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“This Silent Night”: U of Soul Rekindles Holiday Magic with Heartfelt Soul

The holiday season is a time for reflection, and U of Soul’ s latest release, "This Silent Night," delivers the perfect soundtrack for those quiet moments of contemplation. This Christmas anthem doesn’t just evoke the warmth of the season—it stirs something deeper, a yearning for unity and peace that feels especially poignant in today’s divided world.

From the first verse, "This Silent Night" sets an intimate scene: moonlit sidewalks, frosted houses, and the faint hum of carols in the distance. Lyrics capture the magic of a still winter night, pulling you into a serene yet emotionally charged landscape. When the chorus arrives with “sleep in heavenly peace,” it’s not just a lyric; it’s a plea, a prayer, and a balm all at once. The song’s gentle groove, reminiscent of classic soul ballads, is both nostalgic and refreshing, offering a warmth that feels like sitting by a fire with family.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqX6g3ydaJk

What makes this track stand out is its profound message. U of Soul’s revelation—“there really is a brotherhood of man”—isn’t a saccharine holiday platitude. Instead, it’s an earnest reminder of what Christmas should represent: joy, light, and a collective hope for peace. By the time he declares, “I can feel it so strong on This Silent Night,” you believe him. You feel it too.

In a time when holiday music often feels commercialized and formulaic, "This Silent Night" is a rare gem that reminds us of the true spirit of the season. It’s a song you’ll want to keep on repeat—not just for the holidays, but for those moments when you need to believe in a better world.

https://open.spotify.com/track/0Fy1TUrcSXnsODueRp0cpL?si=0d69fbf960874037

U of Soul Embraces Identity and Resilience in Latest Release “The Outsider”

San Francisco-based band U of Soul delivers a powerful message of self-discovery and perseverance with their newest single, "The Outsider."

Through classic vocals and a melodic, catchy chorus, "The Outsider" serves as more than just a song; it's a poignant lesson in life. With lyrics urging listeners to remain strong and keep moving forward, U of Soul captures the essence of resilience amidst life's challenges.

The track explores themes of identity and belonging, portraying the journey of an individual navigating the complexities of existence. While the lead vocals narrate the tale of a solitary figure, the instrumental track sets a mood that is simultaneously hopeful and uplifting.

"The Outsider" is a testament to U of Soul's musical prowess and their ability to craft authentic, soul-stirring performances. The band's meticulous attention to detail is evident in every aspect of the song, from the tight, solid arrangement to the soulful lead vocals that channel deep emotions reminiscent of blues and jazz roots.

Incorporating traditional band instruments like drums, bass, piano, and percussion, U of Soul infuses the song with rich layers of sound. Strings, Hammond B3 organ, guitar, synthesizers, and background vocals add depth and texture, creating a dynamic listening experience.

Throughout "The Outsider," the acoustic piano provides a warm, expressive backdrop for the lead vocals, while the drums and bass drive the rhythm forward with unwavering strength and simplicity.

As U of Soul continues to captivate audiences with their soulful sound, they are hard at work in the studio, preparing a slew of new and exciting material for release. While live-streamed concerts from their San Francisco studio are on the horizon, "The Outsider" stands as a testament to the band's artistry and commitment to delivering music that resonates deeply with listeners.

Listen to "The Outsider" below:

https://open.spotify.com/album/6ghUBbThFJ8iWzOxxPec5X?go=1&sp_cid=ffb027636c3e452e241dd57ea9318933&utm_source=embed_player_p&utm_medium=desktop

The New York Dolls: “We were kind of lost souls”

From Uncut’s June 2004 issue [Take 85]. The lurid, unexpurgated saga of The New York Dolls, as told to Uncut by the band themselves…

November 4, 1972. The New York Dolls are backstage at Liverpool stadium, preparing for one of their most prestigious gigs of this, their first UK tour. It is barely six months since their public debut, yet here they are about to open for no less a rock luminary than Lou Reed. The group that Melody Maker hailed as “the best rock ‘n’ roll band in the world” before they’d signed a deal or recorded a note.

Ten minutes before showtime and the Dolls’ adrenalin is pumping hard. Exploding with nervous energy, their delight at being invited to support Reed is countered by the expectation that they will soon upstage him. If Lou is the established doyen of Neil York’s art-rock Max’s Kansas City crowd, then the Dolls are its underground enfants terrible. “We were a threat,” confirms bassist Arthur Kane, speaking to Uncut in February 2004. “We were about to blow him off the fuckin’ stage.”

Unfortunately, they never got the chance. For reasons he will never explain, Reed dispatches a lackey to deliver the bombshell: if the Dolls go on, he won’t. “I remember standing behind the curtain,” Kane recalls. “I had my bass on, all tuned up and ready. He could have told us earlier not to make the trip, but he didn’t. He waited moments till we were about to go on. It’s not enough that he rejected us; he also had to disappoint us. He had to hurt us.”

Devastated, the Dolls consoled themselves with the prospect of their next concert supporting Roxy Music in Manchester five days later. Except they wouldn’t make that one, either. Not because of a similar queenie strop in the Roxy camp, but because within 48 hours one of them would be lying dead in a bathtub after an accidental drug overdose.

By rights, their story should have ended there. A tragic footnote in history, the could-a-beens that never were. Instead, the Dolls would survive to rescue rock’n’roll from post-Woodstock tristesse, challenging accepted sexual stereotypes and draft the outlines of what would become punk rock. If only for the blink of a mascara’d eye, The New York Dolls would become the best rock’n’roll band in the world after all.

They were five young, straight, shaggy-mained bucks from New York’s rough Bowery district who happened to enjoy wearing lipstick, chiffon and crotch-clinging spandex. They sounded like The Rolling Stones’ Sticky Fingers album played at 45rpm: hot hit-and-run guitar boogies complementing lyrical fantasies about riding in spaceships with Diana Dors and fucking Frankenstein’s monster.

The New York Dolls took the raw power of The Stooges and applied it to the jukebox pop of The Shangri-Las. Mystified critics dismissed their savage bubblegum hybrid as “subterranean sleazoid trash”. The Dolls took this as a compliment.

“We were a totally revolutionary way to play rock’n’roll,” Dolls frontman David Johansen tells Uncut. “The real deal, not manufactured. We played rock’n’roll music and made it look like rock’n’roll music. With the clothes, it wasn’t really considered drag. We were kind of lost souls. We took male and female and made this kind of third choice. It wasn’t like we were trying to be girls; we were trying to mix and match, y’know what I mean? It was ‘Look at me, I’m masculine, and I’m feminine’.”

“We were stealing out girlfriends’ make-up to get more girlfriends,” laughs Sylvain Mizrahi, alias Sylvain Sylvain, the guitarist who christened the group after a local toy store repair centre, the New York Dolls Hospital.

FIND THE FULL INTERVIEW FROM UNCUT JUNE 2004/TAKE 85 IN THE ARCHIVE

Paul Weller curates soul music comp for Ace Records

Paul Weller has curated a 26-track compilation for Ace Records called That Sweet Sweet Music, featuring some of his favourite soul cuts from the likes of Betty Davis, Baby Huey, Richie Havens, Syl Johnson and The Dells.

THE MARCH 2025 ISSUE OF UNCUT, STARRING WILCO, A FREE WILCO CD, JEFFERSON AIRPLANE, PATTERSON HOOD, THE WHITE STRIPES AND MORE IS AVAILABLE TO ORDER NOW

“Years before I went out looking for soul music, it found me,” writes Weller in the liner notes. “Soul soundtracked my early life. I filled the C90 tapes we swapped with our mates and the mixtapes we sometimes did to impress girls… it feels weird to me that the act of putting together a simple mixtape is something you can’t do any more. So the opportunity to put together this collection is doubly welcome.”

That Sweet Sweet Music will be released on CD and vinyl on March 28. Pre-order it here and peruse the tracklisting below:

Side 1
01 God Made Me Funky – The Headhunters
02 Spanish Twist – The I. B. Special
03 Breakaway – The Valentines
04 Top Of The Stairs – Collins & Collins
05 Dont Let The Green Grass Fool You – The Spinners
06 Black Balloons – Syl Johnson
Side 2
01 Soulshake – Peggy Scott & Jo Jo Benson
02 I Can’t Make It Anymore – Richie Havens
03 You Got To Have Money – The Exits
04 Pull My String (Turn Me On) – The Joneses
05 Run For Cover – The Dells
06 On Easy Street – O.C. Smith
07 It Ain’t No Big Thing – The Radiants
Side 3
01 Summertime – Billy Stewart
02 In The Bottle – Brother To Brother
03 Hard Times – Baby Huey
04 Maggie – Johnny Williams
05 When – Joe Simon
06 Pouring Water On A Drowning Man – James Carr
07 Preview That’s Enough – Roscoe Robinson
Side 4
01 Blackrock Yeah Yeah – Blackrock
02 Golden Ring – American Gypsy
03 Search For The Inner Self – Jon Lucien
04 Life Walked Out – The Mist
05 In The Meantime – Betty Davis
06 Beautiful Feeling – Darrell Banks

Ace Love Makes a Bold Entrance with Debut Album ‘Valor & Honor’—A Funk-Pop Journey of Heartbreak, Triumph, and Soul

The wait is over—Ace Love ’s debut album Valor & Honor is finally here, and it’s nothing short of a revelation. The 10-track album introduces a new, electrifying voice to the world of funk-pop, R&B, and disco. The Calgary-based artist has crafted a sonic journey that’s as much about emotional vulnerability as it is about unapologetic swagger. And Valor & Honor is a testament to his hard-won success, both as a producer and as a storyteller.

“I want this album to be something everyone can find a piece of themselves in. I poured everything into these songs, and I believe every listener will walk away with something that resonates with them personally. That’s the magic of music.”
Ace Love

From the first notes of the album opener, "Valor," it’s clear Ace Love has something important to say. The track immediately sets the tone with its infectious, yet urgent, funk-pop grooves—a pulse that carries throughout the entire record. It's a sound that feels both timeless and contemporary, blending classic rhythms with modern production values. Ace’s smooth, soulful voice wraps itself around each beat with the ease of a seasoned artist, while his lyrics carry the weight of personal experience.

Valor & Honor isn’t just a collection of tracks; it’s an emotional arc. Ace’s personal story—rooted in hardship, perseverance, and self-discovery—plays out through songs that speak to universal experiences. It’s clear that Ace poured his heart and soul into Valor & Honor, and that emotional honesty is one of its strongest suits.

Ace Love’s dual role as producer and co-producer also shines through. While he takes full control of the production on both the opening track “Valor” and the album’s closing anthem “Royalty,” much of Valor & Honor is the result of collaborative effort. The sound is rich and dynamic, built on a foundation of slick funk rhythms and R&B hooks that never lose their edge. Whether he’s pulling from the emotive cadences of R&B or the vibrant pulse of disco, Ace Love knows exactly how to blend genres into something that feels both fresh and authentic.

This album is a journey through his pain, his triumphs, and his ongoing pursuit of connection through music. Each track is an open door, offering listeners a chance to find something of themselves within Ace’s story. Valor & Honor is the start of what promises to be a career worth watching, and it’s an album that deserves to be heard by anyone who believes in the power of music to move and transform.

The The Ensoulment

The The’s excellent 1983 album, Soul Mining, captured a feeling of deep, pronounced, soul searching like few other debuts have managed. Nearly 40 years on from that record Matt Johnson found himself engaging in a similar form of intense reflection and contemplation, as he navigated getting over a serious illness, grappling with the pandemic, dealing with grief and witnessing a rapidly changing world as AI boomed. It’s been 24 years since The The’s last studio album, with Johnson largely retreating into soundtrack work in the intervening years, but after a surprise return single in 2017 and the band’s first tour in 17 years, a full comeback was put into place.

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During the making of this album, Johnson found himself reflecting on the current state of the world, which he called “fascinating” yet also “strange, inverted and hallucinogenic”. These are all feelings that have found their way onto Ensoulment, an album that tackles many of life’s big questions, topics and subjects – albeit one that is at its strongest when it steps back from those and offers up something more personal.

Tracks such as “I Want To Wake Up With You” – a slow-burn piano-based number which unfurls with an almost smokey jazz bar groove – is as tender as it is mournful and longing, with the production rich, warm and enveloping in tone. This continues on album highlight “Risin’ Above The Need” as Johnson purrs, over an almost soul groove, “I’m searching in the mirror for who I have become.” This is before it reaches its chorus via the titular refrain, which sparkles gloriously as Barrie Cadogan’s beautiful guitar melody glides underneath Johnson’s resonant yet uplifting, and quietly triumphant, vocal delivery.

When Johnson tackles bigger, broader, societal and political issues, though, things don’t quite hit with the same punch, clarity or warmth. “Cognitive Dissident” is clumsy, heavy-handed and very on-the-nose lyrically with themes around authoritarianism, control and herd mentality. Given Johnson’s spreading of conspiracy theories about Bill Gates and Covid during lockdown, it’s hard not to read certain lyrics here – “The consensus? Created/Reality? Curated” or “the unthinkable is now thinkable/The poison? It’s drinkable” – through a similar kind of truther lens.

Similarly, “Kissing The Ring Of POTUS” is pretty hard work as it reels off lines like “a psychopathic superpower spies from the sky, transmitting viruses into the mind’s eye”. Yet Johnson’s voice sounds great on tracks like this, and he glides around the words with real deftness, grace and skill. It’s just a shame about some of those words: “Zen And The Art Of Dating” sets out to be about finding human connection in a world of superficial encounters, but ultimately it’s just a very cringe depiction of life on dating apps. At times it’s difficult to ascertain whether it’s intended to be ironic or sincere, but lines like “breasts are yearning, loins are burning” fail on both counts.

It’s when Johnson looks inwards that he produces his most stirring work. “Where Do We Go When We Die?” is a beautiful tribute to his late father that wrestles with life after death, while pondering the cycles and meanings to be found in life while experiencing grief. There’s more emotional weight carried in the two lines he sings about taking his father’s clothes and books to the charity shop than can be found in any of the state of the world addresses heard elsewhere on the record.

“I Hope You Remember (The Things I Can’t Forget)” unfolds with an almost Tom Waits-like shuffle, with Cadogan’s snaking guitar lines matching the woozy percussion. Johnson leans into a slightly more gruff voice too, as he imagines a world on the brink but dives deep into the comfort of nostalgia, basking in the scent of his grandmother’s perfume and the engulfing haze of old tobacco smoke. It’s these kinds of moments and details that are needed to lift the album up from the bleakness and paranoid leanings.

Historically, The The have always been a difficult band to label. Over the years, they’ve hovered around art-rock, synth-pop, post-punk and new wave yet they’ve never really belonged to any of them. On Ensouled, things feel equally as tricky to nail down, but generally things are slower and less musically direct, and so you have an amalgamation of alt.rock, leftfield folk, pop, jazz and touches of electronica. However, while stylistically varied, it can feel a little lacking in variety and dynamism at times, as it very much sits in mid-tempo mode for much of the 12 tracks, the sprightly pop of their early period rarely appearing. Johnson feels nicely in sync with his band though, who possess both precision and personality in their playing.

Regardless of a few wrong turns, it’s wonderful to have such a natural songwriting talent as Johnson back on record again. It’s just a shame he doesn’t always seem to realise that the most interesting soul he could mine here is his own.

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We’re New Here Thee Sacred Souls

“The quality just feels timeless – it helps you feel good, helps you perform with so much more energy.” Frontman Josh Lane is talking about the stylish vintage clothes that characterise the look of Thee Sacred Souls, but he could just as easily be talking about their music, an irresistible brand of righteous, sun-blessed soul that consciously rekindles a classic ’60s and 70s R’n’B sound. “Absolutely,” he concurs. “It’s all part of the same package.”

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Since forming in 2019 and signing to New York soul and funk label Daptone after only their second show, they’ve built up a keen following from touring with the likes of St Paul & The Broken Bones, Belle & Sebastian and Nathaniel Rateliff & The Nightsweats. Their forthcoming second album Got A Story To Tell promises to further cement their reputation as standard-bearers for classic American soul.

The sound of Thee Sacred Souls, so marinated in quality that it could have been preserved in oak casks, evolved after drummer Alex Garcia and bassist Sal Samano hooked up with Lane via social media and jammed in a garage while sharing their love for lesser-known soul 45s by acts such as the Fabulous Performers and the Dream Team. Lane in turn brought his own passion for Northern Soul and more mainstream voices such as Al Green and Marvin Gaye to bear, the latter of whom are clearly echoed in his resonant, higher-register vocal style.

Early on, Lane also brought a conscious lyrical element to songs such as “Give Us Justice” – an early college radio hit for the band written amid the Black Lives Matter movement in tribute to victims of police brutality such as George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. That topical awareness has since matured into a more broadly defiant, positivist worldview heard on new songs such as “Love Is The Way” and “One And The Same”.

“It baffles me that values so basic and true still bypass the powers that be,” says Lane. “I’m trying to say, regardless of state lines or tradition or culture, we’re all connected. Music is one powerful force that unites us, and reminds us of that.”

He condemns the resurgence of a “patriarchal, imperialist mindset, all about conquering and dominating.” Resistance against such power structures fuels the new album’s opening song and lead single “Lucid Girl”. As Lane explains,

“in a lucid dream, the dreamer isn’t held down by the dream. A lucid girl is someone who lives in this patriarchal society that we’ve all been birthed into, but doesn’t allow it to hold them down. It’s inspired by a lot of strong women in my life, whether it’s authors that I really enjoy like Bell Hooks, or activists like Angela Davis, or my Mom.”

The message lands all the more powerfully coming wrapped in Thee Sacred Souls’ lovingly crafted sound. Lane is quick to credit the role of Daptone label boss Gabriel Roth, who also produced Got A Story To Tell. “Gabe is an amazing producer and engineer, and he gets such a great sound from using just analogue gear,” Lane enthuses. “The label feels like a family, one that really respects and reveres the soul tradition and helps us to do the same. We feel blessed for that connection, to play a small part in the long story of soul.”

Got A Story To Tell is released by Daptone on October 4

AKTHEPROD’s Soulful Exploration in ‘ISOLATE’: A Journey of Self-Discovery and Authenticity

AKTHEPROD, born Alex Krause, has stepped into the spotlight with his latest EP, ‘ISOLATE’, a deeply introspective project that captures his journey through solitude, self-discovery, and personal growth. Known for blending elements of hip-hop, R&B, and pop, AKTHEPROD has evolved from a promising producer into a compelling artist who isn’t afraid to confront his vulnerabilities through music. ‘ISOLATE’ reflects his raw, honest exploration of identity, particularly his experiences with isolation during his battle with COVID-19 and his path to embracing his sexuality as an openly gay man.

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The EP’s narrative goes beyond the pandemic, delving into AKTHEPROD’s struggles with societal expectations and his personal journey of acceptance. Tracks like “Sweet” and “Talk My Shit” are the most personal to him, addressing themes of love, hookup culture, and the constraints placed on him by society. “Sweet” speaks to the challenges of navigating love in a world where emotional connections can often feel shallow, while “Talk My Shit” confronts the stereotypes and limitations imposed on him due to his sexuality. These songs resonate with a powerful message: there’s no place for inauthenticity, and everyone deserves to be unapologetically themselves.

AKTHEPROD’s creative process is rooted in feeling and storytelling. He begins by immersing himself in the beat, allowing the rhythm to guide his vocal melodies and lyrical direction. His music often unintentionally reflects themes of love and personal experiences, weaving together narratives of searching for connection in a world that often feels isolating. The process of making music, from producing beats to writing lyrics, has become his sanctuary, allowing him to process emotions and express his truth in a way that feels genuine and liberating.

Beyond the studio, AKTHEPROD is a multifaceted individual with talents that extend to DJing, basketball, and gaming, showing that his creativity isn’t confined to just music. His passion for music, however, remains his primary outlet, helping him navigate the complexities of life and find peace in moments of uncertainty. With ‘ISOLATE’, AKTHEPROD encourages listeners to embrace their individuality and authenticity, challenging the idea of conforming to fit societal expectations.

As AKTHEPROD looks to the future, he’s open to exploring new genres and expanding upon the themes introduced in ‘ISOLATE’. The EP is just the beginning of a broader artistic journey that reflects his growth as both a musician and a person. With his unwavering dedication to authenticity, AKTHEPROD is carving out a unique space in the music industry, one that resonates deeply with those who have ever felt out of place. His message is clear: be yourself, reject the noise, and find solace in your truth.

Discover CloudPainter’s Soulful Journey Through Their Latest Release “Count On Me”

Liz Painter and RJ Cloud, singer-songwriters who met in downtown Tucson, Arizona, have come together to form the band CloudPainter, embarking on a unique musical journey. Combining their talents, they established a studio within a local art and music venue where they recorded their early work amidst the desert backdrop. RJ, the founder of Cloud Microphones and inventor of the award-winning Cloudlifter, collaborated with Liz, a folk rock and roots artist, to create a distinctive sound. Along with drummer Josh Sailor and bassist Steve Smith, CloudPainter produces lush harmonies and authentic songwriting, all recorded at their world-class Cloud Music Recording Studios in Tucson.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QNFVuGzlSQ&feature=youtu.be

CloudPainter’s music is a fusion of folk rock and a blend of modern and classic influences, reflecting their early collaborative work within Tucson’s creative scene. The duo’s journey started at Discovery Gallery, a local venue that laid the foundation for their musical partnership. With the addition of Steve Smith on bass, Carlos Solorzano on drums, and Arnie Ventura on percussion and backing vocals, the band has developed a rich and harmonious sound that emphasizes their dedication to producing genuine, high-quality music.

Their latest single, “Count On Me,” captures CloudPainter’s focus on heartfelt storytelling and themes of solidarity. The song carries a reassuring message, offering support during difficult times with its acoustic instrumentation and powerful yet simple lyrics. The combined vocal styles of Liz and RJ, along with dynamic contributions from the band’s rhythm section, create a listening experience that is both intimate and expansive, perfectly aligning with the song’s themes of hope and resilience.

“Count On Me” showcases CloudPainter’s commitment to creating honest, meaningful music. Released during a time of global uncertainty, the song’s message of human connection and support resonates strongly with listeners. The single seamlessly blends nostalgic elements with a contemporary sound, offering a space for reflection and unity. It also underscores CloudPainter’s evolution as a band dedicated to producing music that touches the heart.

The release of “Count On Me” invites listeners into a musical space that serves as a sanctuary, providing comfort and fostering a sense of togetherness. For those seeking a blend of nostalgic influence and modern flair, this single is a testament to CloudPainter’s artistry. It highlights their dedication to crafting deeply emotional music that resonates on a personal level, transforming each song into a meaningful experience.

‘M3GAN’ is getting an erotic thriller spin-off, ‘SOULM8TE’

A M3GAN spin-off titled SOULM8TE is in the works – find out more below.

READ MORE: ‘M3GAN’ review: robot on the rampage is a new horror icon

Per The Hollywood Reporter, Blumhouse has announced SOULM8TE, an erotic thriller set in the M3GAN universe. While a cast has yet to be announced, the film has received a January 2, 2026 release date via Universal and will see Kate Dolan (You Are Not My Mother) direct.

SOULM8TE will reportedly tell the story of a man who purchases an AI-operated android in the hopes of getting over the death of his wife. In an attempt to turn the android into a sentient being, he unknowingly births a monster, much like the titular character in M3GAN.

M3GAN – an abbreviation of Model 3 Generative Android – was the key antagonist of the 2023 horror film, directed by Gerard Johnstone.

The film stars Williams as Gemma, a workaholic roboticist who struggles to raise her niece Cady after her parents died in a car accident. Gemma believes her problems can all be solved when she finishes designing M3GAN, a humanoid doll with artificial intelligence to be a friend and protector to Cady. However, things start to go wrong when M3GAN begins taking her prime directive to protect Cady to murderous extremes.

The film premiered to rave reviews, scoring a four-star rating at NME, with Nick Levine branding M3GAN as “an icon, a legend, and the moment”. The film has scored an upcoming sequel, titled M3GAN 2.0, which was originally slarted to premiere in January 2025 but has since been delayed to May 2025, per Collider.

The The announce new studio album, Ensoulment

The The return with Ensoulment, their first new studio album since 2000’s NakedSelf.

Ensoulment is set for release through Cineola / earMUSIC on September 6, 2024.

You can hear the first single, “Cognitive Dissident“, below.

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Joining Matt Johnson are James Eller (bass), DC Collard (keyboards), Earl Harvin (drums) and Barrie Cadogan (lead guitar) – and co-producer and engineer Warne Livesey, who previously worked on Infected (1986) and Mind Bomb (1989).

Additional performances include Gillian Glover (backing vocals), Terry Edwards (horns), Sonya Cullingford (fiddle) and Danny Cummings (percussion).

Ensoulment features previously unpublished artwork by Johnson’s late brother Andy, (aka artist Andy Dog).

The track listing of Ensoulment is:

1.   Cognitive Dissident
2.   Some Days I Drink My Coffee By The Grave Of William Blake
3.   Zen & The Art Of Dating
4.   Kissing The Ring Of POTUS
5.   Life After Life
6.   I Want To Wake Up With You
7.   Down By The Frozen River
8.   Risin’ Above The Need
9.   Linoleum Smooth To The Stockinged Foot
10. Where Do We Go When We Die?
11. I Hope You Remember (the things I can’t forget)
12. A Rainy Day In May

The album will be available as a Limited CD Hardcover Mediabook, CD Jewelcase, Black 2LP Gatefold and Ltd. Crystal Clear 2LP Gatefold. Further exclusive formats will be available in the official album store.

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Peter KingKing: From Rhythm to Soul – A Fusion of Music and Business Brews Sweet Melodies

Los Angeles-born singer-songwriter Peter KingKing defies easy categorization. He's a multi-faceted talent who blends musical passion with sharp business acumen. While managing car dealerships across the country, KingKing finds solace and artistic expression through his soulful music.

KingKing's love affair with music began in his youth. The melodies of the guitar and the rhythmic pulse of the drums became his haven. This early influence translates into his music today, where his lyrics paint vivid portraits of love, longing, and life's complexities with raw authenticity.

