If last year’s RBMA Carnival party is anything to go by – this year will be immense. Returning once again to bring the vibes is Major Lazer, along with a whole host of special DJ’s and mystery guests. The party is hosted under the Westway way on Portobello Road and is completely free, including free food & drink – all day. Yes.

… The catch? You have to apply for tickets and entry is based on first come first serve – last year they all went within 3 minutes.

Registration opens on August 11th at 10am via REDBULL.CO.UK/CARNIVAL. Make sure you’re on it early, these will be the hottest tickets in town come Carnival weekend.

In light of the recent riots in London organisers of the Notting Hill Carnival have said they’re monitoring the situation and will decide on whether or not the event will go ahead nearer the time. Lets pray these senseless criminals do not ruin one of this cities most beloved traditions.

Brand new video from Mercury Music Prize nominee Ghostpoet for his new single ‘Liiines’ which is taken off his critically acclaimed debut album Peanut Butter Blues & Melancholy Jam.

Ahead of it’s September 9th physical release the good folks over at Toyko Dawn Records have offered up a preview stream of Colonel Red’s new album Keep Walkin’.

Deep rooted in (neo)Soul, Jazz and Funk – this album is sure to satisfy most connoisseurs, especially those partial to little D’Angelo, Badu, Saadiq etc.

Red’s voice is beautifully toned, technically fantastic. His melodies and harmonies are excellently structured and sonically superb – the music which accompanies him (soulful piano & guitar sections, funky horns etc) is neoteric but still familiar and welcoming.

Keep Walkin’ is digitally available now.

This is pretty dope. Charlie Peters, a spoken word artist, inspired by D’Angelo has created a new piece of work called ‘Searching for James River’. The piece samples an old D’Angelo interview and sees Peters responding “to countless conversations Soul music fans have about music, art, legends and demons”. With beautiful production from George ‘G.P’ Pettus, ‘Searching’ ticks all the right boxes.

We waiting D.

It’s 2011 and two of the biggest artists in the world have released one of the biggest albums of the year with no leaks, achieving the ever elusive “release date”. Watch the Throne was released just hours ago exclusively on iTunes – I hear it’s already gone platinum. I’m listening to it right now, need to reserve my judgement til’ I listen to it a little more. In any case, if you haven’t copped it yet – you can listen to it in full via the stream below (shouts to HT). Have a listen, let us know what you think…

Watch the Throne is out now.

Click cover to download

Second installment of J. Cole’s Any Given Sunday series which he’s releasing in the run up to the release of his debut album Cole World: The Sideline Story. This one features three tracks ‘Bring Em’ In’, ‘Roll Call’ & ‘Be’ (Freestyle), download by clicking the cover up top.

Previous: J. Cole – “Any Given Sunday (Vol. 1)”

New song off Björk’s upcoming app-based album Biophilia called ‘Virus’.

… I know Björk’s new project has caused some confusion and to be fair, you’d be forgiven for finding it a bit difficult to understand. It is a little complicated. But I really hope you’re exploring her new music – regardless of the format or concept behind it this woman has been at the forefront of musical exploration for over 10 years and continues to push the boundaries (so much so that it’s perplexing!). The music she’s creating at the moment is among some of her most brave – it’d be a shame to miss out on it because of new digital format she’s experimenting with.

Previous: Björk – ‘Crystalline’
Previous: Björk – Cosmogony’
Previous: Björk – ‘Crystalline’ / ‘Telsa’ / ‘Mawal’ (Omar Souleyman Remix)

Click cover to download

Debut mixtape from Daley, who we currently featured in our ‘Rehearsal Rooms Introduces’ mini-series, entitled Those Who Wait. I’m about to get into this myself, so can’t say too much on it right now – but a voice like his, I can’t imagine being disappointed.

Happy Sunday.

I did mention how obsessed I have grown with Y’akoto – I actually can’t get enough of her.

I loved her first single ‘Tamba’, but I really, really, really love this song called ‘Baby Blues’. Y’akoto’s voice here helplessly conjures recollections of Nina Simone – deep, emotive and wise. Add to that the Bluesy dark undertones and pulsating drums and you have something utterly compelling. And she’s just 23 years old!

Y’akoto has an EP coming out August 26th entitled Tamba, unfortunately this song isn’t featured on it. Listen below…

New 30 minute mixtape from Thundercat, mixed by Sir FlyLo. Shenanigans Pt. 1 is a prelude to Thundercat’s forthcoming album The Golden Age of Apocalypse (August 30th) and features new, rare and previously unreleased songs (including some Erykah Badu FYI). Playing this as I type – you should definitely tuck into it.

Download: Thundercat – “Shenanigans Pt. 1″

Oi oi, want something to accompany your weekend? Got just the thing.

