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New single from “Les Ailes”
Alborosie ft. Christopher Martin, Etana and More “Shadows After Dark”
The National Task Force Against Trafficking in Persons (NATFATIP) has partnered with VP Records to launch a campaign to raise awareness against human trafficking. The launch kicked off yesterday, with the release of a Reggae medley titled “Shadows After Dark”. According to Minister of National Security, the Hon. Dr. Horace Chang, trafficking in persons is a lucrative and growing business. “It is growing, and as we get on top of dealing with the illegal drugs and firearms trades – it means the criminal organisations are losing money, and they will look to other areas, and clearly one of those areas is human trafficking”.
Meanwhile Richard Lue, Director of Business Affairs for VP Records, who coordinated the partnership between VP Records and NATFATIP, said “music is one of the best ways to communicate. We felt it important to work with NATFATIP to make sure as many people are aware of human trafficking and the perils it brings”.
Urban Village | New single Feat. Msaki
Today Urban Village release a new single, ‘Umhlaba Wonke’, co-written with and featuring vocals from emerging South African artist Msaki, who has appeared on hit house tracks with the likes of Black Coffee, Sun-El Musician and Prince Kaybee, whose collaboration ‘Fetch Your Life’ was the most played song of 2019 in South Africa. The new track is lifted from Soweto-based 4 piece Urban’s Village’s forthcoming debut album ‘Udondolo’, due for release on January 22, 2021 via Parisian label Nø Førmat! (home to Oumou Sangaré, Blick Bassy & Mélissa Laveaux). Marrying the day-to-day experiences of black South Africans with ebullient elements of traditional Zulu music, Urban Village is the alias of four experimental musicians all born & raised in the township of Soweto at the tail end of Apartheid; singer/flautist Tubatsi Mpho Moloi, guitarist Lerato Lichaba, drummer Xolani Mtshali and bassist Simangaliso Dlamini.
JESSE MAC CORMACK – Unveils “Let It Go / Incomplete” | New album out 2021
Jesse Mac Cormack is keeping busy during these strange times and is thrilled to unveil two brand new songs titled “Let It Go” and “Incomplete.” These fresh tracks follow the release of the single “LBTA” last June, as well as the “NOW RMX” EP, a collection of remixes done by CRi, Ryan Playground and Jesse himself, from his award-winning album Now.
About the new material, Jesse shares the stories behind his songs: “Let go of the things you can’t change. Two individuals have entangled themselves in a relationship that from the outside is clearly based on manipulation and control. What can you do? After such a long time, you wonder if they can still remember what feeling free feels like.”
FRENCH DUO YELLE REVEAL VIDEO “VUE D’EN FACE”
It’s a special year for YELLE: A new album L’Ère du Verseau, but all European and American concerts postponed, strong visual collaborations between Loïc Prigent who produces the 1st video of the album “Je t’aime encore” and the appearance of the famous French actor Nicolas Maury in this latest video “Vue d’en Face”.
2020 is also the 15-year career of the duo Julie Budet and Grand Marnier. Since the creation of YELLE’s Myspace in 2005, things have happened: a hit “Je Veux Te Voir” which flooded the internet, 4 albums, more than 700 concert dates around the world including 3 festivals at Coachella, is all worth celebrating!
CHARLOTTE JANE SHARES THE OFFICIAL VIDEO FOR NEW SINGLE ‘GET IT RIGHT’ – WATCH HERE
Charlotte Jane’s debut EP ‘Nowhere To Hide’ established her as one of the UK’s brightest new voices. Quietly amassing millions of streams, it set her on the path to sell-out headline shows in London and hometown Hull, performing at Reading and Leeds and with the likes of Jess Glynne, Dennis Lloyd, Tom Odell and Lewis Capaldi, who believes Charlotte Jane is shaping up to be “one of the biggest fucking things in the world.” Her brand new single ‘Get It Right’ lived up to such high praise when it was released last week featuring on Spotify’s New Music Friday, Apple’s New in Pop in 19 Countries and Deezer’s Sofa Pop.
