Premiere: Billie Holiday - My Man (Toro y Moi Remix)

Billie Holiday's work is forever and we cannot not listen to her - she's with us for life! We listened to the first two of the Verve Remixed series from 2002 and 2003. It's hard to do jazz songs justice as the soul easily gets lost in the mix - but there are exceptions of course! The series gets a new lease on life in the form of The First Ladies release. First taster is chillwaver Toro y Moi's take on the sadness heavy 1926 hit My Man. A hit for several artists, Billie's various versions laced with incredible blues are iconic. This new one uses Billie's voice as an instrument rather than staying true to the song. Somewhere deep within the heavy beats, pitches and chopped vocals hides that sadness though and it's actually a bit mind blowing. Sadly, violence in a relationship can be as true nowadays as 87 years ago - the music and settings might change, but emotions are still the same. We imagine Billie as a contemporary rapper and spoken word artist sending this message to the future with her art that will never die. For the full album tracklist click here! 

Lana Del Rey & Barrie-James O'Neill - Summer Wine (Lee Hazelwood Cover)

Lana Del Rey and her real life boyfriend Barrie-James O'Neill of the band Kassidy are currently on tour together. The love birds have done a cover of the 1966 classic Summer Wine, made popular in 1967 as a duet between composer Lee Hazelwood and Nancy Sinatra. Honestly we can't think of a better song to tide us over until Lana's new single Young and Beautiful drops next week. The cover is really sweet and beyond retro really, with the Super 8 look of the video it's as made in the 60's. Have a look below! PS. Awesome touch with the Billie Holiday clip at the end! 

Billie Holiday - Sensational Lady - A Sunday Documentary

Words cannot even describe how we feel about Billie Holiday. No words are even necessary - it's pure feeling it. We listen to her all the time, and she had a magical, otherworldly way of taking words and infuse them with a raw, pure emotion. You feel her when you listen. It's like she sings directly to you. Born in 1915 to teenage parents - with her mother only 13 we can't even begin to fathom the start of her life. A victim of rape when she was a child - she herself was sent away to a correctional facility like it was her fault. Then later working in a brothel with her own mother. Billie prevailed and began her career in music. Living in heavily segregated times and really before the civil rights movement her story is also a grim document of racism in America and the oppression of women. In this BBC documentary from 2001 we get to hear amazing stories from people who knew her directly. They together paint a portrait of the genius that she was, but also the person behind the music, who wanted to be loved and free and longing to have a family. We also get to hear what a badass she was - she managed to squeeze an awful lot of living in those 44 years she was here on this earth. The songs she wrote are legendary - God Bless The Child, Don't Explain, Lady Sings The Blues. Not to mention her version of Strange Fruit - in our book the definitive protest song against racism. The world is a much better place because of her legacy. 

As always we can't wait to hear your thoughts - comment below or Facebook us! 

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Billie Holiday - Trav'lin' Light

Words cannot express our love and admiration for Billie Holiday. This clip is from 1959, shot in Paris, and she only had 2 months left to live. Long gone, but never forgotten.