![]() The lead singer of the so-called new wave soul band from Seattle, breaks free of the band on his first solo album, but not entirely free, as he continues to explore its often brooding blend of soul, pop, and electronica. Has been described by some as an disciple -- and admittedly, when he reaches for his wispy falsetto in the seductively complex opening track, 'Wanna Get,' you can feel some of the old Hi Records vibes in his voice. Yet doesn't harp on the resemblance, mostly sticking to his silky baritone and electronically processed alterations -- and besides, he has deeper explorations in mind. While the first few tracks have additional musicians on them -- the chorus of the slow-treading 'Your Name' is carpeted with moody rhythm electric guitar -- eventually the backdrops are entirely turned over to the programmer (producer ), and the music becomes more internalized, more tightly chained to electronica patterns, and ultimately more absorbing. 'Sure Do Like the Fire' has all kinds of interesting electronic things wandering under the chorus, 'Simple to See' seems to pick up some of its synth bassline ideas from 1970s-vintage, and 'Perfect Day' supposedly ends the CD on a mellow programmed note. But no, it's not over -- after wading through some 12 tracks composed of 22 minutes of silence, you'll find something called 'Love Is Like a Dream' in which does a, overdubbing funky vocal percussion effects and obbligatos onto his vocal. A fine solo debut. Contents • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Early life [ ] Watts was born in, the only child of Christiane and Charles Alphonso Watts. His mother is and his father is. His father was an officer in the and the family lived in Germany and Spain before relocating to, where Watts was raised and graduated from in the class of 1990. Listen to Simplifiedby Reggie Watts on Slacker Radio, where you can also create personalized internet radio stations based on your favorite albums, artists and songs. Watts also took piano and violin lessons from the age of five until he was 16, and has said his love for music started as a young child when he saw playing the piano on television. Watts moved to in 1990 at the age of 18 to study music. He briefly attended before studying jazz. While in Seattle, he played in a number of Seattle bands of wildly varying genres, including Hit Explosion, Swampdweller, Action Buddy, Chiarrscuro, Clementine, Smell No Taste, 4+1 Ensemble, Das Rut, Synthclub, Elemental, Eyvand Kang Seven Nades, and Free Space, amongst others. Career [ ] Early career (1996–2009) [ ] In 1996, Watts became the front man for soul, rock, and hip hop group. While recording and touring circa 1996–2000 with 4+1 Ensemble as a keyboardist, Watts was forced to downsize his effects pedal from a tape delay to a delay modeler, a smaller device that makes it easy to travel. He began using the Line 6 in live shows with, in order to replicate the duplicate harmonies from the recorded material. Then, he experimented with improvising entire songs in solo acts with the Line 6, while trying to sound like, playing initial gigs at small Seattle venues and artist bungalows. While in Seattle, Watts composed musical scores for Northwest dance choreographers and he dabbled in sketch comedy with future theatrical collaborator. In 2004, after recording five albums over eight years, Watts moved to the, New York City. In 2005, he recorded his first solo single, 'So Beautiful'. Inspired by and, he began infusing spontaneous comedic material with the beat-box-driven musical compositions. He shot comedic web shorts for Superdeluxe, and. In 2006, Watts started to branch out into performing for television and film, while continuing to pursue live performance and the creation of new performance technologies.
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