Until the Ribbon Breaks‘ original version of “Pressure” and his most recent album, A Taste of Silver both shine thanks to a surfeit of musical talent and willingness for sonic experimentation from Cardiff, Wales’ Pete… Continue reading
Brooklyn trio Archie Pelago create lush, bass-bouncing, live instrumental electronic music with drum machines, cellos, trumpets, and saxophones. Their track “Avocado Roller” was number 25 in my Top 100… Continue reading
North London’s Wolf Alice set the guitars to “overdrive” and “early 90s” on the fantastic “Moaning Lisa Smile,” whose ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah refrain will get lodged in your brain for days. … Continue reading
Taking the stomp of his fantastic “Airglow Fires” (which made #50 in my Top 100 Songs of 2013 list—listen and download the DJ mix of this list here), Lone returns with a… Continue reading
Strongly diggin’ these strong shades of two of my very favorite artists Fink and Bonobo that surface on this brand new soulful acoustic jam from Birmingham, UK’s Benjamin Yellowitz. … Continue reading
Grime innovator and Boy Better Know head honcho Skepta steps up with “That’s Not Me,” a brand new cut with an aquatic, bleepy and bloopy sample that sounds like Spongebob Squarepants’ ringtone.… Continue reading
So in love with this tune. Brighton, UK future-facing dance duo Anushka take house music forward by bringing it back to my favorite elements: celebratory piano stabs, uptempo bass notes, a delectable vocal line,… Continue reading
Cardiff, Wales singer and producer Pete Lawrie Winfield aka Until The Ribbon Breaks has newness for you. I first got switched on to UTRB’s (as he was known back in February 2012)… Continue reading
“My heart feels full…” Mightily diggin’ this new rhythmic basement soul jam from South London trio All The People that features the Sampha-tico vocals of Curtis Dennie, Ashley Arnold on drums, and Simon Arnold on… Continue reading
I first heard about the Mauritian-English producer Mo Kolours back in 2011 via the eternally entertaining writing talents of Mr Alex Chase and his One Handed Music record label missive. (You really should subscribe… Continue reading
London’s largely unknown singer and producer Ben Khan melds guitars from the 1975 with some 80s sheen and croon on “Youth,” while weaving the famous Lyn Collins “Think” hip-hop drum break sample in… Continue reading
Vibe to London producer duo Snakehips’ remix of the Weeknd in all its housey, side-chained glory! The Weeknd – “Wanderlust” (Snakehips Remix) More slinky sounds from Snakehips here.… Continue reading
This Manchester, UK jazz trio reminds me of a less rambunctious Bad Bad Not Good. GoGo Penguin‘s influences include “Aphex Twin to Brian Eno, Debussy to Shostakovich and Massive Attack to EST,” which means… Continue reading
Warp Records, you are good to us. This live version of “Dye the Water Green” by West Midlands, UK musician Bibio is some much needed Friday afternoon chill. From Bibio… Continue reading
Really cannot get enough of this latest wave of late-night electronic soul transmissions that seem to be dominating my headphones at the minute. Ed Thomas, Erik Hassle, Perera Elsewhere… all of these mightily… Continue reading
My favorite song of today. British Berliner Perera Elsewhere turns the volume down to two and delivers a hushed, intimate, ghostly transmission of understated indie-soul. Perera Elsewhere – “Drunk Man”… Continue reading
Sweden-via-London singer Fatima recently partnered with “soul documentarian” Flako to produce this tempo-shifting, uplifting, singalong synth beat jam. Fatima – “La Neta” (Produced by Flako) (Official Video) … Continue reading
London’s Ed Thomas weaves gentle vinyl crackle, orchestral strings, and pitter-patter drums on this excellent, soulful serving of 2014 R&B. Ed Thomas – “Hurt” (Free MP3 Download) … Continue reading
While I’ve written about the versatile vocal talent of Kwabs before, and while his name may remind you of Tweety Bird announcing his favorite seafood in plural form, London’s Kwabena Adjepong’s latest release deserves… Continue reading
On new song “Thank God I Was Dreaming,” Liverpool outfit Outfit employ a gently clicking garage beat to back a blend of sunny indie falsetto, tropical guitar, and cloudy yet warm synth washes.… Continue reading
To be frank, Suffolk, England’s To Be Frank‘s intensely dreamlike video for “Half the Man” looks like Darren Aronofsky had a go at directing a Cadbury’s Dairy Milk commercial. The beat for the… Continue reading
It is fast becoming a yearly ritual of mine to listen to Goldie‘s Timeless album in full, straight through, every winter, because it is the perfect winter album. Cueing up the… Continue reading
Inspired by this brilliant piece I read today on the life and times of the Chems‘ “Setting Sun,” a song that sounds as vital and compelling now as it did when it shot… Continue reading
Anything that features even a few bars of Sampha‘s production or vocal talent deserves an automatic click of the play button. Here the English falsetto wizard teams up with Chicago’s Jean Deaux (correctly… Continue reading
Earlier today, at around 10am, the nocturnal and bristly beats, clicks, and hiss from the brand new Rival Dealer EP from the unidentified, mysterious, and highly-acclaimed UK producer Burial were freshly streaming from the Internet… Continue reading
