After a successful first series, featuring the likes of Mark Ronson, Toddla T and Diplo, The Producers returns for a second run. The show is a joint venture between Red Bull Studios London and VICE Media and explores the unique artistic process between musician and producer. While last year’s cast list seemed hard to top, the team behind The Producers have again assembled a stellar list of music’s current elite.
The first episode saw one third of Magnetic Man and Dubstep A-lister Benga join forces with Youngman on a track for Benga’s forthcoming solo album. Then in episode two The Bullitts – whose current list of previous collaborators includes Jay Electronica, Idris Elba and Lucy Lui – hooks up with the Grammy award winning Syience.
In the latest episode South London protégé Kwes, who has previously worked with The xx, rounds up the likes of Dels, Ghostpoet and Micahcu to collaborate in the studio. Predictably, the results are outstanding. To hear what went on, check out the trailer above and see the full episode here.
Keep an eye out for future episodes, featuring Starsmith and Mike Skinner.
Last week we squeezed ourselves into the sold out Camden Electric Ballroom, to see Girls. The group, originally a solo project for Christopher Owens demos, have now added three backing singers to their ranks. Fitting due to the gospel influenced tracks on their latest album ‘Father, Son, Holy Ghost’.
Check below to see our exclusive photos from the show, courtesy of David Sutheran.
For music and booze fans looking to kill a few minutes, Drinkify may well be the solution.
Like all good ideas, the premise is simple. Choose a band or artist you like, hit search, and Drinkify will recommend a perfect cocktail accompaniment for your chosen soundtrack. The real genius is not just the depth of the acts available to search – even obscure Welsh rock bands such as Innercity Pirates provide startlingly accurate results – but also the eerily appropriate drinks recipes. For example, search Snoop Dogg and you’ll get a great variation on ‘Gin ‘N’ Juice’; Justin Bieber returns a teetotal energy drink; the perfect compliment to Michael Buble is a bottle of Merlot; and Adele sounds good with a vodka, coconut milk and honey – pretty spot on considering the soul singer’s recent throat troubles.
It seems fitting that Metronomy play London’s prestigious Royal Albert on an unseasonably warm October evening in the country’s capital. Like the bizarre weather, few would have predicted the band, which started as a solo bedroom project for Joe Mount, would ever get to the level where they’d be headlining a venue as auspicious as this.
However, after expanding to a foursome and dropping the laptop aided rhythm section, Metronomy have now morphed into a fully functioning pop unit. While the band have always attracted their fair share of attention, they’ve steadily progressed and developed; rather than buckling under the pressure of second album syndrome. The jump from their, largely instrumental, debut ‘Pip Paine (Pay The £5,000 You Owe) to its follow up ‘Nights Out’ showed that Mount could write vocal hooks as catchy his synth lines. Now on their latest album ‘The English Riviera’, the band are enjoying quite the purple patch, and if PJ Harvey hadn’t recently made one the albums of her life, you would imagine they would’ve won this year’s Mercury Prize.
Tonight the band tear through an extended set, which largely consisted of tracks from ‘The English Riviera’ and ‘Nights Out’. It was clear from the off that the Albert Hall stewards would have a tough time, with the all seated crowd quickly abandoning their chairs to congregate near the stage. Huge applause was saved for recent singles ‘The Bay’ and ‘The Look’; which saw keyboard player Oscar Cash fulfill a “lifelong dream” by playing whilst being pulled across the stage on a wheeled platform.
So where next for Metronomy? While they might not yet be fully functioning stadium fillers, you wouldn’t bet against them getting there.
Check out this Shazam Exclusive with Noel Gallagher. The video sees the legendary songwriter talk about his experience of using Shazam and his amazement at the technology! This footage was given to us courtesy of his label Sour Mash, before the release of his debut solo album ‘Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds’; which is Noel’s first album since his high profile split from Oasis. The album is available in the UK on 17th October and 8th Nov in the US.
This month Noel takes his new project out on the road, when his band will play a short UK tour before heading out on a string of US dates in November. For ticket info, head to his website.
‘AKA… What A Life!’, the latest single from ‘Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds’, is currently #4 in our UK New Release Chart and is available on iTunes.
The video contains some strong language, but after all – it is Noel Gallagher!
Last weekend 50,000 eager revelers descended on a, usually, sleepy seaside village on the Isle of Wight for a wealth of musical delights. Signaling the end of the UK festival season, each year Bestival ensures that the period is given a suitably lavish finish. Radio 1’s Rob Da Bank has developed the event from a small boutique festival to one that can legitimately claim to be one of the best of its kind. While Bestival cannot compete with Glastonbury in size, its diversity and attention to detail have made it a genuine rival and, arguably, the musical connoisseur’s festival of choice.
