So far, “Magnificent” is my favorite song on Estelle’s new album Shine. Kardinal Offishall brings spice to Estelle’s sugar while smooth dub basslines stir it up. Listen here:

You might have noticed the new Soul Food playlist under the player these days. Just Estelle and Nina Simone so far, but I’ll be adding some Erykah and Al Green soon enuff….

Another summer, another amazing music festival lineup. The 15th Annual Sonar Music and Art festival in Barcelona takes place 19-21 June this year and they just announced another amazing lineup. There is a strong female presence from M.I.A., Goldfrapp, Roisin Murphy, Kid Sister, Miss Kittin and an assault of amazing electro, techno, noise and pop from Shackleton, Diplo, SebastiAn, Justice, DJ Scotch Egg, Ove-Naxx, Neon Neon, Spank Rock and more! ([More →])

Here is the brand new video from Estelle for “American Boy” featuring Kanye West. The song is from Estelle’s upcoming album Shine which drops May 6th on John Legend’s label Homeschool Records.

Of course, we’ve been bumpin the bassline remix by TS7 for weeks now. You can listen to it in the music player on the left…
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The lovely Miss Erykah Badu is celebrating her 10th year in the music biz with the recent release of “Honey.” The song was released on November 20th and it is the first single from her new album. The album is set for release on Erykah’s birthday, February 26th and is titled New Amerykah. ([More →])

You’ve probably heard T2 and Addictive’s sugary sweet tune “Gonna Be Mine” plenty by now, but have you seen the new video? T2 also has a new song out called “Butterflies”.

T2 feat Addictive “Gonna Be Mine” Official Video:

Super shiny and low-budget like a video produced by MC Pressure and crew… ([More →])

A new compilation from Ninja Tune - You Don’t Know: Ninja Cuts - is filled with 50 tunes that map the sonic territory the label has explored during it’s 2 decades in the biz and adds sonar imagery of what lies ahead. The 3 CD set features tracks all the way 1998 reppin for the label’s early days (Mike Ladd’s rare classic “Blah Blah”) and big hits from every year since plus 9 tunes slated for release later this year! (Yet-to-be-dropped tunes like John Matthias’ fragile and ethereal “Evermore”, The Bug’s toxic dancehall slayer “Poison Dart”, and Pop Levi’s superb, princely “Dita Dimone”…) To celebrate such an amazing audio history, the Ninja Tune extended family is hosting a 3-room banger at Electrowerkz this month that features many of the artists on the 3CD collection!
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Kano recently released his new single “Feel Free” featuring Damon Albarn. I don’t think the elusive Gorillaz musician appears anywhere in the video, but we get to follow Kano around London in the dark of night. “Feel Free” is the second single off of Kano’s latest album, London Town. Albarn and Kano also performed together for Scratch Africa Express in 2007, which you can watch here as well. ([More →])

The new Snoop Dogg video is sooooo retro…

Snoop Dogg - Sensual Seduction

Karlheinz Stockhausen passed away on December 5th at the ripe age of 79 years old. Stockhausen was a pioneering experimental composer who annotated electronic music, encouraged chaos in his compositions, and made music from math. In a loving statement made by his publisher Stockhausen-Verlag:

IN FRIENDSHIP and gratitude for everything that he has given to us personally and to humanity through his love and his music, we bid FAREWELL to Karlheinz Stockhausen, who lived to bring celestial music to humans, and human music to the celestial beings, so that Man may listen to GOD and GOD may hear His children.

On December 5th he ascended with JOY through HEAVEN’S DOOR, in order to continue to compose in PARADISE with COSMIC PULSES in eternal HARMONY, as he had always hoped to do: You, who summon me to Heaven, Eva, Mikael and Maria, let me eternally compose music for Heaven’s Father-Mother, GOD creator of Cosmic Music.

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When I heard that Beenie Man was meeting Alicia Keys to rehearse their AMA performance, I assumed they would be performing the remix that Beenie Man did of her song “No One.” Instead, the performance erupted into a red hot dancehall party! What an incredible surprise! Well, if you were left wanting to hear the remix still, you can listen to it here: ([More →])

It’s the world premiere of a new Chris Brown video! “With You” is the 3rd single off Exclusive.

“With You” - Chris Brown World Premiere Video

Alicia Keys stole the show at the American Music Awards on Sunday night by turning it into a dancehall party! She invited reggae legends Junior Reid, Beenie Man, Chaka Demus & Pliers on stage for a medley of BIG TUNES! Keys kicked off with her new hit, “No One,” but then switched gears into a dancehall medley with Junior Reid singing his smash hit “One Blood,” Chaka Demus and Pliers adding their biggest number, “Murder She Wrote” and Beenie Man came out with his “Who Am I?” Most viewers probably had no idea what hit them (but enuff in the live audience did - the crowd roared when airhorns introduced Junior Reid to the stage), but this 5 minute performance shows a deep love and respect for Jamaican music and a few of its biggest players! ([More →])

That’s right - Chris Brown has a new video out for “This Christmas” which is from the upcoming movie of the same name… ([More →])

Burial is such a unique artist and his music almost defies classification in any genre. His music hovers somewhere between dub, experimental electronica and psycho-acoustic phenomena. It leans more towards dub and dubstep, but often times sounds like dub played on a slow speed. Burial unearthed his sophomore album of experimental dubstep on Hyperdub last week, titled Untrue. His self-titled debut, released last year, was praised by music critics of all different tastes - even dubbed Album of the Year by The Wire magazine. ([More →])

Finally, we have some news on the new Alicia Keys album! It looks like the release date was pushed again, but today we have the video for the first single off of As I Am. The video was directed by Justin Francis and it debuted on BET today. According to some sources, the album’s release is now set for November 13th. If this is true, she will miss her chance to duke it out with Jay-Z on November 6th. Or maybe he will postpone his too so they can stay together…. ([More →])