Mellow List

NOCTURNAL is out now on Verve Records
Order on iTunes: http://smarturl.it/NocturnalDlxiTunes

YUNA SET TO RELEASE NEW ALBUM “NOCTURNAL” ON VERVE RECORDS ON OCTOBER 29

www.facebook.com/yunamusic (Over 1.5 Million Facebook Fans)
twitter.com/yunamusic (Over 900K Twitter Followers)

Los Angeles, Ca -- Breakthrough singer/songwriter Yuna is set to release her forthcoming new album “Nocturnal” on Verve Records on October 29.  The new album marks Yuna’s first full-length follow-up to her critically acclaimed self-titled debut from last year. “Nocturnal” features Yuna’s distinctive blend of organic pop, R&B soul and acoustic folk while also “digging deeper into her huge bag of pop star potential” (okayplayer.com).  The album marks a new chapter for the Malaysian-born artist who is earning plenty of comparisons to female vocalists such as Feist, Adele and Norah Jones. 
 
“Nocturnal” is a collection of eleven infectious new songs featuring the intoxicating single “Falling” produced by Robin Hannibal of the soul-pop group Rhye as well as the effervescent and uplifting track “Rescue” produced by Chris Braide.  Other album highlights include “I Wanna Go” produced by Michael Einziger of Incubus as well as the breezy “Come Back.”
 
Already recognized worldwide, 2012 served as YUNA’s breakout year in North America.  With her debut, Rolling Stone championed her as having, “certified indie cred and massive pop potential,” Complex Magazine called her “a deeply refreshing addition to America’s musical landscape” and The New York Times described her music as “gorgeous.” Yuna performed on national television, was a finalist for MTV Iggy’s “Best New Band In The World,” has had multiple songs featured in movies and on soundtracks, and played both Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo.  She recently appeared on “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno,” where she performed her duet with multi-platinum recording artist OWL CITY, “Shine Your Way.” 
 
North American tour dates will be announced shortly. 

Nocturnal

Falling

The Fetts - Not A Machine

Mayer Hawthorne & The County covers Lorde "Royals" as part of VEVO's Unexpected Covers.

Watch the video here: http://youtu.be/mtcR4BBet3k

Mayer Hawthorne - Vocals
Quentin Joseph - Drums
Joe Abrams - Bass
Quincy McCrary - Keys
Christian Wunderlich - Guitar

Royals

Die Antwoord - Enter the Ninja

Getaway - Never Wanna See You Again

Worst Case - Whole Again

Frank Turner and Jon Snodgrass - Happy New Year

Eels - That's Life (Frank Sinatra cover)

9BlinD - Promises

Deeds of the Dying - Alright Mate!

Alex Clare - Hummingbird (Live Unplugged)

Thanks to Jean de la Fontaine, everybody now knows the difference between the oak and the reed. One boasts a certain virile majesty, a welcoming shade, an apparent strength and solidity. The other is seemingly so fragile, yet of a suppleness that allows it to bend without ever breaking. 

A symbol of the ability to endure everything and anything, of being able to stand fast during even the toughest of times, Roseaux (Reeds) is a musical project that is understated, yet impassioned and utterly compelling, born amidst the stormiest times yet seen in the annals of the recorded music industry. Roseaux is a collective that brings together a radio music scheduler (who’s also a DJ) and various musicians, artfully blending the skills of a guardian of musical knowledge and all the artistic feeling that characterizes a group of musicians who have each taken many different paths in the pursuit of their passion.

