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Guitar, Live Reviews, London, New Artists 15/05/2011

Live Review: Monument Valley & Daughter @ Old St Pancras Church, London

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Part-founded by Ben Lovett of Mumford & Sons, it’s no surprise that Communionare gaining quite a reputation for unearthing excellent folk and soul artists. Stamp The Wax has already featured Communion’s Michael Kiwanuka and Matt Corby, but two more are also deserving of our praise. In tune with the family feel of their label, Communion put on monthly music nights in unique venues around London. Given the success of the evening and the quality of music, it was therefore surprising to learn this was independently organised. Communion or no Communion, Monument Valley and Daughter are certainly worth taking note about.

Electronic, New Artists 14/05/2011

New Artist: Jacques Greene

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Since Joy Orbison’s iconic Hyph Mngo emerged onto the Electronic scene in late 2009, producers worldwide have been attempting to replicate such an effective sound, steeped in raw personality and sheer vibrance. Jacques Greene is one artist that successfully delivers on both fronts. Mary Anne Hobbs featured the Montreal-based producer’s first release The Look EP on her last ever BBC show, a sign of the great things for Greene that has now progressed into the dazzling new song Another Girl. Injected with a contagious R&B hook, floating pads and a climbing rhythms, it is sure to be the Future Garage summer anthem of 2011.

Electronic, Hip-Hop, New Artists 13/05/2011

New Artist: Sunclef

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Toronto-based producer Sunclef released his debut mini-album a few weeks back and it’s slowly but surely taking over the world. The Tesseract is Instrumental Hip-hop at its finest, with throbbing pads, warm fuzzy basslines and MPC groove. This guy really has come out of nowhere and is now fast establishing himself as THE producer to watch. Go and support Sunclef by buying The Tesseract here, so he can make more music (it’s ‘name your price’, so name it high). Below you’ll find the opening track off the record, dripping with swag.

Electronic, London, New Artists 13/05/2011

Jai Paul – BTSTU

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Jai Paul has to be one of the most enigmatic artists in new music. Since the incomparable BTSTU blew up on the blogosphere last year, Jai has signed to XL Recordings and was long-listed in the BBC Sound of 2011. Yet no more than this is known about him: he’s 22, from north-west London and he’s displayed three disapprovals of his music on his Myspace. How wrong those critics are. Like nothing you’ve ever heard, there really is no easy way to pigeonhole BTSTU; The Guardian’s Paul Lester perhaps does the best job, describing it as J Dilla remixing Hot Chip. Made through a combination of manipulated samples, beats and harmonies, BTSTU shouldn’t work, but it just does. We would recommend you monitor Jai closely for more information or music in the future, but there really is no second-guessing him.

Hip-Hop 12/05/2011

Full Crate and Mar – Conversations With Her

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Full Crate (producer) and Mar (singer) are two musicians from Amsterdam, making some of the most blissed out music we’ve ever heard. Their 2010 collaborative release Conversations with Her is a 5 track concept E.P. offering a lush melting pot of Hip-hop, Soul and Dubstep vibes fused with soothing vocals. Think D’Angelo meets Dilla, Dutch style. More recently though, these guys have been working on separate projects. Mar Variation has got Mar reinterpreting old songs with a new impression, accompanied by some very cinematic videos – (check out the video of Last Christmas below). Following on from his and FS Green’s beat tape Hi-hat Club Vol 5: Eggs and Pancakes, Full Crate has released a 7” The Barb on London based Label Kilawattmusic, which we highly recommend! Get a quick taste of it all here first:

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