Photos: Eric Lau & Friends @ PUT ME ON IT LIVE 16th May 2013

in

I have never been so honoured and so proud as I was at this event, to work with Eric Lau and the incredibly talented group of artists he brought together, and to host their debut show.  To put it simply - it was family, and it was beautiful. I'm so sorry if you didn't get in, but this was only the beginning, there will be so much more. View the rest of the photos by Wayne Thomas on our Facebook page

[gallery columns="4" link="file" ids="4498,4499,4500,4501,4502,4503,4504,4505,4506,4507,4508,4509,4510,4511,4512,4513,4514,4515,4516,4517"]

PUT ME ON IT LIVE – Thu May 16th: Eric Lau & Friends

in

It has been five years since London saw a live performance from one of our most talented producers, and he returns with a brand new all-star band featuring; Kaidi Taitham, Tawiah, Rahel, Akwasi Mensah, Vula, Ben Jones, Alex Bonfanti and The PSM. They will be performing songs from Lau's beautiful forthcoming album "One of Many" for the first time, so this will be a very early preview for fans who can't wait until June. Eric Lau & friends will be an ever changing and evolving live show, so this might be your only chance to see this particular line up of some of London's most talented musicians all together! "Eric Lau and Family" might be more accurate for this show...

Since Eric is usually one of our resident DJs, we've invited one of one of our favourite guests Budgie back to spin alongside Marshmello.

PMOI Live 16 May 2013 Eric Lau & Friends

 

Listen: Josephine Oniyama "What A Day"

in

Remember when I got all excited about Tinashé a few years ago? Well around about the same time Island Records scooped up another talent of equal measure with a slew of great songs named Josephine Oniyama. Despite being the label who brought us artists like Bob Marley, Grace Jones and Baaba Maal, it seems that when Chris Blackwell left the company much of his vision, taste and flair for breaking artists who didn't fit a pre-existing mould disappeared with him.

I first stumbled across Josephine's brilliant and ridiculously catchy song A Freek A two years ago through Dom Servini, so I was very excited to discover that she has been working on an album with Ed Harcourt and Seb Rochford entitled "Portrait" due out on October 8th on Rubyworks/Ark Recordings. The new single "What A Day" is every bit as infectious as "A Freek A" and will be released on 20th August. I suggest watching the video below by way of brief introduction -

By rights the likes of Josephine and Tinashé (and many others you can find on this blog such as Tawiah, Tanya Auclair, Joshua Idehen, L.A. Salaami, Rahel, Ghostpoet and ESKA), are a new generation of homegrown singer-songwriters who probably grew up with The Smiths and Joni Mitchell as much as King Sunny Ade or Michael Jackson, as well as the artists Chris Blackwell worked with. The originality and richness of their music is the result, but so far it seems to be proving somewhat of a challenge for much of the industry to wrap their heads around (what some of us see as a no-brainer). Happily things change much faster now than ever before, and what with the quality of her voice and songwriting Josephine is undoubtedly about to make some serious headway. We will be supporting her with the very fibre of our beings.

Connect @thisisJosephine

Support: "What A Day" will be released on 20th August 2012.