His music resonates deeply because it cuts through the noise and connects directly with the listener's core. "Sweeter Than," his latest release, exemplifies this artistic power. It's a captivating exploration of infatuation, weaving a narrative of love and yearning with the skill of a seasoned storyteller. The track's infectious beats and catchy hooks perfectly capture the universal experience of desiring something just out of reach.

https://open.spotify.com/track/5VDWrUHVAlT60oDFuzhOT6?si=28d7300935ae4340

"True (You) Pt. 1" and "True (You) Pt. 2" further solidify KingKing's artistic versatility. These soulful compositions lay bare the intricate experiences of love and heartbreak. He welcomes listeners into a world of unflinching honesty and vulnerability, where lyrics shift between passionate declarations of devotion and somber reflections on loss. It's a journey through his emotional landscape, a powerful illustration of his willingness to be transparent.

https://open.spotify.com/track/1cK6zd5YWkJFiUN0AHouB1?si=9ffbf0454b004eda

KingKing's music isn't just entertainment; it's a catalyst for self-discovery. Each melody and lyric peels back another layer, revealing the depths of human emotion and offering a glimpse into his soul. His infectious energy and heartfelt music continue to propel him forward, leaving a lasting impression on the music scene.

KingKing's "True (You)" is a powerful two-part story. The first track pulsates with the exhilaration of new love, while the second confronts the sobering reality of heartbreak. This intentional contrast allows listeners to connect with the full spectrum of a relationship, from the initial spark to the aftermath.

https://open.spotify.com/track/4Vd28hvSTePpmJ7LrqezRs?si=1d9fcdd791324889

What truly sets Peter KingKing apart is his vulnerability. He doesn't shy away from portraying the unfiltered emotions of love and loss. Through his music, he creates a space for listeners to not only be entertained but also to confront their own experiences with honesty and open-heartedness. This vulnerability is the key to his music resonating with such a wide audience seeking genuine connection in today's musical landscape.

KingKing's artistry extends beyond catchy melodies. He uses his music to forge authentic connections with his audience. By laying bare his vulnerabilities, desires, and struggles, he creates a space where listeners can connect with their own experiences. As Peter KingKing continues to navigate the world of music, his star is undoubtedly on the rise. His music leaves an indelible mark, a powerful reminder of the impact of honest storytelling and the unwavering pursuit of creative expression.

Peg Luke’s Latest Musical Offering, “The Church’s One Foundation,” Invites Soulful Reflection

Peg Luke, a distinguished artist with nominations for both Emmy and Grammy awards, unveils her latest musical creation, "The Church's One Foundation." With a career marked by performances at illustrious venues such as Carnegie Hall and Cadogan Hall, Luke's music resonates deeply with audiences worldwide, offering a soul-stirring journey of introspection and spiritual depth.

In the midst of grappling with a life-altering autoimmune diagnosis three years ago, Peg Luke turned to her music as a source of solace and inspiration. Despite the tumultuous landscape of the pandemic, she remains resolute in her mission to spread positivity and hope through her artistry. With an unwavering commitment to conveying messages of faith and connection, Luke's music serves as a guiding light in times of uncertainty, reminding listeners of the enduring bond between humanity and the divine.

From a tender age, Peg Luke exhibited a remarkable musical aptitude, mastering the piano at five and the flute at seven. This early passion for music propelled her to embark on ambitious projects, including her own Psalm Space and her acclaimed 2023 Christmas collection. With a magnetic stage presence and exceptional talent, Luke has earned accolades for her ability to captivate audiences with her emotive performances.

https://youtu.be/dgZzK7miTjM

"The Church's One Foundation" seamlessly integrates into Peg Luke's illustrious repertoire of singles, each resonating with her unique blend of spiritual themes and melodic depth. Tracks such as "Dirt Under His Nails," "Amazing Grace," and "The Lord's Prayer" showcase Luke's ability to infuse her music with profound emotion and contemplative resonance. Collaborating with esteemed producers like Neal Merrick Blackwood and virtuoso Lucas Sader, Peg Luke's 2023 holiday album, "Sleep, Baby Jesus: A Peg Luke Christmas," further underscores her versatility and artistry.

In the accompanying music video for "The Church's One Foundation," Peg Luke delivers a poignant and evocative performance. Set against a backdrop of flickering candlelight and a tranquil ambiance, Luke's heartfelt melodies transport viewers on a journey of spiritual reflection and introspection.

As Peg Luke continues to inspire with her music, "The Church's One Foundation" stands as a testament to her unwavering dedication to uplifting souls and fostering a deeper connection with the divine through her art. With each note, she invites listeners to embark on a profound journey of self-discovery and spiritual renewal, solidifying her position as a visionary artist in the contemporary music landscape.

Stream “The Church's One Foundation” here:

Hear Paul Weller’s new single, “Soul Wondering”

Paul Weller has released a taster for his new studio album.

TALKING HEADS ARE ON THE COVER OF THE NEW UNCUT – HAVE A COPY SENT STRAIGHT TO YOUR HOME

You can hear “Soul Wondering”, the first single taken from 66, below.

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66 is released on May 24 on Polydor Records. The album will be available on all major streaming platforms, CD and vinyl. It’s been produced by Weller and recorded at his Black Barn studio over the course of three years with a host of guest musicians including Suggs (“Ship Of Fools”), Noel Gallagher (“Jumble Queen”) and Bobby Gillespie (“Soul Wondering”).

66 also sees the co-writing return of Erland Cooper and duo White Label, and string arrangements from Hannah Peel. Additionally, there are two collaborations with French producer and recording artist Christophe Vaillant (Le Superhomard) while Brooklyn trio Say She She add vocals to “In Full Flight”. Other collaborators include Dr Robert, Richard Hawley, Steve Brooks and Max Beesley.

The tracklisting for 66 is:

Ship of Fools

Flying Fish

Jumble Queen

Nothing

My Best Friend’s Coat *

Rise Up Singing

I Woke Up

A Glimpse of You *

Sleepy Hollow

In Full Flight **

Soul Wandering

Burn Out ***

Produced by Paul Weller

Except:

* produced by Christophe Vaillant

** produced by Weller / White Label

*** produced by Weller / Charles Rees

Fans remember David Soul with his cover of The Fall’s ‘Hit The North’ with Frank Sidebottom and Paul Ryder

In the light of his death this week, fans have been sharing a bizarre appearance that David Soul once made on Frank Sidebottom’s talk show. Check out the footage below.

Soul, best known for playing Kenneth “Hutch” Hutchinson on Starsky & Hutch in the 1970s, died on Thursday (January 4), following what his wife Helen Snell described as a “valiant battle for life in the loving company of family”.

He went on to have his own music career, with the UK Number One singles ‘Don’t Give Up on Us’ and ‘Silver Lady’, but it is a very different musical performance that has been doing the rounds on social media this weekend.

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Soul once appeared on Frank Sidebottom’s Proper Telly Show, a short-lived anarchic chat show that was broadcast on Channel M in Greater Manchester in 2006 and 2007.

The show, hosted by the absurdist comedian Chris Sievey’s persona Frank Sidebottom, welcomed Soul as a guest on the December 1, 2006 episode, with the two of them ending the show by playing a seemingly impromptu version of The Fall’s 1987 single ‘Hit the North’.

“He’s playing it, can you believe it!” Sidebottom says as Soul takes to the keyboard to open the track. The two are soon joined by the show’s other guest, Happy Mondays’ Paul Ryder, who adds his bass part to the performance.

Soul can be heard laughing out loud throughout the song, and decides to abandon the keyboard at one point to pick up a handheld camcorder to start ‘filming’ Sidebottom’s antics.

Sidebottom improvises nonsense lyrics throughout the song, while playing with his cardboard sidekick, ‘Little Frank’.

“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever done in my life!” Soul can be heard saying as the show goes off air.

I'll always remember him for the time he did The Fall's Hit the North with Frank Sidebottom and Paul Ryder. https://t.co/lMWcbYxbPZ pic.twitter.com/UpBWhTjd3A

— Bantership Potemkin (@Bonesdrawstuff) January 5, 2024

We should also remember David Soul performing Hit The North by The Fall with Frank Sidebottom. Absolutely astonishing, baffling television https://t.co/KPhgSs592t

— Rhodri Marsden ⏏️ (@rhodri) January 5, 2024

The last of three legends to pass. RIP David Soul https://t.co/L7cAch97W6

— wesellboxes (@we_sell_boxes) January 5, 2024

Bobby Gillespie pays tribute to “Celtic soul brother” Shane MacGowan

Bobby Gillespie has paid tribute to Shane MacGowan describing him as my “Celtic soul brother”.

The Primal Scream frontman penned a lengthy piece in The Guardian on the day of The Pogues frontman’s funeral on Friday (December 8).

He wrote about how he first came across MacGowan in the late 1990s saying he had “a dark charisma, he looked tired and sad to me.”

“So one night I went up and introduced myself, and we just got on. It was easy. I found him a gentle soul, quite shy actually, not like I’d imagined him at all. I’d admired him as far back as ‘Gabrielle’, by The Nips. That was his first band, but his songs with The Pogues were on another level,” Gillespie explained.

“I was always in awe of his talent as a songwriter: his songs were highly literate stories of oppressed and downtrodden people marginalised by society; full of empathy and compassion for ordinary working men and women and their daily struggles – not forgetting the junkies and the drunks.”

Shane MacGowan, vocal, performs in 1995 at the Paradiso in Amsterdam, Netherlands CREDIT: Frans Schellekens/Redferns

Referencing MacGowan’s idol Lou Reed the Primal Scream frontman described his songs as “a mix of contemporary street vernacular and a real traditional poetic sensibility” and said his favourites were The Pogues’ ballads ‘A Pair Of Brown Eyes’, ‘A Rainy Night In Soho’, The Old Main Drag, and the festive anthem ‘Fairytale Of New York’.

Gillespie also said the late frontman’s more raucous songs such as ‘Transmetropolitan’, ‘The Sick Bed Of Cuchulainn’, ‘Sally MacLennane’, ‘Streams Of Whiskey’ and ‘Boys From The County Hell’ were also “all riotous celebrations of a life well lived, filled with crazed humour and ecstatic joy. Songs that make you want to get drunk and raise hell. Tom Waits once said The Pogues played like ‘sailors on shore leave’ – a perfect observation”.

Despite once telling MacGowan in 2000, that he was the “best lyricist in contemporary music; that no one, not Nick Cave, Morrissey nor Mark E Smith came close”, The Pogues man didn’t take too kindly to the comment snapping back “It’s not a competition!”.

Gillespie also recalled the time MacGowan once performed ‘Rocks’, ‘Loaded’, and a cover of ‘Born To Lose’ by The Heartbreakers at a Primal Scream in concert in Glasgow.

He added: “I remember the full force of his vocal dragging the band behind him as he tore into the verses of the song. When he sang he was a force of nature, all punk power and visceral emotion.

“A true rock’n’roller – and a Celtic soul brother of the highest order. ‘We’re Gaels!’, he proclaimed to me once. Every time he sang with us, and he did variously in Glasgow, Dublin and London over the years, we were honoured. We loved him. The fact he dug our band meant the world to us.”

Gillespie finally recalled his last memory of MacGowan in hospital in September and hailed his wife Victoria who he described as The Pogues frontman’s “rock” and “guardian angel.”

He added: “Underneath the rock’n’roll, rake-at-the-gates-of-hell image, the role of the Brendan Behanesque poète maudit, Shane was a good old-fashioned romantic. He saw the beauty of the spirit and the flaws in people, celebrated them and identified with their struggles. He felt too much probably, saw too much with the poet and songwriter’s gift of vision.

“And maybe that’s what all the drinking and drugging was about. He had to numb himself to get through his life. His greatest songs exist to help the rest of us get through our lives. Thank you, Shane. Thank you for the music and the good times. May God rest your beautiful Gaelic soul.”

The Pogues frontman passed away “peacefully” on November 30, having died from pneumonia aged 65.

His funeral in Tipperary, close to where MacGowan spent his childhood, saw The Pogues perform together for the first time since 2014.

Glen Hansard and Lisa O’Neill also performed a version of MacGowan’s 1987 festive classic ‘Fairytale Of New York’ at the service, backed by members of The Pogues, leading to members of MacGowan’s family to dance in the aisles of the church.

Nick Cave also performed at the funeral, playing a powerful, adapted version of The Pogues‘ ‘A Rainy Night in Soho’, while Johnny Depp delivered a personal reading to the man he descirbed as the “maestro” at the funeral.

Bolis Pupul shares new single ‘Completely Half’ and announces Soulwax-produced debut album ‘Letter To Yu’

Bolis Pupul has announced his debut LP ‘Letter To Yu’ and has shared its lead single ‘Completely Half’. Check out the video below.

‘Letter To Yu’ has been described as a love letter to his mother, who died in a traffic accident in 2008. Pupul was born to a Belgian father and a Chinese mother. In the wake of his mother’s passing, Pupul began to embrace and come to terms with his heritage.

“When I started to think about my roots, instead of being ashamed of them, I started to embrace them,” he said (per The Line of Best Fit). “And so it became more and more important for me to get in touch with them. I went to evening school here in Belgium and began learning Chinese. I did that for four years. That was the first step.”

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Directed by Magnum photographer Bieke Depoorter in the heart of Hong Kong, the video for ‘Completley Half’ sees Pupul exploring the streets and buildings within the Chinese city in search of his late mother.

Speaking about the experience of creating his debut LP, Pupul said (per The Line of Best Fit) “Even though this trip was very emotional and at times sad, I also had some great times that just made me really happy. This resulted in a very uplifting melody where I felt like I could handle my life.”

‘Letter To Yu’ is set for release on March 8 via Soulwax’s record label, Deewee. The The Belgian electro-rock duo co-produced the LP alongside Pupul. Pre-order the album here.

‘Letter To Yu’ tracklist is:
1. ‘Letter to yu’
2. ‘Completely Half’
3. ‘Goodnight Mr. Yi’
4. ‘Frogs’
5. ‘Doctor says’
6. ‘Spicy Crab’
7. ‘Ma Tau Wai Road’ (with Salah Pupul)
8. ‘Causeway Bae’
9. ‘Cantonese’
10. ‘Kowloon’
11. ‘Cosmic Rendez-Vous’

Pupul previously released a joint album with Charlotte Adigéry back in 2022 titled ‘Topical Dancer’. In a four-star review of the LP, NME shared: “Adigéry and Pupul don’t need any help with their success, thank you. With ‘Topical Dancer’, they have created an album that works just as well as the soundtrack to a killer house party as it does a necessary act of rebellion against the negative forces in our society.”

Speaking to NME about their collaborative project, Adigéry said: “I think when I’m with Bolis we have that competitive streak to try and impress the other and make them laugh. “We’re not saying we’re the funniest people in the world, but we crack each other up at least.”

‘Topical Dancer’ also landed the seventh spot on NME‘s 50 best albums of 2022, with NME‘s Thomas Smith saying: “Sharp quips, jabs at pass-agg comments and the duo’s electrifying beats reigned supreme in a record full of humour, heart and some serious dancefloor heaters.”

Smeethan’s Recent Release “Soul Symphony” Inspire Hope And Action

Environmental activist and musician, Smeethan’s latest single "Soul Symphony" brings to light the magnificence of the natural world, with the aim of motivating a new generation to hope and take united action. To achieve this goal, the singer-songwriter recognized the need to remove his ego from the equation.

He sought to construct an immersive auditory environment for the listeners, realizing that the inclusion of a human voice in music could potentially impose someone else's ego onto their experience. Instead, Smeethan incorporated the sounds of nature into his musical composition, allowing the audience to fully engage their senses and subconscious imagination.

Smeethan intends to employ a similar approach in his future releases, which highlight the positive potential of humanity. The artist hopes to weave together the sounds of human achievements and progress, as a way of paying tribute to the captivating and irresistible allure of the universe.

The LA-based talent hopes to evoke a sense of serenity and mystical connection to nature, with the ultimate goal of cultivating an appreciation for the natural world and acknowledging our reliance on it for survival. By instilling gratitude and a deep love for the Earth, his aspiration is that listeners will be motivated to take action and protect the planet.

"Soul Symphony" offers a captivating and multi-sensory experience that transcends just the auditory realm. Its accompanying video showcases the beauty of evolution and growth, featuring the transformation of baby animals into adults and the progression of streams into mighty rivers, vast lakes, and finally, the boundless ocean.

Through the visuals Smeethan underlines the vastness of the sky and the stunning beauty of rain, reminiscent of a warm and delightful summer storm. The video serves as a stunning portrayal of the natural world's magnificence, power, and wonder, with the water cycle and the growth of life serving as the primary core elements.

Watch the Official Visualizer on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/D5JttxnTYaA

Listen to “Soul Symphony” here:

Frank Turner’s touring band The Sleeping Souls release first single ‘Liar Lover’

The Sleeping Souls — Frank Turner‘s touring band — have debuted their first single, titled ‘Liar Lover’.

READ MORE: Frank Turner on losing Scott Hutchison and finding “acceptance” on his new album

The four-piece outfit released the track on Friday (October 14), featuring Turner’s guitar technician Cahir O’Doherty on vocals. It’s a tender acoustic cut that captures a soft rock sound, with lyrics that reflect on a relationship breakdown.

“We lie to ourselves and each other as easy as drawing breath,” the band commented in a statement. “Every lover lies. Liar Lover is about that moment in the breakdown of a relationship when you accept that there’s no repair: only ownership of your own part in its failure.”

Give ‘Liar Lover’ a listen below.

The cut was released via Xtra Mile Recordings and comes as the first single from an as-yet-untitled album. The band haven’t provided a release date or tracklist for the record, though it is expected to arrive in 2023.

The Sleeping Souls have long been a staple accompaniment for Frank Turner, as both his touring and recording band. They’ve made six albums with Turner, including his latest release ‘FTHC’.

‘FTHC’ arrived in February this year, previewed by singles ‘Non Serviam’, ‘Miranda’, ‘A Wave Across A Bay’, ‘The Gathering’, ‘Haven’t Been Doing So Well’ and ‘The Resurrectionists’, featuring Biffy Clyro‘s Simon Neil. The record scored Turner his first-ever UK Number One album, with the singer saying: “It’s not a thing I ever thought would happen to me.”

Earlier this year, Turner and The Sleeping Souls headed to the US to complete 50 shows in 50 days — each in a different state. He became the third artist (and first non-American) to achieve the feat, telling NME: “Obviously there’s a degree of bravado in this and a lot of the way that I tour.”

“I like to think that I’m self-aware enough to realise that it doesn’t really matter on some levels. I could quite easily have not have done this, and the world would keep turning on its axis. At the same time, it does feel pretty cool. It’s an achievement that’s quite rare and I am quite proud of that.”

Buzzcocks Sonics In The Soul

Can there really be a Buzzcocks without Pete Shelley? The singer-songwriter, who died in 2018, fronted the band for 41 years, writing or co-writing hundreds of songs including such copper-bottomed classics as “What Do I Get?” and “Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn’tve)”. His death leaves a massive hole. And yet, lest we forget, Shelley himself stepped into a similar space when original singer Howard Devoto left in 1977, leaving the lead guitarist to transition to singer-guitarist, main songwriter and frontman.

ORDER NOW: Björk is on the cover of the latest issue of Uncut

The rest is history, and while the lineup has survived numerous changes to the rhythm section over the years, guitarist (originally bassist) and vocalist Steve Diggle – who now steps up to solely front the band – has hardly been a slouch. Along with numerous co-writes with Shelley, he wrote and sang the likes of the hurtling “Harmony In My Head”, “Autonomy” and “Love Is Lies”, the acoustic ballad that threw such an effective, bittersweet curveball into the middle of 1978’s Love Bites. Having now been a Buzzcock for longer than anyone including Shelley and having taken on more vocal and songwriting duties as the years progressed, Diggle has earned his late colleague’s blessing to take over the ship.

Now 67, the Mancunian instinctively understands what Buzzcocks are about. Recorded during the pandemic, their first album since 2014’s underwhelming The Way is packed with trademark hurtling guitar runs, piercing lead guitar lines and machine gun drum rolls, and most songs reliably clock in at under three minutes. What’s missing, of course, is Shelley’s unique vocal – fey, arch, wry, knowing, romantic, wounded and, let’s be honest, irreplaceable. Diggle’s is a more straightforward rasp, gutsy and slightly nasal, suited to “Harmony In My Head” but not, say, “You Say You Don’t Love Me”. Still, here he’s written songs which sit comfortably within his range, and if there are moments when you find yourself wistfully imagining Shelley singing them, that’s testament to their quality. But equally, writing on his own in lockdown, Diggle has brought an unexpectedly emotional, often beautifully elegiac quality that makes Sonics In The Soul relevant and relatable.

These 11 songs capture a man at a time in his life struggling to make sense of a rapidly changing, sometimes frightening new world. The opening title track – a “What Do I Get?”-style zinger – initially appears to be a celebration of delirium, but is actually an admission of bewilderment: “All my dreams have hit the ground, with my senses out of control”. Another cracker, “Manchester Rain”, was inspired when Diggle met a young, hopeful band in a Mancunian doorway, and flashed back to his young self, with everything ahead of him. The lovely lead guitar line has a hint of 1978’s sublime “ESP”, but the guitarist has surely earned the right to recycle himself by now.

“You Changed Everything Now” is a classic Buzzcocks anthem about how people change or become estranged: “The world is looking out of place and the signs are written on your face and it’s me you want to replace”. With a bridge to die for, it’s a heartbreakingly glorious tune that could have slotted into the hallowed Singles Going Steady. Sonics In The Soul doesn’t always hit such heights, but there’s much to recommend. “Bad Dreams” is a jagged, “Nothing Left”-style anthem about recovery. “Nothingless World” has shades of the early Jam and IRS-era REM. “Just Gotta Let it Go”, a three-minute blast about frustration, could be Buzzcocks circa 1977, but “Everything Is Wrong” is another mellifluous gem, with contemporary themes of post-truth and fake news.

Lockdowns have audibly influenced the rather rudimentary “Don’t Mess With My Brain” and, more successfully, the effects-laden “Experimental Farm”, but the album increasingly gives way to philosophical and dystopian moods. There’s a hint of Joy Division darkness to “Can You Hear Tomorrow”, lyrically a sort of “Won’t Get Fooled Again” sigh at current politics (“Old centre parting, coming away at the seams”). Orwellian references abound in the deceptively cheerily chugging “Venus Eyes”, as Diggle searches for hope in the current “thought control reality”. Sonics In The Soul doesn’t always hit the spot and it’s a shame there’s no room for last year’s heartfelt tribute “Hope Heaven Loves You” (on the Senses Out Of Control EP). But there’s easily enough here to steer the trusty old craft into new, uncharted waters, just as Shelley wanted.

will.i.am claims he inspired Beyoncé to release ‘Break My Soul’ remix EP

Will.i.am has claimed he was the inspiration behind Beyoncé’s ‘Break My Soul’ remix EP.

READ MORE: Beyoncé – ‘Renaissance’ review: a celebration of love and Black joy

Earlier this year, Beyoncé released a four-track EP featuring remixes of the ‘Renaissance’ track from the likes of Honey Dijon, Terry Hunter and Nita Aviance.

According to will.i.am though, the whole thing would never have happened without him. Speaking to Metro, he said: “I was in France and her song (‘Break My Soul’) came out and I’m like, ‘I wish the beat did this.’ So I called my collab partner and we did it remotely on FYI, a collaboration tool.”

The Black-Eyed Peas singer then claimed “they weren’t thinking about remixes until I sent it.”

“They put out a remix EP and my song’s first one on it – and I inspired it,” he continued. “I can’t find the word for it – it’s like Santa Claus is real, man!”

Following the release of ‘Break My Soul’, Dijon took to Instagram to thank Beyoncé for sharing “Chicago house music roots” and applauded ‘Renaissance’’s broader showcase of “black queer and trans culture. I am honored, humbled, delirious with joy, and proud,” Dijon wrote.

Beyoncé also teamed up with Madonna for ‘The Queens’ remix of ‘Break My Soul’ which interpolates Madonna’s 1990 classic ‘Vogue’ and pays tribute to legendary Black female artists including Aretha Franklin and Diana Ross, as well as iconic ballroom houses including the House of Aviance and the House of Xtravaganza.

“Thank you, Queen,” Beyoncé wrote in a thank you letter to Madonna following the release of the remix. “I’m so grateful for you. You have opened so many doors for so many women. You are masterpiece genius.”

“Thank you for allowing me to sing in your song and thank you for naming the remix,” the note continued. “Love always and forever, B.”

Last week, Cardi B shared a thank you note sent to her from Beyoncé that read: “Hard working, beautiful and talented queen. Thank you for always supporting me. Sending so much love to you and yours.”

Adele says her postponed Vegas show had “no soul” and “lacked intimacy”

Adele has discussed the problems with her initial Las Vegas residency show, saying she postponed it because it had “no soul”.

The singer was due to start the residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace on January 21 this year, with the run of shows extending through to April. However, Adele postponed the gigs the day before the opening night, telling her fans in a video that her show wasn’t ready.

Last month, Adele announced that all the previously postponed ‘Weekends With Adele’ concerts had now been rescheduled. In addition to the 24 previously announced shows, a further eight new shows were also unveiled.

After discussing how the cancellation left her “a shell of a person,” Adele has now discussed the specific reasons for the last-minute postponement.

Speaking to ELLE in a rare interview, Adele said: “It was the worst moment in my career, by far. By far. I was so excited about those shows. It was devastating.”

Of the problems with the show, she added: “There was just no soul in it. The stage setup wasn’t right. It was very disconnected from me and my band, and it lacked intimacy. And maybe I tried too hard to give it those things in such a controlled environment.”

Adele performing at Hyde Park. Credit: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images

Of the time after the announcement, Adele added: “The first couple of months was really, really hard. I was embarrassed. But it actually made my confidence in myself grow, because it was a very brave thing to do. And I don’t think many people would have done what I did. I’m very proud of myself for standing by my artistic needs.”

