Shazamers' Blog

If you only listen to one sci-fi inspired euphoric dance track made by a Canadian man in a massive mouse head mask today, make sure it’s this one. Transporting listeners on an impressive eight-plus minute journey, The Veldt isn’t in any hurry to reach its destination. Thankfully, it’s a trip worth taking.

This isn’t a balls-out club banger, but something far more contemplative. Apparently inspired by the work of recently deceased author Ray Bradbury – the writer behind ‘Fahrenheit 451’ and ‘Something Wicked This Way Comes’ – the track’s peaks and troughs wash over you like a warm bath. There are no rough edges here, just enveloping waves of fuzzy, sparkly sound. The addition of Chris James’ softly spoken vocals give ‘The Veldt’ a feel that is simultaneously epic and personal.

It’s an undeniably warm record, which may be a little surprising considering the reputation Deadmau5 – Joel Zimmerman when he’s off duty – has built up. He’s known as a prickly interviewee who’s not afraid to speak his mind. He famously called out Madonna for promoting drug use in the wake of her not altogether successful ‘MDNA’ album, recently doubling down by referring to Her Madge as a ‘funky grandma’. He’s also poured scorn on so-called ‘superstar DJs’ who do nothing more than play other artists’ records, something of a bold move considering these are exactly the kind of people who spin his tunes.

“David Guetta has two iPods and a mixer and he just plays tracks – like, ‘Here’s one with Akon, check it out!’,” he tells the new issue of Rolling Stone. “Even Skrillex isn’t doing anything too technical. He has a laptop and a MIDI recorder, and he’s just playing his shit … People are, thank God, smartening up about who does what – but there’s still button-pushers getting paid half a million. And not to say I’m not a button-pusher. I’m just pushing a lot more buttons.”

While also providing a clear visual hook so often missing in dance music, Zimmerman’s choice to hide behind the Deadmau5 moniker and its associated improbable headwear seems like an attempt to maintain his anonymity. With all the people he seems to offend, you can’t help but feel it’s a pretty good idea.

Huw Thomas Tag Of The Day

Starting tonight, you can use Shazam to tag the ESPN X Games Los Angeles 2012 to get access to exciting content like video highlights as well as a FREE download of a live version of Linkin Park’s single “BURN IT DOWN” from their new album “Living Things.”

The X Games start tonight with the Skateboard Big Air elimination and go through Sunday the 1st on ESPN.  When you use Shazam, you can see highlights, access social media feeds, get the singly by Linkin Park and even get a link to download the X Games App!

Check it out!

LeeMc News ESPN, Linkin Park, Shazam, X Games

As the month closes out, Android fans have a few days left to take advantage of a great deal from Amazon!  Get $1 in Amazon MP3 credit just for downloading Shazam Free or Encore!

The offer also includes a host of other popular apps like Angry Birds and Temple Run, making it a great way to load up your phone with fun apps and get some of your favorite tunes for free!

If you already love Shazam on your Android device, then share the love with a friend!

Happy tagging!

LeeMc News Amazon, deals, offers, promotions, Shazam

To say ‘Somebody I Used To Know’ by Gotye is a huge record would be something of an understatement. The release has reached number one in 23 countries and has had sales of over 7 million. Not bad for an artist that was relatively unknown outside of Australia until last year.

Added to eye watering sales, ‘Somebody I Used To know’ has also smashed all records at Shazam. Earlier in the year we announced that the record was the first ever to gain over 1 million tags in a week. We can now reveal that the record has broken another milestone to become the first ever record to be tagged over 10 million times! (Which is why he was our #1 pick for our Sounds of Summer predictions.)

The record has now reached 11.5 million tags worldwide. What’s more, the record’s popularity shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon. ‘Somebody I Used To know’ is still the most tagged track in the USA this week and Top 10 in many European countries.

With Shazam fans purchasing music they have tagged at an average rate of 8%, it’s likely ‘Somebody I used To Know’ is also the first ever record to gain 1 millon sales directly through Shazam. Who knows, with all those sales Gotye may finally be able to buy himself some clothes and stop strutting around naked in his videos!

