New music from Van Hunt!! Signs to Blue Note.

Van Hunt has recently announced that he has signed to Blue Note. Hopefully, he'll get a little more understanding about his creative vision, since Capitol didn't seem to get it. To their credit, though, they gave it an honest attempt releasing two albums. But Van has never been the sort of artist you could place in a nice, neat box and package for consumers. With the swag of a pimp and his God given talent, Van continues to press his own boundaries and yours as well. His self-titled debut in 2004 featured a soulful mix of uptempo, groovy goodies and low down, bass heavy, bluesy tracks. Two years later, he returned with On The Jungle Floor which was a more creative outing than the debut, but ultimately left many listeners scratching their heads thinking they would get the more subdued and laid back Van Hunt. Surprise, bitches. Featuring great songs like "Mean Sleep" f. Nikka Costa, Jungle Floor was a another step in Hunt's process of exploring the full potential of his creativity. Major labels, of course would much rather have an artist they know how to promote and market. Capitol appeared to not have the slightest clue of what to do with Hunt or the Jungle Floor album. The album received great reviews but ultimately did not do much on the charts.

Hopefully Blue Note will have a better plan in place than Capitol did by the time Hunt's new cd The Popular Machine drops in January 2008. But, they do plan to test the waters by dropping an 4 track digital EP of the same name on August 7, according to Hunt's myspace page. One of the new cuts to be featured is called "The Lowest 1 of My Desires". With a steady, repetitive kick and funky guitar licks, Hunt lays his pimpishly smooth vocals all over this one. He lets it all hang loose as he exclaims on the hook, "I wanna f*ck you..." Wow. This song easily brings back old memories of some of Prince's earlier sexed up works, but Hunt is definitely into his own vibe. And of course....we wouldn't be Dope Joints if we didn't give you the dope joints. (wink)

Van Hunt - The Lowest 1 of My Desires

Van Hunt - Character (acoustic version)