It’s been a long time since I have mistaken a homegrown talent for someone Stateside, but after repeatedly playing Jordan James’ opening track from his EP, I had no idea that he was British.

Based on his silky, unwavering tone alone, (which gives me slight hints of Donell Jones) and smooth laid back mid tempo beat provided by Herde Vim, I am instantly thrown back into a purer era of R&B. A time filled with layered harmonies, solid three minutes of emotion, heartbreak and everything else that falls under the love umbrella and of course a timely pause for a rapper to insert his two cents.  All ingredients found in this here track.

Forgive me.  In actual fact Jordan James is a young South West Londoner blending his influences together and recently unveiled the Cheeky Bastard EP. The rest of the project sidesteps slightly from ‘Fade’. Opting rather for darkened beats, rap verses and vocoder screwed vocals. But where he shines for me and steps out is on this track below. Looking forward to more of this.

[via DF]

Before the likes of How To Dress Well and Active Child  truly settled in to my post R&B wave playlist, d’Eon caught my ears last year with the equally melodic, equally shock out track ‘Transparency’ (Part 1) from last year’s Dark Bloom LP.

Now the Canadian returns with the same chord structure, but this time smoothing it out a little more. He also includes a decidated solo of twinkling digital ivories to replace the mid section too. This is coming from his forthcoming album dropping 5th June.

If indie label Warp didn’t announce on their Twitter recently that every producer’s producer, HudMo was involved in the recent 10th annivarsary campaign of longstanding gaming haven, Grand Theft Auto, then this little gem may have slipped by unnoticed.

Probably not one you’re going to request in the dance, but you may want to pull up this Puccini original a couple times, just to hear how HudMo’s operatic trill wave is quite genius.

Because those Disclosure boys are hell bent on proving to you that they’re the baddest production duo around, they’ve rightfully unveiled yet another superb single off their upcoming EP The Face.

We were sent their extended player a couple weeks ago and ‘Control’ was one of the tunes we were itching to share. Strong, screw-face UK Garage vibes here – that butters basslines and of course, sexy female lead vocals and loop work courtesy of Ria Ritchie. Nothing screams summer more than this. 99% sure this is what Queen Lizzy will be listening to before that flotilla business this weekend. She knows, don’t watch that.

The Face EP is out June 4th. A must have.

Leading up to the album release, Def Sound continues to push forth and release another track accompanied by new visuals.  A kaleidoscope of shapes and fresh garms, the song/video also features songstress Nikko Gray, whilst Brook of J*Davey fame takes care of production.

I read “Ellie Goulding” then saw ‘High For This’ and knew I had to listen…

Known for her chart topping, catchy Pop songs it would appear Goulding is now attempting to reach out to a more ‘alt’ audience. Deciding to cover the internet overlord, otherwise known as The Weeknd, is an interesting and bold decision to make and one that will most certainly raise a few eyebrows (for better or worse).

The question is however, does she bring anything solidly fresh to the track? To her credit, the combination of her unique vocal tone and producer Xaphoon Jones ‘dubbier’ arrangement – is commendable. That said – the original is such a strong statement piece it’s difficult to appreciate alternative versions.

Listen and download below…

And they keep coming…

Here’s another fresh joint from Cocaine 80′s, this time featuring ‘group member’ Common. Similar to their recent efforts ‘Motivation’ is lead by the vocals of James Fauntleroy, but aided by dope verses from Lonnie. Enjoying the consistent quality these guys are bringing – kudos to ringmaster No I.D. The 6 new songs that have dropped over the past couple of weeks have been collated into an EP which you can download below also…

Download: Cocaine 80s – Express OG (EP)

After announcing the title of his next solo album last week, Big Boi releases a surprise collaboration track with Theophilus London and Tre Luce. It’s not clear whether this song will appear on the emcees forthcoming LP or not – but what’s for sure is – ‘She Said OK’ is a G’d up, sex soaked slow burner. Pow.

Love discovering little known talent, definitely something that we thrive on here at PinBoard.

This afternoon, I have stumbled upon a 17 year old who is starting to hone his craft and hopefully create a sound unique to his name. At the moment, the rhythms are bass friendly (as most music should be in my opinion) and waves through lo fi sounds to switched up beats.

WIth the shop front of his SoundCloud, offering up cut vocal samples over sparse sexy 808′s then deep rugged Major Lazer-esque thrashings thrown around a track. It’s clear the young Karma Kid has many influences and thus produces well rounded tracks. His latest free download to tie us over until he finishes school is Lou Lou. A stadium building, fast paced electronic driver. A tad heavy on the raw synths at times, he strays further into  Calvin Harris territory and filters in great breaks that are filled with anthem ready claps and dutiful shakes. Definitely a kid to watch out for.

As the sun is still holding up here in London town, we offer up to you some 140bpm summertime UKG. Originally a track that edged on the head bopping side of garage, but settled somewhere inbetween and never fully entered in. Leeds based producer brought it out of all confusion. Squeezed the vocals to almost a non comprehendable 90′s screech, inserted some pauses for hands in the air and packed in some shuffling beats for good measure.

I was lucky to hear this track a couple weeks back thanks to the good folk over at Relentless and they say there is plenty more to come from Jamie Grind.