Jonathan Hatchman (@JonHatchman) picks out the sounds and stories that have been making headlines over the last seven days… and presents them all as a handy playlist
The Strokes‘ will return to London this summer to play their first UK show in five years. The band were announced as headliners for Barclaycard’s British Summer Time Presents on 18 June in Hyde Park at the start of the week. Set to support the band on the day are Beck and Future Islands, as Julian Casablancas and co join headliners Blur, Kylie Minogue, The Who and Taylor Swift, in this summer’s across the summer line-up.
Man of the moment, Kanye West has made his way into the week’s news once again. Whether he’s speaking about the ego at Oxford University, playing last-minute intimate gigs in London or just teasing the world about his forthcoming follow up to 2013’s Yeezus, having unveiled the album’s artwork and title – So God Help Me – on Twitter. He’s also revealed the studio recording of All Day, featuring writing credits from Paul McCartney once again. First aired as a performance at last week’s BRIT Awards, have a listen to the track minus heavy on air censoring.
Set to release her third album How Big How Blue How Beautiful in May, Florence + The Machine played an impromptu show at the Boston Arms in London on Wednesday, premiering brand new material from the record. Including three new songs – St Jude, Third Eye and the album’s title track, plus lead single What Kind Of Man. Here’s some fan-captured footage.
Making another grand return this week is Diplo’s Major Lazer, announced album release plans (plans in plural being the key point) this year, plus revealed new single Lean On. A collaborative, genre-bending effort with DJ Snake, upcoming pop star MØ takes on the track’s vocal duties. The results in a highly infectious track with huge dance floor-filling capabilities.
Tying in with this year’s Record Store Day on 18 April, Metallica have unveiled plans to release a limited re-mastered cassette run of one of their first ever demo tapes – No Life ‘Til Leather – having first surfaced as a bootleg 33 years ago. Now set to be released through the band’s own the label Blackened Recordings, the demo features early Metallica classics such as Hit The Lights, Jump In The Fire, Seek & Destroy.
Jonathan’s Pick Of The Week
Ambient neo-soul is what you can expect from London-via-Cornwall’s Matt Woods. Having unveiled his second release – Impression – this week. Offering a haunting ambiance while Woods’ encapsulating voice does all of the talking through the track penned about reminiscence of an ex-lover. Currently adding the finishing touches to a new EP, if Impression is anything to go by, Woods is one to keep an eye on.
