Artist News Business News Gigs & Festivals Industry People Labels & Publishers One Liners Releases

One Liners: Universal, Lil Nas X, Stormzy, more

By Andy Malt | Published on Friday 6 September 2019

APPOINTMENTS

Universal Music Publishing in the US has appointed Stephen J Dallas as SVP Business & Legal Affairs and Digital Business Development, which is quite a long job title. “Stephen is one of the few executives in the industry who has an in-depth knowledge of the digital marketplace and the art of deal making in that space”, says the company’s David Kokakis, concerningly.

————————————————–

RELEASES

Lil Nas X has released the video for ‘Old Town Road’ follow-up ‘Panini’.

Stormzy has released new single ‘Sounds Of The Skeng’, produced by Sir Spyro.

Camila Cabello has released two new tracks, ‘Shameless’ and ‘Liar’. Both are taken from her second album ‘Romance’, which will be released later this year. “These songs are basically the story of my life the past couple years and the stories I’ve accumulated”, she says of the new tracks. “I knew for a long time I wanted my album to be called ‘Romance’ because these stories are about falling in love”.

Louis Tomlinson has released new single ‘Kill My Mind’. “‘Kill My Mind’ is a song about having fun and doing silly things when you’re younger”, he says. “It’s about going through an experimental phase in your youth, and doing things that might not be good for you, but they are exciting”.

Charli XCX has released new single ‘February 2017’, featuring Clairo and Yaeji.

Danny Brown has announced his new album ‘uknowwhatimsaying¿’, which will be out on 4 Oct. “This is my version of a stand-up comedy album”, he says. “Most of my friends now aren’t rappers – they’re comedians and actors. So I wanted to create something that mixed humour with music. Something that was funny but not parody”. Here’s first single ‘Dirty Laundry‘.

Foals have released new single ‘The Runner’. It’s taken from their new album, ‘Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Part 2’, out on 18 Oct.

M83 has released new single ‘Temple Of Sorrow’. New album ‘DSVII’ is out on 20 Sep – the successor to 2007’s ‘Digital Shades Vol 1’. “‘DSVII’ is, in my opinion, far more advanced than Digital Shades Vol 1”, he says. “I wanted to come back with something stronger that featured the depth of a proper studio album without the pressure of providing pop music”.

Grimes has released new single ‘Violence’, a collaboration with producer i_O.

Shakespears Sister have announced that they will release new EP ‘Ride Again’ on 28 Oct. From it, this is new single ‘When She Finds You’, featuring Richard Hawley. “When Siobhan [Fahey] and I wrote this track, we instantly knew it needed a male voice on there to really convey the full story”, says the duo’s Marcella Detroit. “We’re huge fans of Richard Hawley and we were delighted he was up for duetting on the song”.

Devendra Banhart has released new single ‘Taking A Page’. The song lifts a line – with permission – from Carole King’s ‘So Far Away’. “The night Trump won … I instinctively reached for a Carole King album”, says Banhart. “I knew it would help. I knew it would come in handy… and it did. Still does. I’m so glad Carole got to hear [this song]. It’s really just a song about my entire life. I can’t explain it much beyond that”. Carole King is not dead, by the way, despite how he made it sound in that quote there.

Belle & Sebastian have released new single ‘This Letter’, taken from their new album ‘Days Of The Bagnold Summer’, which is out next week.

Chelsea Wolfe has released new single ‘Deranged For Rock N Roll’. Her new album, ‘Birth Of Violence’, is out next week.

Ellen Allien has released the video for ‘Free Society’, from her latest album ‘Alientronic’.

Erland Cooper has announced ‘Seachange’, an ambient companion to his recent album ‘Sule Skerry’. It’s being released on 23 Oct. Here’s an excerpt from it. He’s also announced that he his composing a new score for a production of Marina Carr’s play ‘Portia Coughlan’, which will run at the Young Vic in the autumn next year.

Sampa The Great has released new track ‘Heaven’, featuring Whosane. Her debut album, ‘The Return’, is out on 13 Sep.

Inhaler have released new single ‘Ice Cream Sundae’. “It’s about loss and gain”, says singer Elijah Hewson of the track. “I like writing about normal teenage experiences that everybody can relate to. I’m just trying to write about the joy of being alive, being a teenager, and the bad things that can come with that”. The band are set to play shows in Manchester, London and Dublin in December.

Oh Land has announced a new collaborative EP with Arthur Moon, reworking tracks from her latest album ‘Family Tree’. From it, here’s a new version of ‘Salt’.

Ex Hex have released new single ‘It’s Real’. The previously unreleased track shares its title with their latest album, despite being left off the final tracklisting of the LP.

————————————————–

GIGS & TOURS

Ty Dolla $ign and YG have announced two UK co-headline shows later this year. They’ll play Brixton Academy on 2 Dec and Ritz in Manchester on 3 Dec.

Check out our weekly Spotify playlist of new music featured in the CMU Daily – updated every Friday.