Musique Non Stop - Jazz, Funk, Soul, Broken Beat, Electro, Electronic, Funk / Nu Disco, NU Jazz, House, Techno, Ambient, Lo-Fi, Downtempo... and Many More!
Gang of Youths revive indie rock, Tuka makes avante-garde hip-hop, while Mojo Juju brings sass and neo-soul to her new album
Every so often a band comes along that can make a well worn out genre, like post-punk indie rock, sound new and beautiful again. The Sydney now US-based band Gang of Youths have a debut album The Positions due for release 17 April, which chronicles lead singer David Le’aupepes’ tumultuous four-year relationship with a woman battling stage four cancer – he was just 18 at the time. Joining the charismatic Le’aupepes are longtime friends and bandmates Joji Malani, Jung Kim and Max Dunn and together they count Tom Waits, Pavement and Broken Social Scene among their influences. Catch them playing at Vic on the Park Hotel in their hometown on 3 April.
A year since the house pioneer died, his adopted hometown celebrates his legacy with a series of special parties and projects
It’s been a year to the day since the godfather of house music, Frankie Knuckles, died at the age of 59, and today the city of Chicago pays tribute to his legacy.
Knuckles – one of the most sought-after remixers in club music, working with scores of stars, including Michael Jackson, Chaka Khan and Diana Ross – will be celebrated across the city as Chicago house music legends join forces to mark the occasion. “It’s been a year since the house music community lost a guiding light, and we want to celebrate Frankie’s life,” said Alan King, founder of the city’s Chosen Few DJ collective.
Little is known about the incongruous pairing between the Major Lazer producer and the Led Zeppelin musician. Could this be Plant’s first foray into the world of EDM?
Scan across Diplo’s Instagram and you’ll see all kinds of strange and showy images documenting the producer’s jet-setting career. However, one recent image stands out as particularly incongruous: a photograph of the Major Lazer musician with Robert Plant.
Sporadically pumping out releases over the last year, SYRE is an expert at flying just under the radar. Marking his 10th original, Dmitriy Burenok (aka SYRE) newest creation upholds his long line of fire releases. Titled “Burn”, the track starts with unexpected ping pong sounds that eloquently segue into wavy synths, guitar slides and Kendra Dias’ smooth vocals. Adopted by Next Wave Records, be sure to grab your free copy of “Burn” here. Enjoy!
The dance music gathering has drawn to a close, leaving with it hangovers and the records set to dominate the summer, from Major Lazer to Sasha
Miami’s Winter Music Conference, the premier annual electronic and dance-music powwow in North America, just wrapped on Saturday. “Conference” is too prosaic a word for what goes down at WMC in the last week of March each year, as hundreds of international DJs, producers and performers – and thousands of often scantily-clad fans – descend on Miami Beach for an endless array of showcase gigs, VIP-only gatherings and steamy pool parties. To top it off the event coincides with the massive Ultra music festival on Saturday and Sunday, the whole thing forming an immense party megalopolis known as Miami Music Week. In recent years competing conferences around the world, like Amsterdam’s ADE, have challenged WMC’s supremacy; but most would have a hard time matching Miami for sheer sun-soaked glamour and spring-break debauchery.
Aside from collecting digits, suntans and epic hangovers, the order of the day for DJs at WMC is breaking new tracks – especially their own. Each March an abundant crop of new tracks is released by labels worldwide in time to ride the wave of the conference. Many of them aren’t even close to available, existing only by word of mouth or in tantalizing snippets caught on recorded DJ sets. (For example, the upcoming Nile Rodgers/Carl Cox collaboration that Coxy reportedly previewed during his Ultra set on Saturday.)
Former Kid British vocalist Adio Marchant’s soulful, genre-melting songs sound delicate on record, but live they become sonic monsters
Back in 2009, it looked like Kid British might make it. The Manchester six-piece were a sort of kitchen-sink Rizzle Kicks who memorably sampled Madness on track Our House is Dadless, but the breakthrough never came. After going solo in 2012, vocalist Adio Marchant has been recording as Bipolar Sunshine, releasing an unhurried series of soulful, genre-melting EPs on his own imprint, Aesthetic.
