Here are another 10 releases out today on new music Friday.
1. MC Fox returns with new single ‘Sunshine Blues’
Manchester-born, Kingston-bred MC Fox returns with new single ‘Sunshine Blues’, a collaboration with fellow Manchester-based artist [ K S R ] and Polish producer Satl, out 18th June.
Underpinned by a smooth, jazz-infused production, ‘Sunshine Blues’ pairs [ K S R ]’s soul-drenched vocals with Fox’s slick, quickfire bars, delivering a refined D&B jam that leaves a lasting impression.
It marks Fox’s second single release of the month, following on from the menacing ‘Walk Out’ in collaboration with DLR and Alix Perez, which received support from leading tastemaker Annie Mac as part of her Future Sounds series on BBC Radio 1. Both tracks will feature on his forthcoming album Squang Dangs In The Key Of Vibes, a diverse LP drawing on everything from D&B and UKG to soul and hip-hop, out 2nd July.
2. George Moir shares new track ‘Patio’
lo-fi pop wunderkind George Moir has returned with his dynamic new single and video ‘Patio’ via Infectious Music. Stream here.
Suncream and shades in hand, ‘Patio’ sees George Moir ready for summer and amplifying his infectious bedroom pop tenfold as layered harmonies float atop vibrant and groovy melodies.
Directed by George McCallum and produced by Sam Page-Jones and Natalie Steiner, the bittersweet official video sees George get to grips with holidaying on a budget, selling sweet treats from his very own ice-cream van.
Earlier this year George released his second EP ‘Guide To Growing’, which sold out within days after being announced on limited edition vinyl.
3. Freddie Long shares ‘In Your Arms’
London-based newcomer Freddie Long has quickly built a grassroots following, amassing a million streams each for his first two EPs ‘These Darker Days’ and ‘Blessed Or Cursed’ and then another million alone for his most recent single ‘The Nowhere Times’. Complemented by mounting critical acclaim plus shows for The Great Escape and BBC Introducing, Freddie Long today releases his brand new single ‘In Your Arms’. It’s released via his own Banana Split Records label, with distribution from Sony.
‘In Your Arms’ finds Freddie sharpening the sonics that have soundtracked his rise so far. It’s the result of two stylistic approaches which converge entirely naturally: dark-hued alt-pop flavoured by fierce dynamics and bursts of warm, live instrumentation, and the unabashed honesty of his singer-songwriter roots. Freddie wrote and produced ‘In Your Arms’ with Anders Hojer, who’s best known for his work on James Arthur’s Gold-certified ‘Falling Like The Stars’. Joe Smithson also co-wrote the song.
4. ‘Three Lions’ set to return to the charts
25 years after its original release, football anthem ‘Three Lions’ is set to re-enter the UK Top 40 this week as England gear up to play their second game of Euro 2020 against Scotland this evening. The Official Charts Company reported that the track was sitting at number 19 earlier in the week following England’s 1-0 victory over Croatia, and is expected to rise even higher as the tournament progresses. To mark the track’s anniversary, Sony Music recently released a limited edition solid red 7” vinyl with ‘Three Lions ‘98’ on the B-side, the first time it’s been available on vinyl since its original release, as well as updating the iconic music video to HD.
This year marks 25 years since The FA approached Lightning Seeds’ Ian Broudie to write the official Euro ‘96 track with comedians David Baddiel and Frank Skinner. An earworm of a track that summed up the heartache and hope of being an England fan, it became an instant number one, with England fans up and down the country singing it before, during, and after games. Sadly for England, a semi-final penalty shootout against Germany ended their hopes, but two years later Broudie, Baddiel and Skinner recorded a new version ‘Three Lions ‘98’ for the 1998 World Cup, which also topped the charts.
In the years since its debut, the track has seen multiple releases and is the only song in existence to have become the UK number one four separate times with the same artists: two one-week stints in 1996, three straight weeks in 1998 for the remake, and again in 2018 during the World Cup held in Russia, where it made history in vaulting to number one from 24 in one week. Not just adored by England fans, ‘Three Lions’ has become a global footballing hit, with Germany even adopting it as their national football anthem.
5. Richard Fairlie releases ‘The Reason I’m Breathing’
Following the release of his most recent EP ‘MAYBE I’M JUST A LITTLE BIT BROKEN’ earlier this year, Richard Fairlie today releases his latest single ‘THE REASON I’M BREATHING (minute)’ via Sony Music Germany.
‘THE REASON I’M BREATHING (minute)’ is a pop track, with trap-based undertones, with super catchy RnB influences and features a beat that, in his own words, “feels like it’s hitting at 100 Hz”. It has a spacious, anthem-like refrain that leaves enough room for Richard Fairlie’s full, rich vocals and smooth voice to unfold. The song derives directly from an argument that Richard had at home, leading him to grab his guitar and open up Logic, hence making it an impromptu recording that was created from an authentic emotion on the spot, and later tuned to perfection by one of the best producers at one of the best studios that the world of music has to offer.
It is a track that exemplifies both the personal as well as the musical developments of the UK musician, whose approach to creating music is something he refers to as ‘kinda genre-blending’. It’s a technique that his two all-time favorite artists Post Malone and XXXTentacion master all too well, and it revolves around the idea of not letting yourself be restricted by certain sonic directions or styles, but rather having the trademark of your own sound be the fact that each track may sound very different from the one before it. In the case of Richard Fairlie, this sound ranges anywhere from sensual and romantic, to beat-driven and trappy, but always heartfelt, and usually involving elements of pop and hip hop – ‘hip pop’ as he likes to call it.