In a statement when announcing the rescheduled gigs, which take place across the end of 2023 and into early 2023, Adele said: “Words can’t explain how ecstatic I am to finally be able to announce these rescheduled shows. I truly was heartbroken to have to cancel them.

“But after what feels like an eternity of figuring out logistics for the show that I really want to deliver, and knowing it can happen, I’m more excited than ever! Now I know for some of you it was a horrible decision on my part, and I will always be sorry for that, but I promise you it was the right one.

“To be with you in such an intimate space every week has been what I’ve most been looking forward to and I’m going to give you the absolute best of me. Thank you for your patience, I love you, Adele.”

Adele’s shows at The Colosseum at Cesar’s Palace:

NOVEMBER 2022
18, 19, 25 and 26

DECEMBER 2022
2, 3, 9, 10, 16, 17, 23 and 24

JANUARY 2023
20, 21, 27 and 28

FEBRUARY 2023
3, 4, 10, 11, 17, 18, 24 and 25

MARCH
3, 4, 10, 11, 17, 18, 24 and 25

Recently, Adele gave her first public concert in five years at Hyde Park in London.

Ari Lennox unveils details of new album with soulful new single, ‘Hoodie’

Ari Lennox has today unveil details of her new album and has shared a video for her soulful new single, ‘Hoodie’.

The track, which has been produced by her Dreamville colleague Elite, is a preview of her second album titled ‘Age/Sex/Location’ that arrives on September 9 via Dreamville/Interscope.

Previously, Lennox wrote on Twitter that she’d finished a new full-length project. ‘Age/Sex/Location’ is the follow-up album to her 2019 debut ‘Shea Butter Baby’.

Another single, ‘Pressure’, was released last year. In March, Lennox also appeared jumped on two tracks for Dreamville’s D-Day: A Gangsta Grillz Mixtape, appearing on ‘Coming Down’ and ‘Blackberry Sap.’

Check out the video here:

Last year, Lennox opened up about an incident in Amsterdam which saw her arrested. The musician claimed it was over her reaction to an incident of racial profiling, calling the experience “painful” and saying she’s “not OK”.

Lennox shared on social media that she was arrested at Amsterdam airport last November. Reuters later reported that Dutch military police arrested Lennox for disturbing public order, after she allegedly accused KLM Royal Dutch Airlines staff of racial discrimination.

“I’m being arrested in Amsterdam for reacting to a woman racially profiling me,” Lennox wrote on Twitter at the time, before saying: “Fuck Amsterdam security. They hate black people.”

On November 30, Lennox’s manager, Justin LaMotte, said that the singer was safe and appreciative of the support she was receiving.

Lennox later opened up about the experience, thanking her fans for their “prayers and love”. She then went on to say that her “only regret” was her “reaction to the racism and discrimination [she] experienced.”

In a statement following the incident, a KLM spokesperson told The Guardian, “There was an altercation … about seeing her identification.

“The lady did not show the correct document. When the employee confronted her, she drew the wrong conclusions.”

The spokesperson also said that Lennox’s management apologised to the airline on her behalf.

Beyoncé calls Madonna a “masterpiece genius” in thank you note for ‘Break My Soul’ remix

Beyoncé has thanked Madonna for allowing her to interpolate ‘Vogue’ in her ‘The Queens Remix‘ of ‘Break My Soul‘.

READ MORE: Beyoncé – ‘Renaissance’ review: a celebration of love and Black joy

The pop star sent a note and a bouquet of flowers to Madonna, which the latter shared to her Instagram Story earlier today (August 9). “Thank you, Queen,” Beyoncé wrote in the thank you letter, “I’m so grateful for you. You have opened so many doors for so many women. You are masterpiece genius.”

The note continued: “Thank you for allowing me to sing in your song and thank you for naming the remix!!!! Love always and forever, B.”

Last week, Beyoncé shared the latest reworking of ‘Break My Soul’, the lead single from her seventh studio album ‘Renaissance‘.

‘Break My Soul (The Queens Remix)’ interpolates Madonna’s 1990 classic ‘Vogue’ and pays tribute to legendary Black female artists including Aretha Franklin and Diana Ross, as well as iconic ballroom houses including the House of Aviance and the House of Xtravaganza.

Beyoncé. Credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty Image

It marked the fifth official remix for ‘Break My Soul’, riding hot on the heels of a four-track remix EP that Bey dropped last Thursday (August 4), less than a week on from ‘Renaissance’ (released on Friday, July 29).

That release features new spins on the song, which initially arrived as the first preview of ‘Renaissance’ in June, by Honey Dijon, will.i.am, Terry Hunter and Nita Aviance.

Meanwhile, to celebrate the release of Beyoncé’s new album, a news anchor in Philadelphia snuck 15 of the R&B titan’s song titles into a live-broadcast traffic report.

‘Renaissance’ has also become Bey’s highest-charting album in every major market.

Beyoncé joins forces with Madonna for ‘The Queens’ remix of ‘Break My Soul’

Beyoncé has come through with yet another remix of ‘Break My Soul’, this time linking up with Madonna for a take on the lead single from ‘Renaissance’ dubbed ‘The Queens Remix’.

READ MORE: Beyoncé – ‘Renaissance’ review: a celebration of love and Black joy

Clocking in at almost six minutes long, the track leans heavily into the original song’s house and disco influences. It marks the first proper collaboration between Beyoncé and Madonna, though the former did appear in the video for the latter’s Nicki Minaj-assisted 2015 single ‘Bitch I’m Madonna’.

It also comes as the fifth official remix for ‘Break My Soul’, riding hot on the heels of a four-track remix EP that Bey dropped on Thursday (August 4). That release features new spins on the song – which initially arrived as our first preview of ‘Renaissance’ back in June – by Honey Dijon, will.i.am, Terry Hunter and Nita Aviance.

Have a listen to ‘Break My Soul (The Queens Remix)’ below:

Yesterday (August 5), it was confirmed that ‘Renaissance’ had charted in the UK as Beyoncé’s fourth Number One album, while ‘Break My Soul’ became her highest-charting solo hit in 14 years. The burst of good news followed a string of controversy in the wake of the ‘Renaissance’ release, as Bey was forced to scrub an ableist lyric from the track ‘Heated’, and an interpolation of Kelis’ song ‘Milkshake’ from ‘Energy’.

In a four-star review of ‘Renaissance’, which was released last Friday (July 29), NME’s Kyann-Sian Williams said Beyoncé’s latest album “continue[s] leading the charge to bring Black culture back to the forefront of house and dance scenes”. Among other fans of the album were Lil Nas X, who declared that ‘Renaissance’ is “kinda changing my life somehow”.

Meanwhile, Madonna has remained staunch on the importance of owning the rights to her own music, saying in a new interview that she has no plans to sell her sprawling back catalogue. When asked why she wouldn’t consider doing so – as the likes of Justin Timberlake, Sting and the estate of David Bowie have in recent months – she responded bluntly: “Because they’re my songs. Ownership is everything isn’t it?”

Madonna’s last studio album was her 14th, ‘Madame X’, which arrived in June of 2019 and earned a four-star review from NME. Last December, she teased that new music could be released in 2022, sharing a photo of herself recording vocals in a studio. “So great to be back in the studio making Music again,” she captioned a post on social media, promising “suprises [sic] in the New Year”.

Beyoncé shares a capella and instrumental versions of ‘Break My Soul’

Beyoncé has shared new a capella and instrumental versions of her recent single ‘Break My Soul’ – you can listen to both below.

READ MORE: Beyoncé’s new song ‘Break My Soul’ is a confidence-oozing comeback that embraces nu-disco

The original track is the first taste of the singer’s seventh studio album ‘RENAISSANCE’, which comes out next Friday (July 29). This week, Bey’s revealed the full tracklist and composer credits for the record.

Today (July 22), the pop star has released both a capella and instrumental takes on ‘Break My Soul’. Tune in here:

Released last month, Beyoncé’s dance-influenced comeback tune samples the songs ‘Show Me Love’ by Robin S and ‘Explode’ by Big Freedia. The star’s husband Jay-Z is credited as S. Carter on ‘Break My Soul’ as well as on the ‘RENAISSANCE’ cuts ‘Alien Superstar’ and ‘America Has A Problem’.

Other credited artists across the album include Nile Rodgers (on ‘Cuff It’), Pharrell Williams and Skrillex (both on ‘Energy’), Drake (‘Heated’), A.G. Cook (‘All Up In Your Mind’) and BloodPop (‘All Up In Your Mind’ and ‘Pure/Honey’).

Additionally, the BeyLegion Twitter account notes that ‘RENAISSANCE’ includes samples of songs by Donna Summer, Giorgio Moroder, James Brown and Teena Marie.

Beyoncé posted a statement about the experience of making her long-awaited ‘Lemonade’ follow-up while sharing its official cover artwork last month. “Creating this album allowed me a place to dream and to find escape during a scary time for the world,” she wrote.

“My intention was to create a safe place, a place without judgment. A place to be free of perfectionism and overthinking. A place to scream, release, [and] feel freedom. It was a beautiful journey of exploration.”

She continued: “I hope you find joy in this music. I hope it inspires you to release the wiggle. Ha! And to feel as unique, strong, and sexy as you are.”

Meanwhile, Beyoncé has uploaded a new video that offers a more detailed look at the official ‘RENAISSANCE’ cover artwork.

Danger Mouse and Black Thought team up with Michael Kiwanuka on soulful new single

Danger Mouse and Black Thought have teamed up with Michael Kiwanuka for the latest track from the pair’s debut collaborative album, ‘Cheat Codes’.

READ MORE: Michael Kiwanuka on his Hyundai Mercury Prize win: “It’s definitely encouraged me to keep dreaming big”

Due to be released on August 12 via BMG, the 12-track record marks Danger Mouse’s first hip-hop full-length since his ‘DANGERDOOM’ hook-up with the late MF DOOM back in 2005.

The forthcoming collection has already been previewed by ‘Because’ (featuring Joey Bada$$, Russ, and Dylan Cartlidge) and ‘No Gold Teeth’.

Today (July 13) Danger Mouse and Black Thought have given fans another taste of ‘Cheat Codes’ in the form of the soulful single ‘Aquamarine’, which features Kiwanuka as a guest vocalist.

Danger Mouse previously served as a producer on Kiwanuka’s previous two albums, ‘Love & Hate’ (2016) and its Mercury Prize-winning follow-up ‘KIWANUKA’ (2019).

“For ‘Aquamarine’, when I heard the music I just had a feeling to sing about standing up for something that’s unique and following that path,” Kiwanuka explained in a statement.

“I don’t know why but that’s what came out. Sometimes when you’re following something that’s unique to you it’s as if ‘enemies are all around.’ At times life can feel fragile like ‘everything’s burning down’. For some reason the chords and music made me feel that way.”

The song is accompanied by a kaleidoscopic, black-and-white official video directed by UK duo UNCANNY. Watch it above.

‘Cheat Codes’, which was previously rumoured to be titled ‘Dangerous Thoughts’, is something that Danger Mouth and Black Thought began the initial idea for “maybe 13 or 14 years ago”, the latter artist revealed when he first teased the project in 2020.

“It’s a feel-good record,” he said at the time. “It’s a record for people who got into hip-hop and sort of evolved at the same period of time that we did. We’re the elder statesmen at this point, so I feel like this record is reflective of that too.”

You can see the full tracklist below:

01. ‘Sometimes’
02. ‘Cheat Codes’
03. ‘The Darkest Part’ (feat. Raekwon & Kid Sister)
04. ‘No Gold Teeth’
05. ‘Because’ (feat. Joey Bada$$, Russ & Dylan Cartlidge)
06. ‘Belize’ (feat. MF DOOM)
07. ‘Aquamarine’ (feat. Michael Kiwanuka)
08. ‘Identical Deaths’
09. ‘Strangers’ (feat. A$AP Rocky & Run The Jewels)
10. ‘Close To Famous’
11. ‘Saltwater’ (feat. Conway the Machine)
12. ‘Voilas & Lupita’

Alt-J tell us about working with Soulwax and Wet Leg at Mad Cool 2022

Alt-J spoke to NME backstage at Mad Cool 2022 about their desire to work with Belgian dance-rock heroes Soulwax, who they have described as “legends”. Watch our video interview in full above.

The London-based band have spent the past few months drip-feeding new remixes of tracks from their latest album, ‘The Dream‘. Released in February, the record was described by NME as “a rich collection of lush and uncharacteristically reflective songs”. Since then, the trio have teamed up with the likes of London DJ Maya Jane Coles to rework ‘Hard Drive Gold’ and producer Ben de Vries, who took on ‘The Actor’.

Soulwax are the next collaborators they’d like to work with, as keyboardist Gus Unger-Hamilton explained to us. “We’re trying to get a Soulwax remix at the moment, which would be really cool,” he said. “Our tour manager used to manage Soulwax, and we’re always pressing him to tell us crazy stories from touring with them – and he seemingly has a limitless supply of stories, but they’re all absolutely top-shelf. They can’t be revealed!”

Alt-J live at Mad Cool 2022. Credit: Andy Ford for NME

The band continued to describe how they enjoyed Soulwax’s recent electro-pop remix of Wet Leg’s ‘Too Late Now’, lifted from their eponymous debut album. Vocalist and guitarist Joe Newman also revealed that he’s a fan of the Isle of Wight duo, having discovered them online last year.

“I found out about Wet Leg about eight months ago. I was looking on YouTube, and I saw this band playing ‘Chaise Longue’,” he said. “I thought they were Scandinavian at first, because they looked so cool. It was such a refreshing song that it made me think, ‘Who are they?!’

He continued: “I immediately began to delve into their other songs as I wanted to know who they were. [Wet Leg] are also from the Isle of Wight, which is not far from Southampton, which is where I’m from, so I immediately felt a kinship with them.”

Looking to the future, Alt-J told us that they’d “love to win another Mercury Prize”, and referenced how their 2012 debut album ‘An Awesome Wave’ won the award a decade ago. Newman quipped: “We’d certainly settle for a Grammy next year!”

Check back here at NME for the latest news, interviews, photos and more from Mad Cool 2022.

NME is an official media partner of Mad Cool Festival 2022

Download Festival Japan 2022 reveals final line-up with Soulfly and Code Orange

Download Festival Japan has revealed Brazilian metallers Soulfly and hardcore punks Code Orange will complete the lineup for this year’s edition of the festival.

READ MORE: Download Festival 2022 review: metal’s fearsome energy rages on the smaller stages

Soulfly and Code Orange will join Dream Theater, Bullet For My Valentine, Mastodon, Steel Panther, At The Gates and The Halo Effect at the Makuhari Messe International Exhibition Center in Chiba on August 14. A performance by Japanese outfit BAND-MAID will open the festival.

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Ticket prices have also been announced for the festival, with general ticket prices set at 18,000 yen and VIP tickets at 35,000 yen. VIP ticket holders will have access to a dedicated admission lane and viewing stand, refreshments and a VIP gift, which has yet to be revealed.

Festival organisers Live Nation and Creativeman Productions first teased Download Japan’s return in April with a trailer that confirmed a date and venue. Later that month, they followed up by unveiling the first phase of performers.

Debuting in 2019 with headliners Slayer, Arch Enemy, Sum 41, Halestorm, and more, Download Japan had announced a 2020 edition with headliners My Chemical Romance alongside Ministry, Amon Amarth and more, but was forced to cancel the festival due to the pandemic.

Other summer festivals going ahead in Japan this year include Summer Sonic in July and Fuji Rock in August.

The full line-up for Download Festival Japan 2022 is:

BAND-MAID (opening act)
Steel Panther
Code Orange
Bullet For My Valentine
Dream Theatre
Mastodon
At The Gates
The Halo Effect
Soulfly

Big Freedia and Robin S. react to being sampled for Beyoncé’s ‘Break My Soul’

Rapper/dancer Big Freedia and singer Robin S. have both shared reactions to their songs being sampled on Beyoncé‘s comeback single, ‘Break My Soul’.

READ MORE: Beyoncé’s new song ‘Break My Soul’ is a confidence-oozing comeback that embraces nu-disco

The single, which was released on Monday (June 20), prominently samples Freedia’s 2014 track ‘Explode’ from her album ‘Just Be Free’. Robin S., meanwhile, is sampled in the song’s beat by producer The-Dream via her Number One single ‘Show Me Love’. Speaking to Entertainment Tonight, Big Freedia expressed gratitude and honour to the singer for allowing her to be part of “something so iconic and so amazing”.

“My manager called and said, ‘Beyoncé wanted to use one of your songs on her new album’,” the rapper recalled. “I was like, ‘Holy crap, what is going on? Another one?’ I was like, ‘This is happening again?'” The song marks the second time Big Freedia has been featured on a song by Beyoncé. In 2016, the rapper provided additional ad-libs to the song ‘Formation’, which featured in its famous music video.

Freedia also noted that she was flown out to the studio to hear the song herself, where she also met with Beyoncé in person. “She [told] me how she’s grateful for [me] being a part of this track,” she said. “I’m like, ‘No, I’m grateful for you calling me to be a part of this track and having me on it’.”

As for Robin S., the singer was not made aware of the ‘Show Me Love’ sample until the official release of ‘Break My Soul’. Due to her not writing the song itself, only songwriter Allen George and the estate of co-writer Fred McFarlane were contacted prior to release to approve the sample and be included in the song’s writing credits.

In a series of videos sent to Good Morning Britain, Robin revealed that it was her son that informed her about the single. “[He] called me and he’s like… ‘You’re trending all over the place’,” she said. “‘Beyoncé put her song out and it’s [sampling] ‘Show Me Love’, and you’re trending everywhere.'”

The singer went on to express “a lot of thanks” to Beyoncé and her team for their use of her signature song. “Thank you so much for giving me my flowers while I’m still alive,” she said. “I’m honoured and excited to see what else can happen.”

Beyoncé will release her seventh studio album, ‘Renaissance’, on July 29.

Michelle Obama shares high praise for Beyoncé’s new track ‘Break My Soul’

Michelle Obama has shared high praise for Beyoncé’s new track, ‘Break My Soul’, telling the star that she “can’t help but dance and sing along” to it.

READ MORE: Beyoncé’s new song ‘Break My Soul’ is a confidence-oozing comeback that embraces nu-disco

The pop icon announced last week that she would be releasing her seventh solo album, ‘RENAISSANCE’ – the follow-up to 2016’s acclaimed ‘Lemonade’ – on July 29.

On Tuesday morning (June 21), she surprised fans by dropping the album’s first single, ‘Break My Soul’ – a house-inspired dancefloor cut that NME‘s Kyann-Sian Williams called “a groovy self-love track” that oozes confidence in a four-star review.

Among the fans of Beyoncé’s new single is former First Lady Michelle Obama, who took to Twitter to share her thoughts on the up-beat club track.

“Queen @Beyonce, you’ve done it again! ‘Break My Soul’ is the song we all need right now, and I can’t help but dance and sing along while listening to it,” Obama wrote, adding: “Can’t wait for the album!”

Queen @Beyonce, you’ve done it again! “Break My Soul” is the song we all need right now, and I can't help but dance and sing along while listening to it. Can’t wait for the album! ??

— Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) June 21, 2022

‘Break My Soul’ samples both ‘Show Me Love’ by Robin S and ‘Explode’ by Big Freedia, the New Orleans bounce music torchbearer whom Beyoncé collaborated with on ‘Formation’.

The-Dream and Tricky Stewart, who previously worked with Bey on ‘Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)’, are also credited on the track as well as JAY-Z and Adam “BlaqNmilD” Pigott, a producer from New Orleans who has worked with Drake on the singles ‘In My Feelings’ and ‘Nice For What’.

It was previously reported that ‘RENAISSANCE’ will feature pop and country tracks with contributions from Ryan Tedder, the OneRepublic frontman and hit songwriter who co-wrote Beyoncé’s 2008 hit ‘Halo’.

Another contributor is said to be Raphael Saadiq, who, besides being co-founder of pioneering R&B group Tony! Toni! Toné! and the brainchild of early 2000s supergroup Lucy Pearl, has crafted hits as a songwriter for Mary J. Blige, Stevie Wonder and Beyoncé’s sister Solange for her 2016 album ‘A Seat At The Table’.

Beyoncé confirmed she was working on new music last summer. “I’ve been in the studio for a year and a half,” she explained. “Sometimes it takes a year for me to personally search through thousands of sounds to find just the right kick or snare. One chorus can have up to 200 stacked harmonies.”

The singer continued: “Still, there’s nothing like the amount of love, passion, and healing that I feel in the recording studio. After 31 years, it feels just as exciting as it did when I was nine years old. Yes, the music is coming!”

Back in November, Beyoncé dropped a powerful new track called ‘Be Alive’ which appears on the soundtrack for the Will Smith-starring King Richard.

Beyoncé’s New Single ‘Break My Soul’ Will Soundtrack Your Summer — And Your Resignation

Queen Bey is lookin’ for motivation and a new foundation, and she might just break your soul on the dance floor in the process.

On Tuesday (June 21), Beyoncé dropped her newest resonating single “Break My Soul” from Act I of her upcoming seventh studio album, Renaissance. The track is a throwback to ‘90s house music melded with call-and-repeat vocals sampled from bounce legend Big Freedia’s song “Explode” and instrumentals from “Show Me Love” by Robin S. The song first dropped on Tidal three hours ahead of its scheduled midnight release before becoming available to stream on Spotify and Apple Music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjki-9Pthh0

“You won’t break my soul,” the resilient queen vocalizes repeatedly in the pulsating introduction and chorus. “I’m tellin’ everybody.”

Heralded as an anthem for both the “Great Resignation” and the “post-pandemic era” the song's lyrics channel many of our complicated collective feelings about the rocky last two years, as well as the cautious excitement that comes with reentering society. “I just quit my job / I'm gonna find new drive, damn, they work me so damn hard,” she sings, before breaking free from the stress with a bold, energetic rap.

“I'mma let down my hair 'cause I lost my mind,” she continues. “Bey is back and I'm sleepin' real good at night / The queens in the front and the Doms in the back / Ain't takin' no flicks but the whole clique snapped.”

Big Freedia comes through on the liberated post-chorus and in the outro. “Release ya anger, release ya mind / Release ya job, release the time,” her distant vocals rap. “Release ya trade, release the stress / Release the love, forget the rest.” And on Instagram, the New Orleans-based rapper gave an excited and joyful shout-out to her collaborator.

“It feels surreal to be on the track with the Queen Beyonce once again,” she wrote. “I’m so honored to be a part of this special moment, I’m forever grateful lord.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/CfDRmggDTgS/

Big Freedia previously collaborated with Beyoncé in sampling lyrics for the song “Formation” off the pop icon’s universally acclaimed 2016 album Lemonade. “I did not come to play with you hoes, haha,” she says on the song. “I came to slay, bitch.”

Beyoncé announced on June 16 that Renaissance: Act I will drop on July 29. In a recent interview with British Vogue, for which she also posed regally and magnificently for the cover, she stated that the new album will have “soaring vocals and fierce beats” and “music that makes you rise, that turns your mind to cultures and subcultures, to our people past and present, music that will unite so many on the dance floor, music that touches your soul.” Fittingly, she also described the album as if “a split second, I’m transported back to the clubs of my youth.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/Ce3gDQPrs4T/

According to Variety, Renaissance will not just dance tracks but also country-leaning tracks. Songwriter Ryan Tedder, who co-wrote her 2008 hit “Halo” for the album I Am… Sasha Fierce, is reported to have contributed to writing for the album.

Since the tea-spilling of Lemonade in 2016, Beyoncé has worked on numerous projects. She starred as Nala in the 2019 musical remake of The Lion King and curated its soundtrack album called The Lion King: The Gift. On Juneteenth 2020, she released the surprise charity single “Black Parade,” and an online directory called "Black Parade Route" was launched alongside the song’s release to promote Black-owned small businesses.

Recently, Beyonce produced the original song “Be Alive” for the 2021 film King Richard, which in 2022 won a Hollywood Critics Association Award for Best Original Song and received several award nominations, including Best Original Song at the Academy Awards and Golden Globe Awards.

Chance The Rapper and Joey Bada$$ team up on soulful new cut, ‘The Highs & The Lows’

Chance The Rapper has released a brand new track, ‘The Highs & The Lows’, featuring Joey Bada$$ – listen to it below.

READ MORE: Joey Bada$$ – Soundtrack Of My Life

The song – which serves as another preview of Chance’s upcoming second album – begins with a message from Chance, where he thanks his fans and supporters “that have been there since day one”.

“Your support has been fuelling me throughout these years and this next piece is something really special,” he says, before asking his fans to share the new track with five friends because “the people gotta know the return is now. The Rapper’s back. Jozif’s back. We back. Let ’em know Chano back in these streets.”

The pair exude optimism and channel their inner spirituality as they rap about overcoming the lows in life to enjoy the highs, floating over a beautiful soul sample and low-tempo beat.

Listen to ‘The Highs & The Lows’ below:

Chance has been busy prepping the follow-up to 2019’s ‘The Big Day’. In May, he dropped off the tracks ‘A Bar About A Bar’ and ‘Writing Exercise #3: Wraith’, the latter of which featured Vic Mensa.

Back in March, Chance shared the single ‘Child Of God’, which features Moses Sumney on vocals and was performed on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert in April.

Last year, Chance also shared the solo single ‘The Heart & The Tongue’, and released a concert film called Magnificent Coloring World.

Joey alluded to the new Chance song on Thursday night (June 16) when he announced that his new album, ‘2000’, would not be released the following day, when it was originally scheduled to do so.

“Man I got some terrible news, my album won’t be coming out tonight due to sample clearance issues,” Joey wrote on Twitter. “Right now, it’s unclear how long I’ll have to postpone it but my hope is no more than 2 weeks. I wanted to have a new date before I told you guys but it’s out of my control.”

“On the bright side me and Chance’s new song drops tmrw,” he added.

Meanwhile, Joey Bada$$ has announced that he’ll be hitting the road later this year, with some UK and Ireland tour dates scheduled for winter – get tickets here.

