And the guys have done it again. Just a few weeks after releasing my summer fave Money On Me featuring Anderson .Paak, Snakehips came up with yet another gem of a track featuring Malika, entitled “Falling”. This is included in the 4-track EP they launched last April 15th named after the Tinashe and Chance the Rapper song, All My Friends.
What I love most about this song is that they definitely went old school R&B/Hip Hop by making use of jazzy horn hooks in the background. Malika made it even more brilliant – sexily and soulfully belting out lyrics focusing on the joys of finding new love. Despite going back to basics, Snakehips still made sure they put in their signature electro-hop flavor by properly placing groovy bass lines all throughout the song.
You can order Snakehips’ EP here, catch them in their other shows (aside from Coachella) by following them on Songkick. Or just be updated with all new related to the duo by liking their Facebook page.
So, I was one of the few lucky fans who got the chance to watch Kanye West perform his first show for 2016 after the release of The Life of Pablo. To be honest, at first I thought this concert was a scam because there were literally no traces of the show announced in any of his social media assets. It was only until I think last week that it was confirmed in his website that he was going to Manila – out of all the places in the world to be honest.
After witnessing him live, I now understand why the guy’s so full of himself. Yeezy’s just too good to be true. I haven’t seen anyone who puts so much passion in his work to the point that he sang Famous 3 times in a row because he wasn’t happy with how it turned out. He got so emotional during the performance that he freestyle rap-ranted in the middle of the song, talking about how much he wanted to do his own thing because it was the ethos of being an artist – creating things aligned to your essence and not being told what to do. “So if I get in trouble for saying the truth, what’s being said the rest of the time? And I had to fight every day of my life when the whole world turned against me for saying what I felt. That’s the job of an artist, of a true artist — not to be controlled by their finances, not to be controlled by perception, but only to be controlled by their truth. What you see, what you feel, and say what you f*cking feel!” Everyone was fully supportive and confirming his rants, cheering him on throughout this scene.
His set design was super minimal. It was just a bunch of lights similar to his SNL performance with Sia and Vic Mensa when he first released Wolves. What’s great about this setup is that the whole focus of the crowd was solely on him. There was only one change in the setup when he brought out his synthpads when he sang Runaway.
What I loved most about his performance was he mixed a bunch of his old and new stuff to keep the crowd interested and craving for more. Most of the songs transitioned to the gospel chorus of Ultralight Beam, which was a perfect attention-getter it made you feel like you’re listening some pastor preach the Sunday gospel in church. He opened his set with Stronger, which I believe was the right mood setter as it instantly got the crowd so hyped up everyone was dancing and literally singing their hearts out to every word. Aside from Famous, some tracks he sang from TLoP were Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 2, Waves, and some bits of Fade. He actually sang a little bit of everything – Black Skinhead, New Slaves, and the catchy sample from Bound 2 from Yeezus, All Falls Down and Jesus Walks from College Dropout, Gold Digger from Late Registration, All of the Lights and Runaway from My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Stronger, Flashing Lights, and Good Life from Graduation, and whole lot more. It was literally a back to back to back to back of his biggest hits. I’m quite surprised he included these past hits in his set list as these are already so far from the new experimental hip hop Yeezy sound he’s been known for the past few albums.
This man is just out of this world. My mind still cannot comprehend that he actually went to this humble 3rd world city. Kudos to the Paradise IMF team for putting up this one helluva show. I’m crossing my fingers now, and hope they bring in Drake and Childish Gambino next.
Yeezy’s next confirmed show will be this 16th of April called the “Yeethoven” – a 70-piece orchestra in collaboration with Yuga Cohler and Stephen Feigenbaum. Either way, stay updated by following him on Songkick. This man is just full of surprises you never know where and when he’s gonna strike next.
Guys, it’s official – one of the most influential bands in the post-hardcore scene is gonna reunite after five years of hiatus. Thursday will be performing together again at the Wrecking Ball Festival in Atlanta. According to Geoff, they were able to reconcile all of their differences by spending time together earlier this year. “This is a vital component to what we loved about being in Thursday and we’re happy to say that we’ll be playing this show as the same line-up that began touring together on Full Collapse and jointly worked on every record since.” he added. The OG lineup will remain intact – Geoff, Tom, Tim, Steve, Tucker, and Andrew. I’m crossing my fingers that this reunion won’t be just a one day thing!
Hopefully they also come out with a new material and follow up No Devolución. But for now, I’m gonna share here my all-time favorite song from them:
Like Thursday’s Facebook page to get the latest news from the band. You can also follow them on Songkick to get real-time concert and gig updates.
I’m super fond of making lists. Just like most people I also have a bucketlist, but it’s focused on musicians I’ve been dying to watch live.
