The Temptations - Waitin' On You

^^Tight single.

[Edited 3/29/18 9:18am]

PREMIERE: ELIZA – “LIVID”

The sizzling song gets some equally hot visuals.

If you’re not already in love with ELIZA, you’re about to be. Formerly Doolittle, the London based babe has been wowing us with bangers for years now but you get the feeling that she’s truly found her creative stride as an incredible independent artist (sans Doolittle) with her last few releases.

Dropping the sultry banger “Livid” last month, she’s following it up with some visuals that are gonna get you all hot under the collar. As ELIZA performs in a bar (in the most beaut dress ever, just FYI), we get to see all the secretive deeds going on in various dark corners. The perfect vid to show off her mesmerising vocals and stunning songwriting detailing suppressed love and sensuality, it’s an exciting look at what the future holds.

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AMA LOU

Younger and wiser than you, she’s unapologetically taking charge.

All clothing ARTIST’S OWN

“I’m one of those people who needs to control everything.” 19-year-old Londoner Ama Lou is laughing but we both know she’s not joking. “I’m totally open to other people’s ideas… but I can’t do anything unless it sits well in my stomach.” Lou’s mantra is undisputed originality, because what is worth doing if it’s not done properly, or differently?

The singer applies this to not only her music (we’ll get to that shortly) but her look too. “I try and be as authentic as possible,” she assures me. “If I’m doing Mafia Italian gangster/Cuban gangster, I try and have all my gold on.” As a rule, Lou always wears jewellery, rarely wears makeup and never wears women’s clothes. She bought a pair of gold grills in Miami, but she left them in a glass of water at a restaurant. “The worst day of my life,” she sighs.

In case you weren’t already convinced she’s infinitely cooler and more self-assured than most, you should know that she wrote her first song aged 11 (apparently it was, “Quite good! Well formed!”). Raised on Gil Scott-Heron via her history teacher and Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holliday via her mum, there was little chance of any other result. After finding her songwriting feet with guitar classes and a stint at music college, Lou flew to New York on a creative pilgrimage two days after leaving school last year.

“I was going to go out there with my guitar and stay with my friends for five weeks and see if anything happened, if I was inspired,” she explains. Lou loved the city so much she returned just three months later in September, it was then she wrote her thundering single in collaboration with Likeminds, “Lost My Home”.

All clothing ARTIST’S OWN

“My accommodation got a bit messed up so I was slightly homeless,” she laughs about the predicament in retrospect. “One night I had to stay out until four in the morning waiting for this woman to come home which was pretty fucking traumatic. I didn’t realise at the time because I’d already started writing the song, but I felt so disconnected from everything and I wanted to come home.” Compounded with Brexit and the Syrian refugee crisis, Lou found herself subconsciously creating a poignant and timely statement with the ethereal yet powerful single.

Her first release in October 2016, “TBC” took note from the world around her too, repeating the now infamously heartbreaking last words of Eric Garner, “I can’t breathe.” Tackling such tough topics as a teen is commendable, but for Lou, it’s intrinsic. “I’m like a cell,” she claims. “I’m just growing. The number is so strange, how many hookups there are and how many limitations there are on what a 19-year-old can do.”

Not that she’s let that stop her. Leaving for writing sessions in Los Angeles just days after we meet, Lou’s working on new music for what she promises will be an “exciting year”. “I think the universe is letting me have—instead of this one big plateau and me getting overwhelmed—little stages,” she says of her blooming career. “It’s grown quickly but in linear time… Enough to cope with.”

Unveiling some of the excitement today, Lou just dropped her debut EP “DDD” which is available everywhere now. Three gorgeous tracks that ooze with her soulful vocals and raw storytelling, it’s an accomplished debut and further proof on Lou’s unique talent. But what’s next? Well just like the single that surfaced her, it’s TBC.

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Taken from the Summer 17 Issue of Wonderland; out now and available to buy here.

[Edited 3/30/18 8:16am]

Downbeat and twilit … a detail from the My Dear Melancholy, cover. Photograph: Universal

Few recent releases have had a more offhand kind of advance promotion than The Weeknd’s My Dear Melancholy,. It isn’t so much a surprise release as one announced with a shrug: “Should we drop Friday? I’m indifferent, to be honest,” ran the text message published by Abel Tesfaye on Instagram earlier this week. Indifference seems a curious attitude to take towards something on which a vast team of starry talent has worked: its supporting cast includes Skrillex, Daft Punk’s Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, Nicholas Jaar, French techno auteur and sometime Kanye West collaborator Gesaffelstein, plus songwriters and producers who’ve worked on everything from Camila Cabello’s Havana to Beyonce’s Formation. Perhaps its author’s apparent nonchalance is linked to My Dear Melancholy,’s brevity: at six tracks and barely 20 minutes long, it feels like an interstitial release rather than a major statement.

Or perhaps the apparent indifference is meant to signify that the Weeknd can no longer bring himself to care about anything much, crushed as he is by romantic disappointment. My Dear Melancholy, – whose title has a comma at the end, as if Tesfaye is beginning a letter to his own sadness – isn’t an album or EP so much as the equivalent of Tesafaye standing in his ex’s garden at 3am, pissed, holding a ghettoblaster over his head and bellowing along to Chicago’s If You Leave Me Now for 22 minutes. It even ends suddenly, as if she’s finally opened her bedroom window and thrown a shoe at him.

Every track either has the author protesting about being chucked, announcing he doesn’t care that he’s been chucked, or pleading to be unchucked. He wheedles, he cajoles, he begs. He tries a bit of enjoy-the-rest-of-your-life-then passive-aggression, and favours us with the legendary Solipsistic Male R&B Star’s Analysis of Where It All Went Wrong. “I put you on top, I put you on top, I claimed you so proudly and openly,” he wails, it being an article of faith among Solipsistic Male R&B Stars that relationships only ever fail because they treated the other party too well. If only I’d made her spend her birthday watching me play darts at the pub, we might still be together, etc.

The Weeknd tells his love object he thinks he’s having some kind of nervous breakdown and it’s all her fault, threatens to end it all on at least two occasions, and attempts to make her jealous by suggesting he’s been having lots of sex. Then he tries to woo her back by laying on the kind of silver-tongued romantic charm surely no lady can resist: “I hope you know this dick is still an option.” Better still, he rhymes this with “I took my time to know the way your body functions”, a line that suggests he examined her digestive system, possibly with an endoscope. Unlikely, perhaps, but who knows what eldritch behaviour takes places in that libertine world of afterparties and hotel suites that he’s always banging on about?

Still, if you can get around the fact that the lyrics appear to have been written by R&B’s answer to that bloke who said he was going to continuously play piano in Bristol town centre until his girlfriend took him back, there’s a great deal to like about My Dear Melancholy,. It abandons the pick’n’mix and indeed hit-and-miss approach of previous album Starboy in favour of something more cohesive: uniformly downbeat and twilit, it flows really well.

At its least interesting, as on Call Out My Name, it offers up the kind of beige boo-hoo balladry that Sam Smith specialises in, albeit tricked out with more interesting sonic touches: the piano sounding like it was recorded underwater, the rest of the track echoing and ghostly. But the boring melodies are considerably outweighed by strong ones and the assembled team have come up with a subtly eclectic set of musical ideas. The chorus of Try Me is particularly ineffaceable; the heaving key-changes in I Was Never There give the song an unsettling, queasy quality; rendered in a more sunny style, Privilege would be a manifest chartbound banger.

The Weeknd: ‘Drugs were a crutch for me’

Wasted Times takes the desolate urban atmospherics of Burial’s brand of dubstep and neatly attaches them to a song, while there’s something quietly audacious about the hook of I Was Never There: off-key, played on a synthesiser that squeals like a siren going off somewhere in the distance. The whirring, intermittent 808 drum machine and soft, echoing synths give Try Me the feeling of a mid-80s boogie track on the brink of collapse.

In a world of identikit Auto-Tune effects, there’s also something genuinely creative about how the EP continually manipulates its author’s voice, slathering on the distortion and robot effects in ways that sound disquieting and strange rather than wearyingly familiar. Perhaps My Dear Melancholy,’s musical invention and way with a tune will win its subject back around: certainly the music seems more likely to succeed than anything Tesfaye actually has to say for himself.

Joy Crookes Unlocks Soul, Class on ‘Influence’

Rising singer Joy Crookes makes R&B look easy on her debut EP Influence.

The project, available now, is a fine 5-track variety from the British singer. The project is a mix of already released singles along with new cuts which provide crystallized vocals, unionized instrumentals and pure delivery.

The EP clocks in under 20 minutes but it’s jam-packed with all the necessities R&B fans desire.

On Influence‘s first track, “Sinatra,” Crookes crooning crashes like a wave against the airy and wavy beat accompanying her. Along with a catchy hook (“and the rain keeps falling to your sound”), her backing progresses in a classical and beautified manner before the song’s close.

Crookes weighs multiple soulful scales to perfection, also, crafting tracks that bop and others that peacefully drive. “Bad Feeling,” complete with bells and strums, sees the singer drum up her uncertainties with a style a la Winehouse. Furthermore, tracks such as “New Manhattan” breach areas of classiness and orchestration that the singer finely nestles herself inside.

On cuts like “Mother May I Sleep With Danger?” and “Power,” the singer wrestles with beats through the softness of her voice all while touching on complex themes of love and womanhood.

It seems like Crookes is here to stay, so if you’re looking for a new fix of soul, Influence is definitely the wave your ears should surf.

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Aaliyah’s Legacy to be Celebrated by Super Fans in New Tribute Film

ByMalikka Michelle

Posted on March 27, 2018

MAR
2018

back to news

Doja Cat Releases New Track “Candy” From Her Forthcoming Debut Album ‘Amala’ Due Out March 30th Via RCA Records

[March 23, 2018 – New York, NY] – Buzzing singer/songwriter/producer, Doja Cat reveals another slice of her highly anticipated debut album Amala with the release of “Candy.” The track is available to stream and purchase at all digital service providers now. Amala is set for release on March 30th via RCA Records. Click here to listen to “Candy.”

The soulful and bouncy “Candy” is written by Doja Cat and produced by Yeti and Budo.

“Candy” follows the release of standout tracks “Go To Town”and “Roll With Us.” Refinery29 describes that “…Doja Cat more than delivers [on ‘Go To Town’]…[it is] colorful and seductive…an incredibly catchy pop record that features her fun, expandable voice and slick rapping.” Upon release, “Roll With Us” was featured Spotify’s New Music Friday and Global Viral 50 playlists upon release and has been streamed nearly 1 million times worldwide. Hot New Hip Hop exclaims, “delicate vocals and lovable lyrics… [‘Roll With Us’ boasts] her signature sweet spot between pop and R&B-influenced sounds…” while Karen Civil proclaims, “…a fun and natural follow-up…a light knocking trap lullaby…”

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Amala marks Doja Cat’s first official project release since her 2014 Purrr! EP, which features her breakout track, “So High.” “So High” has been streamed over 30 million times worldwide and garnered critical acclaim upon release from outlets such as FADER, VIBE, PAPER and Pigeons & Planes who describe the EP as having “…hazy, woozy production and undeniable hooks…It’s a masterclass in drugged out, experimental production…[with] warm, breathy singing and rapping…”

Starting in 2013, the now 22-year-old LA native began organically creating her fan-base online, posting her first track on Facebook, eventually building a large following via her official Soundcloud page. This digital fan-base helped Doja reach the masses, capturing the Internet’s attention with every release. Fast forward to 2018, Doja continues to engage fans through new social platforms, frequently using Periscope and Instagram Live to interact with her followers and preview new music.

With her official return and the release of Amala, Doja will undoubtedly impress fans and critics alike, kicking off what is sure to be a bright 2018 for the rising star.

Tracklist:
01 – Go To Town
02 – Cookie Jar
03 – Roll With Us
04 – Wine Pon You (feat. Konshens)
05 – Fancy
06 – Wild Beach
07 – Morning Light
08 – Candy
09 – Game
10 – Casual
11 – Down Low
12 – Body Language
13 – All Nighter

Buy/Stream “Candy”

All Retailers: http://smarturl.it/DJCandy

Apple Music: http://smarturl.it/DJCandy/applemusic

ITunes: http://smarturl.it/DJCandy/itunes

Spotify: http://smarturl.it/DJCandy/spotify

Google Play: http://smarturl.it/DJCandy/googleplay

Amazon Music: http://smarturl.it/DJCandy/az

YouTube: http://smarturl.it/DJCandy/youtube

Soundcloud: http://smarturl.it/DJCandy/soundcloud

CREDIT: EMIL HOUGAARD/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK

The bright lights, screaming crowds and pulsating beats that come with attending a concert can actually help you live longer, a new study reports.

According to research conducted by UK music venue O2 and Patrick Fagan, a Goldsmith University lecturer and expert in behavioral science, 20 minutes at a gig “can lead to a 21 percent increase in [a] feeling of well-being,” reports the study. Comparatively, yoga increases well-being by 10 percent, and dog-walking by 7 percent.

“Additional scholarly research directly links high levels of well-being with a lifespan increase of nine years pointing to a direct link between gig-going and longevity,” states the report, noting that attending a concert once every two weeks could potentially expand a music lover’s life expectancy by nine years.

The test subjects for the study participated in psychometric and heart-rate tests while performing multiple activities. While watching live music, feelings of self-worth and being close to others both improved by 25 percent. Mental stimulation was the most affected with an improvement by 75 percent.

In a press release published by O2, Fagan said, “Combining all of our findings with O2’s research, we arrive at a prescription of a gig a fortnight which could pave the way for almost a decade more years of life.”

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[Edited 3/30/18 10:39am]

First Listen: Basia returns after nine years with "Matteo"

(March 28, 2018) Basia will release Butterflies on May 18, and surprisingly the project will only be her fifth solo album since she branched out on her own with 1987’s Time and Tide. The Polish born vocalist brings a distinct vocal style that features a sweet alto and crisp phrasing and just a hint of her eastern European accent shining through.

Her first single from Butterflies is a “Matteo,” a mid-tempo track that features a bossa nova swing and tells the story of how the birth of a child named Matteo changed their lives.

Butterflies is Basia’s first album with original work since 2009’s It’s That Girl Again, and she says that she and her longtime collaborators that include pianist Danny White favor an unhurried pace that meshes with their art and their lives. That relaxed pace insures that Basia isn’t overly concerned about musical trends. "We've been recording Butterflies for a few years, without any hurry, making sure that we were always true to ourselves. Although we are aware of what is successful in the music scene at the moment - we avoid copying and we try not to be influenced by it.” Check out “Matteo” here.

Basia – “Matteo”

Listen: https://soundcloud.com/shanachie-1

First Listen: Hall and Oates release first new song in 15 years

(March 30, 2018) – They've been consistent road warriors every Summer, touring the US and the world, but they haven't recorded new music together in 15 years. So it is a big deal that, ahead of their co-headline North American summer tour with Train, Daryl Hall & John Oates have issued a brand new single (with Train). It is yet another homage to their hometown of Philadelphia, and is called“Philly Forget Me Not.”

With a "rock 'n soul" vibe somewhat reminiscent of their 80s and 90s work, the song features Hall and Train frontman Pat Monahan trading lead vocals, and is about the musings of a Philly expatriate remembering and cherishing the City of Brotherly Love. "This song pretty much describes my feeling about Philly, my music home,” says Daryl Hall. Adds Monahan, “Train have all been Hall & Oates fans since we can remember so being on a record with them is a life long dream! We couldn’t be more excited - listening to them and playing along side them on tour each night is going to be incredible."

Be on the lookout for their Summer tour in your town. In the meantime, welcome back Hall & Oates

Hall & Oates with Train - "Philly Forget Me Not"

Home / News / Lisa Stansfield announces ‘Deeper’ album release date, reveals first track ‘Everything’

Lisa Stansfield announces ‘Deeper’ album release date, reveals first track ‘Everything’

RJ Frometa January 9, 2018 News

Lisa Stansfield has announced that her new album ‘Deeper’ will be released on April 6 2018 on earMUSIC. The first track to be made available is ‘Everything’ – with its groove, funk, soul and signature vocals, the song is an exciting taster of what we can expect from the new album. ‘Everything’ is available instantly when pre-ordering the album ‘Deeper’ from HERE and can be streamed on Spotify HERE

Written by Lisa and her song-writing partner Ian Devaney, produced by Ian & Mark “Snowboy” Cotgrove, and with Lisa taking the role of executive producer, ‘Deeper’ is the iconic soul singer’s eighth studio album. Speaking about the record the Grammy nominated, multi BRIT, Ivor Novello and Silver Clef Award winner said “creating this album was a wonderful adventure. I really believe there’s a special something in this record. I’m so excited to let it go out into the big wide world with pride.”

‘Deeper’ tracklisting

1. Everything

2. Twisted

3. Desire

4. Billionaire

5. Coming Up For Air

6. Love Of My Life

7. Never Ever

8. Hercules

9. Hole In My Heart

10. Just Can’t Help Myself

11. Deeper

12. Butterflies

13. Ghetto Heaven

A video from the studio can be watched HERE

Lisa, and her band of stellar musicians, will embark on a European tour this spring promising “a night out! A chance to truly let yourself go and forget about the everyday. A fun show with seriously good music.”

UK tour dates April 2018

Fri 6 Northampton Derngate Theatre

Sat 7 Guildford G Live

Sun 8 Bournemouth Pavilion Theatre

Tue 10 Liverpool Philharmonic Hall

Wed 11 Edinburgh Queens Hall

Thu12 Gateshead Sage

Sat 14 Scunthorpe Baths Hall

Sun 15 Salford Lowry

Tue 17 Birmingham Symphony Hall

Thu 19 York Barbican

Fri 20 Southend Pavilion Theatre

Sat 21 London Palladium

Me'shell Ndegeocello - Ventriloquism (2018)

Click on CD cover
to listen or purchase

Bettye LaVette - Things Have Changed

Click on CD cover
to listen or purchase

Swing Out Sister - Almost Persuaded (Advance Review)

Karyn White - Gale & The Storm (Soundtrack) (2017)

Click on CD cover
to listen or purchase

Song of the Month: Chris Jasper shines on beautiful new ballad

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Featured Releases (shown by date of release)

Toni Braxton - Sex & Cigarettes (March 23)

Bettye Lavette - Things Have Changed (March 30)

En Vogue - Electric Cafe (April 6)

Chrisette Michele - Out of Control (April)

Basia - TBA (April)

Joe Leavy - The Black Anaconda (April 11)

Janelle Monae - Dirty Computer (April 27)

The Temptations - All The Time (May 4)

Darien Dean - Detours (May)

Leon Bridges - Good Thing (May 4)

Jeffrey Osborne - Worth It All (May 25)

Tower of Power - The Soul Side of Town (June 1)

Joe Lington - Trust (June 1)

Candi Staton - TBA (Summer)

Other Notable Releases (Alphabetically)

ABIAH - ABIAH sings Nina Simone (TBA)
Ascendant - Illuminate (3 EPs throughout 2018)
Raymond Barton - TBA
Nichelle Colvin - Written Compositions (TBA)
Tracy Cruz - Art of Facts (Spring), Purple H3ARtifacts (Summer)
Marc Evans - Beyond the Blue (June 1)
Michael Franks - TBA
Terisa Griffin - Live Album (TBA)
Euge Groove and Peter White - TBA (April)
Jabari Grover - Date Night (Summer)
Michael Henderson - Anthology (TBA)
homemadesoul - Inspired By A True Story Vol. 2 (September)
Donnell Isaac - EP (February)
Keith Wonderboy Johnson - Keep Pushing (March 16)
Michelle John - Moving On (April 27)
Cleveland P. Jones - Love and Humanity (TBA)
Mama's Gun - Golden Days (Spring)
N'Dambi - Dream Junkie (Spring)
Qupid - Still Believe In Love (TBA)
Bunny Sigler - Young at Heart (2018)
Smooth Jazz Alley - TBA (May)
Teri Tobin - TBA (Spring)
Kirk Whalum - LoveCovers (TBA)
Meelah Williams (of 702) - TBA
Brandon Williams - The Love Factor (TBA)
Bryan Andrew Wilson - Left But Loved (Summer)

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[Edited 4/1/18 17:20pm]

[Edited 4/1/18 17:35pm]

First Look Friday: Introducing The Passionate, Authentically Cool Grace Weber [Interview]

POSTED BY KEVITO 3 DAYS AGO

Photo Credit: Lissy Elle Laricchia

Allow us to put you on to singer-songwriter, Grace Weber, a talented artist who knows how to move you and your body with soulful grooves and real AF lyrics.

I stumbled across Grace Weber on Soundcloud back in November when a friend told me to listen to “More Than Friends”. And while I thought it was promising, it wasn’t until a trusted source of mine put me on that she was not only the future, but she had a pretty solid road to becoming a gift to audiophiles everywhere. I dove into her page, playing tracks multiple times, and when I heard that she was hitting the road with Lil’ Chano from 79th—better known as Chance the Rapper—for his Lollapalooza South America appearance, I wanted to make sure that Okayplayer audiophiles knew about this wonderful singer-songwriter before it was too late.

As an artist able to relate and work with other creatives, Grace Weber presents herself as a real one whose authenticity has opened doors to greater successes. A Grammy Award-winning recording artist, this Milwaukee original has had her fair share of OMG moments, but none could possibly compare to when she decided to give back to the youth in her native city with The Music Lab, Inc. non-profit organization. Determined to build a community through music, Grace’s program offers a free music education, career prep, and an open mic performance program to high school-aged youth of all backgrounds.

It just goes to show that music is truly one of the greatest things in existence on God’s green earth.

With a new project in the works, Grace has brought in her friends from The Social Experiment to help craft and get her ideas out. Produced by Nate Fox, Nico Segal, and Peter Cottontale — Grace’s upcoming effort is one to keep ears and eyes on. And to help, we’ve been blessed to share with you all not one, but two exclusive tracks — “space jam” and “so solitary” — which you can play below. So, without any further ado, Okayplayer allow us to introduce you to Grace Weber, an honest voice with a heartfelt message of truth, love and real AF lyrics. We talk with her about the obstacles she overcame to get to this point, how she prepares to engage with her first love—live performing, and who she would want to collaborate with in the future. Enjoy!

Okayplayer: To music snobs the world over, you are making an impact. What is it that those in music game are seeing and hearing that the rest of the world has yet to discover?

Grace Weber: I hope people are seeing authenticity and hearing a real and honest love of music. I want to connect with people, person-to-person, and I think the only way to do really that is to be as real as possible with my music. I also think people might be hearing how much love, energy, and care we put into the music. Nate Fox, Nico Segal, Peter Cottontale, Binta, and I really poured our heart and soul into these songs and really took the time and space to find the album’s—and ultimately my—sound. I spent a year writing and recording the album and really taking care at every step to make sure I was honestly and effectively communicating these stories and emotions and moods throughout each song and within the way the whole album weaves together. I think people can hear when you put love into a project and I think that love is what ultimately resonates with the listener… and when it’s authentic it becomes a ripple effect.