Despite early patronage from Spotify and iTunes, two gimlet-eyed content providers who recognise Marchant’s crossover potential, it’s a slightly thin crowd in Glasgow. Undeterred, the charismatic singer convinces us to cram toward the stage, and within three songs he’s pressed almost everyone into service on backing vocals. A dreamy, pulsing digital fantasia with an appealingly ragged vocal hook, Deckchairs on the Moon is further enhanced by the participatory “ooo-wahs”.
Fans of Toro Y Moi will be delighted to know that singer-songwriter/avant-garde producer Chaz Bundick is as weird as ever on his new release, What For?, which you can listen to one week before its release in the player above.
What For? is a space disco, an R&B funk den, a piano lounge bar at the airport and a sunset harbour cruise with the cast of Broad City. In the press release, Bundick himself cites a host of casual and diverse influences, including Big Star, Talking Heads, Brazilian psychedelic soul legend Tim Maia and French '70s jazz-funk group Cortex.
"I’ve done electronic R&B and more traditional recorded-type R&B stuff," Bundick said. "I just wanted to see what else was out there. It’s all coming from the same mindset and point of creativity. It’s just me trying to take what I already have, and then taking it further."
Bundick rises to his own challenge. What For? is a gloriously bizarre, fun freakout of an album, particularly the joyously unhinged "Empty Nesters" and the trippy closing jam, "Yeah Right," which spins out in a shimmering slow burn.
Speaking to the Guardian recently, Liam Howlett of the Prodigy lamented that dance music producers these days play it too safe: “There’s no pushing forward any more.” Though “safe” would be the wrong word to describe his band’s sixth album, an angry buzzsaw of a record that grates and spits for 56 minutes without respite, it marks no great progression for their music. There is a crunching inevitability about the metal-breakbeat synthesis on tracks such as Rok-Weiler. Their energy is still impressive, though, and some of the venting hits the mark: the vacuity of superstar DJ culture is nicely savaged on Ibiza.
Toronto-based electronic band Pick a Piper is re-exploring its self-titled debut album, releasing a remix of the original tracks as Pick a Piper: Remixes on April 7.
Band members and multi-instrumentalists Brad Weber, Angus Fraser and Dan Roberts gave their songs to an international roster of DJs for the project. Jeremy Greenspan (Junior Boys) takes the song "Lucid in Fjords" with its hazy, gauzy glory and echo-laden vocals by Ruby Suns' Ryan McPhun and hotwires it for the dance floor. Beats are generously added with keyboard flourishes and the occasional snare drum hit for accent. McPhun’s voice is reduced to whispers and looped hiccups. The results are sure to fill the floor.
Montreal’s ethereal bass duo Sibian and Faun (Milo Reinhardt and Xavier Léon) take the driving indie-dance rock and polyrhythms of "Once Were Leaves" and add a menacing tone to the opening, ripping the song apart with skittering beats and glitches. What was once a bright confection is re-rendered for the dark alcoves of the club.
This week saw a host of inventive new videos released, from FKA twigs’s perturbing pregnancy to Run the Jewels’ commentary on police violence
Starring Shea Whigham (Boardwalk Empire, Wolf of Wall Street) and Keith Stanfield (Selma, Straight Outta Compton), Run the Jewels’ latest video is a commentary on the culture of violence between police and public, featuring a white police officer and a black youth locked in a strange, violent struggle which has no resolution or reason. “This video represents the futile and exhausting existence of a purgatory-like law enforcement system,” says El-P of Run the Jewels. “There is no neat solution at the end because there is no neat solution in the real world. However, there is an opportunity to dialogue and change the way communities are policed in this country.”
Five years on from her debut album, Mancunian singer-songwriter Julie Campbell returns with a revitalised, mutant disco sound entirely her own. Hinterland's eclectic, vibrant avant-funk is a beguiling and brilliant reinvention, says Alexis Petridis Continue reading...
by Alexis Petridis and Mona Mahmood via Electronic music | The Guardian
Liam Howlett was recently asked to describe his band’s sixth studio album. “Violent is the word that keeps coming up”, was his reply. He’s not wrong. Aggression is the Prodigy’s strongest suit, their belligerence not only a point of difference, but a source of propulsion. After 2010’s curate’s-egg comeback, Invaders Must Die, the Prodigy have found their voice again and, in doing so, have actively plugged their music in to a continuum of bolshiness where punk syncs up with drum’n’bass, rock with hip-hop, dubstep with, er, psychobilly (bonus track Rise of the Eagles covers the Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster). It’s the punkiness that’s most notable. It’s there first and foremost in Ibiza, a collaboration with fellow travellers Sleaford Mods, which lays waste to the party island and its “rotten encrusted rocks”. It’s also in the barnstorming title track, featuring another bespoke contributor in Martina Topley-Bird, as well as in the refrain of Get Your Fight On (largely as you’d imagine it) or its Baba O’Riley-referencing breakdown. There are weak spots – Wall of Death regresses into formula, and there is also more than one outing for the Smack My Bitch Up beat – but this is still a full-throated return to form.
