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TKAY MAIDZA Last Year Was Weird, Vol. 2 Out Now
Tkay Maidza is a tour de force on her new EP Last Year Was Weird, Vol. 2.
Her sonic versatility takes centre stage on eight tracks that include spitfire summer anthem and lead single Shook, smooth boy-bye manifesto Don’t Call Again and trap-infused Awake, which was nominated for a 2019 ARIA award and earned a best of the decade nod from The Needle Drop, as well as praise from Pitchfork, The FADER, Dazed, Complex, and others. The EP follows 2018’s Last Year Was Weird, Vol. 1, which established her as an exciting voice in the new guard of hip-hop.
To celebrate Last Year Was Weird, Vol. 2, Tkay has shared the music video for the breezy and sweetly- taunting track ‘You Sad’ today. London-based director Jocelyn Anquetil oversaw the shoot remotely via live feed while Tkay and a spartan crew of two executed from Australia. The result is a game-changer in socially distanced music video shoots and a Technicolor graveyard for all of the calls Tkay is screening.
Emerging from Adelaide at just 17 years old, Tkay has become one of the most fascinating names in dance-pop and modern hip-hop. From her critically acclaimed debut album TKAY to now, she has captured audiences globally with releases including gold-certified ‘MOB’, ‘White Rose’, 2018’s Last Year Was Weird, Vol. 1 EP and last year’s singles ‘Awake’ (named Best of the Decade by The Needle Drop) and ‘IDC IF U BE DED’.
Tkay’s early work has earned her a 2018 MTV EMA award, a 2016 BET Awards nomination, plus tours with the likes of Mark Ronson, Charli XCX, Rita Ora, RL Grime, Years and Years and Troye Sivan. Tkay has firmly placed herself in the fashion world, from starting her own clothing label Last Year Was Weird, to soundtracking Stella McCartney’s poignant fashion waste campaign. Tkay has also collaborated with some of the world’s leading brands including Tommy Hilfiger, Coca-Cola and Nike.
paul institute ‘summer 2020’ now streaming in full
Jai and A. K. Paul’s Paul Institute has been teasing new music via their website for the past week, and now you can stream the release in full.
The label continues to raise its game with previously released artists as well as newcomers among these Summer 2020 Releases.
A. K Paul says “I’m really happy we’re releasing new music with Paul Institute this summer. It’s been a while coming and the last couple of years have been perilous at times for PI, particularly because of a legal fight that set us back. So besides it being sick music, to return with such a strong set of releases feels like a vindication of our rights as artists too.”
PAULINST0009DS _ A. K. Paul – Be Honest “This is a song about giving up control for a moment, allowing yourself to feel something beyond what you’ve known. It’s a song about liking something you didn’t think you would like, feeling something you didn’t think you would feel – and as you come to your senses being faced with the prospect you’ve only half lived…”
PAULINST0012DS _ Hira – Unreal
“The winter of 2018 gave the ice to this song. Lighted in the glow of a person who no longer shines inward, this song was composed in the hashish of an individual who becomes abstract in search of some superficial superstition…”
PAULINST0013DS _ REINEN – Shadow Knight
“Shadow Knight is a ritual ceremony, a synchronic chorus of chaos; It’s a twisted night odyssey as seen through the cat’s eye, with his ability to transmute in body and mind for the prowl. The groove surreptitiously moves with his stealth mission through the supernatural, from the back streets to the eTHERjUNGLE. This ominous opera is an homage to my majestic Chartreux, Bluey Dragon Twist via the freaky lens of CatLady3020.”
PAULINST0011DS _ Ruthven – Have You Decided?
It’s narrated in the form of a heart-on-your-sleeve kind of romantic gesture. The narrator doesn’t feel like they deserve love, but in this case, believes they’ve found the real thing. The other is very present throughout the song but stays silent despite giving ‘affection’. Though the song has a romantic feel, the declaration of love remains unanswered.”
PAULINST0010DS _ Fabiana Palladino – Waiting
“I wrote Waiting a few years back. I was playing my old Teisco shark-fin guitar a lot and wanted to write my own version of a new-wave guitar tune. I was listening to Joe Jackson, Squeeze, early Police… and then I heard ‘When You Were Mine’ by Prince – a perfect mix of that new-wave sound with the funk he brought to it. Prince’s song is about a love triangle but mine is from the perspective of a broken android left behind in a destroyed city. She’s sick of waiting for her human lover to come back for her. She’s the voice of my own real-life frustrations with that feeling of endlessly waiting for things, both mundane & extraordinary, to happen… for work to pick up, for boys to text back, for life to start!”
PAULINST0014DS _ Pen Pals – Dynasty
“When rival values create rivals. Contempt is rising, delusions charge anger, and jealousy is in denial. Dynasty is simple, and its voice preaches against exceeding simplicity”. Pen Pals is the newest recruit to the Paul Institute, a culture fusion between the jungles of Bermuda and streets of Heathrow; a duo comprising Keen Collard and Mahir Mistry. Recorded in its entirety over video conference software, ‘Dynasty’ celebrates the origins of both artists, their fibre optic friendship, and the international sound clash.
