Kano album sampler leaked

I really really like all of the songs except "Typical Me". it's even more pop than the Shystie album though so the grime purists will probably hate it. but fuck them!

(Ever been there before? It's great!)

Mic Check
Typical Me
Ps & Qs
Ps & Qs (remix)
So Sure
Brown Eyes
Reload
Sings In My Life

Praying that What Have You Done is on the record. Can anyone confirm?

On further listen (and on this scant evidence), this is much better than Rollin' Deeper.

(xpost - yes, many times! It will be me, the wifey, my laptop and a picnic basket up in the mountains - just the way nature intended!)

(the sampler I have is only 5 tracks long, I don't have "Sings In My Life".)

I don't think "What Have You Done?" is going to be on it.

I'm ready
I'm ready

Typical Me - rawk guitar. am coming round to this, actually. or at least I keep getting it stuck in my head.
Reload - underwater beats, descending bassline which totally reminds me of something I can't remember, drum'n'bass beats!, vague trip-hop feel! love it.
Brown Eyes - grime purists will hate hate hate this one but it's my favourite: the narrative! Kano's really strong at capturing the minutiae of emotions and relationships/sort-of-relationships and the ensuing confusion. Kanye-esque sped-up soul sample and gorgeous piano line. Not grime at all. renders the Streets' 2004 output utterly and totally redundant (not that it needed the help but ah well) - THIS, Skinner, is how to talk about your feelings without being mawkish and/or a cunt.
Signs In My Life - this is really good Adam! Horror-movie strings and dubby vocals in the chorus, ominous and a bit creepy. the most traditionally grime of 'em all.
Ps & Qs - still the unstoppable club monster we all know and love.

it's really obvious Kano wants to cross over. he talks about it several times, about how he wants to conquer England and stuff. maybe he's toned down his flow and calmed down the beats to do this, I don't know. I hope he does go stratospheric though.

the other thing which stands out - these five songs are all totally, totally different, like he's striking it in several new directions at once.

I'm kind of half-asleep now but tomrrow maybe I can sort out Teh Gmailing.

I keep expecting Reload to turn into a jungle version of the Grange Hill theme, but the best when Demon appears and the bass kicks in is awesome.

So Sure = rub. No more girly vocals, please.

Vocally, this appears to be the more measured, reflective Kano of Focus and Good Girl etc rather than the full-on rapidfire Kano on Ice Rink or Destruction, though. He's still got this *presence* that shines through though.

The remix of Ps and Qs with Demon is great as well. I'm presuming this is the poppiest this record is going to get, right?

Matt could you send me Mic Check and the Ps & Qs remix if you have time, please?

Typical Me
Reload It
Brown Eyes
Signs In Life
Ps And Qs

'So Sure' is an old Terra Danjah single that Kano guests on, so that's probably not slated. 'Mic Check' is on the 12" flip to 'Ps and Qs'. I've heard tracks called 'What They Don't Tell Us' and 'Sometimes', although I think these are just demos. And apparently there's a duet with Mike Skinner called 'Long Ting' although I've no idea if that'll make the final cut. On this evidence, if people are expecting a grime album, they're in for a surprise.

I love 'Signs In Life', though.

*more talking about Katy Pearl please, she's wonderful. is she the same as Katie who is credited on "Love Is Here"? hmm.

that verse on destruction vip was hot but how often does that happen! also 'signs of life' is a plea for doubletime callously unanswered

'Brown Eyes' will be the next single apparently. A great choice! I love that song so much, I hope teenagers across the country fall in love to it.

(xpost)

:)

I SENT IT TO YOU

Perhaps it is because Kano is an insufferable douchebag?

*haven't heard the album

It could be that the only decent Kano track ever was a nu-metal joint and he's steadfastly stayed away from that genre since? Maybe he should see what Disturbed are up to these days, collab w/them.

too monochromatic? it's a million light years better than what i was expecting though and the wiley track kills, so thumbs up.

