Brighton Pride is fast approaching, so to celebrate, we have updated our Brighton Pride Weekenderplaylist, dedicated to one of the city’s biggest annual events, promoting equality and diversity with the aim to eliminate discrimination against the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and more (LGBT+) community.
This playlist has been lovingly crafted to include a variety of tracks, by the artists performing at Brighton Pride 2019, as well as some other great anthems!
If you already own the songs and want the custom artwork, please feel free to copy/download it below:
We hope you enjoy this playlist as much as we’ve enjoyed creating it!
I recently had the privilege of doing a Skype interview with Irish producer and remixer, John Gibbons, following the release of his latest single and cover of the massive 1994, ‘Hotstepper’.
We spoke all about how some of his cover versions came to be, who he’d most like to collaborate with, what his passions are outside of music and one of his most embarrassing moments on stage. It’s all here…
Jonas Blue (real name Guy James Robin) is a London-based DJ, producer, songwriter and remixer. Since releasing his debut single, ‘Fast Car’ featuring vocals from Dakota (a tropical house cover of Tracy Chapman‘s 1988 single), in 2015, he has truly gone from strength to strength. He’s been busy working away with some big name singers and now 2018 sees him releasing his debut album, Blue. Here’s what we have to say about it…
I may have already stated that Sigala‘s debut album, Brighter Days, was the perfect party album but that being said, Jonas Blue‘s debut, is therefore certainly the soundtrack to the after party!
The album opens with the subtle yet gradually intensifying ‘Drink To You’ featuring passionate vocals from Zak Abel and some seriously, all-consuming production, launching you straight into it. Whilst it’s not an immediate, obviously catchy track, it’s certainly one you find yourself unexpectedly singing.
Although I don’t want to keep drawing similarities to it, again, like Sigala‘s debut, this too is packed full with tons of massive, hit singles…8 to be precise! From 2016’s, Number 2, tropical meets tribal house, smash hit, ‘Perfect Strangers’ (featuring JP Cooper) – a track responsible for cementing Jonas Blue as a big-hit producer and for spring-boarding JP Cooper‘s career; to the more recent, ‘Rise’ (featuring Jack & Jack) – a catchy-as-hell, merging of house and pop with an almost half-time beat, in places, there’s no wonder this guy’s album is so hotly anticipated.
Other singles taken from the album include, ‘By Your Side‘ (featuring RAYE) – with its monster chorus; ‘Mama‘ (featuring William Singe) – possibly one of the most memorable tracks of 2017; and the most recent single, ‘Polaroid’ (featuring Liam Payne and Lennon Stella) – somehow this track escaped my attention until doing this review but it’s got an irresistibly gripping chorus that you just can’t help but come back to time and again. ‘I See Love’ (featuring Joe Jonas) was featured on the soundtrack to Hotel Transylvania 3 – it’s a truly funky tune with some late 2000’s Enrique Iglesias vibes to it, however it’s not the most memorable track on the record.
Possibly one of my favourite, under-rated singles to come from the record though, is ‘We Could Go Back’ (featuring Moelogo). It’s a beautifully subtle song. There’s something very Chris Brown about it too; echoey, African tribal-sounding vocal chants make for a real sense of euphoria that would be magical to play on a midnight drive, the gentle summer breeze flowing through the open windows.
Jonas Blue’s debut is certainly the soundtrack to the after party!
As if all that wasn’t enough, there is a total of 7, other unreleased tracks to revel in! Another track to pay close attention to, is ‘Desperate’ (featuring Nina Nesbitt). Possibly one of the best tracks on the record, this unique song sees mellow, falsetto vocals paired with a wonderfully diverse beat.
Then there’s ‘Wherever You Go’(with Juan Magan) which has a real European flavour to it and an incredible vocal from Jessie Reyez; ‘Purpose’ (featuring Era Istrefi) that is quite a grungy, almost dark track and ‘Supernova’ (featuring Charlotte OC and Dark Heart) which sees the title theme reflected in the music. The vocal is reminiscent of Cher Lloyd and has both chopped and pitched edits in all the right places.
‘Wild’ (featuring Chelcee Grimes, TINI and Jhay Cortez) is possibly the weakest track; it’s somewhat repetitive and lacks the same interesting production that flows so well throughout the rest of the album. The most interesting parts are the Spanish lyrics interwoven throughout the song.
‘Come Through’ (with Kaskade and featuring Olivia Noelle) has a piano-driven lead into the chorus (somewhat typical of the genre), whilst the whole track acts as one last hurrah before the epic album closer.
It all comes round, full circle, closing with Jonas Blue‘s debut single, ‘Fast Car’, the tropical house cover of Tracy Chapman‘s 1988 hit, featuring guest vocals from Dakota and the song that was responsible for launching his career; a really nice touch and the perfect way to end it.
It has to be said that this guy has pulled out some incredible collaborations for his debut record and demonstrated just what a power-house producer and songwriter he is. With such a strong debut album (that could act almost like a greatest hits already), this is surely just the start of a long career ahead…and I can’t wait to see what he does next.
