This week the Royal Albert Hall hosts a series of shows from The Modfather himself, Paul Weller. With his recent album ‘Wake Up The Nation’ earning rave reviews from across the music press, the former frontman of The Jam is certainly enjoying another fruitful period in his evergreen career.
We headed to the first of five sold out shows from the singer and were treated to a set that included several old classics as well as his latest output. The prestigious Royal Albert Hall was full to the brim with Weller devotees – many sporting his trademark haircut. For fans unable to attend, all the gigs are available to stream from his website.
Arcade Fire are back. The Canadian band’s debut, ’Funeral’, was included in every best of noughties list worth its salt and their follow-up, ‘Neon Bible’, successfully broke them into rock’s major league. Now Arcade Fire are about to unveil their third work, ‘The Suburbs’, scheduled for the release on August 2nd.
In the meantime, a double A-side 12” single ‘The Suburbs/Month Of May’ is about to hit the stores worldwide. The highly anticipated tracks showcase two different sides of Arcade Fire: ‘The Suburbs’ is a pleasant indie pop fare lushly arranged in the tradition of their first opus –many have noticed a similarity in style and subject with their classic ‘Neighborhood’. Whereas ‘Month Of May’ explores the rockier, more epic side of the collective.
More details about the 12” and a pre-order offer for the album can be found here. Arcade Fire will also be one of the headliners at this year’s Reading & Leeds Festivals to be held on August 27-29th.
It hasn’t been a bad few months for David Guetta. A US number one with the Black Eyed Peas, a slew of international hits under his own name and even a Grammy for Best Remix are just a few of his recent achievements. To add to his many accolades it has now been announced that the French DJ has taken the honour of being the one billionth track identified by Shazam with his track, ‘Getting’ Over’.
The one billion tag landmark is a pretty staggering achievement – even if we do say so ourselves. Shazam has now attracted over 75 million unique users to the service and is available in over 200 countries across the world. In many ways, it shouldn’t be a huge surprise that a Guetta track claimed the title of the billionth tagged track. Both his solo work and productions with the Black Eyed Peas have been ubiqtuous global hits that have rarely left radio and TV playlists since their release. As such, tracks like ‘When Love Takes Over’, ‘I Got A Feeling’ and ‘Sexy Bitch’ have all been among the most tagged tracks of the past year.
‘Getting Over’ was a popular album track taken from Guetta’s previous long player, ‘One Love’. A new single version (above) featuring the vocal talents of Fergie and LMFAO is currently doing damage in the Billboard charts and about to hit the UK nationals with a splash – a fact made obvious by ‘Gettin’ Over’s’ poistion at number one in the Shazam Pre-release Tag Chart UK.
David Guetta not only takes the crown as Shazam’s billionth tagged song, but he also tops this week’s Shazam Pre-Release Tag Chart with ‘Getting’ Over’.
To check the full chart click read more (You may have to turn ‘Mobile Theme’ off to view this chart correctly in Shazam’s apps). Read more…
Major Lazer, the Caribbean project of über producers Diplo and Switch, has teamed up with last year’s British synth pop revelation La Roux to create ‘Lazerproof’, a free mixtape available through Mad Decent website.
Celebrating the young Brit stars’ break into the US market with their UK Number 1 hit ‘Bulletproof’ – which is on its way to become one of the biggest hits of the summer season stateside – Major Lazer has reworked some of the tracks on La Roux’s debut album and thrown in some high profile collaborations from the likes of Gucci Mane, Gyptian and Drake, shaping up an interesting clash of two very different musical worlds.
After their debut album ‘Myths Of The Near Future’ surprisingly took the Mercury in 2007, all eyes have been on Klaxons’ next move. After original tracks for their second album were rejected by their label, the band decamped to LA with producer Ross Robinson (At The Drive In, The Cure, Slipknot). While the group played a handful of new tracks during festival appearances last year, the results of their work with Robinson have been kept under wraps until now.
Currently streaming from their website, ‘Flashover’ is the first taster from their as yet untitled second album. Opening with a demented guitar line, the track is a sonically explosive blast; a welcome reminder of the qualities that made them so exciting first time around. The band have announced a handful of European dates before their Radio One Stage headline slot at the Reading and Leeds Festivals later this year.
15th June – Paris Nouveau Casino 13th July – Glasgow King Tuts 14th July – Manchester Ruby Lounge 27th July – London Village Underground
Hailing from Athens, Georgia. Dead Confederate play an unruly, ferocious blend of heavy psychedelic tinged rock. Their debut album ‘Wrecking Ball’ is as raucous as the title suggests, with songs that sucker punch the listener with dark melodies and lead singer Hardy Morris’ distinctive Southern drawl.
While their fondness for distorted guitars may have many wanting to class them as a return to the grunge sound that popularised the early nineties, their sound has far more depth than that tag suggests.
Their latest single ‘Start Me Laughing’ – released on 31st May – is the second taken from their debut. A blistering cacophony of guitars, drums and keys, it captures the band at their most frantic. It’s a three and a half minute lament to a love gone wrong with Morris wailing “Waste my time again annoyed, annoyed, annoyed” as the band deliver a shredding wave behind him.
The band are currently on tour across Europe before returning to the UK for Dot to Dot Festival later this month. We caught up with some of the band before their show at Brightons Great Escape festival earlier this month. Read more…
Alan Pownall may not be a household name as yet, but that could all change in the next few months. Signed to Mercury records in the UK, South London born Pownall has recently been turning plenty of heads with his melancholy laced, semi-acoustic sound. Already receiving early support from Radio 1, Pownall’s music is likely to appeal to fans of soothing pop music such as Jack Johnson or Noah And The Whale.
His latest video, ‘Colourful Day’, is a great introduction to the artists’ emotional song writing. Set in much sunnier climes than the Pownall’s native England, the video is a nicely polished accompaniment to the song’s rousing but downbeat sentiments.
Check it out exclusively here at the Shazam Blog for the next 24 hours.
To listen and buy ‘Colourful Day’ on iTunes click here
Back in 2006 Uffie burst on to the scene with her debut single, ‘Pop The Glock/Ready To Uff’. The American raised Parisian based rapper attracted a wave of attention due to her risqué lyrics and addictive beats – courtesy of producer Feadz. Signed to French electro label Ed Banger, Uffie released a string of hot electro singles. She even hooked up with fellow Ed banger signings Justice and collaborated on the single, ‘Tthhee Ppaarrttyy’. However, several developments in Uffie’s life – ranging from marriage, divorce and pregnancy – delayed the making of her debut album.
2010 will finally see the release of her full length album, ‘Sex Dreams & Denim Jeans’. Production duties were split between the aforementioned Feadz, Ed Banger cohort Mr. Oizo and sometime Madonna producer, Mirwais. The album also sees the singer hook up with former Rapture bassist Matty Safer and Neptunes frontman Pharrell Williams. The latter appears on the latest single ‘A.D.D SUV’, a slickly produced slice of electro layered hip hop.We caught up with Uffie to chat about the album, her time spent out of the limelight and how she feels about Ke$ha “borrowing” her sound.
