The Defamation of Strickland Banks told the story of fictional soul singer Strickland Banks who ends up in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. For his next album, The Ballad Of Belmarsh, Ben Drew will go back to his Hip Hop roots and will chronicle his alter-ego’s ordeal in the eponymous prison.

Plan B is not just a musician and has tried his hand at acting appearing in 2008′s Adulthood and the Michael Caine vehicle featuring Harry Brown in 2009. He is currently amidst a popular tour of the summer festivals including Glastonbury and Wireless Festival in Hyde Park. But in the Autumn he will return to acting when he plays George Carter alongside Ray Winston in a remake of the 1970’s British film, The Sweeney.

He has also directed one short film and a music video for Pieces, his collaboration with Chase and Status.

Hear the music the way the artist with HP. In the video below, HP/Intel with beats audio presents Plan B who reveals the process behind recording She Said, the standout track from his Defamation Of Strickland Banks album.  The film uses 3D sound and is best enjoyed with headphones.

To kick off 2011 Stanley Odd have released their wonderful brand new five track EP Pure AntiHero Material, the first of three such extended plays scheduled for release through the rest of the year.

Rap man Solareye said; “We are really excited about the release of the new EP. Doing three EPs over the year means that every new EP is a way of letting fans know where we’re at and what’s been going on with us since the last one. At the end of the year, the 3 separate EPs will make one complete collection on the musings of Stanley Odd through 2011. It also gives us an excuse to go on tour 3 times this year!”

The lead track, The Oddyssey is an update on personal and global news events over the last year, that has a brilliant accompanying video where front man Solareye plays the part of  a news reader.

It can be a strain to make out the lyrics for anyone south of the border, but it is worth taken the effort, the songs reflect the social observations of the band, blessed with wit and a character all of their own, but the stories they tell are universal and will resonate with everyone.

The added beauty of Veronika Elektronika’s wonderful vocal breaks thrown into the mix on most of these tracks, makes the EP all the more palatable and well worth seeking out.

Stanley Odd – The Oddyssey

Station To Station released as a 3-CD Special Edition and 5-CD, DVD and heavyweight vinyl Deluxe Edition

Some people don’t like David Bowie, but those that do tend to have a favourite period as much as a favourite album.  My older brother likes the early 1970’s era when Bowie was still collaborating with Mick Ronson citing albums like Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders From Mars, Hunky Dory and Aladdin Sane; all very good albums in my opinion.  But as a young teenager I was first introduced to David Bowie through my sister who was more switched on to his mid-seventies flirt with American funk and soul like Young Americans and, for me, his best album, Station To Station.

I still love the slow build up of the opening title track.  Like a slow steam train pulling into a station and that great first line….the return of the thin white duke!

Station To Station builds into a great funky driving pop song and is topped off with the superb lead guitar of Carlos Alomar.  And even though it’s 10 minutes long, I still sigh when the track eventually fades out.

On its original release the album was preceded by the hit single and second track on the album, Golden Years. One of his most perfect pop songs, it is a nod to his previous album, Young Americans and his adoration of mid-seventies American soul.  Bowie appeared miming to Golden Years on Soul Train.  At the time, I remember this being big news as he was the first white artist to appear on the hip, trendy black American TV music show.

The album changes direction with Word On A Wing, a slow, smooth soulful pop song that apparently Bowie has said was a cry for help.  His addiction to cocaine at the time of recording this album has since been well documented.  The next two tracks are probably Bowie at his most funk-driven. TVC15 perfectly demonstrates how he merged black soul and funk influences with his own white rock and pop music styles to create something edgy and new sounding for the time; while Stay, a great track which once again showcases the superb guitar of Carlos Alomar.  The only thing I would say is that once I heard the live version of Stay (which was available as an extra track on a previous Station To Station CD release) it makes the studio version sound somewhat subdued.

Like Golden Years, Stay is rich with Bowie’s American soul and funk influences of the time. Funky bass and guitar backed with solid drums and filled with Latin percussion.

Station To Station only has six songs and is complete with a cover version of Dimitri Tiomkin and Ned Washington’s Wild Is The Wind.  Bowie has been quoted as liking Nina Simone’s version.  Similar to Word On A Wing it’s another ballad and slows the pace and errs towards soul while giving Bowie a perfect vehicle for his unique voice.

