Rainy Milo
Rainy Milo hasn’t got a massive amount of material online to put together a substantial profile piece, but the one song she’s got up on SoundCloud was strong enough to stand here on it’s own.
The London teenager is creating some lovely modern but old school soul sounds on a J Dilla-esque beat and sometimes less is more when it comes to a debut.
We’re definitely excited to hear from this lady.
Oh, Billie!
Jamie N Commons’ recent interview/Q&A on The 405 has inspired me to take on a new way of listening to music.
Speaking on the interview he said that he likes to put “brackets on his listening habits” which in tow helps him when writing music and by that he’d recently been focusing on blind artists like Ray Charles, Blind Willie Johnson and so on. I’m going to give it a go as it seems fun!
Billie Holiday is where I’ve decided to start and so the first ‘bracket’ is going to be female musicians in the 40s – it’s an obvious choice but nonetheless one of the most important.
We join Billie alongside some of the finest percussionists to have ever lived – Ben Webster, Lester Young, Gerry Mulligan, Coleman Hawkins, Roy Eldridge – and it’s so clear to hear their own personal struggles and hardships through the music they play, but that emotion channeled through their music is absolutely awe-inspiring and makes you wonder, when looking at today’s music charts, where it all went so wrong.
RE:GENERATION
I get a little cagey when big companies and brands invest money in music-based projects when their own business operations couldn’t be further from music – yet every now and then there will be a worthwhile project which gets together the correct creative minds and comes away with something meaningful and even inspirational.
Car manufacturer Hyudai are cross promoting their new car with a project called RE:GENERATION which sees the likes of DJ Premier, Skrillex, Mark Ronson, Pretty Lights and The Crystal Method come out of their typical musical comfort zones and delve into genres that have been fundamentally influential to them and team up with some legends in the process to create brand new sounds.
The result, as you’ll see in the YouTube trailer, are moments of revelation and frustration but the key aspect here is that an album of sorts featuring all the work is being given away as a free download on the official website with a feature length film to follow.
Amongst all of the melee, one of our favourite UK producers/artists Bonobo has remixed the huge collaborative Mark Ronson track – have a listen!
Mark Ronson ft. Erykah Badu, Mos Def and Trombone Shorty - A La Modeliste (Bonobo Remix) – download here
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[LISTEN] Alice Smith
Josh Osho
At about 3am this morning I watched upcoming singer-songwriter Josh Osho’s reinventive acoustic cover of Kanye West and Jamie Foxx’s Jesus Walks and I was left absolutely speechless by it.
The guy has broken the song down to it’s absolute core elements and carefully built it back up in a beautiful fashion – utilising his guitars in more ways and demonstrating some stunning vocal abilitiies.
Virtual pat-on-the-back to Mr Osho – I hope Kanye’s seen it.
R.I.P Etta James
Etta James passed away today from complications rising from a long battle with leukaemia. She had a voice like no other and she will be sorely missed. Here are just some of the songs that made her a soul legend. R.I.P.
Etta James – I Would Rather Go Blind
Etta James – Sunday Kind Of Love
