Here’s some news to fire up your cold winter morning. Hip hop legend whose idiosyncrasies have influenced countless imitators, Busta Rhymes has announced that he will be playing one show at The Coronet in London on December 7th.
He will be joined by Jehst, Shortee Blitz and more TBA. Click on the flyer below for tickets and be sure to head down as this show is guaranteed to be filled with rhymes galore, rhymes galore, RHYMES GALORE.
One of the finest, most eclectic and musically pure indie rock groups to emerge from Wales in recent years, WE//ARE//ANIMAL have just released their debut album ‘Idolise‘ today.
If you’re going to introduce yourselves to at least one new band this year, make it WE//ARE/ANIMAL. Their album is available now from Rough Trade and most good record stores.Keep your eyes open for an Introducing interview with the band dropping later this week.
The highly influential Sheffield brit poppers Pulp will be reuniting for a one-off festival appearance in 2011.
All of the band’s original members will be involved as the band are set to play Wireless Festival in Hyde Park on July 3rd. The announcement was made at just the right time as tickets for the festival go on sale this Friday (November 12th).
For more information on Pulp’s reformation head here.
And in case you weren’t aware, Pulp were responsible for making one of the greatest skateboard parts of all time even greater. Click here to watch PJ Ladd’s part in PJ Ladd’s Wonderful Horrible Life and listen to Like A Friend below.
James Blake
Limit To Your Love
ATLAS
There is something about James Blake, London’s bedroom producer-de-jour every damn day for the past year and a half, that is a little unsettling. Perhaps it’s that listening and watching a producer progress in such a bizarrely natural way makes it impossible to not fear that the sickeningly young musician from London has in fact planned this gentle build up of reputation and style all along and has a mind so meticulous and forward-thinking that he could make the London music scene cave in on itself at any given moment. It perfectly mirrors his approach to beat-making; from the unassuming nudge of bass, to the swirling fog of vocal samples (often by himself), to the exact moment when you realise he has you caught in a sonic trance.
His latest release, the cover of Feist’s Limit To Your Love may sound on first listen nothing like hissy the lo-fi buzz of RnB mixed melters made under the Harmonimix pseudonym, nor the heavily layered twists and turns of CMYK and Air And Lack Thereof, but it’s unmistakably his first step into a territory he’s made exclusively for himself. His warm voice softly meandres its way through a reinforced piano backbone as gently as a spectre glides through walls, and the overpowering bass bubble and drum kick that adds something so minimally brilliant that I almost hate the musically gifted bastard. But as the melody slowly shifts and the hook comes back at a perfectly planned moment you can’t help but want more. In just four minutes Blake introduces us to what could be a new era of urban sound for London; furthermore, it reflects what he’s been doing for the past year: slowly appointing himself the unofficial voice of a generation that hasn’t even been given a name yet.
Stanley
Limit To Your Love is out Monday November 8th through ATLAS Recordings.
Forum, London
01.11.10
Heading out to Kentish Town might not be everyone’s idea of a fun Monday night out, but walking towards the Forum to see Big Boi, it was as if the Yellow Brick Road had transported itself from Oz to light up the way from the tube station. The venue might not have been anywhere near capacity [much to my chagrin] but once the most talented member of Outkast stepped onto the stage, those that were in attendance were immediately ready for a party.
Kicking things off with some older Outkast material, which many thought he wouldn’t play as it was, after all, a solo show rather, Big Boi got everyone moving and clapping along to ATLiens, shouting about fish and grits before moving into favourites like So Fresh, So Clean. Every chorus was hollered back by the beaming crowd and when he broke into the material from this year’s Lucious Leftfoot… album, the volume ramped itself up even more.
General Patton‘s booming bassline, the sing-a-long chorus of Follow Us and Fo Yo Sorrows all proved their worth and Shutterbug, arguably the biggest of bangers from his album got the biggest cheer of the night. It’s definitely a song that is going to stand up amongst his impressive back catalogue when looking back in years to come.
Hits like B.O.B., The Way You Move, Ms Jackson, Ghettomusick and even the Purple Ribbon banger Kryptonite were dropped around classics Player’s Ball, Elevators and Southernplayalisticcadillacmuzik with his DJ cutting up the videos for every track played on the big screens either side of the stage – impressive indeed. And when he returned for the encore of Tangerine and Ain’t No DJ, it was clear by the response of those in attendance that this was a Monday very well spent.
I just want to be his best mate.
Abjekt.
The constantly genre-hopping producer extraordinaire Diplo has compiled a definitively vast collection of dubstep that is set to be released in the UK on November 29th through Mad Decent/Co-op. It will be the first volume in the labels new ‘Blow Your Head‘ series of compilations.