Horsey share new single – “Sippy Cup”
Today, South London’s unclassifiable 4-piece curios, Horsey, return with the announcement of their new single “Sippy Cup”. The single is out today and marks the band’s first new material since their 2019 EP “Bread & Butter”. The announcement is also accompanied by the news of the band’s signing to London tastemaker label untitled recs – home to the likes of Jerskin Fendrix, Famous, Brad Stank and more.
Introducing Nina Cobham – “do you come here often?”
Her new single took forever to create, but the finished product is sublime in its subtlety and set to catapult her further towards ubiquity with her playful melodies and captivating songwriting.
Starting to take shape in June 2019, Nina says “I honestly feel like listening to the song you can feel the weight of all the emotion put into it, like weaved in all the layers. The original first verse/chorus vocals are still used in the song, so it’s made up of pieces from last year and half of the vocals were recorded in lockdown in my bedroom.”
AUSTIN MAHONE RELEASES NEW TRACK & MUSIC VIDEO “YOU GOT ME” FT. FRUT
Austin collaborated on the track with longtime friend, artist, and songwriter Lunchmoney Lewis (Nicki Minaj, Maroon 5, Jason Derulo) and his newly created production collective Frut, comprised of talented writers and producers hailing from Miami, FL. “You Got Me” marks one of the first releases from Frut.
CIRCE releases debut EP ‘She’s Made of Saints’ via Jazz Life
London dark-pop artist Circe releases triumphant, cathartic and defiant Dark-Pop EP ‘She’s Made of Saints’ today via Jazz Life, a compelling debut.
‘She’s Made of Saints’ is an exhilarating, feminist piece of work, sound-tracking the apocalyptic life of a womxn living in the #metoo and #timesup era. Whilst this sounds bleak on the face of it, the beating heart of Circe’s message is one of defiance, socially and personally. Her imperious vocals are a rallying cry against the unjust bullshit experienced by womxn in all forms.
Mike Edel – My new album En Masse is out now.
En Masse is an item quest; an album about discovery through the process of collaboration. The writing, recording and production were guided by the collective instincts and melody of a cast of collaborators.
I love that the vocals on “Need You” were tracked on the same day that we wrote it. Spontaneity and intuition informed the creation of this song, whose vocal I self produced. Later, when we started to record, evaluate, add and subtract, I couldn’t beat the vibe of that original take.
I hope that you can hear the way bringing in outside ideas and methods has helped me to formulate a new energy in my music as you listen. En Masse has expanded my artistic capacities.
DAVID LYNCH TO LAUNCH “MEDITATE AMERICA” ON DECEMBER 3
The David Lynch Foundation (DLF) will host a live, virtual benefit concert on Thursday, December 3 featuring headliners including Graham Nash, Elvis Costello, Katy Perry, Hugh Jackman, Deborra-lee Furness. Jim James, Kesha, and Angelique Kidjo. The free event, coined “MEDITATE AMERICA,” will be a celebration to raise support to bring free Transcendental Meditation (TM) training to adults and children in need, including healthcare workers on the COVID-19 frontlines, veterans battling PTSD and depression, and families living in at-risk communities.
KODALINE share the festive official music video for new single ‘This Music Be Christmas’
After the storming success of their recently released studio album One Day At A Time, which has now been streamed more than 84 million times and seen them garner another 10 million monthly Spotify listeners, Kodaline have now unveiled the official video for their festive offering This Must Be Christmas.
PRACTICE Shares Ominous, Synth Driven “I Saw Love,” Debut Album ‘Not A Game’ Out Early 2021
“The seed of ‘I Saw Love’ started from a memory of a bassline of an Arthur Russell song. As I constructed the song, it became a story of moods, rather than words, like passing through a haunted funhouse of mirrors, traveling from optimism to triumph, despair, and ecstasy,” explains NYC-based indie electro pop artist Michael Tapper of Practice to American Songwriter (who yesterday premiered the single/video). “I Saw Love” is the second single off his debut album Not A Game (out in early 2021).
