Voodoo (album)

] A notable aspect of this album is the heavily experimental grooves. Recording sessions took place at Electric Lady Studios, the Greenwich Village-based studio built by legendary musician Jimi Hendrix. There, D'Angelo studied bootleg recordings of sixties and seventies soul artists, such as Parliament-Funkadelic, Marvin Gaye and Hendrix, which influenced him during the sessions for "Voodoo". In an interview for "Time", D'Angelo discussed the influence provided by Electric Lady and classic R&B artists, saying "I believe Jimi was there... Jimi, Marvin Gaye, all the folks we were gravitating to. I believe they blessed the project." D'Angelo and his supporting personnel constructed many of the grooves for album to sit far behind time, directly on top of time, or even pressing on the time. Each effect was done with great consideration and has been a source of some controversy from breaking conventions of more traditional approaches to groove. One example of this effect is the groove on "One Mo' Gin", which is placed so far back against the meter that it almost feels off-time.

"Voodoo" evolved from nearly two years' worth of sessions, which featured a roster of soul, funk and jazz musicians. Notable from this personnel was Roots drummer and producer Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson. Thompson has stated in interviews since the album's release that D'Angelo and he incorporated much of the distinctive percussive rhythms of Detroit producer and Slum Village-member Jay Dee, also known as J Dilla, who, as part of the Soulquarians, was also a frequent collaborator. Although tracks such as "Left & Right" help to bring this claim to light, Jay Dee himself was not directly involved in the making of the album. Dilla, however, contributed greatly to the album's overall sound, specifically its rhythm and percussion. One of the characteristics of the style of drumming featured on "Voodoo" is its adherence to human timing, as the tracks were mostly programmed mechanically, therefore its intentional sloppiness. In an interview with Soulmind Online, ?uestlove acknowledged Jay Dee's influence during the sessions and elaborated on his style of programming:

Frequent visits to the studio were made by fellow recording neo soul and hip hop artists, such as Erykah Badu, Talib Kweli, Common, Mos Def and members of The Roots. These visits influenced the recording atmosphere of the "Voodoo" sessions. Thompson later called the experience a "left-of-center black music renaissance." While not predominant on the album, some of the material, such as "Africa" and "Devil's Pie", contained sampling, managed by ?uestlove and DJ Premier, including samples from Teddy Pendergrass and Prince.

External links

* [http://www.mtv.com/music/artist/d_angelo/albums.jhtml?albumId=130234 Album lyrics and audio samples at MTV.com]
* [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,995906-1,00.html D'Angelo: Salvation Sex And Voodoo - article at TIME.com]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ULZuCK_fgo Untitled (How Does It Feel) music video at YouTube.com]