Richard says about the track: “The song is about that moment in a relationship when you realize you literally can’t live without the other person. You can’t cope on your own … and feeling a kind of panic…realizing you’re completely dependent on someone else and thinking ‘but I need to learn to be independent too’”.
6. Aislinn Logon releases new track ‘Certain Days
Aislinn Logan has shared new single “Certain Days”, out now.
“Certain Days” offers both frustration and optimism in its bass-heavy drive and dreamy synth swells. The vocal melody dances with a gritty synth line and interjections of mischievous guitar frills. You can almost hear the craving for certain days fizzing on Logan’s tongue as she lambasts the fools spouting nonsense we’re supposed to be ‘led’ by and thinks back to simpler times.
“In years gone by we felt a frustration with the flurry of the everyday. Perhaps we had too much going on, too many spinning plates. But the truth is, we didn’t know how good we had it, how lucky we were. I’ve been nostalgic for that – for the freedom to muck up, the choices, the people, the places.”
7. Jax Jones releases new track ‘Crystallise’
A new project for 2021, Jax Jones’ newly launched WUGD imprint looks set to welcome an exciting new platform to the electronic landscape – one in which emerging artists, new talents, and diverse, multi-genre creatives can thrive, develop and grow. Having opened the label with his first single ‘Feels’, taken from his forthcoming ‘Deep Joy’ EP, 18th June marks the release of his emotive second single, ‘Crystallise’.
An instantly anthemic, yet deeply personal production, ‘Crystallise’ offers a second glimpse into Jax’s new direction and motive for making music, with his forthcoming EP set to showcase his most heartfelt and authentic material to date.
“‘Crystallise’ is the second track from my Deep Joy EP and it’s the perfect song to be played at peak time at a festival. I’d also call it a sad banger as it’s equally about the joy of the dancefloor whilst helping me deal with some personal stuff in the lyrics. My wife and I had a miscarriage 18 months ago and it was so difficult. We are fortunate enough to have a beautiful baby girl now, but the fact that one in four pregnancies in the UK result in a miscarriage is not spoken about enough. So to everyone else that has been through something similar – I see you and I feel you, and I’m making a donation to Tommy’s, a UK charity which leads research in complexities surrounding pregnancy.”
“I believe dancing is the perfect antidote to sadness, so that’s why the drop on this song is so crazy. I wanted to make the sickest switch up in a song to help you snap out of the sad times and go crazy on the dancefloor. That’s what deep joy is all about.” – Jax Jones
8. Jessie J releases new track
GRAMMY® Award-nominated multi-platinum pop superstar JESSIE J premieres the official music video for brand-new single “I Want Love” out now on LAVA/Republic Records.
Listen to “I Want Love”— HERE
To bring the track to life, she worked with three-time GRAMMY® Award-winning mega-producer Ryan Tedder [Beyoncé, Adele] who serves as producer and co-writer.
“This album is like a short film over many years of my life and this video is the first part of that story I’m sharing.” Jessie J comments on the new music video, “I wanted the video to feel like people weren’t supposed to see this moment. A moment between the moments captured.”
“I Want Love” sets the stage for her anxiously awaited fifth full-length album, coming later this year, co-written with and executive produced by GRAMMY® Award-winning mega-producer Ryan Tedder [Beyoncé, Adele].
9. Leon Bridges releases ‘Why Don’t You Touch Me’
Grammy Award-winning R&B recording artist and songwriter Leon Bridges has released “Why Don’t You Touch Me”, the latest track from his forthcoming third album Gold-Diggers Sound. “Why Don’t You Touch Me” is a gently pleading, vulnerable love song from Leon to a lover who feels preoccupied and just slightly out of reach. Keeping within Leon’s love of fashion, storytelling, and visuals, “Why Don’t You Touch Me” will have a two-part official music video, with the first part available now. The Jackson Tisi directed video blurs fact and fiction with an intertwining narrative of 3 people, working through a souring relationship, drifting in a surrealist send-up of Gold Diggers, the real-life hotel/recording studio that inspired his upcoming album. The second portion of the video will debut on June 24th; fans will be able to access at youtube.com/LeonBridges.
Leon also announced that he has a track on the forthcoming Space Jam: A New Legacy Official Soundtrack; the soundtrack hits stores and all digital retailers on July 9, 2021, one week ahead of the movie’s release on July 16. Watch Leon in the star-studded announcement here.
Gold-Diggers Sound is an R&B album birthed from extended late nights at the complex of the same name. The album celebrates Leon’s immersive experience of creating music in the same space in which he lived, worked, and drank over the course of two years. What began as nightly all-night jam sessions where Leon and his fellow musicians could just vibe and let loose away from crowds, cameras, and structured studio schedules, quickly began to form into what he realized was an album.
10. Nick Wilson
Big on emotion, timeless songwriting quality and engaging reflections on relationships, Nick Wilson’s music has been the driving force behind the organic growth that has taken him to a 100 million+ career streams and 800,000 monthly listeners at Spotify. Yet his songs are complemented by an authentic visual aesthetic which helps to not only bring his stories to life, but to reinterpret those tales in unpredictable ways.
It’s a trait that we’ve consistently seen, whether it’s in the surprise twist of ‘Lead Me To The Water’ or the cinematic quality of ‘Enough To Know You’, which was nominated for Best Pop Video – Newcomer at the 2020 UK Music Video Awards. And it’s a style which informs the new video for his current single ‘Yours To Take’, which is out now. The song continued Nick’sconsistently strong support at streaming, earning eight New Music Fridays as well as the Spotify playlists Easy and Indie Brandneu.
