It’s fair to say that Ed Sheeran hasn’t taken the path followed by most acoustic guitar-toting singer-songwriters. His last release featured collaborations with artists like Wiley, Devlin and Sway; while a chance encounter with Jamie Foxx in LA led to an invitation to stay and record at the Oscar-winning actor’s house.
But after listening to ‘You Don’t Need Me I Don’t Need You’, Sheeran’s unusual career progression makes a little more sense. He isn’t a singer-songwriter in the mould of Damien Rice or James Blunt. His hybrid rap/singing style is more akin to Jamie T or Plan B before his Winehouse-flavoured soul makeover.
From humble beginnings playing to non-existent audiences in tiny venues, Sheeran’s star has risen rapidly. He’s toured with Example and is appearing at a number of festivals this year, including a set at last weeks Reading/Leeds Festival and Bestival. He also found time to independently release an extensive list of singles, EPs and albums, topping the iTunes charts before being picked up by Atlantic Records. His first major label album ‘+’ is expected in September. Not bad work for an artist yet to reach his 21st birthday.
Major label or not, it looks as though Sheehan intends to keep doing things his way. “Having that level of independent success let me do exactly what I wanted to do.” He told the Yorkshire Evening Post. “Now that I am with a label I kind of call the shots as it were, I say how I want the music to be and I get to basically go off for two months and record the album myself. I get full creative control as I have had that independent success and the fanbase, I guess.”
Huw Thomas Tag Of The Day Ed Sheeran
Following on from the multi-million selling, multi-award winning, critically acclaimed success of debut album ‘Lungs’, Florence + The Machine has returned with new track ‘What The Water Gave Me’.
The track references 2 prolific female figures, the title coming from a painting by artist Frida Kahlo and the lyrics referencing the suicide of writer Virigina Woolf. ‘What The Water Gave Me’ is a captivating pop track drenched in Florence’s rich, beautifully distinct vocals and enriched with the backing of a choir and the signature sounds of the harp.
Not a stray from previous works but a development and play on the sounds she began experimenting with on ‘Lungs’, the track is destined to feed the growing appetite of Florence fans globally.
‘What The Water Gave Me’ is the first taste from the yet to be titled new album. Recorded over 5 weeks at the famous 3 studio in Abbey Road Road (where the Beatles recorded ‘Revolver’ and Pink Floyd ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’) and produced entirely by Paul Epworth (Adele, Cee-Lo Green & Bloc Party), Florence + The Machine’s new album is due out November 7.
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To watch the video for ‘What The Water Gave Me’, click here
Steph Cox Tag Of The Day florence + the machine
Outside of his music Ray J seems to have a lot going on. There’s the book he’s writing, the club he’s opening in Vegas and the reality TV show he’s developing. Maybe that’s why the follow up to his 2008 album ‘All I Feel’ has been such a long time coming.
He’s now promising to drop ‘Raydiation 2’ later this year, but in the meantime he’s warming things up with a raunchy celebration of the world’s the most suggestive fruit. ‘Bananas’ has a simple message: Ray J likes to get busy. He will sex you up in all kinds of different ways and, who knows; after you’ve heard this you might just be minded to let him. It’s a slinky slice of bump’n’grind that would undoubtedly sound great in the club. That said; you absolutely wouldn’t want to listen to it with your Gran.
The risk with this kind of track is that it slips past ‘sexy’ and into ‘sleazy’, but Ray J keeps a playful tongue in his cheek to hold this threat at bay. He’s clearly having fun here, as evidenced by lines like “My sex is bananas and you like eating fruit.”
This remix of the Rico Love-produced track features a heavyweight addition in the form of Rick Ross. As if competing in some kind of hip-hop raunch-off, he pops up to deliver a final verse just as laden with innuendo those that precede it. This is the polar opposite of good clean fun and it’s all the better for it.
Huw Thomas Tag Of The Day Ray J., Rick Ross
Since winning a competition to open the UK festival V in 2006, London’s Bombay Bicycle Club have been stealthily building momentum. The precocious four-piece had to wait until they finished school before releasing their first album ‘I Had the Blues But I Shook Them Loose’ in 2009, but the wait was worth it. NME dubbed them ‘the hottest band to come from North London for quite some time’ and Radio 1’s Zane Lowe quickly declared himself a fan.