In the run up to Deviation’s double Carnival celebrations they’ll be releasing some special session podcasts. The first to drop is from last years Carnival party where DJ Zinc mashed things up with an epic ‘Back to 95′ Jungle set. Swear down – this has tunes for dayz (with a ‘z’) – I vividly remember the crew and I going buck wild at this point, no joke.

It’s also the perfect pre-cursor for the pending Carnival weekend as Zinc will be doing a special ‘Back to 96′ set at Deviation on 29th August. For more info and to pre-order/buy tickets – go here.

Listen and/or download the podcast via the Soundcloud player below.

As the world prepares for Björk’s new album Biophilia to drop (September 27th) the Icelandic mad scientist continues to  release a  slew of remixes of the her first two singles ‘Cosmogony’ & ‘Crystalline’. We’ve already heard Omar Souleyman’s variations (my mind is still blown, remarkable work) and now it’s time to hear Matthew Herbert’s. Listen to his accounts below…

Björk – ‘Cosmogony’ (Matthew Herbert Remix)

Björk – ‘Crystalline’ (Matthew Herbert Remix)

Ever since MisterAnd introduced us to Y’akoto, I have been a bit obsessed. Her voice is haunting, her music beautiful – I love everything about her to be completely honest. She’s already gotten the co-sign from Erykah Badu – you know what that means – and I for one am going to be keeping a close eye on her musings.

‘Tamba’ is the first single taken off Y’akoto’s forthcoming EP (of the same name) which is due out August 26th. The video for the title track just hit the interwebs – watch and listen up top…

I couldn’t tell you how many Amy Winehouse remixes, covers, tributes I’m being sent on a daily basis. It’s to be expected – musicians all around the world want to pay tribute – Amy meant a lot to a lot of people. But this tribute may mean something a little more than the others.

Ronnie Spector, lead singer of the legendary 1960′s girl group The Ronettes has paid homage to Winehouse by covering her #1 single ‘Back to Black’. Winehouse citied The Ronettes as one of her biggest musical influences, especially during the recording of Back to Black – so for Spector to honour her memory in this way is pretty special.

Once dubbed “the original bad girl of Rock’n'Roll” Spector regularly performed Amy’s music on stage and while this version was recorded some months back it’s now being released as a charity single benefiting Daytop Village substance abuse treatment centres.

The beat they chose is disappointing, should have stuck to the original but I love her voice, love the cause and most especially the sentiment.

Speaking to Rolling Stone (who premiered the song last week) Ronnie Spector said:

“I haven’t been this sad in a long time, about anyone in this business. I tried to go grocery shopping for my family, and I was walking like a ghost in the aisles. I could think about nobody but Amy… When I saw her two weeks ago on TV and she was all drugged out, drinking and stuff, I said, “Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it! Don’t become like I was 20 years ago! I cleaned up. You gotta clean up!” And two weeks later, she’s dead. I’m devastated… Every time I looked at her, it was like I was looking at myself. She had my beehive, my eyeliner, my attitude… Amy came to my show in London about six months ago, and she was so shy. She was hiding behind somebody, but I could see the hairstyle, and I knew she was there. That was all I needed. When I sang ‘Back to Black’, I could see the tears in her eyes, and there were tears in mine”.

SMASH.

The only one word that comes to mind when looking at Deviation’s double Carnival celebration line up. I’ve been sitting on some excluso information in regards to their forthcoming raves for a minute now (see, not all bloggers are bait) – it’s slyly been killing me – but now I can finally share. Get ready…

DEVIATION CARNIVAL SESSION EAST @ CAMP BASEMENT

- KODE 9 (JUNGLE/UKG)
- WOOKIE (CLASSIC GARAGE)
- WAAJEED
- DEGO
- BENJI B
- MOXIE
- MC JUDAH

£10 ALL NIGHT – 9PM-5AM

DEVIATION CARNIVAL SESSION WEST @ THE PARADISE

- DJ EZ (OLD SCHOOL GARAGE SET)
- DJ ZINC (BACK TO 96 JUNGLE SET)
- ALEXANDER NUT
- PHIL ASHER
- BENJI B
- SCRATCHA DVA
- RONNIE HEREL
- JOSEY REBELLE
- TERRI WALKER
- LIL SILVA
- MOXIE
- MC JUDAH

£10 ALL NIGHT – 6PM-2AM (Pre-sale here)

… S-M-A-S-H.

And lets not forget in between the two we have actual Carnival! This will probably be the most epic weekend of the year – you need to prepare, you need to sort yourself out and you need to get your tickets. Don’t f*ck this up. Go here, now.

See you on the [dance]floor.