Shazamers' Blog

Since the release of their last album in 2007, there has been a gaping Scissor Sisters shaped hole in the world of pop. In the band’s absence the dance-pop beats the group used to have a monopoly on have become de rigueur, yet few new acts have managed to match The Scissor Sisters kitsch charm and flamboyantly camp appeal.

Their new album, ‘Night Work’, looks almost certain to follow up the success of former albums and hit singles such as ‘I Don’t Feel Like Dancing’ and ‘Filthy/ Gorgeous’. Produced by the knob twiddling maestro Stuart Price – he of Madonna, Kylie Minouge and Les Rythmes Digitales fame – the early indications are that the album will be a shimmery synth pop masterstroke. Lead single, ‘Fire With Fire’, follows on from Stuart Price’s recent work with The Killers on ‘Human’. Pulsing dance beats and big crescendo chorus means that the record’s likely to be shimmying up the charts very soon.

You can check out a taster of the band’s new album above. With a hectic touring schedule over the summer that takes in slots at Glastonbury, Isle Of MTV and Fuji Rock Festival; expect Scissor Sisters outlandish and often half naked shenanigans to be coming to a stage near you soon.

‘Night Work’ will be released June 26^th.

Stephen Titmus New Music Scissor Sisters

Grum is one of the hottest properties in dance music right now. Following in the footsteps of Mylo and Calvin Harris, the Scottish electro wizard creates lively dance music with its aim set firmly on the dancefloor. We’ve had our eye on him for a while and his debut album, ‘Heartbeats’, certainly lives up to our expectations. With dates lined up over the summer across Europe and at several Festivals including Creamfields; Grum is a name you’re sure to see a lot of during 2010.

We spoke to the in-demand producer about his future plans, remixing Lady Gaga and if he’s had any feedback from David Bowie after covering ‘Fashion’.

Read more…

Jon Davies Interviews, News Grum

US cartoon network Adult Swim, in a joint effort with carmaker KIA, has put together a series of new tracks by eight highly rated artists. For eight consecutive weeks, a new single will be offered as a free download.

The first one is now available and comes from Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, teaming up once again with Matt Sweeney; with whom he released the 2005 collaboration album ‘Superwolf’. The pair covers a seventies country hit by Gene Watson, ‘Love In The Hot Afternoon’, for the occasion.

Madvillain, acclaimed new rapper Freddie Gibbs and Holy Ghost – with their remix of LCD Soundsystem’s ‘Drunk Girls’ – are also among the acts to appear in the series.

Check the complete schedule below:

17/5: Superwolf (Will Oldham and Matt Sweeney).
24/5: Madvillain.
31/5: Killer Mike.
07/6: Washed Out (with Chairlift’s Caroline Polachek).
14/6: High On Fire.
21/6: Black Lips.
28/6: LCD Soundsystem (‘Drunk Girls’ Holy Ghost! Remix).
05/7: Cults.
12/7: Freddie Gibbs

You can start collecting the free series here.

Roberto Gonzalez New Music, News bonnie 'prince' billy, LCD Soundsystem

Hybrid Life is a brand new online magazine and experiential project dedicated to sporting the unsung and the underground through a series of raves, videos and photographic projects.

The online portion of Hybrid Life launched this week and contains a whole feast of exciting electronic music focused  content. Highlights include a photographic history of London’s club fashions, interviews with dance music big wigs Steve Bug and Ashley Beedle and even a contribution from Shazam’s very own electronic music boffin, Stephen Titmus.

To celebrate the launch of Hybrid Life, the folks behind the project are giving you a chance to win a Pacemaker - one of the most brain twistingly amazing pieces of music hardware on the market.

 All you have to do to stand a chance of winning is name the DJ below. To steal the famous words of Catchphrase’s Roy Walker, “Just say what you see”.

To enter and for full terms and conditions head here. 

The next Hybrid Life showcase takes place on June 26th and features the talents of Theo Parish, Redshape, Actress and Alex Jones. Head here for more info.

Jon Davies News Ashley Beedle, Hybridlife, Steve Bug

 Before he established himself as one of the trendiest singer-songwriters of the planet, thanks to his acoustic blend of folk and electronica; José González was also a member of the rock trio Junip. The success of Gonzaléz’s solo career - after his cover of The Knife’s ‘Heartbeats’ was used in the famous Sony Bravia commercial - turned the project into an intermittent affair with just an EP and a few songs for different compilations released to date. But now the Swedish troubadour returns to front them.

A new EP ‘Rope And Summit’ has been prepared, anticipating the arrival of their first proper full length, ‘Fields’, on September. The EP is available as a free download through their official website. Junip will shortly begin an international tour on May 28th, as part of the bill of this year’s San Miguel Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona. From there they will go across the Atlantic for a few dates in the States, returning later to play in other European capitals.