UNIVERSAL MUSIC UK LAUNCH 0207 DEF JAM LABEL
Universal Music UK has today announced the launch of 0207 Def Jam, a new frontline label and the UK home of the iconic Def Jam Recordings label, with a stellar cast of execs including the appointment of highly respected industry executives and Ghanaian London-born twin brothers, Alec and Alex Boateng as co-Presidents.
M.Byrd has just released his stunning new music video – Entitled “Mountain”
M.Byrd’s story starts somewhere between Amsterdam and Paris. Whilst playing bass on tour with Ilgen-Nur, M.Byrd would show the rest of the band his own demos and it was their reaction that gave him the final push to focus on his solo career. Fast-forward and the 25 year-old artist now has nearly half a million Spotify streams under his belt, with just one single release. M.Byrd has quickly forged his own path in the industry with his infectious indie neo-psych-folk sound.
Dee Snider & Lzzy Hale: “The Magic Of Christmas Day”; Official Lyric Video!
“Originally written and recorded as a Christmas gift for my wife Suzette with no plan for commercial release, years later ‘The Magic of Christmas Day (God Bless Us Everyone)’ was discovered and recorded by Celine Dion for her holiday record These Are Special Times, which went on to become the biggest selling holiday album in history — and is the reason we refer to her as ‘Saint Celine’ in my house. When it was recently suggested that I should finally record this song myself, I knew I needed to bring in a young powerhouse vocalist to not only duet with me, but light a Yuletide fire under my ass! I only knew of one rock vocalist who could deliver on all those fronts, and she did in spades: the incredible Lzzy Hale of Halestorm!”
Peter Bjorn and John’s “Gone Gone Gone” out 11/27; Listen Now via BlackBook
Peter Bjorn and John will be releasing “Gone Gone Gone” this Friday, November 27th. The single was penned and produced by Bjorn and was recorded with Hans Stenlund (Lykke Li, Wild Nothing) and Thom Monahan (Neko Case, Devandra Banhart) at the Ingrid Studios in Stockholm. The single was mixed by Stenlund and the entire EP was mastered by Henke Jonsson at Masters of Audio in Stockholm. “Gone Gone Gone” follows Peter’s single “Season of Defiance” which was released November 13th with news of the Endless Play EP, which is due out on December 11th via INGRID.
BlackBook Premiere: Melancholy New Peter Bjorn & John Single ‘Gone Gone Gone’
IglooghostReleases ‘Lei Music’ Documentary Short Film
Today sees laptop musician Iglooghost release new single ‘Eœ (Disk•Initiate)’ alongside a short film documentary about ‘Lei Music’ both of which mark the start of a new era for the creative polymath.
New Seasonal Short Film for Darlene Love’s “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” Premieres Today, Wednesday, November 25
Legacy Recordings, the catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment, is welcoming the 2020 holiday season with the release of new short seasonal music films, especially created for classic holiday records beloved since the pre-video era.
Elizabeth Leslie – Empire Falls
During the first waves of COVID-19, I was sitting in my overpriced apartment in Toronto. I had just lost my job and my relationship was falling apart in quarantine. It was as if my internal world and the external world were simultaneously ripping at their seams. Then, I began thinking about what brought us here.
We’ve missed the mark on so many things, and it all transpires out of politics. We are living, to coin bell hooks’ phrase, in an “imperialist white supremacist capitalist patriarchy.”
LBS KEE’VIN RECRUITS 42DUGG FOR “SHINING” VIDEO
“Shining” is the latest visual coming from his sophomore project Belair Baby II set to release later this year.
LEIF VOLLEBEKK – Shares “Long Blue Light”
The title track is a brand new original song from Leif, while the second is a Bon Iver cover of the song “29 #Stafford APTS.” Leif explains : “Long Blue Light was recorded during the sessions for New Ways, live with just myself and a drummer, Homer Steinweiss. I had all but abandoned it but this year I kept coming back to it. I added some overdubs and had Cindy Cashdollar finish it off with a gorgeous dobro part. It was supposed to fade out but I rather liked how it just falls apart at the end.”
