Shazamers' Blog

We’re in a particularly fertile period for experimental rock at the moment; with British act Alt-J being one of its brightest stars. ‘Fitzpleasure’ is their latest release, full of weird vocal, strangely choral guitar lines, with a dirgey bassline to get you up and get you moving.

Although their band name is the shape of a triangle, the band aren’t actually obsessed with them or anything, even though in their song ‘Tessellate’ there is a line that goes “Triangles are my favourite shape“, although apparently it’s only in there because it suits the context of the song. So why the triangle? “We only really chose Alt-J because it was a name we could all agree on,” says front man Joe Newman. “We had to change our name because we were originally called FILMS but there is an American band named The Films. We spent a month and half trying to figure out what this new name should be and we were really getting desperate to decide, and we didn’t have to compromise on this one, we all liked it.”

Joe goes on to say that the band doesn’t set out to make ‘experimental’ tracks – just music that people can connect with. ‘We don’t try to go out of the box or be innovative. We just try to play music we like to hear and we’re kind of absentmindedly sounding like no other band at the moment. It’s not something we’re aware of, just something we’re told. We work very hard, and in some cases we spend years on songs trying to get it right – refining it, picking things out and changing things around. I think because we were all friends before we were musicians, we naturally understand one another. We’re on the same wavelength which is why we end up sounding okay.”

There’s also an excellent The Internet (of Odd Future) remix of this track, which you can download here

The band’s debut album came out in May 2012. Titled An Awesome Wave and received an overwhelmingly positive reception from music critics and the press. “We can’t get over it,” says Joe. “It’s been an amazing thing for people to like your album – not only fans, but experts to say really nice things – that’s just another level. We’re amazed but it’s brilliant.”

As for the future? There’s a lot of touring involved, one way or another. “We’re touring and playing festivals. We’re looking forward to just playing a lot. We haven’t played that many festivals. We just want to play in the sun.“

ALT-J ON TOUR: US TOUR DATES

September 12 – New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom
September 14 – Philadelphia, PA – Johnny Brendas
September 15 – Washington, DC – Rock N Roll Hotel
September 17 – Boston, MA – Great Scott
September 18 – Montreal, QC – Petite Campus

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Popular music is full of the sounds and voices of stars that’ve since departed the earth as we know it. Aaliyah Dana Houghton – better known under her performing moniker, Aaliyah – is one of those voices. She died in 2001, but her popularity has continued since her death, with several posthumous releases ensuring her legacy stays alive. This most recent release comes courtesy of Canadian rapper Drake, who has woven his own rhymes around a previous unreleased Aaliyah vocal. Her soulful voice earned her the nickname of the Princess of R&B, and “Enough Said” shows you why. It gels well with Drake’s style of hip hop – more understated and subtle than mush other material in the genre.

‘Enough Said’ was produced by Drake’s long time collaborator, Noah “40″ Shebib. And don’t be thinking this is a one off – the Blackground record label (founded by Aaliyah’s uncle) recently confirmed that a whole album of new Aaliyah material is in production, and is to be executive-produced by Drake and Shebib.

“The idea is to release new music for her die-hard fans, and also reintroduce her music to a new generation that doesn’t really understand how much influence she has had,” Blackground’s Jomo Hankerson (Aaliyah’s cousin) told Billboard. “We really felt like it was time. There’s a real new generation that doesn’t know her necessarily, and we wanted to continue her musical legacy with this new generation. That’s one of the reasons why we wanted to do very contemporary music. We didn’t want to make it a nostalgic project; we already did that with the I Care 4 U album. The idea was to release new music for her diehard fans, and also reintroduce her music to a new generation that doesn’t really understand how much influence she has in the music that they’re listening to today.”

The new album is the subject of much rumour and speculation. Timbaland and Missy Elliot – early collaborators with Aaliyah and two people she identified as being music allies when she was alive – have denied any involvement with the new album, although Blackground insist they are in talks with the two artists, according to the Guardian.

Aaliyah’s passing was a shock to everyone – she was amongst nine people who were killed when their plane crashed and burst into flames shortly after taking off in the Bahamas following a video shoot.

