Kanye back in the studio to ‘follow in the footsteps of Maya Angelou, Gil Scott-Heron and Nina Simone’

Kanye West revealed on his blog on Monday that he is “so happy to be back in the studio making new music”.  Using Maya Angelou, Gil Scott-Heron and Nina Simone as examples the producer/rapper observes, “It’s funny how so many rappers get worse as their careers stretch out but true poets get better”.
Kanye’s full blog [...]

Kelis: “I’m not the greatest singer in the world…But I’m honest.”

Electro-dance generally not being my thing, I’m a little miffed that Kelis’ new album [tentatively titled Flesh Tone] seems set to be completely electro-fied. Nonetheless, her back catalog features so many gems I’m going to listen in hope regardless. Fingers crossed for a few soulful cuts on there. Whilst perusing the web for information about [...]

Stop Waiting To Be Discovered: Interview with Joy Jones

Joy Jones is one of those artists who have seemingly come from nowhere and taken the soul scene by storm. Her debut project, Godchild, has received critical praise from some of the most influential soul magazines, e-zines and blogs on the internet, and is being hailed by many as one of the standout releases of [...]

LIVE REVIEW: Diana Krall ‘Quiet Nights’ Tour @ The Royal Albert Hall ft. Yolanda Brown

If I was to have made a list a short while ago of all the things I was least likely to do, seeing Diana Krall live would have been on there somewhere.  It’s not that I hated the artistry of Mrs Elvis Costello in its entirety or that I didn’t appreciate her ability as a [...]

FREE DOWNLOAD: JOY JONES – "BE MY HUSBAND" (Nina Simone cover)

Joy Jones. If you haven’t checked out this LA-based singer before, expect masterful Afro-beat lullabies, future jazz/soul, protest songs and electronic hymns from her 2009 album Godchild (Future Soul Records), co-produced by London’s own Daz-I-Kue of soulful broken beat collective Bugz In The Attic.
“I have spent quite a bit of time thinking about [...]