OKP: For those who have a passion for music, they honed their skills and practiced their craft. Who are your most cherished influences in music and why?

GW: Gospel music is my most cherished influence. I grew up singing in a gospel choir and the way I learned to use my voice and connect with people in the church through music helped me lay the foundation for who I am as a singer, performer, and an artist. There’s an incredible freedom, and at the same time, a crazy technical aspect to gospel music and singing. It’s an incredible music education in skill, emotion and heart. Beyond gospel, I am also a big fan of R&B, soul, jazz, and folk music. Boyz II Men was my first concert when I was seven. I used to listen to Mariah Carey’s runs, slow them down on my discman (shoutout CDs) over and over again until I could nail them. Whitney Houston, Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington, Eva Cassidy and Celine Dion were also some of my vocal idols growing up. As a songwriter and lyricist, Joni Mitchell and Frank Ocean are huge influences on me, and I spend a lot of time studying how they craft songs and learning from the places they go outside the box and change the rules. I love studying artists who push music forward, who aren’t afraid to be different, and I use the inspiration provided by these musical groundbreakers to push myself to go outside my own comfort zones and keep crafting and honing on the uniqueness of who I am. My musical influences have helped me find the courage to find and be my truest self.

OKP: Can you talk about how your life was while developing as an artist? How did you react to your first bits of press?

GW: I went through some hard times in college with my first toe-dip into the music industry and it broke my spirit for a little bit. I had to learn to find self-confidence again and really go through a journey to find what self-love really means. I used to be really, really sensitive to what people thought of me and I always wanted to please everyone, I would be so scared to let anyone down. But when I met my manager, Binta, in 2015, it was the first time I met someone in the industry who could really see me for who I was, who saw that little light still burning inside of a really scared girl, and went through the process of helping me uncover myself again so I could find that self-confidence to be the artist I’d always wanted to be. It was a really important process of “artist development,” in that Binta took the time and gave me the space to find myself and really fall in love with music and singing again without any pressure or expectation. It allowed me to let down some walls I had built up because I finally felt like I had a teammate who I could depend on and who actually knew and understood me for who I am, and am capable of becoming. I felt like I didn’t have to protect myself anymore because I knew she had my back. I’m so grateful to her for that, and I now feel this newfound freedom of self-acceptance and love and I feel ready and excited to share that with people through music and interviews and shows, all of it. I’m not scared to let anyone down anymore I’m just excited to be there for and with others.

OKP: With incidents involving people of color, police and racist occurring almost on a daily basis around the globe — how can your music help to relieve the trauma that is being experienced by the masses?

GW: Music is the most powerful form of communication; it can be used for the greatest good. It is a catalyst, that in its purest state, when shared, loved and appreciated, serves to bring people of so many different backgrounds together, if we let it. I am a white woman who grew up in Wisconsin—because of music, a shared love of music, and our common humanity—some of the people closest to me in the world come from a different background, other artists with whom I work, members of my band, producers, and my manager, with whom I also work creatively. Binta, my manager, is a black woman raised on the east coast and from the south; our shared love and understanding of music as a means of expression, our mutual goals have made her more than a manager or creative collaborator. Music has helped me not only deal with the pain of my own existence, it has opened my heart, mind and soul to the very real pain and suffering of people in my life, some of whom have been directly targeted by racism, some of whom I see experience the burden of it, carrying it with them daily in their lives—there is a reason why soul music, which came from black people before it came from anyone else is so evocative of the human spirit, it comes from the very deep hurts, pains and tragedies of being a black person in a racist society—it also tho, is an expression of the great joy in overcoming that pain, of resilience, and heart and endurance and love… these are my sisters, my brothers, and I carry and experience that pain with them, which motivates me to use music not only as a source of healing in a general way, but to call attention to issues affecting black and brown people, those who are most likely to be discriminated against.

Music as a healer is so powerful because it can help us process emotions and trauma that sometimes words alone can’t reach. Binta and I talk a lot about the role of the artist as a healer, and an as advocate, and honestly the responsibility of just being human to stand beside your fellow person and just be there for them. I wrote a song called “Just Love” after the Alton Sterling and Philando Castile shootings, the song fell out of me as reaction to how horrible the state of our country is in as relates to race, police brutality, and gun violence. I recorded “Just Love” the night of the immigration ban in January 2017 because I couldn’t stand seeing people try to explain away blatantly racist reasons for the ban, or politicians talking about how we would fix all these issues someday. I’ve seen how the freedom songs of the sixties and seventies, how the power of Motown and now hip-hop have helped people to come together, to bring us back to one another. My hope is that more of us—through music—can learn to walk together, side-by-side, sisters and brothers, united. I hope music continues to play a role in opening people’s hearts and minds, towards a mentality of love and justice for all people.

OKP: What have been the most definitive obstacles that you’ve overcome in your career thus far?

Photo Credit: Lloyd Pursall

GW: As I mentioned above, I went through a little bit of loss of self in college after experiencing some deep hurts with music, mainly someone telling me I couldn’t be who I was, couldn’t do music, at a time when I was really vulnerable. The art of being an artist is sometimes learning how to be as vulnerable and open and raw as possible, while also learning how to protect yourself and dodge the jabs or criticism from people who don’t have your best interest at heart. I had to overcome a feeling of being lost, and work to crawl myself out of a hole of a deep depression, back to myself, and back to the simple love of music. I remember saying to myself when I hit rock bottom, ‘ok you can either stop doing music, or you can do the work to find yourself again,’ and the prospect of stopping music was 100% not possible, the choice of stopping music basically felt like choosing to die, so I chose to live and I found a deeper connection with myself and music because of it.

OKP: Can you also talk about the importance of the music industry scene as how you’ve experienced it? How do you see it evolving in the next five years?

GW: I think there have been amazing strides in making the music industry more fair for artists, people like Chance [The Rapper] are advocating for independence on a scale that’s never been seen before, and there are so many new opportunities for artists to relate and market their music independently. It’s a really exciting time for art. I think no matter if you’re independent or partnering with a label or other entity, the most essential element of it all is your team, and the trust and respect you have with and for the other members of your team. When a team is working together towards a common goal, when there’s a sense of family and connection, and when the music comes first, I think the most incredible things can happen. There’s also never been a more exciting time to connect directly with your fans and an easier opportunity to create an incredible network and community around music than now. I think over the next five years we’ll see more artists staying independent, better record deals for artists, and more unique and ranging music coming back into the mainstream.

OKP: What are some things that you’ve learned about yourself that comes out in your music?

GW: I’ve actually learned to like myself. The process of making the album was really a journey of self love, of learning to be vulnerable, and being ok with my scars and quirks and realizing that sometimes what you used to think was the weirdest part about you might actually be the most interesting. I learned that from the hurts and struggles we all go through, to the wild joy and love we feel, that those experiences and feelings are what makes us human, and we connect with each other through that rawness. That being bold is beautiful. Meeting Binta, Nate, Nico, and Peter in 2015 was like meeting my long lost family, and creating with them was the ultimate feeling of letting go and being in the moment. It was like going to summer camp and meeting a group of friends who finally let you be yourself. I learned to take things a little less seriously, but also to commit to the process of making art in a deeper and more connected way than ever before. I learned and accepted that I’m a really sensitive person, but that I use that sensitivity to connect with others, and we really honestly are all in this together.

OKP: What were some moments from your recent travels that will forever stick with you? Why?

GW: I just got off the road with Chance, touring with him and the SoxBoys in South America, and it was such an incredible experience. I remember singing on the last Lollapalooza show in Sao Paulo, and looking out at the huge crowd all throwing their hands in the air, and just feeling this deep gratitude for music and for the journey, for being able to be in this moment on a stage in a city I’d never been to before, for getting to sing with my new family, music that I love, and for just being alive. When ‘All We Got’ played that night and I saw these masses of people singing along, it was a crazy experience, soaking in that I helped create a song that now was affecting so many people. And it really hit me that night especially, that music is all we got, so we might as well give it all we got. So I did give it all I had that night, and it’s a show I’ll never forget.

OKP: What was the first song that you ever wrote entitled? Can you talk about what it has come to symbolize since you’ve entered into the professional life?

GW: [Laughs] Man, I’m trying to remember the songs from way way back. I heard from my parents that I used to sing songs about getting dressed in the morning all by myself, so I think that must symbolize self determination [laughs]! But, the first two songs I ever wrote and recorded were called “For Emily” and “A Letter” in high school. The first one, as the title suggests, was a song I wrote for my friend, Emily, after her dad died in an accident. The second one, “A Letter,” was sort of a teen confessional song about breaking up with a boy. I think both sort of directly represent the place where my music lives, I’ve always connected with music as a healer and I always felt like it was important to me to write songs for other people and to use my voice to maybe help people through something. I also write a lot of music about my life and the struggles I’m going through and the love and loss I’ve experienced. My themes of my music definitely live between the essence and intention of both of these early songs, so it’s cool for me to realize the through line that’s maintained since I was a teen… I don’t know what it symbolizes for me, but it is cool to think about.

OKP: How can your music speak truth to power in an age where people are so quickly digesting sounds and disposing of artists in a nanosecond?

GW: I make music, and am amongst a community of musicians and collaborators who make music that we hope is not transactional, not temporal, that is forward and yet embodies the past. My goal is to connect with souls, and I think when you connect with souls, you overcome the temperate throwaway nature that can exists in digesting sounds quickly today. I don’t think being an artist is a function of being an entertainist, the quick fame, I think it’s about connecting with others deeply, and in so doing, translating the human experience in a way that creates a lasting relationship between fans and your music. We can all speak truth to power with authenticity and an honest voice. Look at how incredible it’s been seeing these high school and even elementary school students standing up to gun lobbyists and giving these iconic, honest and heartfelt speeches that will stand the test of time. It’s a testament to the power of the authentic voice and the shared raw human experience, unfiltered, unpolished. My music exists below the surface and I want people to dive down with me to experience something lasting and real, and I think we all crave that to some extent too.

OKP: Collaboration is uniquely a key to the success of certain creative individuals who wish to change the game. Who would you want to work with this year going into the next and why?

GW: Oh man, I’d love to collaborate with SZA, Kehlani, Yebba, Kendrick Lamar, and my dude Cory Henry. SZA, Kehlani, and Yebba are women I really look up to right now and I’d love to do an all-female super group song with them and more women like Eryn Allen Kane, Jamila Woods, Ravyn Lanae, and Monica Martin. It would just be so fun and empowering and sexy. Kendrick Lamar is someone I’ve had deep respect for as an artist for a long time, I’d love to just be in the studio with him and ask him questions, see how he works and writes. Cory is a genius. The way he plays organ and keys and this new guitar instrument thing that I actually don’t know the name of, is so moving and makes me feel all the things. He’s my friend, but I’m also a major fan, and I’m just waiting for the day we can make a song together. [Laughs] Cory hit me up though if you read this.

OKP: What is the overall message that Grace Weber is trying to present in her music?

GW: Love yourself, be yourself, embrace the ups and downs and waves of being human, and be there for one another. We’re all here to lift each other up.

OKP: Can you break down the inspiration behind a song that you created but never put out?

GW: I wrote a song called “Light on the Wire” where I didn’t actually know what the inspiration was or why it was coming to me until after I wrote it all down. It was one of those songs where all the words came to me, I think while I was in the shower, all at once and I really felt like a song was channeling through me and I just needed to get it down on paper before it was lost. The first line was, ‘Oh take me in / tongue tied and broken / ancient. Light on the wire / tip toe to safety, baby / Hold me close and breathe me in, there’ll be time now I know.’ And then the rest fell out from there and I realized as I was singing it and writing it down that it was about the fragility of life, about the way we sometimes go through life as if we’re balancing on a high wire, and every move and every step we take is so important and measured, and how ultimately to take that next step, we depend so much on faith. Once I got to the end of the song I realized I had written a prayer.

OKP: How do you get over any anxiety before hitting the stage to perform live? What are some lessons or tips that you’ve learned from others about doing a stage show?

GW: Show days usually start for me with a note from my manager, either a text or an email, or on really big show days I might even get a little handwritten note, that preps me for the day and gets me in this really amazing headspace. It’s always really inspiring and grounding. It’s like having a really good coach on a game day and it just starts the day off in this really focused way. When I’m getting ready, putting my make-up on and stuff, I go into a little bit of a quiet introverted space and I imagine myself being friends with the audience. I feel like I’m just about to walk into a big family reunion or something, and then I kinda work myself into owning a more intense level of confidence and fun so that I can be a host for the room, helping everyone have a good time through being relaxed and connected. Once I get to the venue, I usually have a couple beers to kick the little nerves I feel backstage. That honestly helps a lot [laughs], and I start just chilling out and having fun, getting excited. Then right before we go on stage, the band and I do a little prayer circle, and get in the moment together, get excited to make music together, to share an experience with the audience and make the show about them, and then we go for it! I love performing live! It’s definitely my first love as it relates to all the different realms of music, so it really feels like home.

OKP: If the reader’s learned one thing from this First Look Friday chat with Grace Weber — what would it be?

GW: Love yo’self! All of yourself. And love others.

—

Be sure to keep your eyes and ears open for more from Mahalia (and us!) by following her on Twitter @GraceWeberMusic.

Listen: https://soundcloud.com/graceweber

Hear Elvis Presley's Rare, Stripped-Back Take of 'Suspicious Minds'

Track will appear on soundtrack to new HBO doc 'The Searcher'

Listen to Elvis Presley's rare, stripped-back take of "Suspicious Minds," which will appear on the soundtrack to HBO's 'Elvis Presley: The Searcher.' © Elvis Presley Enterprises Inc.

By Kory Grow

5 hours ago

A companion album to HBO's upcoming documentary Elvis Presley: The Searcher features his hits, as well as some different versions of his best-known songs. One of the more notable rarities is an alternate take of "Suspicious Minds" – the 18th and final Number One single of the King's career.

Inside Elvis Presley's Le...ck Special

Clad in black leather and backed by his original sideman, the King reclaimed his crown with one of the greatest performances of all time

Where the single version sports a bright horn arrangement, backing vocals and a false fadeout, the alternate version – dubbed "Suspicious Minds (Take Six)" – is a more stripped-back production. In addition to the standard rock instrumentation (guitar, bass and drums), there's a little organ in the background, making for a more subdued performance. Presley, too, seems to be holding back when compared to the hit – though in some ways his restrained vocal performance seems to play up the depression that can come with suspicion.

Presley recorded the take at Memphis' American Sound Studio on January 22nd, 1969 – a little more than a month after NBC aired its "'68 comeback special," Elvis, and Presley experienced a major career uptick. He had come to the studio that day so he could meet R&B singer Roy Hamilton, who had been an idol of his and who had been working on a new album there for his friend Chips Moman's label, AGP. He spent several hours watching Hamilton, according to the book Elvis: Day by Day, and later recorded a number of his own gospel-inflected numbers. The session ended with Presley singing a song Moman wanted him to sing, "Suspicious Minds." Presley got into the song and even practiced his karate exercises between recordings. "Save the last take for me," he sang as a joke during one of the last renditions, according to Elvis Presley: A Life in Music. He eventually went home at 4 a.m.

The three-hour, two-part film premieres on April 14th at 8 p.m. ET. It concentrates on Presley's artistry, touching on how music defined his life from his boyhood years, singing country and blues, through the final recordings he made in his "Jungle Room" before his 1977 death.

Elvis Presley: The Searcher (The Original Soundtrack) comes out Friday and will be available as both a standard, 18-track single-disc soundtrack and a three-CD box set (as well as digital and vinyl releases). The core soundtrack features 18 songs, while the triple-disc edition adds 37 recordings, comprising more Presley cuts alongside Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready's score for the film, a Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers cover of "Wooden Heart," and some of the R&B and country that inspired Presley, such as his mother Gladys Presley's recording of "Home Sweet Home." The deluxe edition also contains a 40-page hardcover book with rare photos, liner notes by Warren Zanes and a note from the documentary's director, Thom Zimny.

The filmmaker said in a statement that the soundtrack represents the handful of songs he'd want to give anyone who saw the film who "wanted to complete the experience" of examining Presley's artistry. "To me, this collection is part of the film," he said.

[Edited 4/3/18 12:50pm]

Fantastic Negrito announces new album ‘Please Don’t Be Dead’ – out June 15th

23/03/2018

9

GRAMMY AWARD-WINNING MUSICIAN
FANTASTIC NEGRITO

ANNOUNCES NEW ALBUM
PLEASE DON’T BE DEAD
OUT JUNE 15TH
VIA COOKING VINYL AND BLACKBALL UNIVERSE
PREORDER HERE

‘PLASTIC HAMBURGERS’
NEW SINGLE OUT NOW

NEW ALBUM FOLLOWS 2016’S HUGELY ACCLAIMED THE LAST DAYS OF OAKLAND
BOTH SELF-PRODUCED AT NEGRITO’S OAKLAND STUDIO BLACKBALL UNIVERSE

UK & EUROPEAN TOUR DATES ANNOUNCED

There is desperation and urgency in Fantastic Negrito’s new album Please Don’t Be Dead, released Friday June 15th via Cooking Vinyl and Blackball Universe. For anyone who ever felt like it was over yet hoped it wasn’t, this is your music.

“I wrote this album because I fear for the life of my black son,” said Negrito. “I fear for the lives of my daughters. I am uncertain about what kind of future they will face. Will someone shoot up their school? Will they become addicted to prescription pills? Will they wind up on the street, sleeping under freeways and overpasses? Will the police murder my son? I came up with the name Please Don’t Be Dead because I felt like we’d lost our way as a society — and I know what happens when you chase the wrong things. It’s the story of my life.”

Please Don’t Be Dead – which follows 2016’s Grammy Award-winning The Last Days Of Oakland – is heralded by the lead track, ‘Plastic Hamburgers’, out now.

“With ‘Plastic Hamburgers’ I wanted to come out swinging,” added Negrito. “With everything happening in the world, I wanted to take it head on. Addiction, guns, censorship, over-consumption. I wanted people to feel like this is our song, our rallying cry: lets tear down the walls that separate us and face who we really are.”

Fantastic Negrito – a.k.a. musician Xavier Dphrepaulezz (pronounced Deh-frep-aw-lez) – is truly an artist for these times, a multi-talented, genre-agnostic original whose life and work embody the struggle, energy, truth and creativity of black music. Negrito was raised in an orthodox Muslim household, the eighth of 14 children of a deeply religious Somali-Caribbean immigrant. The family moved from western Massachusetts to Oakland, CA, when Negrito was just 12 years old, his new hometown’s vibrant black community providing a massive culture shock after what was an extremely conservative childhood.

Raised by the streets of Oakland, Negrito discovered a passion for music and by the time he was 20, had taught himself a range of instruments. Sensing that he was on the wrong path and fearing for his life, he knew he had to make a change so, armed with only his demo on cassette, he moved to Los Angeles where he eventually signed a million dollar major record label deal. Alas, his soulful music was not made for those times and his debut album – released under his own name – went largely unnoticed. His confidence shattered, he pondered his next move.

Tragically, fate intervened in 2000 when he suffered a near-fatal car accident that not only left him in a three-week coma, but also saw permanent damage to his playing hand. He fought hard, enduring hours of painful physical therapy, and in 2008, returned to Oakland where he embarked on a new life as an urban farmer growing vegetables and other, more profitable, green matter.

The birth of his son inspired Negrito to once again pick up his guitar, and encouraged by his childhood friend, co-founder/co-owner of artist collective Blackball Universe, and Empire writer/producer Malcolm Spellman, Negrito began exploring the roots of black music, ultimately winding back to the original source, the DNA of all American music: the blues. But rather than simply updating the Delta blues, Fantastic Negrito created something altogether new and unique, building bridges to the 21st century by weaving the original sounds of Lead Belly and Skip James with loops and samples of his own live instruments.

Dubbing himself Fantastic Negrito, he took to the streets once more, to test his songs and sharpen his message. Bay Area shows with a proper band followed and in 2015, he entered and won NPR’s inaugural Tiny Desk Concert contest, triumphing over 7,000 other entrants. In 2016, he self-produced and self-released the debut Fantastic Negrito album, The Last Days Of Oakland, which scaled unimaginable heights, eventually going on to earn the aforementioned Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album and ecstatic praise around the globe.

PREVIOUS PRAISE FOR FANTASTIC NEGRITO

“Fantastic Negrito was, well, fantastic. …a brilliant, natural showman – the kind that take audiences out of their comfort zone and define festivals [with] the kind of backstory legends are made of” – The Guardian

“The first great album of the post-Prince/post-Ali world… Tremendous” – Daily Mirror

“Compelling” – Uncut

“A major work of stunning breadth and originality, heralding a talent who shines a blinding white light in the post-Prince darkness” – Classic Rock

“Updating the blues for a new era of depression and dispossession… this Leadbelly-reborn shares with His Late Purpleness a dapper style, enterprising ethos, eclectic tastes and a strong sense of himself as a black artist.” – MOJO

“Incredible… Enough to bring a smile to the faces of both Robert Johnson and Prince” – fRoots

“One of the hottest talents on the blues scene” – Songlines

“…full to bursting with catchy modern music that shimmers with a blues-rooted background.” ­– Blues Matters

“Xavier Dphrepaulezz’s life story is just begging to be made into a biopic” – Metro

Fantastic Negrito has spent much of the past two years on the road, including sold out headline shows, stage-stealing festival performances, and a series on North American and European tours supporting his great supporter and friend, the late Chris Cornell as well as Cornell’s legendary supergroup Temple of the Dog. He also opened for Sturgill Simpson and many others.

Fantastic Negrito will tour Europe in May and June, including five UK dates, before returning to the US for an album release event at the historic Fillmore in San Francisco. For updates and more, please visit www.fantasticnegrito.com/tour

MAY
15th – Barcelona, Apollo
16th – Valencia, La Rambleta
17th – Madrid, Caracol
19th – Ibiza, Sueños De Libertad
23rd – Nottingham, Bodega
24th – Manchester, Night & Day
26th – Baden, Blues Festival
30th – Glasgow, King Tuts

JUNE
1st – London, Dingwalls
2nd – Bristol, Thekla
6th – Milan, Hello Folks Festival
7th – Bologna, Covo Summer Festival
8th – Rome, Monk Club

AUGUST
8th – Winchester, Boomtown Fair

WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | TWITTER | YOUTUBE | SOUNDCLOUD

Janet Jackson, Future, Florence & the Machine Set To Headline 2018 FYF Fest

ByMalikka Michelle

Posted on April 3, 2018

In its most nostalgic way, FYF Fest announced the 2018 festival lineup. The fest has returned to its two-day programming and will feature performances from Florence + The Machine, Janet Jackson, Future, The XX, My Bloody Valentine, St. Vincent and more.

