Chiddy Bang are a four piece hip-hop/electronica outfit from Philadelphia currently attending their first year of college. However, unlike most first year students, Chiddy Bang appear to have have hit pay dirt with their debut single, ‘Opposite Of Adults’. The record ingeniously shreds the opening riff from MGMT’s ‘Kids’ over a block rocking break beat and a raucous rap from frontman Chidera “Proto” Anamege. Signed to Parlophone in the UK, ‘Opposite Of Adults’ is already creating interest with Shazamers in Britain after the record was championed by Radio 1’s main man for all things indie, Zane Lowe. The track also gets the seal of approval from Hip Hop mogul Pharrell Williams who even makes a cameo appearance in the video for ‘Opposite Of Adults’.
For more info and to download a free track from Chiddy Bang simply head to their MySpace.
One thing that’s helping us get ready for the weekend here at Shazam HQ is repeated listens of the fantastic new single from Yeasayer. Taken from their new album ‘Odd Blood’ – released on Monday through Mute – ‘O.N.E.’ is a glorious slice of shimmering pop that showcases what promises to be one of the standout albums of the year. Taking in influences as varied as 80’s pop and afro-beat percussion, the track is likely to have the same effect on their popularity as ‘My Girls’ did for Animal Collective. It’s currently available as a free download through their website, preceding a full physical release on the 22nd March.
Yeasayer are currently embarking on a tour across the US, UK and Europe, for more information head to their MySpace.
What better way to mark Australia Day than with a short sharp blast of AC/DC? Since 1973 the Sydney based band have been putting the ‘rock’ firmly into rock and roll but always delivering it with their unique Ozzie humour. Despite picking up an English front man in 1980 in the shape of Geordie singer Brian Johnston, AC/DC remain the archetypal Australian band and undoubted national icons.
The announcement that AC/DC are to headline this year’s Download festival alongside Bullet For My Valentine and Wolfmother proves, as if it was needed, that AC/DC can still rock out harder than bands half their age. The eighth Download festival marks the 30th anniversary of rock festivals at Donington Park – the first of which were the infamous Monsters Of Rock festivals which AC/DC played all the way back in 1981.
For more info and tickets for Download Festival click here
It seems that Goldfrapp are revamping their sound once again for their fifth album ‘Head First’. The British duo have found some sort of middle ground between the organic atmospheric pop-folk of ‘The Seventh Tree’ and their former, trendier flirts with electroclash. If the first single ‘Rocket’ is any indication of things to come, we can anticipate a poppier, more uplifting synth sound for their new offerings.
The world’s favorite cartoon rock stars are back with their highly awaited third offering. Gorillaz, the project created by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett, has enjoyed an impressive cast of high profile guests in ‘Plastic Beach’, including Snoop Dogg; De La Soul; The Horrors; Lou Reed – there were even rumours about a collaboration with Barry Gibb which have to be confirmed. For the first single, ‘Stylo’, the rocking cartoons manage to put together the vocal talents of two exceptional collaborators: Bobby Womack and Mos Def.
‘Stylo’ has just leaked and can be listened at the band’s website. Gorillaz were also announced this week as one of the headliners at this year’s Coachella festival. Keep an eye for the band members tweets for related surprises until the record is officially launched.
Appropriate for Martin Luther King Day, Stevie Wonder’s ode to the civil rights leader has remained a constant at birthday celebrations across the world since its release in 1980. The song was originally used to help popularize the campaign to make Dr King’s birthday an official public holiday – something that was made official by President Regan three years later in 1983. More recently, Wonder performed the song at 2007’s The Dream Concert at New York’s Radio City Hall which which helped raise funds to build the DC Memorial in honour of Martin Luther King and featured performances from Stevie, Aretha Franklin and Garth Brooks.