Stephen Titmus News Gotye

Ellie Goulding has come a long way in a pretty short time. From humble beginnings playing clarinet in Hereford, she’s rapidly ascended the slopes of pop. In 2010 she picked up both the BBC Sound Of… award and the BRIT Awards Critic’s Choice gong, all before the release of her debut album ‘Lights’.

She’s since gone on to big success on both sides of the Atlantic, touring with Katy Perry and collaborating with everybody from Tinie Tempah to stadium dubstep slinger Skrillex. She was even asked to perform at the Royal wedding between William and Kate, a clear sign that she’d amassed some pretty serious A-list credentials.

When it comes to musical influences Goulding doesn’t like to over think things. “Everything we do is based on our subconscious and experience that we’ve had in our pasts that’s been nailed into our head without us knowing,” she told Q Magazine. “A lot of my childhood’s blurry cos I blocked it out. But I believe that where I grew up encouraged me to be more experimental and different. I didn’t have much music… if you liked Björk you were a bloody weirdo but you were allowed to like pop. So I had the best of both worlds growing up in the countryside and loving whatever pop you could buy from Hereford HMV, but also suddenly finding music for myself and recognising my musical maturity. I’ve grown to find things that are more weird and wonderful. But then I also just love turning on the radio and hearing a banging good pop song.”

This balance between the left field and the mainstream is very much in evidence on ‘Lights’. It’s got the kind of big chorus that sets up camp on your brain and refuses to be dislodged, but it’s wrapped up in a slightly offbeat package that marks Goulding out as something a little different from her contemporaries.

The next step for Goulding is to follow up her debut album, already re-released in an expanded form as ‘Bright Lights’. The good news is we shouldn’t have that too long to wait, with an October 2012 release date being tentatively mooted for the ‘more emotional’ new record.

Huw Thomas Tag Of The Day

Stephen Titmus Shazam New Release Chart USA Lil Wayne

Stephen Titmus Shazam New Release Chart UK Wiley

After the release of his debut album – Diary Of An Afro Warrior. The man known as Benga has become the poster boy for the Dubstep scene. He is back with his latest single Icon and a forthcoming sophomore album. We managed to grab some time with the much sought-after producer to talk about the influence of Dubstep, his future plans with Magnetic Man , losing his laptop and of course his new album Chapter 2

How would you describe yourself to someone who might not have heard of you before?

I’m going to try and keep it short and sweet. I would say that I’m a black male who makes underground music and whether you like it or not it’s very popular (laughs). I dress very smartly a bit like an American rap star, I guess I’m going to have to leave it at that.

What past or current artists do you feel have influenced your sound?

The biggest things that have influenced me would be stuff like Prodigy and Nirvana, even things that go back to Michael Jackson’s Bad album. When I was between the age of ten and thirteen I also listened to a lot of Jungle because my brothers were MC’s. The key thing was the energy of the music that drove me to do what I do today.

A lot of pop music in the charts right now is heavily influenced by Dubstep. Do you think this goes against the whole ethos of Dubstep and how it started out in underground club nights such as FWD for example?

No because if you think about Dubstep no matter what people say it was all about innovating and moving things forward. I think if there’s one thing that does go against Dubstep, it’s the people who are making music that all sounds the same. Not the people who produce Pop records and make it sound different to what it used to sound like because that’s what Dubstep was all about in the first place, pushing things forward.

Are you surprised by the impact that Dubstep has had over in America?

I never expected Skrillex to win three Grammys. The shows we’ve been doing over there have had a steady kind of vibe. We’ve been playing out in America for around five years and I remember the first time we went out there I did a tour with Hatcha over in San Francisco and it was packed. It was probably a club filled with about five hundred people. Now five years on it’s all over the internet and everyone is talking about it. I wouldn’t necessarily say that the Americans are late to the party but they’re at the point that we were at around maybe two or three years ago when everyone went out to find out what Dubstep was all about, and we were kind of like preachers. Whereas now we recently did a show in L.A to a crowd of ten thousand people and we played the biggest Dance stage at Coachella. So it’s been a steady growth.

There are a lot of British electronic artists who have been very successful in the states recently. Why do you think that is?

