TRENDSETTING R&B GROUP MINT CONDITION RETURNS WITH NINTH ALBUM "e-LIFE" ON MAY 6TH !!
The trendsetting, platinum Minnesota-based R&B group, Mint Condition is back with their eagerly awaited ninth album, e-Life, in stores May 6th, 2008. The album will be released on the band’s own label, CagedBird Records in joint venture with Image entertainment and includes collaborations with Anthony Hamilton, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, and Phonte from the group Lil Brother.
e-Life is a career defining album that will remind Mint Condition’s fans that their signature sound, an eclectic blend of funk, rock, and soul, is still intact and even better 17 years after their debut. The group’s longevity is a testament to their unique sound. Lead vocalist Stokley Williams says, “Our sound is an extension of the kind of music we love and Mint Condition is always going to be relevant because we don’t follow trends, we believe in the integrity of our music and how it makes our fans feel.”
e-Life is Mint Condition’s first release since their 2005 album Living the Luxury Brown, which hit #1 on Billboard’s Independent Album Charts. Keyboardist Rick Kinchen reflects on the title of the album: “Each song deals with the difficulties in maintaining relationships; between men and women, parents and children, and friends in a world that communicates through the internet, e-mail, texting, and instant messaging.” Mint Condition’s first single, “Baby Boy, Baby Girl,” is a clear example as the group tackles raising children in the digital age. The single impacted radio in a big way and is currently the #1 most added song to Urban Adult Contemporary Stations across the country.
Recorded and written collaboratively by all band members, Mint Condition once again tests the limits with a range of soul stirring love ballads and drum and bass laced grooves. e-Life shows Mint Condition’s versatility ranging from their first single, “Baby Boy, Baby Girl” featuring soul crooner Anthony Hamilton to the futuristic sounding joint, “Why Do We Try” featuring A Tribe Called Quest and former Lucy Pearl sound architect Ali Shaheed Muhammad. Mint Condition challenges the negative connotations of women who seek out well-to-do men in the aptly titled mid-tempo song “Golddigger” and discusses a failed relationship in the trademark Mint sounding ballad, “Nothing Left To Say.”
The original members of Mint Condition are still intact with Stokely on vocals, Lawrence El on piano and keyboards, Rick Kinchen on bass and lead guitar, O'Dell on rhythm guitar and Jeffrey Allen on saxophone and keyboards. Beginning as a sextet, the group now stands at five after the amicable departure of keyboardist Keri Lewis.
Mint Condition was signed in the early nineties by heavyweight producers, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, and has long stood apart from other R&B groups. Ever since their debut album Meant to be Mint was released in 1991 the platinum selling group has been churning out hit after hit. Starting with the Top 10 pop single, "Breakin' My Heart (Pretty Brown Eyes)” a steady chain of hits followed, including “Someone To Love,” “You Send Me Swingin,” “What Kind Of Man Would I Be,” and “You Don’t Have to Hurt No More.”
In support of their upcoming album, e-Life, Mint Condition is gearing up for their 2008 U.S. promo tour this Spring. Soon after, the group will head over seas to tour internationally in Europe and Japan. The group also has plans for their new label CagedBird Records, which includes signing new talent and the exciting prospect of releasing Mint’s highly coveted side project, a experimental jazz group which features Jeffrey Allen, Stokely, and Lawrence El and Odell’s funk, rock, and r&b group THE TRUTH.
e-Life is a career defining album that will remind Mint Condition’s fans that their signature sound, an eclectic blend of funk, rock, and soul, is still intact and even better 17 years after their debut. The group’s longevity is a testament to their unique sound. Lead vocalist Stokley Williams says, “Our sound is an extension of the kind of music we love and Mint Condition is always going to be relevant because we don’t follow trends, we believe in the integrity of our music and how it makes our fans feel.”
e-Life is Mint Condition’s first release since their 2005 album Living the Luxury Brown, which hit #1 on Billboard’s Independent Album Charts. Keyboardist Rick Kinchen reflects on the title of the album: “Each song deals with the difficulties in maintaining relationships; between men and women, parents and children, and friends in a world that communicates through the internet, e-mail, texting, and instant messaging.” Mint Condition’s first single, “Baby Boy, Baby Girl,” is a clear example as the group tackles raising children in the digital age. The single impacted radio in a big way and is currently the #1 most added song to Urban Adult Contemporary Stations across the country.
Recorded and written collaboratively by all band members, Mint Condition once again tests the limits with a range of soul stirring love ballads and drum and bass laced grooves. e-Life shows Mint Condition’s versatility ranging from their first single, “Baby Boy, Baby Girl” featuring soul crooner Anthony Hamilton to the futuristic sounding joint, “Why Do We Try” featuring A Tribe Called Quest and former Lucy Pearl sound architect Ali Shaheed Muhammad. Mint Condition challenges the negative connotations of women who seek out well-to-do men in the aptly titled mid-tempo song “Golddigger” and discusses a failed relationship in the trademark Mint sounding ballad, “Nothing Left To Say.”
The original members of Mint Condition are still intact with Stokely on vocals, Lawrence El on piano and keyboards, Rick Kinchen on bass and lead guitar, O'Dell on rhythm guitar and Jeffrey Allen on saxophone and keyboards. Beginning as a sextet, the group now stands at five after the amicable departure of keyboardist Keri Lewis.
Mint Condition was signed in the early nineties by heavyweight producers, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, and has long stood apart from other R&B groups. Ever since their debut album Meant to be Mint was released in 1991 the platinum selling group has been churning out hit after hit. Starting with the Top 10 pop single, "Breakin' My Heart (Pretty Brown Eyes)” a steady chain of hits followed, including “Someone To Love,” “You Send Me Swingin,” “What Kind Of Man Would I Be,” and “You Don’t Have to Hurt No More.”
In support of their upcoming album, e-Life, Mint Condition is gearing up for their 2008 U.S. promo tour this Spring. Soon after, the group will head over seas to tour internationally in Europe and Japan. The group also has plans for their new label CagedBird Records, which includes signing new talent and the exciting prospect of releasing Mint’s highly coveted side project, a experimental jazz group which features Jeffrey Allen, Stokely, and Lawrence El and Odell’s funk, rock, and r&b group THE TRUTH.
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