The Best of 2013: The Year In Music

We were gonna post our annual Best of list on Monday. But with the hurricane force winds and floodings (right outside our HQ) in Europe now is a good a time as any for some sweet beats! It's been another incredible year in music and we wanna say thank you for a true pleasure listening together with ya'll! Standouts for us has been the dreampop of Say Lou Lou, Sky Ferreira's debut album, the return of MKS, David Lynch working with Lykke Li, Blood Orange sending us into heaven and the return of both David Bowie and Annie. Well honestly, the whole list is a true statement of what we absolutely love with no particular ranking. We saw The Knife live front and center in May at their Copenhagen gig and have a memory for life. Sheer brilliance! The fact that M.I.A., Sky Ferreira and Annie shared links to this blog on Twitter is just nuts and amazing! Thank you so much! Last week we took part in the Digital Agenda for Music conference in Stockholm along with Robyn and representatives from the government, technology and music industry sectors. Eh, amazing! We cannot wait for what '14 has in store and continue to grow and bring you the most awesome beats around. Thank you and enjoy!

Premiere: Solange - Cash In

It's the year of Solange, okrrr! Since late last year we've had her amazing True EP on repeat and yeah done the Losing You dance many a times. She's started her own record label, Saint Records, and curated its first annual compilation album, Saint Heron. Closing off the handpicked goodness is a brand new Knowles track, Cash In. Subtle and playing with some dissonance it makes us officially antsy for a brand new Solange album. We love the understated way she sings and reminds us a bit of Erykah Badu actually. Listen below and perhaps crank up True when you're done! 

Video Premiere: Solange - Lovers in the Parking Lot

Solange's fantastic True EP is easily one of the most played at our place this past year. One of the first tracks we heard from it was Lovers in the Parking Lot and we're so happy it's getting a single release! We could listen to the drums alone, haha, but the amazing vocal delivery is just sublime and the production from Dev Hynes is perfection. The video is Texas strip mall realness and the idea of pairing a classic shopping destination with a club feel is effective. The dancing more than reminds of a certain sister as well, haha. Both Solange and Beyoncé kills it dancing in heels! The sentiment that you end up playing yourself if you mess around with other people's hearts we totally agree with. You should treat others like you wanna be treated yourself. Easier said than done, but oh so TRUE. Enjoy below! Lyrics here! 

Full Album Stream: Janelle Monáe - The Electric Lady

The booty don't lie! We're blown away by Janelle Monáe's The Electric Lady album from the very first listen. It's brilliant and definitely a contender for album of the year. Her gleaming collaborations with Erykah Badu and Miguel sound even better here and the extended version of the latter we adore. Janelle infuses her second album with soul, R&B, Motown, Jimi Hendrix vibes, disco and classic 70's film scores. It's sounds cohesive despite all the references and the over all production is outstanding. Big Boi and Sean Combs act both as executive producers and they're holding this album together beautifully. We love the radio interludes and the humour they bring to the project. Prince and his guitar solo kick start the album on Givin' Em What They Love and Solange lifts the title track to gloruous heights with her amazing voice and that horn section makes us wanna d.a.n.c.e! Album closer What An Experience is just so tender and makes us want to hit repeat instantly. Top marks! The whole album is booty drop amazing and when it's out on September 10th we're picking it up first thing. Listen to the full stream below! Thoughts?

Solange - Live @ Glastonbury

Solange took to the Park stage at Glastonbury yesterday for a full on lovefest. Her sister Beyoncé was the first woman headlining the festival in 25 years (!!) two years ago, so how awesome to see more of that insane Knowles talent gracing the Somerset fields. There definitely needs to be more diversity to say the least; and more women headliners! Losing You is such an awesome song, we can never get enough hearing it both in recorded and live form. Since this was Solange's closer she sounded a bit out of breath, which was a shame for the power of it all. But nonetheless she rocked people's socks! We'll post more videos as they become available. Enjoy!