Michael Kiwanuka, A Black Man In A White World

It’s been quiet from Michael Kiwanuka for a while now. His debut album “Home Again” was released back in 2012. Now, 4 years later he is finally back!

The brand new Michael Kiwanuka album “Love & Hate” will be released on the 27th May.

The first track lifted off the forthcoming album is called “Black Man In A White World”.

The song sounds like a long lost 70s classic with its clapping and footstomping, dry funk guitar, strings with jazzy drumming and vibes. Add to this a beautiful black and white music video – and you got a new Michael Kiwanuka classic. Enjoy it here!

Make sure to add “Black Man In A White World” in your favorite playlist on Spotify here: http://po.st/BMIAWWsp

 

If this song is representative for his second album LOVE will definately conquer HATE!

D’angelo the “Black Messiah” is back!

The greatest comeback of 2014
It took D’angelo 14 years of silence, between “Voodoo” released 2000 and his latest release “Black Messiah”, rush releases in December 2014, actually it almost passed us by. The album was rush released without any huge PR campaign, no big boards, no social media leaks. It´s just here in yer face, right here – right now – and it´s a helluva great comeback – a classic album from day one!

It´s the first to be credited to D’angelo And The Vanguards. His new band, and what a band!

“Black Messiah” sounds like a continuation of “Voodoo” taken 14 years into the future, without loosing it’s inspiration from the big ones from the past. “Black Messiah” shows the path into the future of nu-neo-soul. This is DEEP SOUL!

As earlier releases by D’angelo the shadow of Prince is found all over the album, but on the “Black Messiah” album we also get a large slice of George Clintons psyched out space funk. Guitars ripped off Ernie Isley of the Isley Brothers and Eddie Hazel, even Jimi Hendrix here and there. The funk of Sly Stone, the political soul of Marvin Gaye and the political lyrics and falsetto of Curtis Mayfield. And we’re not forgetting Prince, because this album has also a track, just like “Voodoo”, that is more Prince than Prince has been the last years. «Another Life» is this years «Untitled (How Does It Feel)» both tracks is some of the best tracks Prince has never written, the track you have to double-check the liner notes twice a day!

D’angelos third album is embracing a huge handful of genres but is without doubt a soul album that’s instant funky,  dry like the deserts of Sahara and sweat like a long hot summers night at the same time, groovy as hell, smooth like butter, juicy jazzy, latin and sitar flirting rock and gospel bomb; Sometimes all at the same time!

The return of D’angelo
D’Angelo has had some tough years, his much written a about weight problem, his problem with coping with his own  success and his almost fatal car crash while on drugs, that almost killed him!

Musically Frank Ocean has almost been there on the fantastsit “Orange”, Beyonce has dipped her toes in the same eksperimental water with her self titled latest album, Miguel almost made it, Prince and his 3rd Eye Girl has tried, and revitalised the sound of Prince! But It’s cool to see how D’angelo collects all the loose threads from the aforementioned to create his third album. With “Black Messiah” does D’andelog dare to show his music colleagues how real soul should be done in 2014. The album and sound of “Black Messiah” will be a blueprint for how soul should sound in the future, without loosing it’s roots in the past!

The albums mighty production sounds 50% improvised and 50% produced. Everything sounds right. It’s a living proof that there is still place for the sound of D’angelo in a world were we questions the future of the album – and physical formats. This is album music, as album music should be released and listened to – at a whole, as a story, as a part of history – from first track – untill the finnished last track!

With their deep soul album «Black Messisah» shows D’angelo And The Vanguards that they live up to the album’s title as a saviour of soul music and that the long wait was worth it!

All of a sudden 14 years didn´t sound so long time ago. What perfect way to end the year!

LISTEN TO “BLACK MESSIAH” ON SPOTIFY – OR DOWNLOAD IT ON ITUNES HERE!

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The handsome saviour of epic-rock by Norway’s greatest voice!