Listen to Danger Mouse and Black Thought’s soulful new single ‘Because’

Danger Mouse and Black Thought have shared a second song from their upcoming debut collaborative debut album ‘Cheat Codes‘ – listen to ‘Because’ below.

‘Because’ follows ‘No Gold Teeth’, which was released last month, and features guest turns by Joey Bada$$, Russ and Dylan Cartlidge.

Set to be released on August 12 via BMG, ‘Cheat Codes’ is Danger Mouse’s first hip-hop full-length since his ‘DANGERDOOM’ collaboration with the late MF DOOM which was released in October 2005.

Joey Bada$$ said: “I’ve always been a big fan of Black Thought and Danger Mouse. I think Black Thought is one of the greatest rappers ever, so when they asked me to get on this record, it was a no-brainer, plus the record is fire!

“I still remember the first time I heard ‘You Got Me’ the video was shot on my great-grandmother’s block and I was actually there that day when I was a child. It changed the way I looked at music. I’m very honoured to be a part of this track. We’re making history!”

Russ added: “Being able to collaborate with one of the greatest lyricists of all time is an honor and to do it in unison with Danger Mouse is something I’m just really proud to be a part of.”

‘Cheat Codes’, meanwhile, follows Thought’s pioneering output with legendary Philadelphia group The Roots and his critically acclaimed solo trilogy, ‘Streams Of Thought’ – the third volume of which was released in 2020.

Danger Mouse and Black Thought. CREDIT: Press

The album, which was initially rumoured to be called ‘Dangerous Thoughts’, is something that the pair began the initial idea for “maybe 13 or 14 years ago”, Black Thought revealed when he first teased the project in an interview in 2020.

“It’s a feel-good record,” he said. “It’s a record for people who got into hip-hop and sort of evolved at the same period of time that we did. We’re the elder statesmen at this point, so I feel like this record is reflective of that too.”

Thought added that the album, which features A$AP Rocky, Run The Jewels, MF DOOM, Michael Kiwanuka, Kid Sister, Raekwon, Conway The Machine and more, is “a return for [Danger Mouse] to hip-hop and to sampling in this way”.

Winston Marshall says he “got his soul back” after leaving Mumford & Sons

Winston Marshall has spoken about his decision to leave Mumford & Sons, claiming he “got his soul back”.

Marshall helped form the folk-rock band in 2007 but faced backlash after tweeting praise for a book by controversial US journalist Andy Ngo, titled Unmasked: Inside Antifa’s Radical Plan To Destroy Democracy.

In a since-deleted tweet, Marshall said the book was “important” and hailed Ngo as a “brave man”. He intially took a break from the group but three months later, he quit Mumford & Sons.

“What a blessing it was to be so close to such talent as those three lads. I will look back at it all with immense pride and love. However, after much reflection and consideration, I have decided it is time to move on. This is a difficult decision first brought about by an unintentional Twitter storm,” he said in a statement.

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A post shared by Mumford & Sons (@mumfordandsons)

In a new interview with The Times, Marshall has said “I really didn’t think Antifa would end up being the hill I died on. It’s not even a topic I actually care that much about.”

Elsewhere he admitted that “I love the band, I love the music. Some of those songs I love dearly and part of me is sad that I won’t be playing them again,” but added that he doesn’t “miss fame.”

Speaking about his departure from the band, Marshall said: “I got my soul back. I felt I could sleep again, it’s amazing the effect that had on me. It has been completely liberating. I feel like it was the right decision.”

“Obviously artists have a right to boycott,” he continued. “The difference now is that it’s ‘silence him or I’m out’. This feels so bizarre and I don’t think it ends well. Musicians’ careers are all about self-expression, so how can they think that’s going to work if they’re not up for people expressing themselves?”

Elsewhere in the interview, Marshall revealed he’d been writing songs and working with a “well-known” pop singer on new material.

Since leaving the band, Winston Marshall has launched the Marshall Matters podcast to “explore the taboo and totemic issues within the creative industries.”

Harlem Cultural Festival of Questlove’s ‘Summer Of Soul’ documentary to be revived next year

The Harlem Cultural Festival – the setting of Questlove’s decorated documentary Summer Of Soul – will be revived and reimagined as the Harlem Festival of Culture in 2023.

READ MORE: Summer Of Soul review: forgotten festival of Black brilliance finally gets its dues

Per Billboard, the Harlem Festival of Culture will be an annual affair kicking off in the summer of 2023. It will take place at Marcus Garvey Park, the same site that hosted the original 1969 festival that was the subject of Questlove’s film. The park was called Mount Morris Park in 1969 and received a change in name in 1973.

Summer Of Soul — Nina Simone during Questlove’s ‘Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)’. CREDIT: Alamy

Like the original 1969 event, the upcoming festival will be a multi-day outdoor celebration of African American music, pride, culture, beauty and fashion.

The Harlem Festival of Culture will kick off a yearlong series of events on April 15 with A Harlem Jones open mic night at the Museum of the City of New York. Live performances will be held at Marcus Garvey Park in May, although details have yet to be announced.

The festival’s revival comes after Ahmir ‘Questlove’ Thompson’s 2021 documentary Summer of Soul (… Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised) won an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature and a Grammy for Best Music Film. Last year, it won the Grand Jury prize at Sundance Film Festival.

Musa Jackson – who attended the original 1969 festival and features in Summer of Soul – is co-founder of the Harlem Festival of Culture alongside Nikoa Evans and Yvonne McNair. “With this initiative, we want to create something that evokes that same sense of pride in our community that I felt on that special day in 1969,” Jackson said in a statement.

“We want to authentically encapsulate the full scope: the energy, the music, the culture. We want people to understand that this festival is being built by the people who are from, live and work in this community.”

Questlove’s Summer of Soul received a five-star rating from NME. “The Harlem Cultural Festival needed not just recognition, but ownership. With Summer of Soul, it finally has both,” reviewer Leonie Cooper wrote.

Listen to Arlo Parks’ soulful cover of Kaytranada’s ‘You’re The One’

Arlo Parks has shared her cover of Kaytranada‘s ‘You’re The One’ – you can hear her rendition below.

The cover has been recorded for a special edition of the Spotify Singles series which is celebrating the Best New Artist category at this year’s Grammys, which will take place on Sunday (April 3).

READ MORE: Five things we learned from our In Conversation video chat with Arlo Parks

Parks has been nominated in the category, one of two nods for the London singer/songwriter at this year’s ceremony (she’s also up for Best Alternative Music Album for her debut LP ‘Collapsed In Sunbeams’), along with the likes of Glass Animals, Baby Keem and Finneas.

As well as her rendition of Kaytranada’s ‘You’re The One’ – originally a collaboration with Syd which featured on the producer’s 2016 album ‘99.9%’ – Parks has also shared a new version of her most recent single ‘Softly’. Both tracks, which you can hear below, were recorded at Electric Lady Studios in New York City.

“Why it was such a joy to record my Spotify Singles session in the studio, I felt somehow part of the legend,” Parks said in a statement about the songs.

“Syd’s voice in ‘You’re the One’ always had this effortless beauty to it in my eyes and I wanted to cover it to expose the romance and yearning behind the lyrics. It was an honour to be able to sing my new song ‘Softly’ too, to highlight the beginning of a new and beautiful chapter in my career and celebrate being nominated for Best New Artist.”

Earlier this month Finneas kicked off the special Grammys/Spotify Singles series by covering Bon Iver’s ‘Flume’.

Watch Dave Gahan & Soulsavers cover PJ Harvey on ‘Fallon’

Dave Gahan & Soulsavers stopped by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon this weekend to promote the release of their latest LP.

READ MORE: Dave Gahan covers Cat Power and tells us about his “liberating” new album and the future of Depeche Mode

The Depeche Mode frontman and longtime collaborator Rich Machin released their new covers album ‘Imposter’ back in November under the guise of Soulsavers. Together they deliver unique takes on songs by the likes of Neil Young, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan and many more.

Gahan recently told NME that the 12 selected tracks feel like they carry “a sense of wisdom and longevity that is just there in the song and very apparent in the voice”.

On Friday (March 18), Gahan and Machin dropped by Jimmy Fallon’s late night chat show to deliver a live rendition of their PJ Harvey cover, ‘The Desperate Kingdom Of Love’, originally featured on Harvey’s 2004 album ‘Uh Huh Her’.

You can watch the cover below:

‘Imposter’ was recorded and produced by Gahan and Machin in November 2019 at Rick Rubin’s Shangri-La studios in Malibu, California.

According to Gahan, the setting inspired a “magical” sense of freedom for the assembled band and also allowed them to work in the same spirit as the legendary Rubin-produced Johnny Cash covers record ‘American IV: The Man Comes Around’.

“Johnny Cash’s album was one where I wasn’t listening to the originals at all,” Gahan told NME. “His version of [Nine Inch Nails’] ‘Hurt’, for instance, just blew me away and it still does. I’ve heard stories from people who worked on the record that he had absolutely no clue who the original artist was whatsoever!

“These were songs that were given to him by Rick, and Rick then assembled these musicians around him that were going to bring out the best of Johnny at that time. Rich [Machin] has this ability to do that with me. He put me in a setting with the right group of musicians and I felt entirely comfortable and supported. I felt held, so I could do what the fuck I wanted.”

In December, Dave Gahan & Soulsavers brought ‘Imposter’ to London’s O2 Shepherds Bush Empire. You can see some of the performances from the set here.

Soulja Boi and Lil Yachty among those sued over alleged cryptocurrency scheme

Rappers Soulja Boy and Lil Yachty, and YouTube personality Jake Paul, are among the defendants in a class action lawsuit over an alleged cryptocurrency “pump and dump” scheme.

As reported by ClassAction.org, a lawsuit claims that Soulja, Yachty and Paul, as well as musician Nick Carter and YouTuber Ben Phillips, were recruited by the company SafeMoon to misleadingly promote and sell the cryptocurrency token ‘V1’.

It is alleged that the endorsements were intended to artificially inflate the currency’s value, allowing founder and CEO Braden John Karony and other executives to sell their holdings for a profit while numbers were high.

The suit says that the so-called ‘pump and dump’ strategy saw the value of the SafeMoon token rise “astronomically” after its creation in March 2021. It claims that the trading volume for SafeMoon tokens shot up a staggering 875 percent within nine days of the celebrity-driven marketing campaign, peaking at $191.6 million on April 22, according to the complaint.

Central to the lawsuit is SafeMoon’s promise to create a designated ‘wallet’, in which investors would “have a better place” to hold their tokens. Repeated promises of the wallet allegedly helped to stabilise the cryptocurency’s value. However, when the wallet did not appear as promised on August 28, the token’s value plummeted.

By the end of the year, the value had bottomed out. “On Dec. 31, 2021, the price of the SafeMoon Token hit a low of $0.0000006521 per token, an over 80 percent drop from its height during the Class Period, which it has not been able to recover,” the lawsuit reads. “As of the filing of this Complaint, the trading volume for the SafeMoon Token has plummeted to around only $60,000.”

During the build-up to the failed release of the ‘wallet’, Hank Wyatt resigned as chief technology officer. The suit alleges Wyatt “knew or should have known” about the wallet’s failed launch.

NME has reached out to representatives for SafeMoon, Lil Yachty, Soulja Boy, Nick Carter, and Ben Phillips for comment.

Elsewhere, last month Yachty filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against the NFT platform Opulous.

The rapper – real name Miles Parks McCollum – claimed that the company “maliciously” used his name and likeness to raise more than $6.5million (£4.86million) in venture capital funds.

Raveena Cracked Open Her Soul For Asha’s Awakening

By Dani Blum

Raveena needs you to believe that you’re the only one who can heal yourself. The kaleidoscopic R&B singer-songwriter is adamant about this, anchoring her chin on her hand on the other side of the Zoom call, blinking at the bright pixels and saying, again, that nobody else can create your happiness. She knows. She’s tried.

Raveena went to the mountains every two or three days for the first stretch of quarantine in Los Angeles in 2020 and communed with aliens, or God, or both (she views these as “two sides of the same coin.”) She spends the first part of each day with 20 minutes of meditation, 20 minutes of yoga, and 5 minutes of writing down her affirmations and what she’s grateful for, a routine she developed when she got COVID-19 in December. She’s been focusing on herself, connecting to her ancestors, feeling, she says, like her soul cracked open. For the last two years, the work she’s put into her second album, Asha’s Awakening, out February 11, paralleled the work she put into herself. She weaves healing through each tingling track; she also makes a point of celebrating herself. “Our inner most self is bliss,” she says, “and bliss allows for this chaos and freedom and flow.”

The record glides through sugar-rush pop, trip-hop, Sade-inspired R&B, and spoken word intervals. The album even ends with a 15-minute long guided meditation — a move Raveena knew was risky, but she wanted the track to be a tool for her listeners. The meditations she’s found online often aren’ well-recorded, she says, and they use stock sounds; she wanted to make a high quality, well-mastered version, “top of the line produced.” Her speaking voice is steady, tranquil. (“Her voice is the type I'd expect to hear say ‘welcome to heaven’ as I hop down clouds of fluff,” reads the top comment on a video she posted of herself singing cross-legged in the grass during quarantine.) But the meditation also felt like a way to signal finding peace, the completion of a journey for the album’s titular main character.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5Q_4I8dULA

Asha’s Awakening is a concept album that centers on a space princess from ancient Punjab, charting her revelations about love, restoration, and destruction over centuries. Raveena came up with the concept after completing six or seven songs and spending a year doing research, as she and her team studied and combed through Bollywood soundtracks. It was March 2020, and she was spiraling in the early weeks of quarantine, foraging for a way to be productive through both internal and external chaos. She had moved from New York to L.A. in the wake of a breakup, on the day the city announced shutdowns. Raveena was watching a bunch of sci-fi movies at the time, and in the span of a night, she wrote down the entire architecture for the album. A few months after, she asked an artist to illustrate Asha, so she could better grasp the character she created. For Raveena, “All the songs are personal, and then I find a way to connect it back to the story. None of the songs are really from a perspective of the character. It’s more like I could relate to the character at the end.”

Quarantine made Raveena slow down. She danced, she wrote lyrics, she put the sonic elements of songwriting on hold largely for the first six months. She would FaceTime her main guitarist, crying, and improvise songs with him while he plucked at a few chords; she called him “whenever the sobbing struck,” she says. Raveena had been working relentlessly in the years leading up to the pandemic. She started piecing together her 2017 breakout EP, Shanti, while still a student at New York University’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music. In 2019, she released “Lucid,” a cozy, curatorial album that helped propel her following. The songs she recorded then were soft, velvety, churning through trauma with grieving and grace.

Asha’s Awakening, by contrast, bursts with joy and color, almost frenetic in its tempo. This is deliberate. Healing isn’t linear, Raveena says, and sometimes it can look like this kind of chaos, the hazy process of regaining confidence in your body. “After that internal work happens, there’s a kind of life and joy that erupts from you,” she says, waving her hands in the air. “And that’s what this album really was.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsNxr_88YZo

That eruption is evident in songs like “Secret,” which thumps and winds around a verse from rapper Vince Staples (she had his precise vocal tone and flow in mind for months before she even reached out to him) and the shimmering opener “Rush.” Many of these songs are psychedelic, literally; she wrote several of them following transformative acid trips. She based “Rush” on a visit she made to the Rubin Museum in New York while tripping, where she saw a sound installation with Buddhist chanting and South Asian art on the walls. “I realized that this is where I needed the next album to go,” she says. “I had to dive into my culture and intersect it with all the genres and all the art I grew up loving as a kid.”

Those connections came out of “so much historical research.” She bought eight or nine instruments from India, with no idea how to use them, and asked her bassist to figure out how to play them. They were all researching Bollywood records from the 1960s through the ‘80s, parsing the arrangements, and combing through the ways Eastern sounds inspired Miles Coltrane and the Beatles, Timbaland and M.I.A. and Jai Paul. She wanted to pay respect to the cross-cultural fusions of the past. On “Circuitboard” and “Asha’s Kiss,” which features the legendary Indian singer Asha Puthli, Raveena felt like she integrated the Bollywood influences in a way only she could, in a manner that left her mark.

Furmaan Ahmed

Partway through the album, the spoken word track “The Internet Is Like Eating Plastic” emerges from the twinkling soundscape. Over sinister, winking synths, Raveena murmurs like she’s dissociated or caught in a dream: “The internet makes me feel far away from my friends… The internet has me stupid and smart at the same time.” As she was writing the album, Raveena traded her iPhone for a flip phone for three months, relying on the radio and buying a GPS to help steer her way across L.A. She wanted to escape “feeling like a robot half the time,” but she also wanted to stop putting pressure on herself to put out the perfect second album. She’d been fixating on other artists’ sophomore records, and the insecurities that came with infinite scroll seemed too unhealthy to adapt to. She’d lived in the New York area for nearly her entire life, and moving to L.A. left her gasping for nature and eager to explore. Over those three, smartphone-less months, she felt her mind expand, her capacity to feel grow. She walked and walked.

These days, she’s back online, promoting her album; she flashes her iPhone at her webcam, tethered to its charger. But she takes comfort in knowing she’s capable of disconnecting and the ego death that comes with letting go. There’s a luxury in feeling small sometimes, tracing your boundaries and barriers. She laughs at the camera, dripping a curtain of hair in front of her face. “I’m just a tiny little bean on a space rock,” she says. “Trying to get through.”

Blues and soul icon Syl Johnson has died, aged 85

Syl Johnson – an icon of the R&B, soul and blues scenes in the 1960s and ‘70s – has died at the age of 85.

Johnson’s family confirmed his passing in a statement to Pitchfork, writing: “It is with extreme sadness that our family announces the passing of Soul & Blues Hall of Fame Legend, Syl Johnson (born Sylvester Thompson in Holly Springs, MS). “Dad, Brother, Grandfather, Great Grandfather, Uncle, Friend & Artist, he lived his life as a singer, musician, and entrepreneur who loved black music.”

Describing him as “fiery, fierce, fighter, always standing for the pursuit of justice as it related to his music and sound”, Johnson’s family continued: “He will truly be missed by all who crossed his path. His catalog and legacy will be remembered as impeccable and a historical blueprint to all who experience it. To his fans around the world, he loved you all. A lover of music and a Chicago icon, Syl Johnson lived his life unapologetically.”

At the time of writing, no cause of death has been confirmed. His death came less than a week after his brother, fellow bluesman Jimmy Johnson, died at 93.

Johnson cut his teeth playing with Magic Sam, a pioneer of the Chicago blues was best known for his tremolo-heavy playing style – Sam was Johnson’s next door neighbour, after the bourgeoning artist and his family moved from Holly Springs, Mississippi in 1950. Throughout the decade, Johnson would sing and play guitar for name like Howlin’ Wolf, Junior Wells and Jimmy Reed, recording with the latter in ’59.

That same year, Johnson made his solo debut with the track ‘Teardrops’, paving the way for a tenure at the legendary Twilight/Twinight label in the mid-1960s. Johnson made his first hit in ’67 with ‘Come On Sock It To Me’, which he followed later that year with ‘Different Strokes’.

Though it didn’t make substantial waves at the time, ‘Different Strokes’ would go on to become one of the sampled tracks in history – at least 330 songs sport elements of the track, according to WhoSampled, including Wu-Tang Clan’s ‘Shame On A N****’, Kanye West and Jay-Z’s ‘The Joy’, Public Enemy’s ‘Fight The Power’ and De La Soul’s ‘The Magic Number’.

1969 saw Johnson mint his biggest hit yet, with ‘Is It Because I’m Black’ peaking at Number 11 on the Billboard R&B Chart. Two years later, Johnson left Twilight/Twinight for Willie Mitchell’s Hi Records, which led to a surge of hit singles across the 1970s. His decade-long tenure with Hi spawned his three biggest hits, ‘We Did It’, ‘Back For A Taste Of Your Love’ and ‘Take Me To The River’, with the latter coming in at Number 7 on the R&B Chart.

Johnson launched his own label, Shama, at the turn of the ‘80s, releasing the eight-track ‘Bring Out The Blues In Me’ record in 1980. He moved to Boardwalk Records for the 1982 release ‘Ms. Fine Brown Fame’, the title track of which marked his last hit single. He’d be semi-retired by the decade’s end, popping up occasionally to perform blues clubs. Mostly, though, his passions had shifted to real estate and seafood restaurants.

After learning that ‘Different Strokes’ had become a staple of hip-hop sampling, Johnson was spurred to make his comeback in the early ‘90s, releasing ‘Back In The Game’ – which featured his youngest daughter, Syleena – in 1994. He was vehemently against sampling, however, and sued several of the artists who’d used elements of his work – including West and Jay-Z – well into the 2010s.

In 2015, Johnson was honoured with a feature documentary, Syl Johnson: Any Way The Wind Blows, which sported an original score by Yo La Tengo. In the wake of Johnson’s death, the film was made available online for the first time overnight (February 6).

Various Artists Sacred Soul of North Carolina

Since Thomas A Dorsey made a business of gospel music soon after the turn of the 20th century, myriad black religious musical traditions have been studied, recorded, compiled and packaged, from the Sacred Harp singing of tiny churches lining the deep South, to highly sample-able gospel funk emanating from Churches Of God In Christ in major Rust Belt cities. Two years ago, footage of Aretha Franklin recording “Amazing Grace” at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles in 1972 was released, drawing renewed attention and appreciation for the black church among secular audiences, for its music and the hope that its people and songbook transfers.

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The appeal of black gospel music – a reimagining of popular sonic forms through a sacred lyrical lens, soul without the sex, funk without the foreplay – centres on its unselfconscious jubilation, the marvel that an unseeable force can elicit such demonstrative joy, unity and lightning-in-a-bottle musicality. Even the gnarliest of heathens would find it hard to dismiss the infectious glee of The Edwin Hawkin Singers’ “Oh Happy Day” or the core-rattling power of Mahalia Jackson’s “Move On Up A Little Higher”. Gospel not only calls on believers, it captivates those moved by the unwavering fortitude, the unyielding optimism of its congregants.

Because recorded gospel music has always been influenced by modern sonic forms, the sounds of its peak in the 1960s and ’70s – soulful call-and-response situated among handclaps and analogue instrumentation – is waning among the rise of digital production. But in a tiny pocket of the American Southeast, the classic sounds of gospel live on.

Sacred Soul Of North Carolina casts in amber a decades-long tradition. Recorded over eight days in a no-frills storefront in Fountain, North Carolina, about an hour due east of the state capital Raleigh, the 18-song collection features area gospel groups that are locally celebrated but little known outside of their homeland, family singers by blood or by the faith that implicitly binds them.

The stripped-back quality of the production has the effect of a collection of field recordings, a couple of mics hovering invisibly among these musicians’ day-to-day, unimposing and in service of capturing their natural selves. Producers Bruce Watson and Tim Duffy centre the voice on each track, whether it’s soaring over basic drum beats, a cappella or out in front of a celestial organ. And the care and attention they render is palpable, each breath, each vibrato, each rasp or sustained note floating with elegant imperfection, like a scrap of velvet in the wind.

The album opens with two blues-soaked numbers by the Dedicated Men Of Zion, perhaps the most visible of the groups collected here, particularly for their recent appearance on NPR’s Tiny Desk (Home) Concert Series. But it is the Glorifying Vines Sisters’ “Tell It All to Jesus” that packs the first real punch, their dynamic, homespun harmonising driven by bass drum and hi-hat thumping. It’s the kind of thing you’d picture in a tent-revival meeting, its celebratory singing and minimalist, easily transportable instrumentation an earnest and effective call to a higher power in any setting.

Big James Barrett & The Golden Jubilees bring a smooth R&B influence, the group’s frontman having come up in that scene, and their second track on the album, “Use Me Lord”, is as much a steppers anthem as it is a call for salvation. It’s a highlight that ushers in a more meditative though no less soulful moment, allowing the listener to groove to the word before Faith & Harmony, The Johnsonairs, Bishop Albert Harrison & The Gospel Tones and Little Willie & The Fantastic Spiritualaires blow the door open with organ-laced full-band exaltation.

Some of the album’s most salient performances omit instrumentation altogether. Faith & Harmony’s “Victory” fuses a coterie of powerful female voices for a declaration of divine assurance, while Bishop Albert Harrison & The Gospel Tones’ “Stand Up” updates doo-wop’s template for a call-and-response that doubles as a call to action. Melody Harper’s a cappella version of “Amazing Grace”, which closes the album, leaves the listener with a sense of resolve for its burden-lifting quality. If there was any doubt that these folks’ faith is what fuels their hope, their evident peace amid hardship, then Harper’s stirring interpretation of the standard makes it abundantly clear.

Though it was recorded a month before the world locked down, Sacred Soul Of North Carolina doubles as a soothing balm for what ails our inner and outer worlds. In a time of great uncertainty, unwavering belief in anything is a rare and delightful thing to behold.

Watch Dave Gahan showcase new solo material with Soulsavers and perform Depeche Mode classics

Dave Gahan & Soulsavers brought their new album ‘Imposter’ to London’s O2 Shepherds Bush Empire last night (December 7).

READ MORE: Dave Gahan covers Cat Power, tells us about his “liberating” new album and the future of Depeche Mode

The Depeche Mode frontman and longtime collaborator Rich Machin were joined onstage by a full band and backing singers for the intimate show which saw the covers album performed in full from start to finish.

The performance featured the likes of Cat Power‘s ‘Metal Heart’, PJ Harvey‘s ‘The Desperate Kingdom Of Love’ and Gwen McCrae’s cover of ‘Always On My Mind’, the latter of which you can view below.

But the biggest cheer was reserved when Gahan performed Depeche Mode classic ‘Personal Jesus’ in the encore followed by ‘John The Revelator’, both of which you can also view below.

Here’s Dave Gahan performing ‘Always On My Mind’ ⁦@o2sbe⁩ pic.twitter.com/UagfeSUsLe

— Damian Jones (@damianjones1) December 8, 2021

The intimate performance followed Gahan & Soulsavers’ show at the London’s Coliseum earlier this week.