I believe it’s because electronic music is really pushing things forward. No matter where you’re from, you want something new in your life don’t you?  From the people who have listened to Rap music all their life to the older generation who grew up when Rap and Hip-Hop began. The youth now want something to attach their generation to and it kind of seems to be Dubstep or some element of Electronic Dance music. They just don’t want the same old stuff anymore.

You had your first live solo show recently at Koko in London. How did that go?

It was amazing. Everyone who played and supported were just ridiculous, everybody was on top form. It’s really nice to have my team around me because it seems like everyone really knows what they’re doing and helping to push my project forward. To play at Koko was the pinnacle show that we’ve all been working towards and for it to go so well and the feeling that we all pulled it off, there was just feelings of relief and it was quite emotional. I wouldn’t normally bring my mum to my shows either but I brought her along and she had a nice time, and I had a good time too. I remember walking out on stage and just feeling so emotional I could have cried. Imagine if I cried on stage?

Looking at your Facebook page recently we noticed that you lost your laptop after your show at Koko. Have you managed to get it back?

You heard about that? Well actually I’m going to be getting it back later today. I was reading through my Facebook and my Twitter and I was reading some messages from some absolute idiots who were saying stuff like “I can’t wait to find your laptop so I can leak all of your tunes” and stuff like that. There were other messages from people being really genuine and saying that “We hope that you get it back; if you think positively you’ll get it back” so I’ve been thinking like that the whole time. So my manager rang me up and said “Guess what we’ve got” and I wasn’t sure what to expect him to say but he said “We’ve got your laptop”. I think I must have left it somewhere in Koko and luckily someone handed it in.

You tend to collaborate with other people such as your work with Skream as well as being a member of Magnetic Man. Was it a strange feeling to head out on tour by yourself?

I would say that if there’s one thing I’ve done over the past six months I’ve been really concentrating and put a lot of time and effort into everything I’ve done. Up until we did the sound check for the gig I was a little bit nervous and I was feeling paranoid about certain little things. Every time we rehearsed for this first show I would constantly be changing things, adding new music and elements to the show. It just meant that when we came to the actual show I didn’t feel as nervous but instead I just felt really focussed and really sure about what I was doing.

As we’re on the subject of your work with Skream and Magnetic Man, are there any plans in the pipeline to be working with them again in the near future?

One hundred percent; I do my radio show on Radio One with Skream every week on a Friday night, so even if I wanted to I couldn’t get away from him. I’m not trying to get away from him though if you know what I mean (laughs). We have got plans to do another Magnetic Man record and have planned to get a single out pretty soon, which means that by early next year hopefully we’ll have a new album. I don’t see why there’s no room for me, Skream or Artwork to do solo projects as well as the Magnetic Man project.

How is your radio show with Skream going? Does it take you back to your Pirate radio days?

There are some times when we wish it was a bit more like our Pirate Radio show but we’re always learning how to be professional and be proper presenters so it’s a new chapter in our lives. I remember the first time when we started doing legal radio at Radio One and we were just stuttering like mad, all we did was stutter we just couldn’t even get a word out. We used to sound like we were speaking in tongues but now we’re getting better at it.

So back to your solo stuff, you have just released your latest single Icon which features Bebe Black on vocals. How did that collaboration come about?

Bebe got signed by Mike Pickering and I’d already made the beat for Icon a while before she did the vocal for it. Basically Bebe got the beat from Mike Pickering and Mike is someone that I really respect. He sent me over the vocal version that Bebe had done and normally I find a problem with every track that I get sent back to me because I’m quite particular about all the vocals that I use on my tracks. There were only a few little changes that I wanted to make so we went in to the studio to do some recording and that was it, done. Now we have this single and we’re having a lovely time with it.

You’ve also got your second solo album coming out on the 27th of August. Can you tell us a little bit about this album and what we can expect from it?

The big theme about my album is that this album is about me evolving and taking it to the next level so that’s why I’ve called it Chapter 2. My first album was called Diary of an Afro Warrior and now that I’ve done this record there seems to be so many moments where it feels so different and so futuristic, it just makes me so proud to have done it. The key thing is that now I’m doing this record with a major label, twenty five million more people are going to hear it.

