Mark Ronson & Business Intl ft Boy George 'Somebody To Love Me'

Mark Ronson the bike song

Mark Ronson - The Bike Song from Kairos Mosaïque on Vimeo.

With 2 albums curated and produced by Mark Ronson that seemed to revel in the funk and soul sound he’d helped to revitalize, his third studio album, Record Collection under the name the Business International seems to make a departure from his signature sound. Fast-forwarding from the 60s Stax Records sound to a medley of references that seems appropriate to the genre-free landscape of today’s pop music–the new project mixes New Wave, hip-hop, indie rock, trance, and more. The lead single, “Bang, Bang, Bang” features Q-Tip and MNDR over a staccato synth (see Kanye’s “Flashing Lights”) that sprawls into a bridge that breaks the mold of today’s more rote pop music structure. “Lose it (in the End)” features Ghostface Killah and frequent-collaborator Alex Greenwald over a track that is one part spaghetti-Western, one part James Brown, and another part Electric Prunes.

Mark Ronson and the Business INTL feat. Q-tip

Ditching his signature horn sounds, super-producer Mark Ronson drafted in a raft of friends to create Record Collection, an album of seductive retro pop and soulful dance-floor jams.

Dubbing his new collective the Business Intl, Ronson put his talented pals to work both in front of the mic and behind the scenes. Guest vocalists include Q-Tip, MNDR, Ghostface Killah, Miike Snow frontman Andrew Wyatt, Spank Rock, D’Angelo, and even Boy George, while members of Kaiser Chiefs, the Zutons, and the Drums all contributed to the songwriting.

The resulting album shimmers with a perfectionist’s touch, a veritable compilation of singles with each song catchier — and often quirkier — than the last. While group projects can often feel schizophrenic, Record Collection is impressively coherent. And it makes perfect sense that Ronson chose to add his own vocals to the mix this time around: for the first time, it sounds like he’s really making himself heard.

via Flavor Pill