Palms To The Sky On A Religious High

In the past two years, rapper Azealia Banks has served up a masterclass in squandering hype. Alienating those who fell in love with '212' by picking internet scraps with anyone and everyone, while repeatedly pushing back the release of her fabled debut album 'Broke With Expensive Taste', she has found the likes of Iggy Azalea and Angel Haze muscling in on the playing field.

Although his behaviour has been considerably less objectionable, UK producer and singer Jai Paul too seems to have crumbled under the pressure of premature hype. A bizarre incident earlier this year apparently saw him 'go renegade' by leaking his own album and now there are a number of emerging artists, gunning for the 'sound of 2014' tag, producing music that seems to be influenced by his.

One such artist is UK singer/producer Ben Khan. The spidery guitar and breathy bedroom-soul vocals of Khan's track 'Eden' certainly recall Paul's 'Jasmine', and the inclusion of elephant-like blasts of horn seem in keeping with Paul's inventive approach to production.

Khan is pulling the ol' 'mystery identity' card, which has perhaps inevitably led some to speculate that he is in fact Jai Paul. Whatever the case, Khan is probably be a safer bet to have an album out in 2014 than Paul. Or Azealia Banks, for that matter.

A Deadly Game But Still We Play

Listening to the new Jai Paul demo reminded me of American singer-songwriter Niia, whose version of  his track 'BTSTU' comes close to the original in its brilliance.

It turns out she's got some new material of her own, a track called 'Libertine Hero', which teams her jazzy vocals with handclaps, synths and some flourishes of brass. It kind of sounds a bit like the type of song Sia might be releasing right about now if she wasn't so busy making hits for other people.

  Libertine Hero by niia

It's not quite on par with her covers, but few things are.

  BTSTU by niia

  Mad World by niia

I'm Back And I Want What Is Mine

It's not the first I've written about him, but such is the level of secrecy surrounding XL Recordings' signing Jai Paul, there remains only one proper photo in circulation (unless you count this provisional driving licence.)

It's two and a half years since 'BTSTU' became the source of mild blogospheric hype and, despite this leading to features on Beyoncé and Drake tracks, Jai Paul's output has been decidedly sparse.

In fact, until now we've only been treated to one other 'demo', Jasmine, which materialised in April of this year. Now, after another extended period of quiet, the maestro has unleashed another demo, 'Flip Out'.

Mr Paul seemingly had second thoughts about offering up even this morsel as, mere hours after posting it on his social networks, the track disappeared again. Thankfully, some savvy internet folk managed to hit ctrl + c while the track was available:

Bearing a similarly hazy vocal to 'Jasmine', underpinned by blasts of brass, pounding percussion and other samples, the track has a sprawling, cinematic feel.

[Stream via Selenites Play This]

The Guessing Game

Tips for 2011 are flying left, right and centre at the moment but, by virtue of the fact that the BBC's 'Sound of...' list compiles the predictions of over 150 music gurus across the UK, it's inevitably going to hold a bit more weight.

The past few years, the lists have been dominated by female-fronted acts, with Adele, Duffy, Florence and the Machine, Ellie Goulding, La Roux and Marina & The Diamonds all placing in the upper reaches. As such, it's refreshing to see so many great male artists in this year's shortlist.

Jai Paul and James Blake are two acts that I've posted about in the past and, with the right break, could conceivably convert their blogospheric hype to mainstream success.

Another act who, like both Jai Paul and James Blake, teams neo-soul vocals with electronic and post-dub arrangements is Jamie Woon. But whereas James Blake started out a more leftfield artist and has now begun embracing conventional song structures, Jamie Woon began as a singer-songwriter before gradually turning to the dark side.



Jamie Woon - You're Not Alone (Olive Cover)



Jamie Woon - Night Air (Ramadanman Refix)



There are of course the usual crop of indie bands, curveballs in the guise of dubstep-lite act Nero and grime act Wretch 32, and those pesky female fronted outfits.

The wispy Esben and the Witch could be a strong contender for a Top 5 finish, whereas big-voiced Birmingham lass Clare Maguire and spiky power-pop chanteuse Jessie J are also likely to feature in the final reckoning.



Clare Maguire - Ain't Nobody (Breakage Remix)





Jessie J - Do It Like A Dude (Hygrade Dubstep Remix)



The full shortlist is as folows: James Blake, Anna Calvi, Daley, Esben And The Witch, Jessie J, Clare Maguire, Mona, The Naked And Famous, Nero, Jai Paul,The Vaccines, Warpaint, Jamie Woon, Wretch 32 and Yuck.

Don't F@#k With Me...

Music bible 'Guardian New Band of the Day' has always served me well but, earlier this week, introduced me to an especially promising musical prospect in the form of 21-year-old Londoner Jai Paul.

His genre-melding production style and idiosyncratic vocal style works a treat on tracks like 'BTSTU' and the demos on his Myspace are loaded with ideas, earning him comparisons to musical innovators like M.I.A. and Hudson Mohawke.

Jai Paul is supposedly at the centre of an A&R battle at the moment, so here's hoping we hear some fully-formed material from him in the not-too-distant future.

Jai Paul - BTSTU (free download here)



Emiliana Torrini - Jungle Drum (Jai Paul Remix)