Tag Archives: Prince

Video: Harts – “Power”

power-tour

Harts has already had a huge 2016, releasing two hit radio singles in “Peculiar” and “Power, as well as touring non-stop storming the UK and Europe earlier in the year, before returning home for a triumphant set on the hallowed Splendour In The Grass stage in July. He is now poised to unleash his sophomore album, the follow up to his critically acclaimed debut Daydreamer in 2014, and the follow up EP Breakthrough in 2015 – records that caught the attention of some of the biggest names in music, including the late, great icon Prince, who became a mentor to the young Melbourne phenom.

 


Despite the mammoth sonic scale already exhibited by “Peculiar” and “Power” and set to be revealed across all of the album’s 14 songs, Smoke Fire Hope Desire was remarkably self-recorded in Harts’ home studio in Melbourne – its impressive scope the culmination of what the “one-man music-making machine,” attributes to spending years developing his sound as a performer and a producer. The album is the sound of an artist who has locked his musical identity and his voice into his sights, and as Harts admits has allowed himself to be influenced by, “a lot of what I was seeing in the world around me – very current day issues, mixed with my own thoughts and challenges in my life.” 

The result is a record that seems destined to find success on both a local and a global level.

Smoke Fire Hope Desire track-listing:

1. Smoke (Intro)
2. Fear In Me
3. All Rise
4. Fire (Interlude)
5. Peculiar
6. Power
7. Deeper The Hole
8. Hope
9. Unfamiliar
10. Wisdom (Interlude)
11. Realize
12. Here I Go
13. Desire (Interlude)
14. Ain’t Too Far Gone

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Newest Love: Beware of Darkness

Photo: Cara Robbins

Photo: Cara Robbins

“Imagine the crunch of The White Stripes and the sheer raunch of Prince and you’d be somewhere close to Beware Of Darkness.” – CLASH Mag

LA-based Beware of Darkness reveal album release details today for their forthcoming LP Are You Real? out on September 16th via Bright Antenna Records.  Fans who pre-order album will receive singles “Dope” and “Muthafucka” instantly.

Are You Real? is the band’s biggest and boldest statement yet.  The 12-track collection serves as an urgent call to arms not only for frontman Kyle Nicolaides, but for the band’s sound as well.  The music ushers the rebirth of a sound that is as refreshing as it is addictive, and goes much deeper than riffs.

The album illustrates how a rock star on the rise fought uncertainty and disillusionment to avoid flaming out. And, more importantly, how he has come through the other side revitalized and focused, and with the best songs of his young career.


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Are You Real? Tracklist
Muthafucka
Blood, Sex, Violence, & Murder
Dope
Summer Daze
Tell Me This Is Fate
Are You Real?
Angel
Surrender
Hieroglyphics
Sugar In The Raw
Beware
Delirium

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Check ‘Em Out: Cavemouth

Cavemouth

“Guaranteed to get you up and out of your seat and sweating, Cavemouth are the aural equivalent to a night on a stairmaster, drinking Jack Daniels through a pair of fishnet tights.”

Cavemouth are a primal lo-fi funk four-piece who sound as though they live on the wilds of Exmoor (UK) on a strict diet of roadkill, making music to keep the neighbors away and lure the foxes in. Their gritty original sound blends blues, funk and hip-hop with African-influenced tunes and mind-altering lyrics.

Fronted by Sketchy Lex on filthy guitar and vocals, Wreckless Richie on drums, Ms. Mo on funked-up bass and vocals and Mr. Duncan ‘The Hook’ Hook on saxophone, the band have known each other for years. Growing up in rural Devon, they had to make their own entertainment by putting on their own raves and free parties, a past that has certainly helped to shape their sound.

Inspired by everything around them from politics and religion to nature, Cavemouth are influenced by Prince, ESG, Busta Rhymes, Leadbelly, Jack White, Queens of the Stone Age and Jethro Tull.

Check them out on Souncloud HERE.

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Prince & Chris Rock on SNL November 1

CR

Music icon Prince returns to the SNL stage on November 1st marking his third time as musical guest.  The evening also marks former SNL cast member Chris Rock’s return as host.

The November 1st performance promises to be one for the record books and will feature his band, 3RDEYEGIRL (Guitarist Donna Grantis, drummer Hannah Ford Welton and bassist Ida Nielsen).

This is the first television performance from Prince since the release of his two chart-topping albums, ART OFFICIAL AGE and PLECTRUMELECTRUM, on September 30th.  ART OFFICIAL AGE, Prince’s solo album, bowed in at #1 on Billboard’s R&B Chart while PLECTRUMELECTRUM, featuring Prince’s new band 3RDEYEGIRL, debuted at #1 on the Rock Chart, making Prince the first artist in over a decade to debut two albums in the Top 10 at the same time.  The New York Times declared, “Prince at his best doesn’t just collect and recreate genres; he smashes them together.”

2014 has been one of the most exciting years yet for the prodigious musical talent.  The two new studio albums marked a historic return to Warner Bros. Records, Prince’s original label home.  The renewed partnership came after the announcement that Warner Bros. Records returned to Prince the master recordings of his pioneering ’80s albums, including Dirty Mind, 1999, Purple Rain and Sign ‘O’ the Times.  In April, NPG Music Publishing was launched, marking the first time Prince’s vast publishing catalog has been independently controlled and administered in over twenty years.   In the live arena, together with 3RDEYEGIRL, Prince rocked UK and European audiences into a frenzy with his sell-out ‘Hit & Run’ tours, generating some of the most significant critical acclaim of his career.  The Guardian declared, “These are performances by one of the greatest funk-rock bands ever.”  All of this in addition to headlining and curating the Essence Festival on July 4th in New Orleans and a much talked about appearance on hit TV show ‘New Girl’.  2014 has underlined that Prince continues to innovate and surprise, thrilling his fans and welcoming a whole new audience in the process.

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Check ‘Em Out: Braque

Braque

Listen: Braque – V1CES EP

BRAQUE is a UK (London) based multi-instrumentalist, he is also a writer, producer, and most of all artist who creates everything himself.

BRAQUE is part of a loose collective of musicians including the highly acclaimed BASTILLE and RAG N BONE MAN. Having written, produced and set up the BEST LAID PLANS label with both of these artists, BRAQUE now believes the time is right to forge ahead as a solo artist.

Influenced by artists like Prince and Kanye, BRAQUE creates shiny modern pop music with a definite slightly darker edge, underpinned by a strong, soaring vocal and grainy, artful imagery. This is definitely not throwaway bubblegum pop music, but an artist who wants to be taken seriously.

BRAQUE’S vision behind the V1CES EP is that each song encapsulates a vice that we have in our lives. This EP will be the first in a Trilogy and contains two singles, “Secrets” and a cover of Everything But the Girl’s “Miss the Rain”.

If you’re liking these, make sure to check out the whole EP (link above).

 

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Pretty Good Dance Moves “Bad Habits” Single

Dance Duo Pretty Good Dance Moves have premeired a new track called “Bad Habits”, which features the dreamy, sultry vocals of Lissy Trullie. With nods to Prince and Depeche Mode, this track comes just in time for dancing on roofs and cars in the heat of the summer night.

PopWrap says:

The ghostly haunting vocals of Lissy paired with the synth and spacy layers that Pretty Good Dance Moves have claimed as their signature sound mix together in “Bad Habits” like chicken and waffles — sweet, spicy and paired like our ears have taste buds.

Click here to have a listen for yourself!

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