Their third album ‘A Different Kind Of Fix’ is released at the end of August, with ‘Shuffle’ offering an early glimpse of just what to expect. Stepping away from the more overtly folk-tinged sound of last album ‘Flaws’, ‘Shuffle’ sees the band in ebullient form. An insistent piano refrain underpins the track, which bounces along in a fashion that is likely to make it a regular feature in indie discos up and down the land, if such things still exist.
If the band is concerned this tonal gear-change will cause problems with their fans, they aren’t showing it. “We didn’t feel that we needed to tie this record with the acoustic album,” lead singer Jack Steadman told The Arts Desk. “because for us that was just a side project and we didn’t feel that we needed the new one to make sense with it.”
Time will tell if this gamble will pay off, but judging from the ecstatic response the band have been receiving at festivals like Glastonbury, T in the Park and Reading and Leads, they shouldn’t have too much to worry about.
As an added bonus, Bombay Bicycle Club’s version of John Martyn’s ‘Fairytale Lullaby’ will be appearing on a forthcoming tribute to the great man, along with contributions from artists like Beck, Snow Patrol and the Cure’s Robert Smith.
Huw Thomas Tag Of The Day Bombay Bicycle Club
It’s hard to believe that we’re still over a month away from the arrival of J. Cole’s debut album. By the time ‘Cole World: The Sideline Story’ drops in September, the man known to his mother as Jermaine will have released three official mixtapes, singles and EPs too numerous to count and worked with everyone from Drake to Rihanna.
He’s also found time to be the first rapper signed to Jay-Z’s Roc Nation label, pick up a Best New Artist nomination at the 2011 BET Awards and make number five on Vibe’s list of the 30 Greatest Rappers Under 30. Not bad for a kid from Fayetteville North Carolina.
The laid back feel of ‘Work Out’ will be familiar to those who have lapped up J. Cole’s earlier releases. A nagging vocoder loop recalling 2Pac and Dre’s ‘California Love’ underpins the tale of a chance encounter, with Cole asking ‘Is it the real thing/Or is it just a one night stand?’ The track effectively blends some very 2011 sounds with undeniably old-school influences, even throwing in a cheeky call-back to Paula Abdul’s ‘Straight Up’.
‘Work Out’ should serve as a mouth-watering taster for Cole’s debut album. For the faithful, the wait has been far too long, so you can expect it to go big once it finally hits. Once record is released he’ll be heading out on the road, first to the UK where he’ll be supporting Tinie Tempah on his autumn arena tour.
Huw Thomas Tag Of The Day J Cole
The walls between pop, urban and dance music are now so blurred it’s difficult to tell where one ends and the other begins. For example, who can say whether the heavy dance production on Britney Spears’ latest album is a bold musical move for a usually safe pop act, or simply an example of dubstep losing its edge? Timbaland, once the world’s foremost hip hop producer, now calls on dance king David Guetta for his beats. One thing’s for sure, if you’re trying to put popular music into pigeon holes you’re in for a hard time.
For that reason it’s hard to tell if producer AraabMuzik is subverting cheesy dance music with his latest work, or simply playing on current trends. Whatever the case, he seems to be doing a very good job of it. Known for making gritty, gun-toting rap tracks with Camron’s Dipset crew, AraabMuzik’s latest album see’s him reworking a bunch of twee house and trance tracks through his MPC drum machine. The result, ‘Electronic Dream’, is something totally unexpected.
On lead single ‘Streetz Tonight’ the over the top musical builds of Kaskade’s ‘4 AM’ are somehow muted by AraabMuzik’s emptied out beats: combining the euphoria of cheesy dance with a hip hop swing to create something all together more subtle. It’s not exactly rocket science, but it most certainly works – just don’t try to work out which genre you should file it under.
You can check the video here.
Stephen Titmus Tag Of The Day AraabMuzik
Released back in 1979, ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ was the second single released by The Cure. While it, strangely, didn’t make the cut for their debut album ‘Three Imaginary Boys’, the track remains a strong favourite from their extensive back catalogue. The foundations for The Cure were laid in 1976, when Robert Smith gathered some friends to form a band called Malice. After a few lineup and name changes, Smith formed The Cure with Lol Tolhurst and Michael Dempsey on drums and bass respectfully. The band have now released thirteen albums, and counting, their latest being 2008’s ‘4:13 Dream’.
