32 MusicWeek 08.06.12
PRODUCTRECOMMENDED ALBUM OF THE WEEK
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TRACK OF THE WEEK
Write Me Back (RCA/Sony)
R. KELLY
The Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter and producer R-Kelly is set to release his eleventh studio album later this month - his first for two full years. Write Me Back is the follow up to 2010’s Love Letter, which
celebrated the music of the Fifties and Sixties. The new album aims to recall the sultry and seductive sounds associated with artists such as Barry White, Marvin Gaye and Teddy Pendergrass, among others. With a track record that boasts over 40 million albums sold
worldwide, six No. 1 albums, 11 No.1 singles, three Grammy Awards, eight Soul Train Awards, six American Music Awards and six Billboard Music Awards, R. Kelly is widely regarded as the “King of R&B.” In 2011, Billboard named R. Kelly the No. 1 most successful R&B artists of the last 25 years. When not in the spotlight, he’s has written and produced hit
June 25 INCOMING ALBUMS
YEASAYER Fragrant World (Mute) Yeasayer are back - all set to release self- produced Fragrant World this summer, the follow up to
2010’s acclaimed Odd Blood. Last month, the band sent 200
random fans physical CD of the first track Henrietta and encouraged them to share it. Yeasayer wanted the fans to experience the music first and told them so in an accompanying letter. The track went up a few days later and was picked up across the world. It’s officially released on May 28. The album is said to be ‘seething with sonics that construct eleven outstanding tracks that act together and also in a solo existence’ and ‘much weirder and darker’ than their last offering. The band will perform at pre- album warm-up shows, including Latitude, in July.
AUGUST 20
DANIEL POWTER Turn On The Lights (UEG / EMI) Grammy-nominated Canadian singer- songwriter Daniel Powter will kick off his new album
campaign with lead single Cupid. Powter first came to prominence in 2006, when his international hit Bad Day became the most played track of the year on the US Billboard Hot 100 tracks of the year.
It hit No. 1 in the US and Ireland, and
was a Top 10 hit across the world including the UK where he also achieved half a million albums sales. Powter’s new album is packed with heartfelt ballads, anthemic rockers, and lyrics that cover life, love and everything else in between. Produced by veteran hit- maker Howard Benson (Kelly Clarkson, Gavin DeGraw, All-American Rejects) in Los Angeles, it captures Powter in a soulful, irresistibly uplifting mood.
JULY 16
SANDI THOM Flesh and Blood (Guardian Angels Records) The Scottish singer- songwriter and multi- instrumentalist, best known for her 2006
No.1 hit single I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker (With Flowers In My Hair) is returning to music with her sophomore album, released solely by her independent label Guardian Angels Records (distributed in the UK by Nova through Universal) and produced by the Black Crowes’ Rich Robinson. He said of the record: “Sandi really stretched herself and made a bold new album. Her songs are honest, vulnerable and very strong. I think Sandi’s made a great record. It was a joy to work with her.”
Single Sun Comes Crashing Down is
available as a free download, while Thom will embark on a nationwide UK tour beginning at the London Islington Academy on Thursday, November 1.
AUGUST 27
songs for Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Celine Dion, Jennifer Hudson, Maxwell, Britney Spears and countless others. More recently, he was tapped to write and produce original music for the upcoming Sparkle soundtrack.
KATY PERRY Wide Awake (Virgin/EMI)
Katy Perry debuted Wide Awake in an exclusive performance on the 2012 Billboard Music Awards on May 20 – it was written for her upcoming film, Katy Perry: Part of Me. Perry documented her
July 2
California Dreams Tour, consisting of 124 performances, over a year ago. To be released on July 5 the film will be a first- ever big-screen look at the international superstar’s life both on and off-stage. Global superstar Perry has seen her two albums generate a string of No. 1 hit singles and multi-platinum sales over the past four years. The latest, special edition Teenage Dream: The Complete Confection, features three new songs, including Part Of Me her seventh Hot 100 No. 1 hit, and Wide Awake.
STAFF PICK: ED MILLER, SENIOR DESIGNER
ALLO DARLIN’ Europe (Fortuna Pop!) Those of you who’ve had the Best Coast album on repeat play
recently in an attempt to kick-start the British summer may have overlooked this alternative sun- kissed gem of an album, the second offering from the Anglo-Australian indie-popsters whose first single was memorably called Henry Rollins Don’t Dance. So you kinda know what to expect from them on that basis. Lead single Capricornia – delightfully gleeful and wistfully nostalgic in equal measure – is a paean to singer Elizabeth Morris’ Antipodean roots and recalls the kind of bouncy/bittersweet anthems
purveyed by her Aussie compatriots The Lucksmiths and Go-Betweens. Poignancy isn’t something you’d normally associate with the clapalong rhythms and fizzy, bubblegum guitar pop of this nature but Morris carries off the role of winsome, happy-go- lucky London migrant, elevating tracks like Neil Armstrong, title track Europe, Northern Lights and The Letter above the 2 minutes 45 of your average pop song. With a 4/5 rating in NME and an
Album of the Month promotion at Rough Trade during May, this record bodes well for the band’s future – and could just prove contagious enough to see Allo Darlin’ take their place as worthy heirs to the likes of Belle & Sebastian and Camera Obscura.
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