Monthly Archives: July 2010

“Frisky” – Tinie Tempah (Feat. Labrinth)

Hip hop’s latest acquisition – club music – has taken on a life of its own. First came David Guetta (with Akon), then Tiesto (with Three Six Mafia) and Swedish House Mafia (with Pharrell), and now the barriers of both genres intersect uncomfortably close and end up sounding like house party scenes from Skins … Who can keep up? The thing is – I can’t really stand club music – so hip hop’s latest love affair with Euro-dom is only a ‘bubbling under’ type of phenomenon (at least for me). That is, until I heard Tinie Tempah: a 21-year-old Brit whose rhymes trump even his headiest of beats. His cockney accent compliments each novel phrase, his beats are best described as ‘headbanging club-hop’,  if there were such a thing. Tempah’s #1 U.K. hit, “Pass Out” (below) is  one of the hardest-hitting tracks of the year, resulting from its pulsating ‘call to the floor’ beat and directional lyrics (um.. Heidi and Audrina eat your hearts out?). “Written In The Stars” is an epic almost-”Umbrella” and “Frisky” is mindlessly infectious. Categorize Tempah’s work as garage, dupstep, club-hop or just plain hip hop, no matter what, his flow transcends them all. Say hello to Uncle Fester!

“Pass Out” – Tinie Tempah

“Written In The Stars” – Tinie Tempah

“GOLD” – TEACHERS

I’m beyond psyched to announce a project I’ve been helping in the development of for a while now… it’s called TEACHERS and it’s the next level in music. The first single, “GOLD,” is like a sonic relative to Avatar or The Lion King, with it’s cliff-jumping climax and fire-burning tribal chants. It may be the closest you’ll ever come to air-gliding through the rain forest on Ecstasy or stadium-rocking with baboons on your very own private isle. The band, headed by Green Owl Records founder, Ben Bronfman (vocals and production), is a genre-defying testament to music’s current identity crisis – is it pop? is it rock? is it indie? is it major? – it doesn’t matter – shit is GOLD. The best part is there’s so much more to come. Stay tuned for more TEACHERS developments coming soon on Smoke & Mirrors blog. To download the track for free, head here.