Southern rap sensation Flo Rida takes the top spot in the Shazam New Release Chart USA thanks to a little help from the one man hit machine, David Guetta.
The Mercury Prize seems to be the one award that consistently divides opinion across all quarters of the music industry. Last year’s award was no exception; Speech Debelle’s victory with her debut album ‘Speech Therapy’ was lauded just as much as it was questioned. While many applauded the panel’s decision to award an unknown, urban artist many felt that some of the better known artists (Florence & The Machine, Friendly Fires and La Roux) were more deserving candidates for the prize. A fact that was confirmed by Speech Debelle swiftly leaving the public eye and her record label.
This year’s shortlist brings together a variety of acts for what promises to be another tough decision. An obvious favourite has to be the debut album from youthful London prodigies The xx. Their ennui filled brand of mellow indie has struck a chord with a wide variety of music fans this year and will surely be the name tipped by most. However, as we know, the Mercury always has the potential to amaze and frustrate in equal measure! Here is the full list of nominees.
Biffy Clyro – ‘Only Revolutions’ Corinne Bailey Rae – ‘The Sea’ Dizzee Rascal – ‘Tongue N’ Cheek’ Kit Downes Trio – ‘Golden’ Foals – ‘Total Life Forever’ I Am Kloot – ‘Sky At Night’ Laura Marling – ‘I Speak Because I Can’ Mumford And Sons – ‘Sigh No More’ Paul Weller – ‘Wake Up The Nation’ Villagers – ‘Becoming A Jackal’ Wild Beasts – ‘Two Dancers’ The xx – ‘XX’
At their excellent show last weekend at London’s Lovebox event, Cut Copy unveiled some tracks from the long awaited follow-up to their breakthrough 2008 album ‘ In Ghost Colours ‘; the band are also giving away the anticipating single ‘Where I’m Going’ in exchange for an email address to keep you posted on future developments -see widget below.The track somehow loses the heavy eighties synth rock influence that has prevailed in their sound until now and gives way to a glam-infused base, complemented with a catchy pop vocal melody.
As yet untitled, their self-produced new album is currently being mixed by Ben Allen – whose CV includes Animal Collective’s critically acclaimed opus ‘Merriweather Sound Pavillion’ – and has been scheduled for a January 2011 release. In the meantime, the band is getting the fanbase ready for their new aural assault by hitting the Festival circuit worldwide.
Shazam is recruiting again! We’re eager to hear from talented people interested in becoming part of the Shazam team. We’re currently recruiting across the board for Software Engineers, QAs, IT professionals and more. All roles are based in Hammersmith, London. Click here for a full list of vacancies and information on how to apply.Please note all applicants must be eligible to work in the UK.
Anyone with a level of nostalgia for early ‘90’s video games should check out the latest track from trans-Atlantic beat-smith Mark Ronson. ‘Circuit Breaker’ is a sonic reimagining of an epic 8 bit role playing game. The result sounds something like Daft Punk’s ‘Aerodynamic’ set to a break beat and scratch laden backing.
In all honestly, the track is fairly unremarkable: but it’s the cutesy video that sees Mark Ronson battle through a Zelda style world that really makes it. Look out for DJ battle sequence at the end – it’s pretty amusing!
Mark Ronson’s album ‘Record Collection’ is out September 27th and features contributions from Q-Tip, Ghostface Killah, Boy George and D’Angelo.
In an industry where mega-stars such as Radiohead and Prince give their music away for free, you may stop to wonder how less famous artists make a living from selling records. It’s clearly not something that worries UK rapper Wiley. After a fiery spat with his manager Wiley made the unprecedented decision to leak his entire unreleased back catalogue through his Twitter feed – a move that probably jolted his label into a sense of disbelief.
