Issue v1.6 – Music, provided by 22tracks

John Legend
Made To Love

On the 3rd of September John Legend will be releasing his new album Love In The Future. Since the release of his first songs John Legend has stood for so many great things and has delivered a great bunch of brilliant songs. Made To Love was produced by John Legend’s longtime friend and a producer who he has often called upon: Kanye West, who has just released his Yeezus album. The production for Made To Love is almost as futuristic as his production on Yeezus, but more approachable, with John Legend’s vocals over the bombastic clap-driven chorus getting me into ecstasy.

Jacques Greene f/ How To Dress Well
On Your Side

As soon as it became clear to me that Jacques Greene and How To Dress Well did a collaboration, I knew it would be perfect. The combination of Jacques Greene’s UK 2-step inspired style with the emotional indie R&B falsetto’s of How To Dress Well could very well be the best collaboration we’ve heard this year. On Your Side has the perfect subtle swing to make How To Dress Well’s voice stand out without keeping you from dancing, on the contrary: it’s hard to resist. It’s interesting and good to see artists from different genres collaborating. After all, collaboration often leads to refreshing interesting pieces of art.

Sigur Rós
Kveikur

If you’re at the point of releasing your seventh studio album you must have done something right, especially as every single album was received with great enthusiasm and fans keep on waiting on the next one over and over again. Sigur Ros have done something right, the Icelandic band led by singer Jonsi has been rightfully succesful with their hazy, ambient and at times ‘cold’ post-rock albums with Jonsi’s signature unintelligible vocals. The title track for their album Kveikur is an interesting rock song and one of their heaviest efforts so far and it pays off.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EG2N7euPXuc

Laura Welsh
Cold Front

It’s clear Laura Welsh is onto something good, working with talented producers like Blood Orange’s Dev Hynes first and now working with Robin Hannibal, one of my favourite producers these days and one half of both Rhye and Quadron. Laura Welsh’s voice itself is beautiful on its own but the productions give it what it needs to really shine. Like on Cold Front, the laid-back slow swinging vibe is the perfect basis for Laura Welsh’s soulful, sultry voice and the lyrics make for a self-assured, almost kindly fierce track that’s perfect in many ways. Cold Front’s beautiful combination of vocals and production makes way for comparisons with some of our favourite artists like Jessie Ware and BANKS.

Bipolar Sunshine
Rivers

Combining indie and electronic music isn’t new, but every now and then artists manage to give the genres a new twist and this time it’s Bipolar Sunshine who does the trick. The Manchester-based producer and singer carefully blends a catchy hook with fun almost rapped verses. The summer has just started and Bipolar Sunshine has already managed to create on of our definite summer hits with Rivers and we can’t wait to hear what more he has got up his sleeve.