Crunchy dark guitars mixed with sizzling synths and beats and a small wiff of Kraftwerk it’s Germany’s latest export the incredible ‘Thomas Passon’ who is currently taking UK clubs to a different level with new single ‘Los’

Thomas Passon is an artist and producer based in Wuppertal near Cologne, Germany. Thomas Passon has widespread musical influences like Peter Gabriel, Kraftwerk, Pantera and Toto which reflects in his diverse sound. Thomas Passon’s first array into the music world was when he played in a school band and he says “The band promoted the German language in foreign countries and I got to travel and perform many gigs”. The manifesto of Thomas Passon and how he describes his own music is “Lyrical splinters, particles of being, molecular moments in time”. Thomas Passon is back with an eclectic and unique album entitled ‘Illusion’ which is guaranteed to warp your musical imagination. Ten songs. Ten simple words. Ten modern German masterpieces to be deconstructed by you the listener. Beats from an industrial era and lyrics straight from Pandora’s box. Fragments of melodies, fantasies, subjective projections through space and time. It’s biographical. Introspective. Retrospective. Intended for the future. This is not music to be distracted by and you’ll find fragments of your own search for the why in this melting pot of rock riffs, thumping basslines, synthesizers, electro-pop and surreal semantic rock. Supported by his band Thomas Passon is that lone voice […]

A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships – The 1975

“I’m making pop records,” The 1975 frontman Matty Healy told Beats 1 host Matt Wilkinson. “When I say we’re a pop band, what I’m really saying is we’re not a rock band. Please stop calling us a rock band—’cause I think that’s the only music we don’t make.” It’s a fair comment: Thanks to their eclecticism and adventure, attempting to label The 1975 has been as easy as serving tea in a sieve. On their third album, the Cheshire four-piece are, once again, many things, including jazz crooners, 2-step experimentalists and yearning balladeers. What’s most impressive is their ability to wrangle all these ideas into coherent music—their outsize ambition never makes the songs feel cluttered. “I hate prog, I hate double albums, I hate indulgence,” said Healy. “I hate it when the world goes, ‘Hey, you’ve got our attention!’ and someone goes, ‘Right, well, if I’ve got your attention, how many guitar solos…’” Crucially, Healy’s lyrics add extra substance to—and bind together—the kaleidoscope of styles. On the neo-jazz of “Sincerity Is Scary”, he rails against a modern aversion to emotional expression. Broadly an album about love in the digital age, A Brief Inquiry… offers compelling insights into Healy’s own life. […]

Icarus Falls – ZAYN

“I close my eyes, I see a crowd of a thousand tears/I pray to God I didn’t waste all my good years.” Zayn Malik’s second solo album, Icarus Falls, finds him in a contemplative mood and, yes, One Direction fans, dissecting his boy-band past. Subjects covered also include infidelity (“Rainberry”) and drug use (“Back to Life”), but one truly dominates: ❤️. Tackling the passionate and painful, Icarus Falls could soundtrack candlelit bedrooms and stormy breakups, plus most things in between. The hazy, 27-track opus is bookended by a promise pledged (“Let Me” and its soulful assurance) and another broken (the seductive Timbaland collaboration “Too Much”); it exposes a man still figuring out love and maybe his own true voice. But its kitchen-sink approach—we get slow-jam synths, soaring melodies, subtle odes to intimacy—shows he’s definitely trying. https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/icarus-falls/1443895265?app=music

Championships – Meek Mill

Meek Mill knows how to make an entrance. “Dreams and Nightmares”, the opening track from his 2012 debut, became one of the most chantable rap songs of the era. “Intro”, the opener from the rapper’s fourth studio album, Championships, revisits the same energy, this time with the dramatic flair provided by a sample of Phil Collins’ “In the Air Tonight”. Championships serves as a reintroduction, of sorts, for the rapper. Its title refers to a feeling of accomplishment that Meek is finally comfortable embracing after a tumultuous few years in the limelight, including a bitter rap feud with onetime friend Drake (who officially closes out the beef with an appearance on Championships’ “Going Bad”), a high-profile breakup and a stint in jail stemming from a probation violation related to a charge he caught roughly 10 years prior. “I feel like I’m at a championship stage in my life,” Meek told Beats 1’s Ebro Darden. “I call it beating poverty, beating racism, beating the system, beating gun violence, beating the streets. Once I made it through all that, I got to a point in my life where I’ve been living good and balling, doing what I do.” The album is plenty […]

Dying to Live – Kodak Black

Ahead of Dying to Live’s release, Kodak Black shared a behind-the-scenes clip from the “Calling My Spirit” video shoot. In it the Pompano Beach, Florida MC talks about his decision to avoid being photographed in the set’s jail cell for fear of glorifying incarceration. This plays out as something of a milestone for Kodak, someone whose career to date has been marked by increasingly promising albums and mixtapes—all dropped amid stints in prison. The rapper’s tone on Dying to Live, the first project since his release this past August, is one of a man weary of his future—Kodak awaits trial for sexual assault charges stemming from an incident in 2016—and concerned with his influence. The album opens with “Testimony”, a song reaffirming Kodak’s faith. “I’m God-sent, like He sent me up/So I can relay these messages/Like He used me as His vessel/Like He used me as an instrument,” he raps. Songs like “Gospel”, from 2015’s Institution, have approached the rapper’s faith in a similar manner, but Dying to Live’s “Close to the Grave” and “Needed Something” stay true to a theme of repentance. The album is hardly all street gospel though. “Malcolm X.X.X.”, which features sound bites from Malcolm X’s […]

Music streaming service Saavn rebrands as JioSaavn, following merger with Jio

Music streaming service Saavn has been rebranded to JioSaavn. The app is available both on Android and iOS-powered devices. Customers can now expect a rebranded icon, while the app features remain unchanged, ExpressTech reports. Announced in March, the merger between Saavn and Reliance Jio is scheduled for completion by year-end. The JioSaavn app on App Store will remain free for Reliance Jio subscribers, while others would have to pay to install the service. Jio customers will also receive free access to Saavn Pro for 90 days.

MTN launches music streaming service MusicTime

MTN has launched time-based music streaming service MusicTime. MTN has announced the launch of music streaming service MusicTime, which it calls “a world first offering” from the team at Simfy Africa. MusicTime is a time-based music streaming service, offering users premium trending and locally relevant music through partnerships with key music labels and providers, according to an MTN statement. Last month MTN group CEO and president Rob Shuter announced that the telco had bought music-streaming business Simfy Africa. “The MusicTime offering is set to revolutionise Africa’s music industry with a fully inclusive music streaming offering that includes a countdown timer, top trending music and data included in the price,” MTN said in a statement today. The telco explained that the timer clocks down as users listen to music. “We have worked hard in getting this breakthrough model to our customers. Data costs and the high costs of the top end music streaming products mean that the majority of our customers don’t have an affordable option for digital music and Simfy Africa came with the solution we were looking for,” said Jacqui O’Sullivan, executive for corporate affairs at MTN SA. MusicTime is available as either a 120 minutes offering for R5 […]

MTN South Africa launches timer-based music streaming service MusicTime!

MTN South Africa has announced the launch of MusicTime!, which it says is a world-first offering from Simfy Africa. MusicTime is a time-based music streaming service, offering users premium trending and locally relevant music through partnerships with key music labels and providers. The offering includes a countdown timer, top trending music and data. The timer clocks down as users listen to music. MusicTime! is available for 120 minutes for ZAR 5 or 300 minutes for ZAR 10, both valid for seven days from purchase. There are no subscriptions, no hidden data costs and no advertisments.