Kevin McKay Reunites With Rozie Gyems On Stylish New Sade Rework

The Glasgow Underground founder and house mainstay brings more of his modern touch to this deeply emotive gem

Upfront DJ support from: Wankelmut, John Morales, Claptone, Tom & Collins, Moreno Pezzolato, Joe T. Vanelli, Midnight City, Marco Anzalone, Ordonez, Paco Osuna, DJ Dove, Robert Owens, Richie Hawtin, Larry Tee, Lexlay, Vanilla Ace, Steve Lawler, Simone Vitullo, Weikum, Severino, Chris Udoh, Mauro Venti

Glasgow Underground founder Kevin McKay links with vocalist Rozie Gyems to serve up another dancefloor gem; a lush house version of Sade’s essential 90s hit ‘Nothing Can Come Between Us’ out on 27th November. This lands as McKay sits at #3 in Beatport’s overall chart with ‘Work It’ and his label is awarded Beatport’s label of the month for December. It also follows his previous edit of Sade’s ‘Pearls’ (GU’s 500th release) as he continues to artfully revamp older tracks to make them accessible for modern club settings. The deep groove and cool contemporary edge of this sound has seen upfront DJ support on the latest single from respected names like Wankelmut, John Morales, Claptone, Robert Owens amongst many others.

McKay is still enjoying the success of his artist-focused, full-length DJ mix album ‘Summer Of Love’ which landed back in September. The 15-track collection featured tracks conceived, produced or remixed (or remixes commissioned) by McKay and was a fine reflection of what to expect from one of his in-demand DJ sets. Singles and remixes from the album including ‘Freak Like Me’, the Qubiko remix of ‘Save Me’ and ‘Gimme Gimme’ all hit the top 20 on Beatport and picked up millions of streams. Now with ‘Work It’ also riding high it rounds off a standout year for the much-loved producer.

From recording with Omid 16B as Sixteen Souls, to laying down essential DJ sets, to co-producing Mylo’s seminal album, ‘Destroy Rock & Roll’, McKay has a storied career and still, years later, keeps ahead of the game as this new single proves once more.

Says Kevin of his latest creation, “In the 90s and 00s there were a bunch of bootlegs of Sade’s most famous songs. One of the ones I loved was a house edit of ‘Nothing Can Come Between Us’ that chopped up the original over a steady beat. I recently dug out all my old vinyl, hoping I could play them again but, sadly, the sound of them just didn’t seem to work for now. That got me thinking about making my own version so I asked the team behind our amazing ‘Paradise’ rework to record two of my favourite Sade songs so I could reproduce them. After ‘Pearls’ sung by the brilliant Rozie Gyems featured on my album ‘Summer of Love’, this one, again with Rozie on vocals, reworks ‘Nothing Can Come Between Us’ in a deep house kalimba groove.”

Remaining sympathetic to the original while also layering in plenty of imaginative new sounds, the gorgeous ‘Nothing Can Come Between Us’ feat. Rozie Gyems is a brilliantly soulful deep house tune. The rich vocal hits an emotive sweet spot, the kalimba is bubbly and colourful yet warm, and the heartfelt drums drive things along at an inviting pace. This is the sort of life-affirming house tune we all need in our lives right now and is another timeless gem from this long-time house pioneer.

Once again, Kevin McKay brings his vast knowledge and love of house music to a fresh and tasteful rework of a much-loved classic.

Glasgow Underground
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Kevin McKay
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Rozie Gyems
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An Abstract Place’ is inspired by the spaces we’re taken to during immersive listening. The track was produced with analog synthesizers, half speed 1/4″ tape effects and digital samples. It’s designed for reflective moments, walking alone or soundtracking a journey.

