Don’t know how I’ve managed to sleep on this until now but here’s some new lovely things from Work Drugs. “Boogie Lights” is what Work Drugs does best, 80s tinged chill wave yacht rock that is just summer personified. Sweet ass trumpet and guitar solo on the fade out, so you know it’s good.
“Boogie Lights” is from the upcoming new album Absolute Bearing
Work Drugs: Website…Facebook…Twitter…Tumblr…Soundcloud…Bandcamp
Just been watching the latest episode of HBO’s Girls and this remix of La Roux’s “I’m Not Your Toy” by Data caught my ears. Absolutely love the original, the remix adds some big strings, some heavy beats and some real Justice-esque attitude. Oh and double claps, you have to love the double claps.
Things are coming thick and fast for Childish Gambino’s upcoming mixtape, so far we’ve had tracks with Das Racist and Nipsey Hussle. Now we have a collaboration with Beck who also co-produced the beat. It’s very Childish Gambino and it’s very good and kind of low key at the same time. Cannot wait for this mixtape, Donald rarely disappoints.
I can remember the exact moment I first heard Corinne Bailey Rae’s “Like A Star”. I was in the back of the car with my parents driving home from somewhere, I was just mesmerised by the track and how drawn back it was to let her amazing vocals drift over. Yeah I know, it doesn’t have quite the same gravitas to it as a story of when someone first heard The Beatles, but its my story so back off.
Anyway, while “Put Your Records On” would be her most famous song, the quiet understated beauty of “Like A Star” was what people would stick around for, and they did on both sides of the pond and around the world.
Corinne Bailey Rae- “Like A Star”
Its annoying when you’re not near enough for shazam to pick up the song. This happened yesterday to me. I’m crashing at a friends house while I’m looking for my own place and his roommates were listening to something that I really liked the sound of. But as I’m crashing at this place and don’t really know them, well really at all, I felt like I couldn’t outright say “so hey person i don’t know, whatchu listening to?”. So I got my sneaky “shazam” on, except I wasn’t near enough. Thus began a daring creep down the stairs to creep on what they were listening to- finally I got close to enough and that is the story of how I found out about the marvelous 2:54.
So to the band, 2:54 who are a sister act (wait a minute) duo from London specialising in mesmerising vocals and haunting dreamy indie pop guitar soundscapes. Their brilliant “You’re Early” is a dark slightly menacing track that joins some of the classic stalker type songs. Looking back to 90s female lead alternative rock, 2:54 are an act to look out for especially as they just supported the xx during their London dates recently.
“You’re Early” is from the album 2:54 out now.
2:54: Website…Facebook…Twitter…Soundcloud
Things have been a bit quiet recently on the Ellie Goulding front after the massive debut album Lights. What better way to say “oh hai, i’m back” than a cover of one of the most talked about musicians around. Goulding’s cover of The Weeknd’s “High For This” is a low key affair on familiar ‘Ellie Goulding-esque’ ground. Not quite as menacing and brilliant as the original, but well its a tough act to follow.
You can download it here.
Here we are, the video to my favourite track from Watch The Throne, “No Church In The Wild” featuring Frank Ocean.
As if being one half of the beautifully folksy Angus & Julia Stone wasn’t enough, Julia Stone is now doing some things on her own and they are just as beautiful and maybe this cover of The National’s “Bloodbuzz Ohio” is even more so. From her second solo album, By The Horns, Stone’s take on “Bloodbuzz Ohio” is almost a world away from the deep tones of Matt Berringer and The National’s original take on it. Instead, Stone brings it to much more familiar ground with quirky instrumentation and piercingly sweet vocals. However, there is still that sense of melancholy of the original.
If you liked that, also check out Oh Land’s take on The National track.
By The Horns is available now, right here.
Some time ago Trails and Ways did a beautiful re-imagining of M83’s “Midnight City”. It was a kind of latin take on the track. The two from Oakland, CA have their own material at hand also and what material it is. “Nunca” is a fun bossa nova esque track that is just perfect for the dream pop summer sound that seems to be the one for 2012.
Sunny happy pop, what else do you need? Nothing right, so go and download “Nunca” and the Trilingual (Singles) EP right here.
Trails and Ways: Website…Soundcloud
Music can be simply beautiful at times, Brit Rachel Sermanni’s “Breathe Easy” is exactly one of those times. “Breathe Easy” is full of gorgeous vocals flying in and out of a warm piano, acoustic guitar and happy go lucky violins. Its truly a beautiful piece reminiscent of Norah Jones, Rachael Yagamata and Regina Spektor. A true delight.
