No sad words, no retrospective rhetoric – today we just remember him.

Rest in Peace Michael Jackson. We miss you.

Super star Beyonce will be performing a special one-off intimate gig at Shepherds Bush Empire on June 27th. The money-can’t-buy tickets can only be attained by entering Belverdere’s exclusive competition via facebook.com/BelvedereVodkaUK. The winner will also win one night in a hotel, a luxury dinner and travel from home to London – all courtesy of Belverdere.

The competition ends on June 25th, winners will be contacted on June 26th and the concert is on June 27th – also the day of Beyonce’s new album 4 is released.

Don’t wait. Just enter.

Update: The event will begin with a screening of a new documentary about the making of 4, followed soon after by Beyonce and her band

Previously unreleased Little Brother. This Hi-Tek produced beat appeared on Reflection Eternal’s Revolutions Per Minute in the shape of ‘Got Work’ last year. Now we can hear the Phonte & Big Pooh version. Schweet.

Download: Little Brother – ‘I Got Work For Ya’

Two words: Marry me.

In actual fact there are very few words for Jill Scott’s latest Billboard cover – she looks absolutely incredible. Better than she ever has (and she’s always looked pretty fly). The cover photographed by Steven Gomillion & Dennis Leupold’ (who also did her Ebony and album/single covers) is in celebration of Jill’s new album The Light of the Sun which is, as we reported, predicted to debut at #1 in the States this week – this will mark Scott’s first ever #1 one album. Great times! Reas the full cover story here.

The Light of the Sun is released on June 27th in the UK – pre-order it here.

This years Glastonbury line-up is as impressive as any other: U2, Coldplay, Radiohead, Wu-Tang, Morrissey, Janelle Monae, The Chemical Brothers and of course, the Queen, Beyonce. And unlike me, many people from around the world would have loved to be in attendance – well, we can offer a little consolation prize.

The BBC is streaming a live cast of the entire show via their website/iPlayer which is normally restricted to UK residents only but today (and presumably for the rest of the weekend) it’s open to all our international friends too. There are about a million different stages so naturally you won’t be able to watch all the performances, it’s a bit of a lottery – but they always play the headliners. Head over the BBC’s website to check out the ‘other channels’ too.

So… Enjoy the festival from the comfort of your own home. No mud.

Oh, and for extra measure you can view the line-up schedule here (UK times only). But just know Beyonce is on on Sunday at 21:45-23:15 (GMT).

Update: If the player up top doesn’t work – click the ‘read more’ button and watch it there.

P..s If the stream doesn’t work, blame the Beeb!

Read more…

I wrote about Erykah Badu aka DJ Lo Down Loretta Brown’s impending mixtape back in mid April when it seemed like it would never come. Well it didn’t come since the release date was moved from April 29th to sometime in July.

Last night Badu told a crowd she could “melt any DJ’s face off in the building,” while at film screening. Some lucky folks will get to bear witness to her skills during the Black Girls Rock and Soul Tour at the Key Club in Hollywood and the next evening at BET’s fifth annual PRE dinner in celebration of BET Awards ’11. For their sake, hopefully no DJs will be in the building at either event.

July is right around the corner and hopefully by then we’ll all finally get to hear what what Ms. Brown has to offer.

In the meantime check out ‘You Don’t Have to be a Star’ featuring Maimouna Youssef and ‘Sal’s Pizzeria’ & ‘Everybody’ by Gods’Illa off their CPR BlendTape hosted by DJ Lo Down Loretta Brown herself.

I’m feeling most things, if not everything that comes out of the Brainfeeder camp, so this is right up my street. Give it a listen up top.

Two new bonus cuts from Bey’s deluxe edition of 4, which will be released exclusively via Target. The first is an up-tempo R&B-Pop track called ‘Lay Up Under Me’, the second is ‘Dance For You’ – a mid-tempo featuring some Prince inspired drums and a relentless organ.

I like both of these tracks – neither are sensational, but they make good additions to the album as a whole. And like on all the other songs found within 4, her voice on both sounds better than it ever has on record. ‘Lay Up Under Me’ & ‘Dance For You’ account for 2 of the 3 bonus tracks on the deluxe edition – we posted the third called ‘Schoolin’ Life’ yesterday – listen here.

Beyonce’s new album 4 is released on June 27th/28th.

‘Lay Up Under Me’

‘Dance For You’

The smashing new 12inch from PinBoard favourite Mr Beatnick has got the remix treatment courtesy of the Architeq. Some truly disgusting baselines and claps used to perfection on this remix. Make sure you cop it in all good record stores now ya heard. Shout to the Nutriot familaaaay.

Here is some dope broken beat goodness courtesy of Hyperdub. Ossie comes correct in this uplifting broken scorcher. Good vibes video… London stand up tall

We gave you the track, now peep the visuals. This one is from the forthcoming Weekend at Burnies. It’s coming for ya June 28th.

Everyone can make it. If you don’t believe me, check out our London girl Estelle doing it big and doing it right. After a disappointing buzz single (‘Freak’) and a few other directional distractions, here is the brand new single which features the Boss, taken from the new LP –  All Of Me.

This track has a nice summery feel and Estelle’s consistently improved vocals work nice against it. Also feeling that bassline that grooves throughout. It’s a solid entry back into the music world for Estelle. It’s definitely been a minute, so looking forward to more.

‘Play This Also’ comes off Cold Rock Stuf, J.Rocc’s debut album of original music ; His latest release is not a “DJ album” or a “beat album” and it’s not a “mixtape” – it is an LP of completely original instrumentals, filled with Hip Hop, Acid-Jazz, Electronica and Dance music influences. You can feel the vibe of the entire project from this one song – intense drum structures, erratic basslines, funky horn sections – this has a lot of energy.

Cold Rock Stuf was released April 5th via Stones Throw – cop it here.

Click cover to download

Always happy when TiRon and Ayomari drop something new. Today they release their new FreEP called En Kärlekshistoria, exclusive via the guys over at moovmnt. The extended player is a result of the two of them spending 12 days in Stockholm, when and where they decided release a “Swedish love story”. The project was produced by Sum Comfort and features Seinabo Sey on vocals. Unfortunately there isn’t a band camp link, so you’ll need to download it by clicking the cover up top.

Our homie SBTRKT drops off his first official video for ‘Wildfire’ which features the lead singer from Little Dragon, Yukimi Nagano. Love the visuals, a great interpretation for such a brilliant tune. ‘Wildfire’ comes off SBTRKT’s debut album due out on June 27th – which you can listen to in full here.