Saturday Night @ L’America (Wales) – Recap

Visited Wales for the first time this weekend – all I can say is ‘wow’. Totally amazing beautiful country, kind people, great appreciation for music. Craig Bartlett (promoter & DJ) treated Jay-J & I well, super hospitable and fun. He met us at the airport in Bristol, drove us to Cardiff himself and handled our post-red-eye banter with politesse and wit. I slept much of the day, since my body was under the impression that it was 8 hours behind its actual position in the time-space continuum. Go figure.

The show was a few blocks from the hotel we stayed at, in a section of town filled with cobbled streets and storefronts that are probably older than my entire country. (”Gwendolyn’s Dry Cleaners, est. 1466″) Amazingly quaint, and very lovely, although I don’t know how Welsh girls handle the cobbles so well in heels. The club “Wish” has been recently remodeled, and it looks like a million pounds.

When I arrived, Craig was DJ’ing super funky soulful house, and his second to last song blew my mind: Chicago’s “Street Player.” You totally know it – it was remixed into one of the biggest hits of 1997 or 1998, and I’m not ashamed to say that I still love the remix today. For years I’d been trying to fully remember the source of the sample, and finally in Wales it all came together. Thanks, Craig.

We gave the crowd one longish set, starting with the new single “Illuminate.” Then it was “On & On”, “Love Is,” and “Make My Heart.” We finished with the live-only version of “Keep On Rising (Paddington Remix)” that we save for super-hyped fans. I was excited to see that they knew all the songs, even the new ones – very cool. All said, even though the weather was cold to freezing, the reception was boiling over with warmth. Thank you Wales, and to all who made it happen so seamlessly.

Ciao for now,
Latrice

Official CD Release Party for “ILLUMINATE”

Come out to Duplex on February 7, as we celebrate the
release of Latrice’s solo debut “Illuminate”,
co-produced by Kaskade & Jay-J.

10pm performance by Latrice with Christopher Willits
(DJ)
DJ sets by the Bastard Prince starting at 8pm

Tuesday, Feb. 7th
8pm – midnight
$5 cover
“Illluminate” CDs will be available for sale.

Duplex: 1525 Mission St., San Francisco

Raves.com/DJFix.com – Reveiw of “Illuminate”

Thanks to Raves.com/DJFix.com for the recent interview: ‘”Thought-provoking, fun, mellow, positive, and funky.” That’s how Latrice Barnett would describe her music to someone who’s never heard it before, and we couldn’t agree more. This prolific singer, songwriter, and groovy bass player offers up her debut album, Illuminate, co-produced by leaders of the soulful house music genre, Jay-J and Kaskade.’

Read the entire interview here.

Allmusic.com – Review of “Illuminate”

A cool review of “Illuminate” is available at allmusic.com. Here’s a sample: “While Latrice Barnett’s debut release, Illuminate, does contain many of today’s R&B prerequisites (electronic beats, help from outside songwriters, etc.), the album still manages to maintain an organic quality, as evidenced by such standouts as the title track, “Lessons Learned,” and “Pleasure Unlimited.” …For fans of R&B in a Sade/Seal vein, Illuminate is certainly worthy of inspection.”

Can’t wait to hear more…

New Orleans Electronica Digest – Review of King King show

The New Orleans Electronica Digest wrote a very interesting & cool review of the recent Los Angeles show at King King with Jay-J - check it out. Here’s a bit: “In a time where everyone seems to want to be a diva, Barnett’s focus is on the music and not herself. Not only does this lady have a heavenly voice, but soul to match, and the smooth coolness to slide in the technically challenging without going over the top. Her lucid sonic brilliance takes the music where it needs to go in a way that other vocalists would be hard-pressed to match. Seeing her live is a treat…”

Thanks so very much for the rad words.

Pre-Order “Illuminate” on Amazon.com

Starting today, you can pre-order your copies of “Illuminate” from Amazon.com. “Illuminate” will be released on February 7, 2006, but you can order it now and have it shipped to you when it arrives.

Latrice’s New Music Featured on MusicRemedy.Com

Very cool – “Illuminate” is now featured on music site MusicRemedy.com
! They are streaming 3 songs from my upcoming record “Illuminate” – “Make My Heart,” “Love Is,” and “Illuminate.” Check it out.

Also – just received Jay-J’s new remix of “Love Is,” and it is soooooo magical. Listening to it now… remixes are so dope when they breathe amazing new life into a song you already enjoy. Big ups, Jay. Can’t wait to rock the dancefloors with this mix in ‘06.

Much love,

NYC & LA shows – recap

Wow, what a week! NYC was a blast – thanks to all at Ultra for providing hours of entertainment (and hard work), not to mention superb hospitality. Thursday night’s show at the Canal Room with Jay-J was fun; performed a mixture of old & new: “Bless This House,” “Make My Heart,” “Hold the Light,” and “Love Is”. Late night party with the coolest of folks.

Los Angeles on Saturday night was, I have to admit, pretty mind-blowing. So much love from SoCal. Started out in the evening with dinner at Blowfish, where we heard “Without Love” played in the house… Quelle coincidence! Gave me shivers in fact. Then went on to have one of the best shows I can remember – performed “Bless This House,” “Hold the Light,” “Celebrate,” “Love Is,” “Make My Heart,” and closed with the Australian/Paddington special live-only remix of “Keep On Rising.” What an amazing and love-filled audience – thanks so much. We could’ve bottled the love in the room last night.

Let’s do it again real soon, everyone – check back again soon. And I’d love to hear your thoughts on the shows if you were there. Add them by clicking the “Comments” link below.

Much love and the happiest of holidays to you all,
Latrice

New Music Added to Site

New Music. Hear three new songs from my upcoming Ultra release, “Illuminated”. Let me know what you think – leave me a message by clicking “Comments” in the blog. Songs are located in New Releases section, titles “Illuminate,” “Hold the Light,” and “Celebrate”. I’ll update shortly with highlights from tonight’s Canal Room show (NYC).

Saturday Night @ Ruby Skye – Recap

What a fun night. This was Jay-J’s record release party for “Connected,” his latest compilation. It features a ton of songs that he & I wrote together, which I’m really pleased about of course. One of them is a tune called “With Him,” that I co-wrote but did not sing on: instead a vocalist named Charlene Moore sang it, and I had the honor of perfoming with her on Saturday night. All I can say is WOW – what a voice. She has worked closely for years with the Weather Girls, and also is a veritable powerhouse in the gospel scene. It was amazing to hear her live rendition of “With Him,” and really fun to share a stage with her too. If you’re into big-vocal gospel, Charlene’s your woman, for sure.

Jay-J & I did some new & some old tracks: starting with “Celebrate“, we went into Miguel Migs’ remix of our song “Make My Heart” and ended up with what we call the ‘Paddington Remix’ of “Keep On Rising”. Short set, but very sweet, and I have to thank everyone there for sticking around all night, and throwing so much love up on stage to me — so many positive vibes at this show.

- Latrice