Station To Station was originally released in 1976 sandwiched between Young Americans (1975) and the three albums starting with Low (1977) that he recorded with Brain Eno in Berlin which had Bowie moving on to musical influences of krautrock and electronic experimental music. With hindsight, it is apparent why I like Station To Station as much as I do as I think it has one foot in the doors to both Young Americans and Low; a transition period that creates something new from various shapes and sounds. Something that Bowie has done so well throughout his career.

Station To Station was David Bowie’s 10th studio album and has just been released as a 3-CD Special Edition and 5-CD, DVD and heavyweight vinyl Deluxe Edition.

Both the Special and Deluxe Editions come with the original album – taken straight off the analogue master and previously unreleased Live Nassau Coliseum ‘76.  Additionally, the Special Edition includes a 16-page booklet & 3 postcards.

The individually numbered Deluxe Edition is the ultimate fan’s experience, featuring extensive additional content including a 24-page booklet and the following:

• CD: Station To Station – RCA CD Master
• CD: 5-track Singles Versions E.P. incl. previously unreleased version of Station To     Station, and for first the time on CD, Word On A Wing
• 3 x 12” heavyweight vinyl
• DVD
• 6 panel folded poster – Steve Schapiro photo

• Onstage folder
• Replica Backstage pass
• Replica Biog
• Individually numbered Replica Ticket
• 3 x 10 x 8” press shots

• Replica Fan Club folder
• Replica Fan Club Membership card
• Replica Fan Club certificate
• 2 small Collectors cards
• 2 photo prints
• Replica biography
• 2 Badges

*Along with the 5-CDs all housed in a foam-packed box.

The 3-CD set is also available as a Digital Download, with an exclusive bonus track.
Special Edition & Digital Download
CD 1: Station To Station (original analogue master)
1. Station To Station (10.11)
2. Golden Years (4.02)
3. Word On A Wing (6.01)
4. TVC15 (5.31)
5. Stay (6.12)
6. Wild Is The Wind (6.02)

CD 2:  Live Nassau Coliseum ‘76 – PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED
(Recorded live at the Nassau Coliseum Uniondale, NY, USA March 23, 1976):
1. Station To Station (11.53)
2. Suffragette City (3.31)
3. Fame (4.02)
4. Word On A Wing (6.06)
5. Stay (7.25)
6. Waiting For The Man (6.20)
7. Queen Bitch (3.12)

CD 3: Nassau Coliseum concert continued… PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED
1. Life On Mars? (2.13)
2. Five Years (5.03)
3. Panic In Detroit (6.03)
4. Changes (4.11)
5. TVC15 (4.58)
6. Diamond Dogs (6.38)
7. Rebel Rebel (4.07)
8. The Jean Genie (7.28)

Super Deluxe Limited Edition
ICPN 50999-647601-2-4
UK Catalogue no. BOWSTSD 2010

CD 1: Station To Station (original analogue master) – tracklisting same as above.

CD 2: Station To Station (1985 RCA CD master) – tracklisting same as above.

CD 3:  Singles Versions E.P.
1. Golden Years
2. TVC15
3. Stay
4. Word On A Wing (first time on CD)
5. Station To Station (PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED VERSION)

CD 4:  Live Nassau Coliseum ‘76 – PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED (tracklisting same as above)
CD 5: Nassau Coliseum concert continued… PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

DVD: Audio only:

Station To Station (original analogue master, 48/24 LPCM stereo)
Station To Station – (new Harry Maslin 5.1 surround sound DTS 48/24 and Dolby digital)
Station To Station (new stereo mix 48/24 LPCM stereo)

LP 1: Station To Station (original analogue master)
Side 1:
1. Station To Station (10.11)
2. Golden Years (4.02)
3. Word On A Wing (6.01)

Side 2:
1. TVC15 (5.31)
2. Stay (6.12)
3. Wild Is The Wind (6.02)

LP 2:  Live Nassau Coliseum ‘76 PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED
(Recorded live at the Nassau Coliseum Uniondale, NY, USA March 23, 1976)
Side 1:
1. Station To Station (11.53)
2. Suffragette City (3.31)
3. Fame (4.02)

Side 2:
1. Word On A Wing (6.06)
2. Stay (7.25)
3. Waiting For The Man (6.20)
4. Queen Bitch (3.12)

LP 3:  Nassau Coliseum concert continued… PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

Side 3:
1. Life On Mars? (2.13)
2. Five Years (5.03)
3. Panic In Detroit (6.03)
4. Changes (4.11)
5. TVC15 (4.58)

Side 4:
1. Diamond Dogs (6.38)
2. Rebel Rebel (4.07)
3. The Jean Genie (7.28)

David Bowie’s Station To Station 3-CD Special Edition and 5-CD, DVD and heavyweight vinyl Deluxe Edition are now all available on Virgin/EMI.

