# Modern pop and R&B music with real instruments **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 15, 2013, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-pop-and-r-b-music-with-real-instruments/663595 "2013-07-15T20:46:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2013, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-pop-and-r-b-music-with-real-instruments/663595/1 "2013-07-15T20:46:14Z")
For quite some time now, pop and R&B music has increasingly become, essentially, hip-hop and electronic dance music. I like pop and R&B but I hate that studio musicians have been replaced by DJs and producers with synthesizers and sequencers. Now I love hip-hop, and electronic dance music has its place, but as a musician I like hearing actual, real instruments: real drums, not drum machines; real guitars and basses, not loops; an actual piano, not synthesized, sequenced keyboard effects; singers who can actually sing, and not rely on doubling and Auto-Tune. Who’s out there still making old-school pop and R&B? ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2013, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-pop-and-r-b-music-with-real-instruments/663595/2 "2013-07-15T21:24:53Z")
Some videos by new old-school R&B acts: –[The Heavy: “How You Like Me Now”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVzvRsl4rEM) (2009) –[Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings: “This Land Is Your Land”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cekAyk1CpzA) (live) ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2013, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-pop-and-r-b-music-with-real-instruments/663595/3 "2013-07-15T21:29:56Z")
Thank you. I am familiar with The Heavy. Sharon Jones I will look into. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2013, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-pop-and-r-b-music-with-real-instruments/663595/4 "2013-07-15T21:30:26Z")
**Daft Punk** ’s Get Lucky was made with a band 😉 I would recommend **Eli “Paperboy” Reed** - incredibly talented and soulful singer with a great band - I’ve heard his stuff but saw them on Later featuring Jools Holland and thought they were great. I like **Aloe Blacc** and **Raphael Saadiq**. **Kings Go Forth** are a Philly Sound R&B band that are great. ETA: oh, and I second Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings; great stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2013, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-pop-and-r-b-music-with-real-instruments/663595/5 "2013-07-15T23:26:06Z")
As long as you stay away from his 2011 album _Treacherous_ (it was), **Lee Fields** is amazing. [You’re The Kind Of Girl](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0izlYypNyu0) [Honey Dove](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MahsaJU9dMM) (live) Leon Michels has been fronting his own band, **El Michels Affair** as well as his own record label ([Truth & Soul](http://truthandsoulrecords.com)) for almost 10 years now: [Detroit Twice](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvBRGNNZ8kM) [El Pueblo Unido](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BCKLWX_3BM) I don’t wanna forget to mention **The Budos Band** , either; here’s [Budos Rising](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_CPYq7zcC8) and [Unbroken, Unshaven](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zx9DdzaSYjo) (live). Then there’s **Bronx River Parkway** , a totally infectious group that plays Latin-tinged R&B/funk: [Me Toca](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebRRJPsF_9o) [Song For Ray](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpFsmwcpXio) If you like any of that, do yourself a favor and check out [Truth & Soul Records](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpFsmwcpXio); the label so nice that I gave you the link twice! If you want something a little funkier, have a listen to Boston-based **Lettuce** (no relation to fellow Beantowners **Ultimate Spinach** except for being named after a leafy vegetable): [Blast Off](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBDM1ZIpm9s) [Express Yourself](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHv0md_HCYc) [Fly](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPG9ax85sIo) ETA: This post brought to you by **Bo** , lover of excellent music of all genres. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellis_Aponte_Jr)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2013, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-pop-and-r-b-music-with-real-instruments/663595/6 "2013-07-16T05:13:51Z")
I just wanted to say that the Dap Kings played on Amy Winehouse’s best recordings, so if you like “Rehab” and “You Know I’m No Good,” that’s them. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2013, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-pop-and-r-b-music-with-real-instruments/663595/7 "2013-07-16T07:35:10Z")