The accompanying video by director Edward Harber is an atmospheric study of the eroding coastline at Happisburgh, Norfolk. The historic area has undergone a process of coastal erosion in recent years, leaving a familiar place hard to recognise for residents. As more homes surrender to the sea, the sense of abandonment through elemental change weighs upon the landscape. The film takes this displacement further, by contorting the environment into something wholly unfamiliar. Sand flats merge with water intertwined in rock and tide motions are reversed. As the track unfolds the fragility of the landscape becomes fluid, echoing the ocean’s relentless pull upon the cliffs.

The track’s artwork is a collaboration with digital artist Signalstarr, and inspired by Russian abstract minimalist Kazimir Malevich.

https://www.paulcousinsmusic.com/

Paul Cousins is a producer & composer based in London. Recently featured in FACT magazine’s ‘Patch Notes’ series, he creates ambient soundscapes using analog synthesizers, samples & field recordings. In addition to producing for a diverse range of artists such as Muck Spreader, August Child & Night Games, his other studio credits include Luke Evans, FOURS and Makeup & Vanity Set.

https://www.instagram.com/paulcousinsmusic/

Stream: https://youtu.be/wBcMD4zEQYg
Buy/stream: https://ffm.to/flostatetime

Canadian duo Flõstate release a visual accompaniment to their spell-binding debut single “Time”. The brainchild of Avery Florence and MKSTN, Flõstate’s fantasy RnB sound brings something breathtaking to the table.

When we were in the stages of looking to visually represent our music with our first release, Magdalene Kan (Creative Director) introduced us to the dynamic duo, Elliot Muscat (Director, Producer) and Tristan C-M (DOP).

We are constantly drawn to the imperfections and qualities of film, and wanted a heightened feeling to be the centre of the video’s attention – trying to capture a feeling of only ever almost touching, fragments of moments are interwoven throughout the song’s continuous momentum.

This video captures the sensual desire of losing oneself in a timeless state. The continuous flow of nature’s waves, life and death, light and darkness.

“Tristan and I worked closely with the artists to visually express their passion and authenticity. Part of the creative execution involved using a mix of film mediums and techniques that mirror the magical qualities of the music. Working with Flostate is always nothing short of awesomeness and downright fun.” – Elliott Muscat (Director, Producer)

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The Story So Far

Flõstate is a fantasy R&B duo from space. Consisting of producer MKSTN and songwriter Avery Florence, two worlds collide creating multi-instrumental soundscapes and virtuous vocals. Flõstate is the effortless, endless search.

Inspired by a wide variety of artists and genres, the duo site acts such as Beach House, Galimatias, Tame Impala, Jimi Hendrix, Lana Del Rey, Bon Iver, Enya, Little Mermaid, Matt Corby, Jeff Buckley and Pink Floyd as key influences to their sound.

Flõstate embodies a spell-casting, fantasy RnB sound which serves to represent the space in-between moments.

This is pure, undiluted disco deliciousness, delivered with panache by newcomer Eric Blake. The song delivers a cheerful disco-ready bassline just in time for the holiday

https://www.instagram.com/ericblakeofficial/

Americana artist Stuffy Shmitt is an old NYC rock & roller, singer/songwriter and guitarist who has performed and recorded with everyone from The Band’s Levon Helm to David Johansen of the New York Dolls. About eight years ago, Stuffy went off the rails, consumed by bipolar disorder. Finally, he got himself properly medicated, moved to Nashville and was able to sort out everything he’d created during his bouts of depression & mania. The resulting album, Stuff Happens—featuring guest spots by Aaron Lee Tasjan & Brian Wright—is his finest yet.

Forthcoming single “Mommy and Daddy”—the centerpiece of the record—is a raw, heart-crushing, gorgeously written and produced rumination on returning home to find your once-vibrant parents closing in on the end of their lives. An aching slow-burn that erupts into a memorable chorus, the song deals in stark vignettes that etch themselves into your mind.

