Issue v1.7 – Music, provided by 22tracks

Jungle – Drops
Drops is Jungle’s second single and a beautiful song for the dusk of summer, sounding like something on the crossroads of electronic music, indie and soulful R&B. A sparse though incredibly funky song accompanied by stunning layered vocals, Jungle’s Drops is by far one of the best tunes we’ve heard this year. The band prefer to remain pretty anonymous so nobody exactly knows who these guys are yet. All we can tell is that their next record is being released by Chess Club Records, home of Local Natives and Mumford & Sons. But Drops feels more related to XL Recordings’ also anonymous star: Jai Paul.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aazUMZyA0I8

Bondax – No Diggity
Blackstreet’s No Diggity was a major hit back in 1996 when it first came out and peaked at number one in the Billboard Top 100 and winning a Grammy in 1998. Still, over 15 years later, this song is an R&B classic like Autumn Leaves is a jazz classic. Wherever you hear this tune there’s probably always a lot of people singing the chorus. Now, young up and comers Bondax (hailing from Lancaster, UK) have reworked the tune to make it more danceable than ever and making sure No Diggity could last at least another 15 years.

Fat Freddy’s Drop – Blackbird
One of New Zealand most respected festival bands must be Fat Freddy’s Drop. In the last decade they have been giving 800 shows, half of them in Europe. Now it’s time to release their third studio album that was created in their studio Bays, which was one of the last vinyl pressing plants in New Zealand a while ago. As the band’s saxophonist Chopper Reeds states: “We feel totally at home melding together this unholy mix of disco, rootsy dub, blues, soul and electronic funk – it’s what we do.” And it’s what we love over at 22tracks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VAX1EkL0Mo

Jameszoo – Poek
Dutchman Jameszoo has to be among Holland’s most refreshing and respected producers at the moment, and rightfully so. Recording with August Rosenbaum of Quadron, Rhye, and Thundercat, we can safely say that he’s doing the right thing. Poek is an offering off of his most recent EP called Jheronimus and is an interesting jazzy track with Jameszoo’s signature style trippiness. Having a live bass and a chopped up but brilliant electric piano as its core, Poek is a beautiful tune to wake up to on a sunny morning.

Lone – Begin To Begin
If you’re in the mood for a warm upbeat and highly uplifting track, the B-side to Lone’s Airglow Fires single might be something for you. A crackly slow house track with warm pads, a skippy beat and a simple synthesizer riff that together form a sonic warmth that not many producers can achieve. This lad from Manchester can, obviously. If you’d ask me to describe this track in one word it’d probably me something along the lines of ‘floating’, cause that is what this song reminds me of: something beautiful that floats by for five minutes and thirty-nine seconds.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvbBCI2dzRU