Speaking to NME about performing the record live earlier this year, Gahan said: “Performance is a huge part of me. “I hope that there are going to be some pretty unique performances of this record, certainly in London. We’re planning a few things at the moment and it looks like we might be able to do that bubble thing for six weeks and do some special stuff there.”

“I want to do performances where it’s like ‘An Evening With Imposter’. I hope we can pull it off because I really think it will be something special.”

‘Imposter’ was recorded live as a 10-member band at the famed Shangri-La Recording Studio in Malibu, CA in November of 2019 and was released last month. It’s the third album from Dave Gahan & Soulsavers, following on from 2015’s ‘Angels & Ghosts’ and 2012’s ‘The Light The Dead See’.

Dave Gahan & Soulsavers played:

‘The Dark End Of The Street’
‘Strange Religion’
‘Lilac Wine’
‘I Held My Baby Last Night’
‘A Man Needs A Maid’
‘Metal Heart’
‘Shut Me Down’
‘Where My Love Lies Asleep’
‘Smile’
‘The Desperate Kingdom Of Love’
‘Not Dark Yet’
‘Always On My Mind’
‘Revival’
‘Personal Jesus’
‘Shine’
‘John The Revelator’
‘Take Me Back Home’

Soulja Boy says Kanye West got him kicked off other rappers’ albums

Soulja Boy has said that Kanye West is to blame for his not appearing on albums by other artists.

READ MORE: Kanye West – ‘DONDA’ review: some gems among lots – and lots – of filler

He and West were involved in a public feud after the release of the latter’s tenth album ‘Donda’ earlier this year. After his contribution was left off the final version of the release, Soulja Boy gave an interview where he called Kanye a “coward”.

West then said the verse was left off because it was “trash”, to which Soulja responded on livestream calling the entirety of the ‘Donda’ trash. Last month, West publicly apologised.

Now however, Soulja has claimed that West is to blame for him missing out on other feature spots. In an Instagram Live broadcast, he claimed that both Stunna 4 Vegas and Lil Yachty have also cut him from songs.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by DJ Akademiks (@akademiks)

“This is a PSA. This is a public service announcement. None of you rappers call my phone no more, please. I’m begging y’all,” Soulja said.

“Kanye, this is your fault,” he said. “Before this ‘Donda’ album shit, nobody wasn’t trying Big Draco like that. Now you got Lil Yachty sending me songs, and taking me off the song. You got Stunna 4 Vegas sending me songs, and putting the songs out with Big Yavo and SSG Kobe. What is going on around here?”

Meanwhile, West recently ended another longstanding feud, with the rapper set to play a ‘Free Larry Hoover’ benefit show this week with Drake.

West, who has legally changed his name to Ye, revealed last month that Drake would join him for the benefit concert this Thursday (December 9) at the Los Angeles Coliseum. The concert follows a reunion between the two artists.

Watch Silk Sonic perform ‘Fly As Me’ and ‘Smokin’ Out The Window’ at the BET Soul Train Awards

Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak have continued riding the wave of their collaborative album ‘An Evening With Silk Sonic’ with new grin-inducing performances of ‘Fly As Me’ and ‘Smokin’ Out The Window’.

READ MORE: Silk Sonic – ‘An Evening With Silk Sonic’ review: an unashamedly retro delight

The newly minted duo Silk Sonic opened the 2021 BET Soul Train Awards with two vintage-influenced live performances, which both took place at the Apollo Theater in New York.

This marks the latest of a string of live appearances the pair have made over the course of the album’s cycle, with Silk Sonic previously taking ‘Smokin’ Out The Window’ to the stage for last week’s American Music Awards.

Watch both performances at the 2021 BET Soul Train Awards below.

The duo made their live debut earlier this year at the 2021 Grammys with ‘Leave The Door Open’, before going on to perform at the iHeartRadio Music Awards.

Their inaugural collaborative album ‘An Evening With Silk Sonic’ was originally slated for release in January 2022, however, it arrived ahead of schedule on November 12.

NME awarded Mars and Paak’s effort a full five stars, with writer Sophie Williams labelling Silk Sonic “an impeccably in-sync alliance”. The review praises their tongue-in-cheek punchlines and “extraordinary care” in crafting the album.

“Mars and .Paak’s deliberate approach to pastiche is consistently validated by their extreme attention to detail, meaning that their debut album, ‘An Evening With Silk Sonic’, is far from a two-man recreation of a specific era,” Williams writes.

“The record’s nine rich and colourful tracks delight in all-out pop hooks, lush harmonies and conversational verses that occasionally – but knowingly – lean towards musical theatre.”

This month also saw the launch of Anderson .Paak’s own record label, APESHIT INC. The LA-based label is an imprint of UMG and will focus on working with and signing “a new generation of artists, who can play while performing.”

Listen to Willow’s new ‘Transparent Soul’ remix featuring Kid Cudi

Willow has shared a new remix of ‘Transparent Soul’ featuring Kid Cudi – you can listen to it below.

READ MORE: The musical evolution of Willow Smith: how a child star became a pop sensation

The pop-punk-inspired single appears on the singer’s fourth studio album, ‘Lately I Feel Everything’, which came out back in July.

Willow’s new take on the track boasts contributions from Cudi and Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker, the latter of whom appeared on the original track.

“I am so grateful for this song because it was created during such an introspective time during quarantine,” Willow explained in a statement. “The solitude allowed me to introspect and really let go of the insecurities I had about making a project in this genre.

“I am humbled and grateful that Kid Cudi is now able to bring his magic to this remix.”

Willow is set to return to the UK next month for a one-off headline show at the Electric Ballroom in Camden, London. Tickets are now sold out.

Next year, the Los Angeles artist will support Billie Eilish at a number of US shows on her ‘Happier Than Ever’ world tour. Both singers appeared at Las Vegas’ Life Is Beautiful festival in September.

In a four-star review of ‘Lately I Feel Everything’, NME wrote: “With [this album], the child star-turned-music-innovator sends a fond farewell to adolescence. It was a risky move, switching from conscious R&B star to grungy punk beau, but Willow has knocked all doubts out of the park – again.”

The album also contains a team-up with Avril Lavigne, ‘Grow’. Its Dana Trippe-directed official video arrived last month.

Meanwhile, Kid Cudi has collaborated with Ariana Grande on a forthcoming track called ‘Just Look Up’. The song will appear on Netflix’s Don’t Look Up, which comes out next month.

Omar Souleyman detained and held on terrorism charges in Turkey

Omar Souleyman has been detained in Turkey and is being held on terrorism charges, according to the Syrian musician’s manager.

According to a report from Agence France-Presse, Souleyman’s manager confirmed that the singer was detained due to alleged associations he has with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

The PKK is considered a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the European Union and the United States, and has carried out attacks on Turkish soil in recent years. The musician’s manager added that he was being questioned over allegedly recently travelling back to Syria to an area controlled by PKK-affiliated group, the YPG.

The Syrian-born Souleyman fled with his family to southeastern Turkey over a decade ago, setting up a free bakery in a border town to feed the hungry on both sides of the border.

Souleyman’s most recent album, titled ‘Shlon’, came out in 2019. Reviewing the album, NME wrote: “‘Shlon’ allows Souleyman to lift the curtain into his culture, showing his artistry and why exactly he’s one of the most sought-after producers in the world. To pigeonhole him as a wedding singer is reductive.

“His ear for contrasting sounds, and his ability to bring joy, allows us to escape into his work. He shines a light on happiness – something we desperately need in today’s world.”

Back in 2015, Souleyman pledged to raise funds for refugees seeking to find a new home in Europe at all his future live shows. “All future Omar Souleyman shows dedicate to help Syrian people fleeing to a better life elsewhere,” a statement read.

Souleyman has collaborated with the likes of Damon Albarn, Björk, Four Tet, The Black Lips, Gilles Peterson and Modeselektor in the past.

Dave Gahan announces intimate London performance of new album ‘Imposter’ with Soulsavers

Dave Gahan & Soulsavers have announced an intimate live performance of their new covers album ‘Imposter’ in London next month.

READ MORE: Dave Gahan covers Cat Power and tells us about his “liberating” new album and the future of Depeche Mode

The Depeche Mode frontman and longtime collaborator Rich Machin will make an appearance for an intimate show at the Coliseum venue on December 5. Tickets, which you can purchase here, go on sale at 9am this Friday (November 12), the same day the record is released.

“To get to play this special album on a stage in front of people, with the same group of musicians who recorded the album, that’s really important to me,” Gahan said. “I’m incredibly excited to present it live.”

It comes after the pair recently shared the song, ‘The Dark End Of The Street‘ from the forthcoming album, which was originally written by Chips Moman and Dan Penn in 1966, and has been covered by Aretha Franklin, Dolly Parton, Elvis Costello and Frank Black over the years.

They also recently shared their rendition of Cat Power’s ‘Metal Heart’.

‘Imposter’ was recorded and produced by Gahan and Machin in November 2019 at Rick Rubin’s Shangri-La studios in Malibu, California.

The Depeche Mode frontman recently explained to NME that the 12 selected tracks feel like they carry “a sense of wisdom and longevity that is just there in the song and very apparent in the voice”.

He also confirmed that fans could expect to see some Soulsavers shows at the time.

“Performance is a huge part of me,” he said. “I hope that there are going to be some pretty unique performances of this record, certainly in London. We’re planning a few things at the moment and it looks like we might be able to do that bubble thing for six weeks and do some special stuff there.

“I want to do performances where it’s like ‘An Evening With Imposter’. I hope we can pull it off because I really think it will be something special.”

Dave Gahan & Soulsavers will release ‘Imposter’ on November 12 via Columbia.

Various Artists It’s a Good Good Feeling: The Latin Soul of Fania Records

Beyond its worth as a lovingly packaged set of irresistibly energetic music – either spread across four CDs or condensed to two LPs – Craft Latino’s newest tour of the Fania vault is invaluable as a study of the 20th-century American melting pot in action. While the process of assimilation and adaptation often diluted the proverbial pot’s contents elsewhere in the nation, the unique conditions in New York continually yielded rich results. What could have been a thin soup was instead a chunky stew, the constituent morsels still recognisable yet entirely complementary. In the case of the city’s preeminent purveyor of Latin music, the ingredients – whether their origins were black, white, Cuban, Puerto Rican or much else besides – yielded a meal that was tasty as hell.

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Founded in 1964 by bandleader Johnny Pacheco and lawyer Jerry Masucci, Fania was not New York’s first label to serve Latin-American listeners and performers but it soon became the dominant one. Consisting of 89 A-sides and B-sides released between 1965 and 1975, It’s A Good, Good Feeling reveals the rapid rate of development as the growing roster of acts synthesised styles to create the sound that became world-famous as salsa (even if its progenitors couldn’t agree on what the term meant). Fania showed its slippery nature in its earliest releases, which included both Pacheco’s turbo-charged charango and the doo-wop of 125th Street Candy Store, whose 1965 single Silent Ways launches this set.

When the comedy act Tom And Jerrio hit the Top 20 with Boo-Ga-Loo that same year, Fania was quick to get on the bandwagon while continually demonstrating what else could happen when R&B, soul and pop got Latin overhauls. The first Fania single for one of the label’s future giants, Joe Bataan’s Gypsy Woman is one of many landmark releases here, Bataan transforming The Impressions’ hit into a mambo-fuelled stormer. By the beginning of the next decade, Fania’s greats – most of whom would soon join forces in Fania All-Stars, a supergroup so super that their first concert drew 40,000 fans to Yankee Stadium – had soared far beyond boogaloo, creating a pan-Latin, peculiarly Nuyorican fusion that was equally ecstatic and complex.

While It’s A Good, Good Feeling makes for a satisfying showcase for the Latin soul of heavy-hitters like Bataan, Willie Colón and Ray Barretto, many tracks may be discoveries even to the Fania faithful. The fact that two of the latter – El Apollo Sound’s Spinning Wheel, which replaces the bluster of Blood, Sweat & Tears with Havana-ready panache, and Butter Scotch’s Today, an airy take on Philly Soul – are both so different from the explosive salsa that was the label’s signature proves the Fania saga is a continually surprising one.

IDLES make US TV debut with soulful performance of ‘The Beachland Ballroom’

IDLES made their debut appearance on US TV last night to perform ‘The Beachland Ballroom’ – you can watch the video below.

READ MORE: IDLES: Don’t Go Gentle review: a touching portrait of fandom done right

The Bristol band appeared as the musical guests on yesterday’s episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live (November 3). Joe Talbot and co. played the first ‘Crawler’ single, which they previously described as an “honest-to-goodness soul song”.

IDLES performed live in the studio, with the slow-burning track growing in intensity towards its finale.

“Chills. Then a couple tears. He meant those words,” wrote one viewer in the comments section. Another said: “The best thing about this is absolutely everything.”

Tune in here:

Talbot previously said that ‘The Beachland Ballroom’ – named after the iconic Ohio venue – was the “most important song” on the group’s upcoming fourth record, which arrives on November 12.

“There’s so many bands that go through the small rooms and dream of making it into the big rooms,” he continued. “Being able to write a soul tune like this made me go, fuck – we’re at a place where we’re actually allowed to go to these big rooms and be creative and not just go through the motions and really appreciate what we’ve got.”

Meanwhile, IDLES recently shared another new track called ‘Car Crash’. It was inspired by Joe Talbot’s own near-death experience in a car accident.

IDLES will showcase ‘Crawler’ during a sold-out UK and Ireland tour in 2022. The run of gigs includes a four-night billing at the O2 Academy Brixton in London (January 16-19).

It was announced last month that the band will open for The Strokes at their New Year’s Eve concert in New York.

Paul McCartney on the woman who inspired ‘Eleanor Rigby’: “Hearing her stories enriched my soul”

Paul McCartney has shared an excerpt from his forthcoming book The Lyrics: 1956 To The Present, in which he remembers the inspiration for one of his best-known Beatles songs, ‘Eleanor Rigby’.

READ MORE: Paul McCartney: read the exclusive track-by-track story of ‘McCartney III’

Writing about his childhood in Liverpool, McCartney recalled doing chores for local residents during the Scouts’ ‘Bob-a-job week’, during which he met an old lady who would go on to inspire the song.

“Eleanor Rigby is based on an old lady that I got on with very well,” McCartney wrote in an extract published by The New Yorker. “I found out that she lived on her own, so I would go around there and just chat, which is sort of crazy if you think about me being some young Liverpool guy.

“Later, I would offer to go and get her shopping. She’d give me a list and I’d bring the stuff back, and we’d sit in her kitchen. I still vividly remember the kitchen, because she had a little crystal-radio set […] So I would visit, and just hearing her stories enriched my soul and influenced the songs I would later write.”

McCartney also recounted the fact that his original name for Eleanor Rigby was Daisy Hawkins. “I can see that “Hawkins” is quite nice, but it wasn’t right. Jack Hawkins had played Quintus Arrius in Ben-Hur. Then, there was Jim Hawkins, from one of my favorite books, Treasure Island. But it wasn’t right.”

Although there is a grave attributed to an Eleanor Rigby in the graveyard of St Peter’s Parish Church in Woolton, Liverpool, where McCartney and John Lennon had spent time sunbathing as teenagers, it is believed to be a coincidence.

“I don’t remember seeing the grave there, but I suppose I might have registered it subliminally,” McCartney wrote.

He has previously said that the name Eleanor was inspired by the actress Eleanor Bron, who starred in the 1965 Beatles film Help!, while Rigby is based on a shop called Rigby & Evens Ltd, Wine & Spirit Shippers that he saw in Bristol.

McCartney’s two-volume book is published on November 2, and will recount the musician’s life through his earliest boyhood compositions, songs by The Beatles and Wings, and from his lengthy solo career. In August, he revealed the names of the 154 songs that are featured.

To accompany the release, the British Library has announced it will host a free display entitled Paul McCartney: The Lyrics between November 5, 2021 and March 13, 2022, while the musician himself will discuss the book live in conversation at the Royal Festival Hall next month.

Hear Johnny Marr’s new single, “Spirit, Power And Soul”

Johnny Marr returns with new music. “Spirit, Power And Soul” is the first taster from his forthcoming double album and fourth solo full length record, titled Fever Dreams Pts 1-4.

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“Spirit, Power And Soul is a kind of mission statement,” says Marr. “I had an idea about an electro sound with gospel feeling, in my own words… an electro soul anthem.”

The Fever Dreams Pt 1 EP will be released digitally, and on limited edition 12” silver vinyl via BMG from October 15th. Pre-order by clicking here. The double album release date, and more details, are soon to be announced.

The full tracklisting for The Fever Dreams Pt 1 EP is:

Spirit, Power And Soul
Receiver
All These Days
Ariel

Marr is also due to play the following UK shows:

September 20 – Leeds, Stylus

September 21 – Blackburn, King George’s Hall

September 23 – London, Electric Ballroom

September 25 – Manchester, Old Trafford Cricket Ground (supporting The Courteeners)

Lion Babe shares soulful new single, ‘Going Through It’

Lion Babe have shared a soulful new single, ‘Going Through It’ – you can listen to it below.

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The song is taken from the alt-R&B/soul duo’s recently-released album ‘Rainbow Child’, which arrived earlier this month.

The Erykah Badu-inspired track hears front woman Jillian Hervey sing: “I’m going through it, we’re going through it, try not to lose it, we’re gonna do it,” and “we can let it fall away, we can learn from our mistakes, we can find another way…” over a soulful chorus.

The duo – comprised of singer-songwriter and performance artist Jillian Hervey and producer/DJ Lucas Goodman – also shared a new video to accompany the release which you can watch here:

‘Going Through It’ follows on from the release of recent singles, ‘Get Up’, ‘Frida Kahlo’ and ‘Signs’ – all of which appear on ‘Rainbow Child’, the follow-up to their 2019 album, ‘Cosmic Wind’.

Their most recent single was a collaboration with Ghostface Killah on the album’s title track, ‘Rainbow Child’.

Speaking about their new album earlier this year, Lion Babe said: “‘Rainbow Child’ celebrates and reconnects with our inner child. It explores all of the depths that we experience when we have changed but reminds us to always embrace it all.

“The pain, beauty, fear and love. Acceptance of life in its totality brings true radiance inside and out.”

Last September, Lion Babe shared a vibrant reworking of Yasiin Bey’s (fka Mos Def) classic 1999 track ‘Umi Says’.

Meanwhile, last month, Ghostface Killah remixed Silk Sonic‘s chart-topping debut single ‘Leave The Door Open’.

Summer Of Soul (… Or When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised)

“Do you remember the Harlem Cultural Festival?” the interviewer asks, and 50 years on,
by the distant looks on some faces, you sense even people who were there are still not sure if it was all some hazy, childhood ’60s summer dream. After all, until recently it had left barely a ripple in the wider culture, overshadowed by Woodstock happening a couple of hundred miles north and the ongoing political turmoil of 1969.

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“The Harlem Cultural Festival was, indeed, a meaningful entity,” the journalist Raymond Robinson wrote at the time, “but was it fully appreciated? The only time the white press concerns itself with the black community is during a riot or major disturbance…” Sure enough the tapes of these six incredible free shows that took place in Mount Morris Park through June, July and August of 1969 have languished in a Westchester basement for more than 50 years.

What’s brought to light in Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s thrilling and timely doc, is a revelation: an event that rewrites everything you thought you knew about postwar pop. Here in a park on 124th Street, as Apollo 11 landed on the moon and the Panther 21 Trial rolled on, as the long mourning of MLK continued and the heroin epidemic burgeoned, more than 300,000 gathered to witness a stunning staging of the Black American musical diaspora: from blues to jazz to soul, Motown and Sly Stone’s psychedelic fantasia.

But in one sense the music is secondary. Witnesses agree they’d never seen so many black people together before. The event was put together by eccentric, enigmatic lounge singer turned cultural hustler Tony Lawrence, under the patronage of Republican mayor John Lindsay and with the sponsorship of Maxwell House. The police were largely absent, with the Panthers providing security. The crowd is wonderful: grooving old guys in trilbies, jiving matriarchs, dapper dudes in dashikis. “When I looked into the crowd I was overtaken with joy,” says Mavis Staples, still moved 50 years later.

The music is, of course astonishing. Stevie Wonder, still only 19 but greeted as a conquering hero, spiffed up in a gold cravat, like some regency dandy, casually playing the most incendiary drum solo you’ve heard, while a courtier holds a brolly above him. Nina Simone, a visiting dignitary from cosmic Wakanda, firmly but politely asking whether we’re willing to smash “white things”. Sly And The Family Stone, and their white drummer Greg Errico in particular, slowly winning over the crowd before blowing their minds with an irresistible Higher. And then there’s Mavis Staples, humbly accepting the gospel torch from Sister Mahalia Jackson, as they’re driven to inspired glossolalia in memory of Martin Luther King…

And what about David Ruffin, a snazzy, lanky crow, leading the crowd with an unearthly falsetto on My Girl, and Gladys Knight burning up I Heard It Through the Grapevine? Maybe the weirdest triumph of all are the 5th Dimension, dolled out in creamsicle orange and Big Bird Yellow, surely the whitest sounding group of 1969, dazzling the crowd with Let the Sunshine In.

“We were creating a new world,” one woman remembers thinking, “Harlem was our Camelot.” With Summer Of Soul, that myth feels close enough to touch.

Talib Kweli confirms De La Soul now own the rights to their masters

Talib Kweli has revealed iconic hip-hop trio De La Soul have acquired the rights to their master recordings following years of disputes.

On Instagram, Kweli shared the news after speaking to De La Soul’s Maseo. The post arrived with an excerpt of a Teen Titans episode originally aired in February, in which De La Soul made a guest appearance.

“After years of being taken advantage by the recording industry in the worst possible ways, De La Soul now owns all the rights to their masters and is in full control of the amazing music they have created,” Kweli wrote on Instagram.

“Let’s salute Plugs 1, 2 and 3 for sticking to their guns and showing us that we can all beat the system if we come together as a community. Let’s hear it for black ownership of black art! Congratulations fellas.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Talib Kweli (@talibkweli)

De La Soul’s acquisition comes after previous owner Tommy Boy, which also released music from Queen Latifah, House of Pain and Masters of Work, was purchased by rights company Reservoir for £70million earlier this year. As Complex reports, the purchase meant Reservoir came to own the rights to six of the group’s albums including ‘3 Feet High and Rising’, ‘De La Soul Is Dead’ and ‘Buhloone Mindstate’.

De La Soul’s earlier releases are currently not available on streaming services. Tommy Boy had previously attempted to make this happen, but plans came to a halt after the group alleged “unbalanced, unfair terms” relating to the contract.

“Tommy Boy says they are ‘not in the business of giving artists back their Masters.’ We realize, there is a process in reclaiming ownership but we do not trust Tommy Boy in this process after so many years of disappointment,” the trio said back in 2019.

“Therefore, our catalog will not see the light of day by way of our involvement or consent.”

When Reservoir came to own the masters, a representative said the company also hoped to make De La Soul’s music available on streaming services.

“We have already reached out to De La Soul and will work together to the bring the catalog and the music back to the fans.”

Listen to Bryson Tiller’s soul-stirring new track ‘One Sided’

Bryson Tiller has dropped off a surprise new track, ‘One Sided’ – you can listen to it below.

READ MORE: Bryson Tiller talks shunning the spotlight and how Kanye West inspired him to pursue his dreams

The Louisville R&B star’s latest track, which is produced by 30Roc, Bass Charity, Hue Strother and DaBlackMic, follows the release of last year’s ‘Anniversary’, Tiller’s third studio album.

Nurturing a broken heart, Tiller sings: “I don’t wanna make no scene, but yes I’m hurting (I’m really hurting now)/ If he swear you wanna be, I guess you deserve him (yes, you deserve him)/ And you don’t need no stress from me, I guess/ I should just leavе, I guess.”

Opting to not put the track out on major streaming platforms, Tiller released ‘One Sided’ via Soundcloud. You can listen to it below.

Tiller is currently busy at work on his next album, ‘Serenity’. In February, the singer revealed that the project will be a triple disc effort: one rap disc, one R&B disc, and one pop disc.

“I started it a long-ass time ago,” Tiller explained during an Instagram Live. “Like, before ‘True To Self’, but I wasn’t in the right headspace to make it. Then after ‘True To Self’, you know, I was depressed and shit; I had some shit going on in my life. Actually, I was depressed before that, but still was a little depressed after that even more because of different shit.

“So I started up ‘Serenity’ again because I was at a better place in my life; I was feeling better about shit…then over years I realised how much fucking music I had for ‘Serenity’ – all these different shits. So ‘Serenity’ is now, it’s not one album, it’s three albums.”

Earlier this year, Ty Dolla $ign and Jhené Aiko teamed up with Bryson Tiller for a remix of their 2020 collaboration ‘By Yourself’.

Soulja Boy issued with domestic violence restraining order

Soulja Boy has been issued with a restraining order against a woman who is suing him for alleged sexual assault, battery and more.

The rapper’s domestic violence restraining order, which was detailed in documents obtained by TMZ, gives the claimant protection for three years until July 2024.

The unnamed, alleged victim is the same woman who filed a suit against the rapper, whose real name is DeAndre Cortez Way, in January. She claimed that she was in a relationship with him that developed while working as his personal assistant.

The claimant has accused Cortez Way of sexual assault and battery, false imprisonment, gender violence, infliction of emotional distress as well as failure to pay her minimum wage and for providing a hostile work environment, among other allegations.

A representative for Cortez Way told TMZ earlier this year that he denied those claims: “Soulja would never put his hands on a female. He wouldn’t beat a woman or put his hands on a woman … this is non-sense!!!”

Neither party appeared at the restraining order hearing, with both represented by attorneys.

Soulja Boy has also been accused of sexual battery and domestic abuse by an ex-girlfriend, who alleged that she suffered a miscarriage after a bad beating. Cortez Way has also denied those accusations.

In court documents obtained by Radar earlier this month, Cortez Way’s lawyer wrote: “With respect to all causes of action, even if someone is liable for improper or illegal conduct, a fact which Defendant denies, Defendant is in no way or manner vicariously liable for that conduct.”

Soulja also claimed that any alleged action that his ex had issues with were consented to at the time.