No it's not that it's monochromatic, it's more that the beats sort of drag in a weird way and he's rubbish whenever he tries to slow down. Most of the production doesn't really feel propulsive enough so even the good verses have this running through quicksand feel.

reasons its a bit dull to me -
bit late in the day - this should have been what his debut was like (ie a grime-focused album)
kano sounds like hes doing it cos he has to, not cos he wants to, so some of it sounds a bit like an exercise hes really exerting himself to be interested in (and also really trying hard to sound hard)
the beats arent all that good, though they are grimier
kanos hooks are pretty rubbish and that slow flow of his that he uses on them has never sounded good, not even on mic check
he hasnt got much to say, not for a full album
the flow isnt what it used to be

only collabo i thought was good on there was the one with ghetto.

I'm no afficionado but I thought it was brilliant! Love the production (big spacey and bass-y like some UK halfway house between Deltron 3030 and the first Pendulum album, although that's probably gonna put everyone off).

Also big minus points for Mikey J for fumbling the Omar whistle, could have been so sinister and menacing but no, they cocked it up.

"hustler" is so dope

does the rest of the album sound like this

intrigued by lex's review in the guardian but everything that lex reviews in the guardian is 4 stars unless it's klaxons so im still holding out

Think it was Tim who dismissed the Tinchy album as merely competent and then went back to it a month or so later and go "wow!" Exactly the same thing happened to me with this album - think I just needed to get over it not being 14 versions of Ps and Qs.

And yes, the album does sound a lot like Hustler. The best track is the Davinche banger, I Like It, towards the end though. That and the Wiley one.

intrigued by lex's review in the guardian but everything that lex reviews in the guardian is 4 stars unless it's klaxons so im still holding out

read more of my reviews!! uhh i won't deny i was wavering between 3 and 4 stars for this though. it's 7/10 basically, as are so many others. like matt i went back to it recently and was pleased that it held up, esp 'hunting we will go'.

having spent a regrettable 6 minutes with the wiley album today (finally the album stevem's been threatening to make all these years) i was quite up for giving this a fair crack of the whip. unfortunately however my patriotism is not such that i will stand for a bunch of embarrassing americanisms unconvincingly delivered over fake runners beats. (i am a longtime respecter of mikey j's very competent orchestral gangsta but this is overkill. the wiley tune's kool.)

(and) i like it when kane says he finds ironing therapeutic though. me 2!! i even do my socks.

unless it's klaxons

or old rock artists making new electronic albums.

kano album is better than i remembered but the wiley collabo is still shit. the hook is lame and wileys verse sounds really half-hearted (plus it doesnt convince at all - wiley talking about how much money hes got and how many bottles of champers hes cracking open? whatever mate).

finally the album stevem's been threatening to make all these years

i only just saw this smack talk - pretty inexcusable!

'boys and girls' is still great is all i want to say

haha

girl u know its troo

those lazy crazy days of ilm getting excited about records coming out

i have a soft spot for kano because he was probably the only grime MC to namedrop my hometown

Kano rolls back into the spotlight in style rocking a fresh single, video, string of live dates, and with a new album on the horizon for 2010…

Kano’s new single ‘Rock N Roller’ (out 26th Oct) is a soaring slice of heavyweight urban electro-pop with rousing tweaked-out vocals and a disconcertingly catchy chorus.

Click here - http://tinyurl.com/KanoRockNRollerVideo - to view the video and hear the single. The promo is directed by Christian Holm-Glad whose previous credits include Calvin Harris’ ‘I’m Not Alone’ and Madcon’s ‘Beggin’.

Kano is also set to perform a series of unmissable university dates this autumn culminating in a hometown headline show at London’s Koko. The forthcoming gigs are listed below.

'Rock N Roller' provides listeners with an early taste of Kano’s as yet untitled fourth studio album, due out early next year. The record promises to be a significant milestone in the career of the London-born lyricist with production credits including: ghetto-pop duo Radioclit; Berlin’s electro-house upstart Boys Noize; purveyors of synthetic soul, Hot Chip; as well as long-term collaborators Mikey J and songwriter/producer Fraser T Smith.

a soaring slice of heavyweight urban electro-pop with rousing tweaked-out vocals and a disconcertingly catchy chorus

http://www.zasucks.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/1abandon_hope.jpg

Actually the idea of Kano working with Radioclit is pretty exciting. Hot Chip and Boys Noize less so.

i loved the last one (140 grime st) the first time i heard it, but it didn't do enough for me on subsequent listens. i'll have to give it another go.

