Really enjoyed exploring the Project Thirty-Three blog produced by Jive Time Records, a Seattle-based store specializing in used vinyl.

Project Thirty-Three is an archive of vintage album covers that share the fact that they convey their message with simple shapes (circle, rectangles, squares and triangles), bold typography and concise copy. A site that showcases a genuine love for music and a treasure trove of inspiration. Well worth a look.

D’Angelo has long reigned as the mysterious king of neo-soul. Much like Lauryn Hill, his 2000 opus Voodoo was followed by zilch, preferring to remain in the shadows as a peripheral figure in the music world, and finding himself in and out of jail and putting on a few pounds in the process. Consequently, any new musical movement in the D’Angelo renaissance we hear so much about feels like an event. Reports of a new album and a UK tour appear premature. But, yet, here is a small offering that reminds us of his brilliance, a cover of Soundgarden’s grunge classic ‘Black Hole Sun’, recorded either eight or two years ago (depending on who you believe).

Listen to the track below (via Stereogum).

D’Angelo – Black Hole Sun (Demo) by Moosekick

I’ve been itching to listen find out more about MED’s Classic LP ever since it surfaced on Stones Throw and I caught sight of Eric Colman’s and Jeff Jank’s Blue Note riffing cover. As MED puts it when asked about the album’s moniker:

“I called the LP Classic because thats the approach I took: create music that has the potential to be played by every generation. This album deals with current issues, personal and within the community. Good-feeling music will always last and allow hip-hop to grow.”

With contributions from Aloe Blacc, Talib Kweli, Oh No and Kurupt, Madlib on production duties and beats by Oh No, Georgia Anne Muldrow and The Alchemist, it seems like it the LP may well live up to its name.

Having spotted a poster advertising her forthcoming gig at the Nation of Shopkeepers and been seduced by the kooky, nonchalant charm of the fresh-faced girl staring back at me I decided to do a quick bit of digging…which revealed that Lianne Le Havas is actually a cog in the Warner Brothers machine that’s been grafting to get her featured in the hottness section of any credible muso publication going, and have even roped in everyone’s favourite weird uncle Jools Holland to put her on Later…with Jools Holland. Whilst I’m unsurprised that everything isn’t quiet what it seems – it rarely is – there’s no mistaking that Ms Le Havas has a voice and presence that are getting people excited.

The Stepkids
The Stepkids
Stones Throw

I’ve had this album for less than 48 hours. I’ve played it five times. It’s very, very, very good.

This point should be emphasised because it’s not so much hype as expectation accompanying The Stepkids’ eponymous debut long player. Three musicians who have been playing live with the likes of Lauryn Hill, Alicia Keys, and 50 Cent, as well indie-punk band Zox, The Stepkids have built that expectation with two singles, “Shadows on Behalf” and “Legend in My Own Mind”, both of which feature here, and one of Stones Throw’s recent Direct to Disc live LPs. The studio album is no let down. It’s an exceptionally well crafted piece of work, soaked in soul, jazz, and beat orientated hip hop that also draws on the feel of early 70s psychedelic west coast rock. Particular highlights are “La La” and “Suburban Dream,” which carry you a long with their hooks and riffs, and the soulful “Cup Half Full.” Buy this album. That’s all that needs to be said.

Words: Chris Renwick

Bonafide profiled Alex Clare a few months ago, so we’re pleased when a link to his cover of the Etta James track Damn Your Eyes popped up in our ever overflowing and chaotic inbox. Damn Your Eyes is a damn good track from the man with a great bushy beard and an even better voice.

Various
True Soul Vol 1 and 2
Now Again

Ever since the now mythical Chains and Black Exhaust compilation piqued my interest at the turn of the millennium, I have been a habitual consumer of the output of Memphix, Now Again, Mochilla and the other connected labels and acts that specialise in this genre. Chains and Black Exhaust proved an elusive prize. Every so often I’d read a tit-bit about it on a forum or in a knowing review. It’d be on my radar, whetting my appetite but then would prove impossible to find and it’d disappear down the Wanted List and I’d forget about it. I finally nailed it a year or so ago and, with all it’s Hendrix-esque, un-fettered lushness, I was engrossed.