I cannot get enough of Paul Woolford‘s Special Request project; inspired by the glorious heyday of early 90s jungle and UK pirate radio transmissions. After remixing Lana Del Rey, London Grammar, Tessela, and Friend Within under the Special Request… Continue reading
I first got switched on to the English singer and dance producer Ben Westbeech in the spring of 2007. He’d just signed to tastemaker’s tastemaker Gilles Peterson’s Brownswood Recordings and the label was releasing… Continue reading
I’ve always enjoyed Maribou State‘s musical output. All of Chris Davids and Liam Ivory’s sonic productions maintain a steady, consistent groove throughout, but what sets them far apart from other electronic acts in… Continue reading
I was elated this morning when I found a free download of one of the best compilations of 2013 by a country mile. Not a bad start to a Wednesday. The first track,… Continue reading
Dive In hail from Glastonbury (the actual town, not the festival) in the west of England. Their song “Let Go” is happily planted at the musical crossroads of indie, rock, dance, and sunny,… Continue reading
If you like Bonobo, you should definitely listen to Bristolian beatsmith Phaeleh (pronounced “fella”). Phaeleh – “Tokoi” (Official Video) Phaeleh‘s first ever North American tour begins this week. Catch… Continue reading
Ambient atmospherics from British producer Kasket aka Charlie Baldwin. The best part is when that Cinematic Orchestra-esque beat comes in at 1min 59sec. It makes the song. Some nice Spanish guitar in there,… Continue reading
Brighton, UK’s Will Phillips aka Tourist turns in a dizzyingly good remix of Sam Smith’s latest. Sam Smith – “Safe With Me” (Tourist Remix) More… Continue reading
My new favorite tune from Lost Midas, the very talented beat producer and songwriter, sporting an impressive mustache and an even more impressive, next-level, Minority Report-filmed-in-Silverlake, hipster edition of Google Glass in the video… Continue reading
Mathematical fact alert! MJ Cole = summer. Loving these Todd Edwards-esque vocal scissorings of Laura Mvula’s melody, those swinging UK garage beats, these regal strings, and the electronic piano treble jazz-fill… Continue reading
Fresh from supporting José González‘s band Junip in New York last week, East London’s suitably red-bearded James Mathé, otherwise known as Barbarossa, combines a large, simple Black Keys-ish garage rock-soul guitar riff and tussled… Continue reading
Future-funked acid house all day. Watch the accompanying video that resembles the 3D graph blueprints on the 4D desk of some 5D cosmic alien architect. Simian Mobile Disco & Bicep – “Sacrifice”… Continue reading
West Midlands, UK producer Stephen Wilkinson bka Bibio returns with Silver Wilkinson, a new album of his lo-fi, 70s-soaked, indie electronic soul sound. Lead single “À Tout à l’Heure” couldn’t be more organic… Continue reading
This funky bassoon bassline is destined to heavily soundtrack my summer. Omar is the man. Omar – “The Man” (Official Video) “The Man” is taken from Omar‘s forthcoming new album,… Continue reading
23-year-old London musician Fyfe blends relaxed and gently plodding drums, soulful and gently soaring vocals, and nonchalant and gentle indie guitar plinking to create this beguilingly disenchanted song that recalls Radiohead’s “Talk Show… Continue reading
Raw, retro, reductionist, Juno-heavy newness from the Night Slugs label co-boss. L-Vis 1990 – “Signal” Catch more bass shake, rattle, and roll from L-Vis 1990… Continue reading
This agitated, gritty heatwave loop from Eglo’s mysterious new signing, Strange U, believed to be a moniker of UK hip-hop stalwart Kashmere the Iguana Man. Although why anyone would even think about adopting… Continue reading
A departure from my usual penchant for boom-bap beats and growling bass but a crackingly well-written tune nonetheless. Luke Sital-Singh – “Bottled Up Tight” Luke Sital-Singh’s Old Flint EP is out… Continue reading
Sheffield, UK, badman Toddla T teams up with Shola Ama and emcees Serocee and MC DRS to form super-collective Toddla T Sound. “Worst Enemy” is their first ever tune. Love the A$AP-esque pitched-down… Continue reading
The video for Liverpool’s Wave Machines’ “Ill Fit” actually fits the song quite nicely, if you equate subtle, gently-sung wafts of future pop-funk with running around large buildings in London really fast while… Continue reading
Fractal factories of 1950s Americana click and whir in this kaleidoscopic dicing and splicing of Norman Rockwell’s cerebral cortex that sounds light, gentle, and benign, just as the song’s title would suggest. For… Continue reading
Vanilla is a very talented beatmaker from the UK. I played his track “Morning Sun” from his album Soft Focus a lot last year. “Rashida” is my favorite song from his new(ish) album… Continue reading
Digital squeaks and indie pop splashes from Birmingham, UK’s Troumaca, pronounced truh-muh-kuh. Troumaca – “Lady Colour” (Official Video) “This is cosmic love coming from above.”
This xx remix. That “Blinded by the Lights” synth line. The xx – “Chained” (John Talabot & Pional Blinded Remix) Hear the original track here.
Hannah, Daniel, and Dot are London Grammar. As the cryptic clue in their name suggests, they are from London. They are also currently catching a lot of well-deserved attention for their gentle and… Continue reading
