It feels like forever that I've been waiting for new material from Lianne, so when I heard this single (in fact the opening track on the record) last month I was ecstatic. Going by that you can guess how I felt when she dropped the video for the single a few hours ago...

LIANNE LA HAVAS - UNSTOPPABLE

A couple of days ago we caught up on half of the music news that's been going on around the world these past few days here. But now it's time for the other half of interesting news coming our way...

CHARLOTTE OC NEW SINGLE "ON & ON"
Along with this new single, Charlotte has also announced the release of her new EP - Burning - available on iTunes right now. As always, I love what Charlotte's done - her vocals sounding stellar as always. However, this wasn't as exciting as I thought it would be.

 
WOLF ALICE NEW SINGLE "I SAW YOU (IN A CORRIDOR)"
Speaking of exciting, Wolf Alice have recently announced their debut album, My Love Is Cool, coming out on the 22nd of June. Ahead of its release, they put out a 7" with the songs "Giant Peach" and "I Saw You (In A Corridor)" on it. Both songs are completely different but equally good listens.


RIHANNA NEW SINGLE "DANCING IN THE DARK"
As well as her new single "As Real As You And Me" which I mentioned in the first of these posts, Rihanna has released another single that will appear on the new motion picture Home's official soundtrack. This one is a little bit more upbeat but I really prefer the first of the two.


WARPAINT NEW SINGLES "NWO/I'LL START BELIEVING"
I love getting new music form Warpaint, especially when it's so unexpected and obviously when it's just this good! They've given us, not one, but two tracks to have a listen to. The first of the two "No Way Out" is 7 minutes and 21 seconds of goodness accompanied by the gold that is "I'll Start Believing". I know they gave us a new album just last year but another one would not go amiss.


DJANGO DJANGO NEW SINGLE "REFLECTIONS" 
The second single from the new Django Django album and I actually didn't really like it on first listen but now that I've listened a few more times I like it much more. However, I still feel like I might not like this upcoming album as much as the debut. The novelty may have worn of a little bit for me. Anyway, have to listen to the latest track here.


ALL TIME LOW NEW MUSIC VIDEO "KIDS IN THE DARK"
These guys just seem to be on tour 24/7 this year. First their joint tour with YMAS and now I see them playing at Wembley Arena with Neck Deep and all sorts. It's a wonder that they had time to drop a new single and music video. I've never been a big ATL fan but I must admit, I really like this song/video. Check them both out here.


WIZ KHALIFA NEW MUSIC VIDEO "DECISIONS"
As looney as Wiz is, I must admit, he is incredibly entertaining - he just makes me laugh. This song however, is definitely not even close to being one of his best. Very lazy bars but already at 2 million+ views, I know this will still be big. Have a listen here.


BRAIDS NEW SINGLE "TASTE"
Heard about BRAIDS last year and have been keeping an eye out for any new material that they were bringing out. I may have missed some stuff but I'm glad I caught this new single here. The intro sounded to me a little bit like something Lxury would put out but the addition of vocals really switched it up a little - cool tune.


EAVES NEW MUSIC VIDEO "PYLONS"
Another artist that I heard about late last year/earlier this year and have been meaning to check out. This new video is super interesting, I'm very excited to get my hands on the new album out on the 27th of April. Similar sounding to Ben Howard and Nick Mulvey - have a listen to Eaves' new track here.


FUTURE NEW SINGLE "MARCH MADNESS"
Future is really coming up these days! After his last record Honest a lot of people really started to take notice. This new track here, is a cool tune and with trap music blowing up these days, I know that this will be played by quite a lot of people in the coming weeks.


MIA NEW SINGLE "CAN SEE CAN DO"
MIA has hinted at a new record coming our way this summer and I am stoked. The last record Matangi was LONG awaited and even though it was worth the wait, it'd be great to have this one in my possession asap. One of the most entertaining and real artists out at the minute - get involved here.