My favorite new(ish) R&B act is from Australia: [Clairy Browne and the Banging Rackettes](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eso331fmsrA) (YouTube link) Not just a singing group backed by studio musicians, the whole act is a self-sufficient band: touring line-up is the same as the studio line-up (some guests for studio recordings, but there’s the official band as the foundation), collaborative songwriting, the “real deal” in every way you could want. [This song was used in a popular Heineken commercial last year.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irNtyaNHq5A) ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2013, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-pop-and-r-b-music-with-real-instruments/663595/8 "2013-07-16T12:13:01Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Then there’s **Bronx River Parkway** , a totally infectious group that plays Latin-tinged R&B/funk: > > [Me Toca](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebRRJPsF_9o) > [Song For Ray](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpFsmwcpXio) > > … > > ETA: This post brought to you by **Bo** , lover of excellent music of all genres. 😃 Shit - I live maybe 3 miles from the actual Bronx River Parkway - I wasn’t familiar with them. Thanks, **Bo**. ---
**Author:** ![dataguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eada6e/32.png) [@dataguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dataguy)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2013, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-pop-and-r-b-music-with-real-instruments/663595/9 "2013-07-16T21:55:57Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > Now I love hip-hop, and electronic dance music has its place, but as a musician I like hearing actual, real instruments: real drums, not drum machines; real guitars and basses, not loops; an actual piano, not synthesized, sequenced keyboard effects; singers who can actually sing, and not rely on doubling and Auto-Tune. First, these share-the-music threads are one of my very favorite kinds. I always discover something new. Second, I thoroughly agree with you about the preponderance of synthetic music–especially singers. If you haven’t seen it yet, catch a new documentary called [20 Feet From Stardom](http://twentyfeetfromstardom.com/). It’s about backup singers who sing on hit records, but whose names most people don’t know (Merry Clayton, Darlene Love, Lisa Fischer, etc). During the movie one person relates how a current record producer told him that on a project he allows several days to “tune” the recording. When asked what that meant, he said they go in and fix the pitches of the singers. The person relating the story, a truly accomplished professional singer, was astounded. So was I. Why in the world would you hire someone as singer, who cannot, you know, actually SING (yeah, I know the answer. They have the right looks. The rest we can fix in the studio.) It’s not like good singers are rare. I regularly encounter people with incredible singing talent who just work regular jobs because a music career is too risky. And most of them probably can’t afford to take the time off to attend an American Idol audition. I don’t have any current suggestions to add to the discussion, but I may come up with something later to share. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2013, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-pop-and-r-b-music-with-real-instruments/663595/10 "2013-07-17T00:15:52Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > Shit - I live maybe 3 miles from the actual Bronx River Parkway - I wasn’t familiar with them. Thanks, **Bo**. You’re very welcome. I’m always happy to get together with people and listen to music; you play a couple of tunes for me and I’ll play a couple of tunes for you. It’s the best way to discover new music, IMO, even if it is over teh intarwebz. Glad you found something you liked! ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2013, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-pop-and-r-b-music-with-real-instruments/663595/11 "2013-07-17T00:21:20Z")
Nerdcore rap godfather, MC Frontalot, performs with live musicians: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/fGPJV9f4In8/maxresdefault.jpg "MC Frontalot - Stoop Sale Live at PAX East 2012") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGPJV9f4In8) ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2013, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/modern-pop-and-r-b-music-with-real-instruments/663595/12 "2013-07-17T03:24:01Z")
Fitz and the Tantrums’ debut album from 2010, “[Pickin’ Up the Pieces](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pickin%27_Up_the_Pieces_%28Fitz_and_The_Tantrums_album%29)”, is a “neo-soul” album, with a strong 1960s Motown / soul feel. There’s little or no synthesizer in it – for that matter, they intentionally chose to not use guitars as the core of the sound, opting for vintage-sounding piano, organ and saxophone, and I enjoy the voices of both Fitz and Noelle Scaggs. A couple of tracks: [Moneygrabber](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3WRXYYBwRA) [Pickin’ Up the Pieces](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0abrddw_so4) [Don’t Gotta Work It Out](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4Yz_bUTlbo)