Stuffy has been featured recently at American Songwriter, Cowboys & Indians magazine, Punk News, Ditty TV, The Big Takeover, The New York Post & more.

https://www.instagram.com/stuffyshmitt

Stuff Happens is Stuffy Shmitt’s first record in eight years because, well, he went crazy. “I was living in New York and my brain was on fire. I got that bipolar thing. I was bouncing between full-blown depression and a jailbreak manic buzz rush. After nearly a decade of getting 86’d from bars in the West Village, I made it to Nashville six years ago and finally got my head screwed on tight enough to make a new record.”

This album finds Shmitt not quite exorcising his demons, but exercising them—wrestling with them until they’ve been knocked around enough to be manageable. “I didn’t realize until the record was finished and my wife, Donna, pointed it out,” Stuffy says, “but this album is all about trauma. Disasters big and small. It was an accident, though. It was all subconscious. I guess, eventually, that shit’s gotta come out.”

A madcap tour through the folds of Shmitt’s charmingly off-kilter brain, Stuff Happens runs the full spectrum of manic depression in glorious stereophonic sound. There are bizzaro blues rockers and exhausted, desolate Americana ballads—some bleak to the bone, and others begrudgingly grasping at hope; never so naive as to look for a silver lining, but dogged enough to skim the horizon for the dull glimmer of aluminum. And when you need a jolt, there’s plenty of naked, unapologetic, torn-and-frayed American rock & roll to carry you kicking and screaming through all that beautiful sad-bastard music; the full-tilt end of the spectrum best represented by “Sweet Krazy,” a revved-up ode to mania that features fellow Nashville songsmith guitar shredders Aaron Lee Tasjan & Brian Wright.

The story of the album begins with a chance encounter Shmitt had in an East Nashville dive. “I walked into The Five Spot, and there was this tall, skinny guy with a beat-up hat at the bar,” Stuffy says. “I didn’t know him, but I walked up to him and said, ‘Didn’t you push me off a ferris wheel once?’ Which actually is a Steven Wright line—I stole it, I admit it—but it’s a great line. So I said that to him, and he looked at me and shot back, ‘Oh, that was you?’” Yes, it was love at first sight for Shmitt and Nashville singer-songwriter and producer Brett Ryan Stewart.

Meanwhile, that same night, as Shmitt was performing at The Five Spot, his wife sat down at the bar next to a long-haired character who was throwing back Jameson and talking in word pictures about the lyrics he was hearing. That guy was Chris Tench, who would become the guitar player in Shmitt’s band and ultimately the producer of Stuff Happens. “So here’s where it gets really freaky,” Stuffy says. “come to find out, Chris and Brett not only knew each other, they had partnered on music projects for years, owned a killer studio together and were both razor-sharp rockin’ madmen.”

Brett wound up engineering and co-producing the record with Stuffy and Chris. “I’ve always produced all my own stuff,” Shmitt says. “Don’t get in the way, don’t tell me what to play, don’t say what goes where because I’m the boss. But this time I did a trust fall. It was the first time I gave up the reins, and I’m glad I did because they’re brilliant. It was magic how we fell in together.”

Stuffy took his band out to Stewart and Tench’s studio, 20 miles south of Nashville in Franklin, Tenn., where they could clear their heads and work without distraction. The measured pace and attention to detail and mood helped ease Stuffy out of his comfort zone. “Chris and I did two months of pre-production, sitting in my living room with acoustic guitars breaking down the songs. It was a new thing for me. I hate to admit it because I like to do stuff on the fly, but it made a big difference. The pre-production work gave us a roadmap and freed us up to get lost in scenic detours. Working with Chris and Brett was all about groove and flow. They connected with the stories I was telling, and so did the rest of the band, which was Dave Colella on drums, and Parker Hawkins on bass. By then I’d worked with the band for a couple of years, so they got me, no learning curve, they knew the groove and the flow, too. We’re all brothers and everything clicked in a big way.”