Born in 1979 in New York, Aaliyah was raised in Detroit and began performing at age 11 when she sang with Gladys Knight. Her first album was produced by R Kelly and titled Age Ain’t Nothing But A Number. It came out when she was 15 – and sold millions, amidst the controversy that she and R Kelly had a secret marriage. She had shot to fame, appeared in the Jet Li martial arts smash Romeo Must Die and had signed to appear in a sequel to The Matrix when she died. The crash itself was also controversial, with an autopsy finding that the pilot had traces of cocaine and alcohol in his system.

Aaliyah’s death affected millions of her fans worldwide, including Drake, who always referenced the soul diva as one of his influences. Backstage at Ovo Festival, Drake said he was excited about working on the material: “To get 13, 14 new Aaliyah songs, everybody should be excited. It’s not about me. It’s about her and her fans and us just getting the opportunity to give you something that we feel is great.”

Whatever your take on posthumous releases – good taste, bad taste, very necessary, not necessary at all – there are bound to be legions of fans who don’t mind getting their ears on new material from a late great. RIP Aaliyah.

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Arkansas-born Shaffer Chimere Smith is a bona-fide hit machine, as proven by his latest jam, ‘Let Me Love You’. His last collaboration with Calvin Harris (on ‘Let’s Go’) was a massive, anthem and crowd-pleaser, which has paved the way for this smooth and sensual record ‘Let Me Love You (Until You Learn To Love Yourself)’. Are you hot under the collar yet? Check out the video and then check your temperature. With its dark and moody atmosphere, urban warehouse setting, killer dance moves and flashes of flesh, it’s exactly what you’d expect from the man.

‘Let Me Love You’ (which features Sia) is the second single to be released from Ne-Yo’s forthcoming album, R.E.D, which is his fifth studio album and is due to be will be released on 18 September. R.E.D. stands for “Realizing Every Dream”, and is to be his first release on Motown Records after he moved from Island Def Jam earlier this year. The album is also due to feature tracks ‘Lazy Love’, ‘Unconditional,’ ‘Jealous’ and ‘Should Be You.’

Ne-Yo is definitely riding high at the moment, although he takes care to remind his fans that fame comes at a price. He recently revealed that being away from his children is the toughest part of being a popstar. Ne-Yo has two children, 1-year-old daughter Marilyn and 9-month-old son Mason with girlfriend Monyetta Shaw. “The toughest part for me is not being able to be there as much as I’d like to,” he said to Good Morning America. “I’m missing milestones as we speak - my daughter just said her first full sentence and I’m not there, so that sucks a little bit.”

As for whether he was finding fatherhood difficult, the singer was as chill as you’d expect. “It’s really not as difficult as people made it out to be. I expected it to be way harder. My kids are my friends, we cool.”

That being said, missing his kids doesn’t seem to be stopping him from enjoying the spoils of his fame. He was recently spotted dropping dollar bills on famous stripper Maliah Michele, ex-girlfriend of Drake and Sean Kingston. Ne-Yo stopped into the King Of Diamonds strip joint in Atlanta and enjoyed some of Maliah’s dancing time.

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2012 has seen America reaffirm its love of all things electronic. From Skrillex to Deadmau5, there’s a whole scale revival (now widely termed EDM), which encompasses, seemingly, all genres, and is being pushed forward by raw young talent like 20-year old Porter Robinson. His new single ‘Language’ is the evolution that has happened in the post-dubstep soundscape, with evocative vocals, glitchy electro sounds and some cut-up, but all against a pounding and very fat house beat. There is a pleasant piano line that leads you through the tune, and the side chained synths give all the bass and energy that is missing in much music of a similar oeuvre.

WATCH: http://vimeo.com/46779514

Without a way to describe the music that he made, when Porter was first setting up his MySpace page he decided to describe himself as being ‘complextro’ – or complex electro. “I never meant it as a serious thing,” he says. “But it really caught on – and now it seems to be being used more to describe glitchy, electro bass music.

