I have shazam’d the same song three times this morning. This says a lot for my attention span.
But hey, this is the song and it’s AMAZING. It features Azealia Banks disser and dissee, Angel Haze.
Rudimental have been one of the UK’s most exciting new bands of the last 12 months and I can’t wait to see them in the sunshine at Glastonbury complete with their honking horn section. They’ve scored their 2nd #1 this week with Waiting All Night, even scoring the biggest first week single sales of the year, with the album ‘Home’ out next week.
Emeli Sande fans have no fear – she’s on the album – TWICE! Another interesting, and unexpected feature is Becky Hill – a The Voice UK alumni. I thought she was ace so will be good to hear what her track ‘Powerless’ sounds like.
It first appeared towards the end of last year, and is just a gentle loungey, groove which Christian has pointed out samples Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell’s 1967 b-side ‘If This World Were Mine.’
Cute video. Warning – it features an unexpected giraffe. And that’s not a sentence you can often use.
Tegan & Sara produced by The Knife. This is Kate Boy.
In a shock twist for a country renown for a real lack of good music, Kate Boy are Swedish. Well three of them are – the charmingly named Hampus, Oskar and Markus – and they’re joined by Australian Kate Akhurst on vocals.
Whether they are pop svengalis who have discovered a singing puppet remains to be seen. They are currently running the ‘oooh we’re mysterious’ template.
This took a couple of listens, but the vibes have got me.
Lion Babe is producer Lucas Goodman and vocalist Jillian Hervey, daughter of all round amazing woman Vanessa Williams. This is reason enough to have a listen.
Chloe Howl is properly ripe for mischief. I have no doubt this girl is going to become a tabloid fixture very soon.
Just look at that face.
I was lucky enough to go to Columbia this week to hear some of Chloe’s forthcoming stuff. She was signed when she was 16 and brought to the label’s attention by someone from Republica who is now her manager (not Saffron!) Since then she’s been in the studio with the likes of Eg White and generally done some growing up into an incredibly confident young woman.
She’s definitelygot a touch of the Kate Nash & Lily Allen about her but I love that. Kate’s first album was such a girly listen, full of tales of friendship and things going ‘shit’ and Chloe has that same totally ‘one of us’ vibe about her. Girls will love her, boys will want her. Total win.
Very exciting. She’s rehearsing with a live band now and things will begin properly happening I think around May time. For now, download her ‘Rumour’ EP for free right now. It’s brilliant.
A classy slice of electro soul is ‘Closer’, the 2nd single from Lulu James. It sounds like it could have been on that Beth Ditto solo EP and screams new diva loved by the Horsemeat Disco crowd. It slides in nicely next to Jessie Ware, but with nastier nails.
The only complaint is that it could certainly do with ‘going off’ much more when it hits the chorus, but this is an exciting start. Lulu is 21, from South Shields and newly signed to RCA – she was one of my picks for the Sound of 2013 poll and I’m really keen to see what comes next.
Her first single was the much smoother ‘Be Safe’ and it came out on, of course, Black Butter Records
I thought I had posted about this lot a while ago. But no!
Signed to Columbia, MKTO seems to be a US only project at the moment as at last check no one at the UK label had heard of them! They are singer/songwriter Tony Oller and rapper/lyricist Malcolm David (who played Walt in Lost) and obviously really couldn’t think of an imaginative name so plumped for their intials.
‘Thank You’ is their debut single and it’s a really positive youth anthem. It’s got the combined feel of Fun and B.o.B and I think it could really connect and be huge!
I am going to spend most of January catching up on things I missed last year. I’m currently enjoying working my way through lots of people’s Best of 2012 spotify lists. Here is mine by the way.
This is my favourite thing I’ve found so far. Salsa your way through a snowy weekend!
90s rave aficionados – heads up! This is Mainline.
Coming out via Defected on 4 Feb, it’s the new single from German DJ, Tensnake – full of snares and fizzy drums, with a topline to get any North West dancefloor filling up. And on that topline is yet another Black Butter Records signee – Syron.
She’s 19, from South London and I know her best from her feature on 2012′s Spoons by Rudimental. Here’s another track she put out last year to much critical acclaim. Buzzing nicely in all the right circles, it’s just a matter of time until she scores a feature on a chart smash.