Del Rio Riverside Resort, Sydney An almost secretive bushland location and limited ticket sales is clearly the recipe for a vibrant and hedonistic atmosphere
Return to Rio has grown since its humble beginnings three years ago, but hasn’t lost the intimate house-party vibes that make it so special.
Set at Del Rio Riverside Resort in Wisemans Ferry just outside Sydney, the festival kicked off with a fancy dress pool party that proved the perfect icebreaker to make new friends. Posters bearing inspirational slogans and encouraging random acts of kindness were scattered throughout the grounds.
Gordon Mumma’s pioneering electronic music – which he first began composing in the 1950s – is showcased on this mesmerising and disquieting compilation
By the time Massachusetts-born composer Gordon Mumma was in his early 20s, he had studied with John Cage, founded a tape-music studio with Robert Ashley in Michigan, and was performing weekly live concerts of electronic music made on his own homemade instruments. This was the late 1950s. A contemporary of forward-looking artists such as Lukas Foss, Henri Pousseur, Lejaren Hiller and Frederic Rzewski, Mumma was still a pre-teen when he disassembled his father’s record deck so it would play backwards and forwards and he’d be able to control the speed. As a student at the University of Michigan, he gleefully took apart the music department’s tape recorders to discover their inner secrets – this was a man who was obsessed with the interaction between man and machine a quarter of a century before Kraftwerk first pondered the possibilities of a pocket calculator.
Like another contemporary, the brilliant Pauline Oliveros, part of Mumma’s search was for a sort of creative time machine, something that would allow past, present and future to be manipulated by artist and instrument together. At the same time, Mumma was also an excellent musician – he played French horn and piano – as well as writing for the Journal of the Audio Engineering Society and the Electronic Music Review.
The pioneer of purple lost his way when he signed to 4AD, but now he’s back with The Mainframe, an album designed to recreate the feeling of being a synth- and car-loving 17-year-old
Liam McLean is at his home studio in Bristol, bashing out some chords. The studio is actually his mum’s spare room, but McLean – better known as Joker – has appropriated it for the purposes of music. It also works well as a place to stash his sizeable collection of synthesisers (I count seven in use, two behind the door, and three more in the corridor). His mum’s OK with it, apparently, even though her son has his own flat on the other side of the street. He’s happy, too, because his mum’s very good at dealing with the neighbours when they complain about the noise.
Anyone who has heard Joker’s music will know it’s not the soundtrack to suburban tranquility. McLean, who is 26, has been making music for more than a decade. He started off in grime, before moving into a more expansive sound that was sometimes described as dubstep but was known by aficionados as “purple”. It matched slow, lurching percussion and vivid, blaring hooks with bass that reached out from the speakers to thump you in the solar plexus. Whatever you called it, it was pretty loud.
The pioneer of purple lost his way when he signed to 4AD, but now he’s back with The Mainframe, an album designed to recreate the feeling of being a synth- and car-loving 17-year-old
Liam McLean is at his home studio in Bristol, bashing out some chords. The studio is actually his mum’s spare room, but McLean – better known as Joker – has appropriated it for the purposes of music. It also works well as a place to stash his sizeable collection of synthesisers (I count seven in use, two behind the door, and three more in the corridor). His mum’s OK with it, apparently, even though her son has his own flat on the other side of the street. He’s happy, too, because his mum’s very good at dealing with the neighbours when they complain about the noise.
Anyone who has heard Joker’s music will know it’s not the soundtrack to suburban tranquility. McLean, who is 26, has been making music for more than a decade. He started off in grime, before moving into a more expansive sound that was sometimes described as dubstep but was known by aficionados as “purple”. It matched slow, lurching percussion and vivid, blaring hooks with bass that reached out from the speakers to thump you in the solar plexus. Whatever you called it, it was pretty loud.
