We’ve pondered before the question of why RONIKA is not yet famous, it appears HERVE agrees. He’s secured her services on vocal duties for his brand new ravey banger ‘Make It Right’ which not only stands proud in its own right but may well stand proud in years to come as the track that finally got mainstream radio showing some love to the uber talent RONIKA.

Another banger to my ears, albeit on a somewhat subtler tip is the new JUSTIN MARTIN track ‘Ruff Stuff’, aligned perfectly with the sound of it’s label DirtyBird this is a big track for anyone who likes their House Music minimal and dubby, everyone else will probably wonder what all the fuss is about.

Thanks to Dom at Drowned in Sound for the tip off re WALDO & MARSHA, I’d never heard of them let alone their stand out track ‘Made You’. The genre police would probably call the track dreamgaze, I’d probably call it a ‘wall of dreamgaze’ which gives ya some feel for the all round hugeness of this track, a tune to mosh to and fall in love to in equal measure.

STL

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HEAR/ BUY THE TRACK:

RONIKA: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b01gnkm7

JUSTIN MARTIN: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTtEnfxua6Y

WALDO & MARSHA: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Z7p3jVGr6zI#!

RUDIMENTAL’s ‘Feel The Love’ has more than an aura of ‘summer smash’ about it, we just need this stupid sodding  rain to end (is it just me or is this the wettest drought ever?). A massive slab of D’n’B hugeness topped off soulfully by a moving vocal from John Newman. Seriously you don’t often get this level of emotion in a vocal over a D’n’B track, best stab at this vibe since Liam Bailey worked his magic on Chase and Status’s Blind Faith.

I’m a big fan of DISCLOSURE, their take on House is right up my EDM avenue, so no surprise I’m really feeling their new track ‘Boiling Point’. Equally at home in a chill-out set on the breach or as the club main room is starting to step up, this is a quality slab of four to the floor House Music, love it.

INDIANA is a brand new discovery of the highest, highest order. To the extent that I’m almost disbelieving my ears, how can someone this good not already be signed to some fuck off massive record label? Surely there is some masterplan going on here? It would seem not, this appears an authentic example of that moment all us New Music lovers live for, the discovery of a totally undiscovered talent who we can now watch and enjoy as they ride all the way to the top. And have no doubt the top is exactly where Indiana is destined. A ‘female James Blake’ is my succinct but lazy one-line description, baring in mind the only truly accurate description for Indiana is that Indiana sounds like Indiana. A unique, emotive, raw talent that I think can go all the way.

You may have gathered I rate her, strongly recommend you check out ‘Blind As I Am’.

Vlr

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HEAR/ BUY THE TRACK:

RUDE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oABEGc8Dus0

DISCLOSURE: http://soundcloud.com/greco-roman/disclosure-boiling

INDIANA: Ten mins in – http://www.nusic.org.uk/wordpress/nusic-new-music-podcast-024-80-tracklisting/

BLOOD MUSIC’s incredible ‘Orphe’ is a record store day exclusive only available in things called record shops on something called vinyl, we’re investigating these strange phenomena and will get back to you with our findings.

LOBSTER BOY’s ‘Mosquito’ is musically onomatopoeic, there is definite feel that you’re hearing the kinda audio that Dub loving mosquito’s would be raving to after a hard night leaching our blood.

Now as it’s the weekend let me introduce you to something called a ‘banger’. Not clever, not especially cool but very, very big. The LAIDBACK LUKE Remix of Dragonette’s ‘Let It Go’ is absolutely huge, guaranteed to make you dance, or vom.

Vlr

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HEAR/ BUY THE TRACK:

BLOOD MUSIC: Support your local record store. Google em!

LOBSTER BOY: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73EM1lQrEBY

LAIDBACK: http://soundcloud.com/laidbackluke/dragonette-let-it-go-laidback

BREY’s ‘Bengala’ is a totally insatiable piece of music, if morphed into human form it would be the man or woman of your dreams, stunning, wild and desperate to fuck you all night long, and then again in the morning, and once more for lunch. Huge track.

NEW BUILD’s ‘Your Love’ is without doubt my House Music highlight of the last few days, that’s it really.

