Run The Jewels

Happy New Year, music lovers! 2018 was a cracker for great albums, and the coming 12 months also promises to shape up. Here’s just ten of the most exciting new album releases scheduled for 2019.

Lana Del Rey

Lana Del Rey has been teasing the release of her fifth studio album, with the working title Norman F***ing Rockwell, since the end of the summer. This week, she trailed it with the release of new single and video, with the unwieldy title ‘hope is a dangerous thing for a woman like me…but I have it’, representing the fourth cut from the LP. There’s no release date as yet, but the last we heard LDR5 was going to appear in the first half of 2019.

Continue reading: Ten Huge Albums We're Looking Forward To In 2019

Every new year brings speculation as to which musical legends might be returning, and which pop heavyweights are due to release a new record. Here are six significant artists who are definitely, or widely expected to be, releasing new music in 2017.

Lorde's new album will surely arrive in 2017

It feels like forever since Lorde broke through into the mainstream at the precociously young age of 16. Indeed, the release of her signature song ‘Royals’ is approaching its fourth anniversary. In the meantime, she's provided the soundtrack to The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 and performed a David Bowie tribute at the Brit Awards.

Continue reading: New Albums To Look Forward To In 2017

Christmas songs are a staple in the musical calendar, you may even have heard some already this year, but Halloween doesn't get the same love. This was something which Stephen Colbert noted on his talk show and Run The Jewels (aka, Killer Mike and El-P) have righted this wrong with the 'Halloween Wiggle'.

 Run The Jewels performing at Leeds Festival in 2015

"You know, the one thing that Halloween lacks is that there's no really good Halloween novelty songs," Colbert explained on The Late Show. "There's Monster Mash, but that's like 50-something years old now. We need a new one. Christmas has got all kinds of ones. I recently took the matter into my hands. I got together with my good friends, hip hop impresarios Run the Jewels. We have created what I believe will be an instant holiday classic." 

Continue reading: Run The Jewels And Stephen Colter Writer Their Own Halloween Smash Hit 'The Halloween Wiggle'!

The nominations for the fourth annual Libera Awards have been announced, and two British artists are among the leading contenders. FKA Twigs and Aphex Twin have been given four and three nominations respectively.

Critically acclaimed singer FKA twigs, real name Tahliah Debrett Barnett and currently engaged to actor Robert Pattinson, is nominated for four awards, including both Album of the Year categories for her debut record LP1, Best Sync Usage in an advert or film, and Video of the Year for ‘Two Weeks’.

FKA twigs is up for four 'LIBBY' Awards this June

Continue reading: FKA Twigs And Aphex Twin Lead Libera Awards Nominations

10) Cracker Jon & 2Late - You Can Take The Cracker Out Of Croydon:
Cracker Jon and 2Late have been tearing down festivals and shows for a good few years, and 2014 finally saw the release of their debut album, released on the UK hip hop powerhouse that is High Focus Records. Cracker's unique and slightly abstract flow, along with his intricate writing combine with 2Late's funky, Redman esque beats, and the styles compliment each other terrifically. Jon tackles a variety of concepts on this album; in fact he tackles a variety within each song, and it's this approach that definitely makes this album stand out. He's one of the most unique MC's from the UK, and the partnership with 2Late is an exciting and promising one, and 'You Can Take The Cracker Out Of Croydon' is a really solid debut project, with a cohesive sound executed to its full potential. 

9) Kev Brown & Hassaan Mackey - That Grit: 
Rochester MC Hassaan Mackey and Maryland producer Kev Brown collaborate to bring us this absolutely sick album, entitled 'That Grit'. Released in November, this album has constantly been in rotation for me since then; Hassaan's intelligent writing and great presence complement Kev Brown's slick, intricate sampling and consistently dope drums. The Low Budget producer has worked with an array of underground talents, including LMNO, Has-Lo and Raw Poetic, and his production is always incredibly solid. This one might have slipped under the radar, but it's definitely one of my standouts from the year. 

8). J. Cole - 2014 Forest Hills Drive:
J. Cole has been around the block. The hype and buzz around him has been there since he first appeared on a mainstream level, and his third album, entitled '2014 Forest Hills Drive' finds him at his most honest, personal, raw and effective. He's responsible for much of the albums production, and it really feels like this was the project he wanted to make. The reception to the album has been excellent; with first week sales of 361,120 in the States, making it the highest selling hip hop album of the year. It's a refreshing body of work in today's climate, with much of commercial rap recycling the same materialistic concepts and subjects we've heard thousands of times before, and it's encouraging that people are engaging with Cole here. 

Continue reading: Sam Bennett's Top 10 Hip Hop Albums Of 2014