Official Music Junkie

NEW MUSIC: Labrinth - Jealous

2014-11-13T12:08:00.002+00:00

Producer, songwriter and singing extraordinaire Labrinth is back with the second single from his second studio album "Take me to the truth".
Jealous is a beautiful yet heart wrenching track that was penned by Labrinth, Josh Kear and Natalie Hemby in Nashville, and addresses the parent who left him during his childhood.

WHAT A TUNE: Chemical Brothers feat Miguel and Lorde - "This is not a game"

2014-11-13T11:44:00.002+00:00

Taken from the up and coming Hunger Games soundtrack British producers The Chemical Brothers have teamed up with R&B crooner Miguel and Austrialian singing sensation Lorde for the eclectic "This is not a Game"

Curated by Lorde the soundtrack is due for release on the 17th November.

Sam Smith wins big at this years MOBO Awards, so is it still Music of black origin?

2014-10-23T22:32:00.001+01:00

Last night the saw the 2014 MOBO Awards return to its home in the city of London with a somewhat mediocre ceremony at the iconic Wembley Arena, and we were there to give you the 411 on all that went down!!!

Hosted by DJ and presenter Sarah Jane Crawford alongside side former Spice girl Mel B, the pair unleashed a barrage of cringe worthy jokes throughout the night intercepted by few performances of the same nature.

Vocal powerhouse Jessie J opened the show with her smash hit track "Bang Bang", before being joined on stage by Kid Ink for her latest single "Burnin Up". Jessie's performance seemed to sure set twitter alight with some music fans questioning how an award ceremony celebrating "music of black origin" opened up with one of the worlds biggest pop stars?

As the night commenced some of the UK most successful underground and Grime acts took to the stage for both performances and award acceptances. "Krept and Konan" easily had the stand out performance of the night. The South London duo rocked the crowd with a live rendition of their track "Don't Waste My Time" before picking up their award for Best Hip Hop.

One of the most memorable moments of the night came from Skepta, the front man of East London collective Boy Better Know, who picked up the award for "Best Video". During his acceptance speech the MC revealed that the video for his track "That's not me" only cost "80 English pounds" to shoot…. now that's a bargain.

The night continued in a somewhat flat fashion, with performances from Meridian Dan joined by Fekke, the legendary, but somewhat underwhelming Candi Staton supported by Birmingham MC Lil Simz. As well as Gorgon City, MNEK, Jessie Gyln, Ella Eyre, Ghetts , Nicole Scherzinger and closed out by US singer Jeremih.

The night was unmistakably dominated by one of our long-time favs, Sam Smith who admitted that he was overwhelmed by his success over the past year. The singer took home 4 gongs including "Song of the year, Best Male, Best Rnb/ Soul and Album of the Year".

Though the night was enjoyable and we were beyond excited to be there, I have to bring up the elephant in the room and discuss the criticism that The Mobo's receive year after year.

How can an award ceremony that markets itself as being a celebration of music of black origin continue to dish out awards to the likes of Jessie J, Rita Ora and Ed Sheeran. They even nominated Tinnie Tempah for Best Hip Hop, when this past year the majority of his music been electronic dance!
Jess Glynne, one of the performers on the night and vocals of Clean Bandits' track "No where I'd rather be", slammed critics who claimed that the MOBO's shouldn't be dominated by white entertainers by saying,

"It's not about the colour of your skin, it's about your music. Not only black people can sing songs and be inspired by soul. I find it so ridiculous."

Though her response maybe justifiable in many cases, I have to disagree with her in relation to this award show, and skin color has little to do with it. Sam Smith is clearly a pop/ soul artist who has admitted that he takes inspiration from both gospel and soul music. However having electronic dance duo Gorgon city performing at the show and giving the "Best Female" award to a pop singer has to be questioned.

So how can we justify this? Are the genres of modern music so intertwined that defining and grouping them has become near on impossible. Or has the MOBO's watered down their show, message and stance to gain more viewers across a wider spectrum?

NEW MUSIC VIDEO: Wretch 32 - "6 Words"

2014-10-14T12:43:00.002+01:00

This may just be Wretch 32 at his best.

The British rapper appeared to be on hiatus over the past year, but he has made a triumphant return with his latest track 6 words.

Featured as Zane Lowes "Hottest record in the word" the track is produced by SOS and remixed by Wilkinson and will feature on the emcee's sophomore album due out early next year.

6 Words will be released on 16th November 2014

NEW MUSIC VIDEO: Pharrell featuring Daft Punk - Gust of Wind"

2014-10-08T11:38:00.001+01:00

After teasing us with a 30 second clip of "Gust of Wind" yesterday, Pharrell Williams and Daft Punk take us into their world of wonders in the full length version. Check out the vid below!

