Suave disco hipsters Hercules & Love Affair will return to Europe once again next month for a full live tour. Their shows were the toast of the festival scene in 2008, brining a sassy Paradise Garage inspired New York decadence to muddy fields around the world. Now, after 12 months of taking time out to focus on his blossoming DJ career, Hercules & Love Affair’s frontman Andy Butler returns to bring H&LA’s live show back on the road. Featuring a full band, a huge brass section and vocals from transsexual singer Nomi Ruiz; a performance from the DFA supported act is most certainly something not to be missed.
Nov 27 Hercules & Love Affair – DJ Se.., Hladilen Zavod, Bulgaria Nov 28 Andy Butler, Erste Liga, Munich Dec 04 Hercules & Love Affair – Live, Casa De Musica, Portugal Dec 05 Hercules & Love Affair, Frágil, Portugal Dec 06 Hercules & Love Affair, Paradiso, Amsterdam Dec 09 Hercules & Love Affair, Hafen 2, Frankfurt Dec 10 Berghain Im Konzert: Herc.., Berghain/Panorama Bar, Berlin Dec 11 Fabriclive: Kill ‘Em All – 6th Birthday, fabric, London Dec 12 Hercules & Love Affair, Tripod, Ireland
Dizzee Rascal’s self produced debut ‘Boy In Da Corner’ crystallised all that was urgent, raw and relevant about British urban music in 2003. Springing from East London’s grime scene – which itself was a brand new musical mixture of hip-hop, 2 step garage and drum & bass influences – Dizzee managed to combine the starkly raw electronic sounds of grime with a viscously witty, often aggressive but always heartfelt delivery. Tracks such as ‘I Luv U’ and ‘Fix Up Look Sharp’ painted a vividly dark picture of urban life but were delivered with shades of social critique and old school rap braggadocio that gave his album a wider appeal. Unlike albums from his contemporaries from the grime scene, ‘Boy In Da Corner’ managed to achieve both critical and commercial success without diluting the jarring electronic sound of the genre at all. The album remains a critical high water mark of Dizzee’s career despite the fact that the rapper has now gone on to achieve more wide spread acclaim with pop influenced tracks such as, ‘Dance With Me’ and ‘Bonkers’. Winning the Mercury Prize in 2003, the album remains one of the best examples of UK hip hop ever produced.
Pay attention fans of 80’s influenced, vocoder enhanced electro pop - we have the perfect competition for you. We have a copy of Chromeo’s recent DJ Kicks compilation and an exclusive bag to give away to anyone who can answer the very simple question at the bottom of the page.
Chromeo’s new mix is just what you’d expect from the Canadian duo. Delving through their extensive record collections, Dave 1 and P-Thug deliver a mix that is straight up dancefloor bait. To get your hands on this prize simply email competition@shazamteam.com with your address and answer to the following question:
Who is Dave 1’s famous DJ brother?
A) 8-Track
B) A-Track
C) Eh? Track?
Also any fans of the band in London tomorrow should head down to the Neon Noise Project party where the band will be playing a rare DJ set. The full location of the East London based event is only given to tickets holders, so for more info head to their website. Alongside Chromeo, there will be sets from JBAG, Punks Jump Up and Classixx.
Terms and conditions of competition: 1.Closing date for the competition is 07/12/2009. All entries after this point will be void. 2. All winners will be notified by email on 07/12/2009. 3. All correct answers will enter a prize draw and the winners selected at random. 4. There will be one winners who will win a Chromeo bag andChromeo mix CD 6. The decision of Shazam Entertainment is final. 7. Employees of Shazam Entertainment are not eligible to enter this competition
Nearly unanimous, the Spanish press has chosen alternative favourites Los Planetas as the national album of the decade; and rightly so! There are very few bands that after fifteen years are able to up their game and reach a new career peak as they did with their seventh studio album.
‘La Leyenda Del Espacio’ (The Legend Of Space) was named as a reply to the late Flamenco singer Camaron’s masterpiece ‘La Leyenda Del Tiempo’ (The Legend Of Time), which will reach it’s the 30th anniversary of release in 2010. The record saw the band from Granada adapting the rock structure of most of its songs to different “Palos” - name of the different Flamenco subgenres - with amazing results; merging their former Anglo-Saxon heritage (a sound that often recalls Bob Mould circa Sugar, Spiritualized and many others) with the history of Flamenco-rock, traditionally rooted among Andalusia’s finest contemporary musicians.
Los Planetas have created a work of great relevance; one that expanded the boundaries of both leftfield rock and traditional Flamenco, plagued with classic moments such as ‘Reunion En La Cumbre’, ‘El Canto Del Bute’, ‘Alegrias Del Incendio’ or the collaboration with Enrique Morente on its closing track. It may only be of limited interest for anyone outside Spanish speaking countries, but it more than deserves full investigation from all.