ELLA HENDERSON NEW MUSIC VIDEO "MIRROR MAN"
Fast blowing up after that track "Ghost" and Ella Henderson is back with some more pop goodness for us. I must admit that I thought she'd be sort of a one-hit wonder with that first track but she is fast proving me wrong. This song is quite the banger.


THE VAN T'S NEW SINGLE "FUN GARCON"
I just happened upon this band by chance a few days ago and had a listen to this track here and the first 30 seconds alone sealed the deal for me. This is a BIG tune. They remind me of several bands but are so unique that I still can't put my finger on just one. I will definitely be keeping an eye out for live shows! The Van T's are ones to watch.


JILL SCOTT NEW MUSIC VIDEO "YOU DON'T KNOW"
This is Jill Scott's first official release in about 4 years! And it's just as soulful as I'd expect. Hopefully this means a new album from the amazing songstress but I have yet to hear confirmation. Bless your ears here.


FLORENCE + THE MACHINE NEW MUSIC VIDEO "ST. JUDE"
I am so unbelievably excited for this new album! Florence is just so intriguing and passionate, there has never been one thing that she's released that I've felt was half-hearted or even sub-par. Everything she puts out makes it's way to my iTunes, just like this new single here will - beautiful.


MAJOR LAZER & DJ SNAKE NEW MUSIC VIDEO "LEAN ON (FEAT. MØ)"
I've been keeping up with MØ for ages now and it's really good to see her collaborating with bigger artists like Major Lazer and DJ Snake now. I'm sure I'll hear this playing in every department store, radio station, gym, local supermarket, etc, etc for the next few weeks. Great tune and equally interesting video. Be ahead of the game here.

I thought I'd start off with a classic because although there have been quite a few more recent albums that have affected me, it's important to lay the foundation and pay homage to musical heroes of the past as well as present...

Jill Scott is an exceptional vocalist and songwriter and this album easily puts forward some of her best work to date. It's an album that I myself grew up listening to and I'm sure that a lot of the people reading this have heard the song "Golden" taken from it, whether they realised that it was her or not.

A couple of weeks ago (27/02/14) a couple of friends and I went to The Institute, Birmingham to see Bonobo. I definitely got more than I bargained for.

First up was Catching Flies with support.Who knew that just one man and a couple of decks could produce an opening set of this calibre? He absolutely killed it! The whole time just jamming; he did everything with such ease. The crowd was loving it - I especially liked the remix of Jill Scott's "Golden" that he slipped into the set which not many people seemed to notice. For some reason I was expecting Bonobo to stay in keeping with the one man dj theme but what he actually did was far better.

When Simon Green stepped on stage with a drummer, a guitarist, a pianist, a three-piece horns section and a strings section, I knew that this performance was going to be something else. Opening with "Sapphire" from the latest record The North Borders he eased the crowd in before bringing on Szjerdene and her silky vocals to belt out "Towers" and "Stay The Same" for us. When the opening strings for "Kiara" chimed in I was ecstatic. I knew that he was going to play it but I didn't think it'd be so early on. Being my favourite song from Black Sands I was loving every single second of this performance. The bass rising from to ground to our chests - yes.

They played through a few more of my favourites, occasionally switching up the band formation and Simon himself switching between bass guitar and the decks, before bring on Grey Reverend to guest on opening track "First Fires". I must admit, this performance was more subdued than emphatic in comparison to the song's studio recording but it hit the spot nonetheless. Then Szjerdene stepped on again for a live debut of "Get Thy Bearings", her beautiful voice soaring over the instruments. This definitely had everybody drooling for new material from Bonobo. After a mass dance party to "We Could Forever" and "Cirrus" things slowed down again before the encore. The band came back on to play "Pieces" and "El Toro" including a seductive sax solo and a mind bogglingly skillful drum solo.

All in all, it was just such a chilled show and a ridiculously fun night, the crowd was buzzing and the vibes were glorious. It's actually tempted me to go and see him again in London Alexandra Palace later this year, funds allowing. Bonobo... bravo.

Overall Rating - 8/10 


Here are some pictures from the night: