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The Sounds of VTech / Bilal Levels

• A galactic new video for Bilal's song "Levels" from his album Airtight's Revenge, directed by Flying Lotus.
  
  
• Oliver Wang's thoughtful musing in The Atlantic on “Tiger Mom” Amy Chua.
  
  
• A great interview with comedian Nick Adams about writing for NBC's Perfect Couples, among other things.
  
  
• Dan Savage, advice columnist and founder of the "It Gets Better" movement, is working on a pilot for MTV loosely based on his speaking gigs at colleges across the country.
  
  
• Lastly, some very cool preview panels from the upcoming Scenes from an Impending Marriage by acclaimed graphic novelist Adrian Tomine.
  

Bilal Oliver is a jazz and soul singer; his second LP, Airtight's Revenge, was just released. He broke onto the scene in the early 2000s with the Raphael Saadiq-produced hit "Soul Sista," but he turned to jazz clubs and progressive soul just a few years later, frustrating his record label. In the meantime, he recorded with artists like Dr. Dre, Jay-Z and Scarface. His new album is his first in almost ten years.

Along with upcoming TSOYA guest Jose James, Bilal is my favorite male vocalist around. He hasn't actually released a record since his debut, 2001's First Born Second, but the word is that his follow-up will come along this year. Check out this incendiary version of Led Zeppelin's "Since I've Been Loving You" for some evidence of Bilal's power. Click through for the Zep original.

(via Wale)