From the inheritor of John Coltrane's mouthpiece a re-integration of deep South African jazz roots with the Black Atlantic spiritual jazz continuum.
Celebration's release trumpeted the emerging dawn of South Africa's epochal changes. Sainted and blessed, Bheki Mseleku appeared as the herald of a new era, a prophet of rebirth and reconnection. This is a work signalling transition and change, and a sign of a South African music that was properly reconnected with global currents - a music that could journey far beyond the stifling combination of exile and oppression in which it had been bound.
Recognising Bheki as a kindred spirit to her late husband, Alice gave him the saxophone mouthpiece that John Coltrane had used during the recording of A Love Supreme. Coltrane was a permanent touchstone for the pianist, one of the few who Bheki felt had the same esoteric and spiritual focus as himself: 'the only musicians I know of who were deeply into this were Coltrane, and Pharoah and Sun Ra', he told an interviewer in 1992.
While the idioms of post-Coltrane spirit jazz are certainly to the fore on Celebration, they are energised by a swift and original musical vision, quite specific to Bheki's music, in which whole musical systems - the marabi and mbhaqanga jazz of the townships, American jazz, European classical, and more - are seamlessly mended together by the pianist's quicksilver musical sensibility and legendary technical ability.
Celebration was originally released on compact disc and cassette in the middle of 1992 by World Circuit. It was Bheki's first statement under his own name, and the first recorded presentation of his personal musical vision. This vision had been tempered across two decades which had combined intense professional playing with profound personal trials in both the spiritual and earthly domains, all set against the greater backdrop of South African political turmoil and exile in Europe.
The band brought together musicians hailing from three signally important points within the interconnected, communicating spaces of the Black Atlantic continuum - North America, post-colonial Britain, and southern Africa. With them, Mseleku created the first major South African-led musical statement to be produced after the sufferance of exile was ended. The ultimate and most egregious remnant of the centuries-long colonial era, apartheid, was finally being dismantled as they played. At this critical point, Mseleku's musical spirit work, channelled from a higher source, spoke of a time to come where all divisions might be transcended by a greater unity.
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Back in 1995 while living on the West Coast, at the peak of the Rave Experience, Dj Spun and Dhyan Moller recorded a bunch of live tracks, without any sequencer, all direct to cassettes.
Spun aka Jason Drummond, reached out last spring after rediscovering all the cassettes and asked us if we'd be interested in releasing some of the tunes.
Jason shipped us the cassettes and after a good transferring session, we decided we had to release all the tracks under a 3LP set. This stuff is fire. We still love DJ SPUN - and Dhyan Moller!
The main motivation behind the creation of ORACULO RECORDS label was to release directly the material produced by the label managers Nico Caban~as and Vanessa Asbert under SYNTHS VERSUS ME alias so to celebrate the reference OR50 they present an EP with a selection of unreleased material on vinyl, including their very acclaimed and awaited version of "Goodbye Horses". This record is available as gift / free digital download at ORACULO RECORDS bandcamp. It arrives on 12" EP format and produced in a ONE-OFF truly ultra limited edition of 150 copies lacquered pressed on 180 gr. high quality solid black vinyl. All tracks have been specially remastered for LONG CUT vinyl by Eric Van Wonterghem.
After a barnstorming live reunion which saw them play to ecstatic audiences across Europe throughout 2017, Britain's giants of electronic music Orbital are back, with new music and an upgrade of the legendary live show that transformed festivals across the world.
First single Tiny Foldable Cities opened the account, an intricate piece of electro-hypnotica, takes their signature sound forward into a new and fascinating phase, heralding their first new album in five years, Monsters Exist.
Throughout 2018 they play a string of high-profile festival dates and headline shows across Europe, featuring new material alongside classics like 'Chime', 'Belfast' and 'Impact'.
This surge of creativity shows how reunited brothers Paul and Phil Hartnoll have rebuilt one of electronic music's best-loved partnerships after Orbital's surprisingly bitter break-up in 2012. They'd been onstage with Stephen Hawking at the Paralympics, in front of the whole world. They'd remixed Madonna. They'd played Glastonbury many times and travelled the world yet were driven apart by music's strange and infamous brother-vs-brother dynamic. But now the brothers have a pact: whatever happens, Orbital does not stop. They've learned to talk and accept each other. As Paul says, "If we were both the same, then it wouldn't be Orbital."