The success of ‘Language’ is also down to the beautiful video that was made to accompany it. “It’s this weird, ethereal, pretty, dream like thing. It’s meant to be pretty,” he says. “My mom watched it and she cried, and my brothers watched it and they cried. I really wanted to give people goosebumps and make them feel something. It’s the most meaningful song that I’ve written, so I’m glad that it’s achieved its intended effect.”

Porter’s prodigious talent has meant he’s been snapped up by the likes of Tiesto and Skrillex to support them on tour, but hasn’t had much of a chance to put together an album as yet. “I’ll produce an album when the music is there. In the last six months I’ve completed four songs, but I’ve shelved three of them. I want to keep the standard of the music really high, so when it comes out it can be something I can super proud of,” he says.

“I’m going to take some time out to go work on some music now, I’m going to go home, I’ve got a new studio to work in. I just haven’t had time to work on music – I’ve been touring too much. First world problems!”

Porter is also good friends with Skrillex, and says he has received a lot of great advice from him. “He told me some great advice that I always try and pass on to other people. He said you should never feel the need to pander as an artist. You should never do what you think your audience wants you to do. All the regrets in my career have come about as a result of doing what I thought I should do, not what I really wanted to do. When I do the music that is most compelling to me, then my fans are always right there with me.”

And with tracks as good as ‘Language’, they’re likely to stay there.

Helia News

If you were going to put together a soundtrack for the opening ceremony of an Olympics to be held in the UK, there would be a few artists who would definitely come top of your list in terms of soundtrack duties. There are a few boxes these artists have got to tick, of course; capability of producing enormously stomping dance floor bangers? Check. A back catalogue boasting some of the past decade’s most popular culture’s seminal tracks? Check. As it happens, the British scene is healthy enough to offer up more than a couple of acts who fit that bill.

Step forwards veteran techno producers Underworld, who first smashed into our consciousness as they were responsible for ‘Born Slippy’ – the “shouting lager, lager” track that appeared in the film Trainspotting (annihilating dance floors worldwide ever since). There was no doubt they could make people move on the dance floor – but would they be able to move people to tears for the Olympics?

The answer was yes. They developed a 17 minute magnum opus to accompany Danny Boyle’s pandemonium sequence for the opening celebration of the London 2012 Olympic Games, and what an opus it was. Underworld – who were actually chosen to direct the music for the ceremony – provided two original songs for it, the epic ‘And I Will Kiss’ and ‘Caliban’s Dream’.

“From the very first meeting Danny was determined to ‘break the curse’ that accompanied shows of that scale. If there were elements that made us laugh or things that we loved for whatever reason, we kept them. We threw the supposed rulebook out, avoided the rubbish,” said Rick Smith, Underworld’s music director in an interview with the Guardian.
“I started on the Pandemonium section in June 2011 when the band was touring,” Smith continued. “Danny wanted to frighten people. He was certain that by the end, people had to be going: ‘Christ, you can’t possibly do that to us for the next three hours.’ All the way along, he’d leave you with a sentence like that. That’s the kind of direction that leaves you empowered.”

‘And I Will Kiss’ is available on the Olympics 2012 soundtrack, ‘Isles of Wonder’, out now on Decca

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Larger than life rapper Rick Ross has teamed up with the monoliths of Dr Dre and Jay-Z for his latest single, ‘Three Kings’ from current album (the delightfully titled God Forgives, I Don’t), a club banger that’s been just about everywhere. The track is a celebration of the achievements of the rappers, who spit about their life high points and the legacies of their success, illustrated by a black-and-white video that was produced by Dre Films.

As for what these contributions are, you can probably guess. Dr Dre talks about his musical empire, his long history in the game, and gives a nice product placement nod to his range of headphones (telling listeners to listen to the song through those buds. He is definitely pimping that, yo!). His part of the video is focused on the man riding in bouncing cars, picking up awards, hanging out with the Snoop and getting jiggy with some seriously hot honeys.

As for Ross, it’s the usual got-out-of-the-ghetto, living-the-high-life rhymes you’d expect (considering the 300 pound rapper hasn’t actually been in the game as long as his compadres). His part of the video includes shots of the Rodney King riots and some footage of the Obama family onstage to highlight the lyrics about dreams coming true. (Aw).