Former Madrugada vocalist Sivert Høyems new single is out and it’s a epic soul/gospel/rock ballad called “Handsome Savior”

The song starts off as a slow ballad, with a naked hammon organ and Sivert Høyems fantastic vocal performance which sounds like equal parts Michael Stipe (former R.E.M.) and Nick Cave. It slowly builds. Drums,  guitar, and gospel inspired backing vocals kicks in.

Sivert Høyem has one of Norways strongest, greatest and most carateristic voices. A voice that carries any song he performs.

I you like the way Coldplays “Fix You”, R.E.Ms “Drive” or Blur´s “Tender” builds up to became this epic gospel inspired rock monster you gonna love “Handsome Savior”! It´s a future epic-rock-classic!

John Mayers’ new album and surprising duet partners!

A brand new John Mayer record is just around the corner, and it´s called “Paradise Valley”.

What´s making his forthcoming album “Paradise Valley” even more interesting is his duet partners this time.

He has previously had duet partners like former girlfriend Taylor Swift (actually one line) in the song “Half Of My Heart” from “Battle Studdies” album, David Crosby and Grahamn Nash on “Queen of California” and “Born and Raised” (actually backing vocals) from the album with the same name as the latter.

This time he features two very different artists – both great vocalists in their genre – so I´ll look forward to hear what they both come up with, since none of them are normally categorized under the singer-songwriter/americana/blue-eyed soul sound John Mayer has made his trademark sound.

…And the duettpartners are;
Katy Perry and Frank Ocean!  

The pop starlet Katy Perry is visiting sixth track “Who You Love”

And second duet partner, soul artist, Frank Ocean guests on song 8th, a track called “Wildfire”.

Now thats two good reasons to even look more forward to the forthcoming John Mayer album “Paradise Valley”. The album by the way is said to follow the similar sound as the former album “Born And Raised”!

Check out the John Mayer homepage here
Follow John Mayer on Facebook here – and on Twitter here

The album “Paradise Valley” will be released

in september in Europe and August in the US

The Q&A; Little Brother Eli “A spectrum of influences!”

One of the new faces of modern blues and rock is called Little Brother Eli. A new duo with Alex Grew on lead vocals and guitarist Joshua Rigal. The band is inspired by modern rock, as well as blues, soul and hip hop – with rock as their main ingredient. The band has played together for a little over 6 months only and have their a self titled debut 3 track EP out now.

The three tracks is quite and eclectic sounding and the EP kicks off with the rock track “Animal Fair”; A raw live-in-the-studio sounding rock song with dirty guitars and a vocal intro – not to far from Elvis “Trouble” – before drums and disco´ish high-hats kick in. The guitars make me think about the dirty sound of Jimi Hendrix´ played with his six string when playing live. The sound is raw and if you draw a line from Jimi to Jack White – you´re not too far from the sound of Little Brother Elis first track.

When questioning the bands guitar player Josh Rigal about what artist they are inspired by
And by asking what are their favorite records are – you´ll get an exiting sneak peek into their eclectic rock sound.

-Both Alex and I draw a great deal of inspiration from the likes of Jack White, Led Zep and The Black Keys, but we each have our own personal musical influences which we bring to the project. For example, I know Alex learnt a great deal about melody by listening to his dad’s Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) records. Equally I’d say Stevie Wonder and Beastie Boys are two influences for me which I hold close to Little Brother Eli.

-Our favourite records? Alex: Consolers Of The Lonely – by The Raconteurs.
Josh: Blood Sugar Sex Magik – Red Hot Chili Peppers

As you can see from Josh answers, Little Brother Elis eclectic style even draws inspiration from hip hop and soul, and on the second track “Awkward Position” you can clearly hear hip hop inspired drum playing. There´s no studio flickering here, just a great slice of their soulful-blues-inspired rock. Real music, real musicians!

Do you both write the songs together? Who comes up with the ideas? And does the songs or melodies come first?

