At this stage it’s very clear James Blake is out to keep you guessing as to what his forthcoming Overgrown album will sound like in full. After the LP’s first single ‘Retrograde’ blew us away with it’s post-Dilla mindset, he dropped ‘Digital Lion’ and ‘Voyeur’ – all very contrasting songs that offer little insight into any one direction. But then that’s the beauty of what Blake does, he did it with ‘Limit To Your Love’ back in 2011- the first single off his self-titled debut album led many to believe his LP would offer one thing when in fact it offered something very different.
In anycase ‘Our Love Comes Back’ is a live-recorded track offered for free via Amazon – the soft, gospel-like ballad demonstrates a more familiar side of Blake’s artistry and will appear on the singer/producer’s new album due out April 8th.
As promised we present ‘Retrograde’ the first single taken off James Blake’s forthcoming new album Overgrowndue out April 8th. Premiered just moments ago on BBC Radio 1 the song is another shining example of the diversity in Blake’s musical skill-set. Bedded with an undeniable Dilla-swing (befittingly it’s JayDee’s birthday today) and one of the most powerful (and passionate) vocal performances we’ve heard from him to date, the song diverts from the folk-style productions found on his debut and focuses on a more fuller, structured, embellished sound. As he always seems to do Blake has again thrown a spanner in the works, diverting the predictable and upping the ante by a million trillion.
“Unreleased Jai Paul Beats. Have a quick listen as gonna b taken down by our manager in the morning.” – Two Inch Punch. And, modern internet folklore continues with this re-surfacing of a snippet Jai had on his MySpace a few years back. Ahead of his time even then, it features a familiar Feist inspiration source more recently popularised in 2010 by James Blake. Here it’s organic, punching Dilla’esque funk and hypnotic alarms all lightly dusted and taking you up, up, into the clouds. One can only imagine where this goes past the cruel 53 second cut-off. With ‘Jasmine’ already being a favourite of the year, how much longer the wait for new material Mr. Paul? Obsessed. Repeat x 100,000.
A broody, almost Portishead-vibing slow jam from producer Warren Xclnce, featuring fellow Brit singer/songwriter Etta Bond – herself no stranger to making trippy erotica – we pretty much fired off our first 22Tracks earlier this year with ‘Come Over’ in the final list. Here the North London producer’s guitar swirls as frozen chords stab the dark over anesthetized boom claps, crossing the divide between jazzy Dilla-off-shoot swing, Geoff Barrow noir and narcotic R&B. Bond’s songwriting I always find quite commanding; she fans herself under Xclnce’s ventilated production with a spidery melody, that creeps and crawls across the beat spinning a web of inviting rhetoric. If this track was a cloud of second-hand smoke, it would be exiting a gun. Great record, psychological, sensual and a bit dangerous.
‘Examine Me’ is from a forthcoming Warren Xclnce EP of other druggy joints like the Jill Scott interpolating ‘Freedom’, as Etta Bond’s Emergency Room LP with Raf Riley that bore sensationalist fun ‘Boring Bitches’ is out now to download free here.
The boys aren’t the only ones doing it big right now.
East meets West in every sense, and the pursuit of warped next level Electro-Soul and proton-powered Hip-Hop blends make LA-residing Beats baby TOKiMONSTA and Philly’s unorthodox Suzi Analogue one formidable unit. They recently got Radio 1 with ‘Nxt Msg’ but there’s more fantastic moments across Boom like the retro-future take on mid-90s boom-bap R&B that is ‘Time To’ (peep the video trip) or the straight cut-from-Dilla-cloth ‘Mind Of’.
The two radical ladies who’ve never pandered to the concept of playing it safe, after a few years of each doing their respective thing, have really excelled on this dual pallete showcasing Toki’s wonkified Brainfeeder’isms and Suzi’s polarizing, Jazz-pariah vocal approach. Chemistry and understanding between them is palpable. Stream the 11 track album below and download it free courtesy of Scion Ave here.
There’s no such thing as ‘too much Dilla’ and despite a healthy posthumous catalogue, new music from the legendary producer is never a bad thing.
This latest production features Chuck Inglish (The Cool Kids) and Boldy James and comes off Rebirth of Detroit - an album curated by the Yancey family due out this week. As with everything he touched ‘Detroit Game’ is soaked in Soul and while perhaps not his most exciting beat, it’s muddy Funk infusion will no doubt cause a few neck injuries.
A sold out night at one of the city’s most credible venues. With much expectation for a little known jazz pianist and much ado about what he could deliver and more importantly WHO he would bring on stage. There was a clear buzz in the atmosphere. Robert Glasper had arrived…
As news spread earlier this week of a new posthumous album entitled Rebirth of Detroit from the late, great J.Dilla curated by his mother Ms. Yancey, along with a accompanying documentary – the projects first single has been revealed. Featuring none other than the flamboyant wordsmith Danny Brown (who recently blew peoples socks off with his collaboration with Darq E Freaker). ‘Jay-Dee’s Revenge’ sees the emcee jumping on a truly surreal/trippy sounding Dilla beat – it’s quite incredible to hear Jay Dee’s productions continually fitting so effortlessly among some of today’s most eccentric artists. This is actually insane!
If this is an indication of what’s to come… Well, damn.
They’re fusing Indie-Pop with Soultronica with a sound akin to Santigold and Sonnymoon but San Fransisco hailing band The Seshen have offered an insightful look into their own direction with this, their new self-titled debut album. We first featured these guys back in November ’11, when they released their single ‘Oblivion’ – it’s exciting to see from that how they’ve shaped their full long player…
Musically rich, their album is brimming with elaborate arrangements – they interestingly combine arpeggiated chords with deep subs and dominant drum patterns. They also incorporate an ethereal Pop aesthetic – in parts (see: ‘Time War’) reminiscent of Ladyhawke. On vocals Akasha Orr provides a strong performance, displaying an emotional investment, gelling everything together.
It’s intelligible why The Seshen cite Little Dragon, Erykah Badu & J.Dilla as some of their influences – it’s all in there, just molded differently.
Wow, who knew? A Cee-Lo Green demo from 2007 originally intended for the late Whitney Houston has finally been unveiled through Wajeed’s new Bling47 website (last month they also brought us unreleased Dilla exclusives). Spoiling us. Read the full story here.
Heartbreaking, true-to-life songwriting from Green and a really organic thump on that moving beat courtesy of Detroit legend Wajeed – makes you wonder what could have been.