The lush sonics of Stuff Happens make a compelling backdrop for Shmitt’s austere, blunt-force poetry and gutter-of-consciousness lyrics. His songs are disarmingly direct and personal, built with words you might find scrawled on a crumpled napkin in some sawdust jukebox bar with chicken wire on the window and a pig foot in the jar. These are not your garden variety genericana tunes. He’s weird. And honest, too. When he opens his mouth to sing, Shmitt can’t help but tell the truth, consequences be damned. Even when he’s doing his best to lie his scoundrel ass off, he falls face first into the truth. His stories are our stories. He makes us feel stuff.

“They were looking at their photograph / Black and white of a catered night / In Madison Wisconsin / Tuxedo and ball gown / The future dead ahead / Bright and shiny like the long smooth silver car / Now they don’t know where they are,” Shmitt sings on “Mommy and Daddy,” a heart-crushing rumination on his folks’ final years.

Shmitt grew up in Milwaukee in a family every bit as wild and unhinged as he is. “I don’t come from a family with a culture of tradition. I had a drunk drummer mother who wrote poetry in her sleep, and a dad who played guitar and had a thing for fast cars. We read a lot of books, listened to a lot of music and protested social injustices. Our home was loud and nasty and violent. We didn’t spend a lot of time hugging or talking about feelings. We didn’t have religion. I didn’t understand spirituality until I dropped acid as a teenager, and when I nearly died of pneumonia a while back. And then I got manic, which comes with superpowers and parties with angels.”

Stuffy ventured to New York, then L.A. then back to New York, playing in an endless parade of rock & roll bands. It was a gas. Loud, fun, kickass shit. He was in Actual Size, X-Lovers, Petting Zoo and a whole bunch of other projects. He snorted coke with Johnny Rotten at The Cat and the Fiddle in Laurel Canyon, and he made his bones pumping through blown-out speaker cones on both coasts, stalking the stage with his gang of musicians, and recording with greats including Willy De Ville, David Johansen of the New York Dolls, The Band’s Levon Helm, Violent Femmes’ Gordon Gano, and Jayotis Washington and The Persuasions. But after a while all the drummers in his life kept blowing up like it was This Is Spinal Tap, so Stuffy decided maybe he’d better start playing solo acoustic gigs instead. Half a life and a half-dozen albums later, with Stuff Happens he’s managed to synthesize the disparate sounds of his past into his finest, most impactful record yet. And what better time to release your lighting-rod masterpiece than in the midst of a global pandemic?

“Staying inside all the time makes me absolutely nuts—I start crawling the walls,” Shmitt confesses. “But what are you gonna do? God, I miss just walking down the street and feeling my boots on the pavement, going into a club and saying, ‘Ok, this band sucks, let’s go to another other club.’ I feel caged. Rock & roll is supposed to be live. You’re supposed to turn up the bass and listen to a person’s guts. If you play the new record loud enough you’ll definitely get some of that, but I’m holding out hope for when we can all get back out there in the flesh, pile into a club, order two shots of Jack, a pint of Kahlua with a side of Pop Rocks, and just go wild. Let the bass echo in our chests.”

https://www.facebook.com/StuffyShmittSongwriter

New York based retro-pop duo Fly By Midnight is comprised of songwriter Justin Bryte & producer/songwriter Slavo. Following a sold out album show in NYC and performances at Firefly & Panorama festival, the duo has continued to generate strong independent buzz by releasing catchy original pop anthems and reimagined cover songs

https://www.instagram.com/flybymidnight/

Today, Nashville based singer-songwriter Ivory Layne releases her new single “God Save The Queens” taken from her forthcoming Confetti EP.

A further sonic evolution from the surging modern pop rush of Layne’s recent critically acclaimed single “December”; “God Saves The Queens” is a defiant, heart-swelling anthem of female empowerment.

“’God Save The Queens’ is more than a call to act, it’s an anthem to remember the irrepressible power inside of every woman,” explains Layne. “I wanted a song celebrating that unified strength, while challenging women to rise up and realise our individual worth beyond mirrors, men, and magazines.”

