The ever clever Mikill Pane is back with an excellently-titled EP, drawing inspiration from the project that launched him to national fame, Ed Sheeran’s Collaborations EP, for a guest-packed effort of his own.
Mikill’s stock has risen considerably over the last 6 months, and that increase in stature is represented by the feature list reading like a who’s who of the UK music scene (and Katie Price, for some reason), as artists from a wide gamut of genres come together to help Mikill produce another reputation-boosting project, with Paloma Faith, Yasmin, Ed Sheeran, P Money and more making appearances. I’ve yet to dive into the music, but being the hugely consistent rapper that he is I’m sure the content will match the co-signs. Free grab courtesy of SB.TV below.
Mikill Pane recently released his fantastic new EP, The Morris Dancer, and has climbed as high up as #2 in the iTunes hip hop chart thus far – a great achievement from an artist I expect to see big things from this year.
Here’s his new video for Kings, which features on The Morris Dancer, and is a great advertisement for why you should be copping the EP. Mikill successfully fuses good lyrics to a track that will make you move and resonate in your head; assisted by the vocal talents of Yoshee, you’ll find yourself hitting repeat!
Man of the moment, Mikill Pane’s new EP, The Morris Dancer , will be released through Invader Music on 13th February . The five-track EP includes a track entitled Cut Back , which features vocals from Ursa Minor’s Little Bear and is currently being used in an Nation wide O2 Academy /Fair Share Music campaign.
Here is one of those tracks from the EP, I Like U. Really into this track, Mikill Pane has a lot of wit which is what makes his songs so easy to listen to. Nice little track for those crushing on someone right now!
Year after year, RE:DEFINITION successfully aims to tell the tale of an area that lies at the crossroads where old values meet new ideals. Last summer’s presentation was a genre-blurring live concept album which brought together some of the biggest names in urban music, as part of the Create11. This year, Urban Development have teamed up with the Barbican and Create11 to present you with a collective of musicians, emcees, vocalists, actors and dancers on July 7th at The Hackney Empire.
Fusing live performance, multi-media and theatre on a journey that encompasses love, conflict, tradition and aspirations in east London, performers are KANO, GHETTS, TALAY RILEY, ROXXXAN, DONAEO, JAY NORTON, SELAH, SCRUFIZZER, MIKE HOUGH, MPHO, LOVELLE, MIKILL PANE, LADY CHANN and ABEL MILLER. Each artist’s tracks and lyrics will form the story that is RE:Definition.
With visuals coming from music video director and producer JAK FRSH, who’s worked with Wiley and Tinie Tempah amongst others, it’s back over to MATTHEW ‘EXCALIBAH’ XIA to direct the show. Visit www.barbican.org.uk or www.urbandevelopment.co.uk for tickets.
Be smart and support not only UK music, but the depth of creativity and originality on show here. If you’re down in the London area, don’t insult your own intelligence-get involved (no, I’m not making a commission!).
Everyone likes breaking rules, and I’m going to give you three good reasons to break the one typed above. If I’m writing a feature exclusively on one artist, you know I mean it too.
It’s no secret that we’re big fans of Mr. Pane’s work here at OTU, and there’s little doubt that he’s one of very few UK rappers that can command a microphone in such a multifarious manner, adapting himself to dubstep-influenced beats just as comfortably as brighter productions, and many more in between.
There lies the focus of this feature: ‘many more in between’. With the release of what’s been referred to as his ‘debut’ single, Summer In The City, many will be unfamiliar with his work outside of the few tracks fed to you here, so head below and see just why I regard him as the most listenable rapper in the UK scene. Reviews and downloads available for his three best tracks with one click of your grubby mouse.
Clever move from a very intelligent MC. Understandably, many of you will be unfamiliar with most of Pane’s work outside of the Ed Sheeran feature and his recent Party Animal remix (though not for long…watch this space!), and those two tracks would probably lead you to believe he’s a somewhat ‘serious’, negatively-inspired rapper. This track quite simply flips that notion on its head with a feelgood, nod-your-head vibe that not only displays Mikill’s adaptability on the mic, but also his versatility in all-round song making.
Backed by a bouncy Jake Gosling production, Pane uses his fantastic storytelling style to poke a little fun at the British weather, as well as some witty observations on the typical reactions to those rare glimpses of sun that we all have. The video is a fun, well-produced watch with a little bit of humour, a nice cameo from Ed Sheeran, all alongside a general vibe of realism and positivity that reflects the audio nicely. Worth a watch, listen and even a sniff if you’re feeling really excited.
With one of the best beards in the game, Mikill Pane gives his Party Animal remix the visual treatment. This is a track about partying/getting on it/getting smashed, whatever you want to call it. Somewhat surprisingly it isn’t about the obvious perks of such activities, but more about how much it changes you and if being in that state is something you really want to portray to people. Just looking at this superb video; is anybody really having a great time?
The dubstep beat on this perfectly supplements the nature of the track, and is one I’ll be bumping for a while.
From folk to grime, Ed Sheeran’s experienced and performed it all, emerging as one of the most well-rounded artists in the UK scene at a young age.
When a rare and homegrown talent of this quality arises, there’s an air of inevitability that he’s going to be one of the UK’s better artists in the coming years. Hence, for us here at OTU it’s best to get on the bandwagon now, as it’s going to be pretty hard to find room on it very soon: welcome to an Overrating the Underrated exclusive interview with the wonderfully-gifted Ed Sheeran.
Indi caught up with Ed to discuss a range of topics, including his thoughts on the No. 5 Collaborations EP, his upcoming album, and much more in a very in-depth interview. Huge thanks to Ed for being so friendly, and to Gully and Sian for putting this together.
You can read the script of the interview below (including a bonus question not on the video!), and of course the video interview is available up here. If, for whatever reason, you’d prefer to view the video (in 2 parts) on Youtube, you can do that here and here.
I received a press copy of this about a month ago, and it’s a testament to how good the EP is that I’m still listening to it now. The quality of the EP and the incredible hard work Ed Sheeran and his team have put in have paid off, as this has bolted up to #2 in the iTunes download chart! I’m told it even had top spot for a brief time last night too (and when competing with Rihanna, this is no mean feat).
So who is Ed Sheeran? And how did someone whose main influences include the likes of Bob Dylan & Damien Rice come to collaborate with some of grime’s best artists? The 19-year old hails from East Anglia, first picking up his guitar and making songs in 2002. He got his big break appearing on SBTV, exposing Ed’s music to a whole new scene, resulting in contact with the artists who feature on the EP, amongst others (like Example, who enlisted Ed as tour support). Click on below to read our review of this EP.
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