Founder Sean Carlson has stepped down following recent sexual assault allegations. The change has forced the festival to place complete faith into the hands of local promoter Goldenvoice. With Goldenvoice assuming responsibility and promoting the fest like never before, the promotion group has made placing fresh female leadership at the forefront its first mission. Goldenvoice booker Jennifer Yacoubian is working closely with CEO Paul Tollett and former FYF Presents team Dave Peterson and Emily Twombly to book this year’s festival.

In a recent statement, Yacoubian discussed her sentiments for the festival, “FYF has been a Los Angeles staple for the past 15 years (happy anniversary to us!), and a very special event with a diverse booking that is unique to the festival. In the past 15 years, this festival has grown immensely with a strong team of women and men behind it to bring fans the best weekend of summer. And with incredible artists like Janet Jackson and Florence + The Machine topping this year’s bill, we are so psyched to have two badass women leading the roster as we head into FYF Fest 2018.”

Dubbing themselves as the best weekend in summer, FYF has become a local staple. Every year the festival takes over the Exposition Park joining music lovers in one space for a few days.

Tickets go on sale Friday, April 6 at noon. American Express Card Members can purchase all passes before the general public beginning Tuesday, April 3rd at 10 am through Thursday, April 5th at 10 pm PT. Two-day passes cost $249 while single-day tickets cost $149. A VIP pass will set you back $549.

Other acts set to play the two-day event include Kali Uchis, Daniel Caesar, Skepta, Nina Kraviz, Rhye, The Internet, Yaeji and more.

In its fourth year, FYF is teaming up with Plus 1 to donate $1 of every ticket sold to high impact organizations working to support the people in our communities who need it the most, both locally and globally.

Moonchild
Voyager

4.0
excellent

Review

by Drummerboy123 USER (2 Reviews)
May 26th, 2017 |

Release Date: 2017 |

Review Summary: Moonchild’s latest offering brings what is sure to be one of 2017’s smoothest albums.

“Voyager” could not have come at a more perfect time. With summer approaching comes those mild, slightly breezy yet perfectly content days that give a certain aura of warmth and comfort. The days spent chilling with friends you haven’t seen in awhile at a bar. The days spent driving with the windows rolled down while the sun’s orange hue slowly comes through the morning haze. The days of coming home from a rough shift at work just before a holiday starts. This is the image gathered right from the minimalistic artwork to the very opening chords of the album.

Moonchild are a jazz/R&B/dreamy-creamy neo soul band hailing from Los Angeles, California. They’ve had quite a small but dedicated following over the past few years, and with good reason. This is music for re-energising the soul, and as cliche as that may sound it comes across as nothing but genuine. The lyrical content may also seem quite generic with lines like “Love is the cure for heartache”, lyrics talking of unrequited love, love is the key etc. Something we’ve all heard a million times before. However the vocals, the instrumentation, the songwriting, the production, it all comes together to form a single coherent sound. A sound that is intensely hypnotising from start to finish.

One can’t help but think of the jazz inspired instrumentation from Kendrick Lamar’s “To Pimp A Butterfly” on songs such as; “Cure”, “Now and Then” and “Let You Go”. Or lounge kings Thievery Corporation on “The List”. That’s not to say “Voyager” doesn’t have its own identity. As previously said, vocalist Amber Navran adds another dimension to Moonchild’s sound. She knows how to make the vocals fit and a lot of these songs are carried by her subdued yet engaging performance. “Hideaway” is an example of her vocals being used more as another instrument to compliment the rest of the instrumentation, with the use of various ad-libs in the background from the 1:44 mark onwards. She doesn’t take the spotlight but instead adds another layer to the calm embrace of “Voyager”.

It’s not the most original sound put to record though, far from it. Those familiar with the works of Hiatus Kaiyote, Sade or Nujabes will feel right at home on the songs; “Run Away”. “Show The Way” and “6am” respectively. The album can become very samey and homogeneous as it goes along, especially during the middle where some of the weaker pieces such as “Doors Closed” reside. An interlude that doesn’t really serve much purpose on the album only to extend the runtime, and while pleasing as it is to the ears it feels like an unfinished idea that adds nothing of value to the album. Some filler can also be found in certain parts, such as the last 30 seconds of “Run Away”. Whilst the sample of the iconic “Wahoo!” from Super Mario Bros’ is well implemented it seems like a bit of a random add-on to a song that felt more natural fading out.

All in all “Voyager” is definitely an album that wears its influences on its sleeves and is not afraid to indulge in them, and though this may lead to a repetitive listening experience it's also an entrancing listen at the same time.

Tracklist:
Voyager (Intro)
Cure
6am
Every Part (For Linda)
Hideaway
The List
Doors Closing
Run Away
Think Back
Now And Then
Change Your Mind
Show The Way
Let You Go

“The magnificent Moonchild… good work” – GILLES PETERSON

“Love” – JILL SCOTT

“Yet another stellar piece”– SAINT HERON

“A beautiful mixture of jazz and R&B… the sound of LA these days” – JAMIE CULLUM

‘Voyager’ is the third full-length album from LA’s Moonchild, whose candid style of soul and new-school jazz has propelled them onto a swirling, emotionally charged journey of the heart. Since 2014 they have dedicated their time and energy into honing dreamlike and ethereal compositions which explore the intricacies of relationships with emotional nuance. The band cites influences like D’Angelo, Hiatus Kaiyote and J. Most as playing a key part in expanding the group's musical horizons which none more evident than on ‘Voyager’.
Following two years after their widely-praised album ‘Please Rewind’, the album marks a new level of maturity in the band’s sound. Building on their trademark sound, the band brought in a harpist and string players to their usual line-up, enriching standout motifs; these range from the importance of making time for loved ones, to the feeling of waking up in the middle of the night and missing someone, to the deep bonds shared between mother and child.
Since cementing themselves into the vibrant LA soul scene, Moonchild have released two albums and collaborated or toured with highly-respected names in the soul-jazz crowd including Stevie Wonder, Jill Scott, India.Arie, Leela James, The Internet (Odd Future’s Syd tha Kyd & Matt Martians) and more. Along the way, Moonchild have accumulated a host of iconic supporters from Robert Glasper and Laura Mvula to James Poyser, Jazzy Jeff, Jose James, 9th Wonder and Tyler, The Creator who have all shown love for the band.

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WED 4 APRIL

The CasbahSan Diego, CA, US

Tickets

THU 5 APRIL

Valley BarPhoenix, AZ, US

Tickets

SAT 7 APRIL

Globe HallDenver, CO, US

Tickets

SUN 8 APRIL

Fox TheatreBoulder, CO, US

Tickets

MON 9 APRIL

Hodi's Half NoteFort Collins, CO, US

Tickets

TUE 10 APRIL

Belly Up AspenAspen, CO, US

Tickets

WED 11 APRIL

Urban LoungeSalt Lake City, UT, US

Tickets

FRI 13 APRIL

NeuroluxBoise, ID, US

Tickets

SUN 15 APRIL

Biltmore CabaretVancouver, BC, Canada

Tickets

WED 18 APRIL

BarbozaSeattle, WA, US

Tickets

THU 19 APRIL

Star TheaterPortland, OR, US

Tickets

SAT 21 APRIL

The New ParishOakland, CA, US

Tickets

SUN 22 APRIL

Harlow'sSacramento, CA, US

Tickets

TUE 24 APRIL

SOhOSanta Barbara, CA, US

Tickets

THU 26 APRIL

El Rey TheatreLos Angeles, CA, US

Tickets

WED 9 MAY

This Town NeedsHong Kong, China

Tickets

SUN 13 MAY

Blue Note (ブルーノ�...kyo, Japan

Tickets

MON 14 MAY

Blue Note (ブルーノ�...kyo, Japan

Tickets

SAT 19 MAY

– SUN 20 MAY

Green Plugged Seoul Festi...epublic Of

Tickets

SUN 3 JUNE

Merriweather Post Pavilio...ia, MD, US

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*

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[Edited 4/3/18 10:48am]

To support her newly-released album, Sex & Cigarettes, Toni Braxton unwraps a new music video for the single, "Long As I Live."

After being featured on the Fifty Shades Freed soundtrack, Sabrina Claudio is back with a brand new track she co-wrote, “All to You.”

^^Smooth Sultry Vocals

NEW music from local heroes Kylie, Alison Wonderland and City Calm Down.

KYLIE MINOGUE

Golden (BMG/Liberator)

4 stars

NO one can say Kylie Minogue has not fully committed to making a country-tinged pop album. And no one can say Golden is just your regular Kylie Minogue album.

The first single Dancing may have been the latest victim of streaming strangling the pop chart for artists from the CD era. But it was the ideal introduction to Kylie’s Golden year — pop music taking a Nashville detour and dipped in glitter and sawdust. With country in vogue Dancing got Minogue back on pop radio, despite her last few albums featuring pop singles (Get Outta My Way, Into the Blue) far better than many recent radio hits by Katy Perry, Rita Ora or Selena Gomez but that’s none of our business.

Anyone expecting Golden to have reserve Wows or Love at First Sights tucked away behind the songs with guitars is in for a shock.

Kylie Minogue previews Golden in London last month. Pic: Dave Hogan/Spotify/Getty

After 14 albums and 31 years the perfect time for Minogue to do change things up. And it’s not that different — her take on country is more disco Dolly Parton than Alison Krauss or Johnny Cash.

Album highlight A Lifetime to Repair is the best example of cowboy style Kylie — all banjo pluckin’, mother-duckin’ heartbreak guiding y’all into a banging fiddle’n’beats hoedown showdown chorus. Lyrically it’s peak Minogue — personal but still with tongue firmly planted in cheek.

Title track Golden was spawned from one too many questions about her age — haunting spaghetti western guitar vibes leading you into modern country steered by Nashville-based Australian Lindsay Rimes (Kelsea Ballerini) and Taylor Swift co-writer Liz Rose.

Ed Sheeran’s Thinking Out Loud collaborator Amy Wadge works on Sincerely Yours — a big ballad that is scarcely country beyond a bit of acoustic guitar but fits perfectly on this song-based, storytelling-driven album.

Golden is Kylie Minogue’s fourteenth album. Pic: BMG

There’s still links to Kylie of old. Biffco, usually her go-to guys for club pop, serve up the mid-tempo gem One Last Kiss that’s dripping in melodies and hooks plus the mellow twang of on-the-road ode Shelby 68.

Stop Me From Falling threw in flashbacks to Malcolm McLaren’s Double Dutch with lush bootscooting pop — everyone involved in this album (her first for new label BMG) has relished the challenging of re(cowboy)booting Kylie without losing what people love about her. Pop music is a broad genre and now Kylie’s doing a reverse Taylor Swift.

Radio On takes you back to the deconstructed campfire version of early hit Hand On Your Heart — an ultra-intimate acoustic lament about the healing power of music. It’s beautiful.

Brit singer Jack Savoretti guests on stunning duet Music’s Too Sad Without You — which automatically takes you back to her Nick Cave collaboration Where the Wild Roses Grow. It’s Bond theme meets Bacharach.

KYLIE MINOGUE — RAINING GLITTER

There’s still dancefloor moments — like Live a Little — but think line-dancing — and L.O.V.E comes via A-list hitmakers, who follow the album’s brief in style — hands-in-the-air classic pop with a waft of melancholy.

Raining Glitter, which relieved some fans worried after Golden tasters Dancing and Stop Me From Falling when released last week, is probably the closest to classic Kylie — and not just that title — with Eg White serving up a honky tonk pop banger.

The other revelation on this album; these songs suit Minogue’s voice. She sounds effortless and relaxed. She also sounds like she’s having genuine fun trying something new on for size. And in pop music, that’s Golden. /CAMERON ADAMS

Verdict: Nashville meets nightclub suits our Kylie

*Golden is released on Friday

Kylie Minogue’s Golden tracklist:

1. Dancing
2. Stop Me From Falling
3. Golden
4. A Lifetime To Repair
5. Sincerely Yours
6. One Last Kiss
7. Live A Little
8. Shelby ’68
9. Radio On
10. Love
11. Raining Glitter
12. Music’s Too Sad Without You

FUTURE HIT: SIGRID'S 'DON...L MY VIBE'

Sigrid soars on debut single 'Don't Kill My Vibe,' which is already going viral.

Sigrid began 2017 as One To Watch thanks to viral sensation “Don’t Kill My Vibe” and ended the year as a veritable pop star when “Strangers” landed in the UK top 10. The 21-year-old takes a break from the electro-pop of her breakthrough singles on “I Don’t Want To Know,” a stripped-back piano ballad that debuted today (March 27) as Zane Lowe’s World Record.

“I know you have your good side, I know you have,” she sings of an ex-boyfriend. “Even at your worst, you’re not so bad.” This is where it gets really heartbreaking. “But when you had the choice, you chose someone else.”

“It’s definitely different than what I’ve been releasing before but I think this one shows even more what type of music that I love,” Sigrid told Beats 1. What inspired her? “To be honest maybe War On Drugs, I’ve been listening a lot to them for the past one or two years, so that has influenced me,” she revealed. “Also it doesn’t sound like Fleetwood Mac at all but definitely the songwriting maybe, I don’t know. Lots of those things have inspired me a lot for this song.” As for her debut LP, we’ll just have to wait. “Still working on it.”

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Country-pop crossovers are all the rage right now thanks to the breakout success of Florida Georgia Line and Bebe Rexha’s “Meant To Be.” (That song is currently sitting at number two on the Billboard Hot 100). The next big one could be Chris Lane and Tori Kelly’s “Take Back Home Girl,” a wholesome slice of americana about meeting someone you can take home to mom. The surprise collaborators performed their rising hit on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon last night (April 2) and delivered pitch-perfect vocals.

“Take Back Home Girl” isn’t the only side-project Tori is working on between albums. Earlier this week, the 25-year-old dropped a gospel track called “Help Us To Love.” The soaring ballad (below) was written and produced by the legendary Kirk Franklin, and gives fans another song to obsess over while they wait for the “Nobody Love” diva’s sophomore LP, which could cover any genre. From pop to country and gospel, it’s clear that Tori can do anything. Watch her in action up top.

Choice Cut: Ralph Tresvant helps Mitchell Coleman take on a classic

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"BLUE" (The Lyric Video) by Chrisette Michele | This track will appear on the album "Out of Control" releasing on April 13, 2018. | This song is available on all streaming platforms and everywhere music is sold.

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Lauren Mann's Wooden Heart, from the album Dearestly, available as a digital download, CD, and double LP (Pay what you want or Free Download)http://www.laurenmannmusic.com/landing-page.php?referrer=/

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Bishop Briggs Details Debut Album 'Church of Scars,' Shares Tour Dates

FEBRUARY 23, 2018

By Scott T. Sterling Bishop Briggs season is approaching. The singer has detailed her debut album, Church of Scars, which is due to debut April 20. The album announcement comes with the big and bombastic "White Flag," the first single from the forthcoming collection. “'White Flag' is about pushing till there is sweat stinging your eyes, blood under your nails and never giving up, no matter what the circumstances are,” Briggs explained in a press statement.

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The singer will support the album with a headlining North American tour, which is set to launch April 27 in Vancouver. The month-long tour will wrap June 2 in Chicago. Information on tickets and VIP experiences can be found here. Check out "White Flag," the Church of Scars tracklist and Briggs' full tour itinerary below.

Tracklist:

1. Tempt My Trouble

2. River

3. Lyin’

4. White Flag

5. Dream

6. Wild Horses

7. Hallowed Ground

8. Water

9. The Fire

10. Hi-Lo

Tour Dates

APR 19

“Church of Scars” Alb...lease Show

Los Angeles, CA

RSVP

SOLD OUT

APR 20

Fingerprints Long Beach In-Store

Long Beach, CA

RSVP

TICKETS

APR 25

Amoeba Hollywood

Los Angeles, CA

RSVP

TICKETS

4/27 - Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom 4/28 - Seattle, WA @ The Showbox 4/29 - Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom 5/1 - Sacramento, CA @ Ace of Spades 5/3 - Santa Ana, CA @ The Observatory 5/4 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Fonda Theatre 5/5 - San Diego, CA @ The Observatory North Park 5/8 - Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre 5/10 - Kansas City, MO @ Truman 5/11 - Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue 5/15 - Toronto, Canada @ Opera House 5/16 - Montreal, QC @ L’Astral 5/18 - Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer 5/19 - Boston, MA @ Royale 5/22 - Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel 5/23 - Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club 5/25 - Charlotte, NC @ The Underground 5/ 26 - Atlanta, GA - Center Stage 5/27 - Charleston, SC @ Music Farm 5/29 - Birmingham, AL @ Saturn 5/30 - Nashville, TN @ Marathon Music Works
June 6/1-3 - Cincinnati, OH @ Bunbury Music Festival* 6/2 - Chicago, IL @ Metro 6/21-24 - Rothbury, MI @ Electric Forest* 6/23 - Hamilton, ON @ Tim Horton’s Field** 6/28- 7/1 - Rothbury, MI @ Electric Forest* *Festival ** w/ Arkells and Cold War Kids

Big Daddy Kane On NPR

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Jenny and The Mexicats Announce New Album 'Mar Abierto' Out 3/24

Music News Desk Feb. 27, 2017

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It has been two years since the release of OME, Jenny and the Mexicats second album (their self titled debut came out in 2012, earning them a Los Guilles award in the Best World Music or Musical Hybrid category). Reviews called the album "refreshing," "unique" and "seamlessly weaving all the genres together," making it well received by both fans and critics alike. The band spent over two years on the road performing their distinctive hybrid of pop, folk, rockabilly and flamenco music, and has now reconvened to start work on album number three, Mar Abierto, something Jenny and The Mexicats cannot wait for.

Jenny and the Mexicats came together via unusual circumstance. British singer and trumpet player Jenny Ball, a born performer, began playing music at age 7. At 18, she was touring Spain as part of an Orchestra when she met bassist Luis Díaz "Icho." Staying in touch, they had grand musical dreams but no plans. Two years later, Jenny decided to move to Spain on a whim, although she spoke not one word of Spanish and still didn't have a plan. Hooking up with flamenco guitarist Alfonso Acosta "Pantera," who had been in a rockabilly band with Icho, the threesome recruited famous Cajon player David Gonzalez, a friend of Icho's for percussion. Sensing Jenny's urge for adventure, not to mention her talent, the Mexicats knew they had something very special on their hands. Rehearsing for two months, their first gig was a UK Festival, resulting in a big buzz on this "cool band that played a crazy hybrid of seriously danceable Latin pop." Jenny and the Mexicats were on their way.

When it came time to record their Mar Abierto, once again with producer Juan GarciaAlvarez, the band reunited at Valenzo Studios in Mexico City. While they understood the climate of the music industry, it was important to challenge themselves, deciding to write and record a concept album. "We've realized that with the change in the music industry, people pay attention to singles, focusing on one or two songs. We are all fans of hearing an album from start to finish, where one song ends and you start humming the next track before it even begins. We have found a way to connect all the songs on this record, with a running theme throughout."

The recording process is now fine-tuned, with each band member knowing his or her strength. "Jenny writes the music in English, normally with the guitar. She adds Anglo melodies and trumpets to group compositions. Recently, David has been playing the guitar, even though he's the drummer, and writes songs in Spanish. Pantera comes in with hooks on flamenco guitar, experimenting with different styles. Sometimes we write apart, sometimes we write together, but we always strive for something great." Lead single and stand out track, "La Diabla" was release on February 3. Jenny caught up with Univision to talk about the new single, "La Diabla" and the new release Mar Abierto. Check out the interview here.

All of the band members agree they've matured as musicians with the help of constant touring, and felt like getting back to the Studio was a reward for all their hard work. "It's like a prize after so much time on the road to get to go back in the studio and create something new, something up to date and something that represents us 100%."

As much as they're enjoying their time in the Studio, they're already excited to present this new album to their fans. "Our shows are always a blast, and as much fun as we have in the Studio, nothing compares to a live show. We will start our tour in UK, before moving on to Germany, Spain, Argentina, Mexico, Bolivia, Colombia, Peru and US. We are truly excited about this album and feel that 2017 is going to be a great year for us. Making a conceptual album has always been a dream, and we are all excited and proud." US tour dates below.

Tour Dates

April 14 North Bay Front Park (Fiesta de la Flor) Corpus Christi TX May 11 Three Links Dallas TX May 12 Republic Square Austin TX Junio 2 Feria Nacional del Queso y Vino Tequisquiapan Qro July 18 Dakota Jazz Club Minneapolis MN July 19 MIM Music Theater Phoenix AZ July 20 191 Toole Tucson AZ July 21 Santa Fe Bandstand Santa Fe NM July 22 Levitt Pavilion Denver CO July 25 The Casbah San Diego CA July 26 The Parish at House Of Blues Anaheim CA July 27 Alex’s Bar Long Beach CA July 28 Pershing Square

Los Angeles CA

Natalia Lafourcade ft. Joss Stone - Mexico

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Amazing Talent Check Her Out. Reminds Me Of Teena Marie's Early Works.

Free Download: https://noisetrade.com/hearalma

You can support her new album here:http://www.hearalma.com/lip-servants

In a culture that encourages us to airbrush our lives with Instagram filters and clever status updates, the emerging voice of pop/soul artist Alma is challenging this generation to pause and self-reflect. With a strong emphasis on message over medium, she sees art as a transformative tool and has made it her mission to teach listeners the value of honesty and vulnerability.

"Using songwriting to vent about breakups or whatever—there's definitely a place for that," Alma says. "But if you're gonna make music your personal therapist, I hope you're getting your money's worth. You don't go to therapy so that you can revel in your problems, you go because you want to understand and conquer them."

For her, understanding and conquering problems begins with asking "why?" and ultimately "what next?" Alma aims to kickstart this dialogue through her songwriting, most often by being upfront about her own shortcomings.

"I basically just put all my dirt out there," Alma laughs. "We all have this vague idea that 'nobody's perfect,' but until you actually put a name to your imperfection—jealousy, anger, whatever—you won't look it in the eye long enough to fight it. Honesty is power."

Alma's strong beliefs by no means come at the expense of musical creativity or spot-on delivery. Though she spent most of her teenage life as a self-described "closet singer," the now 25-year-old Wisconsin native is equipped with unusually good instincts for performing, arranging and bandleading. While honing her musicianship at Columbia College Chicago, the soulful stylings of artists like Amel Larrieux and Lauryn Hill captured her attention, and at that point, "I was done," Alma says. "I'd previously had this indie-pop thing going on—really quirky, bright—but once I found neosoul it was like I was finally enjoying music."

In 2012, Alma released an EP titled Pass It On which showcases some of those earlier stylistic leanings. Her 2014 release, Tactics, more fully realizes the singer's love for backbeats and basslines while also more clearly demonstrating her passion for meaningful messages.

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Courtesy Photo

Thirdstory ft. Eryn Allen "Still In Love"

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Rich Fury/Getty Images for iHeartMedia

Chris Stapleton performs onstage during the 2017 iHeartRadio Music Festival at T-Mobile Arena on Sept. 22, 2017 in Las Vegas.

