Jessie Ware // Strangest Feeling

We've been in love with Jessie Ware for a long time thanks to her various collaborations, not least the beauteous Valentine with Sampha, and 2010's Nervous with SBTRKT. Strangest Feeling, released on limited edition 10" vinyl on November 28th via PMR Records, is the perfect showcase of her sensual, layered vocal over minimal beats, and a tasty teaser for the debut LP to come.



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Sampha // Indecision

Sampha has helped propel the likes of Jessie Ware and SBTRKT into the public consciousness with his delicious R&B vocals and production mastery.

Here on Indecision he's branching further down the John Legend road than on previous solo releases with a lush, piano-led ballad accompanied by a soulful vocal to pull on those already over-stretched heart strings as he pleads "let is all work out". Can't wait for a full record, but in the meantime listen below to this and his work with Jessie Ware below.

Sampha-Indecision by samphamusic



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Glasser w/ Sampha // XOYO

A belated post of my review of the quite immaculate Glasser at XOYO last month, first posted on The Fugitive Motel.

The high and mighty of London indie are out in force, FORCE, tonight for the presence of LA siren Glasser, AKA Cameron Mesirow. Not one but at least two xx’ers are in attendance, as are members of WHB and The Vaccines, to witness what is perhaps the most innovative and enchanting female voice around.

Due to an unreasonably long queue outside XOYO, we only make it in time for second support Sampha. Thank god we did. A remarkable combination of soul, house and dubstep, sounding like a Jamie xx remix of Billy Ocean, and sure to break as big, if not bigger, than contemporary James Blake.

Arriving on stage in a magnificently improbable dress and Jamiroquai-esque millinery, Mesirow’s onstage presence is surprisingly unassuming. Last year’s album Ring was heralded in best-of lists and sent bloggers into a frenzy, its artfully folkish electronica and tropical rhythms accenting Mesirow’s refined vocal, but would this translate to a live performance?

The opening tribal call to arms of Apply immediately fills the room and answers any doubts with an emphatic yes, with Mesirow seeming most at ease within the music and giggly and shy without. Her voice is impossible to pin down. It has elements of Karen O in the yelps, Bat for Lashes on the soaring Home, with looped vocals producing the effect of a one woman Dirty Projectors. Despite feeling “like Janet Jackson at the Superbowl” after a self inflicted wardrobe malfunction, the pulsing electronica of closer Mirrorage gets wails of approval from the now devoted audience, before an impromptu acapella encore of old English folk song Let No Man Steal Your Thyme is the ultimate pin drop moment, and proof if any more were needed that Glasser is primed to be the Bjork of our generation.

Local favourites // Sampha

Having remixed the likes of fellow illustrious Londoners the xx, SBTRKT and Scroobius Pip last year, Sampha's cache is growing all the time, not least through recent production duties, backing vocals and remixing for Jessie Ware's Valentine out last month.

His solo stuff, however, is on another plain altogether. Sounding something like a Jamie xx remix of early Billy Ocean, Sampha's blend of two step, dub and house beats are levitated with his classic soul vocal. With James Blake currently blazing a more high profile trail for 'the future of music as we know it', perhaps not of his own doing but such is the industry frenzy for the next big thing, Sampha is more than equipped to follow that up. Last year's Sundanza EP on Young Turks was evidence if any were needed that a breakthrough is imminent, and hopefully more material this due this year will do just that.Here's some samples of his wares below (and you even get a bit of acting in the Valentine vid!)

YT039 - Sampha - Sundanza EP by Young Turks