Anorak are planning an event in central London’s 02 Islington Academy for around 1,000 people on September 29th. All ticket money will be going directly to the Disasters Emergency Committee. All artists will be performing for free.

“The scale of suffering in Pakistan is unfathomable. An area the size of Italy is flooded and a population equal to Australia is now homeless. The party for Pakistan aims to raise money and awareness by enlisting some of the best names in UK Music for an unforgettable event” Riz MC

Party for Pakistan with Plan B, Kayvan Novak aka Fone/Facejacker who will be performing his first ever live set, Riz MC, Aggro Santos, Akala, Lowkey, BBC Radio 1’s DJ Nihal,  Bobby Friction, Nero, Urban Nerds, Mumzy Stranger, Emily Sande, True Tiger, Mz Bratt, and many more to be announced…

“Please give me your monies for to help for the floods…and while you’re at it, please bring your bank account details and sort code madame…. Also, Brian Badonde is looking forward to bem-cee-ing over bub-step”  Facejacker

The suffering caused by these unprecedented floods will continue long after the media focus, already slowly disappearing, vanishes completely.

The floods have killed thousands so far with the death toll expected to rise dramatically with the inevitable onset of water born diseases.

Over 1 million homes have been destroyed, and 20million are homeless or otherwise directly affected. Around 8 million people are relying on immediate emergency aid, and with 1.6 million acres of crop land destroyed, the outlook is bleak.

The aid response has been slow and news coverage minimal. Whether you look at the area of land or the number of people affected by this disaster, it is more than double the impact of the Asian Tsunami, Haiti Earthquake, or hurricane Katrina combined. Our response should match the scale of this crisis. With this in mind, we ask you to support our initiative. We aim to make a difference and we would like your help.

All organizers are working voluntarily.
Tickets are £10 in advance and £12.50 on the door.

Foxy Shazam - UK debut album and single

The inimitable American sextet Foxy Shazam have announced the international release of their self titled album on Sire Records for October 11th.

The album, Foxy Shazam marks the Cincinnati bands major label debut and is produced by John Feldman. The band will release the lead single, their first in the UK, Oh Lord on September 27th.

Foxy Shazam gave UK fans a glimpse of their fantastic live show at the Reading and Leeds Music Festival this summer as well as three London shows, including support for Lost Prophets and Motion City Soundtrack. They were support for Hole on an earlier trip to the UK this year.

Citing influences as varied as Marvin Gaye, Queen, The Stooges, Elton John and “Born To Run”-era Bruce Springsteen, Foxy Shazam have been creating unique, genre-defying music since they formed in 2004.  From the anthemic “Unstoppable” to doo wop power ballad “Bye Bye Symphony” , the swooning “Connect Me,” and Rob Cavallo produced, Justin Hawkins featuring “Count Me Out”,  Foxy Shazam is an amalgam of blues, soul, and brash pop bound by a no holds barred punk-rock aesthetic.

Foxy Shazam – Oh Lord

Ahead of the single and album release Foxy Shazam are giving away a free download of the track Wanna-Be Angel, listen and download from this link.

Wanna-Be Angel by Foxy Shazam by divisionpromotions

For further information visit the Foxy Shazam website.

In 2009’s the series line up included the wonderful Grace Jones, The Ting Tings, Pendulum and Athlete.  This year two all time great soul acts will join contemporary pop music favourites for another one of a kind series of London concerts.

Between Thursday 8th and Sunday 18th July performances by contemporary artists like Florence & the Machine, The Temper Trap and N-Dubz will sit alongside one-off shows from soul legends Soul II Soul and Gil Scott Heron.

Soul II Soul were formed in the late 1980’s by Jazzie B and are best remembered for their UK chart hit Back to Life (However Do You Want Me).  Before their chart success as a soul group they were know in London as a ‘sound system’ playing records at parties.

Gil Scott Heron has been recording records since the early 1970’s.  His music has been described as soul, jazz, funk and proto-rap; and he has been called “the godfather of rap” and the “black Bob Dylan”.  His political views often drive his songs including classic tracks like The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, The Bottle, Winter In America and Johannesburg.  The most bizarre fact relating to Gil Scott-Heron that I know is that in November 2009 BBC tv’s current affairs programme, Newsnight interviewed Gil Scott-Heron for a feature titled ‘The Legendary Godfather of Rap Returns‘.

The Summer Series concert tickets for Soul II Soul and Gil Scott Heron have already sold out though tickets are still available for other nights.

Summer Series Concerts @ Somerset House

Thursday 8th July
Mystery Jets

Friday 9th July
Air

Saturday 10th July
Noah & the Whale

Sunday 11th July
N-Dubz

Monday 12th July
The Temper Trap

Tuesday 13th July
The XX

Wednesday 14th July
Gil Scott-Heron

Thursday 15th July
Florence & the Machine

Friday 16th July
Corinne Bailey Rae

Saturday 17th July
The Divine Comedy (solo show)

Sunday 18th July
Soul II Soul

Summer Series at Somerset House Tickets

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viagogo is your online ticket exchange for UK concert tickets.

sophie delila

Sophie Delila is a name that I have only just heard of but it is a name that many including myself will be very familiar with over the coming months of 2010.

Delila comes with plenty of pedigree, the multi talented Parisian bred singer was born into a family of musical aficionados. Her father, himself an accomplished piano player, once had Ray Charles and Marvin Gaye round for dinner while Sophie was still a baby.

With blues, jazz and classical music filling the family home in her childhood days, Sophie also discovered The Beatles and Stevie Wonder and was soon writing music and lyrics of her own.

At 18 she won a scholarship to the revered Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts and after graduating she hit the New York City soul scene for a couple of years before moving to London in 2005 to take her career to the next level. Lured by London’s explosive music scene, Delila wrote, gigged and produced and in 2008 she landed a record deal with Universal.

While writing material for her first album Delila also worked on collaborations with other artists. In 2009 she recorded and toured Europe with the band Nouvelle Vague and in the same year she opened the show for one of her childhood heroes, Lionel Ritchie at the Bercy Stadium.

Most recently she has been singing live with Plan B on Radio 1Xtra’s Live Lounge and the Shepherd’s Bush Empire.

Now Delila is ready to unleash herself on the UK with the release of her highly anticipated album Hooked, which is released on 31st May.

The album was co-written and co-produced with Sophie by Steve Booker, the man behind much of Duffy’s multi million selling album. In addition, an array of leading musicians and producers have collaborated on the record.

Here is a video taster of what to expect from Sophie Delila:

Sophie will be performing on the Liberty Music Stage at the Carnaby Street Festival on June 5th, which will be followed by UK festival appearances through the summer, including Rockness.

For further information visit Sophie Delila on My Space.

(Stones Throw)

Mayer Hawthorne - A Strange Arrangement

Mayer Hawthorne grew up in Michigan, near Detroit, a city he describes as rich in music tradition and high on the list of influences in his choice of a musical career.

A Strange Arrangement is his debut album released last year without ever really making the commercial splash it should have.  Certainly it is only recently that I was turned on to him after a quick look on YouTube at the video for the fantastic single from A Strange Arrangement, ‘Just Ain’t Gonna Work Out’, a piece of jazzy soul, to which Mayer Hawthorne adds a spoken introduction something in the vein of The Chi-Lites, and to the rest, a falsetto to rival Cry Me A River in its ability to tangle the heart strings with ambiguous gender imitation.

In fact, a lot of Mayer Hawthorne sounds like The Chi-Lites, and with such a consciously retro sound, it almost sounds like a pastiche, but, as is often the case with these things, it is clearly an indisputable love of the music that is being mimicked and that is driving these songs, and it is therefore really quite hard to tell the line between irony and reality.

At other times, you find Mayer Hawthorne using other genres – r&b, Motown, pop – in the way you always imagined them ideally, but had never quite heard. He does it with such simplicity, honesty and an ear for a well-produced song that it is near impossible not to love what he is doing in a manner much deeply than irony alone would allow.

These, then, are absolutely brilliant contemporary tunes that would be compared with the Winehouses of the world if his subjects didn’t require singing plainly and truthfully about the sort of candidly simple subjects soul singers used to sing about – beautiful girls, pathetically fallacious rain, or plain simple positive thinking.