-Our writing process started off fairly unconventionally, separated by 167 miles between London and Sheffield, we we´re emailing bits and pieces of melodies, riffs and beats back and forth. When we properly got together and wrote the material however, it tends to be a similar case. Alex might turn up with a melody, single line of lyrics or occasionally a whole song that just needs piecing together. Or I’ll sit down at the piano and feel something out and we’ll build the song section by section until the day is out or the song is finished. There’s no set formula, it just kind of comes together when we set ourselves to it.

I had to ask the band about if there will be a full album, and when is it planned to be released?
Can we expect to hear more of the same?

-As I alluded to earlier, we do have material. For us though, we’re just starting off. Our fan base is slowly growing, we’re playing more and more live shows and we’re working really hard to build a project which has some legs. So we don’t have the audience or financial capabilities to put together an album quite yet. It’ll get there though. We’d like to hope within a year? maybe? possibly?

-With regards to what can be expected…A carefully arranged selection of songs, put together to create some interesting dynamics. You’ll hear a more full spectrum of our musical preferences. Swing, funk, soul, rock, blues, hip hop – however it comes.

The last track on the EP is my favorite track and the song where the band let their musical influences really shine through. A real show off track, in a positive way; It´s called “When she sings” and is an eclectic song that mixes bluesy soul, with a bit of Jeff Buckley inspired vocals, that suddenly glides into a short raw guitar solo in front of the mix. After the short solo, the song slips into reggae then a bit of do-wop which segues into a sing-a-long la-la bridge before it ends like it starts; as a soul track, with a falsetto vocal. All this is done within 3 minutes. 6 musical genres into one short three-minute song, almost like mini-miniature rock opera. Fantastic and amazing!

I can’t believe you only have played together for a half-year, how did you meet? Have any of you played in bands or had solo earlier? When did you first start to play music ?

-Alex and I have been friends for a long time. We used to play in a band together as teenagers, as you do. We learnt a lot, built on our craft and had great fun for 5 years or so. That group disbanded, but a few years later Josh and I were hanging out and decided to jam out a song together and lay it down on the laptop. We’d always had great results writing together, but It was at this point we decided we should write a whole album’s worth of material, and the project kind of built up from there.

-My first instrument was the trumpet at age 10, but that took a back seat at about 16 yrs, when I discovered my love for bass guitar. Alex tells me that he’s been making noises and dancing about ever since he could stand. Although he’s had no musical training, he’s been performing and singing from a young age, but has really found his voice in the last few years.

Josh Rigal, thanks a lot and it was great chatting with you and I look forward to hearing more from you – and look forward to follow your career.

Do you wanna read or hear more about and from the band? 

• You can buy and download the Little Brother Eli EP here, through their Bandcamp site or  through iTunes here
• Have a preview listen here on Spotify or on SoundCloud.
• If you would like to follow the band Little Brother Eli  check their homepage here
• On social media services on facebook here and twitter
• Little Brother Eli also has a fantastic eclectic playlist of theif favourite tracks on Spotify, check it here!

If I should choose a tagline at the end, why you should love Little Brother Eli, I´d love to quote vocalist Josh Rigals own worlds:

You’ll hear a more full spectrum of Little Brother Elis musical preferences;Swing, funk, soul, rock, blues, hip hop – however it comes!

Daft Punks random accessed memories

Hearing Daft Punks brand new album “Random Access Memories” just two and a half times…And here´s the random thoughts that comes to mind!

Kraftwerk, Todd Rundgren, Toto, Chic, Diana Ross, FM radio, Steely Dan, Supertramp, Bee Gees, Alan Parsons Project, Madonna, Chemical Brothers, Neptunes, Neil Young “Trans”, Rollerdisco, Soft Rock, Pharell, Michael Jackson, War Of The Worlds, Breakbeats, Chart-shows, Sylvester, LP, DJing, Stardust, Kate Bush, spoken word, TV, Casio Watches, Pointer Sisters, the year in pop 1975-1978, MTV, pre-disco, Prince, disco, jamming, dancing, Radiohead, Pink Floyd, soft, glitter balls, Spandau Ballet, Michael Sembello, flamingoes, happy, teenage years, Footloose, mullets, Marillion, Adidas, LP-player, Piano, Sax, Elton John, Stereo, Sound Effects, soft-ice, boom boxes, Germany, Jan Hammer, Yes, Brian Eno, Simple Minds, Rocketship, Strobelights, Phil Collins, breakdancing, slow dancing, Twilight Zone, Talk-box, pop, LCD games, Cliff Richards, The Neverending Story, Vangelis, birds, Hard Rock of the 80s, Juicy Fruit, Todd Edwards, high-hats, sunglasses, Top Of The Pops, War Games, playing hide & seek, M, Dream pop, handclaps, Strings, Air, post-disco, Xanadu, watching the clouds pass by, Chicago, Stevie Winwood, Psychoderelict, Pete Townsend, Double, Eagles, Portishead, Sunbathing, Tangerine Dream, the color orange, VHS, analog, The Who, Pepsi, moon landing, recordings, white, Mixtapes, John Travolta, “You´re dead as disco”, AOR, Las Vegas, Iron Maiden, school, dance, slow jams, white tennis socks, Nile Rodgers, Michael McDonald, forward & rewind, science fiction, money, Michael Cera, Sheen Easton, one hit wonder, Björn Borg, Meat Loaf, Real Music, moviebox, Genesis, Robert Miles, Musicals, Purple Rain, black, timeless, Bon Jovi, dancing parents, concept album, Summer, Wham, Queen, Orchestra, Giorigo Moroder, Cassettes, Phoenix, Coca Cola Jean Michel Jarre, Big Beat, funk, push play, rain, ghosts, 10CC, Keyboards, vecation, Solo, Falsetto, Party, eclectic, Donald Fagen, Journey, The Moody Blues, Planes, Sade, Youth Clubs, Robots, Star Wars, Cafe, Sunset, Bass, the stars, Josh Wink, Horror movies, Swing Out Sister, David Bowie, Progrock, E.T., Short Circuit, Kiss, Electric Light Orchestra, Elevator Music, scared of the dark, smiling, love, epic, weekends, Miami Vice, Don’t Stop Believing, The world, Europe, Universe, infinity, oceans, BASF, Billboards, Casino, time travel, never growing up, not ironic, music sounds better with you!

Have a listen to the brand new Daft Punk album  “Random Access Memories” HERE!
What thoughts are you making for yourself when hearing the bands new instant classic?

EXTRA JUST ADDED: I LET THIS ALSO BE A TRIBUTE OF DREAMS, HOPE AND MEMORIES TO THE VOICE FROM “ONE MORE TIME”- ROMANTHONY – WHO PASSED AWAY AT THE AGE OF 45 THE 7TH OF MAY!

Does PSY still have it?

Mr Gangnam Style is back;
The brand new PSY video to his latest single “Gentleman” is here.

Once again he´s made up some new dance moves.
This time the “horse-dance” is gone, and in comes a more feminine dance. The air-humps is still here, and PSY´s still very Benny Hill inspired when it comes to women!

Same procedure as last time – and a rip off of his massive hit “Gangnam Style”?

See in the video here!

Do you think PSY still have it?

Will this be a new number one?
Or is he just another one-hit wonder?

Oh! This is a soul record by Allen Stone!

2011/2012 was the year James Morrison got his big breakthrough – and he is now having a well-earned break.  Therefore it´s time to look and listen to a brand new talent! 

His name is Allen Stone, and this is going the year he and his music reaches out to the big masses. Allen Stone is one of these white american soul singers – that stick to the classic formula with great success. Through his sound and voice I feel I can draw a line from classic artists like Stevie Wonder, Donny Hathaway and to “new” white soul men like Jay K from Jamiroquai, Jamie Lidell, Robin Ticke and James Morrison.

