Listen to “Tonight Downtown” here
[mp3j track=”TonightDowntown.mp3″]
Easily mistaken for a fashionisto, even British socialite, Egbert Nathaniel Dawkins III is center stage on a revamped after work era of beats, as Aloe Blacc. A compilation of genres, all with a smokey jukebox resonance, suavester Blacc has buckled down a Tanqueray crowd of sippers with his hit single “Tonight Downtown” as this year’s gin giant is campaigning through punchy tunes by the Orange County native.
Making waves with his hit single “I Need A Dollar,” off his 2010 album Good Things, Aloe Blacc continues to mark territory with sound connoisseurs. Shortly after “I Need A Dollar” trumped as the intro tune for HBO series How to Make it in America, Aloe Blacc signed with Epic Records, further catapulting is music career. A soul singer, the artist has traipsed between hip-hop, jazz and rap but holds a steady place among indie collaborators as his own kind. His roots and influences are vicarious but voiced in both the Tonight Downtown song and video.
The classic bar setting and avante-guarde lighting of the Tanqueray spots reiterate a heritage of a seemingly hard-working generation with an appreciation for the finer things in life, brotherhood, and the bartender. There is an angst in the melody, and Aloe resurrects a certain confidence in the alpha male, stimulating yet tasteful. Entering 2012 on a roll, Aloe Blacc hits the outback kicking off tour in Australia early January.