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Kesha, Ed Sheeran, SZA & More To Honor Elton John In GRAMMY Salute

How do you celebrate a career as illustrious as that of the great Elton John? With a star-studded concert, of course.

"Elton John: I'm Still Standing — A GRAMMY Salute" will air April 10 on CBS and features performances by some of music's biggest names, including Alessia Cara, Miley Cyrus, Kesha, Lady Gaga, Miranda Lambert, John Legend, Little Big Town, Chris Martin, Shawn Mendes, Maren Morris, Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith, and SZA.

Elton John To Be Honored At GRAMMY Salute Concert

Musicians from multiple genres will perform classic songs from John's impressive catalog with longtime co-writer Bernie Taupin. Additionally, there will be special appearances by Jon Batiste, Neil Patrick Harris, Christopher Jackson, Anna Kendrick, Gayle King, Lucy Liu, Valerie Simpson, and Hailee Steinfeld.

The festivities will culminate with a medley of hits performed by John himself, culminating with the event's title song, "I'm Still Standing" from John's 1983 album, Too Low For Zero.

Here is the full list of performances:

"The Bitch Is Back" — Miley Cyrus
"Candle In The Wind" — Ed Sheeran
"Daniel" — Sam Smith
"I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues" — Alessia Cara
"Your Song" — Lady Gaga
"Rocket Man" — Little Big Town
"Border Song" — Christopher Jackson & Valerie Simpson
"Don't Go Breaking My Heart" — SZA & Shawn Mendes
"Mona Lisas And Mad Hatters" — Maren Morris
"We All Fall In Love Sometimes" — Chris Martin
"My Father's Gun" — Miranda Lambert
"Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" — Kesha
"Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me" — John Legend
"Bennie And The Jets" — Elton John
"Philadelphia Freedom" — Elton John
"I'm Still Standing" — Elton John & Ensemble

"Elton John: I'm Still Standing–A GRAMMY Salute," continues the tradition of previous Emmy-winning TV specials presented by CBS, the Recording Academy, and AEG Ehrlich Ventures, including "Sinatra 100 — An All-Star GRAMMY Concert," "Stevie Wonder: Songs In The Key Of Life — An All-Star GRAMMY Salute," "The Beatles: The Night That Changed America — A GRAMMY Salute" and "Stayin' Alive: A GRAMMY Salute To The Music Of The Bee Gees."

Tune in April 10 at 9 p.m. ET/PT for this two-hour concert special, only on CBS.

[Edited 4/4/18 12:37pm]

R.I.P. legendary soul hitmaker Ron Dunbar

(April 4, 2018) In the annals of soul music, there are the great ones who became household names, and then there were legends behind the scenes, who were instrumental in bringing fans some of the greatest music of all time. Ron Dunbarwas a giant in the latter category, and he gave us songs that will live for generations to come. He has died at age 77.

Dunbar was a songwriter and producer supreme, best known for his work with the post-Motown Holland-Dozier-Holland label Invictus and with the P-Funk world of George Clinton. Over the period of 1970-75 Dunbar co-wrote countless classics, including “Band of Gold” for Freda Payne, “Give Me Just a Little More Time” for the Chairmen of the Board, “Mind, Body and Soul” for The Flaming Ember, and “Patches,” which ultimately hit #1 for Clarence Carter and won a Grammy Award for Dunbar and General Johnson. [Note: That Grammy Award became the subject of a 2011 episode of the television show Pawn Stars, where someone tried to sell it]

As the Invictus and Hot Wax labels went under in the mid-70s, Dunbar went on to work with Clinton and his crew, co-writing such funk hits as “Agony of De Feet” for Parliament and “Never Buy Texas From a Cowboy” for the Brides of Funkenstein. By the 1990s Dunbar became an independent producer again and also worked with the Holland brothers.

Ron Dunbar played a huge role in one of the most important eras of soul music history, and the wonderful songs he wrote are familiar to three generations of music fans. He will be missed, but his will always remain intact.

VIDEO PREMIERE: KADY Z – TREEHOUSE

written by Alex Gallacher 30 January, 2018

Tracklist:
01 – Scarecrow
02 – I Curse the Day
03 – Treehouse
04 – dIM
05 – Last Call

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Freya Ridings (This lady has a beautiful tone)

Freya Ridings is a London-based singer, songwriter, and pianist with a notably rich, soulful vocal tone. After opening shows in the U.K. for Gavin James earlier in the year, she made her headlining debut in May 2017. Concentrating on plaintive ballads, the show doubled as her recording debut;

Live at St Pancras Old Church was released by Good Soldier Records that September. It included an acoustic version of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs song "Maps." ~ Marcy Donelson

Tracklist:
01 – Love Is Fire (Live at Omeara)
02 – Signals (Live at Omeara)
03 – You Mean the World to Me (Live at Omeara)
04 – Work Song (Live at Omeara)
05 – Blackout (Live at Omeara)
06 – Castles (Live at Omeara)
07 – Wishbone (Live at Omeara)
08 – Maps (Live at Omeara)
09 – Ultraviolet (Live at Omeara)
10 – Unconditional (Live at Omeara)
11 – Lost Without You (Live at Omeara)

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Just found out about Tracy Thorn from a recent thread about her. Soulful tone.

• Tracey Thorn

Record

• MERGE

• 2018

8.0

The daughter of jazz vocalist Ann Marie Schofield and jazz pianist Walter Davis, Jr., Alana Davis made her own reputation as a singer and songwriter whose style bridges folk, rock, jazz, and R&B. Born and raised in New York's Greenwich Village, Davis learned to play the guitar as a youngster. Music remained an avocation, however, until her late teens. Although she began writing songs at the age of 18, Davis didn't turn to music as a career until briefly attending Mohawk Valley Community College in Utica, New York. Leaving school to devote her full attention to music, she recorded a demo tape of her original tunes and was signed by Elektra. They released her debut album, Blame It on Me, in late 1997. It reached number 157 on the Billboard 200, and her first single, a cover of Ani DiFranco's "32 Flavors," became a Top 40 single in early 1998. The single's success also led to an invitation to participate in the Lilith Fair. Davis and Elektra disagreed, however, about the direction of her career. While the label hoped for a straightforward R&B sound, Davis was more interested in fusing her rich mix of influences. Her 2001 sophomore effort, Fortune Cookies, was powerful and original; it also went unpromoted and drove a wedge between her and the label. Striking out on her own, she formed the Tigress Records imprint to release her third album, 2005's critically acclaimed Surrender Dorothy.

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Though she continued to perform live, not much was heard from Davis in industry circles until she revealed in early 2018 that she had another album ready. Saying that her career had played out backwards -- "I got my first deal…and then I paid my dues" -- she previewed her fourth album at a concert in New Orleans that March. Cleopatra released the sparer Love Again in May of 2018. ~ Craig Harris

Alana Davis previewsLove Again at the Little Gem Saloon, 3/31

BY JAY MAZZA | MARCH 29, 2018

Guitarist and bandleader Marc Stone has made a side career bringing singers who haven’t played in a while back into the spotlight. On Saturday night, Alana Davis, one of the leading lights of the folk/pop boom of the late 1990s will make her first appearance in New Orleans in twenty years. She will be playing at the Little Gem Saloon with Stone and his band along with special guests trombonist Delfeayo Marsalis and bassist Reggie Scanlan. The show will be a sneak peak of sorts at her new album, Love Again, which is due in stores in May. It is her first album since 2004.

Davis’ sultry voice and sophisticated sense of melody set her apart from many of her contemporaries right from the beginning of her career. In 1997, she burst on the scene as a neophyte in the music business and was signed out of the blue by Elektra Records.

Her breakout debut, Blame It On Me, was named one the top 5 albums of 1997 by Time magazine and propelled her from a total unknown to a festival headliner with singles in heavy rotation on radio and MTV, a Top 40 hit, and a Grammy nomination.

Her next album, Fortune Cookies, appeared in 2001 and was also nominated for a Grammy. She toured with artists as varied as Emmylou Harris, Bob Weir, Steel Pulse, Jack Johnson, Jethro Tull, and Bonnie Raitt.

Then she stepped away from the music business. After nearly fifteen years on hiatus, Davis returns with new songs that find her in fine form, the ache and longing in her voice still intact. She produced the album and Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics, and famed reggae drummer Sly Dunbar appears on all the tracks.

Though Davis usually plays with small bands, she will be appearing with Stone on guitar, Terry Scott, Jr. on drums (Dr. John), Jack Joshua on bass, Tom Worrell on piano, Luke Quaranta on percussion, along with backing vocalists Lilli Lewis and Mikayla Braun. Very special guests include trombonist Delfeayo Marsalis and bassist Reggie Scanlan.

Love Again

Alana Davis

• • Vocal
• Pre-Order: Expected May 4, 2018

Tracklist:

1. Love Again (Dollar Bill)

2. Fuck Friend

3. The Goose

4. Getaway (I'm Gone)

5. Pretty Like Money

6. Back 2 U

7. So Rough Too Much

8. Summertime

9. What a Mess

10. Get Along

11. The Dark Ones

12. 32 Flavors (Love Again Sessions) - Bonus Track

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[Edited 4/5/18 9:46am]

• Jade Bird

“What Am I Here For”

Jade Bird is from London, but her songs could be plucked straight from the American heartland. Bird’s debut EP, Something American, taps into the spirit of Americana that artists like Margo Price mine from, but what separates her from her peers across the pond is her voice. She possesses a crystalline soprano so pure that it calls to mind bubbling spring water and untouched snowfall. You can hear those vocal gifts best on EP highlight “What Am I Here For.”

“What Am I Here For” sees Bird grieving for a relationship with a terminal prognosis and gathering the will to outlive its end. She steamrolls through the song, singing as if she’s putting all the physical weight of her voice against the emotional burden of heartbreak. The polished but barebones production on this track makes for searing intimacy; it’s recorded as if Bird is playing alone in her room, seeking solace in her instrument.

In the song’s closing moments, the sound of a film projector whirs to life and a billowy piano melody enters the frame, transporting the track from the bedroom to the cinema. This may seem like a melodramatic close, but the layering of textures is thoughtful—the seamless brushstrokes of guitar and piano are laid down with ease.

In Bird’s hands, the transition is subtle and affecting, and “What Am I Here For” shows how dynamic she is.

SOMETHING AMERICAN TRACK LIST:

1. Something American

2. Good Woman

3. Cathedral

4. Grinnin’ In Your Face

5. What Am I Here For

Rozzi Premieres Captivating One-Take Video For 'Uphill Battle': Exclusive

1/23/2018 by Natalie Maher

Robin Harper

Rozzi

Adam Levine's former signee Rozzi Crane -- who now goes by Rozzi -- comes into her own proudly in her raw music video for "Uphill Battle," which premieres Tuesday (Jan. 23) exclusively for Billboard.

In the captivating one-take video, the 26-year-old songstress sits at a piano, accompanied only by a drummer and a guitarist, performing live at Capitol Studios. As Rozzi explained to Billboard, the simplicity of the video was intentional, in order to “keep the focus on the song and to take the lyrics and the story front and center."

The song itself is a beautiful testament to a woman’s complexity. Her voice is full and raspy as she explains that “you do the best you can, but I am an uphill battle,” lyrics that are meant to capture what it’s like accepting yourself in a relationship.

“We’re all complicated and complex in different ways and we all do and say things that challenge our partners," Rozzi said. "It’s easy to feel disappointed or frustrated with yourself after an argument & for me that often led to feeling like I was too much, like an uphill battle. This song is saying, I know I’m am a lot to handle, but I’m okay with it, it's who I am and it's who we all are."

The track is the first song off the singer's upcoming debut album, which is yet to have a release date or announced title. The songstress has had a rebranding of sorts, dropping "Crane" from her stage name, and scrubbing her Instagram of everything aside from what's related to her upcoming release.

In 2015, the indie pop singer toured with Owl City, as well as Maroon 5. The Adam Levine connection came after Rozzi's fellow University of Southern California student and former Phantom Planet guitarist Jacques Brautbar asked her to collaborate sometime around 2011, and she was then connected to the manager they shared with Maroon 5.

Seven years after her fateful college encounter, Rozzi's future seems as promising as ever. Check out the video for "Uphill Battle" below.

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Jill Scott Announces ‘live in the Moment’ Summer 2018 Tour Dates

BySingersroom

Posted on April 5, 2018

A day after celebrating her birthday (4/4), R&B veteran Jill Scott announces dates for her 2018 summer tour, “Live In The Moment.”

The 13-city trek will launch on June 21st in Minneapolis, MN at Mystic Lake, and make stops in cities like Chicago, New Orleans, Atlanta, Detroit, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. before wrapping up July 28th in Cincinnati at the Cincinnati Jazz Festival.

“Hitting the road, being vulnerable and sharing my music with fans is the most fulfilling part of being an artist,” says Jill Scott. “I look forward to giving love, light and living in the moment with everyone this summer.”

The tour comes three years after the 3x Grammy® award-winning singer-songwriter released her Billboard Hot 200 Chart #1 debut fifth studio album, ‘WOMAN.’ Along with songs from the project, she will also perform some of her classic hits.

See dates for the ‘live in the Moment’ tour below. Tickets are available for purchase via Ticket Master by clicking here.

21-Jun Minneapolis, MN Mystic Lake
22-Jun Chicago, IL Ravinia
24-Jun Detroit, MI Fox Theater
26-Jun Toronto, Canada Sony Center
28-Jun Newark, NJ NJ PAC
29-Jun Rochester, NY Kodak Hall at Eastman Theater
03-Jul Charlotte, NC Ovens Auditorium
06-Jul New Orleans, LA Essence Festival
07-Jul Atlanta, GA Fox Theater
10-Jul Raleigh, NC DPAC
12-Jul Baltimore, MD Lyric Theater
14-Jul Washington, DC MGM
15-Jul Washington, DC MGM
28-Jul Cinncinatti, OH Cincinnati Jazz Festival

Ledisi, Jussie Smollett, Keke Wyatt, Lloyd, More Added to 2018 Essence Festival

ByMalikka Michelle

Posted on April 5, 2018

The 2018 ESSENCE Festival presented by Coca-Cola announces its night-by-night performance schedule for the Festival’s concert series, taking place from July 6 to July 8 at the Superdome in New Orleans, LA.

The festival has just announced new additions to its all-star lineup. Fans will be able to groove to the sounds of Ledisi, Serani, SWV, Jussie Smollett, KeKe Wyatt, Lady of Rage, YoYo, DJ CaptainCharles, Damien Escobar, Ella Mai, Lloyd, Louis York, Pell, and Yanina.

For the first time ever, a special night of celebrating New Orleans Bounce will be headlined by Big Freedia featuring DJ Jubilee.

These performances will take place alongside headlining performances from Janet Jackson, MaryJ. Blige, Erykah Badu and The Roots, Jill Scott with Snoop Dogg. Rounding out the first wave of announced headliners are Miguel, Fantasia, and Xscape. Also scheduled to perform: Daniel Caesar, H.E.R., Kelela, Ro James, DVSN, 112, Mali Music, Kevin Ross, Marsha Ambrosius and Teddy Riley’s New Jack Swing Experience featuring Wreckx-n-Effect, BlackStreet, and Guy.

The action-packed performance concerts will feature more than 40 acts across five stages throughout the weekend on the festival’s renowned Mainstage and in the intimate Superlounges.

Sponsors of the 2018 ESSENCE Festival in New Orleans include presenting sponsor Coca-Cola and major sponsors Ford, McDonald’s, State Farm and Walmart.

Tickets are available for purchase here.

Ivory, Gin Wigmore's fourth album is finally here

Last updated 11:10, March 9 2018

Supplied

Gin Wigmore new album Ivory is out in April, but she's released five tracks early.

Gin Wigmore has released the fifth single from her upcoming album.

The new record, titled Ivory, is the Kiwi singer's first collection of new music since 2015's Blood To Bone.

Wigmore's just released Girl Gang, a single that follows Ivory tracks Hallow Fate, Beatnik Trip, Dirty Mercy, and Cabrona.

She describes the song as a "sass attack" and says it's all about girl power.

"[M]ay it sweep the airwaves, empower you to take a stronger stride, a louder opinion and a right to love, adore and praise who you are," she said in a press release announcing the song.

Wigmore's previous album, Blood To Bone, won her a nomination for Best Live Act at the 2015 MTV EMA's and the award for Best Female Artist at the 2015 NZ Music Awards.

Her past two albums, Gravel and Wine and Holy Smoke, both reached multi-platinum status in New Zealand.

Ivory is out in full on April 6.

TRACKLISTING

Hallow Fate

Odeum

Beatnik Trip

Dirty Mercy

Cabrona

Cold Cave

Bad Got Me Good

Hard Luck

Fall Out Of Love

Head To Head

Young Ones

Girl Gang

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Chanté Moore Announces ‘1 of 4’ EP, Shares New Track ‘One Love’

Less than year since the release of The Rise of the Phoenix and first-ever holiday album, Christmas Back To You, Chanté Moore is gearing up to drop a new EP titled 1 of 4.

Set to arrive on April 5, the new project features “One Love,” a duet with singer-songwriter Lewis Sky. The beautiful song — where Moore and Sky’s voices match perfectly — defines the bond of two lovers who are down for each other, no matter who or what tries to come against them.

Moore explains the message of the new song, saying, “When Love and friendship meet and become One! When lovers fight side by side, ride or die through love & life Forever!”

Fans can pre-save 1 of 4 on Spotify now.

Tracklist:
01 – Grow (feat. D.Bryant)
02 – Moore (feat. Felly the Voice)
03 – One Love (feat. Lewis Sky)
04 – Where You Want Me
05 – Thank You (feat. June’s Diary)

Listen to “One Love” featuring Lewis Sky below.

Exclusive: Melanie Fiona on Her New Album ‘Next Train’ and Adapting to the Streaming World

Photo credit: Zigga Zagga Studio

Keithan Samuels2 hours ago

Around this time in 2012, Melanie Fiona was promoting the release of her sophomore album, The MF Life. The album would become well-received by fans and critics, debuting at No. 7 on the Billboard 200 and earning Fiona a Grammy nomination for Best Traditional R&B Performance for “Wrong Side of a Love Song.”

It’s been six years since the Toronto native dropped The MF Life. Although the album is a timeless body of work, fans are ready to hear new material; Fiona is too. “I’m not going to let another year go by without the album coming out,” she tells Rated R&B. “I’m really anxious to get this music out.”

Fiona has been crafting her third album (originally titled Awake) for a few years now. In 2015, she dropped two tracks — the Caribbean flavored song “Bite the Bullet” and the socially conscious track “I Tried.” As the creative direction evolved, Fiona renamed the album to Next Train. “I feel like Awake has just become my lifestyle and not my album anymore,” she explains. “I didn’t want to kind of limit it to just one moment in time.”

Instead of focusing on a specific period of her life, which she doesn’t knock other artists who do it, she prefers to make her project more evergreen. “I’m still performing music from my 2012 album and my 2009 album,” she says. “I feel like it’s always about a classic, timeless conversation.”

Fiona’s current single “Remember U” hits home for anyone who has been in a relationship. The reggae-influenced song is about an ex-lover who tries to come back in someone’s life after doing them wrong the first time.

“I can’t, fall back in love again / You broke this simple heart / That used to beat for you my friend / And I say that you’ve got some nerve just to come back and say that you’re sorry,” she sings on the raw track.

Rated R&B caught up with Fiona about Next Train, how she is adapting to the streaming world, who she salutes for Women’s History Month and more.

Photo credit: Zigga Zagga Studio

Why did you change your album title from Awake to Next Train?

When I was putting the finishing touches on the album and started deciding what songs I wanted to put on the album, one of the last songs I recorded was a song called “Next Train.” I looked at all the songs I put on this album and I was like, “It doesn’t feel like ‘Awake’ anymore because now I feel woke [laughs].” “Next Train” was the last song I recorded for the album and that came with so much strength and so much power. It felt like a collection of songs that became about reflecting on where I’ve been to move forward to be where I am now. The songs are very truthful and it just felt right. Train…I think of steel, moving, progress and destination. It’s a journey and that just felt more present to who I am now.

You released a couple of songs in 2015, “Bite the Bullet” and “I Tried.” Did they make the album?

“Bite the Bullet” is on the album. “I Tried” is not on the album but it is out and people still love it and listen to it. I just felt like there were just so many other records that I have evolved from.

What was it like working with Top Dawg Entertainment artist SIR on your album?

Listen, that’s my brother. When I started working with Andre Harris, SIR was in the room of his house. He was just this quiet dude sitting on the couch. I sat down and we started rapping and we wrote “I Tried” right there on the very first night we met. I just remember feeling that I had found a new musical counterpart. This was before he had released his new album. I just have admired his work and his talent since 2013. He’s someone very special and just naturally gifted. He really helped bring out a different side of me in the writing process.

Who else did you work with on the album?

The features are still to be determined. On the album, I have worked with Sebastian Cole, Carmen Reese, Lil Eddie, Jerry Wonda, Jack Splash, Andrea Martin, etc.

Do you have a release date yet?

I don’t but I’m going to say this year, for sure. I’m really excited to reveal more elements of the album before it comes out.

Speaking of getting music out, how do you feel about Best Buy’s plans to stop selling CDs in its stores?

It’s interesting because historically a lot of my album sales are physical copies. I think that I attribute that to the demographics of people who do go out to buy CDs and who do buy tickets, which I’m so fortunate now. I think what’s happening is that quickly, since 2012 to now, there has been a huge shift in how people consume music. It’s very digital. I think that is something that will be missed — having a physical copy and signing CDs…having the artwork and people having something tangible. It’s something really special but time has changed.

Streaming has clearly taken over. Do you feel any pressure now to focus on streaming rather than physical sales?

It’s definitely become something that’s at the forefront of my mind for sure, especially in this time now and getting ready to release new music — seeing how instant your data is, your reach is and how instant the plays are. It’s crazy. I feel like there’s so much pressure. Everyone’s so judgmental based on this statical data. I try not to get caught up in that. I was even shocked to see how many people actually follow me on Spotify with no music out in six years. I’m looking forward to playing in this landscape. There’s an upside to it, you know? You can just upload it right away and get the music to your fans immediately. I love that instant correspondence with my fans. I don’t want this shit to stress me out, ever. I love this too much and I don’t ever want it to become a hindrance because things are changing.

“It Kills Me” has over 25 million views on YouTube…

They’re watching. They’re there. People have been discovering my music for so long and that’s the beautiful part about it. There was a time when you had to rely on the radio to hear a song. If your song came out in 2009, it lived and died by 2011. Now with streaming people can go back and find your whole catalog of music. I think there are so many songs people haven’t discovered because they were only focused on what radio exposed them to. [Streaming] gives all my fans and new fans the exposure to all the B side records because those are the joints. For me, the ones that never see radio are the ones I’m excited to perform and have people discover.

What are your top three non-singles to perform?

