US new-kid-on-the-block Tori Kelly has premiered her acoustic cover for online video channel SBTV.
Taking the helm of Frank Ocean’s Thinking About You, Kelly’s A64 is a wonderful cover, essentially showing other artists how it’s done.
Take a look!
Coolio pops round to a student’s home to cook, and perform ‘Gangsta’s Paradise’
It’s hard to believe, but nothing in that headline is made up.
A group of students in Preston, Lancashire, rolled out the red carpet earlier in the week to rapper Coolio, after meeting him on a night out; and uploaded the footage for all to see on YouTube.
The uploader, Olivia Johnson-Aley, said ‘Met Coolio on a student night out in Preston and he said he wanted to cook for me and my house mates the following night and that’s exactly what happened,’ the original poster wrote. ‘We decided to take a break from the cooking and have a jam session. Most surreal night of our lives! 4.15 is rapping at its best!’
The students aided Coolio’s rendition of hit track Gangsta’s Paradise, the lead track from the Dangerous Minds soundtrack, whilst another student donned the guitar to play strings on the acoustic performance.
The guitarist then explained on his Reddit account, that Coolio ‘was playing a gig in our city, and a few of my housemates were in the VIP after party. He came back to our house afterwards, and told us that he wasn’t busy that night so would come over and cook us dinner. We had Coolio’s Caprese Salad, Chicken á la Daaaamn, and Peach Crumble. We also videoed a cooking show (“Cookin’ with Coolio”). It was just as weird as it sounds. Great guy though, had some very deep and profound thoughts on life and his time in the business.’
Check it out!
CHVRCHES perform ‘The Mother We Share’ at Boiler Room Live
Glaswegian electro-pop group Chvrches took to infamous Boiler Room Live this weekend to launch their new album The Bones of What You Believe, along with perform some live material from the new LP.
Check out their performances below, along with their cover of Whitney Houston’s It’s Not Right But It’s OK.
CHVRCHES – The Mother We Share
CHVRCHES – Gun
CHVRCHES – It’s Not Right But It’s OK/strong> (Whitney Houston cover)
CHVRCHES – Under The Tide
Bastille premiere ‘Of The Night’ video
After unveiling new track The Draw on Monday night, Bastille have now premiered the video to another new single Of The Night.
The track, a huge reworking of Corona’s 1993 hit The Rhythm of the Night along with fusions of Snap’s Rhythm Is A Dancer, is actually taken from an early Bastille mixtape Other People’s Heartache.
Check out the video and let us know your thoughts.
Album review: Morcheeba – ‘Head Up High’
Hate them or love them (we’re still yet to find anyone who hates them), you’d be hard-pressed to find someone without a Morcheeba reference to some kind of musical memory.
For early 30-Brits, the Channel 4 reality show Shipwrecked was the first time many had laid ears on the group, with The Sea chosen as the lead soundtrack, and to this day still signifies mental images of lying on that idyllic beach next-to-nowhere. For others, the sounds of gospel-led Rome Wasn’t Built In A Day brings the summer smile to faces, whilst a certain Talib Kweli remix of Let Me See still rings true to uni students collapsed on their sofa at 3am after a ‘few heavy tokes on the green’.
Whichever way, whenever you hear the name Morcheeba, there’s always a smile associated to it; which is why the thought of a new album from the production duo is always an exciting proposition. It’s also the second album since Skye Edwards’ return as lead vocalist with the group, and after 2010’s disappointing Blood Like Lemonade, there’s lots riding on new LP Head Up High.
Fortunately, the album gets off with a strong start, going slap-bang back into Morcheeba’s trip-hop roots, with new single Gimme Your Love. The beat is divine, and the overall end product is pure Morcheeba, with Edwards’ soothing vocals making you just feel, well, great.
Head Up High brings together an impressive array of special guests, such is the power of the Morcheeba brand. Jurassic 5’s Charli 2na surprises with his strong verse on Face of Danger, a track that grows on every play, and encompasses Morcheeba’s ethos of funk, soul, hip-hop, gospel and trip-hop fusion beats.
White Denim guitarist James Petralli makes an interesting appearance too. Three tracks feature Petralli’s soulful tones; Call It Love gives Edwards a chance to go backstage and replenish, whilst both compliment each other’s vocals on I’ll Fall Apart and closing track Finally Found You (however I’ll Fall Apart does seem to dissipate what we’ve all grown to love about Morcheeba in the first place, and feels far too ‘experimental’).
Additionally, the ‘middle-track lull’ rears its ugly head during Make Believer; it seems an unnecessary addition to Head Up High and potentially makes you question whether the Godfrey brothers may have started to become either bored, or even complacent, in their production styles.
However, things turn up a notch with Release Me Now, whilst To Be marks a surprise appearance by ska/pop duo the Rizzle Kicks; whether it’s a clever attempt to appeal to both fan bases or not, the song just works with vocalist Harley Sule’s soulful tones complimenting Edwards’ vocals perfectly.
Overall, Head Up High is a nice effort, however it remains to be seen whether it will retain the success of early albums Big Calm and Fragments of Freedom.
Take a listen for yourself though by hitting the play button on the album stream below, and hit the iTunes link to buy Head up High, due out on Monday 14th October.