NEW MUSIC VIDEO: Jessie J feat 2 Chainz - Burnin' Up

2014-10-08T10:54:00.000+01:00

Vocal powerhouse Jessie J turns her sex appeal all the way up for the new video for her latest track "Burnin' Up" featuring 2 Chainz.

The single followup to the chart topping "Bang, Bang" is due to be released on December 1st, with Jessie's album "Sweet Talker" due out on October 13.

NEW MUSIC VIDEO: Ed Sheeran - Thinking out loud

2014-10-07T16:21:00.002+01:00

Ed Sheeran goes all "Strictly come Dancing" on us for the new visuals for "Thinking out Loud"

NEW MUSIC: Pharrell Williams feat Daft Punk - "Gust of Wind" (Teaser)

2014-10-07T11:35:00.000+01:00

I'm not going to bore you with a write up when we both know it's not needed. If you've heard "Get Lucky" or "Loose yourself to dance" then your going to want to hear the next single to be taken off of Pharrells' Girl album.

A little video teaser for "Gust of Wind" below

NEW MUSIC VIDEO::Beyonce feat Nicki Minaj - "Flawless" Remix

2014-10-07T11:23:00.001+01:00

After setting the blogs and sound cloud on fire last month with the Nicki Minaj remix of the infectious female empowered track "Flawless". Beyonce has released the visuals which sees "the Queen of rap slaying with Queen B" at the Paris leg of The Carters'' "On The Run Tour"

NEW MUSIC: Musiq Soulchild channels inner rapper The Husel

2014-09-16T16:07:00.001+01:00

With a voice as smooth as butter and an entire back catalog of some of the best baby making tracks in the history of Neo Soul, Musiq Soulchild has shocked fans by introducing a new persona, along with new music in the form of “The Husel”.

His new style is seemingly reminiscent of much of the mindless hip hop tracks popular on mainstream radio today, and forces us to question, is this the levels that talented artists have to stoop too in order to achieve mainstream success in modern music?

A statement featured on the singer/ rappers soundcloud page reads;

“The Husel is not a person, THE HUSEL is a state of mind. Everyone has their own interpretation of the hustle, this just happens to be mine,” and this new venture is inspired by how people hustle on a day-to-day basis to make money”.

Hmmmmmm….. Or maybe it's just a joke and he's just taking the piss! You decide.

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NEW MUSIC: Kiesza - "No Enemiesz"

2014-09-16T11:44:00.002+01:00

With a UK number firmly under her belt, Canadian singer Kiesza has released details of her brand new single "No Enemiesz" along with the track listing for debut LP "Sound of a Woman".

Kiesza admitted that fans maybe surprised at the tone and sound of the album, saying "Because of the success of my first two singles, I’m seen perhaps as a House or Dance artist but I’ve been in to grunge, rock, folk groups in the past. All of those experiences and influences have led me to create this album."

"Sound of a Woman" is out on the 17th November 2014.

Tracklisting
01 Hideaway
02 No Enemiesz
03 Losin' My Mind FT Mick Jenkins
04 So Deep
05 Vietnam
06 Bad Thing FT Joey Bada$$
07 What Is Love
08 Sound Of A Woman
09 The Love
10 Piano
11 Giant In My Heart
12 Over Myself
13 Cut Me Loose

MUSIC NEWS: London's tribute to Amy Winehouse

2014-09-15T15:07:00.001+01:00

London pays tribute to the late singer Amy Winehouse by unveiling a life- size statue in her hometown of Camden, on what would have been her 31st birthday.

Scott Eaton, who sculpted the piece said that the statue aimed to embody Winehouses' "attitude and strength, but also gives subtle hints of insecurity".

Her father, Mitch Winehouse admitted that seeing the piece was "incredibly emotional" and that Eaton had done an incredible job in capturing her "in a beautiful moment in time".
He also dismissed rumors of a new Amy Winehouse album, telling BBC News, “We're not about to put out new albums with different takes on 'Back To Black'. She probably did 15 different versions of 'Back To Black' but we wouldn’t do that, it's not fair. We don’t want to rip people off. There is no more new music."

Since the singers death in 2011 her family have set up a charity in her name to help young people with addiction. Amy Winehouse Foundation

NEW MUSIC VIDEO: Calvin Harris - "Blame" (featuring John Newman)

2014-09-13T16:15:00.000+01:00

Emil Nava directs the latest music video for the unstoppable force that is Calvin Harris.

"Blame" features husky lead vocals from John Newman and is set to be Harris's 7th number one single on UK charts.

NEW MUSIC: SBTRKT - "Voices in my head" (featuring Warpaint & ASAP Ferg)

2014-09-11T15:54:00.000+01:00

London based dance producer SBTRKT reviled his brand new track "Voices in my head" featuring Warpaint and A$AP Ferg.

