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Returning to the frontline and ready to offer up some of her signature sound,
Alicia Keys puts out her RCA Records debut
Girl On Fire. Her fifth studio album overall, it’s the first time she’s released any new material since 2009’s
Element of Freedom. With her marriage to producer
Swizz Beatz and the birth of their first son, Egypt, part reason for the delay, there’s also been a shift in record labels, some sneaker designing, and a bit of charity work thrown in to the mix for good measure. Refocusing her energies on the music, her most recent ongoing promotional campaign has seen her very much stroll back in to the limelight, and to a good reception.
Early on lauded as one of the most popular artists in her genre and still one of the most celebrated and emulated, Brandy returns triumphantly with her sixth studio album Two Eleven, to once again stand in the lane she carved into R&B music. 
Thirty minutes of audio-travel through Algeria up to Scandinavia in 11 tracks? That would be with singer YADi’s newly released Banana mixtape. 
With their controversy, protests and uproar being cleared well out of the way in 2011, the radical stable of Odd Future now stands as an established and respected collective within music. From Tyler The Creator's well received Goblin album to the emergence of Frank Ocean as one of the leading vocalists in contemporary R&B, the 11-strong outfit are now being acknowledged for their musical merits. Often praised for their uniquely constructed sound which goes in the opposite direction of today's more "successful" formulas, after a rollercoaster year March sees OF finally release their much anticipated group project. 
With her debut EP, titled Every Girl, released for 
The conversation had with a musically inquisitive, 20-something friend from Italy shortly before writing this feature [scrutinous but open minded, we regularly harass each other for musical recommendations]:
Have you listened to The Internet’s new album Purple Naked Ladies?
No, never heard of them.
Give it a listen.
I will.
Best songs on it are “Cunt” and “Cocaine.”
Love it already.
Welcome to The Internet... 
Despite being album-less and never having left the United States of America, this time last week excitement was running high for Frank Ocean’s first solo tour and European show. Selling out tickets in less than half an hour, many had to make the heart wrenching decision of choosing between Mr. Ocean and J. Cole (who was also performing in London on the same night.) Added to this the fact that Frank cancelled two shows in the days before his London gig due to illness, the relief and excitement was palpable on the faces of the few hundred individuals [including fellow artists Mr. Hudson, Emeli Sande and Etta Bond] who were present at XOYO on Friday, November 11.
If the thought alone sounded like a dream, the realisation of the finished product has created a euphoric, fantasy like feeling. The music world - for the first time in some years - stood waiting for with baited breath for the release of an empirical album which has avoided the now accustomed 'week early leak.' In a dream collaboration for our time, Kanye West, who captivated the world with his incredible music as well as his eccentric behaviour, comes together with a man who has gone beyond any other rapper's heights in music and business. Jay-Z, the last of a few living legends, shares more than a recording booth with Mr West as they unite to re-invigorate the somewhat lost joys within music. In an age where it's become the norm to constantly drone about what's missing in music as well as spend hours on YouTube denouncing the newest fad, Hip Hop's two insurance policies aim to lay at ease the notion of music's current offering being devoid of soul and heart.