SOAK and Gemma Doherty share new collaboration - "I'm Alive"
SOAK – aka Ireland’s Bridie Monds-Watson – has released a new collaboration track and film today called I’m Alive
Conceptualized by Ellius Grace during the height of lockdown, “I’m Alive” is based around a poem written and performed by SOAK with instrumental music created by Gemma Doherty of Saint Sister. It brings together a team of collaborators from across Ireland who worked in isolation to create the track and accompanying short film, many of whom had never met before.
SOAK explains the creation of the piece saying “Ellius Grace reached out to me during the lockdown with this idea of creating an ‘antidote to anxiety’, with the concept centering around finding beauty in the mundane. I sat down in the up and down waves of isolation, when I let my brain go I started to write about how it feels to ‘wake up’ from a long depression. The relief when a tide starts to turn and things I’d given up on begin to seem possible again. Ellius asked Gemma Doherty to compose the soundtrack and she provided a gentle and gripping bed to speak over. I hope this piece can act as a reminder that it won’t always be like this.”
Grace says of his role overseeing the collaboration, “‘I’m Alive’ is a short film about being mindful of the small joys and blessings around you. It’s about slowing down and taking stock of the things that often go unnoticed. It’s about the space you can create in your head when you’re feeling anxious or frustrated with life. With this piece, I hope to create a calming experience and send a message of peace and strength in oneself. I hope to remind you of the beautiful experiences that anyone can have no matter their situation.”
SOAK’s latest album Grim Town was released in 2019 via Rough Trade Records, and saw her make her national TV debut on Late Night with Seth Meyers. Grim Town earned glowing reviews and coverage from Pitchfork, The Guardian (4/5 stars), BUST (5/5), NPR Music, Under the Radar (8/10 stars), The Line of Best Fit (8/10), AllMusic (4/5 stars), Exclaim! and more.
Becky and the Birds Trasslig EP Out Now
Becky And The Birds debut EP for 4AD, Trasslig, is released today.
Featuring the singles Do U Miss Me, Wondering and Paris, Trasslig (Swedish for “entangled, messy, intricate”) celebrates the complexity of womanhood.
Producer and songwriter Thea Gustafsson says, “people are scared of women who could be both powerful and vulnerable at the same time, and there’s no space for that. But’s it’s okay to be trasslig, to be all the parts of yourself.”
Trasslig follows 2018’s self-released debut EP Becky And The Birds and showcases Gustafsson’s impressive soprano vocal range. Born in Örebro, Sweden, Gustafsson’s life has always been steeped in music, whether listening to traditional Swedish folk songs; following her father’s career as an accordionist or his passion for jazz and soul; her sister’s love of 90s R&B and hip-hop; or through her own experiences playing violin as a child and composing pieces for orchestras.
A move to Stockholm in 2014 to attend Musikmakarna – a renowned music school in Sweden’s capital – exposed her to pop music for the very first time, coming face-to-face with music epitomised and made famous by the likes of Max Martin and Aviicii. Armed with skills in pop songcraft and production, Becky and the Birds came to life in 2016 in reaction to frustrating and fruitless encounters with male producers and songwriters.
JARV IS... TO SCREEN ONLINE CONCERT FILM BEYOND THE PALE… LIVE FROM THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH FOR 24 HOURS ONLY FROM TUESDAY
In celebration of their new album, Beyond The Pale, released last Friday on Rough Trade Records, JARV IS… have announced a free live performance of the record tomorrow, July 21 at 8pm BST/3pm EST/12pm PST via YouTube.
Filmed at Peak Cavern in Derbyshire, UK, the performance brings Beyond The Pale full circle, as two of the tracks on the album (“Must I Evolve?” and “Sometimes I am Pharaoh”) were recorded at this very location when JARV IS… performed here in 2018. The performance was filmed and directed by Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard, known for their work on Nick Cave’s film 20,000 Days on Earth.
“Beyond the Pale was written (& partially recorded) in front of a live audience, so it feels extra-strange not to be able to take it on the road at the moment,” Jarvis Cocker explains. “Fortunately, our friends Iain & Jane suggested a way round the problem: set up our equipment in a cave & they would film the results. We have invented a new way of playing a concert.”
Beyond the Pale is the first original music from Jarvis Cocker since 2009’s “Further Complications”. It has been praised around the globe everywhere from The New York Times to NME to Rolling Stone to MOJO.
JARV IS… a band featuring Jarvis Cocker (vocals, guitar, percussion), Serafina Steer (harp, keyboards, vocals), Emma Smith (violin, guitar vocals), Andrew McKinney (bass, vocals), Jason Buckle (synthesizer & electronic treatments) & Adam Betts (drums, percussion, vocals).
JARV IS… an ongoing live experience because life is an ongoing live experience.
Or, to put it another way:
THIS IS NOT A LIVE ALBUM – it’s an ALIVE ALBUM.