New music: Gabrielle – ‘Dreams’ (Naughty Boy 2013 remix)
To celebrate the release of greatest hits album 20 Years Of Dreaming , UK soul queen Gabrielle has returned with an updated version of Number 1 hit Dreams, remixed by rising producer Naughty Boy.
The pair worked together previously on single Hollywood, taken from Naughty Boy’s current album Hotel Cabana.
Gabrielle’s strong>20 Years Of Dreaming will be supported by new single, Say Goodbye, both set for release on 25th November. Dreams on the other hand has been remixed in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the record.
Check out the lyric video; we love it!
Glastonbury 2014 ticket registration reopens
Registration for tickets to next year’s Glastonbury Festival has reopened for April 2014’s expected resale.
Tickets were originally placed on sale last Sunday, 6th October, selling out in a record 87 minutes, leaving many fans disappointed and questioning whether the current ticket-buying system is fair.
The registration for resale allows fans to snap up tickets from a pool of those who have cancelled their original booking. It’s expected that the resale will take place on Sunday 13th April, after the festival announced that balances (£160 each) for initial purchased tickets must be paid in full by 7th April.
Head over to Glastonbury’s registration site to enter your details for the resale.
Naughty Boy welcomes Emeli Sande & Professor Green onstage during 1Xtra Live performance
During last night’s London leg of BBC 1Xtra’s Live UK tour, acclaimed producer Naughty Boy welcomed onstage a plethora of guests to join him during his Hotel Cabana set.
Rising duo Chasing Grace performed alongside Labrinth-sibling Shezar Mackenzie, whilst Ella Eyre also appeared for hit Think About It.
However it was the performance close which was the highlight for many, with Naughty Boy bringing long-time writing partner Emeli Sande on stage for Lifted, followed by Professor Green who aided to Sande’s Lifted performance.
Watch the whole show below; we’re massive fans of Naughty Boy, and his live shows are even more as breathtaking. Here’s keeping our fingers-crossed that something will happen at Glastonbury next year!
Catch up on Jake Bugg, VV Brown, Polica and Manic Street Preachers from Jools Holland ‘Later’
Iconic BBC music programme Later…. With Jools Holland played host to another phenomenal show last night, with performances from Jake Bugg, VV Brown, Polica, Kacey Musgraves, Cecile Mclorin Salvant and Manic Street Preachers.
Catch up with all the performances below:
VV Brown – The Apple
Poliça – Chain My Name
Manic Street Preachers – Show Me The Wonder
Jake Bugg – What Doesn’t Kill You
Kacey Musgraves – Merry Go Round
Album review: Lucy Spraggan – ‘Join The Club’
Words by:
Dan Bull
Follow @DanBull7609
Of all the oddballs that have genuinely believed they have The X Factor; the Jedwards and Wagners and Goldies, Lucy Spraggan was probably the most bizarre. A talented, guitar-playing songwriter, who had already independently released her debut album; she was as far removed from a typical hopeful as is physically possible.
Now, just under a year after leaving during the live shows due to ‘illness’ (her removal is still subject to question), her first efforts on a major label (Columbia) have been released. Featuring some of the self-penned tracks she performed as part of the competition, Join The Club also includes rerecorded songs from her debut, Top Room At The Zoo.
Opener Someone sets the tone for the sort of songwriter Spraggan is. Her words are not littered with wordplay or poetry or ambiguous imagery. Her songwriting is simple, but simply done well. She is a storyteller, introducing her listeners to likable characters and filling them with hope, assuring them that while you “may never set foot on the moon, you’re already someone.” Tea & Toast, a track she performed during Bootcamp on The X Factor, is a genuinely moving story, capturing a lifetime’s worth of feelings in four and a half minutes.
Although there are times when the acoustic, light-folk sounding tracks can begin to sound samey, there are other elements thrown in elsewhere. In A State (about a relationship across America… very clever) switches suddenly from downbeat guitar to a jaunty xylophone beat, while Wait For Me and lead-single Lighthouse (co-written with Ordinary Boy Samuel Preston) have a richer, Mumford-esque sound, somewhere between their bluegrass folk and an Irish singalong with lines about “streets paved with gold”.
As well as other peoples’ stories, Spraggan has a few of her own. ’91 covers a relationship with a woman eight years her senior, whilst Mountains (the first song she sung during Live Shows) is the song that first introduced the majority of us to the idea of an X Factor winner who didn’t want to be Mariah or Whitney, and wouldn’t be up for covering either.
Although Lucy claims her music is influenced by acoustic, folk and hip-hop, the latter does not always work. You’re Too Young, a rap track over piano chords, is not as credible as other tracks on the album, and although Last Night (Beer Fear) was funny at first, it could have been left from the album. Paper Dreams, however; a vintage, straightforward synth-pop backing track with lyrics about “eating last nights pizza” and being “a bitch but not too faced”, is without a doubt a highlight, and sounds different to anything else on the album.
While hardcore fans who bought her debut (before Simon Cowell and co had it removed from iTunes) might be disappointed with the amount of recycled material, Paper Dreams gives hope for a progress in sound for her follow-up. A third album from an unlikely X Factor contestant who left the show? Lucy Spraggan was brave enough to go on a TV talent show where others wouldn’t, she got the exposure she wanted, she opened the doors for other artists (not just singers) who haven’t yet made it and – at the time of writing – she’s #3 on the iTunes album chart with an album of her own songs. Who wouldn’t want to join the club?