Back with their first new track in 2017, Copenhagen trio Chinah are back with Even Love.
In comparison to the 90s R&B sounds demonstrated on their previous releases Even Love sees Chinah take a different direction. With a late 80s feel. More pop now than ever, Chinah continue to exude a certain something - effortless, restrained Scandi cool. You need this.
Glastonbury Festival have just announced the Emerging Talent Competition for 2017, supported by PRS for Music and PRS Foundation. The competition aims to give up and coming artists the opportunity to play on one of the main stages at the festival.
In addition to a slot at the festival the competition winners will receive a £5,000 Talent Development Prize from PRS Foundation whilst two runners-up will each receive a £2,500 prize.
The competition is open to musicians of any genre - entries must be submitted between 9am on Monday 30 January and 5pm on Monday 6th February via the festival website. Entrants must include a link to one original song on Soundcloud plus a link to a video of a live performance (even if it is just a bedroom recording).
Long time readers will be aware that I've played a role judging the competition before and I will be returning as one of the blogger judges for my sixth time. Once all the entrants have been received these will be whittled down to a list of 120 by myself and 39 other bloggers. This list of 120 acts will distilled to a list of 8 finalists by judges including Emily and Michael Eavis. The live final will be held in April to decide the winner and it is worth noting that for the past three years all eight finalists have been offered slots playing at the festival!
If you have always dreamed of playing the festival then now is your chance... I can't wait to hear some of this year's entrants!
I can’t help but love the chaotic rhythms of Moving As One, the latest release from UK group LOYAL.
Following up on their debut release Blue & The Green and House For You it has been almost a year since we heard anything new from the group - Moving As One doesn’t disappoint. From the cyclical opening that lurches into an afro-beat yelp through to the ghostly chants that soar in the bridge, this is the sound of a band with huge potential. Funky rhythms and brass stabs give Moving As One a complex yet primal edge that I just can’t resist.
Describing the track, the group reference that primal sound:
Blue and The Green was questioning whether to fight for what has been, or flee. House For You expresses the consummation, knowing there's still a beauty worth fighting for and Moving As One is about the fighting/the loving/the fucking, being in the moment, letting instincts dictate actions and allowing the emotions that ordinarily make you nostalgic or hopeful turn to something instantaneous, explosive and fearless whether the fight is for a love, hope, or a new world it's about the actions not the thoughts that surround them.
I’m just hoping we don’t have to wait another year to hear more.
After a voluntary break for the holidays and an enforced leave-of-absence caused by my internet getting disconnected I’m back, fresh as a daisy for 2017.
First off the block is this gorgeous track from Black Coast, featuring vocals from Remmi.
Black Coast, real name Stan Rapoport, was born in the Bronx. Whilst he has built up a number of connections within the NY music scene it was his collaboration with poet and songwriter M Maggie, Trndsttr, that put him on the map. The track achieved over 5 million plays on Spotify despite being self-released with no marketing budget.
Back with a new single with Nashville-based sing-songwriter Remmi, Feel Something is something of a rallying cry for a year where many of us already feel so little hope. Describing the thinking behind the record, Rapoport describes how he feels about it following the 2016 US election:
“Remmi and I were working on 'Feel Something' mid-2016 before the shit hit the fan. She had a concept about how hard it may be to move on to something new, having positivity and hope for better. We didn’t know it yet, but we wrote a song with a message that some of us really need in 2017."
Having first come to fame at just 18 as a result of her debut single, Only A Girl, Gia is back with a collaboration in the form of Heart Won't Forget.
Produced with Norwegian house producer Matoma, the track was written following the summer of 2015. That debut single Only A Girl was about Gia's first relationship and Heart Won't Forget was created following her break-up with that same girl.
With a catchy whistled hook that kicks things off, Heart Won't Forget sees Gia descibing the endured feelings for that first love - bittersweet longing as she sings "By the oceanside, with your hand in mine, my heart won't forget".
Check out Heart Won't Forget below: