Berlin-based Kyson announces debut LP The Water’s Way to be released on L.A. label Friends of Friends. The first preview from Water’s Way is the melodically spectacular R&B-tinged melancholy of “Missing Things”.
Kyson 
(Facebook)
Rating 8.45
Berlin-based Kyson announces debut LP The Water’s Way to be released on L.A. label Friends of Friends. The first preview from Water’s Way is the melodically spectacular R&B-tinged melancholy of “Missing Things”.
Kyson (Facebook)
Rating 8.45
The great Mazzy Star announced today that they will release their first LP in 17 years (since 1996’s Among My Swan) and it will be called Seasons of Your Day. Sample below the dreamy desert highway hush of excellent new Mazzy track (!!!!) “California”.
Mazzy Star 
(Official)
Rating 8.5
The tag [Prod. By FTSE] is quickly becoming a certain signifier of a must listen track. The UK producer’s hypnotic infinitely soulful nighttime hours style is a huge favorite around B3. Here, FTSE links up with oft-collaborator Kenzie May and rising London-based MC Thunderbird Gerard for the instantly-draws-you-in twilight blog rap of “Firewurx”.
Thunderbird Gerard 
(Official)
Rating: 8.3
“Recollection” is first single from Keep Shelly in Athens’ debut (!) LP At Home. Brought to us via the cool team at Cascine, the track (along with the rest of the LP) will see a September 17th release. “Maturing in sound” is often music blogger/journo talk for this sounds more like what I want this band to sound like and in that department, at least for us, “Recollection” does represent a maturation in sound for the Athenian duo. The track is more melodic, the arrangement of it is more concise (easier to get into on the first or second listen than a large amount of KSIA’s previous material). That said, “Recollection” is no less inventive or interesting than “classic” Keep Shelly in Athens, the amount of ideas and just flat out work that went into a composition as dense and varied as “Recollection” have to be immense. Blah blah blah, to conclude, we love it.
Keep Shelly in Athens 
(Facebook)
Rating 8.2
We’re usually pretty reticent to post “remixes” and “edits” of soul/r&b classics; like Marvin’s “I Want You” is one of best grooves ever period. So ostensibly we’re making a little leap here in giving Totescity, the Vegas DJ duo behind this new Theophilus London-featuring remix of “I Want You”, the Team B3/Estate of James Brown soul classic remix stamp of validation; but the remix truly is that fantastic. Hats off boys.
Totescity 
(Facebook)
Rating 8.5
Of course we love this. Mr. “Bread and Baloney”, Mr. “Real Big”, Mr. one of the best rap producers ever Mannie Fresh drops new track “Forever”. Naturally, it’s interesting to hear someone with as lengthy as a career/record as Mannie embrace changes and new trends in music (the Future-esque hook, the 2 Chainz flow) but all told we’re bumping “Forever” out our trunk REAL BIG.
Mannie Fresh 
( Twitter)
Rating 8.2
The velvet-voiced favorite of the site Jesse Boykins III drops off a new recording in the form of a cover of Coldplay’s “Sparks” from 2000. Yes, that is Coldplay and yes, it’s Jesse Boykins covering it. The Brooklyn-based Boykins does a right on very good job of the Chris Martin-penned tune; if Stevie Wonder was into Coldplay (he probably is) and sounded vocally like Jesse, his version would probably sound a bit like this (one of the highest compliments we can give). Parachutes swag.
Jesse Boykins III – SparksJesse Boykins III (Official) (Myspace) (Twitter)
Rating: 8.3
Australian DJ Kilter hooks up an ace “dancing in the summer of 2013” viber of remix for Ben Pearce’s soulful “What I Might Do” track from last year. We’re really loving this one; get yours below.
Kilter
(Facebook)
Rating 8.3
We’ve been spinning “Drive (Part 1)” from 20 year old London based producer Ben Khan and processing what exactly to make of such a menacing and anomalous debut? What’s indisputable is Khan’s inclination to play by his own rules. Dark guitars, synth tones, vocal melodies and pulsing rhythms seem to maneuver effortlessly between the experimental pop worlds of projects like Massive Attack and TV On The Radio. We predict that Ben Khan will be one to keep an eye on, and we can’t wait to hear more. Sample why below.
Ben Khan 
(Tumblr)
Rating 8.3
Tin Types, a newish band out of one of our adopted home hoods San Francisco, release beautifully atmospheric and pleasantly non-dense track “Torcchio”. Sort of loose in arrangement like a great 2013 indie version of an extended late 70’s R&B track (totally thinking of Latimore here lol), one “Torcchio”s really rewarding points (and there’s many) is that the track is set up in a way (ballasted nicely by some simple but very effective pulses of rhythm) where the guitar on the track and the vocals are able to actually breathe within the song’s broader context creating a hypnotic (powerful, refreshing) overall sense to the track. We love it.
Tin Types (Soundcloud)
Rating 8.1
Timberlake is back (again) w/ the lead single from his upcoming 20/20 Experience sequel and this time he’s brought along Michael Jackson. “Take Back the Night” is an Off the Wall-era Michael pastiche for sure but it is a very good pastiche and if it means it’ll grab away any playlist slots from that awful new Bruno Mars “Treasure” song, all the better.
Justin Timberlake 
(Official)
Rating 8.4
The mighty Snakehips outfits Banks’ “Warm Water” in an appropriately “jacuzzi temperatures” bath of fresh melodic beats and drenched in that glittering light you see on the ocean at twilight synth that has become the UK DJ’s trademark. Ace and a half.
Snakehips (Facebook)
Rating 8.2123