Rekids regular Markus Suckut drops his third album entitled 'Heaven Is A State Of Mind' this September. Here is a limited edition 10' of extra two tracks from the album. 'We Will All Disappear One Day' is a syncopated ominous beast if a track complete with purring bassline, on the flip is the moody two-step number entitled 'Death Is Not Final' with twisted sequences and trippy effects.
- A1: Schntzl - Lindbergh
- A2: Brzzvll - De Vlijtige Kip
- A3: 2 Times Nothing - Fuckbox
- A4: Labtrio - Elevator
- B1: Glass Museum - Tribal Coffee
- B2: Steiger - Part One
- B3: De Beren Gieren - Oude Beren
- B4: Black Flower - Artifacts
- C1: Commander Spoon - Introducing - Part Iii
- C2: Compro Oro - Bombarda
- C3: Stuff. - Strata
- C4: Mazzle - Hikari Park
- D1: Madame Blavatsky - Steak In The Neck
- D2: Collective Conscience - Takeoff
- D3: Beraadgeslagen - Suikerbeat
- D4: Pudding Oo - Hiza Hiza Hey
Vol.2 Black Vinyl[24,79 €]
Vol.2 Limted Red Vinyl[26,01 €]
Vol. 3 Black Vinyl[24,16 €]
Vol. 3 Transparent Violet Vinyl[27,52 €]
"It´s More Like Jazz For DJ´s"
2lp In Gatefold Sleeve With Liner Notes. 180gr Vinyl. Including Download Card. An Outstanding Collection Of Musical Gems From Belgium's Thriving Jazz Scene. Compiled By Belgian Dj And Eclectic Connoisseur Lefto.
- A1: The High Life - Marion Ryan
- A2: Vamos - A - Baila - Chico Arnez
- A3: Jonny One Note - Ted Heath
- A4: Wimoweh - Eve Boswell
- A5: House Of Bamboo - Neville Taylor
- A6: Baia - Tony Scott
- A7: Jump In The Line - Frank Holder
- A8: Mambo For Latin Lovers - Ido Martin
- B1: Fanagalo - Frank Chacksfield Ft Frank Holder
- B2: Taboo - Charles Blackwell
- B3: Voom-Va- Voom - Eve Boswell
- B4: Crazy Latin - Don Carlos
- B5: Vaba -Ba - Boom - Edmundo Ros
- B6: Boliviana - Victor Silvester
- B7: Don's Mambo - Don Carlos
- B8: The High Life - Basil And Ivor Kirchin Ft Toni Sharpe
Volume five of the killer Britxotica! series, looking this time at 16 super rare and briliantly bonkers latin and percussive pop cues from the wild British Isles!
HISTORY:
Britxotica! (pronounced 'Britzotica') neatly describes an odd and yet undocumented pre-Beatles British musical scene where famed UK composers as well as unknown singers and bandleaders threw convention on holiday and went wild wild wild! Put together by Jonny Trunk with DJ / tastemaker and Smashing nighclub legend Martin Green, these groundbreaking new compilations shine new light on lost and forgotten corners of British culture and sound.
For this, Part Five of our planned Britxotica! series we head to lively latin tinged dancefloors where Brits could cha cha cha to the KIrchin band, 'Jump In The Line' with Frank Holder and Mambo with Ido or Don. This killer collection of British dance obscurities brings us lively sounds from the rarest UK record bins, including this time an amazing cover version of the legendary loungecore hit 'House Of Bamboo' plus the stunning 'Jonny One Note' by Ted Heath, the track that originally introduced John Craven's Newsround. To sum up, this is another exciting, wild and occasionally bonkers compilation by Jonny Trunk and Martin Green, two of the UKs most wild record collectors. Also, there are men in underpants on the sleeve, What's not to like
"Blank Mind celebrates its tenth release with the first full EP from SMX, a collaboration between Sam Purcell and Max O'Brien. From the glacial ambience of Hinterland, to the nocturnal convulsions of Uakari, these improvised tracks were recorded in East London from 2015-18.
"The live sessions allowed us to concentrate on simple forms and subtle developments. This project was started with no preconceived ideas about the end product, but we gravitated towards a sound that works both in a club or home environment. The EP serves as an honest and organic journal of sorts documenting the last few years.""
Limited Edition of 500 handnumbered Box Set including 4LPs (180g), 1 CD, Download Coupon and a high quality 120 page booklet. NOTE: BOX IS SHRINK-WRAPPED BUT WILL BE OPENED FOR SHIPPING TO AVOID SEAM-SPLIT.
Black Truffle Together With Bernhard Rietbrock And Zhdk Are Honoured To Reissue This Stunning Boxset Celebrating Alvin Lucier's 85th Birthday Celebrations Which Took Place In Zurich, 2013.
