128 Oz. of Haterade: 'Fresh,' by Shawn Desman

While I can't in good conscience recommend the "crooked mohawk" (above), nor can I endorse the eighth-grade-pube-'stache he's rocking on the album cover, I can recommend a good portion of Shawn Desman's Fresh, which combines the Black-Eyed Peas' future-techno vibe and Akon (without all the Auto-Tuning) into a pleasant, bouncy record.

Fresh is a head-nodder that exhibits the same flair Will.i.am seems to have for taking what could be a boring techno-based track and adding a few tweaks, bells and whistles to spice it up and keep it moving. And Desman achieves it without needing any cornball "raps" from Fergie, which is always nice.

Granted, the "Can I, can I watch? Keep on doin' what you do" chorus of "Moneyshot" is a little unnecessary, but hey? Let a Canadian-born, Italian/Portuguese player play, I suppose.

Fresh lays aside some of the rougher-edged drums of 2005's Back for More, opting for a cleaner, more-processed atmosphere. The first single, "Shiver," is about as good as modern pop R&B gets, a cascade of heavy percussion and harmony wrapped into a love song that doesn't need to venture into X-rated allegory to get its point across.

Desman leaves that to "Moneyshot," haha.

There's no need for me to go over the slow songs. You know how they sound; you know what they're about. Overall, though, Fresh is a solid step in the right direction for Desman.

More on Shawn Desman:

• Official website

• MySpace

128 Oz. of Haterade: 'InDRUpendence Day," by Dru Hill

The last time something meaningful came from the Dru Hill fam, it was a solo-minded Sisqo "releasing the dragon" and going whale-tailin' as he extolled the virtues of butt-floss (as if to drive home the irrelevance, Sisqo is battling the Jimmie Van Zant Band right now on Rock & A Hard Place, a.k.a. Washed-Up Rock-Star Jeopardy). And is Sisqo wearing motorcycle gloves on the cover? In the immortal words of Riley Freeman, "Pause."

In sheer spite of all that comes InDRUpendence Day, which veers from vaguely-cheesy '90s-ish R&B ("Back to the Future," "Love MD") to decent uptempo grooves ("She Wants Me," "Whatcha Do"). "Can't Stop" finds the gang personifying their smoking and drinking as lovely ladies named Chocolate Tye and Hennessey. An allegorical masterpiece if ever there was one... but I will say that it's couched atop a nice bed of vocoder, as opposed to Auto-Tune, which is used judiciously throughout InDRUpendence Day.

Do I need a cover "(Everybody Wants to) Rule the World"? No. With talented soul acts like Mama's Gun and Georgia Anne Muldrow out there, a reunited Dru Hill just seems kind of... old.

**Bonus points if you can name any other member of Dru Hill without Googling it first. I can't.

Pan-Fried Tilapia with Chipotle-Tomato Sauce.... DELICIOUS!

Turn this little sucker

into a tasty dinner...

So I don't usually talk about food much on this blog, but I am no slouch in the kitchen, and every once in a while, I put together a recipe that turns out really well. This is one of them:

Pan-Fried Tilapia with Chipotle-Tomato Sauce

4 tilapia fillets

2 red tomatoes, diced

1 clove garlic (more to taste), minced

1 tsp chipotle powder (more to taste)

1/4 cup olive oil

1 white onion, chopped

1 TB butter

Flour for dredging

Fish: Heat up olive oil on medium heat; dredge tilapia fillets in flour (brush on olive oil for a little more stick) and cook for approx. 3 mins. per side

Sauce: Melt butter on medium heat; add garlic and onion (do not brown); add tomatoes and spices; you can also add a pinch of sugar and salt, which I found gave the tomatoes a nice sweet tang that blended very well with the slight spiciness; cook on medium-low for 15 mins. or until it reduces down a little

FREE DOWNLOAD: The Remix I Totally Forgot to Post on Linkin Park's Contest Site

Well... Linkin Park had this really cool contest where they gave out five stems from their forthcoming single, "The Catalyst," for fans to remix and repost on their MySpace site.

Unfortunately, I stupidly thought the deadline was July 30. It wasn't. It was July 25, and I completely missed it. Now, I'm not a Linkin Park fan, per se, but I always love the chance to remix a song and give it my own spin. So I've posted a link to download my version of "The Catalyst," where I took the stems and re-ordered them into a sort of dubbed-out version complete with Nyabinghi drumming.

Click here to download "The Catalyst (Beat Doctor's Dub Mix)." And lemme know what you think! (Link will be active until Aug. 4)

This is Too Ridiculous to be a Joke

Man... I KNOW that isn't a tattoo of... (deep breath)... Patrick Swayze, in his SNL Chippendales outfit... as a centaur... framed by a double-rainbow... what, the tattoo artist couldn't do Steven Seagal as a phoenix rising from the ashes of his career?

128 Oz. of Haterade: 'Teflon Don,' by Rick Ross

This isn't the album cover, but it shoulda been...

Negligible corrections-officer past aside, I have kind of a soft spot for Rick Ross (pause). I don't really have much use for his raps, but his producers have occasionally done what I think is a pretty good job taking Jay-Z's debut 'Big Willie' aesthetic and sound, and slowing it down a little. On tracks like "Magnificent" and "Yacht Club," from Deeper Than Rap, a '96 Jay verse wouldn't sound out of place at all. His guest spot on Teflon Don's "Free Mason" is equally well-matched... although Jay spends his bars dispelling the winter's Freemason/devil-worship rumors, while Rick sort of courts it... the Freemason part, at least. Although me personally, I wouldn't equate "Maybach Music" with building the pyramids...

Anyway, when he's not flossing over heavy downtempo thudders, the executive-lounge atmosphere is definitely still in effect: in the smoothness of DJ Clark Kent's beat for "Super High" and the rough-edged bounce of the Drake-assisted "Aston Martin." J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League handle the latter, as well the bulk of the production. Unfortunately, none of Raphael Saadiq's recent Motown vibe rubs off in his guestwork on the closer, "All the Money in the World," but as Rick Ross albums go, well... if you liked the first two, you'll probably like this one.

Outer-Space Soul with Georgia Anne Muldrow, a.k.a. Jyoti

I don't know if it's already been used, but if not, the otherworldly future-soul stylings of Ocotea would work perfectly as the soundtrack for any number of "Adult Swim" promo segments. The reverb-heavy, jazz-swingy sound is provided by Jyoti, alias Georgia Anne Muldrow, no stranger to this brand of soul.

It's just that her full, commanding voice is nowhere to be found. Jyoti is apparently an instrumentalist, content with creating shifting, interesting soundscapes.

"Blessed Matches" is awash in atonal piano and fluttering cymbals; "Language of the Flame" is plodding, tense and bouncy all at the same time, and "Unchanged Reverie" is almost a dub-reggae workout, peppered with snare drum and ghostly synth work.

Ocotea is almost like the score to a blaxploitation sci-fi movie that was never made... or kind of like if Ridley Scott had hired Sun Ra to do the "Blade Runner" soundtrack.

Whatever it is, it's well worth a listen. Muldrow and fellow Stones Thrower Dudley Perkins are at the forefront of out-there, P-Funkish, occasionally freeform neo-soul.
Check out samples from Ocotea at Amazon.com.