samedi 28 février 2015

Skream to release an album on Crosstown Rebels



Skream has finally signed to Crosstown Rebels, with an album set to arrive later this year.

He remixed Ali Love's 'Perfect Picture' on Damian Lazarus's label at the fail end of 2014 and made his official debut on the imprint  on Feb. 23 with 'Still Lemonade' and a remix by Redshape.

Talking about the release, Skream said "'Still Lemonade' was the first track I finished in a long time that I felt completely happy with and was ready to play out, I didn't tell anyone it was by me when I first started playing it and the reaction was explosive".

"It's a perfect example of the direction I'm taking with my productions".

We knew he had an album due this year after sharing 'Pernicious' on Soundcloud, but it's now confirmed it'll be released on Crosstown.

jeudi 26 février 2015

Damian Lazarus & The Ancient Moons - Message From The Other Side (CRMCD029)

"Message From The Other Side" is the title track from the forthcoming album by Damian lazarus & The Ancient Moons.

A career spent DJing across the globe was the catalyst for Damian Lazarus's latest project - Damian Lazarus & The Ancient Moons. Masterminded by Lazarus, the album brings together a wide assortment of vocalists, collaborators and players from around the world. Taking inspiration from Lazarus's Lazpod series, Get Lost events & Day Zero Festival in Mexico, this is music for deserts, jungles and sunrises.

Kicking off in L.A., Lazarus was joined at the production controls by James Ford (Simian Mobile Disco, Arctic Monkeys, Florence) as the album moved to London, and then final recordingsessions completed in Mexico. The resulting album, "Message From The Other Side", is a revelation. It runs the gamut from the wonderful Qawwali-flavoured techno of last year's alternative dance hit 'Lovers Eyes (Mohe Pi Ki Najariya)' to the African-tinged house of 'Sacred Dance Of The Demon', dense dark ambient of 'Inner Core', and the bubbling depths of forthcoming single 'Vermillion', this is a rich and ambitious album.
"There is nothing that compares to DJing under the stars Lazarus explains. "In the night air or being responsible for soundtracking the rising of the sun and I wanted to create an album that reflects these beautiful moments".

Lazarus brought together the widest range of musicians to achieve his goals. Initially there was Moses Sumney, an LA singer-songwriter and guitarist whose vocals light up the dynamic deep house groove of 'Vermillion', and the epic closing number, 'Tangled Web'. lazarus's long-standing friend and associate Ali Love, contributes vocals to the soulful groove of 'We Will Return'.

Other collabs came from further afield, Hossam Ramzy, an Egyptian master-percussionist, most famous for his work on Jimmy Page & Robert Plant's 'No Quarter' album laid down the amazing rhythm tracks for The Ancient Moons. ELEW (Eric Lewis), an American jazz pianist palyed a 'treated piano' in an unexpected, experimental way. Lazarus and Ford turned to Andrew Waterworth, double bassist, with the acclaimed Penguin Café for the album's lush string arrangements courtesy of Mexico's Yucatan Symphony Orchestra.

Meanwhile, Fareed Ayaz, Abu Muhammad & Hamza Akram, are Pakistan's leading exponents of Qawwali singing, the hypnotic sacred Sufi music that Lazarus fell in love with after hearing it on the soundtrack of political thriller 'The Reluctant Fundamentalist'. They appear not only on 'Lovers Eyes (Mohe Pi Ki Najariya)', but also the spaced out, sitar-laden 'Amber Palace', a piece that features the sitar work of Sidartha Siliceo, a former student of Ravi Shankar.

Keen to include an Afro-beat flavour, Lazarus turned to the studio owner brother's wife, a princess of Guinean origin whose vocals became the centerpiece of the bubbly, joyful 'Sacred Dance Of The Demon'. Adding to the vibe on the same track is an appearance by Mozambican guitar prodigy Neco Novellas.

By gatherring this gumbo of music from across the globe lazarus has created a collection that's as happy on the dancefloor as off, a set of songs and moods that work both as an album and, when cherry-picked, as a groove that would move from Ibiza to San Francisco to the UK festivel circuit. It's also a body of work which will be coming to life and touring when they hit the road in 2015.