i think hes still got it as an mc, he just makes sucky songs/picks bad beats. anyway, new album out soon -

1. 2 Left: Topic Of Discussion (produced by Boys Noize)

2. Get Wild ft Aidonia & Wiley (produced by Boys Noize)

3. iPod Generation (produced by Kano)

4. MAAD (produced by Kano & Fraser T Smith)

5. Spaceship (produced by Chase & Status)

6. Upside ft Michelle Breeze (produced by Craigie Dodds)

7. All + All Together ft Hot Chip (produced by Hot Chip)

8. Lady Killer ft Ghetts (produced by Hot Chip)

9. Bassment (produced by A13)

10. Crazy (produced by Boys Noize)

11. Slaves ft Why Why Peaches (produced by Craigie Dodds)

12. Jenga ft Vybz Kartel (produced by Boys Noize & Diplo)

13. Dark Days (produced by Craigie Dodds)

Christ almighty. That tracklist looks like the work of a man getting pretty much everything wrong.

"get wild" is actually ok, but oh my christ the rest of that track listing is not promising

production-wise what was once desperate pandering is now the ruling uk landscape; if kano can scrape together a bit of charisma from somewhere there's probably hits to be had i imagine. doubt it mind

i heard a song from this on the radio and it was so so bad

cred wise, hes doing the same as everyone else really, i just have a feeling kano wont know what to do with all these guests/pop & indie crossovers. again. curious to know what the hot chip collabos will be like. liked the last vybz kartel collabo kano did too (even if vybz made him look a bit weak) so that one could be ok.

It's actually Boys Noize who provoked the biggest eyeroll from me, you'd think they'd be able to split the difference between noisy electro and, well, grime, pretty well but I bet they can't. Also they produced the worst track on the Kelis album.

i don't recall offhand which one the boys noize/kelis one was but it def wasn't worse than "acapella"

anyway this is "get wild"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XR5EACKSVXw

like...6/10? 7/10 when it gets to the chorus

Acapella is fine, it's no worst than most of the rest of the album, I'm convinced most of your hate is just down to "eww David Guetta".

1. 22nd Century has grown on me, it's definitely not "the worst"
2. Boys Noize = a "he" not a "they" (unless Alex Ridha and Erol have succeeded in genetically recomining themselves into one person)

kthxbye

This is not at all good so far and the track 'MAAD' has made me cringe like little else this year - at least it's the only thing Fraser T Smith produces on here :/

The one with Ghetts is pretty fun. On 'Slaves' he interpolates 'Baa Baa Black Sheep'. It is not easy to listen to.

Get Wild is pretty great, but Kano is sort of the worst thing about it - he used to sound so charismatic but somehow feels less so with every release.

Having trouble believing this will be worse than the Jammer album, which really is a complete mess, and not in a good way.

jammer album is not that bad. def a mess but redeemed slightly by a few standouts. not so redeemable - jammer generally sounding like hes only doing it for the sake of it in hope that some major will snap him up so he can get off big dada.

kano just sounds more desperate with each release.
he was good on the gorillaz soundtrack but he seems like someone that will only ever sound good when they know theyre popular.
til then hes just going to sound/be lost.

*sorry, gorillaz album.

one song on the new one, little sis, i think might be the best thing hes ever done.

Funny that, I thought it represented the now traditional point in a Kano album where the quality nosedives off a cliff never to recover.

idk, i now find him a little unconvincing doing songs like new banger, or hail even, though listening back to some of the older stuff, theres a certain lack of assurance in a lot of his vocals (once he got signed weirdly), which is why i think the softer parts of the album now seem to work better for me. in terms of writing, i think hes a lot more expressive than before, and there are a lot of lines on the album which i could not have imagined him writing earlier, so its nice to hear a bit more about him. i like the album purely for that. i find a lot of his production to be somewhat dreary, but somehow on little sis, its perfect. its like kano doing the streets.

🎤 this is such a minor thing to be gassed about from the show but in all the high levels of production, incredible band and backing singers. Things going back to basics for Class of De Ja passing one wired mic at RAH and murking is emotional 🔥 pic.twitter.com/DopjhowIp3

— Elijah* (@Eli1ah) October 8, 2019

Even with the dodgy sound on the video this looks like absolute fire.