Alvin Lucier Is One Of Most Important Figures In More Than A Half Century Of Avant-garde And Experimental Sound Practice. He Has No Equivalent. He Is Among America's Most Important Composers - A Towering Pillar Of Intellect, Creativity, And Beauty Realized Through Sound. His Singular And Unparalleled Body Of Work, Focused Around Acoustic Phenomena And Auditory Perception, Which Included, Among Many Others, The Groundbreaking Works Bird And Person Dyning, Music On A Long Thin Wire, And I Am Sitting In A Room, Each Quietly Shifting The Understanding Of What Music Could Be - Deceptively Discrete Gestures, Laying Their Mark On History And The Expectations Of Nearly Everything To Come, While Radically Expanding The Field. It Is Such A Life, Defined By Such Striking Accomplishment, Which This Release Celebrates Across The Four Lps, Cd, And Book Which Make Up The Lavish Illuminated By The Moon Release.
Recorded In October Of 2016 At The Alvin Lucier 85th Birthday Festival At The Zurich University Of The Arts, The Box Gathers A Remarkable Range Of Performances Of Works From Lucier's Life In Music, From The Iconic To The Lesser Known. It Begins With Wonderful Stagings Of I Am In A Sitting Room And Music For Solo Performer Performed By The Composer, Before Presenting The Work Charles Curtis Performed By The Cellist For Whom It Was Composed, And Double Rainbow, A Recent Work, Performed By The Incredible Joan La Barbara. Over The Course Of The Set's Many Discs, We Encounter Works Ranging From Nothing Is Real (strawberry Fields Forever), Braid, Two Circles, Hanover, Step, Slide And Sustain, And One Arm Bandits, Performed By Oren Ambarchi, Stephen O'malley, And Gary Schmalzl, With Further Contributions By Charles Curtis And Many Others Involved In The Celebrations Of Lucier's Life And Work. The Collection, By Offering An Expanse Of Material Otherwise Unavailable In The Composer's Discography, Opens A Rare Window Into The Breadth And Range Of Territory Which He Has Approached, As Well As Into The Unique Humor Which Has Quietly Bubbled Through His Entire Career. It Is A Singular Recording Event, The Likes Of Which Are Unlikely To Be Repeated.
A Worthy Tribute To One Of The Last Century's Most Important Composers, Offering Insight, Recognition, And Critical Investigation, Long Overdue And Lovingly Produced. Including An Extensive, Lavish 120 Page Book, With Numerous Unseen Images. Pressed On 180 Gram Vinyl, This Limited Edition Of 500 Individually Numbered Copies Is Unquestionably One Of The Most Beautiful And Important Releases Of 2018.
Key Selling Points: - Limited Edition Of 500 Handnumbered Units From Legendary Electronic Music Pioneer Alvin Lucier
- Lavish Box Set Including 4lps, 1 Cd, And A High Quality 120 Page Booklet.
- 180g Vinyl
- Incl. Download Coupon To Redeem All Tracks
- Over 190 Minutes Playtime
- Remarkable Collection Of Performances Of Works From Lucier's Life In Music, From The Iconic To The Lesser Known.
- Mastered & Cut By Helmut Erler At Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin.
- A1: Los Amigos Del Beta Bandidos Ep - Push It Out
- A2: Los Amigos Del Beta Bandidos Ep - It's Over
- B1: Los Amigos Del Beta Bandidos Ep - Dr. Baker
- B2: Los Amigos Del Beta Bandidos Ep - Needles In My Eyes
- A1: The Patty Patty Sound Ep - Inner Meet Me
- B1: The Patty Patty Sound Ep - The House Song
- C1: The Patty Patty Sound Ep - Monolith
- D1: The Patty Patty Sound Ep - She's The One
Die Beta Band war eine britische Musikgruppe, die ihren
eigenen Stil als Folktronic bezeichnete, was eine Mischung aus
Folk, Rock 'n' Roll, Trip Hop und hemmungslos
experimentellem Jammen darstellt.
Die Beta Band wurde 1996 in der Nähe von Edinburgh von
den Musikern Steve Mason (Gesang, Gitarre) und Gordon
Anderson gegründet. Als sie gemeinsam Songs für ihre Debüt-
EP Champion Versions verfassten, stießen mit Robin Jones
(Schlagzeug) und John MacLean (DJ, Sampler, Keyboard-
Pianist) noch zwei weitere Mitglieder hinzu. Im Juli 1997
veröffentlichten sie die von Nick McCabe produzierte EP
Champion Versions, die von Kritikern vor allem aufgrund des
innovativen "Cut'n'Paste"- Sample-Konzepts umjubelt wurde.
