Just peeped this on a friend’s Facebook page. Apparently M.I.A. dropped it on Twitter. It’s a video for a new track called “Theres Space For Ol Dat I See”, though I’m not sure if it’s from an upcoming album or not. The visuals are pretty trippy and the song is slow…like “end of the night after a drug binge” slow. Also it sort of looks like M.I.A. is inside a Lite Brite, no?

Tinie Tempah had another single out that came out earlier last year and featured M.I.A. called “I’m Hot”. He’s definitely one to watch for 2010.

My girl Amelia over at Put Me On It just hipped me to a new artist (well for me at any rate) from London (of course) named Tinashe. The stylish singer/songwriter/producer is definitely an artist to watch for 2010. He has upcoming performances at some of London’s best venues and has already been featured on UK Channel 4′s program “4Intros” on which he performed two songs of his songs: “Mr Presumption” (amazing track that you can download for free here) and “The Feeling”.

His lyrics are about relationships, love and heartbreak, but his sound is so awesomely pop that it’s completely uplifting. Great music to listen to if you’re snowed in and want to dance around. Here’s his latest video, a home made recording, for his song “A-Liar”. (I’ve already watched it about five times).

Beverly Knight has been in the UK music game for a hot minute, although she might not be that known to us in the US. Not only is her debut album, 1995′s The B Funk considered a classic, but she has been able to transcend beyond music to stage and screen. Beverly just dropped her 6th studio album (which may or may not see the light of day over here), with a new more electro-pop sound.

The track “In Your Shoes” is a upbeat modern disco anthem, with powerful vocals and rap accompaniment by UK rapper Chipmunk. I could seriously see this track rocking US dancefloors. Let just hope it makes it across the pond! (via Soul Culture UK, which also had a very nice Beverly Knight interview)

I’m not a big of a fan of Lily’s latest album It’s Not Me, It’s You. It dosen’t really match the ferocity of her debut album IMO. However, I’m loving this new video for the latest single Who’d Have Known, where she get’s straight gully on Elton John escalating their beef from a London GQ show:

You might remember when, last September at London’s GQ Man Of The Year Honors show, Lily was tipsy and got into a barb-throwing spat with Elton John at the podium: The Brit queen chastised Allen for being drunk, Lily responded in essence fuck you very much, I’m 40 years younger than you, to which Elton retorted, “I could still snort you under the table.”

Well, damn.

While I don’t really care for artist beef, I do have to say that I have a thing for gully UK females. While US artists are focus grouped and over-marketed to death, it seems like women across the pond get to speak and act freely of record company and A&R control. Of course, it’s a huge risk to have your multi-million dollar artist do or say something that would jeopardize their career, but it’s also nice to see that artists are people first and not just robots controlled by the machine. (via Stereogum, Herfection)

Oh, and the choice line of the day: “This is where we party hard, go next door to party soft.” CLASSIC!

Musically speaking, I am a sucker for a lot of things. Good lyrics, interesting samples and creative music videos are all things that will give me reason to like a musical act. London based band One EskimO fulfills all these needs.

On a sidenote, I also happen to be a sucker for Starbucks, which is actually where I first heard about One EskimO. It was on one of those cards they give out for free iTunes downloads that I saw a free download for the band’s single “Kandi.” The video it appeared was animated, which immediately peaked my interest (I’m a sucker for animation). So, I looked it up on YouTube and discovered that it was a little vignette of a video. In fact, it’s not even really a music video, but more a short film with One EskimO as it’s sound track. It played out a love story between two characters: One EskimO and Little Feather (Not exactly PC, but we can talk about it in the comments). The video was animated beautifully by Gravy Media, a British animation group who did a good job fitting the music and the story line together.

The other thing that got me about this track is the sample. The voice singing the line “He called me baby all night long” is actually from the song “He Called Me Baby” by gospel/R&B singer Candi Staton (Now it makes sense why the song is called “Kandi” right?). It’s a sample that also fits perfectly into the song, so much so that when I first heard it, I thought the band had a female vocalist.

Though, to my ears, One EskimO has that college jam band sound ala Guster or Dispatch (including bongo drums), what really gets me about this band is that they have a full concept for their album. After the success of their first video, “Hometime” which was also animated and featured the same characters, the group decided to create animations for all the songs which resulted in a “visual album”. Here’s the trailer.

I wish more musical artists were creative and conceptual with their albums like this.

One EskimO’s full length album came out in the UK on September 21st and in the US on September 22nd. Their self-titled EP is also available now on iTunes.

]]> http://www.thecouchsessions.com/2009/09/all-it-takes-is-one-eskimo/feed/ 2 http://www.thecouchsessions.com/2009/08/uk-tings-doneo/ http://www.thecouchsessions.com/2009/08/uk-tings-doneo/#comments Mon, 31 Aug 2009 12:28:21 +0000 Stone http://www.thecouchsessions.com/?p=7032

Done’o – Party Hard

It’s become more and more clear that Africa has got “next.” From the new M.I.A. tipped single to, to the worldwide attention of DJ Underdogs Africa Plays On Mixtape, to second and third generation African rappers dominating the Class of 2009, the continent is long overdue for more exposure. An on top of that, African beats, which form the basis for a majority of modern music, seem ready to be hit the mainstream just like reggae and even bangra have done recently.

Enter the UK’s Doneo. Fresh off of his MOBO nomination (aka Music of Black Origin), the London artist combines African rhytyms with more contemporary house, and hip-hop styles. His lead single “Party Hard,” plays off of a subtle African riddim. The simplicity of the beat reminds me of other “more with less” tracks like Clipse’s “Grindin’,” and while not a club banger in most sense of the word, it’s something that would get the bodies moving.

Done’o – African Warrior

My favorite track of his is African Warrior, a funky house track with some heavy almost DC go-go like percussion on the back end mixed with subtile dubstep, which sounds almost ripe for a dope remix.

Also, I doubt Done’o will translate easily to US audiences, his use of African beats should be a template for US producers to do the same.

myspace.com/donaeo

But don’t take my word for it. Just watch it.

(Big up to SoulCulture.co.uk for the video link)

Zero7 – Everything UP (Zizou)

September 9th will mark the U.S. release of the 4th studio album from Zero 7 entitled “Yeah Ghost”.  Everything Up (Zizou), the first cut made available through the bands website, highlights the duos penchant for forward-thinking electroacoustic soul and their emphasis on songwriting above “production” which makes them stand out and endure amidst the ever-growing sea of  ”chill out” impostors.  The album will feature vocals from Eska Mtungwazi, Martha Tilston and Rowdy Superstar.

Seriously…I want a Tenori-On…those things are so amazing…