This week saw the sad news that soul legend Teddy Pendergrass passed away. After first rising to fame with Howard Melvin and The Blue Notes, Teddy went on to score seminal solo hits on the soul and disco scene and became one of the leading exponents of the Philadelphia soul sound. Boasting one of the most emotive and passionate voices of his generation, tracks such as ‘Love TKO’, ‘If You Don’t Know Me By Now’ and ‘You Can’t Hide From Yourself’ remain amongst the finest soul tracks ever recorded. Despite being badly injured in a car crash in the early ’80’s, Teddy continued to be heavily involved in charity work raising money for those who had experienced spinal injuries. Here’s saluting a genuine musical icon and a true gentleman.
The pairing of DJ Hell, one of the pioneers of Berlin’s electronic scene and a genuine dance music icon, and ex Roxy Music frontman Bryan Ferry may well be an unlikely pairing, but it appears to have produced a pretty spectacular musical offering in the shape of ‘U Can Dance’. An interpretation of an unreleased Bryan Ferrysong, ‘U Can Dance’ reflects a perfect melding of two distinct musical personalities.
Hell has been riding high on the success of ‘Teufelswer’, his highly rated double album that’s delivered some fruitful sonic experiments, club bombs and even some moments of controversy after allegations of plagiarism followed a recent collaboration with P Diddy. Ferry, meanwhile, has been as busy as ever—recording a new album, performing in places as far afield as Siberia, opening up the Cannes Film Festival…basically just being Bryan Ferry.
Ferry may seem like an unexpected fan of dance, but he’s been going to clubs since he was a teenager, and in his lengthy career he’s worked with legends such as Nile Rodgers of Chic and David Williams from Michael Jackson’s band. As he said in a recent interview, “It’s always a pleasure to work with people from that genre, who follow a singular groove.”
Added to the spectacular original, remixes come from the irrepressible Detroit legend Carl Craig, London electro boffins Simian Mobile Disco and left of centre New Yorker Tim Goldsworthy. Already causing a great deal of interest from both fans of electronic music and cerebral pop music, ‘U Can Dance’ is sure to be frequently popping up in playlists of those in the know over the next coming months.
‘Little Freak’ is the third taster to surface from Usher’s forthcoming album, ‘Raymond Vs. Raymond’. Recent singles ‘Papers’ and ‘Hey Daddy’ both had a more risqué flavour than any of Usher’s previous work, signalling a slight change of direction for the R&B singer on his latest work. Carrying on with this trend Usher has recruited Nicki Minaj to co-star on his latest single – probably the most outrageous female rapper of the moment.
Produced by über beat-smith Polow Da Don; ‘Little Freak’ has a distinct Atlanta flavour thanks to a heavy half step, cheeky Stevie Wonder sample and a speaker rattling bottom end. The highlight of the track comes in the shape of Minaj’s rapid fire verse which perfectly displays why UK Hip Hop legend Tim Westwood has been bombarding Twitter with messages such as, “Minaj has got the buzz right now!”
There’s no doubt that Sub Focus has been running the Drum & Bass game for the past few years. Tracks such as ‘X Ray’ and ‘Timewarp’ were met with almost equal enthusiasm from underground D&B fans as they were by fans of Zane Lowe’s indie-tastic new music show on Radio 1. Added to that, his DJ sets for the critically acclaimed Ram night at London’s Matter night club have been some of the most talked about events in the club’s history; while his debut artist album has been held up as one of last year’s best examples of bass music from tastemakers the world over. While Sub Focus’ previous singles have always been underpinned with a least a smattering of 174bpm break beat, his latest track ‘Could This Be Real’ is the artist’s first dalliance into pop/dance territory – and the results are surprisingly good. Pitching up like a more credible version of an electro house record, ‘Could This Be Real’ combines the gritty sub bass heavy bassline of a Dubstep track and combines it with a twinkling Italo-House piano line. The record has been a constant feature in Shazam’s Pre-Release chart for some weeks and is likely to do well when the single is release next week in the UK Charts.
Fans of Sub Focus should click here to download his track ‘Smooth’ for absolutely nothing!
