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.
Boasting a string of Top 10 Ten hits in the Shazam Charts from artists the likes of; Wretch 32, Example & Yasmin, Ministry Of Sound’s legendary crest is once again on the rise-but this time to newer heights. Having started as a club situated in Elephant & Castle, it quickly earned a reputation as a club with the best sound system in Europe. No longer just a club but rather a brand, 1995 proved to be a telling year for Ministry Of Sound as “The Annual” a compilation of dance songs-went on to sell over 150,000 copies announcing Ministry Of Sound a major player in the independent labels sector. Still operating as an independent label, Ministry Of Sound continue to churn out hit after hit as well as operating its own radio station on a day to day basis.
Shazam caught up with David Dollimore “MD of Ministry of Sound” and discussed its recent success and his vision for the future.
Ministry Of Sound has managed to stay afloat and fight the tides, when many other dance labels have struggled to move with the times. In your opinion, with your current chart success, what have Ministry done to gain advantage over its competitor labels to be where they are now?
David Dollimore: Like most labels we have had both lean and great times and the latter have made up for the former. When I took over the label a few years ago, we adopted a strategy aimed at discovering and breaking real talent and now you are seeing the hard effort bearing fruit.
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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.
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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.
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At the age of just 21, Benjamin Francis Leftwich has emerged as one of the stand out emerging UK talents. His debut album ‘Last Smoke Before The Snowstorm’ was released to widespread critical acclaim last week. After growing up listening to Bob Dylan, Nina Simone and Rolling Stones, Ben taught himself to play guitar and started crafting songs in his teens; some of which appear on his debut.
Produced by Ian Grimble (Mumford & Sons, Manic Street Preachers), the album follows a brace of well received EP’s that won the singer plaudits from tastemakers such as XFM and Radio 1; with Zane Lowe awarding ‘Pictures’ with his ‘Hottest Record In The World’ accolade. We caught up with Ben and got his thoughts on musical comparisons, who in particular influenced the album and his planned string of shows at fans house parties.
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AWOLNATION is the solo project of Aaron Bruno, former member of Under The Influence Of Giants and Hometown Hero. Often described simply as an ‘indie rock’ act, AWOLNATION’s debut sits somewhere between Beck and LCD Soundsytem’s quieter moments, seamlessly blending a range of genres from pop to hip-hop and punk rock
AWOLNATION would seem to have the songs to back up the early interest too. The band’s single, ‘Sail’, has been a sleeper hit and their debut album, ‘Megalithic Symphony’, has already topped the Billboard Alternative New Artist chart and climbing the Billboard Top 100.
Having played a stint of incredible shows across the globe with the likes of MGMT and Weezer, including a raved about SXSW performance, AWOLNATION continues to tour relentlessly. Aaron took some time to have a quick chat with us about the formation and influences of this solo project.
What sparked the idea of starting AWOLNATION?
I had started writing a bunch of songs on my own after my last band split up, and it seemed appropriate to call it something when I realized I wanted people to hear it.
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Laidback Luke is currently a very busy man. A cursory glance at his DJ dates next month sees him jet between the USA, Ukraine, Greece and his native Holland. His frantic DJ sets caught the ear of Cream Ibiza who’ve lined him up for their next Cream Ibiza mix (out 4th July); while his new single, ‘Turbulence’, sees him collaborate with Dim Mak head honcho Steve Aoki and Lil’ Jon. It’s a track that sets out its aims instantly, a thumbing bassline and euphoric melody back Lil’ Jon’s irrepressible vocal delivery. It’s already taken its hold of dance-floors across the globe and has invaded BBC Radio 1’s playlist.
With a career that stretches back to the mid-nineties, Luke has worked with and remixed some of the biggest names in dance; including Daft Punk, David Guetta, Diplo and A-Trak. Luke also has a keen ear for a bootleg and has reworked the likes of Jay-Z, Coldplay and N.E.R.D. into his energetic DJ sets. We spoke to Luke and grilled him on his latest single, his superhero themed club night, Super You&Me, and found out what track is currently driving his crowds crazy.
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Christina Perri is a name about to enter into your everyday lexicon; the 24 year old American singer songwriter is the voice and talent behind the huge hit single ‘Jar of Hearts’. At Shazam we spotted Perri’s talent as she entered the top 10 in the US tag chart early in 2011.
Perri was signed byAtlantic off the back of the song when it aired on the American version of the show ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ in June 2010. By April 2011 the track had sold over 2 million digital downloads.
Shazam caught up with Ms. Perri to discuss her debut album, her inspiration and her interesting past.
Purchase the album from iTunes here.
Funeral Party may be from California, but their music definitely has a global appeal. From their early days playing raucous parties in neighbour’s back yards to their current swathe of international tours, the band continue to go from strength to strength. A packed live schedule has seen the group play shows at most European festivals, a US tour with come-back kings Panic! At The Disco and a jaunt down-under to satisfy the appetite of their Australian fans. With a packed schedule on the horizon for the summer there seems to be no letting up for the band, at least till they hit the studio to record the very important second album.
We caught up with Funeral Party to talk about their debut album, ‘The Golden Age Of Knowhere’, and what life is like on the road.
You’ve toured the UK a lot lately.
Yes, we toured here from late January for about a month on our own headline tour in support of the new album (‘The Golden Age Of Knowhere’). This time we’re doing the same amount of shows, but in slightly bigger venues.
You released ‘The Golden Age Of Knowhere’ in the UK and Australia first. Why was that?
Better market and response I guess. We’ve played more sold out shows over in the UK than we have in America. America is kind of a different market to tap into. With Australia Triple J has been playing our stuff which is really good. It’s even spread over to New Zealand now due to Triple J, so people over there are asking us to come over and play shows. We have a tour coming up in August in Australia doing about 6 dates.
With sales of 15 million plus David Guetta’s undoubtedly the world’s most sought after producer. The driving force behind the current swathe of chart topping electro influenced R&B, Guetta’s music has helped a huge array of artists to the top of the charts. With a list of collaborators that includes The Black Eyed Peas, Flo Rida, Kelly Rowland, Rihanna, Akon, Madonna – Guetta’s productions credits read like a who’s who of pop.
Guetta’s also a huge star in his own right. One of the planet’s most successful DJ’s, his own records have been some of the most pop records of the last decade with tracks like ‘When Love Takes Over’ and ‘Who’s That Chick?’ just two of his many platinum singles. We caught up with Guetta to talk about his forthcoming album, his next single with Nicki Minaj and why his relationship with Will.i.am is purely platonic.
Your new album is on the way, what can we expect?
Well the album is really far from being finished so I can’t really speak about it yet. The album is due in September. But I have my new record, ‘Where Them Girls At’, hopefully that’ll be number one on Shazam. That’s coming out on the radio on Monday and on iTunes at the end of the month (in the UK – a little before in some other countries). That’s really exciting. Nicki Minaj is one of my favorite artists on the planet right now so that’s really exciting: Flo Rida, of course, we had a number one record before.
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