goes in a freaky new direction with new song and video “Freak.” Produced by David Guetta and featuring Kardinal Offishall, the song interpolates the Soul II Soul late-1989 classic “Back to Life” with the updated line, “However do you want it? However do you need it?” Estelle says she wanted to take the sexual song (the first off her forthcoming All of Me album) and “make it more about bringing out your inner freak” in the video. The concept is a bit Gaga-ish to us (!), but whatever gets your freak on. It’s definitely an otherworldly direction from her previous collaboration on the title track of Guetta’s own One Love album (and light-years from the smooth R&B of “American Boy”). But we suspect it will win Estelle a whole new group of freaky fans!    N