Elsewhere in the documents, Cortez Way claimed the “willful, intentional, deliberate, malicious and fraudulent conduct of others was/were responsible for and proximately contributed to the damages alleged to have been sustained.”

He is asking for the case to be dismissed.

For help, advice or more information regarding sexual harassment, assault and rape in the UK, visit the Rape Crisis charity website. In the US, visit RAINN.

Janelle Monáe’s Soulful New Single ‘Stronger’ Will Move You To Action

Janelle Monáe just dropped her new R&B soul song ”Stronger” on Friday (July 2). The track is set to appear in We the People, a 10-episode Netflix animated series about basic American civic rights and citizenship.

The show, produced by Barack and Michelle Obama, is set to premiere on July 4. It will include upbeat educational songs by popular artists like Monáe, H.E.R., Lin Manuel-Miranda, Adam Lambert, Bebe Rexha, Brandi Carlile, and more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOqMvZmuLxM

Monáe has often incorporated social justice into her music, and “Stronger” is a song about uniting to fight for justice, liberty, and equality. “Some of the friends taught me how to dream / Some of the friends taught me how to fight,” Monáe sings. “Even those times when we don’t agree / We know we all tryna save the same day / We don’t want the life without the liberty.”

Additionally, Monáe touches upon voters’ rights: “Now they cast their votes ’cause the people wanna speak / And they checking their balance ’cause the people wanna eat / What they do process ’cause they seek equality / And we pay for the world so the people in the streets / And they love America, where the people wanna be / And they all know their rights from the sea to shiny sea.”

Since the release of her previous studio album Dirty Computer in 2018, Monáe has recently contributed songs to films. “Turntables” was released as a non-album single for All In: The Fight for Democracy, a documentary about Fair Fight Action founder Stacey Abrams, who is also widely accredited for boosting voter turnout in Georgia during the 2020 presidential election, and the history of voter suppression in the United States. She has sung tracks “That’s Enough” and “He’s a Tramp” for the 2019 live-action remake of Disney’s Lady and the Tramp, in which she also voiced the bawdy Pekingese Peg.

Other onscreen roles in which Monáe has recently been featured are Season 2 of Amazon Prime’s psychological thriller series Homecoming and the 2020 suspense film Antebellum. She is set to appear in the upcoming sequel of the mystery film Knives Out, which could be released as early as next year.

https://youtu.be/MLomtcM4-j4

“Stronger” is part of Monáe’s ambition in using her music to advocate for change. She spoke in an interview with Rolling Stone last year regarding social justice in her song “Turntables.”

“What is a revolution without a song?” she said. “I started thinking about all the people on the front line. What could be my gift to them? It was this song to remind them that the tables are turning. We’re seeing that progress is being made, even in the midst of dealing with such traumatic events. We have figured out a way to be the solution. I wanted this to be my gift because revolutionaries need love too. They need inspiration, and they need an anthem. This is my stab at that.”

Watch Griff’s soulful live cover of The Weeknd’s ‘Save Your Tears’

Griff delivered her take on The Weeknd‘s ‘Save Your Tears’ during her appearance on BBC Radio 1’s Live Lounge.

READ MORE: Griff – meet Britain’s next great pop star

The BRITs Rising Star winner took a soulful, stripped-back approach to the synth-driven original for her performance, which you can watch below.

Elsewhere during her appearance, Griff performed live takes on her January hit ‘Black Hole’ as well as her latest single ‘One Foot In Front Of The Other’.

The mixtape ‘One Foot In Front Of The Other’ arrived last week. In a five-star review, NME described the release’s title track as “sheer pop perfection […] a delicious cut, stuffed with euphoric hooks and sparkling production”.

Last week, meanwhile, Griff performed a mesmerising rendition of ‘Black Hole’ on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, with Griff performing inside an abandoned building.

In an interview with NME on the red carpet at the 2021 BRITs, Griff reflected on her achievements over the past year.

“I think I feel really proud of myself and my team,” she said. “It’s kinda hard to break through as a new artist anyway and especially to do it in a year when we’re not meeting people. I think there’s definitely been a lot of hard work behind the scenes and it feels like it’s paying off.”

Last month, meanwhile, The Weeknd delivered his own live take on ‘Save Your Tears’ for the Billboard Music Awards, performing in a parking lot along with a fleet of elaborately choreographed cars.

De La Soul’s back catalogue could soon be available online

De La Soul’s back catalogue could soon be available to stream online.

READ MORE: Gods of Rap tour: Wu-Tang Clan reign supreme as Public Enemy and De La Soul roll back the years

Tommy Boy Music, the hip-hop and electronic music label which released music from De La Soul, Queen Latifah, House of Pain, Masters of Work and more, has been sold to music rights company Reservoir for £70 million ($100 million).

As reported in Variety, the sale now raises questions about the back catalogue of De La Soul, which has been under dispute due to contract negotiations between the group and Tommy Boy for some years.

A representative from Reservoir subsequently told Variety that the new label ownership wants to bring De La Soul’s back catalogue to streaming platforms.

“We have already reached out to De La Soul and will work together to the bring the catalog and the music back to the fans,” the statement said.

Back in 2019, Tommy Boy revealed plans to put De La Soul’s music online, but this was stopped after the group alleged “unbalanced, unfair terms” relating to the contract.

The group, made up of Posdnuos, Trugoy and Maseo, took to social media in 2019 to announce that after seven months of “stalled negotiations” with Tommy Boy, they were unable to “reach an agreement and earn Tommy Boy’s respect for our music/legacy.”

“Our [catalogue] will not see the light of day by way of our involvement or consent,” they said at the time.

After the announcement was made about Reservoir buying Tommy Boy yesterday (June 3), De La Soul posted a cryptic update on Instagram, writing: “Woke up feeling a sense of greater peace of mind….”

Of the group’s nine studio albums, six were released through Tommy Boy Records, starting with their classic debut album, ‘3 Feet High and Rising’, and ending with 2001’s ‘AOI: Bionix’.

Watch Jorja Smith deliver a soulful rendition of ‘Bussdown’ for Radio 1’s Big Weekend

Jorja Smith performed a surprisingly intimate set for Radio 1’s Big Weekend on Friday (May 28), including a Shaybo team-up for ‘Bussdown’.

READ MORE: Jorja Smith – ‘Be Right Back’ review: make yourself at home in this sonic ‘waiting room’

Playing in a colourfully lit BBC Radio Theatre, Smith joined Shaybo – described as packing “sure-fire punchlines that have shown she’s capable of great things to come” in the NME 100 2021 list – as well as a host of musicians and back-up singers to deliver the performance.

Watch her performance of ‘Bussdown’ below:

Smith joined the likes of Wolf Alice, Ed Sheeran and Royal Blood on the Big Weekend 2021 bill, with each artist performing their set from a special location of their choosing.

The star-studded line-up also saw Coldplay playing in front of a lit-up Whitby Abbey in North Yorkshire, the monastic ruins that formed the inspiration for Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

This year’s Big Weekend festival is taking place online for the second consecutive year due to coronavirus-enforced restrictions. It’s being broadcast across BBC Radio 1, BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds from Friday (May 28) to Bank Holiday Monday (May 31).

In a three-star review of Smith’s latest album ‘Be Right Back’, released earlier this month (May 14), NME‘s Kyann-Sian Williams wrote: “As Jorja Smith takes her time to release a second album that lives up to the hype, the steadily sombre ‘Be Right Back’ is a perfect prelude to her next chapter.

“Experimenting with different vocal registers and taking advantage of how harmoniously her voice goes with live instruments, she’s shared a collection that should leave you itching for her next step. If these are loosies, it’s proof of how top-notch her craft is.”

Tributes paid to deep house producer and “huge inspiration” Soulphiction

The electronic music world has been paying tribute to Michel Baumann, who recorded and performed as both Soulphiction and Jackmate, following reports of his death of Monday (May 24).

The Stuttgart-born DJ, producer and Philpot label co-founder had shared on Facebook that he was beginning chemotherapy treatment in hospital early last month.

Baumann’s career spanned over 20 years, with dozens of releases appearing on labels such as Perlon, Local Talk, Playhouse, UMag and Pampa. His sets were legendary for exploring boogie, hip hop, soul and funk, much of which he discovered in his early days working in a record story, prior to delving deeper into house music.

A fundraising campaign has since been set up to support Baumann’s family – you can donate to the campaign here.

Reports of Baumann’s death began circulating on social media yesterday, with tributes ranging from Defected Records to The Blessed Madonna.

“Truly saddened to wake up to hear about the passing of Michel Baumann aka Soulphiction / Jackmate,” Defected’s Twitter account posted. “An underground house legend… R.I.P.”

The Blessed Madonna praised Baumann as “one of the most consistent, inspiring, thoughtful producers in dance music for a great many years,” while Honey Dijon called him “a huge inspiration”.

“So saddened to hear the passing of Michel Baumann, aka SoulPhiction / Jackmate.. a consistently brilliant artist who’s music we played often that always excited and inspired us to push our own work further,” PBR Streetgang wrote on Twitter. “One of the best truly. Sincere condolences to his family & friends.”

See those tributes and more below.

Truly saddened to wake up to hear about the passing of Michel Baumann aka Soulphiction / Jackmate.

An underground house legend… R.I.P. ? pic.twitter.com/oJc7biUMzr

— Defected Records (@DefectedRecords) May 24, 2021

RIP Michel Baumann (Soulphiction & Jackmate) who was one of the most consistent, inspiring, thoughtful producers in dance music for a great many years.

— TBM (@Blessed_Madonna) May 24, 2021

RIP Soulphiction. Super gutted. A huge inspiration. ?

— Honey Dijon (@HONEYDIJON) May 24, 2021

So saddened to hear the passing of Michel Baumann, aka SoulPhiction / Jackmate.. a consistently brilliant artist who’s music we played often that always excited and inspired us to push our own work further.
One of the best truly.
Sincere condolences to his family & friends ❤️

— PBR Streetgang (@pbrstreetgang) May 24, 2021

Terrible news – Michel Baumann aka Soulphiction / Jackmate has passed. Loved his work.

— Jon Dasilva (@jondasilva) May 24, 2021

This one hurts. We lost a great one @soulphiction_official . Humble and prolific with a unique touch. Truly one of my favorite producers. Eternally grateful for your music. https://t.co/QeccdjNiIl

— Fred Everything (@fredeverything) May 23, 2021

RIP Soulphiction.
This was 1 of my favorite albums of yours ?? pic.twitter.com/5uCjxKfxwF

— kid Fonque (@KidFonque) May 24, 2021

RIP Michel Baumann aka Soulphiction. Whatever it was, he had it https://t.co/r06WMzHHql

— Ghostly (@ghostly) May 25, 2021

Bow Wow and Soulja Boy say their upcoming Verzuz battle is “bigger than life”

Bow Wow and Soulja Boy have teased their upcoming Verzuz battle, saying that the competition is going to be “bigger than life”.

READ MORE: Timbaland and Swizz Beatz on ‘Verzuz’ battle series: “We want to celebrate the architects of good music”

Verzuz is the popular entertainment series that pits producers, songwriters and artists against each other in a rap battle style format on Instagram Live and Triller.

Competitors take it in turns playing a song from a list of 20 from their discography, as fans, friends and fellow artists watch on. A winner is later decided by Timbaland and Swizz Beatz.

“This shit gon’ be bigger than life,” Bow Wow told Soulja Boy in an Instagram Live ahead of the battle, which takes place on June 26. “I’m happy to celebrate with you cause I was telling Tim, I don’t know nobody … they was throwing O in there, I saw a lot of Omarion, but that’s my brother. He’s an R&B singer. I’d like to see O go against Mario, me personally.”

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A post shared by DJ Akademiks (@akademiks)

He added: “Me and you brother make so much sense. We’ve been on tour together, me and you got a whole muthafuckin’ mixtape together, me and you got a hit record together. We on tour right now! And on top of that, you got a hot new record out.”

Back in March, Timbaland and Swizz Beatz signed a deal to be streamed through Triller, with Wu-Tang Clan MCs Raekwon and Ghostface Killah going head to head in the first battle streamed on the platform.

Kicking off in March last year after Timbaland and Swizz Beatz issued challenges to one another, artists that have taken part so far have included: T-Pain, Alicia Keys, John Legend, Brandy, Monica, Rick Ross, DMX, Snoop Dogg, D’Angelo and many more.

Last month, fans remembered the late DMX by sharing footage from his 2020 Verzuz battle.

In July 2020, the legend took part in the rap battle series, going up against Snoop Dogg for one of the most-viewed instalments in the series at the time.

The battle broke viewing records for Verzuz, with more than 525,000 concurrent viewers on Instagram and over 2million viewers overall. On Apple Music, it drew in more than 600,000 concurrent viewers and over 1.4million overall.

Soulja Boy sued by ex-partner alleging sexual and physical abuse

Soulja Boy is being sued for domestic violence, assault, and sexual battery, among other charges, by a former romantic partner.

According to reports by Rolling Stone, USA Today and NBC News, the rapper – real name DeAndre Cortez Way – has been accused of punching and hitting the plaintiff, who is only identified as Jane Doe. The lawsuit alleges that Way assaulted Jane Doe when she was pregnant, and she later miscarried. Way also allegedly coerced her into sex through threats of violence.

Representatives for Soulja Boy have not responded to NME’s requests for comment.

Several instances of alleged abuse were detailed in the lawsuit, which was reportedly filed in civil court in Los Angeles on Tuesday (May 11). At the start of the reported incidences, Way allegedly “[punched the] plaintiff in the face and chest, until she could no longer stand on her feet” after becoming angry during a conversation. Afterward, she suffered a miscarriage and had to “undergo a dilation and curettage procedure to remove her uterine lining”.

In another incident, Way allegedly “became upset and ran to Plaintiff’s bed, stood over her and began to physically attack and yell at her”, which was caught on cameras.

Elsewhere the lawsuit accuses Way of threatening the plaintiff’s life, at least one time with a gun, physical assault “if she refused his sexual demands” and punching and kicking her when she would confront him about cheating on her.

The last alleged incident took place when Way, the lawsuit claims, “tightly gripped [her] neck and choked her while threatening her life” after trying to rekindle the relationship and being refused by the plaintiff.

The plaintiff is seeking general, special and punitive damages based on domestic violence, negligence, sexual battery, assault, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent infliction of emotional distress and gender violence.

“Our client is fortunate she was able to escape Way’s reign of terror and domestic abuse. Still, she struggles to rebuild her life as she deals with the stress, fear and humiliation she continues to suffer from the years she remained Way’s emotional and mental captive,” the plaintiff’s lawyer, Neama Rahmani, said in a statement.

Rahmani is also representing another woman who previously worked as Soulja Boy’s personal assistant and earlier this year sued him for sexual assault. Soulja Boy denied those allegations in a statement to TMZ. “I vehemently and unequivocally deny these allegations,” he said. “I am in contact with my legal team and the appropriate legal action will be taken against these lies.”

A year prior, Soulja Boy was accused of assaulting another woman.

For help, advice or more information regarding sexual harassment, assault and rape in the UK, visit the Rape Crisis charity website. In the US, visit RAINN.

Soulwax launch new online TV channel Deewee Teevee

Soulwax have created their own online TV show – watch the first episode of Deewee Teevee below.

The new show is named after the Belgian dance duo’s own label Deewee, and labels itself as “an audio & video broadcasting service”.

READ MORE: Soulwax talk new single ‘Empty Dancefloor’: “We miss that emotion of making people lose their minds”

Created alongside directors Ill-Studio, Deewee Teevee is described as a “post television television programme that only exists when being watched”.

A description adds: “Four episodes, four million packets of data. In just a few seconds – watch and listen all at the same time.

“Live performances, interviews, animations, the sound of music, DEEWEE TEEVEE plays all the right notes – just not necessarily in the right order.”

Watch the first episode of the series, which features an interview with David and Stephen Dewaele – aka Soulwax – and live performances from James Righton and Movulango, below.

The launch of Deewee Teevee follows the release of Deewee’s new compilation ‘Foundations’, which came out last week (May 7).

The record marked the first compilation from Deewee, and their 50th release overall. According to a press release, the project boasts “a breadth of imagination, a love of hands-on artistry and the sonic craftsmanship of the Dewaele brothers”.

Last year, Soulwax released a six-song project called ‘EMS Synthi 100 – DEEWEE Sessions Vol.01’, and recently shared another new track called ‘Empty Dancefloor’.

In a recent interview with NME, the duo discussed how the single was inspired by the world’s clubs falling silent as a result of the coronavirus lockdown.

“We get a lot of people telling us how much they miss that energy and feeling of being in a loud club and being amongst other people,” David Dewaele said.

“That community feeling – it’s a thing that people miss more than the other things that people have had taken away from them.” Watch the video interview in full above.

Listen to Little Simz’ soulful new single ‘Woman’ featuring Cleo Sol

Little Simz has shared a new track called ‘Woman’ – you can listen to it below.

The NME Big Read: Little Simz: “People expect Black people to have all the answers”

The song, which also features Cleo Sol, is the second to be showcased off the London rapper’s upcoming fourth album, ‘Sometimes I Might Be Introvert’.

Following on from the politically charged ‘Introvert’, Simz’ latest single is described as “a soulful love letter to women around the world”.

“I love it when I see women doing their thing and looking flawless; I’m here for that!” she explained. “It’s empowering, it’s inspiring; I wanted to say thank you and I wanted to celebrate them.”

The rapper has also made her directorial debut with the extravagant ‘Woman’ video. Filmed in a lavish country manor, the clip contains cameos from “unapologetically powerful women” such as Jourdan Dunn, Joy Crookes and Denai Moore.

According to a press release, each cast member – including Simz’s cousins Paij and Caroline – has personal significance to the rapper.

Little Simz previously said ‘Sometimes I Might Be Introvert’ was written largely in lockdown (in London and later Berlin), and that it explores her difficulty in opening up about her personal life in an industry where everyone is expected to be “an extrovert”. It will be released September 3 via AGE 101.

She added: “I wanted to just let people know like, yo, I’m actually this way inclined…being this introverted person that has all these crazy thoughts and ideas and theories in my head and not always feeling like I’m able to express it if it’s not through my art.”

You can see the full tracklist below, and pre-order/pre-save the record here.

1. ‘Introvert’
2. ‘Woman’ ft. Cleo Sol
3. ‘Two Worlds Apart’
4. ‘I Love You, I Hate You’
5. ‘Little Q Pt 1 (Interlude)’
6. ‘Little Q Pt 2’
7. ‘Gems (Interlude)’
8. ‘Speed’
9. ‘Standing Ovation’
10. ‘I See You’
11. ‘The Rapper That Came to Tea (Interlude)’
12. ‘Rollin Stone’
13. ‘Protect My Energy’
14. ‘Never Make Promises (Interlude)’
15. ‘Point and Kill’ ft. Obongjayar
16. ‘Fear No Man’
17. ‘The Garden (Interlude)’
18. ‘How Did You Get Here’
19. ‘Miss Understood’

Klaxons’ James Righton shares Soulwax-assisted new single ‘Release Party’

Former Klaxons member James Righton has shared a new single called ‘Release Party’ – you can listen to it below.

READ MORE: Charlotte Adigéry’s Soulwax-produced EP is a celebratory and thumping delight

The musician, who’s previously worked on music under his Shock Machine moniker, released his debut album ‘The Performer’ via Soulwax‘s DEEWEE label last March.

Righton has now shared a new track that will feature on DEEWEE’s new compilation ‘Foundations’, which arrives this Friday (May 7). It also serves as the first taste of Righton’s upcoming second record.

According to the singer, ‘Release Party’ was “written in my garage during lockdown before, completed at DEEWEE Studio with Dave & Steph [Dewaele] of @soulwax [and 2manydjs] working together remotely”.

He explained that the throbbing, bass synth-heavy song was being about “tension and release and the dreams and fantasies we make”, adding that said “party” is to be confirmed at a later date.

My new single 'Release Party' is out now: https://t.co/hb5foFAp3b
Written in my garage during lockdown, completed at DEEWEE Studio with Dave & Steph of @soulwax working together remotely. Listen away wherever you get your music. Party tbc x pic.twitter.com/TUWkkvAsjt

— James Righton (@James__Righton) May 5, 2021

The song is accompanied by a blue and white official visualiser, which you can watch above.

DEEWEE’s 27-track ‘Foundations’ collection was first previewed with ‘Bear With Me (And I’ll Stand Bare Before You)’ by Charlotte Adigéry.

The record marks the first compilation from DEEWEE, their 50th release overall. According to a press release, the project boasts “a breadth of imagination, a love of hands-on artistry and the sonic craftsmanship of the Dewaele brothers”.

Last year, Soulwax released a six-song project called ‘EMS Synthi 100 – DEEWEE Sessions Vol.01’.

Snoop Dogg pays emotional tribute to DMX: “His soul and music will live on”

Snoop Dogg has paid an emotional tribute to his late friend and fellow rapper DMX after his death.

The hip-hop icon died last week (April 9) after being hospitalised on April 3 following a heart attack.

READ MORE: DMX, 1970 – 2021: hip-hop giant who shone brightest in the darkness

Appearing on the Today show, Snoop paid an emotional tribute to DMX, likening him to an angel.

“I’d like to say that DMX was wanting to glorify his relationship with God, and he was always pushing the right thing, and he was always trying to help other people,” he said in a brief clip that was released yesterday (April 12).

“And that leads me to believe that’s why God chose His angel to come back home with him. He did his time out here.

Snoop Dogg. CREDIT: Paras Griffin/Getty Images

“He did what he was supposed to do. He influenced, he inspired and he represented. So, DMX, his soul will live on and his music will live on, as well. We thank you, brother, for what you brought to us.”

Snoop added: “He was funny. He loved old-school music. He loved old-school cars. And when I say he loved old-school music, he loved old-school music and gospel music, probably more than rap music. And that’s what people didn’t know,.

“But if you listen to him talk and you listen to what he testify and what he’s always giving up, it’s either that R&B or the gospel music that always pushed the message behind DMX.”

Last weekend also saw fans remembering the pair’s classic Verzuz battle, which took place last year.

It is believed that DMX had been busy working on his much anticipated comeback album, the proper follow-up to 2012’s ‘Undisputed’.

Speaking in a number of recent interviews, DMX revealed that the album would include features from Lil Wayne, Snoop Dogg, Alicia Keys, Usher, several members of the Griselda crew, and the late Pop Smoke.

In February, he also announced that he had a collaboration with U2’s Bono on the way called ‘Skyscrapers’.

BTS Shine Through The Grammys With ‘A Little Funk And Soul’

BTS know how to turn up the party: The superstar South Korean band performed their disco-revivalist jam "Dynamite" at the VMAs in August and made it a black-tie affair. Now, they're bringing that electric energy — and appropriately colorful suiting — to the 2021 Grammy Awards stage on Sunday (March 14).

Just like the '70s-inspired music video for "Dynamite," the energetic closing track on their hopeful November album Be, BTS's performance was awash in pastels. It began on a stage decked out with flowers, which Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V, and Jungkook all navigated with ease while moving through towers of falsetto hooks. The group made full use of the set, eventually finding their way onto the roof. Finishing their choreography within an illuminated urban backdrop, the performance gave new meaning to the lyrics "shining through the city with a little funk and soul."

https://twitter.com/MTVNEWS/status/1371302592823840781

https://twitter.com/CBS/status/1371302108318687233

The Bangtan Boys were no strangers to the Grammys. Last year, they joined Lil Nas X for a dizzying, star-studded medley of the megahit "Old Town Road." In a performance that featured cameos from Diplo, Mason Ramsey, and Nas himself, BTS took lead on a verse from their remixed take on the track, "Seoul Town Road," which referenced the South Korean capital city.

However, this was their first time at the ceremony as nominees. BTS were up for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for "Dynamite," though Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande were awarded instead for "Rain On Me" ahead of the main show. Had BTS received the gramophone, it would have marked a historic first-time win for the band. In response to the news, fans up the internet in support of the group with hashtags like #LightItUpBTS and #BTSOurGreatestPrize.

Nonetheless, BTS encouraged listeners to stay positive, posting on Twitter to watch "out for the performance," signing off with a purple heart emoji. Check out the action above and find all the 2021 Grammys winners right here.

https://youtu.be/g2rpmYtnLKw

Emotional Oranges team up with Biig Piig on dreamy new track ‘Body & Soul’

Los Angeles duo Emotional Oranges have shared a new track featuring Biig Piig – listen to ‘Body & Soul’ below.

Read more: “We’re going to be the biggest band in the world” – Meet Emotional Oranges, the Kanye-approved R&B collective

The track, which is the latest preview of the pair’s upcoming project ‘Juicebox’, follows recent singles ‘All That’ featuring Channel Tres and ‘Bonafide’ with Chiiild.

Featuring fellow fast riser Biig Piig (real name Jess Smyth), ‘Body & Soul’ is a hip-hop influenced R&B cut that the group have described as being full of “feel good, carefree energy”.

“We dm’d Jess after hearing her song ‘Don’t Turn Around’ and she happened to have just moved to LA from London,” Emotional Oranges said of the collaboration. “We made two dope ideas the first day we got in the studio and have become close ever since – she’s an unbelievably talented writer and an overall great human.”

They continued: “The ‘Body & Soul’ hook was actually the bridge for the first track we did and we decided to build around that for an entirely new song. The feel good, carefree energy reminds me of ‘Motion’ and ‘Personal’ and I’m glad we were able to bring that back for JUICEBOX.”

Listen to the track below:

‘Juicebox’ will be the LA group’s – comprised of members A and V – first project since the release of 2019’s ‘The Juice Vol.1’ and ‘The Juice Vol.2’.

Speaking to NME last year, the duo opened up about their decision to keep their identities secret and going only by initials.

“The crowd know all the words but they don’t know who we are,” A said. “Like, before the shows, sometimes I go to the restroom and I walk past everybody. It’s not about us, it’s about the music. It’s a feeling, it’s an emotion.”

Watch De La Soul guest on superhero cartoon ‘Teen Titans Go!’

De La Soul have made a guest appearance in a new episode of the animated series Teen Titans Go!.

