Asa - Beautiful Imperfection

On her second album Beautiful Imperfection, Asa once again manages to fuse her Nigerian roots with contemporary soulful pop with a wonderful collection of uplifting, intelligent and well crafted songs.

While her self titled debut album became the vehicle for Asa to sing about her ’state of mind’, writing songs about  social and political issues, Beautiful Imperfection is intended to ‘help people come out of sad moods and feel uplifted’ says the singer.

The album contains the soon to be released single Be My Man, an irresistible retro snapping soul groove pop song, which perfectly fits Asa’s intentions.

As a songwriter Asa stands tall amongst her peers on Beautiful Imperfection, creating wonderful pop melodies with soaring, infectious, sing out loud choruses that others might possibly die for.

The album is an outstanding collection of radio friendly style intelligent pop songs, featuring a singer who is without doubt on top of her game. Whatever style of music she adopts for each of these tracks, she puts her own individual mark on it, from jazz to soul to pop, Asa is a tremendous performer.

Beautiful Imperfection is one of the stand out pop album so far this year, it is like having several of your favourite female singers rolled into one, that’s Asa!

There isn’t a track that is possible to fault and equally as difficult to pick any stand out tracks, but if pushed I would have to say the Sheryl Crow-esque Ok, Ok is stuck in my head, the reggae beats and Hammond organ on Maybe and the foreign language track Bimpè.

Beautiful Imperfection by Asa is released on Dramatico Records on April 4th 2011.

Asa will be co-headlining with Tiken Jah Fokoly at the Barbican on April 4th as two of West Africa’s finest contemporary artists come together on one bill.

Asa – Be My Man

The single Be My Man by Asa will be released on March 13th.

TrueBeat

The London based ska-punk band TrueBeat will be releasing an old favourite as their next single scheduled for December 20th, one of the first songs that the band wrote Shanty Town.

Adopting their own unique style of fast paced ska interwoven with heavy rock riffs and pop flavoured sing-a-long chorus,like all TrueBeat music Shanty Town is designed to get you moving, be it on the dance floor or around the house.

TrueBeat formed in late 2008 and recorded their debut album a year later to critical acclaim. They have been constantly touring since, raising the roof at venues across the UK alongside the likes of JB Conspiracy, Bad Manners, Catch-it Kebabs and The Beat.

Vocalist/ guitarist Tom explains why they’ve decided to release this track from the TrueBeat vault;

‘Shanty Town was one of the first songs the boys ever wrote as a band, the upbeat verses dropping into reggae choruses typifying the flexibility of TrueBeat’s sound. The band have always lived by the ethos that their music should be for not only dancing but also thinking, the lyrics of Shanty Town touch upon the issue of apathy, a subject the band feel strongly about. Over the past year TrueBeat have been consistently gigging, promoting the album ‘Back to Square One’  and are really excited about getting this new single out there.’

You can catch TrueBeat at the following venues in November:

Nov 13^th – Mass, Brixton

Nov 26^th – Harlow, Essex

For further information visit the TrueBeat MySpace.

Light is the first full length album to be released by the Grammy nominated artist Matisyahu in three years and the long awaited album promises to be one of pop’s highlights of the year.

The album has already sold over 400,000 copies in the US where it debuted in the Top 20 album charts and sees Matisyahu meandering through his familiar reggae-soul stylings to dancehall, ska-inflected new wave, pop-rock and acoustic folk, blending infectious melodies and intricate production with classic messages of hope, peace and understanding to create a sound that is undeniably his own.

Produced by David Kahne (Paul McCartney, Regina Spektor, Sublime), Light was recorded and mixed in Jamaica, New York, Los Angeles and Virginia. More recently, Matisyahu cut two more tracks with producer Dave McCracken and the Smeezintons. Of those two, One Day will be the first single from the album.

The single, One Day, is an anthemic classic reggae track, showcasing Matisyahu’s prolific lyrics and passionate vocals. In addition Matisyahu has re-recorded the same song with heavyweight R&B star Akon as a bonus track.

The album features guest appearances from the likes of  Stephen McGregor, Sly & Robbie, members of Fishbone and many more.

Both single and album are releasedthrough 100% Records. The single One Day is released in the UK on June 14th, with the album Light following a week later on June 21st.

For more information visit the Matisyahu MySpace page.

Rock En Seine Festival

So there we were sitting in the Buzzin Media office, wondering whether to spend the August Bank holiday stuck in a coast bound traffic jam or sitting in a crowded Carnival bound tube, when we were contacted by the very nice We Are Social girls Sarah, Camille and Sandrine and invited to the Rock En Seine festival in Paris.

Promoting the Little Break Big Difference Eurostar campaign they whisked myself and 10 other music bloggers off to the Rock En Seine festival, via first class Eurostar travel to Paris Gard du Nord – how civilised!  From there it is a short metro ride to the town of Boulogne where the festival is held in a very pretty national reserve park – Domain National de Saint-Cloud – on the banks of the Seine.

If like me you are mature (in body but not mind), still love music, partying, festivals etc but can’t really carry off the unwashed hair and panda eyed look anymore, then I highly recommend this festival as its bizarre location smack, bang in the middle of town, facilitates staying in a very comfortable hotel with clean toilets and comfy beds, while still being in walking distance of the venue.  Of course if you are so lashed you could sleep on a pile of rocks, they also have camping facilities on site.