I don’t think it was a huge single but “A-yo” is one of my favorite records to perform off The Bridge. I love that record so much. “This Time” was a single but I wouldn’t put it up there with “It Kills Me” or “4AM.” And then there’s a song called “What Am I To Do” and “Rock Paper Scissors” off The MF Life that are so fun to perform because those are fan faves.

Photo credit: Zigga Zagga Studio

Toronto is bringing a new wave of R&B acts like PARTYNEXTDOOR, Daniel Caesar, and Dvsn. How does it feel to see a new generation of Canadian singers making a mark in the U.S. market?

I am so proud because I know how it was when I was doing it and what that struggle was like; that struggle is not as heavy anymore. All of those people in which I know personally still live in Toronto, which is beautiful because that means that the world is coming to them and they don’t have to leave to go to the world anymore. Shout out to Drake, really, who changed the game because nobody was checking for us hard until he came along. That’s a longtime friend of mine and he broke the stigma.

How has motherhood changed you?

It’s kept me so busy [laughs] because now I have to think about what time I need to be back to put the baby to sleep — no longtime late night studio sessions. It’s a balancing act but it has enlightened and enriched my life so much more than I could’ve ever imagined. It just makes me feel complete and I want to continue to create so he can be inspired by that.

What else is on your mind right now?

I can talk about so many things [laughs]. I just think that the future is bright. Something that I’m really looking forward to is using my voice this year — not just musically — but socially, emotionally and consciously to inspire people on many levels. I’m really living the motto these days: “I have to live to give.” I just feel like we’re living in a world right now where people can be so consumed with self that they forget that you have a responsibility when you have a platform. It can’t just all be self-serving and so that’s kind of my motto and my approach to 2018… to live to give and to create and aspire to inspire.

With it being Women’s History Month, who is a woman who inspires you?

Lauryn Hill. I just identify with the lyrical content, the approach, the awareness, the level of artistry that she created by breaking boundaries and being like “No, I can do all this. I can rap, I can act [and] I can sing.” She was everything. Shout out to Lauryn Hill to leaving a legacy from one album that we’re still celebrating. It’s never been matched. The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill educated a lot of people on what music is supposed to feel like.

I also got to give it to Whitney [Houston]. I was four years old singing love songs that I had no idea what they meant. She was singing about very adult content but I was moved to sing at the top of my lungs with that voice from a young age. It taught me the importance of vocal ability, emotion, and storytelling. She didn’t write many of her records but she could tell that story. That tone and that voice was a great teacher for me as a child because I identified with the emotional aspect of music.

Connect with Melanie Fiona
Instagram: @MelanieFiona
Twitter: @MelanieFiona

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[Edited 4/6/18 13:04pm]

A year after the release of The Variety Show Volume One, Maggie Rose is back with another EP. Volume 2 of The Variety Show never appeared, but this could be seen as the second volume. This one doesn't have 'variety' in the title, but Rose has continued her pop influenced country sound, adding a little variety into country music. It completes Rose's transition from more traditional to more varied, and solidifies the vibe of the new and improved Maggie Rose.

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The EP kicks off with "Too Many Love Songs." This song echos the message delivered in last year's "Heartbreak Radio," but this song is done better. Rather than going straight down the line and telling the story of a broken-hearted girl turning on the radio and hearing a song (a story that's been told too many times on country radio over the years), Rose hits the idea straight on the head rather than dancing around it. "There's too many love songs," she sings, straight-up. Comparing this song to "Heartbreak Radio" is a perfect way to show how Rose has changed as an artist over the last year. She's more bold and forward now, and it suits her. This new approach to lyrics and production feels more authentic.

"Body on Fire," the lead single, is a bold and important song. Women in country music are often limited to a specific set of topics they can sing about: being scorned, crushes, stupid love songs, and more recently, girl power songs. But women singing about sex as openly as this song does? That's not very socially acceptable yet, which to be frank, sucks. Maren Morris is one of the few that's been trying to make it more the social norm recently, and it seems like Maggie Rose is the next one in line. It's ridiculous, how men are able to sing about sex as openly as they do — just look at Jason Aldean's "Burnin' It Down," Chase Rice's "Ride," and countless others — but women aren't encouraged to do the same. Well, Rose is breaking that boundary with this song. Good for her. It's about time.

The title track, "More Dreams Than Dollars," continues with the theme of being as candid as possible. Rose speaks of her experiences as a musician, trying to make it in Nashville. It's not always glamorous, she reveals with lyrics like, "counting quarters in the ashtray," and "got my threads at the Goodwill." For those who don't pay attention to the music industry, it seems like all glitz and glamour. Rose clarifies that misconception on this catchy country-pop track.

The final two tracks, "I Won't" and "We'll Grow out of It" are very contrasting sound-wise, but both have big, anthemic choruses that close off the record nicely. "I Won't" is a little more twangy and bluesy with some serious sass throwing back to Rose's "I Ain't Your Mama" days. "We'll Grow out of It" takes a bit of a turn towards pop-rock, alluding towards the state of our world with the lyric "generations keep blaming the ones that came before." This song is left a bit up to interpretation as to its meaning, but that's what makes it so interesting.

What sets Dreams > Dollars apart from her debut record and The Variety Show, is that this EP feels truly and unapologetically hers. It's been a bit of a process for Rose to get here from her more traditional-flavored major label album, but it has been worth it. Released independently, this five-song project is honest and shows grown-up Maggie Rose who just wants to make music.

Best tracks: Body on Fire, We'll Grow out of It
Throwaway tracks: none
Overall rating: 4 ½ crowns

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CREDIT: ANDREW H. WALKER/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK

As promised, Carrie Underwood dropped a new song Wednesday morning called “Cry Pretty” and shared via a post on her website that she is healing well after a November accident in whic... her wrist and required 40 to 50 stitches in her face.

“First off, physically, I’m doing pretty darn good these days!,” she wrote. “My wrist is almost back to normal, about 90% there…and the docs say that last 10% will come in time. And my face has been healing pretty nicely as well. I definitely feel more like myself than I have in a while.”

The song is a sweeping power ballad that at times is more reminiscent of Guns N’ Roses’s “November Rain” than much of her previous work. In the post, she writes of working with writer/producer David Garcia — who’s worked both with Christian country artists as well as Florida Georgia Line — and said he’s co-producing her forthcoming album with her.

As “Cry Pretty,” “I wrote it with three incredible women: Hillary Lindsey, Liz Rose, and Lori McKenna, who also write under the name Love Junkies,” she wrote. “I joined one of their writing sessions last year to see if we could come up with some magic…and we did! The title refers to when emotions take over and you just can’t hold them back. It really speaks to a lot of things that have happened in the past year and I hope when you hear it, you can relate those feelings to those times in your life. It’s emotional. It’s real. And it ROCKS!”

Underwood will perform the song on the ACM Awards Sunday night.

By Reed Fischer

March 15, 2018

The upbeat Number One alternative smash comes from a melancholy reality

Alice Merton wrote "No Roots" to cope with moving a dizzying 12 times in her 24 years. And the song – a diary entry explaining how constant upheaval can both harden and enlighten – has spent the past year on a remarkable journey of its own. After its initial release in 2016, it began flourishing in Europe late last year. It has since reached Number One on the Alternative, Triple A and Rock Airplay charts in the U.S., and the video recently eclipsed 66 million YouTube views.

"The actual idea behind the song, for me, was very depressing," says Merton, who now splits her time between Germany and England. "I was realizing that I didn't have a home. I didn't really feel at home in one place."

Naturally, the song originally had chords she says were "quite melancholic," but it ultimately evolved into an upbeat synth-pop track riding a bass groove recalling C+C Music Factory's 1990 hit "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)." Her authoritative mid-range isn't begging for sympathy, but it's hard not to hear some raw feelings left in the line "I build a home and wait for someone to tear it down."

Her father's job as a mining consultant – as well as her parents' overall wanderlust – led to Merton splitting time between Canada, the U.S., Germany and England. A nomadic existence forced her to scale back on material items. "My mom would come in with every move with two boxes and say, 'The stuff that's in this box we take, and the stuff that's in this box we throw out.'"

Merton worked with producer Nicolas Rebscher to shape "No Roots" to its current funky form.

"I wanted the song to be very freeing and have this cool and fun rhythm," she explains. "Solo, it's very melancholic and emotional, but when I play it with my band it's uplifting. It shows the two sides of having no roots."

Neither version of "No Roots" quite aligns with prevailing indie-rock or pop trends, so labels initially didn't know what to do with it. "We had lots of meetings," she says. "Some of them said, 'We think you're going in an interesting direction, but we want you to write some more, we want you to produce some more. We don't think this is quite what people are looking for, and we don't think this is going to work.'"

Alice Merton performs in Berlin in February 2018. Frank Hoensch/Redferns/Getty

She self-released the track on a label she dubbed Paper Plane Records, an homage to M.I.A.'s 2007 hit, and has since signed to Mom + Pop Music, home to Courtney Barnett. Her first release for the label, the No Roots EP includes another potential hit in "Hit the Ground Running," a more optimistic meditation on the unknown road ahead.

In the "Running" video and in her live shows, Merton wears metallic pieces around her neck evoking something between Mad Max and an Erector Set. Each was custom designed by friend Suzann Bosslau and Merton calls them her armor.

"I get really nervous when I'm performing or meeting new people," she says. "We tried it out on the clothing, and both agreed it looked cool. And for each performance I wear it. It's a shield that protects me."

She admits that living out of a suitcase for so many years actually made for an easy transition into touring, and she's grateful for it.

"I still can't believe people can relate to it," she says. "When I wrote it, it was a very selfish reason. Me trying to understand how I feel. I think it was more a selfish kind of feeling. I think it's just different from what a lot of people are listening to. Maybe that's why people like it, because it's different."

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Tracklist:
01 – No Roots
02 – Lash Out
03 – Jealousy
04 – Hit The Ground Running
05 – Lie To My Face

Sinead Harnett Gives Up Her “Body”

ByMalikka Michelle

Posted on April 11, 2018

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Khruangbin

Languid grooves and drifting soul with a cinematic dreaminess — Texas act Khruangbin

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[Edited 4/12/18 9:01am]

Urban Blossom: An Interview with Singer/Songwriter Kim Anderson

New York has a plethora of homegrown artists, the famous, the not-so-famous and those on the rise. With her debut album, Yarrow, dropping April 6th on Biophilia Records, composer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Kim Anderson will be considered part of that third category. This music teacher and community gardener has cultivated a mix of of introspective songwriting, superbly composed orchestrations, pristine vocals and cross-genre influenced rhythms on her freshman album sure to please even the most discerning music listener.

I recently had the chance to speak to Kim about her upcoming album and her musical influences.

Sonya Alexander: How did you come up with Yarrow for the name of the album?

Kim Anderson: Yarrow is a small flower that’s native to the northeastern United States. It’s often found growing by roadsides and other abandoned places and when I wrote the title track, the song “Yarrow,” I was drawing from an experience I had when I would trek through Bushwick, Brooklyn and found myself in a cemetery that’s at the end of a dead-end street. I was moved by the contrast of the busy urban street and the quiet of the cemetery. Because of the time of year, yarrow was growing. I’m an avid gardener and the founder of a community garden in Bushwick, so the botanical has a lot of real interest to me.

SA: How long did it take you to put the songs together for the album?

KA: Since it’s my debut album, it’s a collection of songs from what I felt were the strongest from a period of years of my life. So, it took me four or five years of writing…I had been writing for that period of time, but not working as a musician. I was working as a gardener and an educator. I was encouraged strongly by a friend of mine from the New England Conservatory of Music, where I spent a couple of years. Benjamin Lazar Davis, he plays with Cuddle Magic and Joan As Police Woman, encouraged me to get the funds together and create an album. He came on as a producer when I finally started putting it together. I crowdfunded the album on Kickstarter. Once we got started, it only took a couple months. Then, it sat on the shelf for a couple of months as I waited to find the perfect home for it and I finally did.

SA: What would you say is your most personal song on the album?

KA: I think that there are some songs in which I bare my heart a little more than in others. The song “Meteorites” is pretty vulnerable and confessional. “By the River” as well means a lot to me. I’m a native New Yorker and “By the River” is an honest description of my childhood in one New York that’s transitioned into a newer, less recognizable New York. It’s the experience of becoming an adult in a place that changed rapidly before my eyes.

SA: Both of your parents are musicians, right?

KA: That is true, they’re both jazz musicians.

SA: What is the most important lesson you’ve learned from them musically?

KA: They’re both such great composers that I think that one thing that I realized, because I approach my music from a formal composition level rather than on just a songwriting level, is that good orchestration habits are important. When writing from a real composing standpoint, you really do have to spend hours at the drafting table. You have to be obsessive to get the exact right sound. Seeing my parents work so hard on one measure influenced my work ethic.

SA: What was the first tune you learned to play?

KA: The first song I ever learned to play was probably something I made up! The first song I performed was with a friend of mine on a Casio keyboard at a Sukkot celebration when I was ten years old. We performed “Drive My Car” by The Beatles.

SA: I read that you have some Ivory Coast musical influences. What unique elements does this add to your music?

KA: I don’t think you’d know that listening to my music on this particular record. Bit, it has affected my rhythmic sense when playing the guitar, my finger-picking and certain grooves do organically show up just because I spent so much time listening, dancing and drumming to the rhythms in the Ivory Coast in Benin.

SA: How often do you practice and for how long?

KA: In general? I don’t adhere to one particular schedule. It kind of rotates. I might practice something on the piano or playing the guitar. I could be vocalizing and I could be writing. I try to spend a good amount of time each day on one of those areas. I basically roll the dice and see what I feel is compelling to work on in one of those disciplines.

SA: Are there any old tapes, CDs or records that have influenced you?

KA: Yes. There are some artists that I’ve really been inspired by in terms of orchestration. There are a couple of Bjork’s records, Vespertine and Medúlla,that have amazing use of strings and voices. In terms of vocal harmonies, I really fell in love with…the Bulgarian Women’s Choir’s Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares. I love the strong melodic content of early jazz like Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington. The melodies are so clear and have such a dramatic arc that really paints a picture. I think that structure manifests in my music.

SA: What advice would you give to up-and-coming musicians who are trying to get their music out?

KA: It’s a pretty weird landscape in terms of how to fund your project if it’s recording that you want to do. It’s the “Wild West.” Live and recorded music and selling albums doesn’t create the same revenue that it used to. So, it can be pretty challenging. I think being creative about the channels you go through to get support for the album is important.

On the day her album is released, Kim will be performing at The Owl Music Parlor in Brooklyn. If you’re in the tri-state area, be sure to try to check her out. Also, the title track from the album, “Yarrow,” will hit the airwaves on March 23.

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Free EP Download: https://noisetrade.com/kimanderson/yarrow/?download=1

Tracklist:

Andy Gibb's Top Hits Collected For 'The Very Best Of Andy Gibb' To Be Released April 13 By Capitol/UMe

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NEWS PROVIDED BY

Capitol/UMe

Mar 09, 2018, 09:00 ET

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LOS ANGELES, March 9, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Andy Gibb's top hits have been collected for a new CD and digital collection, The Very Best Of Andy Gibb, to be released by Capitol/UMe on April 13.

Preorder The Very Best Of Andy Gibb: https://UMe.lnk.to/AndyGibbVeryBest
Starting today, the digital album preorder includes instant download and streaming access for "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" featuring P.P. Arnold.

Andy Gibb’s top hits have been collected for a new CD and digital collection, 'The Very Best Of Andy Gibb,' to be released by Capitol/UMe on April 13. The collection’s 15 tracks include Gibb’s three Number One hits, “I Just Want To Be Your Everything,” “Shadow Dancing,” and “(Love Is) Thicker Than Water.”

The Very Best Of Andy Gibb honors the monumental worldwide success, achieved within just a few years, of one of the most celebrated recording artists and stage performers of his time. The collection's 15 tracks include Gibb's three Number One chart toppers, "I Just Want To Be Your Everything," "Shadow Dancing," and "(Love Is) Thicker Than Water." Four more Billboard Hot 100 Top 10 hits are showcased: "An Everlasting Love," "(Our Love) Don't Throw It All Away," "I Can't Help It" featuring Olivia Newton-John, and "Desire," Gibb's collaboration with his brothers Barry, Maurice, and Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees.

All of the collection's tracks are drawn from Andy Gibb's three hit studio albums, 1977's platinum-certified Flowing Rivers, 1978's platinum-certified Shadow Dancing, and 1980's gold-certified After Dark.

ANDY GIBB: The Very Best Of Andy Gibb

1. Shadow Dancing
2. I Just Want To Be Your Everything
3. An Everlasting Love
4. Flowing Rivers
5. (Our Love) Don't Throw It All Away
6. (Love Is) Thicker Than Water
7. After Dark
8. Man On Fire
9. I Can't Help It (featuring Olivia Newton-John)
10. Desire (featuring the Bee Gees)
11. Time Is Time
12. Me (Without You)
13. Wherever You Are
14. One More Look At The Night
15. Will You Love Me Tomorrow (Album Version) (featuring P.P. Arnold)

Lenny Kravitz Showcases 15 Of His "Greatest Hits" On 180-Gram Vinyl

Multi-Platinum GRAMMY Award Winning Artist's Top Tracks Fly High On 2LPs For The First Time In The U.S. Via Virgin/UMe On MAY 18

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NEWS PROVIDED BY

UMe

09:00 ET

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LOS ANGELES, April 13, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- On May 18, Virgin/UMe lets love rule with the release of Lenny Kravitz'smassively successful Greatest Hits for the very first time on vinyl in the United States. Kravitz's three-times-platinum 15-track Greatest Hits, originally released in 2000, will finally be made available to all retail outlets in a 2LP 180-gram black vinyl configuration. Additionally, a limited-edition exclusive 180-gram version available from uDiscover will feature custom clear mixed with smoky silver and white swirls on LP1, and custom clear mixed with blue and white smoky swirls on LP2.

LENNY KRAVITZ SHOWCASES 15 OF HIS GREATEST HITS ON 180-GRAM VINYL - Multi-Platinum GRAMMY Award Winning Artist’s Top Tracks Fly High On 2LPs For The First Time In The U.S. Via Virgin/UMe On MAY 18

Greatest Hits was a major triumph for Kravitz and a worldwide Top 10 chart performer, reaching No. 2 in the U.S. and No. 1 in Austria, Italy, and other countries. This compilation showcases the many strengths inherent in the grooves of Kravitz's first five albums — 1989's Let Love Rule, 1991's Mama Said, 1993's Are You Gonna Go My Way, 1995's Circus, and 1998's 5 — by assembling 15 of the best tracks from the first stage of his celebrated career.

This Greatest Hits collection, which has sold over 10 million copies worldwide, features early Kravitz classics and also sports "Again," which reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart. The album also boasts Kravitz's incendiary cover of The Guess Who's all-time rock classic "American Woman," which initially had been featured in the hit 1999 film, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, and was eventually added to a CD re-release of 5. Its power impressed Randy Bachman, co-founder of the Guess Who, its lead guitarist and chief songwriter. "As a songwriter," Bachman said, "that's the biggest tribute you can have."

The core tracks on Greatest Hits all serve to illuminate Kravitz's own considerable talents as a multifaceted singer, songwriter, producer and guitar player. From the funk 'n' soul-driven emotionality of "It Ain't Over Til It's Over" to the abject ferocity of "Are You Gonna Go My Way," from the elegiac buildup of "Let Love Rule" to the universal yearning of "Fly Away," Kravitz delivers in every style imaginable.

Many of the songs on Greatest Hits will be featured during Kravitz's current Raise Vibration Tour 2018, which kicks off April 13 in Mexico and then runs throughout Europe to the end of July.

lennykravitz.com
facebook.com/lennykravitz
twitter.com/LennyKravitz
instagram.com/lennykravitz
youtube.com/lennykravitz

Lenny Kravitz GREATEST HITS [double 180-gram vinyl]

Side A

1. Are You Gonna Go My Way
2. Fly Away
3. Rock And Roll Is Dead
4. Again

Side B

1. It Ain't Over Til It's Over
2. Can't Get You Off My Mind
3. Mr. Cab Driver
4. American Woman

Side C

1. Stand By My Woman
2. Always On The Run
3. Heaven Help
4. I Belong To You

Side D

1. Believe
2. Let Love Rule
3. Black Velveteen

Telemundo Grabs Luis Miguel Drama Series, Setting Up Race With Univision (EXCLUSIVE)

By Anna Marie De La Fuente

@adelafuente1

Anna Marie de la Fuente

CREDIT: COURTESY OF ROGER K SNIDER

Telemundo has snagged the U.S. rights to the Luis Miguel musical bio-series in the works from MGM TV and Gato Grande Productions.

The Gato Grande project is billed touted as the “officially authorized life story” of the fiercely private singer, who is cooperating with the production, which was announced in November. In January, Univision unveiled a competing effort that is being produced with producer Pedro Torres, who has collaborated with Miguel for the past 30 years on music videos. A Univision spokeswoman said its Miguel project remains in development. Telemundo’s series is targeting a 2018 premiere.

Telemundo’s deal with MGM comes on the heels of the news Tuesday that Miguel was arrested and released on bond in a case involving a dispute with his former manager William Brockhaus, who sued Miguel over an unpaid fee north of $1 million. Miguel was charged in contempt of court for not showing up to scheduled hearings and ordered to pay Brockhaus.

Telemundo president Luis Silberwasser declined to comment on Miguel’s arrest. The network had no hesitation about pursuing the drama series. “It was an easy decision to make, Miguel is a pop icon and we jumped on the chance to tell his story,” he said.

The Miguel series is in keeping with one of Telemundo’s programming objectives of recent years. “We have embraced music as an integral part of our programming strategy, which we started with the Celia Cruz bio-series and later with another one on singer Juan Gabriel,” said Silberwasser.

The musical-driven biographical drama series have been strong performers for Telemundo. The series is another sign of U.S. Spanish-language TV diversifying from its traditional stronghold of telenovelas.

“We are thrilled to add such a legendary music icon to our primetime bio-musicals lineup,” said Cesar Conde, chairman of NBCUniversal International Group and NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises.

“Celia,” based on the salsa queen’s life story, premiered to a cumulative audience of 2.3 million and became Telemundo’s most successful program in its 8 p.m. slot for the past five years. “Hasta que te conoci,” the bio series based on the life of Gabriel, was Telemundo’s top Sunday night program, outperforming Univision on Sunday nights 11 consecutive weeks.

Both Spanish-language networks also have competing shows on the late singer Jenni Rivera, who died in a plane crash in 2012. but Telemundo claims to have the official authorization of the late singer’s estate. Univision debuted its series “Her name is Dolores, the Jenni I knew,” based on a no-holds-barred book by Rivera’s former manager Pete Salgado, on Jan. 15. The Rivera estate has sued Univision in connection with the series. Telemundo has not yet set a premiere date for its Rivera bio-series “Mariposa de Barrio.”

For Miguel, the decision to partner with MGM has been a momentous decision.

