A mixture of inter galactic hiphop fused in with jazz and smooth soulful captivating vocals. This native of Detroit brings you an innovative style beyond words.

7 MP3 Songs
URBAN/R&B: Soul, HIP HOP/RAP: Hip Hop



Details:
Detroit soul singer Velben knows every direction to the human heart. The music on his debut EP âFormlessâ operates like an elite GPS navigational system through the beautiful but uncertain terrain of love and life. One would expect no less from a man who â as a youngster â spent countless hours listening to Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson and Prince. The grooves of these legends prompted Velben to lift his own voice and sing: at the age of sixteen he was selected to represent his high school at the prestigious Detroit All-City Male Glee and selected to compete in the city solo festival and state solo festival (at Michigan State University). These adolescent experiences provided the instruction for Velbenâs creative license today: âFormlessâ spotlights his ability to yield melody out of day-to-day living and voice it with harmonized fluency.
Velbenâs odyssey to âFormlessâ began in 1997 after he grew tired of preserving his vocal arrangements and musical ideas on a cheap karaoke machine. With a growing interest in developing a professional music career, Velben felt it was time to take his career to the next level by finding a music producer. Sidelined by the hardships of this quest, Velben sought refuge in the spoken-word/poetry scene. Still music never left his mind; this was the singerâs way of holding out for the ârightâ sound, i.e., music that represented his artistic ideas. That âsoundâ eventually introduced itself, when he stumbled across the âWalking Largeâ instrumental by hip-hop band The Roots. âThe track had a playful but soulful vibe that I loved,â says Velben. That âvibeâ compelled him to dig out some previously written poetry and literally âgo with the flow.â Eventually, he established creative relationships with two of hip hopâs elite: Jneiro Jarel and Baatin (Slum Village).
âFormlessâ (written, arranged and produced by Velben with production by Roxstar for Cream of Beats Productions, Rise for Rise Above Music, Kim F., The Blue Mile and Sean Lane) is designed to cultivate Velbenâs growing listening audience and transport his music to territories beyond Detroit. The seven song collection â anchored by crisp crooning and beautifully embellished with layer upon layer of Velbenâs own background vocals â swoops and soars with spacey grooves and idiosyncratic rhythms that create, in the singerâs words, âintergalactic soul.â It starts out with âCity Soulâ a declaration that âDetroit Soulâ is still a vital and essential element within todayâs musical landscape. The trackâs warped, swelling cadence suggests a masculine, urbane swagger thatâs confident but not cocky. âBetter Dayzâ clues listeners in on the artist as a man: it chronicles Velbenâs personal and professional growth with honest insight. âCome Aroundâ muses romantic notions over a solid, thumping percussive pattern while âTravelinâ Manâ is a futuristic head-bopping delight filled with ambivalent lyricism. The mellow âAbout Loveâ is amiable and questioning and the equally laid-back âStarchildâ with its soft, wispy background vocals feels like a throwback to Michael Jackson circa âOff the Wallâ. The EP concludes with âKing and Queensâ a tune that urges black pride and awareness of cultural roots. âFormlessâ is far more cohesive than the title suggests: Itâs soul music realistic in its assessment of love and the conditions of todayâs modern world. It encourages grace and dignity. Itâs music about the head, heart and spirit, not ego, âblingâ and groin grabbing. âFormlessâ doesnât just reach for higher ground it propels into the higher regions of the mind.