The rap trio appeared as characters in the latest instalment of the superhero cartoon, which aired on Cartoon Network earlier today (February 20).

READ MORE: Gods of Rap tour: Wu-Tang Clan reign supreme as Public Enemy and De La Soul roll back the years

In the episode, the group come face-to-face with a monster who steals their music, despite their efforts to defeat it with a “sonic blast” – or sound waves amplified by a bazooka.

The Teen Titans are initially starstruck by meeting De La Soul but, after the monster breaks the top off of the band’s recording studio and inhales their music, they promise: “Don’t you worry, De La Soul. We are going to get your music back.”

Watch a clip of the episode below now and see it in full on the Cartoon Network app.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by De La Soul (@wearedelasoul)

In reality, De La Soul has had struggles with the ownership of their music too. In 2019, the trio failed to come to an agreement with their former record label, Tommy Boy Records, over who owned their catalogue.

Six of their albums were released through the label, including their seminal debut album ‘3 Feet High And Rising’.

“Tommy Boy says they are ‘not in the business of giving artists back their Masters’,” De La Soul said in a statement. “We realise, there is a process in reclaiming ownership but we do not trust Tommy Boy in this process after so many years of disappointment. Therefore, our catalogue will not see the light of day by way of our involvement or consent.”

Listen to Soulwax’s new remix of Fontaines D.C.’s ‘A Hero’s Death’

Soulwax have shared their remix of Fontaines D.C.’s ‘A Hero’s Death’ – you can listen to the duo’s new reworking of the Fontaines track below.

The original song is the title track from the Dublin band’s second album, which was released back in July.

Read more: Soulwax talk new single ‘Empty Dancefloor’: “We miss that emotion of making people lose their minds”

Soulwax have turned their attention to ‘A Hero’s Death’ with their latest remix, with the Dewaele brothers saying in a statement about the track: “Whatever the part of the brain is that sparks the idea for a remix when you hear a great song, even though it doesn’t always work, it was definitely fully functional when we heard ‘A Hero’s Death’.”

You can hear Soulwax’s remix of Fontaines D.C.’s ‘A Hero’s Death’ below.

Soulwax are also releasing a limited run of hand-stamped vinyl of their ‘A Hero’s Death’ remix, which can be pre-ordered here.

Soulwax recently released the single ‘Empty Dancefloor’, which was written in response to nightclubs and music venues across the world being forced to close their doors due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Speaking to NME about the wider meaning behind the song, the duo’s David Dewaele said: “We get a lot of people telling us how much they miss that energy and feeling of being in a loud club and being amongst other people.

“People talk about the demise of other industries, it’s completely valid and a tragedy, but I’m completely confident that nightlife is going to bounce back like never before because the demand is so gigantic and the desire is so huge.”

Fontaines D.C., meanwhile, are currently at work on the follow-up to ‘A Hero’s Death’.

Kiss’ Paul Stanley previews debut Soul Station album with ‘O-o-h Child’ cover

Kiss vocalist Paul Stanley has shared the first taste of ‘Now And Then’, the debut album by his side project Soul Station.

‘O-o-h Child’, a cover of the Five Stairsteps’ 1970 hit, is one of nine covers on the forthcoming album that also comes with five originals. ‘Now And Then’ is released on March 5 via UMe.

Paul Stanley’s Soul Station is a 15-piece ensemble band led by Stanley on vocals. They’ve been active on the live circuit since 2015 but haven’t yet released an album.

‘Now And Then’ is a tribute record to the music Stanley grew up on, and features renditions of songs by The Temptations, Smokey Robinson, and more.

Stanley said in a statement (via Rolling Stone): “Long before I ever heard the great British bands, I grew up listening to Philly Soul, Motown, and so much more. I was lucky to see Otis Redding and Solomon Burke among others. That music and its storytelling gave me strength and hope even in some tough days. The great classics of that era are magical medicine for most and I felt myself drawn back to that era for some sorcery I think we could all use.”

He added: “As for the new material on the record, between us doing some great Soul Station shows and starting the album I started to think that neither the band nor the music we love should depend only on the past so I started writing with the goal of seamlessly taking songs into the present. From what a lot of people I respect have told me, that mission was accomplished.”

‘Now And Then’ tracklist:

01. ‘Could It Be I’m Falling In Love’ (the Spinners cover)
02. ‘I Do’
03. ‘I, Oh I’
04. ‘Ooo Baby Baby’ (Smokey Robinson cover)
05. ‘O-o-h Child’ (the Five Stairsteps cover)
06. ‘Save Me (From You)’
07. ‘Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)’ (the Temptations cover)
08. ‘Whenever You’re Ready (I’m Here)’
09. ‘The Tracks of My Tears’ (the Miracles cover)
10. ‘Let’s Stay Together’ (Al Green cover)
11. ‘La-La (Means I Love You)’ (the Delfonics cover)
12. ‘Lorelei’
13. ‘You Are Everything’ (the Stylistics cover)
14. ‘Baby I Need Your Loving’ (the Four Tops cover)

Meanwhile, Stanley – best known as the rhythm guitarist and co-lead vocalist of Kiss – has been vocal about Donald Trump’s “abhorrent” attempts to “find” votes in Georgia.

The musician hit out at an audio recording released earlier this month of the incumbent US president pressurising Georgia’s Secretary Of State to “find” votes that would overturn his election loss to president-elect Joe Biden.

Listen to Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ new soundtrack for Disney/Pixar film ‘Soul’

Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross have shared their new score for upcoming Disney/Pixar film Soul – listen in full below.

The film comes to cinemas on Christmas Day, but the soundtrack has been given a digital and vinyl release a week prior (December 18).

READ MORE: The roots of… Nine Inch Nails

Reznor and Ross have shared a handful of new soundtrack work across 2020. First, they scored the new Watchmen TV series, which they released the soundtrack for in three parts. Then last month, they reconnected with David Fincher to score Mank, after previously working with the director on The Social Network, Gone Girl and more.

Listen to the Soul soundtrack in full below.

Speaking of the Soul score, Reznor and Ross told Heroic Hollywood that the soundtrack is not “of this Earth”.

Reznor added: “Our first step is always to listen and really try to understand where the filmmakers are coming from: what they’re seeing, what they’re imagining.

“We spent a lot of time discussing how you’re supposed to feel when you’re first exposed to the Soul world. Then we went back to our studio, which is filled with a variety of real, imagined and synthetic instruments, and spent the first chunk of time experimenting with different arrangements and different instruments and seeing what felt emotionally right to create the fabric of this world.”

Back in May, Trent Reznor revealed that he was working on new Nine Inch Nails music during lockdown. “THE CURRENT PLAN IS TO FINISH UP SOME SCORING PROJECTS, WORK ON MY LIMITED PATIENCE SKILLS, DEEP DIVE INTO NEW NIN MATERIAL, AND HOPEFULLY BE PLAYING MUSIC LIVE FOR YOU IN 2021,” Reznor said of his lockdown plans while revealing that the band were cancelling an autumn tour.

Earlier on in the year, Nine Inch Nails surprised fans by releasing two brand new albums online, to help them feel “a little less alone” as the world battles the coronavirus crisis.

Blossoms reveal new animated short film for ‘Christmas Eve (Soul Purpose)’

Blossoms have unveiled a new, animated short film, Christmas Eve (Soul Purpose). You can watch it below.

Read More: Blossoms live in London: indie heroes get up close and personal with virtual reality gig

Released yesterday (December 11), the short film was created by Edwin Burdis and animated by Astrid Goldsmith of Mock Duck Studios.

As well as vocal appearances from Blossoms, the film also includes appearances from Manchester musician Rowetta and comedian Lloyd Griffith. Writing on Twitter, Rowetta said: “Really enjoyed being a part of the gorgeous Blossoms’ short film.”

Back in November, Blossoms released a double A-side, ‘Christmas Eve (Soul Purpose)’/’It’s Going To Be A Cold Winter’.

You can watch the film here:

Last month (November 17), Blossoms lent their support to a crowdfund campaign in aid of Manchester nightclub and venue 42’s, raffling off a number of ultra-rare items.

Among the prizes up for grabs are frontman Tom Ogden’s original, handwritten lyrics to their 2018 track ‘I Can’t Stand It’, and the full outfit worn by the singer in the video for 2016’s ‘Honey Sweet’.

In a video publicising the venue’s fundraising efforts, Ogden and drummer Joe Donovan described 42’s as “the best club in town for us.”

They also revealed they’d be donating a test pressing for ‘Cool Like You’ made even rarer by a spelling mistake on the label, and a signed Stockport County/Blossoms mash-up football kit created by Bands F.C.

Reviewing Blossoms’ recent gig in London, NME said: “It’s a highlight to hear the band’s two new Christmas songs, ‘Christmas Eve’ and ‘It’s Going To Be A Cold Winter’, live for the first time. Lights turn from orange to green back to red and Christmas trees, framing the stage, make the place feel like home.

“…they’re on terrific form and grateful to be back, while seemingly aware that there’s no beating the real thing. “I enjoyed that more than I thought I would,” Ogden concludes. There’s certainly enjoyment to be found here – and more incentive than ever to look forward to a proper return next year.”

Watch Moses Sumney’s captivating performance of ‘Bless Me’ at 2020 Soul Train Awards

Moses Sumney gave a captivating performance of his song ‘Bless Me’ at the 2020 Soul Train Awards over the weekend.

The track originally appeared on Sumney’s latest album ‘græ’, which arrived earlier this year.

Read more: Moses Sumney on resisting definition and new album ‘græ’: “My identity is a kind of patchwork”

The Asheville-based artist was invited to appear at the annual event, which aired on Black Entertainment Television in the US last night (November 29).

Dressed in a large, black puffy jacket which he removed partway through the performance, Sumney’s vocal mastery was on full display. He hit high notes with ease as he moved through the song, backed by a full band and supporting vocalist.

Watch the performance below:

Sumney was one of many performers that night, including Ella Mai, Jazmine Sullivan, CeeLo Green, Babyface and more.

Awards were taken home by Beyoncé , WizKid and SAINt JHN, who won Video of The Year for ‘Brown Skin Girl’, Megan Thee Stallion, who took home the Rythm & Bars award for ‘Savage’ and H.E.R. for Best RnB/Soul Female Artist.

Sumney released ‘græ’ in two parts, with the first half landing in February this year. He followed up with part two in May, completing the album.

A review by NME awarded the record four stars, calling it a “complex two-part double album” that “defies boundaries and genre”.

“Nothing is straightforward on this intimate, soul-searching record, which veers from jazz to art-pop, the form matching the message that life contains multitudes,” said NME.

Speaking to NME in an interview, Sumney said “Making this record was dramatically different to the last”.

“I really wanted to exhaust everything, and explore all the different sides of my identities that are within me. I wanted it to be more naked,” he explained.

Soulwax to re-release new digital edition of ‘Nite Versions’ for its 15th anniversary

Soulwax are set to re-release a new digital version of ‘Nite Versions’ for the album’s 15th anniversary.

Originally released in 2005, ‘Nite Versions’ is a collection of remixes of songs from 2004’s ‘Any Minute Now.’ The 15-year anniversary re-release will be available digitally from November 27 via PIAS. A special re-pressing on pink and white vinyl is also set to “follow shortly” according to a press release.

The re-release will include a new digital re-working of ‘NY Lips’ which will feature a spoken word performance by LCD Soundsystem’s Nancy Wang.

The rework was originally made for a fashion show – Drier Van Noten men’s Spring/Summer 2020 in collaboration with the brand’s musical creative director, Bache Jespers.

You can listen to the song below:

Speaking about the collaboration on this, Soulwax said: “Over the years we’ve been fortunate enough to have been asked by Dries Van Noten to create the soundtrack to a number of his runway shows. In 2011 we were given the opportunity to do so with the stems from David Bowie’s Heroes and in 2019 Dries asked us to do the same with one of our own songs, NY Lipps.

“This particular collection was inspired by Fassbinder’s Querelle which contained the song Each Man Kills The Thing He Loves. We thought it would be fitting to use Nancy Whang who sang on the original, speaking the words to the Oscar Wilde poem in this version.”

Speaking about the re-release and the ‘Nite Versions’ album, they added: “This album was our attempt at showing that even though we were seen as a revelation in dance music, we were rock kids playing in a rock band.

“For a few of the singles we released off that album, we had asked other people to remix our tracks, but even though we liked them, we realised we wouldn’t play them in our own DJ sets.

“So, we decided to remix ourselves. Even though the name Nite Versions is a nod to the Night Versions remixes of the first Duran Duran singles which broke them in the US, conceptually our biggest influence was an album from 1982 called Love and Dancing by The League Unlimited Orchestra, which was essentially the hit album Dare by The Human League remixed by them and their producer in such a simple way that to this day still sounds more interesting than the original to us.”

They concluded: “The Nite Versions album only became an album after we had made a few of them for the single releases and we then realised we should remix the whole album which we did in a few weeks’ time in between our ever-increasing DJ touring life”

Back in September, Soulwax shared a new remix of Róisín Murphy’s ‘Something More’.

The original version of the track appears on Murphy’s ‘Róisín Machine’, which arrived on September 25.

Speaking about ‘Something More’ upon the original track’s release back in June, Murphy said: “I interpreted it as a swan-song to how we once lived, there’s plenty of bravado in the lyrics and the character is a kind of antihero but the indefinable yearning and the feeling of arriving at a point of emptiness is universal right now!”

Listen to Blossoms’ festive double A-side ‘Christmas Eve (Soul Purpose)’/’It’s Going To Be A Cold Winter’

Blossoms are getting ready for the festive season by releasing new double A-side, ‘Christmas Eve (Soul Purpose)’/’It’s Going To Be A Cold Winter’. Check out the two new songs below.

On the cover – Blossoms: “We might be uncool, but so are ABBA and everyone loves them”

Having teased the release yesterday, looking ahead to the yuletide songs they wrote “on the hottest day of the year” back in summer, now the two new songs have arrived on streaming before coming out on a limited edition, 7-inch vinyl single on December 11.

Featuring their hometown’s Stockport Junior Voices Choir and with artwork by The Coral‘s James Skelly, ‘Christmas Eve (Soul Purpose)’ was produced by Skelly and Rich Turvey and recorded between Parr Street Studios, Liverpool and Hitsville Stockport – where the band themselves recorded and produced ‘It’s Going To Be A Cold Winter’.

This is the band’s first new material since releasing third album ‘Fooling Loving Spaces‘ earlier this year, and comes after they confirmed this week that they would be releasing a new documentary. Back To Stockport will look back at the band’s homecoming show at Stockport County FC’s Edgeley Park in June 2019, and arrive on Amazon Prime Video on November 8.

Over the summer, Blossoms confirmed they’d started work on their fourth record by sharing a series of studio shots online.

The band revealed ahead of their third LP’s release that they had already penned “most” of its follow-up. Frontman Tom Ogden said at the time that its first single was “pretty much done”, admitting that the band “[didn’t] want to wait too long before putting out something brand new”.

Leslie Odom Jr. on playing soul legend Sam Cooke: “I’ve been a fan my whole life”

Leslie Odom Jr. has spoken about the challenge of portraying Sam Cooke on the big screen in the forthcoming film One Night In Miami.

Directed by If Beale Street Could Talk star Regina King in what is her directorial debut, the film is a cinematic adaptation of Kemp Powers’ 2013 play which imagines a meeting between Cooke, Malcolm X, Cassius Clay and American footballer Jim Brown during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.

Read more: One Night In Miami review: four Black icons meet at America’s cultural crossroads

Speaking to NME about how he prepared for his role in One Night In Miami, Hamilton star Odom Jr. explained that he’d “been a fan of Cooke my whole life” and that his music remains “omnipresent”.

“There’s never a time that I don’t remember ‘Chain Gang’ or ‘You Send Me’,” he said. “As I introduce my three-year-old to my music, what I hope for is the day that she goes to discover these artists on her own. I’m just exposing her to it, introducing her to it, but I long for the day she goes and digs in the crates and discovers the music and the albums for herself.

“That’s what happened for me with Sam Cooke: I heard a cover of ‘A Change Is Gonna Come’, and there’s power in the lyrics and melody even when he’s not singing it. But that sent me on the path to looking for the original, and so I discovered the Sam Cooke version. It was on loop for years after that! So you can imagine how daunting it was knowing that in this film I’d have to attempt singing it myself.”

Odom Jr. said he was “grateful” to King for how she planned the shooting of the film, given that he finished filming One Night In Miami just as the coronavirus pandemic shut down the vast majority of film production in the US back in March.

“[Cooke] was as close as he was gonna get to me by then, you know? I had really drawn him closer and closer throughout the shooting of the film, so I was the most full of Sam that I was gonna be on the day that we shot the ‘A Change Is Gonna Come’ scene,” he explained.

Odom Jr. explained that he was drawn to the project by Powers’ ambition to hold “a private conversation publicly” with the cinematic adaptation of his play.

“I recognised Kemp’s desire to do a scary thing, a dangerous thing, an exciting thing: having a private conversation publicly,” he said. “It’s daring because it is pulling back the curtain; knocking down the fourth wall, if you will. It’s what this thing, this acting or performing thing, is supposed to be about, but it’s still very rare that I’ve been given the opportunity to do that.

“We can set aside for a moment that these are going to be portrayals of legends, as this is possibly a side of them that you’ve never considered and you’ve never looked at. So set that aside and look beyond that, I think the exciting thing — I speak for myself here — was to have a private conversation publicly.”

One Night In Miami, starring Leslie Odom Jr. has yet to receive an official UK release date.

The Mountain Goats share soulful new single ‘Get Famous’

The Mountain Goats have shared ‘Get Famous’, the second single from their forthcoming 19th album ‘Getting Into Knives’.

The new “anti-fame” song is a soulful turn, fleshed out by horns and vintage organ, and references the late Chicago outsider musician Wesley Willis (“Wesley Willis told me how to write about you“).

In a press statement, frontman John Darnielle said, “If I told you all how much fun we had making this one you wouldn’t even believe me, but we hope it comes through.”

Listen to ‘Get Famous’ below.

‘Get Famous’ follows the upcoming album’s more brooding first single, ‘As Many Candles As Possible’ featuring American organist Charles Hodges – known for his work with Al Green.

Per the band’s Twitter, ‘Getting Into Knives’ was recorded in Memphis and March and will be released on October 23 through Merge.

It follows on from this year’s surprise album ‘Songs For Pierre Chuvin’, released in April. The ten-track album was released in John Darnielle’s North Carolina home on a Panasonic RX-FT500 tape deck, harking back to the band’s early days.

The bandleader said proceeds from that album would go directly to The Mountain Goats’ crew and collaborators, whose tour plans were put on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“I dedicate this tape to everybody who’s waited a long time for the wheels to sound their joyous grind,” Darnielle said at the time of its release.

Listen to Soulwax’s thumping new remix of Róisín Murphy’s ‘Something More’

Soulwax have shared a new remix of Róisín Murphy – hear their version of ‘Something More’ below.

The original version of the track appears on Murphy’s upcoming album ‘Róisín Machine’, which will come out later this month (September 25).

Read more: Does Rock ‘N’ Roll Kill Braincells?! – Róisín Murphy

The new remix nudges ‘Something More’ towards the dancefloor, adding the Belgian dance duo’s trademark touch.

Listen to the Soulwax remix of ‘Something More’ below.

The imminent ‘Róisín Machine’ is Murphy’s fifth solo album, and is her first album since 2015’s ‘Hairless Toys’.

Earlier this year, Murphy shared a huge, eight-minute dancefloor filler called ‘Murphy’s Law’.

Soulwax, meanwhile, released a new album earlier this year based on a rare classic synth. ‘EMS Synthi 100 – DEEWEE Sessions Vol.01’ was released back in May, and came alongside an accompanying book, composed in tribute to the classic rare synth EMS Synthi 100.

“It was our belief that there were tons of melodies and rhythms hidden within the machine, we just had to make it sing,” David and Stephen Dewaele, who also perform as 2manydjs, explained.

“A few of the compositions were written beforehand, with the Synthi 100 in mind, then translated onto it. A couple were created by just messing around for hours, and some of it is the machine randomly playing by itself, inspiring us to build onto its unique chaos.”

Adele praises self-help book for changing her life: “It will make your soul scream”

Adele has praised a self-help book for helping change her outlook on life.

Posting on Instagram, she praised Glennon Doyle’s Untamed: stop pleasing, start living and said it had helped her to find herself and “let go”.

Sharing an image of the book’s cover on Instagram, the singer wrote: “If you’re ready – this book will shake your brain and make your soul scream. I am so ready for myself after reading this book! It’s as if I just flew into my body for the very first time.

“Whew! Anyone who has any kind of capacity to truly let go and give into yourself with any kind of desire to hold on for dear life – Do it. Read it. Live it. Practice it. We are a lot! But we are meant to be a lot!

View this post on Instagram

If you’re ready – this book will shake your brain and make your soul scream. I am so ready for myself after reading this book! It’s as if I just flew into my body for the very first time. Whew! Anyone who has any kind of capacity to truly let go and give into yourself with any kind of desire to hold on for dear life – Do it. Read it. Live it. Practice it. We are a lot! But we are meant to be a lot! .. “A good life is a hard life!” Read this book and have a highlighter on hand to make notes because you’ll want to refer back to it trust me! I never knew that I am solely responsible for my own joy, happiness and freedom!! Who knew our own liberation liberates those around us? Cause I didn’t!! I thought we were meant to be stressed and disheveled, confused and selfless like a Disney character! ProBloodyFound!! You’re an absolute don Glennon ♥️

A post shared by Adele (@adele) on Aug 14, 2020 at 5:43pm PDT

“I never knew that I am solely responsible for my own joy, happiness and freedom!! Who knew our own liberation liberates those around us? Cause I didn’t!!”

Doyle’s memoir, which arrived in March this year, discusses her own experiences of self-discovery and encourages readers to embrace their “true self”.

It has gone on to become Amazon’s number one bestselling book, beating the new Twilight spin-off Midnight Sun.

This comes after Adele told fans that she has “no idea” when her new album will be released, after confirming earlier this summer it had been delayed.

The star is currently working on the follow up to her hit third ‘25’, which was released in 2015.

In April, the star sparked concern amongst her followers when she was seen in an Instagram video saying: “Come on, it’s 2020 – we ain’t meant to get what we want!” Fans speculated that she was referring to the release of her new album.

Jessie Ware shares huge new single ‘Soul Control’

Jessie Ware releases new album ‘What’s Your Pleasure?’ tomorrow (June 26), and has shared another new song from it.

The huge, poppy ‘Soul Control’ is the latest preview of the record, which was due out last week (June 19), but was delayed a week in solidarity with Black Lives Matter protests happening across the globe.

Read more: Jessie Ware – ‘What’s Your Pleasure?’ review: future-facing production and heady ’80s sounds

Announcing that she was pushing the album – which was due to come out on US holiday Juneteenth, which marks the end of slavery in the country – back, Ware said: “It’s been brought to my attention that June 19 is in fact a special date in American history.

“It’s an incredibly important day for black voices, and I don’t want to distract from those voices or those experiences or stories in any way.”

Listen to ‘Soul Control’ below.

Reviewing new album ‘What’s Your Pleasure?’, NME wrote: “An intoxicating cocktail of seductive beats, exhilarating choruses and sleek production, ‘What’s Your Pleasure?’ is pure escapism.

“Moving away from the wistful melancholy that permeated her last record, here Jessie Ware takes to the dancefloor – and you’ll want to join her.”

Jessie Ware recently announced details of a UK tour for April 2021, and has added a second date at London’s Brixton Academy on April 25.

See Jessie Ware’s full list of 2021 UK tour dates below.

APRIL 2021
Wednesday 14 – Glasgow, O2 Academy
Thursday 15 – Newcastle, O2 Academy
Friday 16 – Leeds, O2 Academy
Sunday 18 – Manchester, Victoria Warehouse
Monday 19 – Birmingham, Birmingham Academy
Wednesday 21 – Bristol, Marble Factory
Thursday 22 – Southampton, Guildhall
Saturday 24 – London, O2 Academy Brixton

Manic Street Preachers share trailer for “raw” ‘Gold Against The Soul’ live film ‘Pieces Of Sleep’

Manic Street Preachers have shared the trailer for their new concert film ‘Pieces Of Sleep’. See it first on NME below, along with our interview with director Kieran Evans.

To celebrate the recent reissue of their second album ‘Gold Against The Soul’, the band will soon be releasing a concert movie from the era filmed on their 1993 tour of Japan. The film will be released on Youtube tomorrow, and is the latest to be made with the band’s longtime collaborator and BAFTA-winning director Kieran Evans – who also directed their acclaimed Be Pure, Be Vigilant Behave capturing of their ‘Holy Bible’ anniversary tour, and films to celebrate their classic albums ‘Everything Must Go’, ‘This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours‘ and ‘Generation Terrorists’.

“This new one started with Wire giving me a plastic bag of old DVDs and VHS tapes, featuring all of the rushes from their Japanese tour in 1993,” Evans told NME. “I had a little rummage around and found loads of live footage. There was a rawness and an immediacy to the performances and the crowd. It was Manicmania. It reminded of the no-holds barred energy of the early days of the Manics were people really lost themselves to them.

“A few of these Japanese kids in the film are seriously losing it. I was actually quite worried about them!”

Piecing together some never-seen-before footage from the band’s eight dates on their ’93 tour as well as backstage and interview clips, the film is fictionally narrated in the style of one of the many hardcore fans that followed the band around on the tour. Evans said that this all adds up to create a very “DIY intensity”.

“It’s very reflective of the times,” said Evans. “We deliberately chose to use just the camcorder footage and sound. If we were to overdub it, you’d lose the energy and sense of being there. The footage makes you really feel like you’re part of the crowd. It fucks with everything you’ve been taught about the hi-def everything of today.

“I recently went on a Japanese tour with the band and was just struck by the loyalty of the fans. I love how people write in that reflective Japanese style with minimal dialogue in the style of Beat Tekashi. I started writing a weird diary that could link the clips together, rather than just crashing from one performance to another. It’s laced with melancholy and the idea of trying to hold on to memories that are slowly disappearing.”

