Some months ago my brotha from Laruche Records put me onto The Xtraordinairs. This funky duo out of Kansas City consists of Leonard Dstroy and Dominique Sanders.
Their forthcoming project titled “X-Life” hits very close to home, since it’s more than a batch of beats. These fellas have worked long and hard on one of the most surprising and musical albums I have heard this year. Single no. 1 is the track “No Pressure” featuring funk phenomenon Reggie B. I remember one of my first posts about Reggie at the beginning of 2009 and more than six year later hear we are again.
Can’t describe how good the new album from The Xtraordinairs is gonna be, but you’ll find out October 13th.
Been a bit busy lately, but had to squeeze in some time to let you all know about a project by Jamin & Fid Mella from Vienna.
Fid is no stranger to us, but it seems he has been lurking in the background for a while. Thanks to Suff Diddawg for making me aware of this. I had never heard of Jamin before, but the two dropped their “Augenring” album a few weeks back.
All tracks are produced by Fid Mella and thanks to Hector Macello Records all 16 tracks are available as a free download or you can name your price right here on Bandcamp.
The artist formerly known as Breezy Lovejoy has been in the fast lane ever since he was featured on Dr. Dre’s new “Compton” album. Sir Anderson Paak might just be one of the nicest vocalists in the game right about now. Hype or no hype.
Now this “The Anderson Paak EP“, produced entirely by production duo Blended Babies (JP and Rich Gains) out of Los Angeles, came out before the weekend. It features Asher Roth and Donnie Trumpet and is well worth a listen if you ask us. The track “Make It Work” is quite pleasant to the ear, but don’t take our word for it and find out for yourself what this Blended Babies EP is all about.
Jasper Staal from the northern city of Groningen is a bit of an oddball at times, but a good guy never the less. He represents the Darker Than Wax crew and visited the Red Bull Studios Amsterdam for our monthly Werk Space series.
Together with his knob twisting friend and Beatsofreen, Jasper laid down the foundation for some fresh new music. Of course you can hear the full track titled “Higherrr” next week when it drops on Soundcloud. Until then enjoy this short video about the man of staal.
After two weeks of exclusive premieres, it feels good to bring you some new music from miss Lizzie Nightingale. This singer / songwriter was born in Glasgow and now resides in the city of London.
Last month she released her “Transition” EP which was produced entirely by our Canadian brother Slakah The Beatchild and written by Lizzie Nightingale herself. The two got down and dirty on the Soul tip and on the track “Free”, which is our favorite track, it becomes clear why this collaboration is so good.
We suggest you get involved, listen to some good music and support by paying a few quid for five songs.
I fell in love with miss Kadhja Bonet at the beginning of this year and have been a fanboy ever since. Her arrangements combined with her airy angelic voice have caused me goosebumps on not one, but on several occasions.
Her latest adventure is titled “The Visitor” EP and on it she takes us on a journey through Jazz, Folk and Soul music with a twist of Electronica and Pop if you will. Me using all these genres basically means I’m at a loss for words and that miss Kadhja Bonet is in a league of her own. The EP was arranged and written by miss Bonet and produced together with Itai Shapira, who happens to be the other half of Genesea (you will want to check this out).
In case you would like to know a bit more about this wonderful soul, please check out our little interview with Kadhja from January. Her EP can be pre-ordered on Bandcamp and is out today!
Last month Roel ‘GOSTO‘ Vermeer visited the Red Bull Studios Amsterdam with his band to take part in our monthly Werk Space project. Enjoy this early demo version of the track “Time For Me” which will most likely be on GOSTO’s next album.
Shout out to the band consisting of Mats Voshol (drums), Bram Wassink (bass) and Luc Schouten (guitar). You know we are more than about beats only, so it’s a refreshing treat to hear such soulful electronic pop music. This one is already Joao’s all-time favorite! Having musicians in the studio is always a great experience and to see how these guys all work together is great. Thank you all for this wonderful piece of music and we can’t wait for GOSTO’s new album to come out.
Sixtus Preiss is a Viennese multi-instrumentalist and a bit of a mad scientist as well perhaps. Sixtus is a well-versed tinkerer who builds home-made amplifier boards and loves the complex wiring of his rigs. He also managed to grab our attention today.
He has a double-sided 7-inch coming out on Friday titled “Lololo“. Now the original version is pretty damn tight, but the band version that’s a whole different story. On it Sixtus Preiss holds it down on keys with Peter Rom on guitar, Manu Mayr on bass and Lukas Koenig on drums. Straight butterfunkalicious!
Look for this on Affine’s Bandcamp page and be sure to pre-order that 45 right about now.
Growing Pains is a compilation album presented to you by Ralph Hardy from the NANG collective out of London.
This is a nice way to highlight a lot of new talent in the UK. Those trying to survive and fighting to bring you their story. With artists such as Etta Bond, Emmavie, Melo-Zed, Barthoven and Thea Gajic we are sure you will enjoy this one. NANG has been making some noise for a couple of summers now and we dig the sound that they are putting out.
This one is titled “Growing Pains” because of their recently terminated Soundcloud account. Thankfully they are building again and we are following them from a distance. Grab a free download or pay whatever you feel is right on their Bandcamp page.
Our friends at Darker Than Wax have been steadily growing over the years and we would like to congratulate them on their “DTW 30K” compilation.
DTW has been building a strong and steady foundation with artists like NeguimBeats, Jasper Staal, Silo, Beats O Freen, Melo-Zed, fzpz, Kerem Akdag and 10.4 ROG on their roster. All these producers handed in a lil sumthin’ to celebrate the fact DTW has now over 30K followers on Soundcloud.
Soak up the free vibes and let the DTW crew take you on a musical journey. Good looking out on the free download and lets face it…who doesn’t love freebies?!