In the first of a series of nightlife guides to coincide with the Red Bull Music Academy’s UK tour of top clubbing cities, JG Wilkes from DJ duo Optimo reveals the secrets and sounds of the Glasgow scene
What makes the Glasgow nightlife scene so special? When you live here for a while you start to understand that there’s something running through this city that seems to nourish the unstoppable need to produce that all artists have. Things get done, no matter whether there are obstacles in the way. That’s why I live here and it’s this energy that has fed into the nightlife scene; that’s what makes it special. This – and the decor in the Sub Club toilets!
Each week, staff from CBC Music, Radio 2, 3, Sonica, CBC Hamilton and Whitehorse collect songs they just can't get out of their heads, and make a case for why you should listen, too. Press play below and discover new songs for your listening list.
Let us know in the comments what catches your ear, or if you have new song suggestions.
Lauv, 'The Other'
There are those moments in life when a song stops you in your tracks. Sometimes it's the melody or the beat that grabs your attention, and the next thing you know, you've been sitting there for the entire song, completely in the moment. That's what happened to me with Lauv's track "The Other." Incredible vocals, catchy piano melody and a solid drum beat — everything you want in a track. This is the first song from New Yorkers Ari Leff and Michael Matosic, two solo musicians in their own rights, but I hope there's a lot more to come from the duo soon.
There's a fantastic push and pull between Chersea's layered, lush vocals and the textured, electronic flourishes that anchor her music. The fact that she does everything alone — apparently she's a looping wizard — makes "The Wolf" all the more remarkable. — Andrea Warner
"I’m dangerous 'cause I’m a fool for love." Lord Huron’s latest track is from the band's upcoming album, Strange Trails, which will be released in April. It is a tale of adventure, determination and brazen romanticism. The instrumental arrangements — featuring chimes, the twang of a guitar and a steady, percussive gallop — pair with the narrative, which tells of heading off into the wilderness with the antiquated notion of fighting hand-to-hand for a woman’s heart, making the track reminiscent of the American Old West. In the end, Lord Huron’s hero is left bleeding out in the snow, reflecting on his uninhibited heart — a tragic end to the hopeful romantic. — Joan Chung
Raz Fresco, 'Warning Shots/Murda'
It’s sometimes hard to remember that Raz Fresco a) is only 20 years old and b) still hasn’t released an official full-length, label-backed album, because it feels like this guy has been around forever. After a slew of successful mixtapes, Fresco’s full-length debut, Pablo/Frescobar, is set to drop on Duck Down this year. The two-in-one video "Warning Shots/Murda" is the first release from the album and features all the lyrical dexterity and heavy, head-nodding beats you’ve come to expect from Raz. — Chris Dart
Editor's note: strong language warning, NSFW.
Pharis and Jason Romero, 'A Wanderer I’ll Stay'
Pharis and Jason Romero's old-time sounds have become a favourite of folk festivals across western Canada, and they're sure to make more fans with the duo's new album. Recorded in their home in Horsefly, B.C., this is the title track from A Wanderer I'll Stay.
There are always rumblings of that sophomore slump in the music industry, where, based on the success of their first record, artists don't live up to those second-album expectations. If you think that's stressful enough, try going four times platinum in the U.S., five times platinum in Australia and three times platinum in Canada, which is what Of Monsters and Men did with their first album. They really need to bring it this second time around.