Zwei ähnliche EPs folgten bald darauf: The Patty Patty Sound
im März des folgenden Jahres und Los Amigos del Beta
Bandidos im Juli. Alle drei erschienen im September 1998
unter dem passend gewählten Titel The Three EP's in einer
Kollektion.
* Alk-e-d is the first to get the 'Legacy' treatment on Kniteforce Records. One of the original KF crew, he has been with the label since 1991, and remains a fan favourite. The Legacy series is designed to showcase our most dedicated artists, those who have been with the label since the very early days. And if Kniteforce itself has a legacy, it is one where risks get taken and the love of good music is always at the front of our minds. This EP contains 4 remixes, and the highlight must be the first brand new remix in decades from legendary producer Sublove who went onto become huge with Way Out West. Sublove featured on the very first Kniteforce EP back in 1992, and was enticed to come back and make some old skool for the label as well as remixing Alk-e-d. And what a remix it is! Proper old skool with depth and class. Not only that, we have Darwin, one of the biggest names in the modern hardcore scene, Shadowplay, and Luna-C on remix duties too. All in all, this EP is stunning, and is nto to be missed.
Club / DJ Support
Billy Bunter, the Fat Controller, Glowkid, Slipmatt, Dj Jedi, Dj Luna-C, Dj Brisk, Clayfighter, Jimni Cricket, Bustin, Sc@r, Doughboy, Saiyan, Dave Skywalker, Ponder and many others
Alborosie is a dynamic talent on the contemporary reggae scene, a singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer and engineer. Unbreakable' is his ninth album for the Greensleeves label. His choice of players and vocal features on the album have resulted in a product that amplifies his multiple talents on a new level, delivering strong reggae songs that are solidly commercial. Unbreakable features performances from Aston 'Family Man' Barrett, Tyrone Downie and Junior Marvin of the famed Bob Marley backing band, now called The Wailers United. Plus, vocal features from Beres Hammond, Chronixx, Jah Cure and J Boog
- A1: So Young
- A2: Animal Nitrate
- A3: She's Not Dead
- A4: Moving
- A5: Pantomime Horse
- B1: The Drowners
- B2: Sleeping Pills
- B3: Breakdown
- B4: Metal Mickey
- B5: Animal Lover
- B6: The Next Life
- C1: My Insatiable One
- C2: To The Birds
- C3: He's Dead
- C4: Where The Pigs Don't Fly
- C5: Painted People
- D1: The Big Time
- D2: High Rising
- D3: Dolly
- D4: My Insatiable One (Piano Version)
- D5: Brass In Pocket
Brett Anderson believes that Suede's debut album, winner of the Mercury Music Prize in 1993, probably has
more cultural resonance than any of their other albums, as a pre-cursor to Britpop and a supplanter of grunge. It is
also home to four ground-breaking singles.
The album included those four singles 'The Drowners', 'Metal Mickey', 'Animal Nitrate' and 'So Young', but
none of the nine b-sides. These are now included on a second LP, along with a cover version of 'Brass in Pocket'.
Housed in a gatefold sleeve, the inner sleeves features all the lyrics.
Hound Gawd! Records Veröffentlicht Am 31. August 2018 Mit bring On The Mesmeric Condition Das Erste Album Seit 8 Jahren Der Garagen Rock Legenden the Morlocks International Auf Vinyl, Als Cd Und In Digitaler Form.
In Der Großen Zeit Der Sixties-rivivals Zu Beginn Der 80er Jahre, Als An Der Us-westküste Junge Bands Auftauchten, Die Räudigen Garagenrock Und Psychedelischen Pop Ebenso Neu Wie Kraftvoll Interpretierten, Zählten Die Morlocks Zu Den Protagonisten Der Garagen-punk-szene. Produziert Wurde Das Neue Album Von Jim Diamond Und Featuret Mitglieder Von Gravedigger V, Link Wray, Fuzztones U.a..