As we approach the end of the 00’s, we’ll be running through some of our favourite albums of the past decade. This is by no means a chart, more of a chance for us to highlight some of the artists that have really shone through in the past ten years. There may be some albums you’re already aware of, but hopefully – in true Shazam fashion – we’ll help you discover some gems you may have missed. While we can’t make any guarantees about the quality of the next decade’s music, it’s safe to say the noughties has given us several stand out albums that will continue to be heralded as classics for years to come.
Firstly we’ll be looking at how five sharply dressed young men from New York managed to set the standard for guitar music at the start of the new decade and influence almost every indie band that was to come after them. Read more…
There’s no denying it, 2009 has been one heck of a year for Jay Sean. At the start of the year the London born singer hooked up with Lil’ Wayne and the Cash Money Records crew becoming the first artist from outside North America to sign to the influential label. A seal of approval from a certified hit maker such as Lil’ Wayne should have been a clue that Jay Sean was heading for big things this year; however, the huge success of the single ‘Down’ which reached the US Billboard number 1 slot must have surpassed anyone one’s expectations about the success of Jay Sean in the USA.
Jay is officially the first British R&B/urban act to score a number one in the USA, outdoing the likes of Soul II Soul, Imagination, Mark Morrison and Dizzee Rascal. What’s more both of his singles have been resonating hugely with the Shazam masses, ‘Down’ becoming Shazam’s most tagged track earlier in the year and his next single, ‘Do You Remember’, topping the Shazam New Release Chart USA.
Already out in the USA, Jay drops his new album ‘All Or Nothing’ in the UK this Monday. Featuring contributions from the likes of Sean Paul and Lil’ John as well as UK scene favourites such as Keisha Buchannan, Chipmunk and Craig David, ’All Or Nothing’ contains both new tracks and re-masters of previous hits such as ‘Ride It’.
Sidney Samson holds on to the Shazam Pre-release Chart UK number one spot for a second week in a row with ‘Riverside’ this week. Meanwhile a seriously mixed bag of notable new releases come from Jay-Z & Mr Hudson, Pearl Jam, Justin Bieber, Example, Thom Yorke, Mini Viva, Sub Focus and So Solid – phew!
Jay Sean looks set to follow up the huge success of his previous Billboard 1 hit with his new single ‘Do You Remember’ which hits the top spot in the Shazam New Release Chart USA this week. New entries on the chart also come from Plies, Timbaland & Drake, Flyleaf, Mary J. Blige, Chris Brown and Cash Money artist NickiMinaj; who enters the chart this week with a little help from the hardest working man in hip hop, Lil Wayne.
Barcelona’s popular San Miguel Primavera Sound festival has just announced the first batch of artists for their 10th anniversary edition, which will take place on May 27th-29th. Panda Bear; Wilco and The New Pornographers, among others, will be joining the already confirmed Pixies and Pavement on what’s shaping up as one of the best line-ups in 2010.
As part of the celebrations, the organizers have asked the fans to vote for their favourite artists of the nearly finished decade. The 10 most popular will be invited to be part of the event. You can check the promising results to date in the festival website’s forums.
The full line-up so far includes:
THE ANTLERS BIS THE BLOODY BEETROOTS CAMARON, LA LEYENDA DEL TIEMPO 30 AñOS DESPUES DELOREAN DUM DUM GIRLS THE FALL GANGLIANS HERE WE GO MAGIC HOPE SANDOVAL & THE WARM INVENTIONS JOKER FEAT. NOMAD THE NEW PORNOGRAPHERS PANDA BEAR PAVEMENT PIXIES WILCO WILD BEASTS THE XX
The event will be also holding its cosier autumn version, “Primavera Club”, on December 9th-13th. Full list of participating bands can be checked at MySpace.
Yesterday Irish stadium fillers U2 were announced as one of the three headline acts for Glastonbury Festival in 2010. Next year’s festival will be the 40th year in which thousands of music fans invade a usually serene and peaceful farm in Somerset. Festival organiser Michael Eavis had previously hinted that he would be pulling out all the stops to ensure 2010′s celebrations would go off with a bang and with U2 he has secured one of the world’s most popular acts. Despite filling arenas around the world, U2 have never played Glastonbury before so it’s an almost certainty that their set will be one of the most memorable of the weekend.
While this news proved the perfect Monday morning antidote for many ticket holders, some of the festivals regular goers may be slightly less than enthused about the prospect of seeing Bono strut along the Pyramid Stage. However the key to Glastonbury’s success has always been its versatility, while U2 are the only band announced so far; it’s safe to assume Michel Eavis already has his eye on a few other potential targets. We weigh up a few of the other possible contenders… Read more…