TRACKLIST:
01. House Of The Hidden Places
02. Adventures Of The Ancient Moons
03. Vermillion
04. Amber's Palace
05. Lover's Eyes (Mohe Pi Ki Najariya)
06. Inner Core
07. Message From The Other Side
08. Trouble At The Seance (Edit)
09. We Will return
10. Sacred Dance Of The Demon
11. Eyes Won't Let Me Hide
12. Create The Age
13. Tangled Web
14. Vermillion (Reprise)

Album to be released on May 18th, 2015.

mercredi 18 février 2015

Roisin Murphy - Jealousy (CRM139)

Ahead of her artist album this year, one the UK's most treasured vocalists Roisin Murphy delivers a solo dance cannon for Crosstown Rebels.

'Jealousy' is an unashamed slice of dance-floor hedonism from the acclaimed singer, taking Roisin's compelling vocals atop an indelible bassline in both a house and disco workout. Following recent releases with The Vinyl Factory and Jamie Jones' Hot Creations, together with her cart-topping background in Moloko, Murphy has become one of the most competent, enduring and influential figures in the pop, disco and electronic music worlds.

Co-written and produced by the great unsung modern day house hero, The Crooked Man AKA DJ Parrot, formally of Sweet Exorcist (Warp) and All Seeing I (FFRR), amongst many other aliases, he has been a bastion of the Sheffield sound since the late 80s.
"Parrot understands dancing music and he understands me. This is fast and furious; he says it's roller-disco music. The backing track sounded so frantic, the lyric wasn't long coming to me. So I just tried to create a vocal as demented as the music!" Roisin Murphy.

Irish singer-songwriter Roisin Murphy originally broke into the charts as the frontwoman for the chart-topping Moloko, delivering music that was leftfield electronic and pop-orientated. However, her consequent output with The Vinyl Factory and guest vocal presence on labels like Hot Creations has demonstrated her deep love affair with house music.

'Jealousy' was also mixed by the legendary Eric Kupper, who was a production partner with Frankie Knuckles and Dave Morales whose K-Scope releases were a staple of 90s American NY House.

Release Date: 16/03/2015
Cat #: CRM139
Distribution: !K7 / Above Board

LINK TO THE TRACKS

lundi 16 février 2015

Dino Lenny - Don't Believe (RBL024)

Dino Lenny gained notoriety in the '90s after remixing INXS, Underworld, Missy Elliot and Timbaland, and collaborating with everyone from Scissors Ssiters to Wu Tang Clan and Madonna. He follows up his recent Ellum applauded EP with a release on Crosstown Rebels' sibling Rebellion; the double-sided 'Don't Believe'.

"Don't Believe EP is the perfect example of my recent mood. Two tracks featuring my own dark and underground 70's inspired vocals that merge into the deep, edgy synths. The result is quite psychedelic and very intense like the lyrics themselves 'Don't Believe' in 'Plastic Men'" Dino on "Don't Believe"


Dino Lenny started young as a radio deejay in Italy. In the late 90s he moved to the UK, his native country. In London, he begins a long series of important remixes; INXS, Underworld, Missy Elliot, Timbaland etc and the collab with The Housemartins, Scissors Sisters, Wu Tang Clan, Madonna and many more.

Dino Lenny began to explore the full range of his potentialities and started singing. In 2011 he performed live with Skin & Underworld at the Brixton Academy. Dino has also written the soundtrack for an episode of CSI Miami and music for Irvine Welsh's film 'Ecstasy'. After Dacid Byrne's approval 'I Wanna Be Like Talking Heads /  A DJ Deep Inside' gets released in 2012. The story continues in the summer of 2014 with release on Exploited, Suara, Off Recordings and upcoming release in 2015 on Ellum and the launch of his exciting brand new label Fine Human Records


Label: Rebellion
Cat #: RBL024
Distribution: Above Board
Release Date: 23/03/2015

LINK TO THE TRACKS