I can’t lie, her recent collaboration with Chris Brown had me worried. Not to say ‘Put It Down’ is all bad, it isn’t – it just isn’t strong enough for Brandy and where she is right now. Combine this with a lack of promotion, the failure to release a video quick enough and the ever growing competitive market Brandy is facing – and well, sh*t could get real.

That said, Miss Norwood has now revealed that August 28th will be the day her much anticipated TwoEleven album will be released. Contrary to her earlier announcement of a June release. However, to ease the concerns of those like minded to me – lets not forget that she also confirmed that she is working with Frank Ocean, Timbaland and Rodney ‘Darkchild’ Jerkins on the new LP.

Frank Ocean has the capability of writing perfectly suited music for Brandy. He understands contemporary R&B better than most artists around at the moment (see: Beyonce’s ‘Miss You’ or his recent ‘Pyramids’) – I just hope Brandy (moreover, her label/team) choose the best song(s) he can offer. Timbaland has produced a number of brilliant tracks on her previous albums – they have an exciting chemistry. However, it’s Darkchild’s involvement that could potentially be most promising – providing they both go back to what works best for them and ignore current trends. Critically Brandy needs to avoid watered down, produced-just-for-radio songs (see: Brandy & Monica – ‘It All Belongs To Me‘)

As much of a commercial success this album needs to be, at this stage in her career – Brandy also crucially needs the critics on her side. For the first time in a long time Brandy is in a position to re-ignite her career and excite both old and new fans – but it rides on her ability to see and harness the current trends in R&B. For better or worse Usher’s ‘Climax’ did that for him (we’ll ignore the fact (or maybe we shouldn’t?) that he cocked it up with the Euro-Pop trash that followed) - with the right direction and the right songs, Brandy could do the same.

Lets hope this turns out right.

Plan B enlists Wu legend Raekwon for the official remix of his new single ‘Lost My Way’. Taken off his soundtrack album Ill Manors (July 23rd) the original version of the song is available for instant download as part of the album pre-order package. But for now – peep this remix featuring a killer verse from The Chef.

The song, like all songs off his new album, is featured in Ben Drew’s (Plan B) first feature-length film of the same name. The film is out now and definitely comes recommended.

In support of their new EP You Know You Like It, AlunaGeorge release their latest single ‘Put Up Your Hands’. The 2-Step influenced, Electro-Pop bubbler is suited perfectly for sunshine days like today. An instantly gratifying hook and sweet vocals from lead singer Aluna makes this a contender for the best song on their current extended player.

You Know You Like It is out now.

The wayfaring enigma that is Marques Toliver led me to ‘Sunset’, a new Deep House single he collaborated on with Belgium based producer Compuphonic. Toliver’s soulful and echoed vocals hover hypnotically over Compuphonic’s infectious summer-time instrumental to sublime effect.

I wasn’t expecting this, but I’m glad it’s here now. This should end your day rather nicely, turn it up though.

An sensual new video for Delilah’s cover of Minnie Ripperton’s ‘Inside My Love’. The dark, atmospherically thick record is a promising offering from the Parisian born, London-raised songbird – who was recently invited by Prince to join him during his Australian tour.

Ahead of the release of her debut album From the Roots Up on July 30th, Delilah will be embarking on her own headline tour around the UK, as well as performing at various festivals over the summer. Peep all her upcoming dates after the jump.

Read more…

News of D’Angelo’s upcoming album keeps getting better and better. Yesterday we reported that Q-Tip had begun producing for D’s long awaited comeback LP and today, long time friend and collaborator Questlove reveals even more insight…

Speaking to Rolling Stone, The Roots drummer said: “[the album is] going to throw people off the same way that Prince’s Dirty Mind threw his R&B fan base off. In the past few years, [D’Angelo has] discovered Bowie and Zeppelin, the Beatles, Pet Sounds, Captain Beefheart and Zappa”. He also reveals that around 30 songs have been recorded for the album over the past few years.

Fuelling the excitement even more, Questlove also revealed: “I saw a guitar in the studio and I was like, ‘What the hell’s this?… One night, when he didn’t know I was watching, he took a dinner break from recording. Suddenly, I heard [Funkadelic's] ‘Maggot Brain’ playing. I realized he was in the studio room matching it note-for-note. For the last 12 years, he’s been strumming the guitar… He is so painfully shy about it. I think in his head, if he doesn’t surpass Eddie Hazel, Santana, James Blood Ulmer and Frank Zappa as an axeman, he doesn’t want to share it with the world.”

“… I’ve never heard these sounds before. He’s very particular about his patches. He’ll take an ordinary sound and he’ll filter it through a guitar processor. He’ll take that particular sound and put some wave envelope noise on it, and he’ll put it back in the keyboard and that’s his sound. There’s song we worked on called ‘The Charade.’ There’s this symphonic trombone sound, which normally would be a cheesy sound Swizz Beatz uses. But he’ll take that sound and then put it through a guitar filter and put it back in the keyboard and then put it through another filter. It’s totally unique.”

No official release date has been announced yet but rumours point towards August. With D’Angelo, you never know – lets just hope whenever it is – it’s soon!

[via SP]

MNEK first grabbed our attention when he featured on Rudimental’s stunning ‘Spoons’. He followed up with a fascinating cover of Kelis’ ‘Get Along With You’ which he produced using just his iPhone. His maze-like vocal arrangement on that tune solidified how accomplished he was as a vocalist.

Back now with another refix – this time covering Kylie Minogue’s ‘Put Yourself In My Place’. Once again he quickly establishes the contours of his voice and the control he has over it; But this time while singing over a riddled instrumental of varying textures. Opening with James Blake-esque chords and a droning 4×4 beat, before transforming into a post-Dubstep expedition of contrasting influences.

Not necessarily as strong as his previous cover, but one that I think still shows off the potential this young man is uncovering.

After storming the charts stateside, 2 Chainz & Drake come through with new visuals for their single ‘No Lie’. Although there’s nothing exceptional about the video itself, the tune is still large.

Tweet is out to melt your heart with this one – here’s her latest #TweetTuesday offering.

Accompanied by just her guitar, she sings a near perfect melody – it’s difficult not to mention how pristine her vocals are on these songs. And impossible to ignore the way she layers her harmonies. Melt.

Q-Tip has revealed that ahead of his new solo album The Last Zulu (out on Kanye’s G.O.O.D Music label in 2013), he has begun producing new material for Kendrick Lemar, Soul singer Ledisi and most excitingly – D’Angelo. Speaking to Giant Step, the former A Tribe Called Quest front man said:

“I’m basically doing a lot of production right now and that’s going really well… I’m about to start my new album in the latter part of the summer and it should be out next year, so I’m excited about that. I’ve been excited about music in general, so it’s really good. I’m making music for other people and myself: Kendrick Lamar, D’Angelo, [and] Ledisi”. 

Definitely feels like there’s a lot to be excited about.