A catchy new jam from Basement Jaxx comes complete with a topical video referencing twerking, of all things. The LA Times had this to say about the video:

A ridiculously funky, bawdy and funny sendup of a promotional film for a robotics company, the clip for “Never Say Never” depicts engineers working to resurrect the lost art of body-movin’. As depicted by director Saman Kesh, Jaxx’s clip boasts of “bringing dance back to mankind” through its innovative “Twerk-Bot 1.0.”

“Never Say Never” features vocals from ETML and will appear on the forthcoming album ‘Junto,’ due out August 25 on Atlantic Jaxx/PIAS. I’ve often felt underwhelmed with their full length projects in the past but this track is definitely whetting my appetite to hear more tracks. Fingers crossed that they are as solid as this one!

PRE-ORDER JUNTO HERE

The post New Pop House Anthem “Never Say Never” from Basement Jaxx first appeared on Beatlife.

Banks is one of new breed of edgy artists (see also Jessy Lanza for example) that Paper Magazine suggests are leading a new movement in R&B. “Warm Water” is probably her only track that could be mistaken for R&B and it’s unique in that it’s definitely one of her more, shall we say, chipper, tracks. A far cry from some of her more emotionally tortured songs, “Warm Water” captures the sense of potential and optimism that arises the moment a new love interest enters your life. That’s my interpretation in any case. In this remix the Beat Ventriloquists lay a warm hip-hop beat underneath that’ll melt your pants right off.

BUY “LONDON”

PRE-ORDER “GODDESS”

The post Banks – Warm Water (Beat Ventriloquists Remix)…. first appeared on Beatlife.

Heritage 5 is Andy Caldwell’s soundtrack for the World Cup. It’s a deep house mix featuring some bangers such as Sasha’s remix of “Hey Now” by London Grammar.

1. Hold The Line Andy Caldwell feat. Lisa Shaw
2. Melody Like A Drum (Wild Culture Mix) Andy Caldwell vs. Lisa Donnelly 4:14
3. Walking With Elephants Ten Walls 10:04
4. I Wanna Feel (Cristoph Remix) Secondcity 14:17
5. Hey Now (Sasha Remix) London Grammar 19:00
6. Groove ’N’ On Secondcity 26:19
7. I Wanna Feel Secondcity 31:33
8. Pushing On Oliver $, Jimi Jules 35:43
9. Crossing Borders (Pleasurekraft Mix) Booka Shade feat. Fritz Kalkbrenner 41:29
10. The Clapping Track (Solomun Mix)Claude VonStroke 46:11
11. Forget Patrick Topping 52:59
12. Sweet Baby Mickey 57:41

The post Heritage 5 – Deep House Mix From Andy Caldwell first appeared on Beatlife.

Anthony Valadez should be no stranger to readers of this blog, or any Los Angelenos out there. He’s a DJ, producer and all around tastemaker. Just Visiting is his most recent album and a really beautiful piece of work inspired by his late night / early morning experiences in Los Angeles. Tapping into his vast network of relationships with awesome music makers, Valadez has pooled a great selection of talent to lace his downtempo beats, including Sonnymoon, Mar , Joya Mooi and Miles Bonny. As a DJ we’ve been used to Valadez’ razor sharp and eclectic  musical taste, but this album really demonstrates his producer-chops.The album is well-worth purchasing in its entirety, but my own personal highlights are Sunny Spot, Underwater ft. Mar and Asleep ft. Anna Wise of Sonnymoon.

Buy Just Visiting at iTunes | Buy at Emusic

Enjoy some samples below and leave your thoughts in the comments.

The post Anthony Valadez – Just Visiting (soul, downtempo) first appeared on Beatlife.

If you’re one of those people that would prefer to avoid the Olympics, I’m afraid you best click away from this post. Bit unusual perhaps to find mention of the Olympics here, but so far I’ve got at least two good reasons to bring ’em up. And this is the first. Here in the US, the more conscientious of us were quite dismayed and disgusted to learn that NBC, the sole broadcasters of the Olympics over here, decided to edit out the part of the opening ceremony that featured a tribute to those who perished in the London bombings of July 2005 (watch it here). Having just seen the brilliant Nitin Sawhney  perform live here in Los Angeles recently, his music is still fresh in my mind and I of course thought about his own tribute to that day, the wonderful “Days of Fire” featuring Natty. So enjoy the live rendition below and as you do, please give a moment’s contemplation to all who have died as a result of terrorism and other nonsensical acts of human-to-human violence.

The post Olympic Edition Part 1 – Nitin Sawhney “Days of Fire” first appeared on Beatlife.

The post Yuna – Thinkin Bout You (Frank Ocean Cover) first appeared on Beatlife.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWLHhyUmnY0

BUY AT iTUNES:

A couple more tracks for your enjoyment….Let me know how you like ’em!
We Should Have Been Born In Canada:

Lofty Ambitions:

The post Summery Scottish House from Discopolis – Summer Nightmares first appeared on Beatlife.

This track came into the inbox with zero introduction, but for some reason I clicked on it in any case, and was pleasantly surprised to find a “squelchy” hip-hop soundscape, thick with electronic grooves and a solid thump. The track is taken from an album by the French (apparently) producer L Rey, Paz y Amor vol. 1 which is available on BandCamp. That album features some similarly experimental-sounding hip-hop instrumentals, although with some obvious jazz and funk influences.

The post Squelchy Hip-Hop From Mr. Bibal and L Rey first appeared on Beatlife.

Maybe y’all already knew this, but this Kimbra chick is apparently kinda hot sh*t at the moment. All of a sudden I keep hearing about her, and just bought her album Vows on Emusic. I had anticipated it being much more indie-kid, but in reality it has a nice quirky soulfulness to it. Adding to the frenzy, this remix landed in my inbox t’other day. Producer Feature Cuts has given “Settle Down” an electro pop facelift, and it works really well. Check out the video below.

The post Kimbra – Settle Down (Feature Cuts Remix) first appeared on Beatlife.

Yay! Dwele’s back with a smooth n’ catchy new single “What Profit”, which precedes a brand new album, his fifth no less which will be released in late summer. Dwele’s last album, “W.ants. W.orld. W.omen. (W.W.W.)” was released in 2010 so it’s been a while since we’ve heard anything from the man. The track is fairly typical Dwele I would say, which, while not ground-breaking, is still a welcome sound amongst the junk that generally seems to prevail these days. I look forward to hearing more from the album. What do you think of this first track? Take a listen below.

The post New Music From Dwele – “What Profit” first appeared on Beatlife.