Jay-Z pulls things together by touching on his own achievements – selling a ton of records, make a ton of money, being around just about forever and doing things his way – all the way.  There’s also an enormous nod to the importance of his family life, as he’s seen chilling with wife Beyonce.

Ross has been in the news recently in a court battle over the use of his name, when a judge ruled that Freeway Ricky Ross must pay rap star Rick Ross’s attorney fees and court costs, after losing a round in a battle for the rights to his own name and image. Judge Rita Miller ruled that Freeway Ricky Ross needs to cough up $500,000 in fees and court costs on behalf of Rick Ross, born William Leonard Roberts II. But it’s not all good news – Rick Ross himself has to pay over $800,000 in lawyers fees and court costs related to the case “It aint over and it aint never gonna be over until things get straight,” Freeway Ricky Ross promised AllHipHop.com. “I aint gonna stop, I am going to keep going until I get my name back and whatever else I got coming.”

But for the meantime, back to ’3 Kings’. The overall verdict? The track is big, it’s bad, and it’s bang up in your face.

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Mumford and his sons may be having some down time, but as if to prove we’re far from done with that new-folk revival sound, Icelandic six-piece Of Monsters And Men have provided one of the biggest songs of the year so far with single ‘Little Talks’. It’s more on the romping edge of new-folk, with a glorious brass-driven chorus that will surely be getting heels lifting and skirts flinging around at barn dances across the globe.

The song is accompanied by a visually rich and pretty awesome video directed by Mihai Wilson of We Were Monkeys. It’s a swashbuckling fantasy, sprinkled with snowflakes, sorcery, and CGI.

There are, as well, the obligatory remixes to accompany and support the single. Ones to note are Passion Pit’s version (which gives the original a seriously minimal, electronic dancefloor edge with synth stabs and heavily arpeggiated rhythms. It’s a version that’s endorsed by Monsters and Men, as singer Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir told Rolling Stone: “We love it. It’s more clubby and it’s very cool. It’s a hard song to remix, too, because it has a certain structure. So I think they did a very good job.”

The band will be spending the rest of 2012 on the road, and are nothing but surprised by their fame. “When we were making this album we weren’t thinking about even going out of Iceland to tour or anything like that,” Hilmarsdóttir says. “It seemed like a very, very distant idea, and it is a distant idea for a young Icelandic band. We made this album with just little money and plans to raise money where we could. It wasn’t planned at all, but it happened and it’s very weird. But it’s wonderful.”

Although the band will be touring, they’ve already started working on their second album, says Hilmarsdóttir, will be influenced by their current success and spending time on the road. “I think traveling as much as we’ve been doing lately has been very good for us, because there are a lot of ideas coming. It’s a combination of all of it – going around and meeting different people and seeing buildings and landscapes and all this stuff. It does something to you and makes you think in a different way.”

Helia Tag Of The Day

After months of teasing us with live versions of new material, The xx have finally announced their new album and a string of tour dates, and finally a studio version of latest single ‘Angels’. You can spot it as an xx track a mile off - Romy Croft’s intimate vocals over a bare bones guitar line, with that distinctive xx style that signals the wistful romance of too many late nights.

And as you’d expect from any new material from The xx, there are a number of strong ‘Angels’ remixes out there, including the ice-cold Bodhi remix and the blissed out synths of the Theatre of Delays version.

The xx recently completed their latest album Coexist, which is due out on XL Recordings in September. The album was recorded in London,partly in a Dalston room shared with the Horrors, and partly in a studio in Angel. “Jamie found this studio – it’s not soundproofed – just a room, really,” Madely Croft told Pitchfork. “There’s black velvet on the walls to dampen the sound; I love it. That’s really where the album was made, we’ve been in there since autumn.”

