I defy anyone to stay still and unmoved by that ridiculously epic break down in ‘Crystalline’. Good grief. Peep Björk and her crew skankin’ out on Jools Holland.

… And so it was.

We’ve been championing this young man for a while, exposing his extraordinary talent – now he also receives the Holland co-sign. Watch up top as Michael Kiwanuka performs his soul-stirring single ‘I’m Getting Ready’.

His voice, his melodies, his arrangements are like a time machine.

Oh, and watch this space please. #thatisallfornow

Last night, BBC Radio 1 continued their Masterpieces series on Zane Lowe’s daily show. Picking his choice of top influential albums over the past 10 years and dedicating two hour prime radio airtime  to that artist. A great idea and a perfect way to listen to some music that has stamped it’s place in music history.

The series started off with Smashing Pumpkins and last night was Amy Winehouse’s turn. Zane delved into the full album that catapulted her to worldwide success – Back to Black. Aside from playing the whole album, there are interviews with fans of her work including, Lady Gaga, Mary J Blige and Frank Ocean. As well as her past collaborators Salaam Remi and Mark Ronson commenting and Amy herself explaining how certain songs came about, discussing En Vogue, Sarah Vaughn, Mos Def, Smokey Robinson, etc and fond musical memories. A fitting tribute on the whole.

For those who want to revisit the album or be introduced,  click here to listen to the whole documentary in full.

New visuals taken from undun.

December 6th people

Pronounced ‘Wizard’, this is the new Kid Cudi venture with frequent production collaborator D Dot, claimed to be Punk Rock orientated and , erm, profanity-free.

Naturally I hadn’t many hopes for this incursion (rap-rock vanity vehicles) and despite this track being more Protopunk chopped & screwed – it’s sinister, pneumatic feel is  pretty damn scuzzy. Plus Cudi sounds lean again; love him or hate him, one thing you’ll always gather from his tireless promo campaigning is that the Kid is a more creative thinker than alot of his former publicized freshman peers.

While Gonjasufi readies the release of his new album with a new single, he continues to support the free EP he put out a few weeks back by releasing a new video for ‘Demonchild’. Once again, his enigmatic character is brought to the forefront – this aphotic ode is shrouded in sonic mysticism. It’s Satan inspired animated video aids the imagery.

Here’s a peculiar little number that dropped in my inbox a couple days ago. Skittery, sleepy and paranoid – why hell it’s Retro-Post-Dub to the point of being right back at Trip-Hop. Whilst reminded of 90s Morcheeba, the swaying, subtly spoken-sung, medicine-woman mantras of South-Shields based 21 year old Lulu James are cast out like spells over chilly coastal town electronica, produced by Dom P.