“For decades, I have been asked to tell my story. Many have created their own versions, now I have decided to tell the true story of my life.” said Miguel. “I am ready to revisit my past and its many aspects that have sparked so much curiosity and speculation. People will travel alongside with me through a surprising, unexpected and emotional journey that has shaped the artist and the person that I am today.”

Mark Burnett, president of MGM Television Group and Digital, will shepherd the series and lead Gato Grande in its first scripted project aimed at the U.S. Hispanic market.

This is not Burnett’s first foray into Spanish-language programming. Burnett and MGM are in their third season with professional wrestling series “Lucha Underground” for El Rey Network, and Burnett produced the Spanish-language version of the 2014 Biblical feature “Son of God.”

“Luis Miguel has become a close personal friend of mine and my wife Roma (Downey). He is a wonderful human being and a bona fide superstar whose authentic story deserves to be told,” said Burnett. Series premieres April 22 on Telemundo.

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Allen Stone Gushes Over His ‘Brown Eyed Lover’ & Announces Fall Tour

EatsBeatsNLife

April 10, 2018 | 5:00 pm

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Moonchild’s Amber Navran Is Ready To ‘Speak Up’ On Debut Solo EP

Ivory

October 25, 2017 | 3:00 pm

Listen and buy: [/url]https://ambernavran.bandcamp.com/album/speak-up-ep[/url]

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Endless ‘Summer’: Donna Summer’s Legacy To Be Revisited With Compilation Album & New Broadway Musical

D-Money

March 27, 2018 | 11:00 am

Mya Teases & Tantalizes With ‘T.K.O.’ Cover Art & Tracklist

Butta

April 9, 2018 | 1:00 pm

Mya is playing no games when it comes to promoting her upcoming album, T.K.O., which is, in fact, shaping up to be a knockout. She has been getting fans ready for the love bomb that she's about to drop since last September when she released the song "Ready For Whatever" as the project's sexy lead single and followed it up with a smoking hot music video. Since that time, the vivacious vegan has whet appetites with a succession of slow jams – "Ready, Pt. II," "You Got Me" and "Damage" – over the past few months. Each song has featured the songstress in her R&B element and in the bedroom, which is by design as T.K.O. will be a soundtrack to private times and the whole nine.

With T.K.O.'s release date drawing near, Mya has unveiled the cover art and tracklist for the 12-song collection and has interest in it at a fever pitch. For the cover, she's dressed in black lingerie with a black robe draping her body, and she directs a smoldering stare into the camera. The photo alone is enough for us to give Mya all of our money and a tip. She seals the deal with the reveal of the tracklist that shows a GoldLink feature on the song "Open." The in-demand rapper is clearly returning the favor for his DMV sistren after she guested on his last album, At What Cost, on the track "Roll Call." Other guest artists include AGuyNamedCliff on the "T.K.O. Interlude" and her frequent collaborator MyGuyMars, who also co-executive produced the album alongside Mya, on the track "With You." With song titles such as "Down," "Knock You Out" and "If Tomorrow Never Comes" combined with the sensual joints she's already released, Mya has us more than ready to hear these tracks and the project as a whole.

The good thing is that we don't have too much longer to wait for T.K.O. The album will be released on Mya's independent label on Friday, April 20th – the eve of the 20th anniversary of her debut album – and it is available for pre-order now via Amazon, iTunesand Google Play.

Mya T.K.O. tracklist:

1. The Fall
2. Open feat. GoldLink
3. Simple Things
4. Down
5. Ready 4 Whatever 2.0
6. Damage
7. Ready (Part III – 90’s Bedroom Mix)
8. You Got Me
9. T.K.O. Interlude feat. AGuyNamedCliff
10. Knock You Out
11. With You feat. MyGuyMars
12. If Tomorrow Never Comes

Joss Stone Launches ‘Water For Your Soul’ Remix Contest

Mercy

March 13, 2018 | 5:00 pm

British songstress Joss Stone is a fan of the remix, and she's hoping her fans feel the same way, too. She's working on an album of remixes to her 2015 project, Water For Your Soul, and instead of handling it on her own, she's giving music makers around the world the chance to remix one of five songs from the album. She's launched three different contests, where the winners will get their track featured on the new album and win $500, Pro Status on Indaba Music and a Splice membership – the cloud platform for music creation, collaboration and sharing.

If you recall, Water For Your Soul explores different sounds including reggae, hip-hop and soul. Producers and remixers across the world will get to refix "Love Me," "This Ain't Love," "Star," "Let Me Breathe" and "Stuck On You." For contest rules and to hear some of the entries, visit Indaba's website now. Joss will choose the winners so, unlike previous Indaba remix contests, there's no need to vote for your favorite.

Joss is also getting ready to head on her The Total World Tour, with the goal to perform in every country in the world. Considering she'll be in a city and country near you, it's worth checking out her website for tickets and updates. If you decide to enter Joss Stone's remix contest, do so by March 26th and from all of us here at SoulBounce, may the odds be ever in your favor.

Ledisi Invites Melanie Fiona & Tweet To Join Her On The ‘Let Love Rule Tour’

Butta

February 27, 2018 | 7:00 pm

Ledisi fans got some awesome news today with the announcement of the singer's Let Love Rule Tour in support of her latest album, Let Love Rule. Led hitting the road on a concert tour is reason enough to celebrate, but she also revealed that she'll be joined by fellow R&B/soul songstresses Melanie Fiona and Tweet thereby upping the ante. This is a tour lineup that we didn't see coming, but these three singing sistas each bring their own flavor and flair to the stage for what is sure to be a memorable set of concerts this spring.

The Let Love Rule Tour kicks off on May 24th in Raleigh, NC and will hit a total of 17 cities, including Charlotte, Atlantic City, Boston, Detroit and Cleveland, before wrapping in Dallas on June 17th. Sprinkled amongst the tour dates are a couple of festival appearances for Ledisi, who will rock the mic at the return of the ATL Soul Life Festival in Atlanta and the DMV area's annual Capital Jazz Festival. Ledisi's Let Love Rule Tour follows last autumn's The Rebel, The Soul &...Saint Tour that she co-headlined with Kirk Franklin that also featured PJ Morton. This time around, Led will be taking a girl's trip with Mel and Tweet, and we cannot wait to see and hear them in action.

Tickets go on VIP pre-sale with the opportunity to purchase premium seating, meet & greet and exclusive merchandise on Wednesday, February 28th with general public tickets going on sale on Friday, March 2nd. All tickets will be available for purchase on Ledisi.com. Before you check out the full list of tour dates below, make sure to watch Ledisi's special announcement that she made this morning on Facebook Live and IG Live with an effortless performance of two live songs to sweeten the deal.

Ledisi Let Love Rule Tour dates:

May 24 - Raleigh, NC - Ritz
May 25 - Charlotte, NC - The Fillmore
May 26 - Atlanta, GA - ATL Soul Life Music Festival*
May 27 - Orlando, FL - House of Blues**
May 29 - Greensboro, NC - Cone Denim Center
May 30 - Greenville, SC - Peace Center PAC
June 1 - Washington, D.C. - Capital Jazz Festival*
June 2 - Atlantic City, NJ - Borgata Resort & Spa
June 3 - Montclair, NJ - Wellmont Theatre
June 4 - Boston, MA - Wilbur Theatre
June 6 - Cincinnati, OH - Taft Theatre
June 7 - Detroit, MI - MotorCity Casino
June 8 - Cleveland, OH - House of Blues
June 9 - Hammond, IN - Venue @ Horseshoe Casino
June 10 - Kansas City, MO - Uptown Theatre
June 13 - Nashville, TN - Schermerhorn Symphony Center
June 14 - Memphis, TN - Minglewood Hall
June 15 - Houston, TX - House of Blues
June 17 - Dallas, TX - Majestic Theatre

* Festival appearance
**Tweet will not be appearing

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Marian Hill announce Unusual tour, new song coming Friday

By: Tom Shackleford AXS Contributor Feb 6, 2018

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Electro-pop duo Marian Hill are headed back out on the road this spring. The duo made up of synth/keyboardist Jeremy Lloyd and singer Samantha Gongol announced their upcoming run of concert dates on Tuesday, which will fall under the promotional banner, “Unusual.” Tuesday’s announcement also revealed that the band would be releasing new music this coming Friday, leading fans to believe that they could be gearing up for their follow up to 2016’s Act One LP.

The tour is set to start with the band’s previously announced performance at weekend one of Coachella in Indio, Calif. on April 14. They’ll spend the next few days traveling up the west coast at venues including Portland’s Crystal Ballroom, Seattle’s Showbox and San Francisco’s Warfield Theatre before returning to Palm Springs for Coachella’s second weekend. From there, the band will head out across the the country with scheduled concerts throughout the southern U.S. before heading north to cities including Philadelphia, Washington, Brooklyn, and Toronto, before closing their spring run in St. Paul on May 16. They’ll be joined throughout the tour by Los Angeles’ electronic producer/songwriter, Michl.

The duo have spent much of the past two years on the road since Act One arrived on Republic Records back in June of 2016. In addition to making their own headlining appearances at larger venues around North America, Lloyd and Gongol have brought their smooth style of synthpop to numerous mainstream music festivals each of the past few summers.

Songs

1

Subtle Thing

3:02

2

Differently

3:40

3

All Night Long (feat. Steve Davit)

3:17

4

Don't Miss You

3:27

5

Wish You Would

3:22

6

Don't Do It

3:12

7

Sideways

Just Music-No Categories-Enjoy It!

"Friendzone" is the latest from Chicago native Kiara Lanier's new EP

Tongues and Teaspoons.

Carrie Underwood is getting ready to reclaim the top spot on the albums chart. Today (April 18), she announced that her sixth studio album would be arriving this fall. Titled Cry Pretty, it is set to touch down September 14. The “The Champion” siren co-produced the LP with the assistance of David Garcia, and it is her first full length project since she rolled out 2015’s Storyteller. It sounds like it will be her strongest release to date. “At this point in my career, I feel stronger and more creative than ever. I think you can hear that in this new album. It’s emotional, it’s soulful, it’s real, and we also have some fun on there too. I hope everyone loves it as much as I have loved making it,” she said in a press release.

The American Idol hitmaker rolled out the project’s lead single and title track last Friday. Written in collaboration with Hillary Lindsey, Lori McKenna and Liz Rose (collectively known as The Love Junkies), it is a rousing anthem with an emotional message. The track was the most-added song on country radio last week and soared to the top of iTunes stores across the globe upon its arrival. Sunday (April 15) the 35-year-old appeared at the Academy of Country Music Awards to live premiere the soaring track. Taking the stage for the first time since the “Before He Cheats” hitmaker was rushed to the hospital for a broken wrist and other injuries after falling at her home, it was heralded as a glorious comeback.

While at the awards show, she also claimed the trophy for Vocal Event of the Year for “The Fighter,” her collaboration with Keith Urban. At the rate things are going, there are plenty more ACM Awards in her future. Check out the cover below!

Ariana Grande Reveals The Cover Of “No Tears Left To Cry”

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Mike Wass @mikewassmusic | April 19, 2018 1:11 am

It's official. Ariana Grande's 'No Tears Left To Cry' officially drops later this week.

MORE >>

Ariana Grande has really upped her promo game this week. The pop star announced the title of her new single, “No Tears Left To Cry,”in a backwards font which soon went viral on social media and confirmed Friday (April 20) as the release date. She also revealed the cover art in segments, which depicts the pint-sized diva in profile. Her hair is blond again (think of it as a “Focus” flashback) and there is a rainbow-colored light over her eyes. It’s simple, yet striking and hints at Ari’s latest being a feel-good bop.

But wait, there’s more! The internet is convinced that “No Tears Left To Cry” was produced by Pharrell Williams given the shoutouts they have been giving each other on social media and the video, which I’m guessing will also arrive on Friday or shortly thereafter, seems to have been directed by Dave Meyers. That mastermind is best known for his iconic work with Missy Elliott (“Get Ur Freak On,” “Work It” and “Lose Control”) and is still the go-to director for big-budget visuals. See Ariana’s sleek cover art below.

NEW MUSIC WE LOVE: LOLO�...Leaning”

First Listen: Freddie Jackson is back "Without You"

Chrisette Michele Releases New Album, ‘Out Of Control’

BySingersroom

Posted on April 14, 2018

Chrisette Michelle returns with the new album, ‘Out Of Control,’ 18-months she received a ton of backlash for accepting and performing at President Donald Trump’s Inaugural Ball alongside Travis Greene. Prior to the project’s release, the Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter released the singles “Strong Black Woman,” “Black Lives Matter,” and “No Chorus,” in hopes to create buzz and get fans thinking about her music again.

‘Out Of Control’ includes 11 songs, and controversy or not, the LP continues to showcase Michele’s growth as a talented singer, storyteller, and passion-filled songstress. The set was executive produced by Michele’s husband and long-time collaborator Doug “Biggs” Ellison, who she shares details about on the project.

“Almost 3 years ago, @biggs4k & I said “I Do” in the privacy of “Vegas”. Just 21 days after reuniting. | We kept it a secret till now to let our love grow in private and our bond strengthen at home. | Hear the full story on my new album,” she reveals on Instagram.

Tracklist:
01 – No Chorus
02 – Out of Control
03 – Black Lives Matter
04 – She Won
05 – Strong Black Woman
06 – Blue
07 – Get Wasted
08 – My Hubby Lit
09 – Go Up
10 – Vegas
11 – Good as It Gets

APRIL 19, 2018 8:54AM PT

Prince’s Estate Releases Original Version of ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ (Watch Video)

By Jem Aswad

@jemaswad

Senior Music Editor@jemaswadFOLLOW

CREDIT: REX/SHUTTERSTOCK

Two days ahead of the second anniversary of Prince’s death, the artist’s estate, in collaboration with Warner Bros. Records, today released the original version of his iconic song “Nothing Compares 2 U”. The version, which was written and performed entirely by Prince except for some backing vocal and saxophone work, formed the basis for the original officially-released version of the song by The Family. That group, which was masterminded anonymously by Prince, included musicians from several of his projects, including singers Susannah Melvoin (twin sister of the Revolution’s Wendy) and Paul Peterson and saxophonist Eric Leeds, whose work appears on this version. It was recorded in July of 1984 during sessions that also produced material for “Around the World in a Day,” the follow-up to the “Purple Rain” album.

The hit version of the song was released by Sinead O’Connor in 1990 and Prince released a live take in 1993.

The new version of the song will be available to stream, to purchase via digital retailers and as two 7” vinyl singles (in picture disk and standard black vinyl formats). Download or stream the track HERE.

As remembered by Michael Howe, long-time industry A&R executive, Prince expert, and the Prince Estate’s official Vault Archivist, “I spotted the 2″ multitrack reel in the Vault some weeks back while doing a 1984-era inventory. After retrieving my jaw from the floor, we took the reel upstairs, analyzed it, put it up on the Studer 24 track machine, and digitized it to 24/192. Even our ‘faders up’ rough mix was compelling enough to indicate that this was something very special indeed.

“No Prince-penned song performed by another artist has enjoyed more chart success (#1 in over a dozen countries) and overall cultural impact than Sinead O’Connor’s 1990 recording,” he continued, “so hearing the song in its original context performed in its entirety by the author makes it particularly noteworthy.”

The song is accompanied by a video featuring never before seen rehearsal footage of Prince & The Revolution practicing their choreography in that same Eden Prairie warehouse during the same summer of 1984. Watch the video HERE.

The release is the first new material to come from the estate since a deluxe edition of the “Purple Rain” album — which was supervised by the artist before his death — last June, and is the first of what estate advisor Troy Carte...he archive that he promised in January would be “coming soon.” While legal complications surrounding the estate continue unabated, Carter and estate personnel have been cataloging and examining the content’s of Prince’s much-vaunted “vault” of unreleased material. While music falling under Prince contracts with Warner Bros. Records is presumably clear for release, hundreds and perhaps thousands of other recordings remain in legal limbo; those assets were acquired by Universal Music Group in a $31 million deal in early 2017 deal that was later resci...al clarity.

The estate also announced the return of the Prince HitNRun online pop-up store (www.PrinceHitNRun.com), where the limited edition, picture disk vinyl will be sold exclusively, as well as a variety of official Prince merchandise, including pieces that draw from his “Dirty Mind” and “Lovesexy” eras. The black vinyl 7” also will be available for pre-order from major physical retailers and will be released on Friday 25th May. It has also launched a new interactive site called Prince2Me (www.Prince2Me.com) that “explores what Prince means, individually and collectively to his fans” in what was described as “the first of many online experiences to come, each will shine a new light on his artistry,” as well as an “immersive annotated discography website highlighting the incomparable breadth and depth of Prince’s recorded catalogue” featuring audio previews, photos, videos, quotes and editorial commentary.

Visit the discography website here: https://www.princeestate.com

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APRIL 18, 2018 2:47PM PT

Inside Spotify’s Massive David Bowie ‘Subway Takeover’ (Photos)

By Jem Aswad

@jemaswad

Senior Music Editor@jemaswadFOLLOW

Last year during Grammy Week, Spotify promoted the return of Prince’s music to its service by blanketing New York’s U...ay station with purple logos and posters. It was cool and a pleasantly immersive advertising experience, and it was gratifying for fans to see one of the greatest musical geniuses of the past half-century get such a high-profile look in a public space not normally associated with such things.

But it’s dwarfed by the streaming giant’s sprawling David Bowie “Subway Takeover” in the city’s interconnected Broadway-Lafayette and Bleecker Street stations, which not only promotes the“David Bowie Is” exhi...lyn Museum (of which Spotify is a sponsor) but is a deeply researched museum piece in itself, celebrating the artist’s relationship with New York throughout his career, in the SoHo neighborhood that he called home for the last two decades of his life. (The exhibit went up Tuesday and will remain until Sunday, May 13.)

The walls, turnstiles and, most remarkably, the rows of iron girders between the station’s floors are emblazoned not only with signage for the exhibition, but with photos — many of them rarely-seen — from watershed New York moments: 1970s performances at Carnegie Hall, Radio City and Madison Square Garden, stills from the 1973 “Space Oddity” video filmed at RCA Studios in Midtown and the “I’m Afraid of Americans” video in 1995 (where he’s chased around the city by Trent Reznor), a shot of him working at the nearby Magic Shop studio late in his career. There is also original artwork made with the cooperation of his estate, fan-made pieces, Bowie quotes about New York, a map of key locations in his career; each major piece contains a Spotify code that provides audio accompaniment. There are even five different MetroCards, each depicting Bowie from a different phase of his career, available at the station. On Tuesday evening, 15 people were lined up to purchase them.

And while a subway station might seem an odd site for such a tribute, it is not surprising that the famously chameleonic Bowie was crafty about his disguise...population remarkably well: In one of the quotes featured in the exhibit, he says, “You’d be surprised the places I’m able to go.” People who lived or worked in SoHo often reported seeing him on the street or in a deli or a local gym.

But most strikingly, while the Prince subway takeover was cool, it was essentially advertising; this is a much more far-reaching project that acts as an extension of “David Bowie Is,” which has travelled the globe since 2013 and is making its final stop in New York.

“Exactly — the idea was to create a tribute, not an ad. If it were, we wouldn’t have approached it this way,” says Alex Bodman, Spotify’s global creative director, who oversaw the project with Bowie’s estate and his 30-odd-strong in-house creative team that does most of the branding and marketing work for the streamer. “[‘David Bowie Is’] is a phenomenal show, we were honored to sponsor it, and we took that as a starting point as to how we could focus a tribute that celebrates his life as a New Yorker. We loved the idea of finding a way to celebrate the kind of impact immigrants can make, and Bowie is one of those shining examples.” (When asked, Bodman hastened to note that the immigrant angle is not a commentary on current events: “It’s not a political statement,” he said. “New York has always been attractive to people from all over the world, and this is just a celebration of that fact.”)

The project was undertaken with the full cooperation of Bowie’s estate, which provided access to his voluminous archives. The singer was known for being extremely protective of his legacy and intellectual property — even songs that were released as bonus tracks on CDs in the late 1980s have since been taken out of circulation — and regularly purchased items from his career that popped up on eBay.

“It was a fascinating process,” says Bodman (who was calling from Sweden and had not yet seen the subway takeover in person). “I don’t know if he ever used the term ‘hoarder,’ but Bowie kept and collected everything, and we were very privileged to have such incredible access to his archives. We worked hand-in-hand with his archivist and found some things that just took our breath away, and then it became a responsibility: How do we go to his neighborhood and the places where he recorded some of his masterpieces, and create an experience where not only his fans but every New Yorker can be proud that he made this city his home?”

The exhibit also has several original pieces, as well as interpretations of aspects of Bowie’s life in New York for which there wasn’t suitable photographic evidence. “For example, we discovered that Bowie’s intention was always to have the ‘Ziggy Stardust’ story take place in Greenwich Village. We couldn’t find an image to bring that to life but it felt like an important New York story, so we worked with illustrator, George Underwood [a friend from Bowie’s school days who not contributed artwork to several albums, he caused the singer’s famous dilated pupil in a brief teenage fistfight over a girl] and he created an original illustration.

“Also, Bowie often talked about how he loved walking in the West Village. We couldn’t find an image that wasn’t paparazzi — we weren’t interested in using paparazzi photos, that wouldn’t be respectful — so we got one of his pairs of shoes from the archive and photographed them.”

When it’s noted that the shoes in question, a pair of absurdly lurid high-heeled sandals from the peak of Bowie’s glam era, aren’t exactly orthopedically sound walking shoes, Bodman erupts into laughter. “We thought that was a good way to get his sense of humor into it,” he says, “and obviously his flamboyance.”

Finally, the MetroCards were an idea “that came from our team,” he said. “The idea was that people would be going through their daily grind, and then pull out something that is a collectors item or gives you an emotional experience — that little magic elevation out of the everyday. We call them ‘Tickets to Mars’ — it’s transporting.”

While Spotify has no comment on the budget for this formidable undertaking, its philosophy is likely reflected in one of Bodman’s closing quotes. “We’re really proud that for the second year in a row, we can pay tribute to an artist who exemplifies why we’re so passionate about music and the impact it can have on culture,” he says. “It’s not based on any kind of marketing desire or driving streams or anything like that — it’s difficult to pay proper tribute straightaway to these legends when they pass, and its meant a lot to the company and the people who work here that we can do this.”

As for what or who might receive such treatment next, he says, “We do have lots of exciting stuff coming up, but I’ll be in trouble if I talk about it!”

APRIL 19, 2018 7:35AM PT

Lykke Li Announces Album, Drops Two New Songs

By Jem Aswad

@jemaswad

Senior Music Editor@jemaswadFOLLOW

Four years after the release of her most recent album “I Never Learn,” Swedish songstress Lykke Li dropped two new songs, “Deep End” and “Hard Rain.” The songs are the first tracks to emerge from her long-percolating fourth album “So Sad So Sexy” (in an announcement, the song and album titles are rendered all in lowercase). The album is due on June 8 on RCA Records — Li’s first release with the label.

