All Blog Posts Tagged 'UK' (52)

Free Download! Check genre-defying Tricky's new track 'Tribal Drums' featuring Francesca Belmonte. This cut is from his upcoming album 'False Idols' (due out May 28). Last month we told you about the video for 'Does It', another track off the album also featuring Francesca Belmonte. + in case you missed it, get another free track download…

UK indie rapper Mikill Pane's main appeal has always been his endless cleverness and charm. He just seems like the kind of guy you'd like to get a beer with. Maybe go bowling. His lyrics are a tangled web of references, meta-references, and elaborate puns. They've always been deep from a writing perspective, but never exactly deep emotionally. On…

Pretty much since the beginning, punk rock has been split between the pranksters and the revolutionaries. For every Joe Strummer hell-bent on changing the world with his music there are 20 guys who just want to have a few drinks with their buddies and play some songs loud and fast. South London's Emergency Bitter aren't likely to reinvent music, but that's not the point. They're here to put on a show…

Laura Mvula's debut record Sing to the Moon is glorious. No two ways about it. A modern take on retro sounds, the onetime composition student has created a futuristic RnB symphony. Layering her voice into a choir on top of minimal accompaniment, the songs are deceptively simple. The depth comes in the way she uses a handful of instruments, mostly percussion, and her velvet voice to build songs up. And there's a lot of depth here.…

UK Powerpop/Rock band Komla have already established themselves as a badass live act. The 3 piece plays the kind of stripped down hook-laden guitar rock that never goes out of style. But they do it with a surprising amount of depth and soul. They've just dropped their debut EP, produced by Muse producer Paul Reeve, and it kills.…

Jangly indiepop can be a dangerous proposition. There's a fine balance between personal weirdness (we used to call it quirk, but Zoe Deschanel ruined that word forever. Thanks a lot.) and traditional pop songwriting. The wrong balance can leave you sounding twee, phony, or just hopelessly unapproachable to anyone other than jangle purists. But there's little better than when someone nails that balance. Madame So's new EP “Sell-by Date” hits all the right notes. (Even the ones…

We've been (im)patiently waiting for EMP!RE's debut EP since getting a taste of 'All The Rage' back in October. The 'Birth' EP dropped this weekend, and lives up to the anticipation. Fans of The Divine Secret will find a lot to like in Joe Green's…

She released one of the really exciting albums of 2012, and now she's coming to get ya. Soulful songstress Lianne La Havas is about to embark on a world tour, with tens of dates in Australia, France, the UK, Ireland, the US, Canada. Click here for the full schedule. - L…

Skye Edwards is one of the queens of trip-hop. The Morcheeba frontwoman's new solo album 'Back To Now' is out now. Did you check it out? It was produced in part by Stephen Fitzmaurice (Metronomy, Professor Green). It's available on iTunes. Let us know what you think. + Check out the new remix of 'Nowhere' by Dave Davis below.

Also, in case you missed the info here a few weeks ago, Morcheeba is currently working on an album for 2013!…

It's #THROWBACKTHURSDAY and we're going on a full ode to the director/musician/rad-dude Don Letts! He's friends with all your favorite musicians (seen above chillin with Bob Marley) and from his films, music videos and bands Letts lets his genius shine through!

One of Don Letts many…

With gas determined to hover around $4/gal (or if you're in New York or New Jersey post-Sandy, $infinity/gal...), it makes sense that bike culture is getting mainstreamed in a big way right now. Enter UK indie rapper Mikill Pane with his new EP Dirty Rider.

The title track is an ode to fixed gear bikes.…

Always good to hear from UK trip-hop power trio Morcheeba and lead singer Skye Edwards. So you're in for a double treat: 1) The band has announced that they're cooking up a new record for 2013. They say: "we’re collaborating with some great international artists and it’s set to be one of our most innovative records to date." Sounds like a plan.

2) In the meanwhile, Skye Edwards is set to release her solo album 'Back To Now' on Monday October 29th! Woo! Check the first single…

If you missed The Divine Secret (and why did you? They kick ass...), lead singer Joe Green just unleashed his new project: Empire! (yes, the exclamation point is part of the name. Why not?) The quintet's been hard at work on their debut EP, and just leaked the first track; the appropriately named “All the Rage.”

It's a…

DizzeeRascal is mad y'all! He was asked to be the voice of the MONKEY mascot for UK cereal Coco Pops.

Do you find it offensive too?

He headed to Instagram and posted: "REAL TALK! I've just been asked to do the voice over for the coco pops monkey! I always wanted to be the Milky Bar Kid... Oh well! #Thisracismiskillingmeinside" and posted the picture below.

What do you think of the offer and of what it…

35 years since the dawn of punk, and we take it for granted that reggae and punk are best mates. Nobody really questions why bands who are known primarily for short, fast shoutalongs—and wouldn't be caught dead near an acoustic guitar—will once or twice in an album break into their best fake Jamaican accent, let their bass player loose, and just slow things way way down. What on paper seem like two genres that couldn't be less alike both have their roots as the music of youth…

The past few years have seen an increasing percentage of the music scene mining the vaults of Stax records circa 1968 in search of lost singles for inspiration. And why shouldn't they? There's some great shit in there. But retro savants The Heavy have picked a different corner of the Stax catalog for their muse; that sublime period around '71 when some of soul's best songwriters made the switch from songwriter to film composer. Outfitting their soul+indie formula with lush…

Skunk Anansie may not be the household name in America that they are in the UK, but they probably should be. Their inimitable mix of punk, Britpop, hard rock, and post-punk all topped with lead singer Skin's political and feminist messaging won them a horde of fans in the UK during their initial run from '94 to 2001. After taking most of the last decade off, the quartet came back in 2010 with the acclaimed WanderLustre. Their latest Black Traffic is their 2nd…

Between Melody Nelson, and now The Connectors, we definitely seem to be in the middle of a UK garage rock renaissance. Taking their cues as much from Nirvana and 90's garage as the Kinks, the two piece band consists of singer/guitarist Andy and drummer Danny. Their first single is “Naked,” a fist pumping garage anthem reminiscent of fellow two piece Local H. Built on a simple riff and repeating “just like everybody else / unlike anybody else,” the duo makes the most out of their…

Alternative soul singer Lianne La Havas is already blowing up in the UK, where her debut album Is Your Love Big Enough? hit #4 a month ago. Afropunk has featured a few of her videos over the past few months, and now the record is finally available in the US.…

Woo! Stream The @Noisettes' show on the BT River of Music Africa Stage, honey bunny.

You can watch the FULL set now at http://thespace.org/items/e0000lg2. "The BT River of Music event, a celebration of global music, took place in London at six venues on Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd July."…