Polaroid featuring Liam Payne & Lennon Stella (Official Video)
Fast Car featuring Dakota (Official Video)
We hope you’ve enjoyed our review! What do you think of this producer’s epic debut album? Are you as much of a fan as us? What would you rate it out of 5? Please leave your thoughts in a comment or via our social media.
Enjoyed this? Check out some of our other reviews here:
Sigala (aka Bruce Fielder) is an English DJ, producer and remixer from Norwich in Norfolk. His first single, ‘Easy Love‘ (which featured a re-recorded interpolation of The Jackson 5 song, ‘ABC’) reached Number 1 in the UK Charts. In total, he has released a rather impressive, 12 singles, 6 of which have reached the Top 10 in the UK Charts. Now, with 10 of these singles featuring on his debut album, it’s easy to see why there is a lot of excitement about this release and indicates just how strong of an album it is. Here’s what we have to say about it…
To say that this album is star-studded is an understatement – it is utterly packed to bursting-point with incredible collaborations and downright epic tunes! Very rarely do you find that an album is filled, from start to finish, with singles but truly, every song on this record could be a single in its own right…and most of them have been!
With ten of the sixteen tracks having been released as singles, you could not be forgiven for not having heard at least one of these tracks before now! ‘Easy Love‘, ‘Sweet Lovin’‘ featuring Bryn Christopher, ‘Say You Do‘ featuring Imani Williams & DJ Fresh, ‘Give Me Your Love‘ featuring John Newman & Nile Rodgers, ‘Came Here For Love’ featuring Ella Eyre and ‘Lullaby’ featuring Paloma Faith all reached inside the UK’s Top 10. They’re all uplifting, summery songs which are filled with feel-good vibes. (For more about these tracks, hit the links above – as a massive fan of them and having reviewed them before, there’s so much else to focus on with this record!)
It’s easy to see why Sigala is such a big hitter – he’s created an instantly recognisable sound by combining dance music with tropical house and topping it off with some sensational pop collaborations, meaning his tracks just rocket up the charts…and the unreleased tracks on Brighter Days continue this trend. To make it clear just how many collaborations are on this record, here are a list of all the features:
With a lineup like that, it’s no surprise that this guy’s tunes are so damn good! Not only has he been dominating the UK dance music scene but with a whole host of international collaborations, he’s surely going to become a global hit!
The summer may well be drawing to a close but with this album, it feels like it’s just getting started; it’s the ultimate feel-good album that you just want to keep on repeat!
Aside from the obvious singles, this album features a few unheard tracks, starting with ‘Brighter Days’. With vocals from Paul Janeway (of St. Paul & The Broken Bones), you are eased into the album with a spacious verse that continually builds before unleashing a massive drop into the chorus…and the album doesn’t let up from there!
‘You Don’t Know Me’ is a huge track with shimmering synths and a monster beat (in collaboration with Shaun Frank) and some wonderful vocal lines from Flo Rida and Delaney Jane whilst ‘Somebody’ has some big, gang vocals in the lead-up to the chorus and great vocal harmonies shared between HRVY and Nina Nesbitt.
One of the biggest tracks on the album (and probably the most surprising that it’s not been a single) is ‘What You Waiting For’ featuring none other than pop princess Kylie Minogue! Think ‘Put Your Hands Up (If You Feel Love)’ but mellowed into a tropical house anthem with an ever-evolving beat – it’s musical euphoria at its best.
‘Revival’ sees Fielder collaborate with American production trio, Cheat Codes with the addition of wonderful falsetto and full-on vocals provided by US artist, MAX, supported by a crowd. The beat is intense; something you can easily find yourself getting lost in. Lastly, is ‘All For Love’ which features Irish rock band, Kodaline. The song is somewhat reminiscent of The Chainsmokers‘ track, ‘Something Just Like This‘ featuring Coldplay and the vocals have a certain quality to that of Danny O’Donoghue from Irish band, The Script. This really is testament to just how diverse Fielder’s production is and illustrates his superb songwriting skills too.
The only negative of the album is that because so many of the songs have already been released as singles, there’s only six tracks which haven’t been heard before (hence focusing this review mainly on them) but honestly this is an awesome record – the way the track list flows is perfect and ending it with ‘Easy Love’ is pure brilliance!
The summer may well be drawing to a close but with this album, it feels like it’s just getting started. It’s the ultimate feel-good album that you just want to keep on repeat – whether you’re out driving in the car, home alone and looking for a pick-me-up, having a few friends round for a BBQ or going all-out with a party; this is an hour-long, back-to-back, 16-track, banger of an album, that you simply can’t get enough of! Turn it up loud, play it proud and dance like fucking crazy! A sensational debut by a superb producer…and it’s surely only going to get more exciting from here…
We hope you’ve enjoyed our review! What do you think of this epic producer’s debut album, Brighter Days? Are you as much of a fan as us? What would you rate it out of 5? Please leave your thoughts in a comment or via our social media.
Enjoyed this? Check out some of our other reviews here:
Muzik Speaks 