“Hard Rain,” which is being promoted as the single, was produced by 2016 Grammy producer of the year Jeff Bhasker (Kanye West, Jay-Z, Fun), Malay (Frank Ocean, Alicia Keys) and T-Minus. “Hard Rain” was produced by Vampire Weekend’s Rostam Batmanglij.

The songs mark a stylistic departure for the singer, incorporating elements of the Swedish-pop sound of her previous albums with a more hip-hop/alt-R&B-leaning production.

A rather confusing line in the press release announcing the songs reads “Prior to recording this album, Lykke was busy nurturing liv, her love-child with Andrew Wyatt, Björn Yttling, Pontus Winnberg and Jeff Bhasker, which allowed this collective a mutual creative outlet.” That is in reference to a “supergroup of sorts” formed by the four — Wyatt and Winnberg are members of Miike Snow, Yttling of Peter Bjorn & John — which has released four songs so far. Li and Bhasker also have a son together, Dion, who turns 2 next month.

The singer will be on tour this summer.

“so sad so sexy” tracklist:

01 hard rain
02 deep end
03 two nights (feat. Aminé)
04 last piece
05 jaguars in the air
06 sex money feelings die
07 so sad so sexy
08 better alone
09 bad woman
10 utopia

Randy Scruggs, Award-Winning Musician and Songwriter, Dead at 64

Son of bluegrass pioneer Earl Scruggs wrote hits for Earl Thomas Conley, Sawyer Brown; played on recordings by Dolly Parton, George Strait

Award-winning musician and songwriter Randy Scruggs has died at the age of 64. MICHAEL S. GREEN/AP/REX/Shutterstock

By Stephen L. Betts

1 day ago

Multi-award-winning guitarist, producer, songwriter and studio owner Randy Scruggs died Tuesday, April 17th, following a brief illness, according to Music Row. He was 64.

All-star lineup includes Elvis Costello, Rosanne Cash, John Mellencamp and Alison Krauss

A four-time Grammy winner who earned trophies for his instrumental work from 1989 to 2001, Scruggs was named CMA Musician of the Year in 1999, 2003 and 2006. As a producer he led recordings by Waylon Jennings, Emmylou Harris, Levon Helm, Toby Keith, Alison Krauss and many others. The staggering list of artists on whose records he played included Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash, George Strait, Bobby Bare, Charlie Daniels, Randy Travis, Vince Gill, George Jones, Tammy Wynette, Ricky Skaggs, Tom T. Hall, Billy Joe Shaver, John Hartford, Vern Gosdin,Rosanne Cash, Pam Tillis, Marty Stuart, Bruce Hornsby, Miranda Lambert, Wilco and the Dixie Chicks.

Randy Scruggs was born in 1953, the younger brother of musician Gary Scruggs and older brother to Steve Scruggs, who died in 1992. Their parents were banjo great Earl Scruggs and pioneering business manager Louise Scruggs, who passed away in 2012 and 2006, respectively. At just 9 years old, Scruggs appeared alongside his father and partner Lester Flatt on the pair's popular syndicated TV series. Only four years later he was participating in his first recording session.

As a rock duo, Randy and Gary Scruggs recorded two albums for Vanguard Records in 1969 and '70, then formed the progressive country-rock band the Earl Scruggs Revue with the elder musician at the helm. A 1979 single by the group, "I Could Sure Use the Feeling," peaked in the Top 30.

In the early Eighties, when Earl Thomas Conley became the first-ever artist to top the country chart with four consecutive singles from the same LP, three of those songs were co-written by the artist with Scruggs. The pair also notched two additional Number Ones as co-writers. Others who cut his songs included Sawyer Brown ("Shakin'," "Out Goin' Cattin'"), Billy Joe Royal ("Love Has No Right") and Deana Carter ("We Danced Anyway" and "There's No Limit"). In the Eighties and Nineties, more than 100 of his songs were cut by major acts from Martina McBride to bluegrass band the Seldom Scene.

The 1989 recording of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's Will the Circle Be Unbroken II, recorded at the musician's Scruggs Sound facility in Nashville, earned him another CMA award, for Album of the Year. Don Williams, Jason & the Scorchers, Charley Pride, Tanya Tucker, Andy Williams, Ronnie Milsap and Anne Murray were among those who also cut material there.

In 1998, Reprise Records released the exceptional all-star album Crown of Jewels. Credited as Scruggs' solo effort, the LP featured contributions from several artists with Emmylou Harris, Iris DeMent, John Prine, Joan Osborne, Trisha Yearwood, Amy Grant, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Delbert McClinton and Earl Scruggs among them.

Scruggs' guitar playing can be heard on the Johnny Cash: Forever Words project and on recent recordings by Loretta Lynn, Mo Pitney, Pistol Annies, Kellie Pickler, Bobby Bare and many others.

Scruggs is survived by his wife Sandy, his daughter, Lindsey, and his brother, Gary. No funeral service is planned but details of a memorial event are expected to be announced in the coming weeks. Contributions in Randy Scruggs' name may be made to MusicCares or the T.J. Martell Foundation.

If you like Linda Ronstant you may like Courtney.

Courtney Marie Andrews Traverses the Heart, Mind & Soul on ‘May Your Kindness Remain’ | Album Review

Courtney Marie Andrews
May Your Kindness Remain
Fat Possum/Mama Bird/Loose Music
Buy: Official Store | Amazon | iTunes | Listen Below

About a year ago, back in May 2017, I had the good fortune of seeing Courtney Marie Andrews perform in the cozy confines of Manhattan’s Mercury Lounge. She was touring in support of her breakout album Honest Life, one of 2016’s finest albums, which was very deservingly given new life courtesy of a more concerted, multi-label promotional push throughout 2017.

An inspired convergence of country, folk and rock influences, Honest Life charmed this listener —and many others—through its embrace of a musical ethos that resides somewhere between Nashville and Laurel Canyon circa the early ‘70s, its slide guitar and piano driven reveries evoking the seminal songcraft of Emmylou Harris, Joni Mitchell, and Linda Ronstadt.

A few songs in to Andrews’ set that evening, I surveyed the room and discovered a truly enraptured audience, awestruck by the grace and humility with which she commanded the stage. Remarkably, her knockout voice was even more powerful, even more crystalline in person than on record. And as I left the venue an hour later, floored by what I had just heard, I couldn’t help but think that her days of playing smaller venues like this one were numbered, expectations for her next career move likely sky high.

Capitalizing on her newfound recognition, Andrews has wasted precious little time in issuing the follow-up to Honest Life, in the form of the recently released May Your Kindness Remain. And thankfully, even upon cursory listen (though repeated, attentive listens are recommended), the ten songs she has included here make good—and then some—on the promise of its precursor.

Beyond her soaring voice, which is unequivocally the star of the show once again, May Your Kindness Remain’s core strength lies within the timeless, universal relatability and empathy of Andrews’ thoughtfully constructed narratives, which have been informed by her interactions with others while touring the world. “More than anything, [being on the road] got me thinking about my childhood, and the people around me that I’ve known, and the stories that come from my family,” Andrews explains in an official statement. “It became clear how many people are struggling through the same issues.” Indeed, across the album’s ten songs, her words paint vivid portraits of the simple and unfettered life, an existence that dismisses the often elusive trappings of luxury and excess in exchange for the more fundamental human needs of “laughter and love,” as she reflects on “This House.”

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Artist of the day 27/03: Lxandra

Achal Dhillon

Monday 27 Mar 2017 2:07 pm

Lxandra sounds like: She enjoys writhing around in bed on a Saturday afternoon with a lit cigarette in one hand and a gun in the other. Similar artists: Adele, Sia, Lana Del Rey Her story: Lxandra is a 20-year-old singer-songwriter from a small island called Suomenlinna outside Helsinki, Finland. Moving away from her hometown/island with a population of 800, she settled in Berlin to find her musical inspiration and begin work on her debut album.

Her new single Flicker features on many an indie-music YouTube channel. What’s so great about her? Away from the dominant rock and metal scenes in Finland, Lxandra is part of a pop wave of new artists from that region of the world that are sticking around brightly.

Combining electronic elements with classic contemporary pop undertones, Flicker serves as a great introduction, landing her in Finland’s Viral Top 50 Chart on Spotify. Outside of making music, Lxandra is a keen videographer and has indeed produced her own video for the track (which is still on its way).

Most-streamed track on Spotify: Flicker (over 250,000 listens so far) Featured video: What will she be doing in 2017: At a complete (albeit highly educated) guess, expect more singles and that all-important announcement of her first live shows to crop up over the duration of this year.

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Billie Eilish recruited Khalid for her striking new single, “Lovely.” Released today (April 19), it is a stripped back ballad. With production from the 16-year-old’s brother, FINNEAS, the collaborators deliver some of their most soulful vocals over heartrending strings and atmospheric production. Despite its uplifting title, the lyrics allude to the duo attempting to overcome a serious depression. “Thought I found a way. But you never go away,” they lament on the opening lines. Things get even more hopeless as they move into the chorus. “Isn’t it lovely, all alone? Heart made of glass, my mind of stone. Tear me to pieces, skin and bone. Hello, welcome home.” The pair managed to channel the pain into something beautiful, and they may have a serious hit on their hands.

In an interview with Zane Lowe on Beats 1, Billie explained the inspiration behind the track’s title. “We called it that because the song was sort of really freaking depressing so then it’s like oh, how lovely,” she said. “Just taking everything horrible like you know what this is great. I’m so happy being miserable.” She also opened up about working with Khalid and how the track organically came together. “One thing that I’ll say is that when we wrote this actually song what was cool about it was that it wasn’t like we’re going to the studio and going to write a hit, you feel me. It was like hey come over, let’s hangout. He just came over and we hung out. Me and my brother hung out with Khalid in our house and it was literally this is us hanging out as friends and we ended up writing a song.”

“Lovely” is the latest in a string of winning releases from the pair. After going viral with his breakout hit “Location” last year, Khalid has popped up on a string of high-profile collaborations. He contributed his slinky Normani Kordei duet “Love Lies” to the Love, Simonsoundtrack. More recently, he teamed up with Sabrina Claudio on “Don’t Let Me Down.” Meanwhile, Billie has delivered hits to the 13 Reasons Why soundtrack and recently unveiled her bass-heavy “COPYCAT.” With any luck, the pair will storm the charts with their soulful new duet. Give the track a spin below!

Billie Eilish: “dont smile at me” Album Review

Alix Platt, Writer

January 23, 2018

2017 was the year of new artists. From Post Malone to Khalid, the new styles are endless. One of 2017’s biggest new artist is Billie Eilish with her album “don’t smile at me”(sic.). This album (EP) consists of 6 original songs, 2 singles, and a remix featuring Vince Staples. Not to mention Eilish is 16, and was 15 when the album was released on August 11th, 2017. Along with her remarkable talent, her brother, Finneas O’Connell assists her in writing every song. He’s only 19.

Eilish’s cover for “don’t smile at me”.

I have been a fan of Billie Eilish since I stumbled across her song “ocean eyes”(sic.) that came out in early 2017. From there, her two singles, “bellyache” and “bored” were both extremely successful and unique. Her single “bored” was apart of the “13 Reasons Why” soundtrack, which blew up in the spring of 2017. From there, the EP was a must.

“don’t smile at me” starts off with the daunting song, “COPYCAT”(sic.) which introduces not only the album but also Billie Eilish’s rebellious character. “COPYCAT” has over 11 million listens on Spotify, which is not even her most popular song. Following “COPYCAT” is her song “idontwanttobeyouanymore”(sic.) which talks about problems in society for women. One of my favorite lyrics from this song is “If teardrops could be bottled, There’d be swimming pools filled by models, Told a tight dress is what makes you a whore” which portrays how women are treated by society and how women’s standards are set so high. Next on the album is one of my favorite songs; “my boy” which has a similar style to “COPYCAT” which talks about her toxic relationship with a boy and how she can’t stop it. “my boy”(sic.) is currently holding over 11 million listens, and is #2 on her popular list on Spotify.

“

When I first heard ‘bellyache’ I fell in love with Billie Eilish’s style. She’s really unique and each song of hers has an original spin on it”

— junior Maya Owainati

Following “my boy” is my all time favorite for its unique style and original lyrics, “watch”. Holding over 23 million listens on Spotify and over 1 million views on her music video, it still is only her 5th most listened to song. “watch”(sic.) was one of Billie Eilish main advertiser for her EP which definitely drew attention. “party favor”(sic.) is the 5th song on her album, which has an extremely interesting style. Starting off as a phone message, it seems very simple, using only one instrument, but then changes into an upbeat song. “bellyache”(sic.) takes a close second in my heart for being so original. It was one of her first singles, later to take on over 27 million listens on Spotify and over 8.4 million views on her youtube music video. Next is “ocean eyes” which really brought attention to Billie Eilish’s music career. With nearly 32 million listens, “ocean eyes” is clearly a fan favorite. “hostage” (sic.) has a similar take to the music as “party favor”, showing Eilish’s insane soulful vocals, which she learned through her church group that she attended as a child. Finally is the most recently added song, “&burn” featuring Vince Staples, which is a remix of “watch” with a slowing and more techno styled song along with rap verses. Listening to Billie Eilish’s first album, having most songs reaching over 10 million listens, she is clearly going to have a huge future in the music industry.

Billie Eilish is possibly one of the most talented 16 year olds I’ve ever seen. Having 5 million monthly listeners on Spotify,155K followers on twitter, 639K followers on Instagram, over a million subscribers on Youtube, and sold out concerts left and right, Billie Eilish will take 2018 by storm. While already catching the eye of Apple Music, her impact on society is only growing. Introducing to the world her different her style and taste is going to influence millions. Not to mention, her fashion sense is not only intriguing, but strangely cool, which makes her fans like her just that much more. What she has coming up is bound to be amazing, just like “dont smile at me”.

Check out Billie Eilish on her Instagram, @wherearetheavocados, and check out her music on iTunes or Spotify.

Tracklisting
1. COPYCAT
2. idontwannabeyouanymore
3. my boy
4. watch
5. party favor
6. bellyache
7. ocean eyes
8. hostage

9. &burn

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meanwhile, in the 'not a pretty lady with a new record' section...

...shuggie otis got a new record out today.

^^Peedub I guess Prince has been very influential in this aspect.

CREDIT: ANONYMOUS/AP/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK

The music beat has been in overdrive this week — between Avicii’s tragic death, Coachella, Beychella — and the Prince beat in particular: The run-up to today’s second anniversary of his passing was preceded by the announcement that there will be no criminal charges in his death from an accidental overdose (which resulted in the release of hundreds of police photosand a thorough but TBH TMI analysis of his addiction by the New York Times) and, more happily, the release Thursday of his original version of “No...pares 2 U,” complete with a stellar video of rehearsal footage — the first new music to emerge from his vast, vaunted “vault”...sued music, which his estate has been cataloging for the past several months.

So it’s perhaps not surprising that many people overlooked a link buried toward the end of the announcement of the song’s release: After news of an online pop-up store and an interactive fan-sourced site called “Prince2me” where people can post about what Prince met to them online, came the announcement of a “an immersive annotated discography website highlighting the incomparable breadth and depth of Prince’s recorded catalogue, featuring audio previews, photos, videos, quotes and editorial commentary.”

We finally had a moment to take a close look — and even by die-hard fan standards, it’s fantastic and fascinating. The site is beautifully designed (the cursor of a user’s mouse appears as a Prince-like eye on the site), and detailed but not overly so: Dozens of albums are highlighted — categorized as “Studio Albums,” “Live Albums,” Legacy Releases, Compilations and Major Albums Produced by Prince, such as Sheila E, The Time, Vanity 6, Mavis Staples, Chaka Khan, etc. (Anyone seeking more detailed information should check out the unofficial but highly authoritative “Prince Vault” site.) Each entry includes a concise editorial overview, song samples, credits, and — best of all — each official video released from the album. This latter category might not seem exciting for ordinary artists, but remember that Prince kept his music and videos off of YouTube for many years, employing a battery of lawyers who delivered takedown orders with impunity, meaning that in order to watch, say, the “U Got the Look” or even “When Doves Cry” videos that were ubiquitous on MTV in the 1980s, you had to find some quasi-legal Chinese website or dig up an old VHS dub. Now, dozens of them are all in one place.

And this is only the beginning: The site hints broadly that it will house some of the “mind-blowing” unreleased music that advisor Troy Carter told Variety ...oming soon”: “Prince wrote hundreds of songs in his lifetime and released dozens of albums, ranging from studio recordings to live albums, compilations, and collaborations with his many affiliated groups and protégés,” the site reads. “Even with this robust catalog available, the world is only just beginning to understand the full scope of Prince’s work, which also included countless unreleased recordings. This is the start of an evolving exploration of Prince’s genius…”

On the second anniversary of his death, there are few better ways to celebrate Prince’s memory than by digging into the long-buried treasures the estate has just begun to share. Why are you still reading this article? Check it out here: https://www.princeestate.com

Singer/Songwriter Robin McKelle to Release New Album MELODIC CANVAS

Singer/Songwriter Robin McKelle to Release New Album MELODIC CANVAS

TV News Desk Apr. 2, 2018

Tracklist:
01 – Do You Believe
02 – Lyla
03 – Come to Me
04 – Your’re No Good
05 – Swing Low, Sweet Chariot
06 – Simple Man
07 – The Sun Died
08 – Yes We Can Can
09 – It Won’t End Up
10 – Il est Mort le Soleil (Bonus Track)

Bruce Springsteen Becomes Ambassador for the Hear the World Foundation

Music News Desk Apr. 10, 2018

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The Hear the World Foundation, a Swiss charitable foundation that supports people in need, and particularly children, with hearing loss, is thrilled to welcome Bruce Springsteen among its ambassadors. The new ambassador for conscious hearing supports the non-profit's hearing loss prevention campaign.

Bruce Springsteen's recording career spans over 40 years, he has released 18 studio albums, garnered 20 Grammys, won an Oscar, been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, received a Kennedy Center Honor, and was MusiCares' 2013 Person of the Year. Springsteen's memoir 'Born to Run' and its companion album 'Chapter and Verse' were released in September2016, and he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in November that year. Springsteen's The River Tour 2016 was named the year's top global tour by both Billboard and Pollstar. In October, Springsteen made his Broadway debut with 'Springsteen on Broadway,' a solo show currently running at the Walter Kerr Theatre.

Photographer and musician Bryan Adams, an ambassador of the Foundation for from day one / from the very beginning, took Bruce Springsteen's official ambassador portrait in the Hear the World pose with one hand behind an ear - synonymous with conscious hearing. The meaningful black-and-white photograph will unite Bruce Springsteen with over hundred other musicians, models and actors who have supported the Hear the World Foundation over the past ten years. The team of renowned ambassadors help to raise global awareness about the importance of good hearing.

Hear the World helps children in need hear

Since 2006 the Hear the World Foundation, the cornerstone of Sonova's CSR engagement - Sonova is the leading provider of hearing solutions, has supported over 80 projects on all five continents, providing financial resources, donating hearing solutions, and training project workers in audiology on site. Efforts such as awareness campaigns, charity events and the sale of the Hear the World calendar, featuring the celebrity ambassadors help to raise global awareness about hearing health and supports children in need with hearing loss enabling them to develop at an appropriate rate for their age. More about the history of the Hear the Word Foundations and its projects can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/wa...3rDw7YDdE <

Hearing loss - an underestimated issue with serious consequences

The significance of hearing loss is still underestimated, despite the figures painting a clear picture: according to the World Health Organization (WHO), over 466 million people (around 5% of the global population) are affected by moderate to profound hearing loss - around 34 million of whom are children. Most of those affected live in low- or middle-income countries and do not have any access to audiological care. Untreated hearing loss can have serious consequences, particularly for children. As well as difficulty learning to talk, they have hardly any chance of going to school and are often ostracized from society.

About the Hear the World Foundation
Founded in 2006 by Sonova, the leading provider of hearing solutions, the Hear the World Foundation supports disadvantaged people with hearing loss around the world and gets involved in hearing loss prevention. The foundation focuses particularly on projects for children with hearing loss, enabling them to develop at their fullest potential. Since its establishment, the non-profit Swiss foundation has supported over 80 projects in 39 countries with funding, hearing aid technology and expertise. More than 100 high-profile ambassadors, such as Bryan Adams, Cindy Crawford, Plácido Domingo, Annie Lennox and Sting support Hear the World as ambassadors for conscious hearing.
http://www.hear-the-world.com

Andrew Lloyd Webber, Unmasked: The Platinum Collection, March 16th, 2018

First Listen: Kandace Springs reimagines Stylistics gem on new EP

Hear Fiona Apple's Tender New Song 'I Can't Wait to Meet You'

Singer contributes acoustic track to 'Hopes & Dreams: The Lullaby Project'

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[Edited 4/23/18 10:02am]

NORA NORMAN

Born in Sabadell and settled in Madrid, Nora Norman became known, thanks to her wonderful soul voice, participating in 2013 in festivals like Mulafest or in the tribute event to The Beatles of El País.

In 2014 she performed at the 101 Sun Festival and was chosen as Nick Waterhouse’s guest artist during his tour in Spain, among others.

During 2015 she consolidates her formation in leading jam sessions in Madrid or in initiatives such as Madtown Days; likewise, the collective Dremen was not indifferent to her talent, integrating her into their ranks. At the end of the year she finishes her live training with the band formed by Victor Elías (keyboard), Rafael Rivilla (guitar), Pablo Ruiz (bass) and Gastón Padula (drums), professional jazz musicians from the capital.

The experience and the desire to show her savoir faire make her publish her first studio EP “Nora Norman” and cover letter in February 2016; with a new sound close to neo soul, impregnated with influences like John Legend, Benjamin Clementine or Sam Smith.

At the same time, she works on a side project, N. N., focused on electronic music, which is born thanks to the song “And I” of Ed is Dead & WOMOH. She also tours around the Spanish geography including a sold out in the emblematic Sala Clamores and performing in the Guitar BCN; soon she will do the same in the Jazz Festival of Barcelona.

Tracklist:
01 – Did It Wrong
02 – Long Gone
03 – What If
04 – Confused
05 – She May Have Done It Wrong
06 – Beggining
07 – I Was the One
08 – Blessings
09 – Angel
10 – Time

KAT EDMONSON’S NEW LP ‘OLD FASHIONED GAL’ OUT APRIL 27

January 8, 2018 by Glidein News

Songwriter and vocalist Kat Edmonson’s fourth album, Old Fashioned Gal, is set for release April 27 on Spinnerette Records. NPR Music’s “Songs We Love” premiered the title track, noting, “Edmonson is astute with her references, and canny about the flirtation at the center of the song.” NPR goes on to describe the upcoming LP saying “The album is a handsome showcase for her songwriting, which has grown ever more confident over the last decade, nostalgic in tone but clear-eyed in the application.” Here the song below…

Edmonson will hold a winter residency at City Vineyard in New York City February 6, 20 and 27following her performance at The Django on January 13 as part of Winter Jazzfest.

