After his surprising pop version of 50 Cent’s smash ‘Ayo Technology’ became a YouTube sensation and topped Spotify’s list a few years ago, Belgium songwriter Jonathan Vandenbroeck – better known as Milow - has seen his popularity go through the roof all over Europe and other parts of the world; with Germany being particularly welcoming to his alt-pop work.
Milow’s pleasantly light-hearted new single is ‘You And Me (In My Pocket)’, whose afro-tinged guitar hook reminds us of Vampire Weekend’s slower moments. It’s currently climbing fast up the European Top 100, boosting the expectations surrounding the singer‘s third studio album, ‘North & South’.
‘North & South’ was released last week in the Netherlands via Homerun Records and will also be available in the rest of the old continent and Canada over the following weeks.
If you’re a music fan, musician, or industry person then you’re bound to have read or heard something about SXSW by now. That being said, we’ll keep this short and sweet.
SXSW is still an exciting event for all things music, but the festival also covers digital and film. Whether you’re an aspiring artist or creative mind – you’ll be sure to learn something in Austin. However, it’s not for the faint hearted. 40K global folks come into town to share their wares, music, gadgets and movies. So if you plan on making a statement down there – best start working on it now!
None the less, cutting through the noise is still very possible. There is still that crazy opportunity to perform in front of industry brass (see Lord Huron) or seeing an already developed group perform a pop-up show (Foo Fighters, Kanye West and Jack White all laid down not-so-secret gigs this year). Heck the only wack moment? Waiting in line to get into the Rachel Ray Party – just to see her introduce Das Racist: the band cancelled their set due to throat issues.
It’s a matter of how long you want to wait in line and have patience with drunken frat boys. Some highlights from this festival attendee’s experience – in no particular order: Puro Instinct,Curren$y, James Blake, The Sandwitches, Other Lives and Sheep Dogs. Links are provided for you to go explore.
And one last tip. For food, Stubbs BBQ is amazin’. And the insider info: go to bar during lunch hours and get served pulled pork sandwich pronto. You did not hear that from me. SXSW is great time to tap into culture discovery with friends. It’s a festival built on building memories patiently waiting for a song.
Currently climbing our most tagged chart in France, the rap trio Chinese Man is another good example of how eclectic the Gallic nation is when it comes to admire the sounds from all over the planet.
Compared to the Wu-Tang Clan for sharing a similar martial philosophy in their music and image, the latest Chinese Man hit builds a bridge between old-fashioned 50’s musicals from Hong-Kong and the hottest reggaeton from the Caribbean, blended together through old school rap and breakbeat to quite unique effect.
Featuring collaborations with Taiwan MC and the Californian rapper Cyph4 , ‘Miss Chang’ is the title track of Chinese Man’s latest EP, anticipating their third album ‘Racing With The Sun’ to be released on April the 11th thought their own label. The 4-track EP is available to stream here.
As one half of Force Of Nature, KZA has been flying the flag for tasteful house music and obscure disco in Japan for the best part of a decade. An obsessive vinyl junky, his tracks take un-placeable samples and meld them into collage of emotive dancefloor friendly gems.
His latest track, ‘Le Troublant Acid’ is a case in point. Starting with a dusty ‘70’s lounge track from Gallic singer Jean Pierre Castaldi, KZA adds a burbling 303 bass line to swelling strings to create something both placeless and timeless. A comparison to Daft Punk would not be out of the question, especially when the twee French vocals make an appearance.
The record is in a steady continuation of KZA’s recent back catalogue Endless Flight and Mule – two of Japan’s premier outlets for off kilter electronic sounds. Along with labels like Combi, Jazzy Sport and ESP Institute, they’re showing why Tokyo’s gaining a reputation as one of the main hot beds for record geeks and musical train spotters alike.
Today it’s Australia Day and we would like to join in the celebrations with the song that has just been chosen as the people’s favourite of 2010 down under, Angus & Julia Stone’scharming and folk-tinged, feel-good track ‘Big Jet Plane’.
Today is the day when Australian national radio station Triple J reveals the results of their music poll – in which they try to determine the country’s best liked tune of the former year – through a special show counting down the top 100 most voted tracks. A popular chart since the 80’s, this year it has beaten all records by pooling over a million votes. The chart topping brother-sister duo crown twelve months of astonishing success, after sweeping the board at the ARIA awards – the Aussie equivalent of the Brits – where ‘Big Jet Plane’ scooped the single of the year honours, and their second long player ‘Down The Line’ also won ‘Album Of The Year’.
Although it mostly focuses on Australian artists, there are also some global stars featuring in this year’s lists, including KanYe West; Mark Ronson and ill-fated UK electropop outfit Ou Est Le Swimming Pool, whose singer committed suicide last year.
