Gold Panda returns following the release of his 2010 debut Lucky Shiner with a sophomore effort titled Half of Where You Live. For the Essex raised producer the new album seems to represents a sizeable shift from the nostalgia-capturing productions he offered on Lucky Shiner, to a more globally influenced sound. Rich textures from the Far East and South America can be heard amongst his laid-back, still glitched electronic productions. Perfect Monday servings.
NYC outfit Follow Me have been steadily making a name for themselves through remixes of classic tracks like TLC’s ‘Unpretty’ and The Isley Brothers ‘Prize Possessions’ over the past year or so, but this weekend saw them release their first (non-remix) single titled ‘Somethin’ Bout You’. The electronic, groove heavy production builds around a classic 1996 R&B sample (can you name that tune without googling?) which ends up being a really colourful summer-ready jam – that you can download for free here.
J. Cole set the web alight this past weekend when he released his latest song ‘N*ggaz Know’. Like most things he touches the track refocuses and reemphasises his often often underrated lyrical strengths and his ability to build vivid stories through verses. His new album Born Sinner is expected to drop June 18th.
After debuting her new single ‘What Love is Made Of’ earlier this month, London’s reigning princess of the dance, Katy B, returns with her new video featuring a slew seriously kitted out whips and boy racers. This tune is probably just the boost you needed this morning.
Joey Bada$$ continues to excite hip hop fans across the board with the arrival of this new track titled ‘Word is Bond’ produced by Static Selektah. Lifted off his just announced Summer Knights EP due out June 12th, ‘Word is Bond’ further exemplifies his Joey’s lyrical finesse and of course, his on-going homage to the golden era. High hopes are being mounted for that upcoming debut album.
Danish duo Quadron follow up their critically acclaimed and much loved self-titled debut album with Avalanche, a 10 track long player filled with warm soulful tones, rhythmic funk and pop imagery. Coco. O and producer Robin Hannibal have certainly progressed since their last outing – their sounds has grown richer, more vivid and certainly a lot more confident. A few tracks have leaked over the past couple days, including their Kendrick Lamar collaboration ‘Better Off’ but we wanted to reframe from listening until we could hear the entire release, which we can now do via the New York Times.
Banks releases the video for her Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs produced new single ‘Warm Water’. The songs simplistic black and white video echoes the mood of the ballad and depicts Banks being physically embraced by her love interest (portrayed here by L.A rapper Joon) in between transitions of colourless textures. Really love this song.
Brownie points for all those who already know the obscure song Kilo Kish covers here. Course you do. Take a listen as Kish takes a unique stab at ‘Give It To You’, the sole solo hit by Jordan Knight (NKOTB) released back in 1999 (written by Robin Thicke and produced by Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis). Her version is paced down, darker & far sexier than the original and although it features a new sultry post-Bachelor structure, her version still captures the instant-classic melody of the original.
You’ll remember back in December 2011 we introduced you to Julian Cruz, when out-of-nowhere he released his single ‘Potion’, followed by his fascinatingly dark Black Heartmixtape in March the subsequent year. As per, very little was (is) known of him except that he’s from from Toronto (tick) and was rumoured to be associated with The Weeknd (tick). Following the release of his debut project Julian quickly returned to obscurity releasing no new material since 2012… Until now.
Yesterday and true to character he randomly uploaded a set of new singles titled ‘Get Yours PT. II’ and ‘No Matter What’ – both of which sink even deeper into his R&B obsession. At his core Julian is very clearly a 90′s R&B fiend, but thanks to the sonic-pull of his generation he’s confidently able to contextualise his influences into sexy, avante-garde centrepieces. You’ll recall early notions of bygone heros like Ginuwine, Chico DeBarge, Donnell Jones and Jon B while listening to ‘Get Yours PT. II’ and ‘No Matter’ (conversely, there may even be a little Janet influence somewhere in there too) but most promising is that everything this time rounds feels a lot more focused, polished and concise.
Kendrick Lamar enlists one of Britain’s biggest exports to assit on the latest remix of his seminal ‘Bitch, Don’t Kill My Vibe’ single. Not content dominating the adult-contemporary arena, Emeli Sande is introduced a new generation of hip hop followers by adding vocals to Lamar’s biggest track to date. A very smart move on both sides and the results are pretty nice, bonus. Who else could’ve got Sande to say “f*ck” and “p*ssy” on a track?
