Carrie Manolakos amazing cover of Radiohead’s “Creep”
There are a lot of “Creep” covers, but former Broadway singer Carrie Manolakos’ version just cuts right through it all. The New Yorker has just released her debut folk-pop album, Echo. Download her eponymous track for free.
Free Download: Lianne La Havas “No Room For Doubt (Live)”
Here’s someone to look out for. Londoner Lianne La Havas’ Greek and Jamaican lineage is already a cause for good concern (sip up that dangling drool already) and perhaps in the same vein as her exotic nature, the singer-songwriter’s softly strung folk and soul vibrato properties is something that might cure cancer.
Now 22-years-old, the music sensation was kept under the wings of Warner Bros. Records for a good 2 years since 2010 to work on her songs. It was only in October last year that she released her debut EP Lost & Found ahead of her forthcoming debut album Forget (out July 9) and has been garnering heart-tugging acclaimed ever since her appearance on BBC’s Later With Jools Holland.
Poignant and honest, she sings about broken hearts and her personal challenges. Like what Adele has been doing in sincere territory, but here, it’s more hopeful. If there was ever a bad news needed to be divulged, get La Havas to sing it and anyone will be more than happy to lap it up.
Off her EP is “No Room For Doubt” featuring Bon Iver-esque singer-songwriter Willy Mason.
Download the free “live” version of Lianna La Havas’ “No Room For Doubt”.
Oh, and from the EP, I have to include this beautiful eponymous track. A great accompaniment for an evening that’ll put you in a vast outback where it’s forever autumn and everything is picture perfect. Purchase Lianna La Havas’ Lost & Found on iTunes.
Free Download: Evy Jane “Sayso”
Is it cold outside? Drizzling perhaps? Snuggling up to the warmth of your over-seated chair, I see. Play Canadian duo Evy Jane’s “Sayso” (taken from their self-titled EP); it’ll get you all nice and fuzzy inside like someone squeezing a tube of warm hot fudge down your esophagus.
In the era of The Weekend’s “I am so fucking high, nothing needs to make sense but that of me fucking pussies and breaking hearts,” songstress Evelyn Manson comes out and does a female rendition. If your imagination is as bored as mine, you’ll make it out to be a conversation between her and Abel Tesfaye. Maybe Drake would be in the same room; crying somewhere.
But I like this track, it says so little and means as much. Melodically and lyrically, dark hues doesn’t hide its effect; and while Manson’s repetitive echoes are muddled in drug-fuelled passiveness, there’s a slight hint of Erykah Badu’s adroitness found within her vocal undertones.
Download Evy Jane’s “Sayso” to accompany your ghostly night.
Free Download: Crystal Castles “Suffocation (HEALTH Remix)”
Los Angeles electronic punk band HEALTH released a remix of Crystal Castles’ “Suffocation” at the same Alice Glass gets on haute-couture strutting business in the band’s new video in collaboration with Vs. Magazine.
The video directed by Glass’ other half and bandmate Ethan Kath, shows the goth princess donning all sorts of dresses at an abandon warehouse. Very Crystal Castles if you asked me.
Even the remix doesn’t lose any of Crystal Castles’s moody elements with HEALTH reinterpreting it into a broodier and darker version than the original.
Download Crystal Castles “Suffocation (HEALTH Remix)” from the Soundcloud player above.
Free Download: Lana Del Rey “Without You (Kill Paris Remix)”
If you have been on the prowl for Lana Del Rey’s tracks on the web you might have to suss through about a gazillion remixes of almost all of her releases. But a few notable ones stand out beyond the graveyard of those that have made Rey (who recently bagged Brit Awards Best International Breakthrough Act) sound either like a chipmunk or a wet carpet.
Upcoming DJ-producer Kill Paris’ listen-able melodious, wobble-infused take on Rey’s November 2011 release “Without You” is refined for dance floor carnage. The Ableton certified trainer is also known for his “live” sets, recently heard on his first North American tour.
Download Lana Del Rey “Without You (Kill Paris Remix)” from the Soundcloud player above.
Free Download: Gotye feat. Kimbra “Somebody That I Used To Know (Owsey Remix)”
Belgian born-Australian raised Wouter De Backer aka Goyte has been garnering prominence of late with his track “Somebody I Used To Know” taken from his third studio album Making Mirrors.
His song, reminiscing on a past love, is the longest running no.1 song in Australia, since Savage Garden’s “Truly Madly Deeply” (remember that song?), staying 8 weeks at pole position.
Accompanied by New Zealand singer-songwriter Kimbra, the track also made its way to no.26 on Billboard Hot 100 Charts, Gossip Girl, 90210, Jimmy Kimmel’s Show and played as an unofficial anthem around festival grounds at last year’s Splendour In The Grass.
Irish DJ-producer Owsey lends his ambient and chillout remixing prowess on this track, ridding pop ditties and extrapolating on the haunting elements, particularly on Goyte and Kimbra’s vocals. The enigmatic producer has a portfolio of acclaimed remixes with the likes of Above & Beyond, Ellie Goulding and Johan Reinhold.
Download Goyte feat. Kimbra “Somebody I Used To Know (Owsey Remix) from his Facebook Page or Mediafire.
The remix is also featured in Volmax’s VI mix.
Download: Sinjin Hawke’s Collaborations
Prior to Barcelona DJ-producer Sinjin Hawke’s 8-track EP release The Lights, he dropped three collaborations that saw him working with the likes of DJ Slink, Lucid and MORRI$. What came out from that was three tunes that all deserved to sit in the EP itself (ambitious to say, he should have just made an album). All free to download, drop by his Soundcloud page to have a teaser listen to his EP.
Download Sinjin Hawke & DJ Sliink’s “Gas Pump”
Download: Knife Party’s 100% No Modern Talking EP
Founded by Pendulum’s Rob Swire and Gareth McGrillen, Knife Party’s debut EP 100% No Modern Talking is a musically crisp dubstep (or brostep to some) and electro house offering by the duo. Featuring 4-tracks, Knife Party is stepping onto the pedestal with their current release. Check out their collaboration with Swedish House Mafia on the dancefloor destructive tune “Antidote” on KMC’s 10 Must Hear Releases.
Download: Ornette’s “Crazy (Nôze Remix)”
28-year-old Bettina Kee is a mother of two, and if anyone had told the Parisian that she was going to be a singer, she would have threw a milk bottle at them. But as Ornette, her talent is put into perspective. The pop-singer’s debut album Crazy showed a side of her that was forcefully hidden during her 20-years of studying music at a militant-esque run conservatory. French DJ duo Nôze made up of Nicolas Sfintescu and Ezéchiel Pailhès gives the title track a more dancefloor empowered rendition. Check out the original piece here.
Download: Holy Ghost!’s “I Wanted to Tell Her”
Dance pop duo Holy Ghost! cover of Ministry’s 1983 classic “I Wanted to Tell Her” is given a further tribute with a music video inspired by the 80s film Rad. Juan MacLean and Nancy Whang lend their vocals on this track.