Last Saturday, I had the chance to tick off 4 artists from that list in one go when I went to Wanderland Music and Arts Festival. I was able to catch San Cisco, Commandeur, The Naked & Famous, and Bon Iver. Panama is also part of that bucketlist, but I already caught them live last year when I went to We The Fest in Jakarta (catch our special cameo in their post-concert video here hahaha).
All of them did not disappoint.
Jarrah McCleary and Tim Commandeur of Panama
Panama’s been one of my all-time favorites; I sang my heart out throughout their whole set. They opened with my favorite song, How We Feel, and even up until now, it still makes my heart skip a beat. My friends and I were dancing like crazy when they played their cover of Clubfeet’s Cape Town. And of course everyone were singing their hearts out when they sang the crowd favorite, Always.
Josh, Jordi, Scarlett, and Nick
San Cisco was so chill on stage, with vocalist Jordi shimmying sexily in his shorts and sandals. Scarlett was super cute in her red dress and bare feet, exuding so much confidence despite hiding behind her big drum set. The chemistry between the 4 of them was just so electric, it was obvious every one had so much fun watching them.
Commandeur on deck
It was also a good opportunity for Panama’s drummer, Tim Commandeur, to showcase his DJ skills. He played a wide variety of crowd pleasers like Jamie XX’s “I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times)” and The Weeknd’s “I Can’t Feel My Face”. Only a handful of us actually recognized his original song With Me (which btw, I reviewed here). It was a nice set, and Tim was obviously a crowd-favorite/panty-dropper with all the girls wanting to take selfies with him.
Alisa + the guys of TNAF
The guys of TNAF gave an amazing and very nostalgic performance. They took everyone back to 2010 when they played their hits “Punching in a Dream” and “Young Blood”. Their performance reminded us why they should be staples in every millennial’s playlist.
Transcendental performance by Bon Iver
I wasn’t originally planning to watch Bon Iver as I was only familiar with a handful of their songs. I was supposed to go home already after buying dinner, but when I heard how amazing Perth’s intro sounded, I decided to stay. And man, was I glad to stick with that decision. I was watching their set alone, right in front of the soundbooth, and I was bawling like a baby with just how magical their performance was. It released so much feelings, thoughts, and ideas in me I felt like screaming out of sheer joy. My personal favorite was Justin Vernon’s solo auto-tune performance of “Woods”. I instantly became a fan after that performance.
Not considering the long, inefficient lines in the beverage booths, Karpos was able to pull off this festival magnificently. Hope they’ll be able to replicate, if not surpass, this one.
It’s safe to say that RÜFÜS’ tropical house hits perfectly suited the Indonesian weather last Saturday when they played at We the Fest 2015. But unlike all the other electronic music bands nowadays, they are actually able to set themselves apart from the crowd by making their songs aurally and lyrically pleasant. They are able to perfect that blend of romance, desolation, and even travel in their songs, enhancing it further by putting in their signature minimal yet infectious rhythms and beats. I’m pretty sure they have the best song-writing you will hear in today’s contemporary electronic music scene.
The guys opened their set with Modest Life, which I believe was the perfect song choice to get the crowd all pumped up. What I liked most about it was Jon (synths) and James (drums) actually played the beats alternately, which was not obvious if you’ve just listened to their record.
Of course, Sundream was the crowd favourite. Hearing the song played live was actually a better experience compared to the first time I heard the song. Tyrone himself told everyone that it was about late nights and fondue (aka sex), which was actually pretty obvious as its light, floaty synths and solid bass lines were very orgasmic.
They played many other hits like Tonight and Imaginary Air, which as expected, did not disappoint the crowd.
RÜFÜS closed their set with Desert Night. Most of their live videos uploaded on YouTube were of this song, and I was already anticipating the 7-minute version of it. The low-key synths and soft, almost-whispered vocals were able to give off the tropical house vibe they were aiming for. It made you feel like you were watching them play in a beach, circled around a bonfire while sipping a cold bottle of beer. As they hit the 5-minute mark of the song, the whole crowd already resembled a pulsating nightclub packed with sweaty people singing and dancing along to their electro-pop beats. To further pump up the crowd, Tyrone (vocals) did not even hesitate to smash his keyboards right in front crazy crowd.
Obviously, I was very impressed with the band’s performance as they were able to keep their authentic electro-vibe by playing as a full band. For me, they were one of the standouts of the festival. Their live footages online did not even do justice to how they actually are in real life. Each individual song was played impeccably, and their use of lights at critical moment truly brought more life to the set. They threw one damn good party, and I would not hesitate catching them live again.
FATIMA ESPINEDA 