Photo by Jason Tang http://www.jktang.com

PHOTOS BY JASON TANG http://www.jktang.com

Photo by Jason Tang http://www.jktang.com

Allen Stone is a 25-year-old soul singer/song-writer from Washington, US. According to his Wikipedia profile – he has sung almost since he was born, and sung in church at the age of three. Church has been like his second home – and the place he developed his love for music. Soul music was discovered later on, when he became a teenager, and started collecting soul albums from the 60s and 70s. At 15 he discovered Stevie Wonders fantastic “Innervisions”. A classic soul album and a reference to his musical landscape.

But he decided to make music his living – after hearing his teenage friend, artists Stacie Orrico – and this is so good that I quote as is the Wikipedia article “She was traveling, singing everywhere, and recording,” Stone says, “She was just a year older than me and I was like, “Man that would be so much fun to do, sing and actually have people listen” (This quote is taken from an Erica Thompson interview with Allen Stone in Rolling Stone magazine October 2012)

You can even find Allen Stone on Facebook (This picture is from his FB profile)
If you´d like to twitter, you´ll find him at twitter/allen_stone

It´s tempting to do another quote, from the Rolling Stone article (link here) about what Allen Stones fans can expect from his second album “Allen Stone”; “Sonically, it’s a soul record” and continues “But it’s the music that I really love making. It’s not my attempt to cover all this soul music, it’s just really to fit in there and play the music that I love” and he ends it like this “People will listen to it and be like; Oh, this is a soul record”.

According to the Rolling Stone interview Allen Stone is working with Raphael Saadiqs backing band and one of the late jazz legend Miles Davis keyboard players. The album is being recorder with producer Lior Goldenberg from L.A who has also worked with big name artist like Macy Gray, Sheryl Crow,  and son of late reggae legend Bob Marley, Ziggy Marley!It must be so cool to work with big names like that – and that is only on the second album.

It makes me wonder; Whats next for Allen Stone?

Back in 2009 he self-released his debut “Last To Speak” on his own label StickyStones records. His first album is a really soulful offering – containing 11 soulful singer/songwriter songs performed with mostly acoustic instruments and his fantastic voice – and he´s handling the guitar himself. I feel the album is representative with his self-confessed hippie with soul (link to Wikipedia) image and sound.

Allen Stones, new and second album – the self titled album “Allen Stone” – is ready for release at the end of february – and is already possible to pre-order in iTunes (which i off course have done). The original release of the album was back in 2011 – but it´s not available on iTunes until now in February. He has  already released the “Allen Stone EP” – a mini-album containing 4 tracks.

You can hear Allen Stones second and self titled album here on Spotify – when it´s released

Since the only thing I have heard from Allen Stones upcoming album is his “Allen Stone EP” – I can’t tell too much about how his second album is going to sound, but if the EP is representative for that – it seems like the upcoming album is a bit more produced this time, more groovy – more classic sounding – and without taking off the loose feeling of his debut album.

The title of his debut album and last song on the same album is called “Last To Speak”. It´s tempting to use this as the final sentence of this blog post about the talented Allen Stone and answer it with “Ok, so you may be the last to speak – but make sure you’re not this is the last you sing” Because this is only the start of the amazing career of Allen Stone.

We need artist like Allen Stone! 
I need artists like Allen Stone!

A quickie: Borgore feat. Miley Cyrus

Hit warning!

Israeli Dubstep producer and DJ Borgore teams up, with none other than, Miley Cyrus for his latest release “Decisions”

The Borgore song features Miley Cyrus on backup-vocals and she even appears in the video.

See the video here

The song is a sing-a-long dubstep flirt – with the chorus that goes “B….es Love Cake”.

With Miley Cyrus appearing in both song and video including the controversial lyrics; because we all know the magic trick of having an explicit word (or two) in the lyrics, instant hit! Add pumping beats with dubstep screams and squelches and a video with a good old cake fight and the is track doomed to become a real floor filler!

Hear it right here and now!