- A1: I Faram Gami I Faram
- A2: Mascaram Setaba
- A3: Shagu
- A4: One For Buzayhew
- A5: Alone In The Crowd
- B1: Almaz
- B2: Mulatu's Hideaway
- B3: Askum
- B4: A Kiss Before Dawn
- B5: Playboy Cha Cha
- A1: Emad Youssef - Al Bareedo Ana (The One I Love)
- A2: Abdel El Aziz Al Mubarak - Ma Kunta Aarif Yarait (I Wish I Had Known)
- B1: Kamal Tarbas - Min Ozzalna Seebak Seeb (Forget Those That Divide Us)
- B2: Madjzoub Ounsa - Arraid Arraid Ya Ahal (Love, Love Family)
- B3: Khojali Osman - Malo Law Safeetna Inta (What If You Resolve What's Between Us)
- C1: Zaidan Ibrahim - Ma Hammak Azabna (You Don't Care About My Suffering) (Live)
- C2: Saied Khalifa - Igd Allooli (The Pearl Necklace)
- C3: Taj Makki - Ma Aarfeen Nagool Shino! (We Don't Know What To Say!)
- D1: Hanan Bulu Bulu - Alamy Wa Shagiya (My Pain And Suffering) (Live)
- D2: Abdelmoniem Ekhaldi - Droob A Shoag (Paths To Love)
- D3: Samira Dunia - Galbi La Tahwa Tani (My Heart, Don't Fall In Love Again)
- E1: Mohammed Wardi - Al Sourah (The Photo)
- E2: Abdullah Abdelkader - Al Zaman Zamanak (It's Your Time)
- F1: Mustafa Modawi & Ibrahim El Hassan - Al Wilaid Al Daif (The Youth Who Came As A Guest)
- F2: Ibrahim El Kashif - Elhabeeb Wain (Where Is My Sweetheart)
- F3: Mohammed Wardi - Al Mursal (The Messenger)
In Sudan, the political and cultural are inseparable. In 1989, a coup brought a hardline religious government to power. Music was violently condemned. Many musicians and artists were persecuted, tortured, forced to flee into exile — and even murdered, ending one of the most beloved music eras in all of Africa and largely denying Sudan's gifted instrumentalists, singers, and poets, from strutting their creative heritage on the global stage.
What came before in a special era that protected and promoted the arts was one of the richest music scenes anywhere in the world. Although Sudanese styles are endlessly diverse, this compilation celebrates the golden sound of the capital, Khartoum. Each chapter of the cosmopolitan city's tumultuous musical story is covered through 16 tracks: from the hypnotic violin and accordion-driven orchestral music of the 1970s that captured the ears and hearts of Africa and the Arabic-speaking world, to the synthesizer and drum machine music of the 1980s, and the music produced in exile in the 1990s. The deep kicks of tum tum and Nubian rhythms keep the sound infectious.
Sudan of old had music everywhere: roving sound systems and ubiquitous bands and orchestras kept Khartoum's sharply dressed youth on their feet. Live music was integral to cultural life, producing a catalog of concert recordings. In small arenas and large outdoor venues, musical royalty of the day built Khartoum's reputation as ground zero for innovation and technique that inspired a continent.
Musicians in Ethiopia and Somalia frequently point to Sudan's biggest golden era stars as idols. Mention Mohammed Wardi — a legendary Sudanese singer and activist akin to Fela Kuti in stature and impact in his music and politics — and they often look to the heavens. A popular story is of one man from Mali who walked for three months across the Sahel to Sudan because the father of the woman he wanted to marry would only allow it if he got him a signed cassette from Wardi himself. Saied Khalifa is said to be the one of the few singers to make Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie smile.
Such is the stature of Sudanese singers and the reputation of Sudanese music, particularly in the "Sudanic Belt," a cultural zone that stretches from Djibouti all the way west to Mauritania, covering much of the Sahara and the Sahel, lands where Sudanese artists are household names and Sudanese poems are regularly used as lyrics until today to produce the latest hits. Sudanese cassettes often sold more in Cameroon and Nigeria than at home.
But years of anti-music sentiment have made recordings in Sudan difficult to source. Ostinato's team traveled to Ethiopia, Somalia, Djibouti, and Egypt in search of the timeless cultural artifacts that hold the story of one of Africa's most mesmerizing cultures. That these cassette tape and vinyl recordings were mainly found in Sudan's neighbors is a testament to Sudanese music's widespread appeal.
With our Sudanese partner and co-compiler Tamador Sheikh Eldin Gibreel, a once famous poet and actress in '70s Khartoum, Ostinato's fifth album, following our Grammy-nominated "Sweet As Broken Dates," revives the enchanting harmonies, haunting melodies, and relentless rhythms of Sudan's brightest years, fully restored, remastered and packaged luxuriously in a triple LP gatefold and double CD bookcase to match the regal repute of Sudanese music.