The point of these ramblings? That there is a whole other world of good stuff out there which aforementioned labels have an un-canny habit of unearthing, dusting down and preserving for future generations. And you, dear reader, should be making the most of this.

True Soul Volume 1 is another instance of this. Issued by Now Again Records, in association with label-owner Lee Anthony, True Soul: Deep Sounds from the Left of Stax Vol. 1, is a potent mixture of rare and unreleased funk and soul music, TV footage and extensive liner notes from the fabled Arkansas indie. This kind of release is a full-on 3D celebration of music from an analogue, more handcrafted place, when the quality and love for the music took precedence over celebrity, units or clever marketing gimmicks. This is the good stuff that will get any music lover in a hot funk and coming over all John Peel.

Download MP3: Thomas East “Slipping Around” (1969)

“Industry rule number 4080, record company people are shady.”

Unfortunately Q-Tip has been proved right time and time again and no one knows this better than Bilal. His 2006 album, the tragically ironic titled, Love for Sale was deemed unmarketable by Interscope and then leaked mysteriously shortly after. While we live in a time where accidentally on purpose leaks are a promotional tool, for Bilal it was the final nail in the coffin and the album was never released. His debut album, 1st Born Second, with contributions from Dr. Dre, Mos Def and ?uestlove, was released in 2001 at the height of the Soulquarians movement, but he had to wait until last year to release the official follow up, Airtight’s Revenge. Having worked with Jay-Z, Common, and Talib Kweli, Bilal has remained a ubiquitous presence in hip-hop despite his label dramas. Now touring his own material David Acaster caught up with Bilal in London after his show at the Jazz Café to discuss J Dilla, the Love For Sale experience and Einstein.

Bonafide: You said that Airtight’s Revenge sounded like a film title, did you write the album as if it were a revenge film?
Bilal: I wrote the album not actually thinking it was a film, not in a concept of a film, but midway through I started to do that. The songs on the record aren’t the typical three minute songs, they’re considerably longer and that’s what lends itself to that whole film landscape type of a thing, a lot of intros and outros, parts where I’m not even singing, just vibe.

Do you listen to a lot of film scores?
I love soundtrack stuff, a lot of my favourite ideas are from movie stuff, like old Bruce Lee films, or Japansese films; I think they have the best background music.

On your first album, 1st Born Second, you worked with a lot of producers such as Dr. Dre and J Dilla, but since then you’ve handled more of the production yourself. Why did you choose to do that?
I did that because I was really going for a concept as opposed to a lot different sounds and expressions. I was really going for a sound and a cohesiveness.

Although you did work with Nottz and 88 Keys, what made them fit into the concept?
With Nottz and 88 the music is really open end. With 88, we were neighbours at the time and we were hanging out a lot and so he was listening to a lot of the stuff I had done already on my own for the album, and he kind of understood where I was going with it, I mean so it just kind of came about naturally.

What did you learn from working with J Dilla?

“Just his effortlessness, he didn’t really talk about the music too much, he just let the music speak for itself, he showed his skills in the music and that really hit me how effortless he was to his approach.”

Why do you think his music keeps being re-visited and used by artists even now?
Because it’s soulful. He made timeless hip-hop beats, you know so I think his stuff will always be fresh.

The Love For Sale album was clearly a difficult situation for you but what positives did you gain from the experience?
“I look at myself like a blues singer and every blues singer needs a story and that’s how I look at that whole Love For Sale situation. It was hard I guess but I used that as a positive to catapult me to make more music – now I have a story to talk about.”

Did you ever lose confidence in the album or even in yourself?
No I didn’t really lose that. I will say that I went through a period when I was frustrated because I worked so hard on the music. I went through a downer period, yeah.

How did it feel when people at your shows were singing back songs to you that shouldn’t have been leaked?
That’s one of the things that kind of turned things around, it’s like a catch-22, was kind of like a silver lining. It turned a negative into a positive by going to the shows and seeing the audience enjoying it, bringing it back, bringing that energy back, kind of rejuvenates it.

You took a couple of years off, not making your own music before your last album, how did that time help?
The time off gave me a chance to live life and re-evaluate things, so that was cool.

