Put simply, Irish-bred fusionist Sabre is one of the least diluted ‘roadman-folk’ offerings from a British major. Lonely Are The Brave has a thematic maturity, vocal grit and musical integrity I’d not expected from the commercial debut. There’s pleasing nods to The Roots’ ‘What They Do’ and Portishead’s ‘Glory Box’ which itself sampled Isaac Hayes (excuse my former crate-digging glee). And despite being firmly in a vintage-Soul-with-a-relateable-face era, it’s Maverick’s weathered, rootsy voice perpetrated with the feelings of a drifter that really grip the listener, holding this collection together with dusty drum breaks and Stax hints before we’re led to inevitable Sam Cooke territory.
Whilst there may have been blatant potential to expand towards a Reggae palette, unfortunately that genre’s not in conveyor belt fashion enough yet for labels – so don’t mind the delays on a rumoured Plan B skank-friendly third set or the mythologized Winehouse Reggae album (previously rejected by Universal), things might change take a turn after that…
The above are snippets only. Album is out Jan 30th 2012.
Brand new video from the darkwave Brooklyn production duo comprised of Lauren Flax and Lauren Dillard. They released two really great Goth n’ B buzz singles in the shape of ‘You’ which featured a revitalized Nina Sky and ‘Days’ with The XX’s Romy Madley-Croft earlier this year.
“We’re all just animals,” declares a glaze-eyed Holly Miranda on the feature, and whilst there are minor hints of Gaga and Princess Leia on Tatooine up in the visual, the track itself is a decent follow-up, all be it leaning more Pop whilst keeping enough of the lid off to let out a little industrial spook and Jane Austen drama.
If you’re not looking to reverse your whip into the back wall of your Future Garage because you want to Ayrton Senna it through the night running deer over, drunk, here’s the way forward. Beautifully low frequency bursts as 2-Step/R&B ghosts accelerate with cold winds and vacuous Witch-Housey reverbs: crickets of percusson top off the dusk skank factor. In the age of the danceable sound design – this one’s an absolute bass-face cracker from the Canadian in Leeds.
José James just unleashed a 3 track EP of live recordings from his concert at the Triple Door in Seattle. Live renditions of ‘Code’, ‘It’s All Over Your Body’ and his most recent single ‘Trouble’ are included – relax into this one.
Dear oh dear, Brainfeeder signee Lapalux screws down, sexies up and ambient pads out this recently popular Wonk cut to sweet hell almighty. If my (marginally fallen) childhood hero Timbo knew just how far his sonic seeds had spread, the ageing bastard would be proud. I mean this isn’t a bad remix for a geezer from Essex is it?
Our love for the Young Turk that’s pricked ears (partial thanks SBTRKT) in ’11 runs deep. Would it be fair to argue that Sampha’s a musical martian? He pushes Soul towards it’s Electronic fringes, whilst donating that identifiable, addictive, comatose vocal – laying it over progressive riddim choices like eggs.
Here he flexes his refixing with bleeping insanity and bass decay, turning indie-pop duo Charlift’s original into an ultra-mod R&B 360 degree flying saucer.
What Ifan is doing right now is coming into such a realm of it’s own, that also by now you should’ve dismissed any Blake-based scuttlebutt. How the young producer glides across the Post-apartheid-rhythm-lines over the course of these five & a half minutes makes for a demanding listen. Slices of synthetic organ and corporeal symphony drifting over Off-Step, as strings vertigo with silky ricochets of siren-voice turning the ground to an orchestral Winter wonderland disco with a subby little soul. It’s sweeping, intricate and lush as f**k – transports ’40s romance to a dim bedroom dancefloor.
Forthcoming on Treehouse out in Jan via label Push & Run. Oh & shouts to the YouTube DJs by the way, holding down the planets by uploading radio rips like the one above. You man – life-savers.
This man got my attention after putting out what came to be one of my summer jams (‘Looking at Me’). Here is the latest visual offering from Liverpool’s KOF. The video builds on the theme of the song, depicting negative images and false depictions within music and music videos. KOF (who also directed the piece) say’s ‘we should be proud of who we are and not try to imitate things that we see, especially when we can not relate or do not believe in them. Further if there is to be a change to be made, it’s up to us as individuals to make it’. Preach brother preach. Looking forward to new material as ever from this guy. Keep putting in work!
As part of Sweetheart of Kairi (introduced you to here)… I have been in hot pursuit of more from this talented individual. This track filled the void. Beautiful vocals, a nice understated 2 step bubbler which builds with a beautiful piano accompaniment. I wish I was walking along a deserted Island to this one. Looking forward to more from the collective.
A collaborative EP between Connecticut based producer Color Plus, and New Jersey based jazz guitarist Eric Zolan. Need I say more?! This is a beautiful EP, nice guitar chops, well produced downbeat but hard grooving drums with nice twisted vocals stabs and synths used sparingly for good measure too. Me likey.
Maharba comes with a tasty refix of Ghosts Pt. 2 which originally dropped on the 2009 Shlo-Fi EP. The EP has recently got a re-release by the good people over at Error Broadcast. Ambient bliss. Smashing stuff.
Last night Bilal joined The Roots on Jimmy Fallon and together performed ‘The Other Side’ (up top) and ‘Tip the Scale’ (after the jump) off the bands new album undun.
The album, the bands 13th, is an accomplished body of work – masterful in every way. It’s out now and it’s imperative you get yourself a copy.
In today’s ever evolving online orb, many blogs have come and gone. Rebranded, expanded and/or combusted. Fast approaching our 4th year, PinBoardBlog has continually strived to deliver fresh and progressive sounds covering a wide spectrum of underground and mainstream music. We delve into the depths of the Soundclouds, the Bandcamps and YouTubes to showcase the very best in music, aiding your exploration into new sounds and new artists.
While serving the online community we were asked by Notion magazine to venture into the world of print. The influential publication approached us to do a special feature with Syco signee, Labrinth, for their ‘Print Vs. Online’ edition.
The PinBoard power team of 4 directed, styled, photographed, edited and conducted the interview for the piece, released a couple weeks ago. With Labrinth as our subject, the feature was rich in musical discussion – dissecting each aspect of this young mavericks musical persona, influences, attributes and history.
Take a look at the images from the six page spread (which also gets a mention on the front cover, beautifully adorned by Katy B) up top and below. And check the entire feature for free via Notion’s website; then go buy it from your local newsagents, magazine shops and WHSmiths’.
On Saturday 21st January, Mr Peterson is back with his annual worldwide awards at KOKO and it’s another year of stellar talent. The seventh year anniversary will have performances from Thundercat, Michael Kiwanuka, SBTRKT, Bad Bad Not Good, Julio Bashmore and plenty more acts to be announced.
Cop your tickets from here. You know PinBoard is all over this…
‘SEOD’ is a seedy Funk-meets-Disco number birthed out of the imagination of London based producer Kindness. The track follows his lead single ‘Cyan’, which contrary to popular opinion – I’m not sure I prefer. Unquestionably, it too is a great and infectious 80′s inspired pop number – but I feel more of an affinity to the dark undertones of this, especially at 01:37 when that Chaka Khan style bass falls through.
Kindness is readying the release of his forthcoming album co-produced by Philippe Zdar which can be expected early 2012.