Of writing Old Fashioned Gal, Edmonson says “I wrote these songs while holed up in my Brooklyn apartment during the winter of 2016. I had a terrible, reoccurring cold that winter and was often laid up in bed. I’d go back and forth from watching 1930s movies on Turner Classic Movies to working on a song. While writing this album, I realized that I was seeing what looked like scenes from a film in my head – a film not yet made. I ultimately sat down and wrote an entire outline for a screenplay – a musical, of course – with this music, the score. I processed a great deal of self-doubt in order to write this hopeful record. Old Fashioned Gal is about believing in yourself even when it seems no one else will.”

Old Fashioned Gal was entirely written and produced by Edmonson with associate production by band member and drummer Aaron Thurston. It was recorded over several sessions throughout the summer and fall of 2016 at Atomic Sound Studios in Brooklyn with Grammy winning engineer Fernando Lodeiro. This is her third time working with twenty-two-time Grammy-winning engineer Al Schmitt who mixed the record at Capitol Studios in Hollywood.

Listen: https://rachelwilhelm1.bandcamp.com/

CREDIT: JOAN MARCUS

The area of intersection between fans of iambic pentameter and doers of the “Cool Jerk” may be a limited one, so you can imagine the initial chore in store for anyone charged with targeting the exact crossover audience that will most enjoy “Head Over Heels,” now and maybe forever to be popularly known as “that Go-Go’s musical produced by Gwyneth Paltrow.” Rather than being a “Jersey Boys”-style origin story about the pioneering all-female band, the story harks back to very olde England, with a cast of royal-court types offering intermittently Elizabethan-sounding dialogue between all the rocking out. Surely “Thy Lips are Sealed” popped up at some point on a list of discarded alternate titles.

The mix of ’80s music and 1680s setting is every bit as ridiculous as it sounds, and that’s a good thing, for the most part. Perhaps appropriately for a show whose themes end up having mostly to do with 21st-century tolerance, “Heels” requires some tolerance of its own — for the rude juxtapositions of tones and centuries and, maybe most transgressively, the commingling of the Go-Go’s song catalog with Belinda Carlisle’s. If you can brook all that, there’s a good chance you’ll come out of the theater deeply giddy.

The show could also be subtitled “A Very LGBT Thing Happened on the Way to the Masque” (masque as in 17th century court performance, and Masque as in the Hollywood punk club where the Go-Go’s learned their chops — take your pick). That’s one juxtaposition that’s really anything but odd, since the Go-Go’s and Carlisle have ended up amassing a huge gay fan base over their decades of breaking up and reuniting. The plot of “Head Over Heels” really gets underway well into the first act, when the lowly shepherd Musidorus (Andrew Durand), banished by the king from pursuing the princess Philoclea (Alexandra Socha), cross-dresses as an Amazonian warrior to get quality time with his unsuspecting sweetheart. It’s a setup right out of “Some Like It Hot” or “Tootsie,” if not time immemorial, but imagine a “Some Like It Hot” that just gets less and less straight until it ends with a succession of same-sex marriages.

The action is spread out enough among the ensemble that audiences may spend some time trying to figure out who the protagonist is, but that proves to be a fool’s errand. Introducing the show is Mopsa (Taylor Iman Jones), daughter of the viceroy to the king, who breaks the fourth wall to say she’s mostly there just to narrate and occasionally move the action along — a bit of misdirection, given just how critical she becomes to the sapphic part of the proceedings later on. It looks like it might be the story of the king’s eldest, Pamela (Bonnie Milligan), whose vanity is played for plus-sized laughs till a sympathetic reveal gives her a reason for her nastiness. A theater name as big as Rachel York wouldn’t be here as the queen if she weren’t due to get her own making-up-for-sexual-deprivation storyline.

There’s more than one queen in this narrative, anyway, thanks to an oracle played by Peppermint, the mononymous star of Season 9 of “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” who will soon be the first transgender woman to take on a top role on Broadway. Dooming the cast with some ominous prophecies, and coming off deeply lovable even as she’s doing the damning, Peppermint plays Pythio by way of Frank N. Furter. The show takes a little bit to get going, but it’s right around the time that Pythio, proud King Basilius (Jeremy Kushnier) and befuddled viceroy Dametas (Tom Alan Robbins) engage in a lengthy discussion of what pronouns are appropriate for a gender-fluid soothsayer — “they,” of course, becoming the agreed upon term — that you finally know the script is in pretty good hands.

The story has been through a lot of hands on its way to San Francisco; it’s based on a 16th century prose piece by Sir Philip Sidney that got dramatized that century as James Shirley’s “The Arcadia.” Speaking of people who are no longer on the project, as it were, the original creative force behind this adaptation was Jeff Whitty (“Avenue Q”), who has exited since the show was first produced three years ago at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Whitty gets “conceived and original book by” credit, with James Magruder (“Triumph of Love”) getting the current “adapted by” credit. The 2015 reviews out of Oregon (where the New York Times loved the script, hated the songs!) tell us that a lot has changed and a lot hasn’t in subsequent workshops. There’s less iambic pentameter now, and also about 45 minutes less of show. One hates to see a brilliant creative driver exit, but some of these changes may be for the better; reports that the initial production had Whitty rewriting Go-Go’s lyrics to fit the narrative sound faintly horrifying.

So how do the Go-Go’s songs fit into this period mayhem? I’m still not sure I have a good answer for that. I can only report that, as a fan of the group since before the first album, I was made deliriously happy by the contextualizing (or lack of contextualizing) of all but a couple of the 18 catalog picks. When the show opens with a full-cast performance of (what else) “We Got the Beat,” it’s not entirely clear how this will work, since there are no kids “gettin’ out of school” and nobody — thankfully — is doing the watusi. Even then, there are positive signs: the choreography by Spencer Liff is unassuming and fun, and whoever is handling the volume knob that turns up the band during guitar riffs and back down for vocals has a good, light touch. As for that band, only a curtain call at the end reveals it’s a five-piece “all-girl” group up in the stage rafters. Nice going.

Eventually, the musical scheme turns out to be not that complicated: the Go-Go’s have a lot of falling-in-and-out-of-love songs that could be squeezed into any multi-romantic farce. And if this musical habitually breaks the cardinal rule that each song should advance the plot… well, why so serious? The tunes are relevant enough to the action, and some surprising deep-cut choices have been made alongside the hits. (Even buffs may scratch their heads for a second when the obscure “Beautiful” becomes vain Pamela’s theme song, or the almost-as-forgotten “Good Girl” becomes Philoclea’s.)

If, like some of us, you still have traumatic nightmares of the Queen musical “We Will Rock You,” rest assured that there’s not that much literalizing here. In the first bit of post-“We Got the Beat” dialogue, there are references to the kingdom subsisting on a magical force called the Beat — a la the Force — and, thank Zeus, that dumb conceit only comes up a couple times more. Naturally, “Vacation” will involve a young woman suddenly having a lovestruck realization while on holiday — cue the dancers as mermaids, holding up fish tails from behind likably chintzy cardboard waves — that happens to dovetail with one of many sexual orientation epiphanies.

“Head Over Heels” might be the Go-Gos’ most deeply infectious song, even if it wasn’t one of their biggest hits, so it’s smartly placed at the beginning of Act 2 as the most ebullient “welcome back” song a show can have (especially since “We Got The Beat” has to hog the opening and closing slots). The only truly painful case of shoehorning comes later in the second act, when a swordfight between the shepherd and king — who’s experiencing a bit of homophobic panic — is set to a duet of… “Lust to Love.” For a verse or so, you think it’s being played for laughs; if only it were. At least there’s no question about the comedy when a five-second snippet of “Skidmarks on My Heart” is abruptly performed as characters have key moments of shock throughout the show. You might wish the cast would break into the full song at some point, but it’s still fun as a recurring spit-take gag.

The number that may strike plenty of patrons as the biggest showstopper is Carlisle’s solo smash “Heaven is a Place on Earth,” the number that accompanies the nearly R-rated portion of the show, when multiple sexual congresses take place in silhouette behind a curtain for several minutes. The song’s strength makes it work, somehow.

There are no weak links in the cast of the production at San Francisco’s Curran Theater — not even with as inexperienced a stage actor as Peppermint, who’s clearly spent a lifetime thinking about commanding a room. York has exactly the right chops for a put-upon royal housewife coming into her sexually guileful queenhood. But the standout slapstick belongs to Durand, who at one point does a binary-gender-confusion pantomime behind the royal couple — who are caught up in a duet about how they’re both mad about the boy — acting out both the queen’s virile-hunk fantasy and the king’s picture of a perfect mistress.

Director Michael Mayer (“Spring Awakening”) hasn’t had much chance to prove he’s adept with pure farce before, so it’s a treat to see how speedily he can advance the subplots and shenanigans here. He does have experience with gender-fluidity themes after “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” but since this is clearly aimed at a broader audience than “Hedwig” — maybe even a family audience, if the kids don’t think too hard about those silhouettes — you sense him baiting the audience to applaud some of the more blatant and serious LGBTQ acceptance moments toward the close, even though everyone is already getting the message just fine through all the laughter. In San Francisco, of course, they’re preaching to the choir, as they more or less will be in New York; maybe the more underlined moments are included with the road show in mind.

But few watching “Head Over Heels” on Broadway will need much cajoling on gay marriage. They may need a lot of convincing on the marriage of power-pop to faux-Shakespeare; I’m guessing most will be won over.

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[Edited 4/23/18 12:07pm]

Prince Album of Previously Unreleased Material Coming in September (EXCLUSIVE)

By Jem Aswad

@jemaswad

Senior Music Editor@jemaswadFOLLOW

Last week, two days before the second anniversary of Prince’s death, his estate released a bounty of new stuff celebrating his work and his relationship with his fans: Not only the previously unreleased — and largely unheard — original version of “No...mpares 2 U” and an accompanying video of re...al footage, but also two new websites, one of them a deep dive into his discography including rare photos, videos and loads of information; the other a site where fans can share their remembrances called “Prince2me.”

It was a strong first salvo of “mind blowing” material to come from the new caretakers of the artist’s estate, led by entertainment adviser Troy Carter and his company Atom Factory (Carter is also global head of creator services for Spotify). Prince was fiercely protective of his music and kept a large percentage of it — even some of his most popular videos and songs for which he didn’t feel he was properly compensated — locked away in his much-vaunted “Vault.” In the year since Carter took charge, the musical archives have been transported to a climate-controlled Iron Mountain facility in Los Angeles, where they’re being archived, restored and in some cases prepared for release.

And on Sept. 28, Carter tells Variety exclusively, there will be an album of previously unreleased material. For more details, eyes below:

The two new websites seem designed for two different kinds of fan experiences: Prince2me is more emotional, where the Discography seems more for music nerds.
Yes, that was very intentional. I think the old way of doing websites was “let’s put everything on one platform,” and those platforms can become very complicated for fans to navigate. Now, between for example Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, there are multiple products, they’re not all jammed into one platform, and that was the thinking behind it: How do you extrapolate different features for different fan sets? We hired a company called Base Design to work with us on some ideas for the web platform and one of them was the Discography, where you can go down a rabbit hole for a couple of hours, and also Prince2me, which is a platform for fans to express themselves. There’s a few more things in the interactive space to come as well, a couple of fun projects to work on. [He declined to elaborate.]

What’s coming next?
The last year was really about information collecting: meeting with various partners, meeting with the heirs and [estate executor] Comerica and figuring out what partners we need to bring on to help execute that vision. First and foremost, it was about organizing the vault and finding out what music exists, what footage exists, photos, personal notes, letters. Prince basically saved everything, so there are decades of music and video and artefacts, but it takes long time to go through each one of those and research the historical context: where is this from, who did he collaborate with, where was it recorded, what year, was it the final version?

Last week, the release of “Nothing Compares 2 U” was the first piece of music to come from our collaboration with the estate, and now we’re working on a release for the fall — a full-length album.

Is it from a specific time, or is it a compilation of material from across years or decades?
This will be more time-specific. Michael Howe, who’s been working with us on the archive, has done a tremendous job of finding some special pieces of work, and one of the pieces that he found, all of us fell in love with it and decided this was special enough for fans to hear. So we’re putting the final touches on it — it’ll come in the fall.

That makes it sound like a single piece of work — is it a suite or concert or a collection of thematically linked songs or something like that?
I don’t wanna give it all away, we still have to preserve some surprises, but after the excitement around [“Compares”], we felt, “Let’s give the fans something else this year.”

Is it coming out on Warner Bros.?
Yes.

What’s the status of the non-Warner music, the material included in the $31 million deal with Uni... rescinded last year?
I can’t comment on it. But what I can say is there’s been a tremendous amount of interest around it and right now we’re weighing our options.

Are there suitors who aren’t major labels?
I was really …. taken aback by all the types of suitors that came: some traditional, some non-traditional. But when you look at the history of Prince’s work there’s a lot of people who fell in love with the music and want to figure out ways to partner with the estate, so we’re just figuring out what the best option is.

Do you feel like you’ve found and catalogued nearly everything in the vault?
Prince recorded and rehearsed and performed constantly, and he taped everything, so once you think you’ve gotten close [to finding everything], you find new things. The vault was just one room and that room ran over into multiple rooms, and this was [mostly] before digitization so you have hard drives, and tapes and things like that. So we’re still in the process, and the fun part of my job is finding new things — every week I’m getting a new call about something special. Just two weeks ago we were doing a tape transfer and in one of the two-inch boxes we found the original lyrics to “Kiss”! It’s amazing, the things that are starting to surface.

What are some of the most exciting things you’ve found?
He wrote down his thoughts and plans and how he ran his business, so he pretty much left a blueprint of how things should go. So listening to the music, the demos, seeing some of his notes and tape notes, you really get an idea of how his mind worked, and I’m honored to get a glimpse of his process. A little bit of what you saw in the “Nothing Compares” video — those were rehearsal tapes, so just seeing him work in rehearsal as if it was Madison Square Garden, performing for his bandmates like there were 100,000 people there, that was a beautiful process to watch.

There was some concern about the conditi... the vault — have any been irreparably damaged?
Certain things happen with age, but Iron Mountain is probably one of the best in the world at restoration, so they basically have any machine that was ever invented for recording, and they have proprietary ways of being able to restore tape. So we haven’t run across any real issues in terms of the condition of material.

Are there plans to re-release the long-out-of-print “Sign O’ the Times” concert film, or any of the many concerts he broadcast on television over the years?
We’re basically looking at all options. We have a very specific plan around the music, because we don’t want to just dump things into the marketplace and have things out just to have them out. Prince was very thoughtful in the way he released music and toured, and being able to preserve and protect that is important as well.

What about things like clothes and instruments?
The [Prince] museum oversees the wardrobe and artefacts, and they’re charged with archiving and preserving.

Are there plans to do a musical based on his music, or new any creative works based on his music?
We’re in conversations with several projects now that we’ll be talking about later on, but nothing to talk about today.

What does it feel like to see and find all these things, and be entrusted with them?
You know what? It’s emotional. I’m very cognizant of how important this role is. I took a trip to Paisley Park to go through the archives, lyric books and letters and photos and mementoes, and I had to stop several times in the process just to breathe a little bit, because it’s heavy — you can still feel his energy in the work. And there was one piece of video that we came across — I got home and popped it in, and it was 11:30 at night, and I had tears running down my face watching this video. It was just incredible that I was witnessing what I was witnessing, just beautiful. His spirit and his creative energy are in the work, and I think you can feel it.

I guess this was a video of a performance?
Yes — the most special one that I’ve seen. I can’t wait for fans to see it. You’ll see!

Janet Jackson Extends ‘State Of The World Tour,’ Posts New Promo Pics

Mike Wass @mikewassmusic | April 23, 2018 7:17 pm

CREDIT: Instagram

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Featured Releases (shown by date of release)

Janelle Monae - Dirty Computer (April 27)

The Temptations - All The Time (May 4)

Darien Dean - Detours (May)

Leon Bridges - Good Thing (May 4)

Billy Preston - Live in NY (May 4)

ABIAH - ABIAH sings Nina (May 6)

Corneille - Love and Soul (May 18)

Jeffrey Osborne - Worth It All (May 25)

Joe Leavy - The Black Anaconda (May)

Tower of Power - The Soul Side of Town (June 1)

Joe Lington - Trust (June 1)

Show Tyme - Love Truth (June 15)

Candi Staton - TBA (Summer)

CREDIT: JOAN MARCUS

If that’s Donna Summer, then this must be the late 70s and early 80s, the era of disco dancing in the clubs and roller skating at the Roxy. (And let’s not even talk about the fashions.)

But you won’t get much of a sense the times in “Summer: The Donna Summer Musical,” a narrow-minded jukebox musical that views its titular heroine in a vacuum. The great songs are pretty much all here: “Love to Love You Baby,” “White Boys,” “MacArthur Park,” “Heaven Knows,” “Bad Girls,” “She Works Hard for the Money,” “Hot Stuff” and “Last Dance,” to skim a few titles off the top. LaChanze is here, too, and in glorious voice, along with a thin biographical book that hardly does justice to Summer’s life or her music.

There’s no sense of what Summer represented to the boys and girls madly dancing the night away to her heart-thumping rhythms and soaring vocals. She was the affirmation of life, of music, of dancing in the face of existential fear. If “Angels in America” (also now on Broadway) was the fearsome death mask of those times, then Diva Donna was the heartbeat of life — not that any of this comes through in this anemic musical.

LaChanze rocked “The Color Purple,” which won her an acting Tony in 2006. She still has great stage presence and, of course, that roof-raising voice. But sharing the stage with the pre-teen Duckling Donna (Storm Lever, dull) and Disco Donna (Ariana DeBose, duller) doesn’t triple her strength, which seems to have been the intention, because the other singers are no match for her.

So, despite some good songs and uplifting vocals from her backup singers, LaChanze is pressed to carry the whole show on her back. She doesn’t even get a break from costumer Paul Tazewell, who has put her into some garish frocks, or from wig designer Charles G. LaPointe, whose hairdos look downright trashy. With her untamed locks and bloodsucker-red lipstick, Donna Summer had a look that was dramatically vivid but not cheap, a distinction that seems to have eluded the designers.

What does work is the costuming of female singer-dancers in men’s drag, slick suits with clean lines and nice tailoring. Choreographer Sergio Trujillo gives those long-limbed beauties sexy moves that are very much appreciated in this under-choreographed show. Drag not only looks good on stage, it also faithfully recalls the disco era, which was all about transgression, sexual and otherwise, and lots of cross-dressing.

Des McAnuff, who directed the show when it premiered at La Jolla, does the directing here, too. Giving the designers completely free rein may have been a mistake, but he shows more skill in setting up the songs and giving his diva the platform to deliver them. The domestic scenes written by Colman Domingo, Robert Cary, and McAnuff, however, die the death, crushed beneath boulders of inane dialogue. Mommy was loving, Daddy was strict, and the rest is all boilerplate.

“People say I sing like a police siren.” What’s that? A funny line? Here’s another: “On a good day, I felt like Judy Garland in ‘The Wizard of Oz.’ On a bad day, I felt like Judy Garland — period.” Cherish those lines, because the laughs are few and far between.

The song lyrics, not the spoken dialogue, are what matter in this show. The lyrics of disco are the language of the late 70s and early 80s — manic, druggy, desperate for a good time. Summer and her music gave voice to that desperate, fearful, wonderful time when no one knew what was coming next, when everyone was determined to dance their fears away before the sun comes up and the “Last Dance” is over.

CREDIT: KRISTINA BUMPHREY/STARPIX/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK

Monday night at the Tribeca Film Festival belonged to lovers of Patti Smith. Bruce Springsteenwas a surprise guest at the Beacon Theater as Smith tore through a short set following the world premiere of Steve Sebring’s documentary “Horses: Patti Smith and her Band.”

The docu chronicles Smith’s 2015 and 2016 tour marking the 40th anniversary of her landmark album “Horses.”

As soon as the film ended, the curtain rose on Smith and her ensemble, which included longtime collaborator Lenny Kaye. They delivered a rousing hour of tunes, including “Dancing Barefoot,” “Land,” “Gloria,” and the Buffalo Springfield chestnut “For What It’s Worth.” She dedicated the latter song to the students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school in Parkland, Fla., who have become gun control activists in the wake of the mass shooting that left 17 dead in February.

“We are moving to a new time and I look at young people to lead us,” Smith said. “It is the people who make change. People, we have to make change now.”

Smith buttressed her point by holding up her electric guitar and declaring that the instrument “the weapon of choice for my generation.”

Toward the end, Smith told the crowd she had “one more person” to bring out. The theater exploded when Springsteen came out, ax in hand, to duet with Smith on their 1978 collaboration “Because the Night.” Springsteen stuck around for the closing song, “People Have the Power,” which also featured a guest appearance by REM frontman Michael Stipe.

CREDIT: JOHN CHAPPLE/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK

A selection of wildly elaborate guitars, clothes and shoes. A purple pool table. Lots of old computers. Pill bottles — some containing vitamin supplements and aspirin, others prescribed. Pamphlets for a California rehab clinic. A festively decorated kitchen. A Bible, a dictionary, hard drives. Envelopes containing thousands of dollars in cash laying out in the open. A cluttered makeup table. Luggage. An almost comically plush bed with a fuzzy canopy. CDs by Joni Mitchell, Missing Persons and the Chambers Brothers. A motorcycle like the one in “Purple Rain” parked casually against a wall. A dove in a white cage. And seemingly acres of shelves loaded with tantalizing tape boxes — Prince’s much-vaunted vault, in a condition that makes an estate advisor’s claim that priceless recordings were...erioration seem very plausible.

This chaotic combination of opulence and everyday — which provides a glimpse into Prince’s life at his 65,000-square foot Paisley Park complex, his primary home and work base for nearly 30 years — is on display in the hundreds of photos of evidence that became public after Carver County authorities...estigation into the artist’s death almost exactly two years ago, on April 21, 2016.

It’s a “Citizen Kane”-like scene that’s both enviable and very sad, snapshots from a life of nearly limitless talent and wealth, yet also chemical dependency and the desultory, discarded detritus you see from anyone who’s lived in the same place for almost 30 years. At times it’s uncomfortably voyeuristic.

Yet what’s most likely to be picked apart by fans are the contents of the vault. Most of the photos are too low-resolution for the writing on the tape boxes to be legible, but one box in the background of a different shot apparently contains the master for “Can I Play With U?,” a song from the mid-1980s that features Miles Davis (neither the jazz legend nor Prince were happy with the song, so it remains unreleased). The recordings have since been moved to a climate-controlled storage facility in Los Angeles, where the first results of the restoration project was released by the estate yesterday: Prince’s original versi...mpares 2 U.”

As for the countless items remaining at Paisley Park? Lots of them are probably still sitting there — the company recently posted an ad for an archives supervisor.