Posted via Soundcloud, SBTRK also explained how the track came together and how he managed to get one of traps most promising new rappers to jump on the track.

"This track was started in London (with an idea I recorded on an upright piano)," he wrote. "Took this to Los Angeles (set up at Flea's the Boat studio in Silver Lake) collaborating further with Stella (drums) & Emily (vocals) from Warpaint [and] took this back to london to work more arrangement ideas to it.
"Finally a couple months later took that to New York (downtown) and collaborated with Ferg (out to our friend Callender for connecting us). This is one of my fave tracks and seemed to be a fitting ending to the record too."

He's highly anticipated LP "Wonder where we land" is due to be released later this month and features Vampire Weekends' Ezra Koeing, Koreless along with regular collaborators Sampha and Jessie Ware.

Listen to "Voices in my head" below.

Coachella 2014 - The Best Bits

2014-04-14T17:48:00.001+01:00

This weekend saw the first week of the world famous Coachella Music and Arts Festival take place in Palm Springs, CA.

With a line up consisting of legendary to upcoming acts across the EDM, Rock and Hip Hop genres, the good people over at Goldenvoice did not disappoint their 200,000 strong crowd.

Being extremely jealous that we weren't rolling around with the hipsters in the desert we trolled the internet for some of the performances that we would have hit up had we of had the budget!!!

Outkast

3 Stacks (a.k.a Andre 3000) and Bigboi closed the first night of festivities with a 90 minute set of some of their biggest hits including "Roses", Ms Jackson" and "So Fresh and So Clean". Though we thought their set was on fire, Andre 3000 had no problem in expressing his disappointment with the unenthusiastic crowd by performing the duo's biggest hit "Hey Y'all" with his back to the crowd.... RUDE!

Pharrell Williams
As expected Pharrell had a few tricks up his sleeve for his performance. Having working with a multitude of artists over the 2 decades that he has been in the biz, Pharrell had no problem in getting some of the best n the industry to join him on stage for his set.
Look out for cameos from, Diplo, Gwen Staffani, Busta Rhymes, Snoop Dogg and Nelly.

Solange

A regular Coachella favorite Solo spiced up her psychedelic set by bringing out big sis Beyonce for an impromptu dance off!

Queens of the Stone Age

MGMT

Nas

Nasty Nas shut it down on the second day of the festival by performing his entire Illmatic Album, which celebrates it's 20th anniversary this year. He also surprised fans by bring out former rap rival Jay Z and the artist formally known as P Diddy.

Muse
Matt Bellamy and co battled the desert sand storm to bring crowds a stunning performance of their classic hits as well as a surprising cover of Nirvana's "Lithium"

Thanks to Youtubers ThePawan29, buriedvoid and RapupTV

HE'S BACK: Ed Sheeran - "Sing" (Produced by Pharrell Williams)

2014-04-07T22:33:00.000+01:00

Having recently moved from the UK to Nashville and after becoming BFF's with Taylor Swift, I'm not lying when I say that I was a tad bit nervous when Ed Sheeran announced news of his forth coming album "X (multiply)". But earlier tonight Ed and Radio 1's Zane Lowe shut those doubts down and restored my faith in the most spectacular way when they spun Sheeran's new track "Sing" produced by the genius that is Pharrell Williams... And I must say, our Eddie is giving Justin Timberlake a run for his money on this one! Next up it will be arena filled concerts with levatating stages, we see you Ed, go head, do your thang!!!

NEW MUSIC: Drake - "Draft Day" & "Days in the East"

2014-04-03T14:10:00.002+01:00

Currently taking a well deserved break from his "Would you like a Tour" tour, rapper/ singer Drake has released another new soundcloud track "Draft Day" which samples Lauryn Hills classic "Doo Wop (That Thing).

Having been called "Ms Drizzy" by Jay Z on his track "We Made It", Drake reportedly hits back ~~with some weak ass lyrics~~ by telling Jay, "I do it for the hits, not the misses, that's for the married folk".

He also shouts out Oscar winning actress Jennifer Lawrence, telling her she "really could get it".

I foresee a Rihanna twitter rant coming in 4, 3, 2....

"Days In The East" produced by PartyNextDoor

NEW MUSIC: Rita Ora - "I will never let you down"

2014-04-01T10:52:00.000+01:00

Rita Ora.. the singer, turned socialite, turned model, turned actress has returned to her musical roots and dropped the first single off of her forthcoming sophmore album. "I will never let you down" is produced by the singers beau, Calvin Harris and will be officially released on 11th May via iTunes.

