Biggest urban music event: 1Xtra Live

Urban music’s hottest names have been confirmed to perform at the third ever BBC Radio 1Xtra Live, which this year takes place at London’s Wembley Arena on Saturday 25^th September.

N-Dubz will headline the biggest free urban music event the UK will see. Tulisa from the band said: “We can’t wait for 1Xtra Live. It’s going to be one of the best gigs of the year. I hope everyone is ready to party!” Read more

Christian Jules

The next RnB singing sensation from Hammersmith, London prepares to follow in his cousin and member of boyband JLS; Ortise’ footsteps this year with the release of his new single “Diamonds and Pearls” (November 2010, from forthcoming album Slow Magic.) Read more

DAM that’s a good mix!

Alors On Danse by Stromae

The latest hit making waves across European charts is Alors On Danse (So We Dance) by Belgian-Rwandan rapper Stromae.

While it has already reached No.1 in eleven European countries, Stromae’s depressing yet unique music video for Alors On Danse has picked up over 13 million views on YouTube.

‘Its blend of French flow, trance stabs, ravey sax and la-la-la vocals offer no less than four melodies perfect for drunken chanting…so it’s going to be massive. And yet, it’s about the awfulness of existence.’ Guardian.co.uk

Written and produced by Stromae himself at home on his computer with a desktop mic, Alors On Danse is currently climbing the UK iTunes chart so check it out below if you haven’t already! Kanye West features on the Alors On Danse Remix and you can listen to that here (right-click, save link as).

With roots stemming from French Hip Hop and also as a MC and producer, Stromae looks set to continue ’stormae-ing’ further across the globe with his blend of hip hop and electronic music.

The track’s UK release is on 6th September .

Lyrics English translation

‘So we dance,
Who says study says work,
Who says work says cash,
Who says money says spend,
Who says credit says debt
Who says debt says bailiff
Who says ‘you’re in the shit’,
Who says love says kids,
Said always and said divorce,
Who says relatives says mourning,
Because problems come in pairs
Who says crisis says ‘world’,
Says famine says Third World,
Who says exhaustion says wake up,
Still deaf from last night,
So we go out to forget all our problems,
So we dance.
Then you tell yourself that it’s over,
Because the only thing worse than this would be death,
When you finally think you’ve found a way out and there’s nothing left,
There’s more to come,
It’s the music or the problems,
Problems or the music,
It sends you tripping, does your head in,
And then you pray for it to stop,
But it’s your body, it’s not God,
So you don’t block your ears anymore,
And then you scream even louder but it goes on,
And so you sing…
And then only when it’s over
We dance’

www.stromae.net/blog

Nathan Watson

Nathan Watson is a real talent. He’s young, good-looking and he turned the corner just at the right time. His songs are refreshing and clear and once you’ve heard them you’ll know he’s lived every word. Nathan Watson… a name to watch out for.

A pure slice of soul/funk, “Reach Out (You’ve Got A Friend)” is the first release from the soul hipster. Out on the Strawberry Moon label on September 20^th it’s downloadable from Itunes, HMV, Amazon and all good music sites.

Taken from the forthcoming album “Student Of Life”  the new single shows exactly why this boy from Stevenage is being hailed as having a great musical future.

But it wasn’t always so. The odds looked pretty well stacked against Nathan succeeding at anything… from falling from three stories as a child, to being hit round the head with a lump of wood, to being involved in a 70mph car crash, he’s lucky to still be around.

Then later, hanging with the wrong crowd, getting into trouble. Saturday Night was indeed alright for fighting….until music came to the rescue.

“Reach Out (You’ve Got A Friend)” features Nathan’s band The Sound and is the result of a collaboration with long time musician/producer Steve Salvari. Nathan would work at Steve’s studio on Saturday mornings and it was, as he says, his salvation. (You can’t make too much music in prison and that’s where Nathan was heading had it not been for the regular Saturday morning input.)

Music had always been in his blood though. He started playing at the age of six – drums, clarinet etc – and even tried the trombone but gave it up as too small. From rapping under the moniker Dragonfly he progressed to soul and was soon writing his own material including “Reach Out (You’ve Got A Friend)”.

Part of the proceeds from the new single will be going to Childline Rocks to help other kids less fortunate than himself. This self-awareness is being put to good use.

Nathan is now something of a role model. In 2009 he was awarded the Cambell-Younge Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Community. Like Formula One World Champion Lewis Hamilton, also from Stevenage, Nathan may just be the next big thing in UK music.

He contributed to the recent Help For Heroes charity single alongside Paul McCartney, Ronnie Wood and Michael Bolton and he’s sung for the Princes Trust.

Nathan’s gigged with acclaim at the Jazz Cafe and Dingwalls as well as other venues across London and a tour of the UK is lined up for later this year. In the meantime he can be seen on September 25th and October 23rd at the Forge, Camden.

LZ7

Introducing LZ7 – a very legitimate contender to Black Eyed Peas crown through their brand of positive urban pop. The London/Manchester group have just released the video to their very catchy pop/rap track called “This Little Light”, and it’s set for mainstream success.

LZ7 are making an impact with kids in schools through workshops and shows, truly helping kids stay on a positive path and LZ7 are also extremely popular within the Christian community.

The single is out on Absolute Records on Sep 26^th and album will follow later in the year.

There will be a launch party concert at The Manchester Apollo on September 25^th. Tickets are on sale now. The single is also available to pre-order as a download by simply texting the word ‘SHINE’ to 81088.

www.lz7.co.uk

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