The just-released first single, "Crystals," is reminiscent of what made us fall in love with the Icelandic band to begin with, but here's hoping the rest of the record lets them stretch their musical arms a little more. Beneath the Skin drops June 9 on Universal Music, and Of Monsters and Men kick off their North American tour in Toronto on May 4. — MF
Khatalia, 'Show Me Love' (Searchlight contestant)
Khatalia's basically grown up on YouTube, and there's a reason her songs and covers have earned millions of views so far. "Show Me Love" is a tightly crafted bit of pop/R&B that's ready for the radio, and I think it's only a hint at what Khatalia is truly capable of accomplishing. — AW
As a musician, you have to reach a certain level to find yourself onstage performing with a symphony orchestra. For one, orchestras aren't cheap: we're talking 100 musicians who each spent decades honing their craft. Second, not everything sounds better, or even that good, with an orchestral arrangement. It's why you won't see a lot of DJs and orchestras performing together — although some will try. But when it works, oh man, it really works. Angélique Kidjo plus Orchestre philharmonique du Luxembourg equals Angélique Kidjo Sings. It works. Brilliantly. — Judith Lynch
The Weepies are the musical duo of husband and wife Steve Tannen and Deb Talan. Their new track, "No Trouble," was actually written in 2013, and in a weird bit of foreshadowing, a few weeks after the track was completed, Talan was diagnosed with breast cancer. Suddenly the refrain, "Don't need no trouble/ but sometimes trouble needs me," was incredibly relevant to their lives. The song highlights their signature harmonies over a driving piano rhythm and subtle strings. Everything builds to create layers and urgency, resulting in a smart, sing-along pop song. Talan has since gone through a successful round of treatment, and is ready for the release of the duo's fifth record, Sirens, out on April 28. You can hear "No Trouble" spinning now on Radio 2, and you can vote for it (or any of your favourites) for the Radio 2 Top 20.
There are lots of great things that only people in Sudbury, Ont., know about: the chicken on a bun at Deluxe; the thrill of porchetta bingo; local new wave/pop-punk act the Statues. The Statues are no more, but frontman Rob Seaton is back with a terrific new act, der Faden. Throw on their Searchlight entry and bop your head along to the best thing to come out of Northern Ontario since blueberry pie. — Mike Miner
Metalheads don't squeal with glee. But if they did, a band with members of Soulfly, Dillinger Escape Plan and Mastodon would be just what gets them shrieking with Homer Simpson-levels of excitement. This new tune from Killer Be Killed channels the sludgy grind of Pantera alongside fierce growls and some surprisingly melodic moments. Watch out for the heavy guy in the pit. — Adam Carter, CBC Hamilton
Mumford & Sons, 'Believe'
The banjo was so 2013, or at least that's what Mumford & Sons want you to believe. The announcement of their new record, Wilder Mind, also came with the development that they had decided to go in a new direction, stepping away from the sound that built Mumford & Sons a solid fanbase around the world. Instead, we find a guitar-centric sound along with lyrics and vocal melody that we've come to expect from lead singer Marcus Mumford. I don't usually like doing predictions before hearing complete records, but I can tell you now, this new record is going to be one of the biggest of 2015. Look for it coming May 4 on Glassnote Records. — MF
Meezy Musik, '2 Late' (Searchlight contestant)
It's a hell of a thing to compare one's self to Jesus in a bio, but gospel rapper Meezy Musik delivers. "2 Late" is clever, well-produced and a little bit of fresh hip-hop heaven. — AW
"St. Jude" is Chapter 2 in Florence and the Machine’s short film series for their upcoming album, How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful, and in it Florence Welch is still searching — for life, for hope, for herself. The video begins similarly to Chapter 1's "How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful," with us staring up at that gorgeous sky, birds soundtracking our descent to earth. But there’s a desperate thread running through "St. Jude" that didn’t feel as immediate with the previous track. A chorus of voices sings, "St. Jude," as Welch responds, "The patron saint of the lost causes." It’s all so intimate, it’s impossible not to feel like you’re journeying alongside her. — Holly Gordon
The xx member’s first solo record will reportedly be released in June, and will feature Four Tet and Romy Madley Croft
Details of Jamie xx’s debut solo album have been revealed. Entitled In Colour, the xx member’s first proper full length album will be out in June via Young Turks.
The producer has been slowly drip-feeding solo tracks for some years, with rumours of his full length beginning to circulate in 2014. According to the latest cover story in dance monthly Mixmag, Four Tet and Romy Madley Croft of the xx will appear on the album, and the tracklist will include recent singles Girl and Sleep Sound, plus new tracks Gosh, Loud Places and Seesaw.
It’s finally here. After a long weekend closing out Beyond Wonderland and making their way to Miami for Ultra, GTA dropped their new EP. Titled Death To Genres Vol. 1. The 7-track EP is filled with originals and collaborations featuring some major players and influences from every genre. The Miami-based duo lived up to the title of their EP, breaking the barriers set that producers should be one-genre only. Released today as part of the EP, their single “Red Lips” starts out downtempo and hypnotic then segues back to their roots with a massive trap, bass-heavy drop. Available on iTunes, grab your copy of Death to Genres Vol.1 and check out “Red Lips” below!
