While there remains many reasons to have fallen in love with Lykke Li's "Little Bit" on initial meeting, one of the main grabs of the arresting indie Swede-pop ditty was how it made Lykke seem just a tad bit off, the singer's cutesy, kooky delivery paired with the otherworldly allure of that minimalist tribal production shading her brow-raising crush confessional (who could forget the line "And for you I keep my legs apart"?) with a certain creepy darkness that made it sound like a restraining order was due her way any second. Updating the [...]
We've already heard and championed the amazing that happens when teen-aged UK singer/ songwriter/ producer MNEK applies his gigantic soul pipes on R&B divas of the past , so it comes across as a bit extra special that he would focus his "re-fix"-ing powers on one currently bubbling on the charts. The newly video-accompanied Disclosure/ AlunaGeorge collaboration "White Noise" is already a Top 5 hit in the UK and earning the hype of several corners of the World Wide Web as the hot jam for the moment, but [...]
For those who like the EDM, but feel like they're a bit too chill or...let's just say mature to get down with the beat-tastic noise that constitutes a large chunk of the genre, perhaps producer Madeaux will be the answer to your issues. Throughout the four tracks that make up his newly released self-titled debut EP, Madeaux cooks up twenty minutes' worth of the kind of classy and relaxing downtempo vibes that could easily soundtrack either the coolest jazz lounge spot you're too much of a nobody to get into or a laidback, candle-lit [...]
Apparently it's TLC Appreciation Week, because coming on the heels of Kaytranada's crazysexycool twist on "Creep" we talked about yesterday comes this piece of experimental flashback freakiness from Australian knob-twiddler Ta-ku based around a sample of the late '902s favorite/ modern-day karaoke staple "No Scrubs" . Reducing Chili's swift dismissal of the car-less titular character to a mesmerizing series of clipped and screwed snippets, Ta-ku further fills up "BrokeAs"'s three-and-a-half minute space with a dazzling template of electro-soul wizardry, shuffling back and forth between regal bursts and strobe-y washes of synthesizer that culminate [...]
Considering the creative and oh-so-catchy highs UK duos Disclosure and AlunaGeorge are both respectively riding at the moment, it'd probably be foolish to assume a track combining the talents of both acts wouldn't be 100% pure electro-pop bliss. Collaborative cut "White Noise" manages to both be as undeniable as one would imagine and yet feel like so much more, instantly perking up the eardrums with its endless cycles of prickly keyboard/ bass-synth loops and Aluna Francis' chirpier-than-usual '902s R&B-dance-leaning vocal that, when sandwiched together, conjure up a feeling of being hours (and [...]
In a move that smartly builds off their recent recognition by the BBC Sound of 2013 tastemaskers as an act to watch this year, UK duo AlunaGeorge , the group behind bewitching 2012 standout "Your Drums, Your Love" have returned with another teaser from their June-due debut Body Music in the form of the freshly radio-premiered "Diver". Picking up where they left off on "Drums", "Diver" proves that the months long wait for the album to drop may be an excruciating one, the tune landing as another killer display of the [...]
Following a small handful of synthy blue-eyed-soul goodies they've sprinkled throughout 2012, the release of Swedish duo Newtimers ' debut EP Ego has finally neared around-the-corner status (it drops in January), making it only right that the act spark some of their buzz back up by dropping something new. It's a bit of a bonus that said newness, "Heavy Weather", arguably stands as the duo's best creation yet, tracking the gradual disintegration of a once-happy romance with lyrics both heartbreaking ("Now she's gone and so am I/ No 'I'm [...]
On "Andre", the latest preview to her forthcoming mixtape Agape , Jojo continues to shine a blaringly bright light on how it makes little sense why she isn't on the front lines of mainstream pop-soul diva-dom. With producer Mr. Frank extending Jojo's admiration for the "genreless" sound with a electro shimmer that neatly transitions into a edge-of-dubstep grind, the singer spills her songwriting ink here listing the many reasons why she's so deep in devotion to the "leather jacket in June"-wearing titular guy she has that all the other girls wants, the smooth, bulletproof texture [...]
Five months after cooking up a beautifully ethereal swipe at Frank Ocean's "Thinking Bout You" , Nite Jewel has returned with a new R&B cover upload, this time venturing a bit deeper into the past for a take on Michael Jackson's "P.Y.T.". As much as an eternal dancefloor jam the disco-lit original is, with lyrics that found the King of Pop downright pleading for some tasty young morsel to "cool (his) fire", the song-which earlier this year was given a soulful blues-rock reading by The Wood Brothers -always felt like it would make for [...]
Armed with songwriting and production chops that have already proven to have the Midas touch-resulting in UK hit single gold for acts like The Saturdays and the X Factor-birthed Misha B and Little Mix-and an incredibly mature voice that has no business coming from an eighteen-year-old soul, we wouldn't be surprised if by this time next year London-born multi-talent MNEK had managed to break into household name territory. Helping give an extra oomph to his increasing solo buzz? The on-going collection of cover/ "refixes" MNEK has speckled across his Soundcloud page in recent months, [...]