‘Boys Don’t Cry’ epitomises everything that’s great about the band, a timeless melody fronted by Robert Smith’s distinctive vocal delivery. While there’s no word on a new album, The Cure are set to steal the show at this year’s Bestival; with their headline performance their only European show of 2011. The event takes place on September 8th-11th on the picturesque Isle Of Wight. With festival organiser Rob Da Bank also pulling in Pendulum, Björk, Primal Scream and PJ Harvey, this year’s event looks set to keep the standard of previous years. For the full line up and ticket info, head to the Bestival website.
While there’s no guarantees over what The Cure will play, with no current album to promote, all signs are pointing to a career spanning greatest hits set. Which will hopefully mean a welcome airing for ‘Boys Don’t Cry’.
Jon Davies Gigs/ Events, Tag Of The Day Bestival, The Cure
‘Fantasy’ is the latest single from Breakbot, the French producer/DJ. Despite a constant stream of remixes for the likes of Chromeo, Metronomy and Air, Breakbot’s own back catalogue has been slow to develop. He first released the ‘Happy Rabbit’ EP on Moshi Moshi in 2007, and then forced us to wait until 2010 for the follow up.
However, this hiatus was quickly forgotten when he returned with the fantastic ‘Baby I’m Yours’. An instantly catchy slice of disco influenced pop, which attracted a dancefloor slaying remix from Aeroplane.
Breakbot has returned with another potential summer classic, ‘Fantasy’. Featuring the vocal talents of Ruckazoid, ‘Fantasy’ is as close to a musical homage can get before it becomes plagiarism. And the subject of his musical affection? The King of Pop himself, Michael Jackson. Not to take anything away from Breakbot, ‘Fantasy’ is a fantastic track, but it’s one that could easily pass as a previously unheard gem from ‘Thriller’ era Jackson.
While the producer clearly wears his influences on his sleeve, there’s no denying ‘Fantasy’ stands up in its own right. With Justice’s long awaited second album nearing release, we might be due for a second wind from the Ed Banger label. If the songs are this good, it’s fine with us.
Jon Davies Tag Of The Day Breakbot
With major festival gigs under their belt and a forthcoming album through Chase & Status’ MTA imprint on the way, Nero’s journey through drum’n’bass and dubstep to stadium-straddling megastardom looks firmly underway.
That said, it’s pretty hard to draw too many parallels between what Nero are doing on ‘Promises’ and what many hardcore aficionados of the genre would be happy to call dubstep. This isn’t some murky, low-end bass excursion, but an extremely chart-friendly slice of commercial dance. Which is no bad thing.
The duo have retained a few of dubstep’s sonic components – notably some tasty chunks of wobbly bass under the chorus – and bolted them onto a shiny chassis of euphoric house. You know the drill: big soaring synths, dramatic female vocals, guaranteed to get hands in the air from Ibiza to Iceland.
That may sound like Nero are being damned with faint praise. Far from it. Doing this kind of thing right is not easy, as evidenced by the sheer amount of imagination-free ringtone fodder you’ll find in the charts these days. Nero’s background in more experimental music pushes through the four-to-the-floor bombast, meaning ‘Promises’ always has plenty going on below the surface. It may not be dubstep, but it sure is effective. However, if you do fancy something with a little more bite, then check out the Skrillex remix. It roughs up the track with some abrasive electronic detonations that should be sufficient to satisfy your dirty bass urges.
Huw Thomas Tag Of The Day Nero
British electronic band Does It Offend You, Yeah? released their second album earlier this year, entitled ‘Don’t Say We Didn’t Warn You’. Their first album planted the artists firmly into the electronic rock scene in the UK in which they achieved respected critical acclaim and completed countless festival appearances and worldwide tours. A three year gap between albums has kept their fans anticipating their new music and has also meant gathering new fans from their lively gigs and TV syncs.
‘The Wrester’ comes from their new album and features a foul-mouthed sample in the beginning and throughout. The beat is hard hitting, repetitive, sharp and vigorous. It’s a mix of electronic synths coated with effects and live drums that has strong crescendo into a furious drop. Californian based creative video group the ‘Hi5Collective’ have made a fan-made video, which has been posted on lots of hipster and well known music blogs in the states and crossing over to here in the UK. This is the same group that have made fan-made videos for The Weeknd and Tyler, The Creator escalating more than 100k views. The unofficial video matches the song beat for beat and creates a stunning visual description. It has been received with great enthusiasm and has quickly made the Hi5Collective very in-demand directors. Take a look at the video here; the second album from ‘Does It Offend You, Yeah?’ is available to buy now.
Jack Taylor Tag Of The Day Does It Offend You Yeah?