So do you feel the pressure then?

No I don’t really feel pressure anymore. It’s just that so many more people are going to be hearing some of my best work; it’s more exciting than anything else.

Are there any other producers or artists that you are currently working with or hoping to work with in the future?

I want to get back in the studio with Katy B so we can see what we can come up with, but then I’d also like to do some work with A$AP Rocky. You know who I’d really like to work with? I’d really like to do something with Kanye because I feel like we’d get some good s**t out. So if anyone from Kanye’s label or team reads this they know that I’m the guy to work with.

If there’s one person you could work with who you haven’t already who would it be?

If there’s someone who I’d like to work with who isn’t around or doesn’t do music anymore it would have to be Michael Jackson. I know you’ve probably had that answer about a million times but Michael Jackson was a legend. Imagine Michael Jackson over my music?

What current artists are you tipping for success in 2012?

I would say for me it would have to be Disclosure. I think Disclosure are going to smash it because their sound is very different. The thing I like about them is that it’s not all production, scientist based music. It’s more musical and creatively based and that’s what I absolutely love.

What does the rest of 2012 have in store for Benga?

Well my album’s going to be coming out so I’m going to have to hide for a week while people try and stone me (laughs) or go mental or love it, whatever they want to do. After that I want to perform my live show as much as possible because I want people to see what it consists of. People have seen me DJ before but this live show just brings a whole new dimension to my musical history.

Simon Edwards Interviews Benga

While Californian residents Evaline might not be the biggest football fans, they are undoubtedly keeping a close eye on the current Euro 2012 tournament after their track ‘There There’ was selected OFFICIAL soundtrack to UEFA’s ‘Swap your Jersey – show Respect’ campaign for the tournament.

By linking respect with swapping shirts, European football’s governing body hopes to make a connection with players and fans alike, encouraging everyone to exchange jerseys as a sign of respect for each other. The TV spot features a group of well known European football personalities who are ambassadors for the campaign (including Peter Schmiechel, Clarence Seedorf and the referee Pierluigi Collina). The advert has been broadcast multiple times daily on each TV network showing the EUROs as well as constantly at the stadiums of each game and at all Fanzones in the host cities in Poland and Ukraine.

It’s a great coup for the merging rock outfit, who released their debut album ‘Woven Material’ last year. To listen to the full track and find out more about the band, head to their official website.

Jon Davies Tag Of The Day

The first issue raised by ‘My Homies Still’ is the worrying lack of regular sized rappers. While the extreme ends of the dimensional spectrum are well represented, there seems to be little room for the average guy. Along with Lil Wayne and Big Sean, we have Lil Bow Wow, Big Pun, Heavy D, Too $hort and Biggie Smalls, who really wanted to have things both ways.

But while we await the arrival of a normally proportioned hip-hop star (Median Mike? $o Average?), Wayne and Sean’s little and large pairing is here to fill the gap. The duo trade rhymes over a hyperactive production exploding with squiggling synths and skittering beats. It’s the kind of energetic and off-kilter track we’ve come to expect from Wayne, who has managed to maintain a staggering work rate since he first appeared in the game.

A warning though, we could be coming towards the end of Lil Wayne as we know him. He’s vowed to retire at the age of 35, a milestone he’ll reach in not too far in the future.

“Basically, I have been doing this for eighteen years. That’s reason number one,” he told GQ. “I have accomplished all that I have set out to accomplish and more. Also, I have a label, and I’ve only put out two artists Drake and Nicki Minaj. I have a lot more work to do, and it’d be selfish to not focus on being the boss and focus on their projects.

“But the main reason is my kids, my children. Now, if I thought I’d be selfish to my artists, imagine what I think I would be doing to my kids. I have enough money that they don’t have to ever do anything—which, they will do everything, ’cause they ain’t getting s**t. My boys will be about 7 and 8 years old. And man, it’s all about them then. You know, whatever they’re doing. Sports. Whatever they’re into. That’s where I am. I’m at every game. I’m the dad with the hat on. The jersey. That’s me.”

Enjoy Lil Wayne while you can, because he’s not going to be around forever.

Huw Thomas Tag Of The Day Lil’ Wayne