The timing couldn’t have been worse. Wiley’s long endured a tumultuous relationship with the music industry. He’s been signed, and subsequently dropped, by Atlantic, Big Dadda and XL. However with a number one under his belt with his grime collective Roll Deep and a new album with Island Records on the way things were looking up for Wiley. The possibility of that new album actually appearing is now anyone’s guess: the only thing that’s clear is that there are 203 previously unreleased Wiley tracks now floating through cyber space.
For more info you should check out this great article in the Guardian which goes someway to explaining the artist’s apparent moment of madness.
Check out ‘Up A Level’ above, one of the highlights of the leaked material so far.
The new Shazam on Android app is out now. It’s been seriously updated and is packed with great new features (see below for more info). You’ll be able to choose between a free version of Shazam, and our premium service – Shazam Encore. Download the free version and you’ll get a 7 day trial of Encore followed by the option to upgrade to Shazam Encore or have five tags a month thereafter when the trial ends.
If you’ve been using Shazam on your current Android phone since before 13th July 2010, if you upgrade to version 2.0 of the Shazam app you’ll be able to enjoy all the new features, without tagging limitations.
New features include Tour Info – find tour dates for tagged artists and buy tickets to their gigs; Tag Chart – find out which songs are popular in your country; and Browse Videos – check out YouTube videos for tagged artists from within the app – and more!
We hope you enjoy the new version of Shazam on Android. It’s always great to get feedback – so write a review and let us know what you think!
Hip hop has come a long way in its thirty or so year history. Originally dismissed as a gimmick, rap later emerged as the most visceral sound of a generation and has now settled as the world’s most widespread musical style – not to mention the biggest selling. Although there has always been light and shade between rap’s more pop influenced and hardcore elements, it would seem that the genre’s recent filtrations with commercial dance music have seen rap take a more pop lead focus than ever before. If you look at any of the world’s charts you’re likely to find plenty of rap; but rocking breakbeats are likely to be replaced by funkless four to the flour beats and intelligent rhymes abandoned in favour of monosyllabic chants. Fans of underground hip hop could be forgiven for thinking their favourite music was somehow taken away and ceremonially neutered without their knowledge.
Thankfully, while the more commercial side of hip hop continues it’s all conquering success, there are more underground acts making un-clichéd and interesting music – a great example of which is P-Money’s ‘Slang’. A London based MC, P-Money emerged from the same scene that gave the world Dizzee Rascal and Dubstep. His track is uniquely British, not just because of the record’s extensive use of speaker busting Drum & Bass basslines, but because it is simply about London ‘Slang’. Terms of endearment such as fam (family), cuz (cousin) and bredrin (brethren/good friend) make up the chorus. As an authentic statement of urban culture, the record far surpasses the majority of what American rappers can come up with. With fellow London rapper Tinie Tempah set to break the States in collaboration with Snoop Dogg, now could be the time when the British sell rap music back to the Americans.
Clark’s shoes haven’t enjoyed the most respectable street reputation in many parts of the world. For many years the company – started in quaint old England back in 1825 by a pair of Quaker brothers – used the term “sensible” to describe and promote their footwear. However, Clark’s are experiencing an unexpected up surge in credibility thanks to some heavy name checking from one of the stars of the Jamaican dancehall scene, Vybz Kartel. Kartel’s latest track, ‘Clarks’, is an ode to the British shoe company’s ‘Originals’ range – something which Vybz maintains is an inherent part of Jamaican culture on a par with curried goat and saltfish. Sales of the shoe have gone through the roof in both Jamaica and many parts of the USA and Britain; plus Vybz has already recorded two sequels to the record; ‘Clarks II’ and ‘Clarks III’.
Of course Vybz Kartel is not the first urban artist to big up his footwear. With this in mind we’ve compiled some of the most famous hip hop shoes via the medium of YouTube video clips.
It’s a good week for Eminem. Not only did he make a triumphant return to the live stage at T in the Park but he also scores a number one in the Shazam New Release Chart USA with ‘Love The Way You Lie’.