There’s a different given theme for each event, with attendees encouraged to devise a suitable costume for Saturday’s fancy dress day. This year it was announced that it would be Rock Stars, Pop Stars and Divas, causing a seemingly never ending wave of Gaga’s and Freddie Mercury’s stumbling across the site. As one can imagine, it certainly made for an interesting spectacle. While weather reports leading up to the event suggested a washout, the sun made a lasting appearance over the weekend; meaning those with more elaborate outfits didn’t have to hide them under waterproof coats.
Headlining the bill were stadium dance/rock lords Pendulum; legendary indie godfathers The Cure and, fresh from making her latest album, Björk. However, as anyone who’s been to Bestival before knows, the weekend is by no means dictated by the headliners. Read on for our roundup of acts performing. Read more…
Xavier de Rosnay & Gaspard Augé – aka Justice - are ready to release their massive new single ‘Audio, Video, Disco’ on September 26th through Ed Banger Records/Because Music.
This second taster from their new album is also the title track and finds the pair in hyperactive form. Whereas previous releases have been jarring electro monsters, this one sees the Gallic duo taking on a wider range of rock influences. It follows on from previous single, ‘Civilization’, which landed after a seemingly endless wait for new material. While their last video featured some enigmatic shots of a statuesque landscape; for ‘Audio, Video, Disco’ we get a glimpse into the pair’s likely routine over the last few years: eating; sleeping; living and breathing in the studio.
These news were also accompanied by a shocking story this week, when it was reported their Ed Banger colleague and friend DJ Mehdi died after a tragic accident in his Paris home. The sad event inspired thousands of shocked tweets from friends and fans, including former collaborators Chromeo who commented “We lost our brother. No words.”
Joe Goddard is an extremely busy man. When he’s not recording and touring as part of Hot Chip he can be found moonlighting as one half of The 2 Bears, DJing around the world, and running the cutting edge dance music label, Greco-Roman. Somewhere in-between all that, he’s found time to release a new solo EP titled ‘Gabriel’.
The lead single sees Joe hook up with vocalist Valentina on an irresistible slice of hook laden house. Recalling the likes of Four Tet and Jamie XX, the track and accompanying EP shows us another string to Joe’s already heavy bow. We caught him in a rare quite moment to discuss the EP and his forthcoming album, how he managed to find the unique vocal talents of Valentina and what’s next for Hot Chip and The 2 Bears. Read more…
This week legendary dance duo Groove Armada unleash their latest release ‘Red Light Trax: EP1’. After the release and subsequent touring cycle of their last album, last year’s ‘Black Light’, Andy Cato and Tom Findlay decided they wanted to shy away from the traditional album/tour routine and focus on making the kind of house music that originally inspired them to start making tracks over a decade ago.
The ‘Red Light’ project started at Scottish festival Rockness this summer, where the pair debuted their high octane visual show, which was a world away from the full band, main stage performances we’ve come to expect over the years. The sound of this EP is one born in nightclubs and after parties; the kind of places you get a wide experience of after performing and DJing across the world since the late 90’s.
We managed to grab a few minutes with Andy to discuss the idea behind the project, their recent summer stint at Space in Ibiza and just what this new guise means for future Groove Armada releases. Read more…
This week legendary rock hell raisers Motley Crüe announced a string of dates which will already be set in the diaries of thousands of rock fans. Following the news that they will release a Greatest Hits package in November, the Crüe will also join forces with Def Leppard on a co-headline UK tour. It’s the first time the bands have shared a stage and the dates will also see Steel Panther take on support duties.
The Crüe’s Nikki Sixx made this, typically understated, statement. “Motley Crüe is excited to do some destruction with long time peers Def Leppard on tour this holiday season. We have never toured together so hopefully there will be some de-virginizing of each-others fans and, in the end, one wild party together.”
While no announcements have been made for a US leg of the tour, it seems only logical that this rock n roll circus will make its way over the Atlantic soon. The co-headline tour kicks off on 6th December at the LG Arena in Birmingham and will wind up in London’s Wembley Arena on the 14th December. The full list of dates are:
6th December – Birmingham LG Arena 8th December – Nottingham Arena 9th December – Glasgow Secc Hall 4 11th December – Manchester Arena 13th December - Sheffield Arena 14th December – Wembley Arena