You can download the ‘Rope And Summit’ EP here.

Roberto Gonzalez News josé gonzález, junip

Max Cavalera is best known for his enigmatic performance and creative influence in one of thrash and metal’s most successful acts, Sepultura. He currently fronts and writes the material for Soulfly; just one of his ongoing projects and a hugely successful band in their own right.

Meeting Max Cavalera was an honour and an experience, from his wild brown eyes to the tattoo on his knuckles declaring ‘Zyon’ he is a calming and intelligent man, who Shazam spoke to on everything from his choice of films to touring, and the release of his latest album with Soulfly, Omen.

So you are currently on tour, how is that going?

Good, it’s the second UK show so far. We played Southampton last night and it was really great; it was packed. Looking forward to tonight, the London show is always exciting.

Do you like playing London?

Yeah, it’s exciting playing the UK in general . We are coming back for Sonisphere later in the year so it should be a good year for us.

Do you like touring, especially the long tours you seem to do?

Nah, its cool. I like it – I love the shows. The crowd to me is like a drug, I need that drug. So when I’m home for like ten days and I don’t have that drug I feel like I need it! I need my crowd fix.

What about the waiting to play?

That’s the hard part. It’s good to have interviews. It makes the time go faster , otherwise we are just watching movies. Which I do a lot anyway – those are my movies there (gestures to an enormous CD binder); there is about 200 in there.

Read more…

Hazel Savage Interviews interview, max cavalera, metal, sepultura, sonisphere, soulfly, thrash

Since we listened Janelle Monáe’s debut EP ‘Metropolis’, we were instantly convinced of being in the presence of a future star. From her impeccable quiff and tuxedo looks to the ongoing sci-fi story of an android alter-ego, Cindi Mayweather, set in the year 2719 and told through her songs; everything about her distilled taste and unique personality.

‘Metropolis’ was conceived as the first of four suites, the second and third of them arrive now with the artist’s proper full length ‘The ArchAndroid’. A truly contender for most original album of the year, Janelle showcases a healthy attitude defying the conventions of today’s rather formulaic R&B by incorporating elements of a wide range of styles that shape up a soulful sonic kaleidoscope.

‘The ArchAndroid’ features collaborations with soul poet Saul Williams; arty psychedelic masters Of Montreal -already one of the most celebrated duets of the moment across the blogosphere- and Outkast’s Big Boi, who drops some verses in the first single ‘Tightrope’. The full album can be streamed this week at the artist MySpace page.

Roberto Gonzalez News janelle monae

This weekend hundreds of the world’s finest breaking and established bands descended on the seaside town of Brighton for The Great Escape. For three days each year the town is overrun with bands, industry insiders and music fans – in what has quickly become the first essential date in many festival goers’ diaries. As always this year saw a huge variety of acts attract feverish levels of attention from the crowds. Headline acts such as Groove Armada, Chase & Status and The Big Pink topped the line up on a bill that included hundreds of performers.

Their were also several notable names from the music industry on hand to offer advice and share their experiences in thorough  question and answer sessions. These included former NME journalist Nick Kent, XFM’s John Kennedy and Drowned in Sound’s Sean Adams.

Although seeing every band would be impossible – over 300 acts play across the weekend -  we headed down to cram in as many gigs as possible over three days. Here’s a few of our stand out acts over the weekend.

Read more…

Jon Davies News The Great Escape

B.o.B, or Bobby Ray Simmons to his mother, is probably the hottest rap property in the world right now. His debut album rocketed to the top of the US Billboard on the week of release while his previous single, ‘Nothing On You’, has become one of the most popular urban tracks of the year – topping both the Rap and Pop charts in America.

B.o.B’s latest single seems to be following this impressive run of success. Already the most tagged track in the USA, ‘Airplanes Pt. II’ is showing signs that it will be hitting the top of the US Billboard pretty soon. Featuring the vocal talents of Paramore’s Hayley Williams and the irrepressible Eminem, the record is an auto-tune- free slice of real rap music.

The track’s mixture of moody piano lines, live drum breaks and radio friendly rock vocals is not a million miles away from Jay-Z and Linkin Park’s collaboration, ‘Numb / Encore’ – which is most certainly not a bad thing. The highlight is undoubtedly Eminem’s visceral verse which debatably sees him on finer form than on his own new single, ‘Not Afraid’.

Stephen Titmus Tag Of The Day

A new number one in the Shazam Pre-release Chart UK as Tinie Tempah takes his second number one of the year with his new track, ‘Frisky’.

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…

Stephen Titmus Shazam New Release Chart UK Tinie Tempah