Hazel English – I’m Fine
Oakland-via-Australia singer Hazel English is set to drop her debut EP, Never Going Home, later this fall. We’ve already heard the title track, and today she follows up with a lyric video for “I’m Fine.” It’s a shimmering, synth-splashed anthem balanced by distorted guitars and English’s alluring melodies translating some evocative, inward thoughts and emotions. She sings, “For most of my life/ I’ve felt a sharp uncertainty/ Now it’s just because a part of me.” Though her expression is very intimate and personal, it is very relatable and lifted by the surrounding dreamy aesthetic.
Read the rest of this article at Stereogum
Michael Kiwanuka – One More Night (Orffee + Abele Remix)
If you love hard enough, you’ll experience some sort of heartbreak. It’s just a thing that happens, and it doesn’t matter how many dates you enjoy or how many roses you buy. Some people will simply leave you in limbo—with lingering pain, unresolved questions and mounds of regret to sort through. It’s this same fog that permeates Michael Kiwanuka’s new album, Love & Hate, a sprawling soul opus full of longing and self-assessment. The singer sounds perplexed through its entirety, and his voice—a throaty wail the likes of Otis Redding—teeters between hope and hopelessness, perseverance and surrender. Should he stick around, or is it time to move on? And just what is he supposed to do now? Kiwanuka wrestles with these and other queries on Love & Hate, even if he never gets the answers he’s looking for.
Read the rest of this article at Pitchfork
Letherette – Shanel
Letherette will release their second album for Ninja Tune – “Last Night On The Planet” – on 25th November 2016. Ten tracks deep and running the gamut from hip-hop (featuring raps from Rejjie Snow and Stones Throw’s Pyramid Vritra), to straight-up four-to-the-floor house trax and deeper, introspective downtempo moments (blessed by Jed & Lucia of Ubiquity Records).
First single ‘Shanel’ – available now – is an uptempo dancefloor heater (“downsampled and processed through an old rack sampler for that CRUNCH”) nodding to Andy and Rich’s love of 80s R&B productions by the late great Kashif (RIP), Rene & Angela and Glenn Jones.
Read the rest of this article at Co-Sign
Klyne – Water Flow
Dutch electronic pop duo Klyne have only been putting out music for a year, but they’ve already staked out a signature sound with a slew of infectious, melodic, and drum-driven singles. The latest one, “Water Flow”, follows up in this vein, starting off with just a bongo groove before synth chords and soulful vocals come in.
The song maintains a low-key vibe while exuding a sensuous wanting best characterized by the chorus’s grainy falsetto, minor chords on the synths and that prowling, low-growl synthetic bass. At times, the song sound like Jai Paul or slow-motion Rüfus Du Sol, but Klyne’s instrumental work on the rest of the track, especially with regard to the drums, helps them stand apart from the alt-pop pack.
Read the rest of this article at Earmilk
Coldcut – ‘Only Heaven feat. Roots Manuva’
Coldcut are old veterans in the electronic music scene globally. Both Matt Black and Jon More, except of being the two persons behind Coldcut, are also the founders of Ninja Tune records, who you can always find between sampling vocals, scratching and developing old school tracks and delivering eventually to us all, the best underground music which is definitely overall all the mainstream songs we hear now days.
They now have collaborated with the hip hop artist, Roots Manuva, in their most recent release, entitled “Only Heaven”, and the outcome is just astonishing as they all teamed up beautifully, creating in their unique way a track which is all about mixing old school with future music sounds.
Read the rest of this article at Conversations About Her