As a fellow Londoner and in support of females in the industry we've been routing for Rita ever since we heard "R.I.P", but in my humble opinion, all of her songs tend to lack charisma and stand out edginess that tend to boost singers into superstardom. Her debut on DJ Fresh's "Hot Right Now" shows that she has the talent to push her vocals and experiment with sound, but we urge miss Ora to choose her material carefully as we fear that if this new album doesn't make an impact, it maybe over for the starlets singing career. Whomp!

NEW MUSIC: Sam Smith - Stay With Me

2014-03-26T11:55:00.002+00:00

Last night our new fave artists revealed his upcoming single "Stay With Me".

Sam Smiths' usual soulful vocals are supported by a full choir on his new romantically enticing track.
The single can be pre ordered on iTunes now, and his highly anticipated album "The Lonely Hour" will be released on the 26th May.

Sam Smith: Stay With Me

NEW MUSIC: The Black Keys - "Fever"

2014-03-24T11:34:00.000+00:00

On Friday The Black Keys took to Mike Tyson's twitter account to announced their new album "Turn Blue". Due to be released this May the twosome will also be hitting the pyramid stage this summer at the legendary Glastonbury Festival.

Check out the southern funk inspired first single "Fever" below.

NEW MUSIC: Jhene Aiko "My Afternoon Dream"

2014-03-16T15:37:00.000+00:00

In celebration of her 26th Birthday, R&B "newcomer" (when we say newcomer we mean new to the commercial scene) dropped a surprise track for fans entitled "My Afternoon Dream" which follows Jhenes' typical sound of laid back, sun drenched, Cali vibes.

The Best from SXSW 2014

2014-03-16T14:42:00.000+00:00

The week long annual music conference and festival came to a close this weekend. Performances and talks were given from a range of artists perform across all genres, and showcased both new and A list talent, being a true mecca for any music enthusiast.

As we spent the week wishing we were there, we done the next best thing and searched for the best performances from the festival on YouTube and put them together just for you!

Enjoy!

Travi$ Scott

Jay Z and Kanye West aka Watch The Throne

Erykah Badu

London Grammar

Sam Smith

NEW MUSIC VIDEO: Arctic Monkeys - Arabella

2014-03-06T11:29:00.000+00:00

After a killer 2013 with the release of their multi platinum astounding album "AM"and further boost in album and ticket sells after their Brit Award performance last month, Sheffield's finest have released the video for their indie-smooth single Arabella.

VIDEO CONTAINS NUDITY :)

NEW MUSIC: Pharrell Williams- GIRL

2014-02-19T13:12:00.000+00:00

Pharrell Williams went and done a Beyonce on us, by dropping a surprise new album out of the blue (ha.... you see what I did there).

Having dominated the radio airwaves throughout 2013 working with the likes of Daft Punk, Nile Rogers, Justin Timberlake, Jay Z and of course Robin Thicke; Williams has no plans to slow down. His latest debut features the smooth, infectious and innovative sounds that we have come to enjoy from the multi- talented musician throughout the past 15 years.

The project is lead by the Oscar nominated track "Happy" and features guest spots from Daft Punk, Alicia Keys, Miley Cyrus, plus more.

Tracklist

"Marilyn Monroe" 

"Brand New" feat Justin Timberlake 

"Hunter"

“Gush" 

"Happy" 

"Come Get It" feat Miley Cyrus 

"Dust Of Wind" feat Daft Punk 

"Lost Queen" 

"Freq" 

"I Know Who You Are" feat Alicia Keys 

"It Girl"

New "Music Inc" App is The Sims of the Music Industry

2014-02-09T19:26:00.002+00:00

Music Inc is the free new Music App which allows gamers to experience the challenges of managing aspiring music artists.
Launched late last week, through the collaboration between UK Music, Then Itellectual Property Office and Aardman Animations, the new "Sims" like simulation game is designed to give users total managerial control over acts, covering everything from songwriting to producing tracks, styling, book keeping and promotion.

Created in a bid not only to help educate young music business hopefuls on the in's and outs of the industry, the app also aims to give fans insight into the undeniable impact that music piracy has on artists and the entire music business.

Minister of intellectual property, Lord Younger discussed the issues that musicians face in the fight against piracy: "The UK has a world leading music industry with globally recognised artists, something we should be proud of. But getting the protection of their work, and its value right, is vital for a vibrant and successful future".

After a few hours of pretending to be the next Clive Davis, the game-makers have to be congratulated on developing a creative new way to depict the highs and lows of the music industry; however we feel that the creators are being a tad bit ambitious in hoping that their younger gamers will give two hoots about music piracy, let alone curve their music consumption habits by playing this game....
It was worth a try though.

"Music Inc" is available for free download on all Apple and Android app stores.