This song has been rolling round my head for longer than when Annie Mac made this version with Talib Kweli her ‘Hottest Song in the World’. The original version has been knocking round for two years now but hasn’t been available to purchase for the past while.
As the Indecision, 2Shy and White Light were released, it became apparent that a re-released ‘Touch’ would probably be the track to run up to the release of Shura‘s debut album.
‘Nothing’s Real’ hasn’t got a definite release date yet but it’s looking more like May, just before the Shepherds Bush Empire gig on May 26th, I suspect.
This remix or ‘alternative edit’ of Touch features Talib Kweli and really does add a different dimension to the track. Touch is a sultry ‘let’s get it on’ track, Talib Kweli’s contribution funks it up, lifts it and will bring the track to a different audience.
Did I mention it’s addictive? This track is so so addictive, put it on a loop now and save yourself the trouble later.
Shura, Live at Electric, Brixton, September 17 2015
It’s been a little over three months since I headed to Brighton to see Shura. In that time, Aleksandra Denton and her band have been honing their set, with a never ending string of dates and festivals. In front of the 1400 punters at Electric Brixton, it’s paying dividends.
The night was opened by Roseau and Clean Cut Kid. If my information is correct, Roseau hasn’t done that many gigs, but her electronic soul vibes fit in beautifully and Roseau proves herself to be an artist to watch. Onstage, Roseau and her band are visually striking and her use on an old style Shure 55SH microphone, (like the one Elvis used) adds a timeless edge to her set. Check out her album, it’s out now.
Next up where Clean Cut Kid, known for ‘Vitamin C’. The Liverpool quartet play a solid set, with some great guitar work from the lead singer, who also possesses one of the finest beards I’ve seen this year. Clean Cut Kid are really good at what they do, they have a good rock grounding, layered with melodic instrumentation and vocal lines. At times, it does seem like it could be a slightly odd choice for an opener for the more electronic, Shura but they work well and your scribe would definitely go see them again.
Shura and her three piece band take to the stage and the growth in confidence is easily seen. Shura is now also playing guitar and seems to like rocking out a bit, duelling with her guitarist. She also seems like she’s now really enjoying what she’s doing and that’s rubbing off on the crowd. For these ears though, I’d cut back on the rubbling bass a little and bring Shura’s voice a little more to the fore in the front of house music mix.
For a hot sweaty crowd, a reworked down tempo 2Shy, provides a breather. All the tracks we know from Shura are included in tonight’s set, Kids n Stuff, Indecision, Touch, and an epic set ending ‘White Light’. It’s pretty awesome to see an artist grow in stature, and throughout the night, Shura reaffirms her importance on the music scene. The sold out Electric crowd also bear witness to rather awesome, sometimes blindly beautiful lighting.
Shura is obviously still working on different mixes and structure of songs, which versions make it to an album and which stay only in a live format remains to be seen. Shura, herself, is now playing guitar and dancing around the stage. Her set has grown at an immense rate since last time. This bodes extremely well for the future. I wonder what size venue she’ll play next?
Today saw the unveiling of George Michael’s video for White Light. I’m not going to write anymore about the track, I’ve done that already except to say Oh My! I’m not sure any video could be more imagery packed.. Good job!
Last week George Michael unveiled his new single ‘White Light’ to the world on the thirtieth anniversary of ‘Wham Rap’ hitting the charts. This time last week, I was contemplating writing about Wham! and George and the musical influence on me (and posting a few pics with my entire GM collection). After hearing ‘White Light’ though, I didn’t not to on this occasion. There was something deeper to this.
Since George released the cover of ‘True Faith’ for Comic Relief, he has been using a vocoder effect on his vocals which he uses again on the backing vocals on ‘White Light’. The tune itself is a grower and sonically does seem understated at times but I really love the dischord between George’s vocals and the backing track.
That’s what I thought, musically, of the track until I heard the Kinky Rowland remix last night which was premiered on Phil Marriott‘s show on Gaydar Radio. This is an awesome dance mix and could easily, in my humble opinion, be one of the big club tunes of the year.
I’m not sure though that ‘White Light’ can be looked at or compared to other music George has released. This track is about George’s illness last December, he suffered from severe pneumonia and had to undergo a tracheotomy to keep him breathing.
On September 30th 2000, I got caught in a house fire. I was lucky, I miraclously woke up and crawled out of the building. Along the way, scorching my lungs and my vocal chords and (not for the faint hearted) burned the entire side of my hand on a hot fire extinguisher. That’s why ‘White Light’ is a special song. I, too, was in intensive care. My throat swelled up as did my vocal chords, making it extremely hard to breathe. So much so that the nice doctors were going to knock me out and put me on a respirator until they could stabilise my condition. The didn’t even know if I would live, such was the severity of the reaction I had taken to the smoke inhalation.
Listening to the lyrics of ‘White Light’ brings back so many memories of that time. Being musically inclined, I’ve always attached lyrics to situations, this one had two, which I would run through my head (cos I couldn’t speak). The first was Garbage and the line ‘The trick is to keep breathing’. The second came from the first song that was on the radio when I got out of Intensive Care. It was Sonique and the song was called ‘Sky’ and the first lines of the song. ‘Look at me, it really was not easy, but I can breath.’ Corny? Probably but it gets you through and that’s exactly what ‘White Light’ is about. The thing that keeps you going. That’s why ‘White Light’ is this week’s Tune of the Week. It will be released in August.
Today saw the unveiling of George Michael’s video for White Light. I’m not going to write anymore about the track, 
Last week