Love the simple logic in the naming of ME AND MY DRUMMER, reminds me of my time in Germany, oh wait they are German, funny how  a culture can be recognised through the naming of a band. Anywho cultural linguistic wank-off to one side this is a great song, elements of a Florence and The Mach vibe but more stripped back and without the vocal gymnastics reaching silly levels. Liking ‘You’re A Runner’, liking it a lot.

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BREY: http://vimeo.com/37531768

NEW BUILD: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwnqQdSEuOg

ME AND MY DRUMMER: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wr8Wl4wwjyM

On non-stop repeat the last 72 hours (yeah back when it was like 20 degrees, remember then?) on my stereo and quite possibly yours too has been the new JAI PAUL track ‘Jasmine’. An early contender for track of the year and a shoe in for sexiest, this track is pure Groove in a way that is so now,  imagine Kool and the Gang having a test-tube baby with James Blake and you’re somewhere on the way to understanding what a treat awaits your ears if you are yet to indulge.

Another Groove demanding a mention is the new track from the grammatically challenging THEESatisfaction. ‘QueenS’ sounds like something straight out of Giles Peterson’s genre dot joining subconscious. Laden with layers of varying influences all brought together by the Groove this is part Soul, part House, part RnB, part Funk,  fusing together to create a damn sexy piece of music (sorry I know that sounds kinda naff). If they could bottle this stuff it would give Viagra a run for its money.

There seems to be a theme running through today’s suggestions, Groove is there, sex is definitely there plus  the fact these tracks were all first enjoyed back in the famous British summer of late March 2012. Last up the new one from SUBMOTION ORCHESTRA, ‘It’s Not Me It’s You’ is the follow up to ‘I Love You More Like A Brother’ (a wee joke there, not at all bitter me). Again lots of grove, again very sexy and again just really doing it for me personally, love this.

Vlr

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HEAR/ BUY THE TRACK:

JAI PAUL: http://soundcloud.com/jaipaul/jai-paul-jasmine

THEESatisfaction: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5K8rcsez9I

SUBMOTION ORCHESTRA: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyjriQHT8Ew

The JOE GODDARD Remix of Nneka’s ‘Shining Star’ has been doing the business for me the last couple of days, I suspect if I first heard this track on a cold November night the effect might be different. But with summer arriving early this is the perfect soundtrack to the climatory equivalent of premature ejaculation (see girls sometimes it can be good to peak early)

Another  piece of New Music perfectly suited to our unseasonable awesome March is ‘If I Smile At You’ by SARAH WILLIAMS WHITE. A very chilled, laidback piece of? Well this is basically an RnB record, but from when RnB had a distinct sound and wasn’t just code for crappy electro pop as it is these days. This is a David-Getta-free, sub 110bpm, groove endowed piece of soul just as RnB used to (and should) be.

Keeping the summer vibes going, but in a very psychedelic Twenty Twelve version of the Summer Of Love kinda way is KINDNESS. An artist I’ve been feeling for a while but unbelievably the Brand Nu search feature tells me I’ve never mentioned (maybe the SM is just hungover or sumut). ‘That’s Alright’ is a great track from a great album, look forward to dancing to this bloke in a sunny field some time in the coming months.  Which probably means I’ll need to go abroad as the UK has clearly just used up its sun quota for the year.

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HEAR/ BUY THE TRACK:

JOE GODDARD: http://soundcloud.com/edgibert/nneka-shining-star-joe-goddard

SARAH WILLIAMS WHITE: http://soundcloud.com/sarah-williams-white/ifismileatyou

KINDNESS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uakYO-o9_84

We all love New Music, we wouldn’t be here chatting otherwise. If there is one thing that gets me more hyped than New Music its New Sounds, when a musician pushes the envelope not just innovating with melody or bass but innovating sonically, creating sounds I  haven’t heard before combined in ways I’ve certainly never experienced before. Step forward TNGHT the new project of Hudson Mohawke and Lunice, “Bugg’N” is a huge slab of minimal sonic innovation. Not for everyone, me I’m creaming my pants over this, I  may have just wee’d too.

Conversely ‘Skin’ by BOY consists of the classically simple musical combo of voice and guitar, to stunning effect, a beautiful song delivered with real grace. I might be in love, there is no more to say.

‘Love In Motion’ by SEBASTIAN is a piece of groove laden electronica that sounds like it was conceived from the core dna running through every music loving part of my being, I could dance all night long to stuff like this, no idea whether you’ll like it but it’s right up my electronic avenue.