“Breathe Easy” is from Sermanni’s debut EP Black Currents.
Nostalgia has never been so in as it is right now. Be it 80s funk rnb and pop, classic southern rock or 90s shoegaze- music is looking back. The fun thing is that with the advantages of hindsight artists are able to delve into all these influences and make something new and wonderful with it. And that’s exactly what New Zealand’s She’s So Rad have done.
Teaming up with singer Anji Sami and Tom Healy, producer Jeremy Toy has put together irresistably hazy lo-fi pop sounds that you will find hard to get out of your head. Their debut In Circles grabbed a lot of people’s attention including Ladyhawke who they toured with in the UK just recently.
With the release of their upcoming second album everything seems to be falling into place for the trio, I caught up with Jeremy to chat about music, life and things.
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Who are ‘She’s So Rad’?
We are a 3 piece band from Auckland, New Zealand:
Jeremy Toy (myself) - Guitar, Vocals, Drum Machines
Anji Sami - Keyboards, Vocals
Tom Healy - Bass
How did it all come together?
I had been playing in various bands in the late 2000’s and was not entirely happy with the direction they were going in so I started writing my own music, She’s So Rad’s first album ‘In Circles’ is a result of me in my home studio writing and recording music in a style that I love. As the songs started developing I found that Anji Sami’s vocals worked really well with mine and her voice helped make the vocals sound unique and really solid.
How do you approach the writing/recording process?
I like to work from home where I am comfortable creating music. Writing and demoing tunes is done all at once, on pro tools. It usually starts with a drum machine loop and some fuzzed out guitars, then some synths and vocals. Anji plays some synths and once I have an idea for vocals she comes in and sorts them out and fixes the melodies. I try to keep things moving as fast as possible as not get hung up on idea’s that don’t work and focus on the ideas that are exciting and new sounding.
What kind of things can inspire a new song?
Heaps of things can spark off idea’s for songs. Listening to old Townes Van Zandt or Steve Earle tunes, so much music i find inspiring from Creation records stuff to the new Roots records to early Motown and girl group records. Sometimes it is anxiety in the form of ‘must create, must create, must create!’ that becomes the inspiration to get in the studio and push record.
Obviously 90s shoegaze is a big influence- What other influences make up ‘She’s So Rad’?
So much 90’s music I love, especially that era Smashing Pumpkins, Dinosaur Jr, Sebadoh etc. That is the music I grew up listening to so that is the obvious influence. Further afield I would say things like early 80’s boogie and the techno-side of disco are a big influence in terms of their aesthetic and drum machine usage. I absolutely love golden era and also Rawkus Records style hip hop, the creativity and aesthetic in records of that era is so intriguing to me.
How did the relationship with Ladyhawke come about?
We became friends after she moved to New Zealand after two years of her touring her first record. We had common ground as we grew up listening to the same music and as it turns out we both played a few punk rock festivals together back in the day. Also I worked as an engineer for her on a remix she did for Alex Winston which was an awesome experience, Ladyhawke is so efficient and fast in the studio and can play every instrument (note: every just means guitars keyboards, gadgets and drums, not woodwind or brass).
What do you think of the New Zealand music scene? As it seems to be getting a lot more attention in recent years, any acts you’re really excited about (other than yourselves ;)
There are a few different music scene’s in New Zealand, all of which are extremely healthy and rife with music. It’s a tiny place but we have exceptional musicians. It seems to be a place where music can develop on it’s own without the musical environment influencing creativity too much so you get artists that sound very unique, some awesome and some bad. International attention seems to sway from heaps to nothing, it’s good that there seems to be positive attention happening at the moment.
Artists that are exciting me from New Zealand at present are:
James Duncan - He has a brand new album out and it is out of this world, totally worth checking out.
Julien Dyne - He is making the best what I guess is ‘Future Beats’ from NZ. He is always ahead of the game.
The Sami Sisters - Anji Sami from She’s So Rad is 1/3rd of The Sami Sisters, really awesome heartfelt songs, look out for a new acoustic record from them.
Tyra Hammond (ex. Opensouls/Tyra and the Tornadoes)- She is the heaviest soul singer I have ever played with. I have been working on an E.P for her over the past 6 months. It will be released soon.