Despite producing three of the best soul albums to emerge post-Y2K (20052s Multiply , 20082s Jim and 20102s Compass ), collections that folded in awe-inducing swipes at the styles and sensibilities of great R&B/ funk icons like Sly, James, Otis, Prince, Stevie, Al and D'Angelo with modern-day whiffs of electro and a cool, experimental-DIY spirit, super-talented Englishman Jamie Lidell has seen his name pushed to the fringes in recent years, partly due to his own between-project hiatus, but also because of the [...]
Teresajenee is a name that has somehow escaped our radar but thanks to one of those occasionally successful "If you like that , you should like this" recommendations from a relative, we have come to be a Johnny-Come-Lately admirer of the St. Louis-born talent and her forward-thinking R&B style, a dope fusion of jazz, vintage soul and hip hop blazed with an futuro-electro spritz that manifests itself in eye-grabbing song titles like "Break My HRT", "Tahitian Vanilla" and "Caviar Dream". Her latest project, freebie tape Electric Yellow , dropped in July, [...]
A Frank Ocean cover that's both not the overly-remade "Thinking Bout You" and super good ? Well color us insta-fans. "Super Rich Kids" , Frank's "Bennie & The Jets" -sampling, Mary J Blige-quoting , Earl Sweatshirt-aided document of the good, bad and ugly aspects of being young and wealthy has long been the jam, but the originator just may have been one-upped with this remake version by Brooklyn by-way-of New Zealand newbie act LIPS . Stephanie Brown is the singular force behind the stage moniker and [...]
Brooklyn four-piece Body Language first caught our attention with the 2011 single "You Can" , a dreamily lush slice of electro-soul-pop that sounded like a The-Dream booty jam, albeit one that was a little more white and so futuro-glazed, one could imagine robots using it for dry-humping material. On "I'm A Mess", from the band's latest EP Grammar , that same R&B-inspired formula that made "You Can" such a delight is tapped into yet again, though instead of a stylistic swipe at The-Dream, the vibe here feels more like a [...]
London duo AlunaGeorge is one of those names we've been seeing bounce around the blogosphere a lot lately, yet despite numerous descriptions of their sound suggesting they would nestle in quite comfortably in our pleasure zone center, we've somehow missed the boat on them, failing to hear a lick of their music until catching the recently released video to major label debut single "Your Drums, Your Love". Now that we've digested the greatness of "Drums" though (and subsequently become insta-fans), best believe we will be spending all the time necessary digging into their catalog up until [...]
Wildcat! Wildcat! has a sound that is really different from other acts out there, I can'tquite think of an act to compare them with as they have this real alternative sound that can be best described as indie electronic pop R&B. However, I'd prefer to let the music speak for itself and Buzzbands.LA does a pretty [...]
Trying to pinpoint where Kelis will go next has never been the easiest of tasks. Bursting out of the gate with the left-field alt-urban mastery of her early (mostly Neptunes-produced) material (and snatching up a few major smashes along the way with deathless earworms like "Caught Out There" , "Milkshake" and "Bossy" ), the left-field R&B diva raised many a eyebrow when she opted to go full on Glowstick with her last effort, 20102s dance-minded Flesh Tone , a set that dominated rave floors and thrilled many critics. [...]
The saying sadly goes that "All good things must come to an end", and as much as we yearned for Migue l's experimental Y3K-soul-themed freebie series Art Dealer Chic to be the exception to the rule, the set has alas come to a close with yesterday's arrival of the third and final volume , another three-track thrill to further strengthen the notion of the singer/ songwriter/ producer being the R&B artist to beat in 2012. Opening cut "Party Life" helps conclude Chic on a celebratory note, with Miguel once again [...]
Apr 25, 2012, 1:16am
NOMP
From the info I’ve been able to gather, Until The Ribbon Breaks (U.T.R.B. for short) is a project of Cardiff based Pete Lawrie and producer Rollo Armstrong. Pressure is U.T.R.B.’s first offering and it’s a brilliant coming together of electro, post dubstep and smooth R&B vocals. Check out the slightly NSFW video for Pressure below and if you like what you hear you can download the song for free as well. [...]
Only a few short weeks after dropping the amazing mini-set Art Dealer Chic Vol. 1 , Miguel has unleashed the freebie collection's second volume featuring three new experimental-soul morsels to obsess over. Of the latest batch, it's the sleek and shiny electro-R&B throb of "...All" that has been earning our replay-form praise the most so far, the track finding Miguel projecting his Prince influences loud and proud as he puts his ambitious urges to tape. A striking advertisement of self set to a futuro-glazed space-funk soundtrack, [...]
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Todd Edwards Essential Mix