A 20,000-word liner note booklet gives voice to the singers silenced by an oppressive regime.
Take a sail down the Blue and White Nile as they pass through Khartoum, carrying with them an ancient history and a never-ending stream of poems and songs. It takes two Niles to sing a melody.
PNN turns 5! Celebrating our birthday with the 20th PNN release. Publishing our most original artist Hendrik Meyer a.k.a. Myr. again on 12inch. Myr. is already known for his Maxi Nobody Knows, his album Diamondsbacks Make Wonderful Pets and his latest release Next 1 on Areal in 2018. Now releasing Apparently Innocent on PNN we face a 4-track EP beginning with "That's right, Pop", which revels us in Ko¨lscher Euphoria. "Beach Bag" a reminiscent of Matt Karmil's sound cosmos - stumbling charmingly to endlessness (in the digital version even a little further). While the third track 'She Hums" brings us a Myr. classic for the dancefloor and finally "One - Eyed Reilly" revitalizing the shuffle and leading Myr. to new glamour. We proudly present Apparently Innocent!
Set for release on June 23 via Asylum Records, x (multiply) is the hugely anticipated new album by Ed Sheeran.
It follows his critically acclaimed and hugely successful 2011 debut +; an album that was certified 6 times platinum in the UK alone and has achieved worldwide sales of over 4 million copies to date. It also saw Ed asthe recipient of various awards for the record, including 2 Brits, an Ivor Novello and multiple Grammy nominations.
Never an artist to stand still, Ed recorded x at various locations around the globe (all the while drawing on experiences and influences encountered on his over three years of unrelenting touring) with such luminary producers as Rick Rubin (Eminem, Jay-Z, Red Hot Chilli Peppers), Pharrell Williams (Daft Punk, Robin Thicke, N.E.R.D), Benny Blanco (Rhianna, Wiz Khalifa) and Jeff Bhasker (Alicia Keys, Jay-Z) adding new flavours to the classy work of key collaborators Johnny McDaid (Snow Patrol) and Jake Gosling (who produced +). xhas the musical ingredients to make it one of the most important global releases of this year.
The new set showcases the exponential growth (both vocally and musically) of an incredible artist, who at 23 exhibits the poise of a seasoned veteran. The songs for x came together whilst touring + and, in the same way as the latter was a snapshot of his life and relationship to-date, x charts his loves and life since. Only 'One', the perfect album opener and first song written for the record (in 2011 whilst on tour in Australia) looks back to that time and is the link between the two records. With 'One' under his belt, almost before he noticed he was writing, Ed had ten new songs and counting.
The breath-taking album-closer 'Afire Love' was written about his grandfather who passed away last Christmas. 'Always the hero of the family - such a cool guy - he'd been suffering with Alzheimer's for some time and I actually started writing that song two weeks before he passed away," Ed says. "I was thinking 'What if' and then he did...' Then there is the timeless ballad 'Photograph' written in May 2012 in a hotel room in Kansas whilst on tour with Snow Patrol. McDaid had a piano loop playing on his laptop while Ed was making a Lego X-wing Fighter to give to a charity auction. He just started singing as he put the pieces together and the song grew from there. 'Don't' started life as a riff on his phone and grew into another of x's massive moments. The deluxe version of the album also includes the original song, 'I See Fire', which Ed wrote, produced and recorded for the second Hobbit movie. This was after Academy award-winning filmmaker Peter Jackson personally commissioned him. With no promotion besides 3 tweets from his personal twitter account, it reached #2 on the UK iTunes chart.
However it's the Pharrell-produced lead single 'Sing', due out in the UK on June 1, that's pushing the envelope for Ed. #Sing was the number one trend on twitter globally ahead of launch with the track immediately tearing up airwaves nationwide including a 7-week add to Radio 1 and an unprecedented addition straight to the Super Hit list at Capital FM and Kiss Network. The audio upload on YouTube was Ed's biggest ever video launch, clocking 650k views in its first 24 hours. Already i-tunes Top 5 in 15 different countries (number 3 in the US), Top 20 in 36 countries and with all chart positions climbing, 'Sing' is well on the way to being a global smash.
On the back of 'Sing's' launch, x reached No.7 in the UK iTunes chart on pre-order alone with that success mirrored internationally with No.1 positions in the US and Canada, Top 5 in New Zealand, Sweden, Australia and Top 10 in 20 countries.
'I'm really proud of my new album and can't wait for people to hear it.' Ed says. 'It's definitely my best work.'




