Produced by Ivory Layne and Jimmy Robbins (Keith Urban, Maren Morris, Kelsea Ballerini, Miranda Lambert), “God Save The Queens” is a celebration of womanhood in all its forms, delivered in Layne’s unique vocal style.

In keeping with the song’s celebration of female resilience and unity, the accompanying video features a montage of footage of inspirational females from the past to the present day. Directed by ​Layne and filmed by Nashville-based videographer Sara Olivera at the all female working space Collective 615, the video brings together a host of female heroes that Ivory admires, from the iconic to the everyday. Spanning late Supreme Court Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Mother Teresa to Nashville broadcaster Libby Oellerich, Canadian high diver Lysanne Richard, Carrie Hope Fletcher, Layne’s own mother and many more, it’s a film that explores the multifaceted nature of being a woman today.

“​I took to the internet to invite as many women as possible to be a part of this music video”. Ivory explains. “We’re featuring chefs, business owners, fashion designers, makeup artists, nurses, athletes, painters, teachers…women with fabulous dreams and ambitions, fascinating thoughts and ideas, specific perspectives and groundbreaking methodology. I wanted to showcase the wonderful spectrum of who women are and what inspires and empowers us. We are more than what we offer to the world; we make up the world.”

Tipped for stardom by the likes of Billboard, V Magazine and Live Nation’s Ones To Watch, Layne’s remarkable talent has garnered critical acclaim as well as attracting a wealth of stellar collaborators. In just a few years, she’s worked with Grammy award-winning producer Ed Cash (Dolly Parton, Amy Grant) on her debut EP; collaborated with Andrew McMahon In The Wilderness and Needtobreathe ; written for other artists alongside co-writes with some of Nashville’s finest including Jimmy Robbins, Shane McAnally and Lori McKenna. Layne’s sharpness in the writer’s room has also landed her two global ad campaigns, one for prestigious jewelry house Swarovski and another for cable giant, HBO.

As she gears up to release her Confetti EP, which will be the first official EP release in the UK since signing with Justin Timberlake’s artist development company Villa 40, Layne is primed to cement her reputation as one of the world’s finest, rising female talents.

IVORY LAYNE’S “GOD SAVE THE QUEENS” IS AVAILABLE ACROSS ALL PLATFORMS NOW:
https://slinky.to/GodSaveTheQueens

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VIDEO CAST LIST:

Director: Ivory Layne

Location: Collective 615 – A female co-working space and event venue located in Nashville

Videographer – Sara Olivera – Nashville-based videographer

Stylist/Designer -Laura Citron- Nashville based fashion designer, whose pieces have been featured on Lennon Stella, Kate Bosworth, and Jennifer Nettles.

PARTICIPANTS

Carrie Hope Fletcher – Carrie is a UK based actress, author, and vlogger, with over 127 million YouTube views. She will be playing Cinderella in Andrew Lloyd Weber’s adaptation coming to London in April 2021.

Lemon Laine – Lemon Laine (founded by Laura Lemon) is a natural beauty and wellness shop with locations in Houston, TX and Nashville, TN. They host educational events informing females of holistic health practices.

Libby O – Libby is a Nashville host and creator of the Libby O show, which highlights song writers, actors, and musical artists.

Maneet Chauhaun – Chef and judge on the Food Network show Chopped, as well as the President/Partner of Morph Hospitality. She is also the only Indian female to have competed on Iron Chef.

Brooke Simpson – Was on Team Miley Cyrus on NBC’s The Voice. She finished third on the show and lives in Los Angeles, CA.

Marika D’Auteuil – a Montreal based make up artist, educator, and content creator.

Morgan Casey – An artist and mother who has used Tik Tok to blend her two passions. With over 9 million likes, her life and art have captivated a wide audience

Sarah Robbins – Sarah Robbins is a publisher in Nashville, TN, and the wife of the GSTQ co-writer, Jimmy Robbins. Ivory illustrated the children’s book, GSTQ, for their daughter, that Sarah and Lilly are reading in the video.