Vlr

md

HEAR/ BUY THE TRACK:

TNGHT: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vV0_kjdEsOM

BOY: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rx-L8hxrJlg

SEBASTIAN: http://itunes.apple.com/album/love-in-motion-feat.-mayer/id437990045?i=437990077&affId=1590916&ign-mpt=uo%3D5

Thanks to my friend Lizzle Bizzle for the tip off on TINCTURE, ‘You’ll Learn’ is right up my dubby electronic avenue. Bass and Broken beats combined with a uniquely processed vocal sample that sounds half Usher, half Jamie from the XX. I know, sounds wrong, but actually sounds very right.

KAGOULE are a band I’ve been following locally for about nine months now, not quite sure why I haven’t mentioned before, I guess I wanted to ensure I wasn’t getting overly carried away by my desire for them to be awesome. I can confirm, they are awesome, and they’re going to be ‘more awesome’, if such a concept is possible either grammatically or in reality. ‘Made of Concrete’ is their stand out tune at the moment (it’s huge!!!!), but there are others such as ‘Monarchy’, which particularly live really hit the spot. A great band with a great future, especially with that incredible vocal.

MATT CORBY’s quite a new name to me, and his label ‘Communion’ aren’t exactly Sony BMG or Universal so was a bit surprised to find that his track ‘Brother’ has had nearly a million you tube views. The reason? He’s quite big in Aus, but like his compatriot Goyte only just breaking into the main stream here in the northern hemisphere. ‘Brother’ is a big, rousing and emotive track with a hint of Wild Beast vulnerability about the vocal, a track that could inspire you to nail it at the gym, or just make you cry. I love that emotional diversity.

Vlr

md

HEAR/ BUY THE TRACK:

TINCTURE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrGJCePxI0M&list=FLYQtSBa0lLKUlBJnXGdcshA&index=43&feature=plpp_video

KAGOULE: http://www.nusic.org.uk/wordpress/future-session-12-42-%E2%80%93-kagoule/

MATT CORBY: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpFG7DdjTbo

‘Origins’ by TENNIS is one of those tracks that just makes you want to smile, for that reason alone you should wanna check it out. This will sound great when the sun finally comes out and Spring kicks in.

Music cliché alert (to be honest the above was probably already one)… I liked PLAN B before he was famous, I do indeed own his first album ‘Who Needs Actions When You Got Words’, I even have it on something called a ‘compact disc’ (I’m hoping it’ll accrue antique value at some point). New track ‘Ill Manors’ is back to the original Plan B (I look the concept of an original plan b), much to the shock of all his pop soul fans, and I’m loving having him back in this form, big tune.

If there has been a theme connecting my favourite pieces of electronic music over the last twelve months it’s been ‘slow songs’, JUSTICE are keeping with that theme. Their new track ‘On’n’On’ builds and builds sonically all whilst maintaining a restrained tempo that shouldn’t work, but really, really does.

Vlr

md

HEAR/ BUY THE TRACK:

TENNIS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qapnomk2sys

PLAN B: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQb3dFmPfKg

JUSTICE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWL8RogROr8

I’m sucker for any piece of music, poetry or biblical verse that features anywhere the phrase ‘Bada Boom Bada Bing’. Form some strange reason only known to the deepest corners of my sub conscious I love these four words in this particular order, it helps that BENNY BANK’s track is ridiculously catchy too.

Speaking of catchy, but right over the other side of the musical spectrum is the fun and funky (said in best cheesy radio voice) Indie Pop sound of KING CHARLES, more specifically ‘LoveBlood’. A great tune, nice vid and the branding of the world’s biggest record label all over imply this is band/dide with quite a future, certainly the cash seems to be there to give them a good go, I want six hot backing singers for my video.

The DISCLOSURE REMIX of Jesse Ware’s ‘Running’ (or is it the other way around?) is my House track of the year so far. If you don’t like electronic music you probably won’t get it, this isn’t a cross-over House track, simply a totally on it piece of four to the floor electronic bliss that will have House music lovers weakening at knees in clubs across the world. I love this, bring on the weekend.

Vlr

md

HEAR/ BUY THE TRACK:

BENNY: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG-g6IQZz_o

KING CHARLES: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iyj4JTPPLT4

DISCLOSURE: http://soundcloud.com/disclosuremusic/running-jessie-ware-disclosure