The original version of mysterious London duo Snakehips ' "On & On" was pretty much A+ on it's own, its sensual, electro(& Ciara-sample)-glazed R&B shimmer and guest star/ Aussie vocalist George Maple 's lovely, effortless pipes equaling a relaxing hip hop-soul summer jam slow burn that made any attempt to remix the tune pointless, as such efforts would be bound to chip away at the song's perfection... ...that is, apparently, unless the people doing the remixing would happen to be the lead act themselves. Yes, having an artist remixing their [...]
We're pretty sure that at some point MNEK is probably going to want us to focus on his original material, but if the teen-aged singer-songwriter-producer opted on releasing a couple more EP's (or, hell, LP's) worth of his amazing R&B diva "re-fixes" until that time, we wouldn't mad at all. After offering up his own slant on cuts from Kelis , Sade and AlunaGeorge , among others, for this latest cover, MNEK turns his focus to the one and only Janet Jackson's Grammy-winning '93 jam "That's The Way Love Goes" , [...]
Thanks to a well-received EP and singles and the buzz-magnifiying benefits of being listed among BBC's Sound of 2013 top ten , anticipation is heavy for next week's release of British singer-songwriter Laura Mvula 's debut Sing To The Moon , her soulful, bewitching and quite unique brand of poetic lyricism, enchantingly complex compositions and a spine-tingling Nina Simone-like delivery hinting of the project landing as one of the year's most stand-out. Helping trigger even more hype for all things Mvula: this live take on the Michael Jackson ballad "Human Nature" [...]
It's not too often that a act manage to keep besting themselves with each new release, but that arguably seems to be the line of path for AlunaGeorge , each piece of newness emerging from the UK duo both offering a further refining of their pop-R&B sound while sounding like their catchiest offering yet. "Attracting Flies" is the latest tease from their forthcoming Body Music debut and it lands like a bowlful of earworm, from the playful whistly riffs that occasionally pop up within its turn-of-the-century urban contemporary punch to its serving of a [...]
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 [...]
In the wake of good kid, m.A.A.d city 's overwhelming acclaim, current hip hop MVP Kendrick Lamar has been popping up in some interesting places recently, whether through the two posse cut entries he contributed to A$AP Rocky's debut and an attention-grabbing hook-up with 50 Cent that managed to actually live up to the hype, or in less obvious guest turns that found him sharing track space with Dido and The Lonely Island . Now, here he is helping to break singer-songwriter/ global sensation (and [...]
At this point, it'd probably be foolish to bet against a track boasting a Dev Hynes production/ female vocalist combination. In fourth quarter-released collaborations with Solange ("Losing You") and Sky Ferreira ("Everything Is Embarrassing"), that recipe ended up birthing two of 20122s best singles, tunes heralded not only for their richly textured, retro-washed productions but also for their aching lyrical depictions of women made emotionally fragile at the hands of sour romances. Further laying the groundwork in establishing himself as this generation's Babyface (another revered songsmith with a talented knack for writing [...]
For all of "Diamonds" ' success and worth as a good pop song, it never really quite gelled all that comfortably as a Rihanna track, the lyrics' mature illustration of an epic romance (give or take a "moonshine and molly") seeming to demand a diva vocalist a bit more convincing and warm and able to provide a richer lung power to make the ballad truly soar. Sounds like a job for Jessie Ware who, during a trip to the BBC Live Lounge studio, opted on covering on the chart-topper, [...]
As exciting as it is to simply hear that James Blake is going to finally drop the full-length follow-up to his stunning 2011 self-titled debut in just a few short weeks, that internal giddiness is nothing compared to the jolt of YAS!!!! that enters the body when actually aurally digesting the new project's hours-old first sample "Retrograde". Almost immediately positioning itself in Song of The Year territory from its opening sixty seconds alone (where James does nothing but wordlessly warble over a sparse bed of handclaps and piano), "Retograde"'s slow-burning [...]
With the kind of massive critical impact Kendrick Lamar's debut album had upon its release late last year, we've pretty much expected a large chunk of 2013 to be filled with an onslaught of remixes, freestyles and edits re-interpreting every inch of the set, with many of them being of a direct-to-trash bin quality. This stab at good kid 's "Poetic Justice" from Brighton songbird Elli Ingram is a definite keeper though. First off, homegirl's voice, all full-bodied soulful, is the type that could get a standing ovation from simply reciting [...]
When we last heard Sam Smith , the London singer was bringing the goods as the soulful voice behind Disclosure 's sparkling glitch-house thump "Latch" . On new cut "Lay Me Down", the credits are switched (it's a Smith cut produced by Disclosure and Jimmy Napes ), but the results are no less sublime. This time though, the dancefloor swerve is left behind for a stripped-back ballad arrangement, one that brings all the focus upon a masterful Smith vocal showcase that flutters and soars in all the right places, bringing all the necessary emotional [...]
Apparently the fact that we've entered a whole new calendar year hasn't stopped everybody and their mama from continuing to try to add new artistic shades to Frank Ocean 's deathless multi-Grammy nominee "Thinkin Bout You" . AlunaGeorge have added themselves to the seemingly hundred-artist-long list of acts who've taken on the Channel Orange gem, and while the move doesn't rank as the most original (at this point, we'll gladly drop a few bucks for someone, hell anyone , to offer a unique swipe at [...]
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 [...]
Looking at the quality material London talent Jermaine Riley has been dropping in the past year and change, we wouldn't be surprised if his name become somewhat of a big deal in 2013 R&B. Dude has a good voice, but even better, he's got some strong songwriting chops, a skill that rises to the forefront when checking out the numerous "re-fix"'s he's handled, R&B freestyle/ covers involving him taking pre-existing hit instrumentals and lacing them with new lyrics and melodies that result in tunes that sound like they could be radio hits all on their own. [...]
With a string of amazing live performance YouTube R&B covers taking on names like The Weeknd , Frank Ocean and Beyonce and a one-off drop/ collaboration with producer Kwes that deserved the same kind of insta-Internet adulation that landed on refreshingly different female soul-pop-merging entries like Solange's "Losing You" and Sky Ferreira's "Everything Is Embarrassing" , English songbird Eliza Doolittle left our tongues wagging for a full-length platter before the year flip. Alas, that never came to be, but a consolation prize has been delivered with [...]
UK dance-pop princess Katy B 's excellent 2011 debut On A Mission served a endlessly fetching supply of silky R&B vocals being the soothing eye of the storm in the midst of huge, beat-heavy nightlife sonics, provoking many to cite Aaliyah as a major influence on her sound. For the opening number on her new, guest-littered fre-EP Danger , Katy makes that artistic connection even more explicit through the song's title ("Aaliyah") and EDM-esque stylistic homage to the late, great Baby Girl, but takes things a meta-step further with a [...]
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 [...]
Had the decision to choose what song Jessie Ware would cover on her BBC Live Lounge appearance been left to us, you better believe we would have went the predictable route and had her tackle some Sade. If such a move would have been considered too "on the nose" by her (an understandable reaction considering the similarities), our consolation requests really would have proven to be just as "original": perhaps Lisa Stansfield or Soul II Soul as a shout-out to some other classic Brit-soul act; or, expanding on Ware's appreciation for a good quiet storm groove, [...]
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 [...]
Mixtape Maestro
listen to Ghost cover Depeche Mode's "Waiting for the Night"
Disclosure – When A Fire Starts To Burn
New Sound // “Better Off” // Quadron featuring Kendrick Lamar
Luce, Silvia Capasso: testo e video della finalista di The Voice of Italy
