Singers Fiona Apple and D'Angelo are very different stylistic performers, but both emerged in the mid-90s on a wave of critical success, the strength of their artistic visions and breathtaking, affecting voices. Both singers scored unlikely top 25 hits and burst into public consciousness because of controversial, body barring videos (D'Angelo for "Untitled (How Does It Feel)" and Apple for "Criminal.") At this point the similarities seem to end. D'Angelo fell into addiction and stopped making music while Apple, after battling years of label drama, released the well-recieved Extraordinary Machine and toured extensively in support of it.
Seven years after Extraordinary Machine, Apple is set to release The Idler Wheel is Wiser than the Driver of the Screw, and Whipping Cords will Serve You More than Ropes Will Ever Do? on June 19. Apple's voice has always worked best when backed by strange, otherworldly instrumentation that is alternately starkly minimal and over the top bombastic, the reason many fans prefer the Jon Brion-produced bootleg of Extraordinary Machine to the released version. The Idler Wheel... lead single "Every Single Night" takes its cues from Extraordinary Machine's title track, and is arguably Apple's strongest to date. The two other pre-release songs, "Werewolf" and "Anything We Want," follow a similar formula, blending strange instruments and field recordings with plinked piano keys and musical swells. With her voice sounding as strong as ever and instrumentation emphasizing the weirdest aspects of her music, Apple seems primed to release the strongest album of her successful career.
D'Angelo, in the midst of a much-hyped comeback, has done his first interview in over a decade with mens magazine GQ and has his first Stateside live performance in eleven years scheduled for July. On a short European tour, D'Angelo has made headlines covering David Bowie and performing new songs, while reportedly playing the guitar like a pro. With no lead singles, no title (it's no longer called James River) and only a tentative September release date, who knows if D'Angelo will release his much awaited follow up to 2000's Voodoo sooner rather than later, but reports continue to be positive. Frequent collaborator and friend ?uestlove has said the album is "97% finished" and "to get five songs out of him, we had to throw away at least twelve that I would give my left arm for." With his prodigious talent intact, newfound guitar chops, and all his personal problems seemingly in the past, D'Angelo seems primed to make his third classic R&B album in three attempts, albeit ten years late.
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