Roseaux began with Emile Omar, a music-lover with tastes as diverse as they are insatiable who sniffs out sounds without regard for the dictates of musical convention and genre. Some ten years ago his musical inquisitiveness led him to take on the management of Radio Nova’s record collection and then to play his part in finding the musical ingredients for the station’s celebrated ‘Grand Mix’ of innovative sounds. This gave him the opportunity to create Nova Tunes compilations and box sets – an eclectic essence of rare refinement drawn from a selection of new sounds and past musical wonders. Ever since his teenage years, Emile has also been adept at getting people on the dance floor – so adept, in fact, that he now DJs at themed evenings, delving into a repertoire of  classic soul, house, reggae, disco and tropical music. In this way Roseaux’s roots are firmly anchored in a cultural subsoil that comes straight from the racks of record dealers who specialize in a very unusual type of music – that which is able to delight the body and fire the soul at the same time. 

About 5 years ago Emile developed the desire to venture where it seemed that his status as a non-musician must surely bar him: the field of making music. 
Ever since Brian Eno knocked the ivory-tower idea of the existence of such a thing as musical legitimacy on the head, ever since Lee Perry, King Tubby and Tom Moulton turned the mixing table into an integral part of the creative process, ever since hip hop and electro DJs were able to demonstrate that creativity could be channelled through turntables and samplers in a kind of musical collage, the definition of what it is to be a musician has radically changed. 
He contacted 2 musician friends (musicians in the traditional sense of the word), cellist Clément Petit and multi-instrumentalist Alex Finkin, to ask them if they wanted to join with him in creating an album that would be based on the arrangement of ten or so of his favourite songs taken from a whole range of different genres.
The three got down to work, with Emile discovering Aloe Blacc, long before the American singer made the headlines with the hit I Need A Dollar. 
Although Aloe Blacc had little singing experience at the time, he launched himself into Emile’s project with enthusiasm and open-mindedness in equal measure.
Roseaux is therefore the product of a meeting of minds and hearts between an enlightened amateur and a group of musicians whose talent and adaptability made this project possible and gave it its artistic unity. 

The same lack of musical dogmatism as evinced by Emile’s choice of music for the Radio Nova playlist and his evenings on the turntables is on display here in the shape of such little-known gems as Strange Things by the Jamaican John Holt, Indifference by grunge band Pearl Jam, Patti Labelle’s More Than Material, Try Me by Esther Phillips and Clarao da Lua by Brazil’s Nazaré Peirera. The most famous track is undoubtedly Walking On The Moon by The Police. A world away from ‘carbon copy’ style cover versions,  each of the ‘guest tracks’ gets its own special treatment whereby it metamorphoses into something completely different (in the eyes of anyone who is familiar with the original version) and utterly enchanting. These are not covers in the narrow, generally accepted meaning of the word – they can best be classified as reinterpretations or even complete rewritings of songs. So, the Jamaican feel of Rad Bryan’s Girl you rock my soul gives way to polished folk guitar arrangements and string instruments, the swaying rhythm of Walking On The Moon falls into line with the jazzy footsteps of Nina Simone, John Holt’s rocksteady Strange Things takes the road to Rio, Missing You, the 90s underground house hit from Kim English is transformed into a soul ballad, before dropping into a long, cross-fade on the Fender Rhodes electric piano, Bill Evans style.

Could it be this way of gently bending these songs to their will that was the inspiration behind the name ‘Roseaux’? Or perhaps it’s the air of elegance that emanates from the album as a whole, a melancholy tide of post-soul and nocturnal jazz lapping against the shores of this scattering of songs through which the gentle, caressing tones of Aloe Blacc wend their way? One thing is certain, with Roseaux, Emile Omar and his partners have succeeded in investing this project with more than just a certain unity, more even than an identity – they have given it a soul. 


Roseaux  feat. Aloe Blacc - "More than material"

Orphan Boy - Satellites

The Freewheelin' Troubadour - The Night That I Die (Hunchbakk Remix)

The problem with having an open mind for music is of course, the things people consider music. I hope you enjoy the music I've shared and liked through my rummaging in this vast archive. 

Music blogger and journalist

www.seekingsusanboyle.blogspot.com

www.hunchbakk.blogspot.com


Worst Case - Whole Again

Hunchblog

Related tracks