The recording sessions for ‘Coexist’ began in 2010, and differed from the writing of the first record, which they started writing when vocalist Oliver Sim was the tender age of 15. Things have changed a lot since then. “I was writing much more from a place of observation, and my expectations about how I saw things to be in the future,” said Sim. “On this record, it’s been more about my personal experiences. And we’ve written a couple of songs in a way that we’ve never done before, where we’ve gone into a room with absolutely nothing and written from scratch. That’s taken a lot more communication and openness, which has been really nice.”

‘Angels’ also typifies the new album through its lyrical content. “The whole album is about learning and growing up together and moving on and being adults. And relationships: They’re still all love songs, but there’s past and present,” says Madeley Croft.

Helia Tag Of The Day the xx

If there’s one thing that P!NK does well, it’s catchy pop that gets stuck in your head and rattles around in there for days… and days … and days. Her latest track (the charmingly titled ‘Blow Me (One Last Kiss)’ is the same formula that equals success.

The sassy singer is back with this new single and a new album due to be released in September (titled ‘The Truth About Love’. However, P!NK has told her fans to look forward to a mixed bag of sounds from the album rather than expecting the same poppy vibe all the way through.

In an interview with MTV, P!NK said: “It’s always funny for me with first singles; even my dearest, most loyal fans are always like ‘I hate her first single choice.’ Because it’s really hard for one song to represent a whole P!nk album, because a whole P!nk album doesn’t make sense. The only common thread is my voice. You’re going to have rock and roll, you’re going to have R&B. You’re going to have a country ballad and a folk song and a pop, Max Martin, radio-friendly hit. So I think that’s kind of the mystery bag, that’s what makes it fun.”

‘The Truth About Love’ is P!NK’s first album release since ‘Greatest Hits… So Far!’, which was her first greatest hits compilation, released in November 2010. The album hit the top ten in 13 countries around the world, and has sold over four million copies so far.

Though some might say she’s loco for releasing such a mixed bag for her new album, in characteristic carefree style, P!NK’s not bothered. “Listening back on this new album as a whole thing, it’s still a clusterf**k, but I realize I must be happier, because it’s a lot of dancing and rock and roll. I don’t know, it’s kind of scaring me,” she added to MTV.

“I used to be really motivated to do really dangerous and stupid things for love, and I was really fearful of love,” she continued “When I was a little girl, ‘love’ meant fighting and bickering and losing your parents. But now love is also having a child and unconditional and beautiful and, with my husband, sexual. Musically, it’s not a Sade record, where you know what you’re going to get when you put it on. It’s a P!nk record; you have no idea what you’re going to get. I don’t know what I’m doing when I go in to record an album, so I think that’s the theme: questions and experiences and running from — and running to — love.”

‘The Truth About Love’ – P!NK’s sixth studio album – will be released on RCA Records on 18 September this year.

Helia Tag Of The Day

One of the most tagged tracks of the past week has been Madeon’s massive synth whoomper of a track, ‘Finale’. If you’re looking for a pre-going out hype tune, a just-back-from-the-club-dancing-on-the-kitchen-table-at-a-house it’s the perfect blend of dubstep and stadium rock with electro undertones, featuring vocals from Walk The Moon’s Nicholas Petricca.

The French producer (real name Hugo Pierre Leclercq) has been making music since the tender age of 11, just 7 years ago, as it happens. Are you jealous of his talent much? If not, then read on for tales of just how accomplished his talent is. when he was 16, Leclerq entered a remix competition with his version of Pendulum’s ‘The Island’. He described that track as featuring “synth micro-cuts, chip raps a vocal morphing into a dubstep wobble and other weird stuff.” Pendulum obviously liked it, as Madeon won the competition…

For someone so young, Madeon is a formidable talent. And just to show how much faith he has in pursuing music – he doesn’t have any other career in mind. “My education had always been chaotic, so music is virtually my only career plan,” he said in an interview with The Worst Guy. “In the short term I’m having a lot of fun doing music right now so I will pursue it and see where it gets me. I wish to continue making music for as long as possible, in various forms and styles, and with various goals.”

We can’t wait to see where he goes next…

LISTEN: Madeon – Finale http://soundcloud.com/madeon/madeon-finale

Helia Tag Of The Day