Plan B may have been one of British pop’s biggest success stories of 2010, scooping three nominations for the Brit awards as Best Solo Male, Single and Album; but the British rapper turned retro soul crooner may be facing some competition for the use of his name coming from the Caribbean.
A reggaeton duo from Guayama, Puerto Rico recording under the same moniker are currently making an impact in the Shazam Tag Charts of many Spanish speaking countries with ‘Si No Le Contesto’ – one of the standout tracks from the duo’s third album ‘House Of Pleasure’. Produced by Haze, a recent remix of the track featuring the collaboration of such top-rank stars of the genre as Tony Dize; Zion & Lennox is one of the most popular dance tunes across Latin America.
Milk & Sugar is one of the monikers used by German house DJs Michael Kronenberger and Steffen Harding – formerly known as Stone & Heller – whose CV includes high profile remixes for the likes of Janet Jackson; Usher; Jamiroquai and Alex Gaudino.
Vaya Con Dios are a jazz-influenced Belgium pop trio whose tunes enjoyed huge popularity in Europe during the late 80’s and 90’s.The take by the German producer team on their hit ‘Hey (Nah Neh Nah)’ – the first single from the band’s second album ‘Night Owls’ released in 1990 – is helping bring back to life the trio’s music career; as it’s currently riding high in the Netherlands charts and seems likely to become a crossover hit all across Europe. You can’t help but be reminded of the recent smash by Yolanda Be Cool Vs. DCUP. With both originals sharing a similar air of vintage jazz and their 21st century dancefloor makeovers being impossibly catchy, it wouldn’t surprise us if ‘Hey (Nah Neh Nah)’ turns out to be this year’s ‘We No Speak Americano’.
For years, France has been an essential hub for the distribution of world music in both traditional and contemporary forms. It doesn’t come as a surprise then to find our Tag Chart in the Gallic country packed with such exotic rhythms as Zouk, Kuduro, Ragga and many other African and Caribbean genres, whose influence is expertly distilled by local producers in many tracks aimed at the dance and the hip-hop markets.
Fresh examples are the Paris based hip-hop act Neg Marrons, formed by musicians from Martinique, Cap-Vert and Congo. Their zouk-infused collaboration with female vocalist Lynnsha, ‘Mon Ideal’, has been a fixture in French clubs during the summer and was one of the standout tracks of the popular compilation ‘TropiKal Jukebox’. An even more recent track to surface comes from Kuduro star Iboz with his latest and contagious offering ‘Dkle Wolof’; currently storming the nation’s thriving tropical/urban scene.
In 1997 Ry Cooder went to Havana avoiding the US embargo against Cuba and recorded his classic Buena Vista Social Club. A collaboration with traditional local musicians, most of them rescued from complete oblivion, which not only helped the world to discover the incredible wealth of the Caribbean island’s folk, but also began a global phenomenon, now turned into solid brand that has sold millions of records and even produced its own documentary, directed by renowned German filmmaker Wim Wenders.
Initially an attempt to reunite the rich heritage of Cuban music with its African origins; when the Malian band invited for the sessions didn’t get a visa, the project went ahead leaving behind its African side. The original idea has now been revisited and finally comes to life in a new ambitious project called Afrocubism, where some Buena Vista regulars like Eliades Ochoa and Virgilio Valdés join forces with renowned Malian stars such as Toumani Diabaté and Bassekou Kouyate to perform a mixed repertoire of standards. See video below for more information about the participating musicians and the concept behind this work.
Afro Cubism is available now via World Circuit. The band has also embarked on a world tour to support the album’s release, details of which can be found here.
A few weeks ago we introduced Shakira’s new Spanish album ‘Sale El Sol (The Sun Comes Out)’ as one of the most awaited records of the coming weeks. While her ubiquitous media presence may lead to think she’s the only female star worth her salt in the Latin world, this autumn may prove that assumption wrong. Some of the hottest releases of the season belong to a new generation of young female singers. They all wisely combine elements of their countries’ pop music with the latest international trends.
Ahead of the pack and already earning superlative reviews is Chilean singer-songwriter Javiera Mena, who has just released her second studio album ‘Mena’ to critical acclaim. Top collaborations with Kelley Polar -who brings his string arranging magic to ‘Hasta La Verdad’- and Swedish chamber pop maestro Jens Lekman – with whom she sings the new single ‘Sufrir’- add more bright to Mena’s impeccable series of winks to popular music; from Italo/Eurodisco to Shoegaze; House to MOR; leaving a special place to more traditional Spanish songwriters.
Other equally interesting propositions are the intimate folk infused songs of Mexican Carla Morrison; the alternative sounds of Colombian Lido Pimienta or the infectious blend of electro merengue provided by Dominican Rita Indiana-see below. All of them giving the final touches to new works that are likely to help expanding the scope and diversity in contemporary Latin-American music.