Out on the label, Stones Throw, A Strange Arrangement joins an output of some great contemporary soul. Apparently, label chief Peanut Butter Wolf needed just a cursory listen to two songs to realise he had to sign Mayer Hawthorne up.

Here’s the video for ‘Just Ain’t Gonna Work Out’. See what I mean about the ambiguity between irony and passion for the music?

Here is the MySpace link for Mayer Hawthorne.

plan b aka ben drew

The excellent new single form Plan B, aka as Londoner Ben Drew, will be released on January 11th 2010 and has already featured as Record Of The Week for Radio One’s Zane Lowe and is currently Fearne Cotton’s Record Of The Week on the same radio station.

Coming on the back of the 26 year olds fantastic top ten hit with Chase & Status -End Credits, and his appearance in the acclaimed British thriller Harry Brown, Drew is about to take the music industry by storm.

Stay Too Long is a ferocious collision of retro soul, funk, rock and rap, that surprisingly works on every level, erupting into a massive cacophony of wonderful noise.

Produced by Paul Epworth, the studio genius behind Florence and the Machine, The Big Pink and Friendly Fires the single serves as a spectacular taster of what to expect from Plan B’s monster new album The Defamation of Strickland Banks.

To further add weight to its sheer monstrous potential, Stay Too Long has been put through the mill by bass troublers Pendulum – their first remix in three years – resulting in one of the biggest sounding tracks you’re likely to encounter for some time.

Plan B – Stay Too Long

Check out the incredible Pendulum remix here.

Stay Too Long by Plan B is released on January 11th 2010 on 679/Atlantic Records as a CD, 12″ or digital download.

For more information visit the Plan B MySpace page.

Wildbirds & Peacedrums....& a horse (Image by Jonathan Leijonhufvud)

Wildbirds & Peacedrums’ first album Heartcore was received with unanimous critical acclaim last year for its extraordinary naturalness and stripped-back instrumentation. The Swedish duo mixed a “heady brew of pagan blues, spiritual pop and ecstatic soul music” (Observer Music Monthly) to astounding results, creating a masterpiece in uninhibited expression.

This was music that came straight from somewhere in the depths of the human subconscious, and it expressed something that was somehow inexpressible by other means. Wildbirds & Peacedrums’ second album The Snake continues this affecting mix of genres to sublime results.

As The Snake progresses, the idea arises that the title may well come from the numerous skins that vocalist Mariam Wallentin and her percussionist husband Andreas Werliin shed in the form of spectacularly raw tracks throughout the course of the album.

These tracks, just like the skin of a snake, are markers of moments in time. Each one is ephemeral and each is unique. As Wallentin explains, “We only work from intuition, on instinct. We’re not looking for perfection in music, rather for life and feeling. We like to be more explosive.”

The Snake opens with ‘Islands’, on which a sort of monastic humming, recurring later on ‘Great Lines’, backs Wallentin’s Kate Bush melodies. The sparseness mixed with the raw, uninhibited nature of the vocals – they are other-worldly in their freedom – is reflected in following song ‘There Is No Light’. On this track it is Andreas Werliin’s breathtaking drumming that supports the vocals, which sound like PJ Harvey in their stripped-back aggression.

There is something spiritual about Wildbirds & Peacedrums. It could just be their dabbling in typically spiritual genres such as soul (‘My Heart’ and ‘Places’), oriental music (‘Chain Of Steel’ and ‘So Soft So Pink’), blues (‘Today/Tomorrow’) and even those incantatory pagan chants, but more likely it is the incredible way they channel expression so plainly into music. On ‘My Heart’ Wallentin sings “I’m lost without your rhythm”. An affecting and direct lyric referring to her own heart and craving for life rather than her percussive husband…

Something special happens on The Snake. It may not always be an immediately striking song like ‘My Heart’ to warm you, but there is a violence of emotion in Wildbirds & Peacedrums that is irrepressible and demands to be heard.

Wildbirds & Peacedrums are on tour at the moment. See them at the following venues:

April 1st – The Albert, Brighton
April 2nd – Arts Centre, Norwich
April 3rd – Arnolfini, Bristol
April 4th – Leadmill, Sheffield
April 5th – Captain’s Rest, Glasgow
April 6th – Dulcimer, Manchester
April 7th – The Luminaire, London