The hand-picked compilation purposefully refuses to answer the frequently asked question ‘just what is dubstep?’ The variety in Diplo’s favourites looks set to dispell any genre stereotypes and open up many to a world of music that has bubbled, wobbled, scuttled, bounced, bleeped and buzzed throughout London and the world during the last decade.
The album linear notes sees Diplo fondly describe dubstep as “a sort of great nephew to Reggae”, the bastard child of Dub that took influence from Jungle and Dancehall and then “ran away to do drugs in London and start a band with no money, just a laptop with a few cracked programs it found on torrent sites.”
The tracklisting (previously unreleased tracks are marked *) is as follows:
01. Joker & Ginz: Re-Up
02. Major Lazer feat. Mr Lexx & Santigold: Hold The Line (Skream Remix)*
03. DZ: Down
04. Diplo feat. Lil Jon: U Don’t Like Me (Datsik Remix)*
05. Zomby: Strange Fruit
06. Brackles: Glazed
07. Jessica Mauboy: Burn (Stenchman Remix)*
08. Doctor P: Sweet Shop
09. Rusko: Cockney Thug (Caspa Remix)
10. Untold: Stop What You’re Doing (James Blake Remix)
11. Borgore feat. Diplo: Sunset
12. James Blake: Sparing The Horse
13. Benga: 26 Basslines
14. Little Jinder: Youth Blood (12th Planet & Flinch Remix)
15. Rudi Zygadlo: Resealable Friendship (Starkey Remix)
16. Rusko feat. Amber Coffman: Hold On (Subfocus Remix)
Mark Sultan
$
Last Gang
The name Mark Sultan might not set bells ringing, but anyone who has experienced The King Khan and BBQ show will have firsthand experience of the man’s genius. A stalwart of the modern garage rock scene, Sultan has toured with Black Lips, Vivian Girls and Clinic and released records on prestigious labels from Sub Pop to In The Red. Now, you feel, is the time for Mark Sultan to make a name for himself in his own right.
New album ‘$’ on Last Gang is good enough to do exactly this. After murky album opener ‘Icicles’, Sultan gets into his stride by combining his signature fuzzy guitars with a doo-wop twist that makes him stand out from the crowd. An early highlight is ‘Ten of Hearts’, a slower paced, almost ballad-like song that highlights Sultan’s vocal prowess. There’s a strong 60s influence at play here, yet the production has a modern edge which give the instrumentation an instant kick.
Further standout tracks follow thick and fast, whether it be ‘Go Beserk’ with its punchy riffs and infectious chorus hook, or the soulful croon of ‘I’ll Be Loving You’. This variation serves the album well, with enough stomping garage rock tracks but slower songs which give it a gooey romantic core.
Of course this path has been trodden many times before whether be in Garage rock’s initial conception or it’s revival over the past decade, but few artists carry it off better than Sultan. ‘$’ is a record made by somebody with a vast knowledge of source material new and old, and it shows by paying perfect homage to its heritage.
Big Sleekz
Lil Wayne has been released from jail today, after spending eight months in New York’s Riker’s Island prison,.
Weezy was charged for the attempted possession of a weapon. He was released today after some confusion over his release date. The acclaimed rapper will not be faced with any subsequent probation or parole from the weapon charge but (as MTV reports) he will face three years of unsupervised probation after pleading guilty to a drug charge in Arizona.
Whilst in the slammer, the Young Money CEO released the #1 album I Am Not A Human Being in which it seems the rapper’s penchant for pussy has only grown stronger.
Californian electronic indie rockers AWOLNATION are currently setting fire to the London club circuit on a series of live dates to celebrate both Guy Fawkes’ Night and the release of their debut EP ‘Back From Earth‘, which features the definitive pyromaniac tune ‘Burn It Down‘.
The video for ‘Burn It Down’ made its way online recently and features an appearance from DJ Samantha Ronson, who has remixed another EP track ‘Guilty Filthy Soul‘ with acclaimed Washington rapper Wale.
Grab the track for free below and peep the b-movie special effects bonanza that is the video for Burn It Down a little further down.
DJ Premier and Royce Da 5’9 are hitting the capital in December.
A legendary producer and DJ, Premo can call on his work as a beatsmith with Gangstarr and his bangers for Jay-Z, Big L, KRS-One, Biggie, Rakim, Nas and many, many more for what is sure to be a killer set.
Royce, the Detroit rapper that’s part of Slaughterhouse, gained his well-earned rep with Boom, a track produced by Premier, and is famous for his high-energy sets. The duo will be playing London’s Fabric nightclub on December 2nd.
With sets from Nick Javas, Prose, DJ 279 and the ever-amusing Mystro on hosting duties, it’s definitely one not to miss. Grab your tickets here.