Sarah + Julia Nauta – Sisters and musicians based in the Netherlands. They met Ivory earlier this year at the start of quarantine and were able to write music together over Zoom.

Lysanne Richard – Canadian high-diver and proud mother of 3. She had 5 podium finishes in her 6 starts of 2019, including Silver Medals in the 2019 Red Bull World Series.

Esther Abrami – a French violionist who has played in Carnegie Hall in New-York, the Wiener Konzerthaus and Leeds Town Hall. She has over 300,000 followers world-wide and has held master classes and talks in universities in Mexico, Utah, Vienna, and Leeds.

Tatiana Rabello – An acrobat and artist based in Brazil. She hosts online classes and workshops reaching groups worldwide.

Alina Kornelli – German kitesurfer living in Bavaria. She placed 4th in the Youth Olympic Games 2018 Twin Tip Slalom.

Yasmeen Breakenridge – Mrs. New York America 2020. She is also an attorney and public speaker.

Taylor Colson Horton – Prop + set designer who has collaborated with Ivory on multiple shoots and has worked with Calvin Klein, Tiffany & Co, Louis Vuitton North America, and Reese Witherspoon’s clothing company Draper James.

Warm Ears Music continues to expand its roster as they release a new single, “Solar” from German producer Deskai.

Deskai produces a wide array of electronic music but is no stranger to the DnB scene; he’s been bringing his atmospheric and jungle inspired creations to life in his Berlin based studio since 2005, where he is also a Mix & Mastering Engineer.

“Solar” is a two-track single within which Deskai captures two distinct and recognisable moods from the early days; laid back Jazz infused Breakbeats, and soulful yet reflective Drum & Bass. These are not peak energy, hard hitting tunes; rather they are carefully constructed grooves reminiscent of the intelligent DnB era.

Whilst the label loves big dance floor tunes, they will always represent the roots of the genre. Warm Ears Music is always looking to shine light on music that inspires, which Deskai brings in bags.

https://deskaimusic.com/

Oliver Reissig also known as Deskai, Synox, Dubaxis and Spasmik is a versatile producer, DJ, drummer and mastering engineer originally from Paris, France and based since 2012 in Berlin, Germany.

His great fondness for the music and club scene of the 90’s has inspired him to produce and mix tracks influenced by this legendary period in music history. To bring the masses a fresh sound created with an old school style, yet with new production techniques, has driven Deskai to continue on his path as both creator and lover of music.

With strong worldwide dj support of his music from LTJ Bukem (Good Looking records), DJ Ink (Renegade Hardware), Renaat Vandepapeliere (R&S records), Blu Mar Ten, John B, Seba, Electro Soul System, Stunna, Mav, Future Engineers, LM1, Eschaton and more, Deskai has released and signed numerous drum & bass tracks to labels such as Renegade Hardware, Scientific Records, Offworld Recordings, Modulate Recordings, Omni Music, Monochrome Recordings and Soul Deep Recordings over the past few years.

Calm Before The Storm: “2 voices and a grand piano telling an emotional story about love and loss”… This is the first duet written and performed by Como and Vern, two artists with careers in completely different genres, – one acoustic, the other electronic. For her debut single Suitcase (Sony Music) Como received 3 nominations for the Austrian Music Award. Vern and his band “The Uptown Monotones” have been successfully touring the UK for three years in a row.

The Song is a beautiful and melancholic duet in the tradition of subtile ballads like Skinny Love, Falling Slowly, Say Something, Mad World, Hello, …

Stream our Song at Spotify, iTunes, Amazon, Deezer…
https://comovernation.lnk.to/calmbeforethestorm

Support links
http://www.como-music.com
https://www.ahnkl.net

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“Living in the Gap” is about using unity to change the world. All the people, that don’t want the world to go to hell, are finding their powers to fight again.
https://www.instagram.com/themandokisoulmates/