The venue is compact enough to easily move between the 3 stages and not miss any of the acts, which was great as Friday night’s line up was rammed with my favourite pop acts. Passion Pit, Madness, Bloc Party, Vampire Weekend, Oasis….ahem! And although by no stretch of the imagination could it be called pop, jumping around to the techno thud of Vitalic was a great way to end the first night – along with copious amounts of champagne! But that’s another story…

Passion Pit performed on the Scène De L’Industrie, which was the smallest stage, making  it easy to just stretch out in the sun and listen to their  melodic, electro-pop tracks, although Sleepy Head almost tempted me to my feet!

Vampire Weekend playing on the Grande Scène, attracted a large audience but I still managed to easily get down the front and sing along with the quirky, ambiguous lyrics. Lead singer Ezra Koenig linked each song by conversing with the crowd in such perfect French that I could have sworn it was his native tongue and they finished with my favourite track, Oxford Coma.

Lee Thompson Of Madness Performing Baggy Trousers

My favourite act of the day had to be Madness.   I almost wished I had worn one of my old Rude Girl outfits to join in with the nutty dancing as I spotted several groups of die-hard fan in the crowd sporting Pork Pie hats.

I would defy anyone not to have a huge smile on their face while watching Madness perform, as Suggs’s wide boy charm and the general air of fun pervading from the group is very contagious.

The crowd (British and French) seemed to know all the lyrics to their old ska and pop songs like Our House, Baggy Trousers and Madness and loudly sang along with only a few minor lulls when the hits were interspersed with a few new tracks like NW5.

Oasis were fantastic…..no…wait…it was Madness performing a cracking second set  after being asked to stand in when the arrogant Manc twats had some kind of sibling altercation over who has the biggest monobrow and cancelled their performance 10 minutes before they were due on stage!

And so Oasis have split up….until their egos need re-stroking anyway!  – oh boo hoo!

So that was Friday over as we stumbled euphorically back to our comfy hotel for a few hours rest!

Madness Madness They Call It Total Madness

Total Madness celebrates 30 years of hit singles from Madness together for the first time on one album.

Madness are the ultimate British singles band, holding the record for British single sales in the 1980’s when over 6 million Madness singles were bought by the British public.

Over a thirty year career, their string of Top Ten hits are part of the lifeblood of British popular music and their influence on generations of musicians cannot be overstated.

Their ability to document serious issues within seemingly sweet pop songs can be heard in the likes of The Smiths, Blur, Arctic Monkeys and a host of other huge acts that followed their appearance in the late 70’s.

With their latest album, The Liberty Of Norton Folgate, collecting continuous praise from the critics and re-establishing the band in the UK Top Five, this collection is the ultimate Madness Best Of and a great introduction to or reminder of one of the UK’s most cherished bands.

The album spans the band’s debut single, The Prince through to NW5, the lead track from this year’s critically-acclaimed return to form The Liberty Of Norton Folgate and contains all the singles that formed a record breaking run of 20 Top 20 UK singles from that 1979 debut to 1985’s Yesterday’s Men.

Across the 23 tracks, the depth of Madness’ songwriting is apparent, the familiar  anthems such as Our House, Baggy Trousers, It Must Be Love and Wings Of A Dove standing alongside the rush of One Step Beyond and Night Boat To Cairo. When a band can balance such uproarious pop with the bittersweet beauty of Grey Day and My Girl what you get is an album that is the benchmark for pop writing.

To accompany the audio disc, Total Madness also features a DVD of the classic videos for all tracks save for the b-side and li ve favourite Madness. Madness are rightly remembered for their pioneering attitude towards the format throughout their careers, the band themselves coming up with the ideas which are now also woven into British music history.

Whether Lee Thompson flying in Baggy Trousers, the chemist shop in House Of Fun or a succession of interviews with bemused passers by as introductions to each short, the videos, all shot in one day, have stood the test of time, mixing the dark humour of Monty Python and Derek and Clive with the slapstick of Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd.

The latest Madness Greatest Hits collection comes on the back of recent chart success of The Liberty Of Norton Folgate and successful and very popular performances on this year’s summer festivals circuit, not least at Glastonbury and most recently two sets at Rock en Seine.

Total Madness, the CD and DVD is released on September 21st through USM Media

CD1: Total Madness The Music:

01 One Step Beyond
02 Baggy Trousers
03 House Of Fun
04 Embarrassment
05 My Girl
06 Our House
07 It Must Be Love
08 wings of a Dove
09 The Sun And The Rain
10 Tommorrow’s Just Another Day
11 Cardiac Arrest
12 Driving In My Car
13 Bed And Breakfast Man
14 Grey Day
15 NW5
16 Lovestruck
17 One Better Day
18 Michael Caine
19 Los Palmas 7
20 The Prince
21 Shut Up
22 Madness
23 Night Boat to Cairo

CD2: Total Madness The Videos Tracklist:

01 One Step Beyond
02 Baggy Trousers
03 House Of Fun
04 Embarrassment
05 My Girl
06 Our House
07 It Must Be Love
08 wings of a Dove
09 The Sun And The Rain
10 Tommorrow’s Just Another Day
11 Cardiac Arrest
12 Driving In My Car
13 Bed And Breakfast Man
14 Grey Day
15 NW5
16 Lovestruck
17 One Better Day
18 Michael Caine
19 Los Palmas 7
20 The Prince
21 Shut Up
22 Night Boat to Cairo

Total Madness is due for release on 21st September 2009 via USM Media.