Boycrush - A fellow Red Bull Music Academy attendee, he is writing some next level indie/pop stuff that is totally hot.
I have a few albums and artists I’ll always go back to whatever mood I’m in- who or what are your ones?
Teenage Fanclub - Bandwagonesque
Grandaddy - Sumday
Beck - Seachange
Pete Rock
Ahmad Jamal
Gun to your head- one song and one album you’d have to listen to for the rest of your life?
ouch!
Song - It’s All Over Now Baby Blue - The Byrds
Album - Neil Young - Harvest
What song is on repeat for you at the moment?
James Duncan - You Better Wait
What are you ‘super’ into at the moment (tv show, film, book, whatever!)?
Curb Your Enthusiasm is probably top of the list right now.
Anji is watching Game of Thrones, she is the most qualified of television watchers in the band.
What’s next for ‘She’s So Rad’?
We are working on our second album. We are getting very close to some sort of generally good outcome! It’s at the fun stage of experimenting with styles and seeing what boundaries we can push.
This is I Think You’ll Like This Song- What song do you think we’d like?
With the danger of sounding like I am just repeating myself, here goes… ”You’d Better Wait”
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Yeah, “You’d Better Wait” is amazing.
Ready for some new Summer Camp goodness. Great, here’s “Always”. From the upcoming EP of the same name, “Always” is synth driven 80s pop with hints of Animotion and Human League, so all fantastic things. Always love what these guys do, keep it coming.
What happens when you throw Lana Del Rey on a Damon Alban produced track for Bobby Womack’s latest album The Bravest Man In The Universe ? Pure magic. “Dayglo Reflection” is a cool loping along kind of track with Del Rey and Womack trading vocals over the lush trip hop Albarn beat.
Bobby Womack - “Dayglo Reflection ft. Lana Del Rey”
The Bravest Man In The Universe is due June 11 in the UK and the following day in the US.
You know if Community only goes the 13 episodes its been ordered then Donald Glover is going to have WAY more time to focus on his Childish Gambino alias. A bit of a silver lining I guess. Here’s some new things from Childish, the beat is soul sample heavy kind of Just Blaze/Kanye ish you know with Glover and Das Racist’s Heems trading bars.
For some reason this morning I woke up with an insatiable need to listen to some Justin Timberlake. In doing so I realised what the world is missing-new Justin Timberlake. It’s been way too long, it’s been six years since FutureSex/LoveSounds- that’s a whole small childs worth of a justinless musical world. Do something about it, JTizzle.
Here’s a Justice remix of ”Lovestoned/I Think She Knows” (like that’s gonna make up for it)
The funkified Sade 80s sound is making such a comeback right now with acts like Blood Orange and Theophilus London popularising the nostalgic look back. Add to this list Jessie Ware who sampled Bobby Caldwell’s “What You Won’t Do For Love” on this laid back smooth as hell track. Get a free download right here.
“What You Won’t Do For Love” and the sublime “Running” are both from the upcoming album Devotion which you can pre order here.
Cocaine 80s: Website
I’m not joking when I say whenever I shazam something off the radio it pretty much is always Delilah. It’s been happening for months and I’ve finally put my foot down and done something about it.
Last month I posted about Jessie Ware, a sort of sade influenced garage kind of thing. If you replace garage with dubstep, but keep the sade influence and throw in some Chaka Khan, you’ll sort of arrive at Delilah. She even covers a little bit of Chaka Khan “Ain’t Nobody” on “Go”. ”Breathe” is a bit more Zero 7/Massive Attack infused and just sounds lo fi amazing. It’s crazy how many styles and influences you can pick out and truly shows that Delilah is one to watch.
“Go” and “Breathe” are both from her debut album From The Roots Up due July 30th which you can pre order here.
Delilah: Website…Facebook…Twitter…Soundcloud
Converse’s “3 Artists, 1 Song” has struck again with an absolute doozy of a song. Mark Foster (of Foster The People), DJ/Producer A-Trak and indie darling Kimbra have joined forces on “Warrior”. It’s a great song and has Mark Foster’s quirky pop stamp all over it, the dance influence of A-Trak and Kimbra’s flawless vocals. You can download it for free too! Right here!
Masters of the big party summer track, The Knocks are back for 2012 with “Learn To Fly”, a beautiful happy high energy track that just builds and builds for something special. This looks to be a contender for song of the summer. Get the track here.
The Knocks: Website…Facebook…Twitter…Soundcloud
