Last night The xx performed the first in a string of intimate shows in London/around the UK. They opened the first show by performing a brand new song – it’s unclear at present what the title of the song is, but the recording up top is pretty clear – you hear enough to recognise the bands trademark sound is still very much in tact.

Here’s hoping we hear this in full soon.

(via FACT)

We brought you a special episode of Rehearsal Rooms last month featuring Syco signed singer/songwriter/producer Labrinth, who exclusively performed his new single ‘Express Yourself’. Now it’s time to get a look at the songs official video – which has just been released. Peep up top…

After making the BBC Sound of 2012 shortlist and emerging with hype inducing tracks ‘Friend Crush‘ and ‘I’m his girl’, the Lucky Numbers signed band Friends, seemed to disappear into the ether. Several months later the Brooklyn based outfit are back with a new video for their latest single ‘Mind Control’. ‘Mind Control’, like much of their other material is reminiscent of 80′s Nu Wave pioneers Tom Tom Club and fittingly their new video takes us back to a dystopia portrayed so well in SciFi films of that era. The polished video and solid track suggests to me that we won’t have to wait as long to hear from Friends this time round.

As climatic as the audio, the Alpines release the visual for their forthcoming single.Confidently producing a magical realm of dramatic close ups, stunning outfits and a striking setting, the Alpines are pushing the boundaries of credible avant garde pop with this one.

We’ve been a fan of Suzi Analogue’s afro-future soul sound for a minute now and been following her steadily paced releases too. After the brief break collaborating with TOKiMONSTA, Suzi Analogue is back in her solo comforts behind the sonics and puts together an 30 minute instrumental package full of soul electronic fusions.

At only 24 years old, the Philly native produces a well rounded blend of Raw&B over mellow waves of synths, staggered mpc and hip hop switches. Great audio beds to listen and vibe to as stand alone tracks, but The Streets homage ‘Single File Line’ and punchy soulful ‘Hi School’ would make for the a perfect starting point for artists to jump on. Just saying.

…Otherwise enjoy the stream below.

Some UK bassline for you with this 5 tracker. We featured Londoner Last Japan previously, when he dropped the 3Thousand EP from last year. With this release, he gets hold of legendary Roll Deep member Trim to ride along the nightrider droned instrumental and sets off the EP.
Throughout Last Japan gives us the truest UK sounds available. Grungy, deep rooted warehouse bass, gritty neck breaking 140bpms’ and the pick of the right features (Rudeboy, Avrg Joe) all bringing out the dirty darling nature that London (can) possess.

Gunfingers a’ready.

The Bawse throws down a verse on the gritty clapped out Cake beat with some visuals to match. A little insight into what a  two week tour throughout Europe entails when you’re apart of the Maybach family. Red bottoms, plenty drannk and of course cake. Watch up top.

As we all know, the original was a favourite here but sadly for some/us Usher’s album hasn’t quite go in the direction that most/we may have been led to presume.

… But the Diploma produced single did do the job of raising Usher’s profile within certain quarters (that until then had largely ignored his most recent offerings) and now 22 year old Londoner Raf Riley is doing the same. Some may say this remix envelopes more boundary blurring, avant-gardeness than Usher’s original but we don’t see that as a bad thing.

Three  sisters from sunny LA have been creating a buzz the past few months, with their fresh sound. As children growing up around folk loving parents yet exposed to an influx of mid 90′s heart wrenching/independent women type R&B, the Haim sisters have acquired an appreciation of all sorts, mixing it up and producing a quality version for a 2012.

The EP starts off  with ‘Better off’, an alt- indie number and left at that it would be easy to write the trio off as a cool cross genre band and nothing more. On further listen, you hear the girls hold their own in the harmony stakes. The sisters voices slot into each others, firmly stapled as the likes of Destiny Child or TLC once were. Revamped and refreshed for this era with strengthening guitars and throwback 80′s dancebeat, ‘Forever’ is a great example of how the girls influences have sinked into their music. Where ‘Forever’ makes you dance with that addictive groove, ‘Go Slow’ makes you listen to the soar of their crystallizing harmonies and sums up that Haim are alot more than meets the eye. Grab the download below

Pharrell Williams is launching a new label named I Am Other. To set things off he’s just released a highly over the top promo video promoting the ‘new’ venture. Hopefully this will usher in a new round of exciting music from Skate Boy P / The Neptunes. If Buddy’s last single with Kendrick Lemar was anything to go by – that’s exactly what might be happening.

We’ll see…

Kindness releases a new video for his single ‘House’ taken off his brilliant new album World, You Need A Change of Mind. In it he discusses Pop music and it’s relevance to society before teaching a young kid how to play House. It’s kinda weird, but very sweet and probably the most original music video we’ve seen this year. Peep up top.

P.s Kindness is playing 100 Club in London tonight, if you can – suggest you reach.

It’s been  two years since Ne-Yo released his anti-climatic Libra Scale album, since then he’s become a father and has been writing/recording with various artists behind the scenes. He returns this year with a new LP titled R.E.D and has just released it’s first official single – ‘Lazy Love’.

Ne-Yo is a talented songwriter and has a strong set of songs/hits under his belt, but it’s a shame that ‘Lazy Love’ sounds like it could have been on any of his previous LP’s. Not only does it sound old fashioned (in relation to what’s happening in R&B right now) but it’s also quite boring. It’s important for artists to stay true to what they do and who they are, but it’s even more important for them to progress – this single doesn’t display that unfortunately.

Expect R.E.D on June 26th.

Teyana Taylor hasn’t had the easiest journey in the music industry. She released her debut single ‘Google Me’ back in 2008 when she signed a record contract with The Neptunes’ label Star Trak. She released a mixtape called From a Planet Called Harlem also, but after that… Nothing.

In January 2012 Taylor announced her split from Star Trak/Interscope and released a new mixtape The Misunderstanding of Teyana Taylor shortly after. Now it’s been confirmed that she’s signed with Kanye’s ever growing, very impressive imprint G.O.O.D Music – a strong look for an artist who has clearly been bounced around for far too long.

Teyana has always been an artist I’ve kept a close eye on. In 2008 it was clear she had something fresh but after years of silence, I wondered if when she did finally release anything new – whether it’d sound dated or not. The Misunderstanding of Teyana Taylor answered such concerns – her latest tape was almost jam packed with strong, contemporary sounding R&B – not at all ‘Google Me’-ish (a song that worked back in ’08, but would fall on deaf ears in 2012). And now with the news that she’s teaming up with West and his crew – I’m definitely excited to hear what comes next.

When she’s not going after other (female) emcees, Azealia Banks likes to make and release music and despite numerous delays, she’s finally about ready to put out her long promised 1991 EP. The 4-track project will be released on May 29th (June 12th physically) and will feature her singles ’212′, ‘Liquorice’, ‘Van Vogue’ and title track ’1991′. The EP will then be followed by a new mixtape project entitled Fantastic (from which ‘Jumanji’ is taken off). Peep the artwork for her upcoming release above..

Danny Brown teams up with Pitchfork.TV for this 20 minute documentary which takes the emcee back to his home city where he discusses his life growing up, sees him recording in the studio and much more. It offers (perhaps for the first time) a proper insight into the world/mind of one of Hip Hop’s newest and most enigmatic representatives. Peep the whole thing up top…

(via HT)