Showing posts with label Solange. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Solange. Show all posts

Saturday, 22 August 2020

Solange - "Cranes in the Sky" | Live at Sydney Opera House



This is Solange performing 'Cranes in the Sky' live at Sydney Opera House. There are other songs from this show available on YouTube, but not the full set. You can watch Solange's set from NorthSea Jazz 2017 online though, and it's not a bad recording, but not professionally filmed. I think I used it last time but it's worth another look.


Tuesday, 18 August 2020

Fantasy Festival number 14: The Lineup

Koffee: Koffee is a Jamaican singer, songwriter, rapper, DJ and guitarist. She released the critically acclaimed EP Rapture in 2019. You can find out more about her here.

Suzi Wu: Suzie McDermott from North London signed to Def Jam last year and has, to date, released two EP's, Teenage Witch (which included 'Taken Care Of') and Error 404 (which included 'Highway'). Her oeuvre is very much in the line of world weary vocals and crunchy beats. You can find out more here.

Jorja Smith: Walsall singer Jorja Smith is on the rise. Her debut album was critically and commercially well received, and everyone either has collaborated with her, or wants to do so. She writes unflinchingly about social issues and has the voice of an angel. You can find out more here.

Estelle: Hip Hop, R&B, soul and reggae singer Estelle lives in the US these days. Her most recent album was a slice of pure lovers rock (called Lovers Rock) in 2018, and she stamped her identity on that genre of music perfectly. You can find out more over on her Insta.

Lykke Li: Swedish born singer and songwriter Lykke Li creates sophisticated left of centre pop music with seemingly effortless ease. All of her four albums have been well received and she continues to climb the ladder. You can find out more here.

Jessie Ware: Londoner Jessie Ware makes smooth pop soul and dance floor bangers with irresistible hooks. She also does a rather fine food podcast with her mum. You can find out more about Jessie's music here.

Solange: The goddess that is Solange Knowles was initially better known for her songwriting than for her singing, but her classic third album A Seat At The Table changed all that. Since then, she's appeared at quite a few festivals and it's very likely that you would have had the chance to see her this summer, promoting her current album When I Get Home. You can find out more here.

Wednesday, 23 August 2017

Saturday, 19 August 2017

Fantasy Festival #6: The Pop Festival - Lineup

Grace Mitchell: Grace Mitchell is a singer/songwriter from Portland, Oregon. Paul Lester as The Guardian's New Band Of The Day/Week guru got very excited about her song, 'Jitter' in 2015. She's signed to Taylor Swift and Lorde's label, and makes what I'd call smart pop that takes from a number of genres, but mainly R&B, electronica and rock. Grace has been touring the US and Canada throughout August.

Marika Hackman: Marika Hackman is a British singer/songwriter and multi instrumentalist whose second album, I'm Not Your Man, was released in June.  The lead single, 'Boyfriend' is a swaggering indie pop tale of a female/female/male love triangle becoming increasingly complicated. She will be playing at Leeds Festival on the 25th August and will be touring the UK into the autumn.

Jane Weaver: Jane Weaver first appeared on the Manchester music scene in the mid nineties with her band Kill Laura, a scouse indie pop outfit signed to Rob Gretton's Manchester Records. She later popped up as one of Misty Dixon on the Twisted Nerve label, but it's been her solo work that has won her, at long last, critical acclaim, with its exploration of psych and space pop. Her album Modern Kosmology was released in May, and she is playing the Liverpool Psych Festival at the end of September. She is currently touring the UK.

Stealing Sheep: Liverpool band Stealing Sheep started life as a folk troubadour outfit, releasing two albums of curiously mediaeval sounding folk, Noah and the Paper Moon and Into The Diamond Sun. Their third album, Not Real, released in 2015, revealed their smooth transition to psych pop. The band are not currently touring.

Santigold: Santigold, aka Santi White, is a singer/songwriter and producer from Philadelphia. She has released three albums of immaculate electro pop, of which 2016's 99cents is the most recent. The glitchyness of some of her work, and her sometimes vocal delivery, have led to comparisons with MIA, but her music is ultimately a collage of all sorts of sonic sources: Everything from modern dance music to post punk samples, to ska and Two Tone. She is not currently touring.

Solange: Solange Knowles' 2016 album A Seat At The Table was one of the standout albums of 2016, a poetic mediation on what it is to be a black woman in the US, but also a lively, imaginative, danceable and moving work of art. She played Glastonbury in June and  is currently touring the US.

Lorde: Auckland pop star Lorde, real name Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor, first began to garner attention in 2012, with her self released EP, The Love Club. A year later she released her second, immaculately written and produced, EP, Tennis Court, and debut album Pure Heroine, which featured the single 'White Teeth Teens'. An exponent of knowing, smart, observational minimalist pop, there is a world weariness to her voice and lyrics that contrasts sharply with her age: She is 21 this year. Her second album, Melodrama, was released in 2016. She is in the middle of a huge international tour at the moment, which will bring her to the UK in September.