Manic Street Preachers, 1993. Credit: Mitch Ikeda

Asked about what it captures of the spirit of the band at the time, Evans replied: “You can see that they were very much enjoying it. Even though they didn’t sell 16million copies of ‘Generation Terrorists’ and split up straight away like they promised, they were still committed to a cause. You can see that they still loved being a band. Nothing was holding them back – especially on stage. There was plenty of life left in them. In James’ performance, you can see him leaning towards the style of ‘The Holy Bible’ with ‘Faster’ waiting to burst out him.”

Evans also admitted that there was a “sadness and responsibility” that came with handling never-before-seen footage of guitarist and lyricist Richey Edwards, who disappeared in 1995 and has since been legally declared dead.

“The sadness obviously comes from watching Richey perform and seeing him offstage behind the scenes, knowing what you know with him not being here now,” Evans told NME. “It reminds you about the gap and the hole in the band, as well as his contribution.”

He added: “It was really something to go through it all and see Richey for the first time in a long time. It took me a while to deal with that really because I was dealing with footage of him that had never been seen before and I felt like there was a responsibility on my shoulders to portray him in a sympathetic way. Just watching them as a four-piece and seeing Richey on the left-hand side as quite a visceral part of it all is amazing.”

Manic Street Preachers’ reissue of ‘Gold Against The Soul’ is out now. They are currently set to play two free shows for the NHS in Cardiff this December.

The Manics also revealed they’re working on the follow-up to 2018’s acclaimed ‘Resistance Is Futile‘ with bassist Nicky Wire telling NME that the record was sounding “expansive” and would be due in 2021, while frontman James Dean Bradfield prepares to release a solo album this summer.

Next year, the band also have stadium support shows booked with The Killers before heading to Scandinavia with Green Day.

Grimes Plans To Sell Her Soul For "Best Offer" In Art Exhibit

Grimes is showcasing her art for her “Selling Out” exhibit, and one major item is for sale: Her soul.

The things people will do in the name of art. Popstar Grimes has been unconventional throughout her career but the new mother has elicited strong responses from the public after it was revealed that she planned on selling her soul. The new mom will take part in an upcoming, digital art exhibit that she’s hosting titled “Selling Out.” During the exhibit, Grimes, real name Claire Boucher, will sell various items including drawings, photographs, art prints, and her soul.

Jesse Grant / Stringer / Getty Images

Grimes spoke with Bloomberg about the controversial move, explaining the method behind her madness. “I didn’t want anyone to buy it, so I said we should just make it $10 million, and then it probably won’t sell,” she said. This will be a legal exchange as she told the outlet that “the deeper we got with it, the more philosophically interesting it became.”

“I really wanted to collaborate with my lawyer on art,” she continued. “The idea of fantastical art in the form of legal documents just seems very intriguing to me.” Then, Grimes decided to take into consideration that this COVID-19 pandemic has put a dent in millions of pockets, so instead of the $10 million price tag, Grimes has opted to take the “best offer” she receives.

You can see the musician’s art on the Gallery Platform Los Angeles between May 28 through June 3, and at Maccarone Los Angeles from May 28 to August 31. How much would you sell your soul for?

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Affion Crockett Reminisces On His Days As a "Soul Train" Dancer

Affion Crockett is known as a comedic movie star, but in the early stages of his career, he was a “Soul Train” dancer for three years.

Every celebrity had a life before they became household names, and Affion Crockett is taking fans on a stroll down memory lane. The comedic actor is known for his roles in Soul Men, For the Love of Money, A Haunted House (1-3), Baggage Claim, Man & Devin go to High School, Charlie’s Angel’s, and Dance Flick, but not many people know that early on in his career, Affion Crockett was bustin’ a move on Soul Train as a regular dancer from 2000 to 2003.

Arnold Turner / Stringer / Getty Images

The comedian revisited his dancer days in a segment for BET and talked about moving from his home state of North Carolina to Los Angeles back in 1998. He learned how to dance from watching films like Breakin’ and Beat Street, as well as keeping himself glued to music videos that came out in the 1980s. He idolized Michael Jackson, so Affion went on to study ballet, jazz, and even martial arts, fusing everything together to come up with his moves.

“Honestly, if I was old enough, I would have wanted to be on Soul Train back in the ’70s,” Affion Crockett said. “But by the time I got to L.A., I was already a comedian. I wanted to be on Soul Train because it was TV, it was something to do, it was historic. I ended up getting on there and it was fun!” He approached production and let them know that he was a comedian coming from Def Comedy Jam and had no aspirations of being a professional dancer, so Affion told them he wanted to “be a character.” So, he decided not to take things too seriously and became this animated dancer to stand out.

Watch his clip below as he also recalls meeting Fabolous and Lil Mo when the pair of artists performed “Superwoman.”

R&B & Soul Icon Betty Wright Dies At 66

Soul and R&B star Betty Wright has passed away.

The music industry has suffered another tragic loss this weekend with the passing of Betty Wright who died at 66-years-old, TMZ reports. Wright’s niece confirmed the news, though no cause of death has been revealed at this point.

Gabe Palacio/ImageDirect/Getty Images

Wright was a prolific singer, songwriter, and producer during her career who influenced and inspired the generations that came after her. Releasing her first single at 18 years old with “Clean Up Woman,” she became a revolutionary figure in the music industry throughout her lifetime. In the 80s, she launched her own independent label which was unheard of by any female artist. Through the label, she released the single, “No Pain (No Gain)” that ultimately became a notable phrase in the English language.

Though she worked as a solo artist with a steady stream of albums and singles being released throughout the 80s and 90s, her work as a record producer, background singer, and songwriter can be heard on tracks with Stevie Wonder, David Byrne, Peter Tosh, Gloria Estefan and more.

Wright’s music was heavily sampled throughout the course of hip-hop but she also has been involved with some of the biggest names int he game. She’s worked on songs with Diddy, Nas, and Rick Ross in the past, as well as DJ Khaled who she worked with on “Holy Key.” She also collaborated with Lil Wayne on Tha Carter III’s “Playing With Fire.”

Rest In Peace, Betty Wright.

Fabolous Uploads "The Soul Tape" On SoundCloud

On the ninth anniversary of “The Soul Tape,” Fabolous has come through with a special treat for the loyal fans.

As convenience has become king, the idea of downloading mixtapes has begun feeling strangely archaic — especially given the prominence of streaming services. For that reason, many classic tapes have simply fallen by the wayside, left in the dust over uncleared samples and other behind-the-scenes predicaments. Luckily, many artists are beginning to take measures in bringing their mixtape catalog back into the fold, with Fabolous being the most recent example.

Fabolous Uploads "The Soul Tape" On SoundCloud

David Livingston/Getty Images

Today, Fab took to Instagram to announce that he had officially uploaded his 2011 classic The Soul Tape to SoundCloud, which features contributions from Lil Wayne, Lloyd Banks, Paul Cain, Vado, and more. The fan-favorite tape clearly remains dear to Fab’s heart, as he not only took the measures to highlight it once again, but also launched an entire merch capsule commemorating its nine-year-anniversary; should you be interested in copping some of said merch, check that out right here.

If you’ve never heard The Soul Tape, consider checking it out below. There’s a reason many still hold Fab’s bars in high esteem, and it’s not because of his romantic tracks — classic though a few of those might be. For the most part, his mixtape catalog played a major role in solidifying his reputation as punchline royalty. Be sure to check out The Soul Tape right now, and sound off – is this a classic tape by your estimation?

Rapsody Declares Ab-Soul To Be A "God MC"

The old adage of “real recognize real” holds true once again as Rapsody shows some love to Ab-Soul.

Ever since he dropped off his latest studio album Do What Thou Wilt at the end of 2016, Ab-Soul essentially disappeared off the face of the Earth. News surrounding the self-styled abstract asshole has been scarce — in fact, he’s easily one of the more elusive rappers in the game at the moment. Therefore, when he does emerge to deliver some new music, it’s hard to miss.

Rapsody Declares Ab-Soul To Be A "God MC"

Johnny Nunez/WireImage/Getty Images

Today, Soulo dropped off “Dangerookipawaa Freestyle,” a signal that his promise of a 2020 album might not be so far-fetched. And while it’s difficult to discern anything concrete about a possible release date, it’s clear that Ab-Soul’s check-in did not go unnoticed. Esteemed lyricist Rapsody took to Instagram to pay homage to Soul’s artistry, sharing a picture of the TDE rapper alongside some genuinely kind words.

“Herbert IV!! Soulo ho!” she captions. “One of my favorite people on this planet! god MC. That is all.” It should be noted that Rap and Soul’s friendship has already extended to the booth, specifically the song “2 AM” off Rapsody’s Crown EP and “The Law” on Ab’s aforementioned Do What Thou Wilt. Check out the homage below, and sound off — do you want to see another collaboration between Rapsody and Ab-Soul whenever the latter decides to drop in full?

From Tennis Player To Soul Artist: French Singer Lomijoh Shares The Recipe For Her Hit New Single

Hi Lomijoh, welcome to New Hit Singles! Where are you from? Where are you currently based?

I grew up in Paris, I’m half Cameroonian/Belgian and French cause I’m born there. Currently, I live in New York, I’m based there, the city of my heart.

We are in love with your smooth soul sound! Is your new hit single “Don’t Let It Go” based on your own experience?

I’m delighted that you love it. Yes definitely, after a break up I turned this experience into a self mind development and introspection about what a relationship is. To resume, for me even if things turn complicated by external factors we should keep our love previously no matter what if it is really important and not throw it away at the first wall.

Rumor has it that you are about to release a new track? Can you tell us a bit about it? How will it be different from your debut single?

Yes, end of April I’m releasing my first rap single. You know as a human being I have different emotions and I’m full of contradictions too I can be sensitive but savage too. It’s my personality so it is important for me to transcribe my rap trap hip hop influences in my music too. I wanted a rap song that can empower women too while having fun and dancing and I really think I reached my goal.

We have heard that you are also a model and a professional tennis player, how did you end up in the music industry?

Yes, I was a pro tennis player until my 17s then I stopped and started modeling. For me it’s not “ ending up because before tennis I used to do and learn the piano, I had a teacher etc and I was writing little songs too. In my mindset, I didn’t take it very approachable so I chose another way but apparently what is destined to you can come back to you without really expecting it like a boomerang. So it’s more a continuation.

What are three things that inspire you as a musician?

People. Emotions. Energy.

What do you currently listen to? What’s your favorite music genre to vibe with?

I put on repeat “No Idea” by Don Toliver. I love every kind of music. It really depends on my mood and feeling of the day. For example, if I want to dance and feeling that vibe I’m listing Hip hop and Afro beats. If I’m feeling a little bit moody I’m going to listen to RNB SOUL music. If I want to feel the quietness and focused on my energy I listen to classical music. For a chill vibe, I’m listing Jazz and if I don’t know how I’m feeling I’m listening to rock ahah.

What’s your recipe for a hit single?

I think there is no recipe we have to trust our heart feelings and being happy about what we worked on because self consideration is the most important and will attract consideration.

If not music, then what?

Then music in another life!

https://www.instagram.com/p/B-fPRtKlkXm/

Jamie Foxx Stars As Musician Looking For His Big Break In Pixar’s "Soul" Trailer

Jamie Foxx makes history as the main character in Pixar’s first black-led animation film, and the studio recently shared the film’s full trailer.

Pixar is readying the release of Soul, an animated film starring Jamie Foxx. Soul is the first Pixar animation with a black lead character, so it’s history in the making. Foxx portrays the title character, Joe Gardner, who lands himself in the afterlife—or should we say, the beforelife?—and embarks on a quest to return home.

Amy Sussman / Staff / Getty Images

The full synopsis from Pixar reads:

“Joe Gardner is a middle-school band teacher who gets the chance of a lifetime to play at the best jazz club in town. But one small misstep takes him from the streets of New York City to The Great Before — a fantastical place where new souls get their personalities, quirks and interests before they go to Earth. Determined to return to his life, Joe teams up with a precocious soul, 22, who has never understood the appeal of the human experience. As Joe desperately tries to show 22 what’s great about living, he may just discover the answers to some of life’s most important questions.”

Tina Fey portrays the character 22 who initially refuses to help Joe on his journey. Also starring in the film are The Roots‘s Questlove and legendary The Cosby Show actress Phylicia Rashad. Soul is set to hit theaters on June 19, so check out the full trailer for the forthcoming film below.

Soulja Boy Has Tripled Soap Company Profits, Helps Youth Programs

Soulja Boy surprised fans when he recently shared he has a news soap company, but it’s reportedly doing well and even benefits youth programs.

It’s hard to think that we live in a time when it’s becoming difficult for people to shop for toilet paper, disinfectant wipes, and soap, but here we are. The coronavirus pandemic has caused a wave of worldwide panic and people are storming markets by the tens of thousands to stock up on household items. It’s unclear exactly why this is happening, but mass hysteria often breeds strange results.

Chris McKay / Stringer / Getty Images

However, the COVID-19 pandemic is serious, as it’s recently been announced that television shows will record without audiences, the NBA has suspended its season, and travel from Europe to the United States has been halted. Companies with cleaning products are seeing their profits skyrocket, and Soulja Boy is getting his piece of the pie.

During his recent visit to The Breakfast Club, Soulja Boy announced that he was in the soap business. Some people poke fun at the rapper’s latest business endeavor, but TMZ reports that just within the last few months, Soulja Boy’s The Soap Shop has tripled their profits. He reportedly launched the South Haven, Mississippi location with his manager, CEO Miami Mike. The franchise “has gone from selling 100 bottles of cleaning products per month to well over 3,000-plus cleaning products in the last 2 months. That’s about a 30 percent increase, and we’re told it’s record-setting production.”

The Soap Shop is said to be a company that helps the community, as well. They have partnered with the Bubbles for Cash charity so when the youth go out and sell The Soap Shop products, the majority of the money is funneled back into the community for programs that reportedly help younger generations.

Soulja Boy Is Selling Dish Detergent Now: "Everybody Needs Soap"

Soulja Boy is now selling dish detergent, and his logic for this questionable business venture is airtight: “Everybody needs soap.”

In his most puzzling business move yet, Soulja Boy has revealed that he is now selling dish detergent—yes, you read that right. The rapper/entrepreneur paid a visit to Power 105.1 to sit down with The Breakfast Club this week, a little over a year after his infamous episode on the radio show that birthed countless hilarious memes and soundbites. During Soulja’s chat with the show’s famous hosts, Charlamagne asked him about the state of his video game console business. Soulja reveals that while that particular pursuit is on hold, he is, in fact, selling dish detergent now (17:00).

“Once you get into the music industry, you branch out, you know what I’m saying?” he explains. “Do different stuff, like, try different things, try different business ventures.”

Paras Griffin/Getty Images for BET

“I got dish detergent,” he adds. “Everybody needs soap.” The company, which he reveals is called The Soap Shop, sells a variety of detergents in various scents, including strawberry, coconut, and more. The Soap Shop’s products are sold exclusively at their Southaven, Mississippi location.

Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for Spotify

Though he may be giving Mr. Clean a run for his money these days, Soulja’s business endeavours haven’t always been so successful. Two years ago, he unexpectedly launched his SouljaGame consoles, but ultimately had to remove the video game consoles from his website. He ended up going to jail for violating his probation a few months later, but after getting released early, he’s finally ready to get back on track. He’s currently working on new music as well as an upcoming documentary called This Can’t Be Real. “In 2020, I want to give my fans the best work I can give them,” he said. “The best music, the best visuals, the best shows. 2020, is the year I just want to give back to my fans.” What better way to give back then to make sure their dishes are clean, right?

Soulja Boy Shouts Out Tyga & Drake On "The Breakfast Club"

After experiencing the biggest comeback of 2019, Soulja Boy returns to The Breakfast Club and speaks on Drake, Tyga, and more.

Soulja Boy had the biggest comeback of 2018 (don’t tell Tyga) before dropping off the face of the planet again after a short stint in jail. His viral moments propelled him back to relevancy and many of those sound bites and videos came from his appearance on The Breakfast Club. In what has since become the most-watched Breakfast Club interview ever, Soulja Boy dissed everybody from Tyga to Drake, promising that he would have the most powerful musical return of that year. To his credit, he sort of did have one of the biggest comebacks of the year. Well, after getting out of jail and returning to real life, Soulja Boy Tell’em returned to the radio show this afternoon.

Sporting a new dread-locked look, Soulja Boy explained why he’s been so quiet as of late.

“I’m just staying out of the way. Working on the album, working on my business, keeping everything together, keeping everything on the up and up. It’s so much going on,” said Drako in the interview. He was then asked whether or not he’s heard from Drake or Tyga since he infamously trolled them in the last interview.

“I heard from everybody,” revealed the rapper. “We had a cool conversation and it was all love, man. Shout out to Drake.”

As far as Tyga goes, their conversation seems to have been a little more strained, which makes sense.

“Shout out to Tyga too, man. It ain’t no static with Tyga neither, man. I’m just focused on myself. 2020, I’m just focused on doing me,” said Soulja Boy before elaborating. “We went back and forth on wax but it ain’t nothing. Shout out to Tyga, man.”

Watch the full interview below.

Soulja Boy’s New Look On Display

Soulja Boy grew out his hair and debuted a new look after his release from jail.

Viral rapping sensation Soulja Boy had himself a strong year, completing his exciting comeback and making loads of money in the process. The 29-year-old has been in the spotlight for years, keeping his look semi-consistent as he dismissed his former shades with white-out on the lenses. During his recent campaign, the star was sporting a blonde streak in his hair and, after a short stint in the slammer, he returned with a very different new look.

Debuting his longer hair in February 2020, Soulja Boy returned to social media a new man, rocking short dreads and ditching his regular buzzed length. He ended his jail-ridden stage hiatus by performing some of his greatest hits recently, where he gave fans an up-close-and-personal view of his new swag.

“I got that new drip,” wrote Soulja Boy Tell’em on Instagram in one of his first posts since last month.

The star has noticeably been less active on the medium, perhaps giving himself more time to live in the moment and focus less on the antics that once ruled his life. Nowadays, Soulja Boy has enough money to remain comfortable without acting a fool online. All he has to do is show up at a club, sing “Crank Dat” and cash the check.

What do you think of his new look?

Boosie BadAzz Got Mistaken For Soulja Boy At The Mall

A pair of young fans got Boosie BadAzz super hot after they accidentally got him mixed up with Soulja Boy while shopping in the mall recently.

When he’s not speaking up to get reparations for Black people or constantly giving his unwanted opinion on Dwyane Wade’s transgender child, Boosie BadAzz can actually be a pretty funny dude. Take this recent situation for example, where two young fans got him completely mixed up with fellow rapper Soulja Boy while shopping in the mall recently.

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Now, before you hit the floor laughing too hard, let’s take a look at the photo of Soulja above and then get a good look at this image of Boosie below to compare:

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It’s worth noting that Soulja only has about two inches on Boosie, with the Fuego emcee standing at 5’8″ compared to the older rapper’s 5’6″ stature. Speaking of age, 37-year-old Boosie also has close to a full decade on 29-year-old Soulja Boy, again creating a difference that has us scratching our heads at the confusion. The only thing these two have in common is their skin complexion, which raises other questions being that the teens who made the mixup just so happen to be white, and the Caesar fade they both are known to rock from time to time. Clearly Boosie didn’t agree with the comparison, saying, “I don’t look like no Soulja Boy, man!” when he captured the moment in his IG Stories. Agreed!

Take a look at the video below, and let us know if you think Boosie Badazz and Soulja Boy resemble each other at all:

Soulja Boy Returns To Instagram With A New Look

Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em is back on Instagram as a brand new man.

It’s been eight months since Soulja Boy has been on Instagram and now that he’s back he’s got an entirely different look. After being convicted of falsifying community service documentation and being released five months early from prison– Soulja Boy has been able to maintain his sobriety, found himself on the bill of a major headlining tour, and sparking a playful beef with YouTuber/vlogger Jake Paul. Now, that it’s almost been a year since he’s publicly showed his face, Soulja Boy upgraded his aesthetic drastically.

Soulja Boy Returns To Instagram With A New Look

Marcus Ingram/Getty Images

Soulja Boy’s self-imposed break from social media came when he realized he needed to make several severe life changes. One of which included kicking out multiple former crew members out his San Fernando Valley. HipHopDX got the opportunity to speak with Soulja Boy’s manager, Miami Mike, in a recent interview, where he spoke on his client’s recent cerebral development stating:

“He hasn’t had a break since he was 12 or 13. And he just turned … his birthday just came … and he hasn’t had a break in over 15 years. So that’s why I wasn’t sweating him. He’s been turning down shows these past couple months, and I said I’m going to let him take his break because he really needed it. People want to know why he isn’t on Instagram? Well, I say because he’s on a break. He needed it.”

Now, Big Draco is back sporting a full head of lengthy twist and glowing more than ever. While Soulja Boy is still struggling with some legal grievances, his maturation has been enjoyable for the culture to witness. With another Breakfast Club interview in the works in the near future, we’ll most likely be seeing a lot more of Soulja in the near future.

Check out Soulja Boy’s new look in the Instagram post provided below.

Soulja Boy Accused Of Viciously Beating & Tying Up Woman In Lawsuit

She claims she was left with fractured ribs and a facial contusion.

Young Draco seems to have been humbled after serving three months in jail last year. The often loud, flashy, and in-your-face rap star has been laying low since his release, and back in September 2019, his manager Miami Mike shared with TMZ that Soulja Boy was getting himself healthy and staying out of trouble. It was later announced that the rapper would be joining the Millennium Tour II, so it’s safe to say he’s been preparing for a show his fans won’t ever forget.

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While things seem like Soulja Boy has been keeping his nose clean, a woman has stepped forward with a lawsuit. According to The Blast, an unidentified woman has made claims that the rapper viciously beat her over the head before she was sexually assaulted by someone else inside of his home. The Blast states that they’ve acquired the legal documents that detail the woman’s account of what allegedly happened at Soulja Boy’s Los Angeles residence.

The incident is said to have occurred in February 2019, a month before the rapper was arrested for violating his probation. The woman claims that she and Soulja Boy have known each other for the better part of four years, having an on-again-off-again romantic relationship. In February, the woman says she got into a physical fight with an unnamed woman who works for Soulja. The rapper came outside when he realized there was an altercation and “approached yelling profanities and kicked her, stomped her on the stomach and bashed her head with a large gun.”

The documents added that he “held the gun to her (the woman’s) head and told her she was going to die that night and would not make it home.” The alleged victim states she was “hurt so badly that she had trouble breathing.” If things were already bizarre enough, the woman claims that Soulja Boy ordered her to take a shower and watched her while she bathed. He allegedly “was not happy with how (the woman) looked after the shower and asked her to take a second shower because she still had mud and dirt on her from when (the rapper) beat her by his driveway.”

This story takes another turn as the alleged victim says Soulja Boy “instructed his assistant, to take her in the garage and tie her up with duct tape.” Then, the assistant apparently “wrapped an extension cord around (her) arms and took (her) into the garage.” People reportedly came and went through the house for hours and watched her sitting there.

A man at the scene reportedly told the alleged victim “that he would let her go if she performed oral sex on him” and she “felt she has no choice but to perform oral sex on him in order to escape the garage.” She states she was freed the following morning at 8:00 a.m. and went to file a police report before she was “taken to the hospital where she was told she had three fractured ribs and a facial contusion.”

She’s suing for an undisclosed amount, but is alleging assault and battery, false imprisonment, and sexual battery.

K. Michelle Says "New R&B [Artists’]" Music "Has No Soul & [It’s] Boring"

She admitted that there were some good singles, but the albums were lacking.

All Monsters Are Human is just weeks away from its release, and K. Michelle fans couldn't be any more excited. The multi-talented performer recently released her Not 1 F*ck Given mixtape to tie fans over in the meantime, but K. Michelle is ready for the world to hear what R&B jams she's been working on in the studio.

Brian Ach / Stringer / Getty Images

The Love & Hip Hop Hollywood star has never been one to mince words, so she once again ruffled a few feathers on Wednesday after she made a few comments on the current state of R&B. "Up early listening to new R&B artist and this is the best way to fall asleep, this sh*t has no soul and it boring," the singer tweeted. "It plays like one big lullaby. I’m so confused by it."

K. was asked to specify who she was talking about, but she said it wasn't just one person. "They all the same like demo singers," she added. She did note that although there were "some really good singles" out there, but "the albums lack hard work and more like the less the better." The generational change of R&B is evident, and K. noted that the music she grew up on, in her opinion, had more of an emotional connection.

"I grew up to Mary J making you believe you not gone cry. I felt her pain in every way," she said. "That’s soulllllllll music baby. I gotta feel you through my THC high. That lady saved me so many times through songs. That’s how I desire to heal people and it’s hard 2do that whispering." She added, "When I sing I want you to feel every break in my heart. At the end of that song you should know me better. That’s music my loves❤️." Do you agree with her about the current R&B scene?

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“I want this album to be something everyone can find a piece of themselves in. I poured everything into these songs, and I believe every listener will walk away with something that resonates with them personally. That’s the magic of music.”

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For help, advice or more information regarding sexual harassment, assault and rape in the UK, visit the Rape Crisis charity website. In the US, visit RAINN.

For help, advice or more information regarding sexual harassment, assault and rape in the UK, visit the Rape Crisis charity website. In the US, visit RAINN.

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After experiencing the biggest comeback of 2019, Soulja Boy returns to The Breakfast Club and speaks on Drake, Tyga, and more.

Soulja Boy grew out his hair and debuted a new look after his release from jail.

A pair of young fans got Boosie BadAzz super hot after they accidentally got him mixed up with Soulja Boy while shopping in the mall recently.

Santiago Felipe/Getty Images

Scott Cunningham/NBAE Getty Images

Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em is back on Instagram as a brand new man.

Marcus Ingram/Getty Images

She claims she was left with fractured ribs and a facial contusion.

Mark Davis / Staff / Getty Images

She admitted that there were some good singles, but the albums were lacking.

Brian Ach / Stringer / Getty Images