You are quite candid and honest in your lyrics, do you find it easy to be vulnerable like that?
Yes and no. On the song Little One I’m talking about my children and things like that; it is very vulnerable but I look at it like I do this music to inspire other people, I have to kind of open myself up to inspire.

Does having children make you feel a certain responsibility to set an example that you perhaps didn’t earlier in your career?

Absolutely, with children you have to set that example, it puts that charge on you to make great stuff that’s gonna last.

The lyrics to All Matter were from a poem you wrote about Einstein, do you use poetry a lot in that way?
I go through different moods, like I’ll write poetry, or sometimes you know I’ll get a book and draw a lot, I just go through different phases, and use all of that to create music.

You’ve collaborated with a lot of artists both mainstream and underground how does the experience differ?
Working with Jay-Z and and when I worked with Diddy a lot the music was already done, I just had to come in and sing it, but with other people we create together sometimes, it just depends.

Why do you think you are so sought after?
I think people just like my vibe, my voice and what I bring to a song. It’s just really me.

Your collaboration with Common on Love for Sale Sorrow Tears and Blood is a remake of the Fela Kuti song. How much of an influence is Fela?
Kuti was just… I like a lot of aspects, I like his political stance and what he brought to his country and I love his folky sensibilities. He really blended folk with jazz. It’s really awesome, it’s almost like a jazzier James Brown.

You’ve said that you feel you have a slightly lazy work ethic, why do you think that and does it frustrate you?
I maybe wouldn’t call it lazy, I work off of inspiration, I don’t force ideas. If a concept and the inspiration is there I work, I don’t pressure myself to work.

Has the reception and experience of Airtight’s Revenge encouraged you?
It definitely encouraged me, I will say that the music I wrote on this album was all, I’m not gonna say selfish, but I wrote myself out of a dark place. I think first and foremost, music is therapy for me and that really helped me on this record I used music in a different way. Sometimes you make music when you’re happy and when you’re sad, for all of those reasons and that’s what this album was, an album for me.

What’s next for you?
Playing a few more shows and actually what I feel like doing is making some more music, so when I get some down time, that’s what I’m gonna be doing just laying some things down.

Do you have plans to work with anyone in particular?
So far I’ve been working and doing a few things with Flying Lotus so I’m sure a few things will come out of that.

David Acaster

The first in what is hopefully going to be a regular blog post, and not go the way of the much missed Kool Keith Tuesdays, Introducing shines a light on those just off the radar and first up is Alex Clare. It would be easy to tag the north-west Londoner as another post-dubstep crooner in the Jamie Woon mould but he has a sound that’s far trickier to tie down, especially with Major Lazer aka Diplo and Switch on production duties, more like a young, angtsy Jamie Lidell. Check out the wobbly Relax (complete with what sounds suspiciously like a sample of Gmail’s notification widget) for a feel. Clare’s ambitious cover of When Doves Cry is worth a butchers, too.

As usual we’ve raised the stakes and aimed to put out something that you won’t find anywhere else. A UK themed issue from the red and blue colour scheme to the fashion imagery through to the innovative musicians and artists we’ve spoken to, issue 04 celebrates our very own local originators.

Peep the roll call of exclusives. On the music tip we’ve got exclusive features with the bedrock of UK hip-hop. From the grey High Plains of Huddersfield, Jehst and the YNR crew, cover star Klashnekoff reloading for his next saga, the cerebral thoughts of Ty, electronic pioneers Coldcut/Ninja Tune and Daddy Skitz. Also in the mix is the un-definable Jamie Lidell, floating vocals from Fatima, the relentless underground warrior Cappo and Radio 1xtra DJs Benji B, Mista Jam and DJ Target.

On the visual side of things we chat to street artist agent provocateur D*Face, visual storyteller Slinkachu, dope designers Oscar and Ewan, and include illustrations by some of the UK’s finest pencil wielding talent.

Oh yeah, and from across the Pond, the one and only Mutha Fecking Gaslamp Killer drops in for a cup of tea. Cop your copy here or from the usual stockists including TATE, Fopp, Magma, Rough Trade and all good record stores.