Coming of age, and for all ages

The two acts today bring serious good music to the table. Techy Romantics has been an underground favorite for much too long, and its CD of electronica music deserves our mainstream attention. And Eric Benet’s maturity as an artist continues with his new album — a reverential nod to sweet Soul and R&B as we used to know it.

Techy Romantics — Touch (Party Bear Records). Electronica and chill are music genres that enjoy great success abroad; and yet, here in the Philippines, they remain something of an underground phenom. If there’s any justice in the world of music, the Techy Romantics (TR) and its CD, Touch, should change all that and bring electronica into the spotlight and “sunshine” — where it belongs!

While one may accuse the music of having a “sameness,” where the tracks all sound like one super long song, that doesn’t take away from the quality and merit of TR’s music. Listen to Dance Like Lightning, Daydream and 7 Years; they’re my personal faves, and watch as this trio finally gets the acclaim it deserves.

Eric Benet — Lost In Time (Reprise Records). With one of the finest, purest voices in the world of R&B today, it’s no coincidence that in the new album of Eric Benet, the O’Jays Eddie Levert guests in one of the tracks. That’s because this truly is an album that reminds us of what ’70s Soul was all about — the era of Gladys Knight, the aforementioned O’Jays, EWF and those power male/female duet songs. On the CD, the duets with Chrisette Michele (Take It), Faith Evans (Feel Good), and India Benet (Summer Love and India is Eric’s daughter) are the immediate standouts. Good Life is the upbeat, dance track, but as in most of Benet’s CDs, it’s the slow jams, the ballads, and when he lets his falsetto fly, that lets us know we’re in Benet country!