FRESH NEW KICKS: Sharpness- Jamie Woon

By now it seems relatively safe to dub Apple Music’s Beats 1 radio a comprehensive success. Artists are premiering exclusive content over the airwaves at a rate that probably has Jay Z crying into a handkerchief worth more than your entire wardrobe. OVO, FKA twigs and Pharrell are just a sample of musicians choosing to drop new tunes on their own shows without so much as a hint of a pre-order option on iTunes. And thankfully, that has led us to this happy occurence: Jamie Woon, the original sonic mould for thousands of Soundcloud electronic R&B artists, has returned to rescue us from the musical doldrums with a brand new track that Pharrell cheekily decided to air on his Beats 1 slot, without Woon’s prior knowledge. Then Disclosure followed suit by showcasing it on Radio 1 and now the song has finally made it online for you to listen at your leisure.

FRIENDLY REMINDERS: Mirrorwriting- Jamie Woon

Jamie Woon‘s biggest misfortune was to emerge in a year that favoured big soundscapes. Commercially, the charts were dominated by joyful, bold pop tunes- this was a time when ruby-hued hair was sported by at least 1 in 10 girls of a certain age thanks to Rihanna’s Loud era, and Jessie J claimed BBC Sound of 2011 off the back of her excellent first single, Do It Like A Dude, which remains the only exciting thing she’s managed to produce in the last 3 years. On the critical side of things, James Blake had emerged as the new underground darling, thanks to pioneering a now ubiquitous fusion of heavy electronic production with vulnerable, raw vocal performances. Frank Ocean had just dropped Nostalgia, Ultra while Katy B raked in the plaudits for her debut album that also helped reignite a new passion for UK dance music in the mainstream. Oh, and Adele did quite well with a record titled 21, but let’s be honest, we’ve heard enough about that one.

 Here’s that video that FKA twigs hates.