Category: Reviews
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Jay James Picton – 'Play It By Heart' | Album Review
Two years ago Welsh singer-songwriter Jay James Picton was a fitness instructor in the Royal Navy who bought a guitar as a joke. Through a devastating injury, Picton started learning the guitar and from there onwards his beer driven joke turned into a passion, leading him to work with music greats such as Booker T.…
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Beanie Sigel – This Time | Album Review
Even as a millionaire Beanie Sigel was still standing on the same corners and hanging on the same blocks he did before the fame. While as street as they come, this hasn’t always worked out in his favour. There’s no question that musical authenticity has always been on his side, but unfortunately the wrong side…
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Slaughterhouse – Welcome To Our House | Album Review
Let’s not get it twisted, Slaughterhouse is the squad. Flipmode may have said it but Slaughterhouse are it. A deadly foursome, consisting of Joell Ortiz, Crooked I, Joe Budden and of course Royce Da 5’9, are all names not to be scoffed at as far as lyrical prowess is concerned. Successful entities within their own…
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Jessie Ware – Devotion | Album Review
There was never a risk of Jessie Ware falling victim to bridesmaid syndrome. Since her first high-profile turn on producer SBTRKT‘s skittering banger “Nervous” back in 2010, this Brixton-bred singer-songwriter has been a blog favourite whilst racking up radio spins and support from some of modern music’s most influential tastemakers.
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Plan B – ill Manors | Album Review
It’s probably no mere coincidence that ill Manors, the third studio album by rapper, singer, songwriter and film director Plan B, has emerged at the height the Olympic euphoria evoked by the London 2012 games. Where the event’s opening and closing ceremonies aimed to congratulate the multiculturalism, talent, creativity and all round success of the…
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Elle Varner – 'Perfectly Imperfect' | Album Review
Music runs through Elle Varner’s veins. The daughter of parents who both were songwriters and publishers, the singer-to-be attended music programs and academies for the majority of her academic life and eventually graduated from NYU’s renowned Clive Davis Department of Recorded Music — she was even voted “most likely to get signed” and “most likely…
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Mai Khalil – 'In Between' | EP Review
UK Hip-Hop fans might be familiar with Mai Khalil as a feature vocalist — she’s appeared on tracks with the likes of Rewd Adams, Islam Jawed and H20, and was heavily featured on Lowkey’s most recent album — but the west London singer has now dropped a long-awaited solo offering. Citing Arabic music as an influence,…
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Jamaican Legends Band (Ernest Ranglin, Sly & Robbie) at Jamaica 50 Festival | Live Review
Aptly titled “Jamaican Legends Band,” the star-studded Jamaica 50 festival brought together three of the most recorded musicians of all time for a night of classic reggae with a jazz twist. Sly & Robbie first made their name by playing with just about everybody in the reggae world before going on to provide the rhythm…
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Delilah – 'From The Roots Up' | Album Review
Way back in January 2011 (relative eons in pop music terms), 21-year-old singer-songwriter Delilah burst onto the UK music scene, seemingly from nowhere, with a show-stopping vocal performance on Chase & Status‘ “Time.” A powerhouse Drum and Bass track buried at the end of their sophmore album No More Idols (it would eventually become the album’s fifth…
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Dean Atta – ‘Love or Money’ EP | Review
Award-winning poet and acclaimed writer Dean Atta released his new poetry EP Love or Money about a week ago and has already been mentioned by several media sources, including a review by MTV. With all this attention, it’d be easy to forget that this is a poetry EP and not a chart-selling music compilation.