Pilerats, Journalist

Mary J. Blige teams up with Disclosure; old school house heads do cartwheels.. Mary J. Blige’s team-up with Disclosure might just prove to be the most forward-thinking career move the R & B diva's made in the last decade. The multiple Grammy award-winner proved her ability to remain fresh and vital, capitalising on the love hip listeners had for her F For You Disclosure remix (watch them do a banging live rendition of it on Jimmy Kimmel below) by hopping across the pond to the UK, and jumping in the studio with Disclosure and Sam Smith for The London Sessions (watch a video of them in studio below). Set to see a release next week, the album ranges from glitchy soul tunes to full-on dance tracks. Mary J's not the first female R & B singer of that ilk to team up with breakout younger artists in a bid to stay relevant: Mariah Carey’s recent collab with rapper Rich Homie Quan, Thirsty, springs to mind. Anyway, Mary J and her Disclosure baes have dropped another cut from the album: a retro-

thestand4rd are everything we want out of an R & B / rap group right now.. If you loved 16 year-old Internet rap sensation Spooky Black’s melancholic single Without You nearly half as much as we did, you should get stuck into the new album from his new group, thestand4rd (pronounced ‘the standard’), which is Allan Kingdom, Psymun, Bobby Raps, and Spooky. These players are all niche-as-all-hell as individuals (read: awesome, to our ears), and are probably never going to have mainstream appeal, but they’ve still got a really strong audience of passionately loyal fans, and together, they’re likely to make waves. Their first live show as a group earlier this month was apparently fairly epic (see pics below) with an audience singing along to every word. Their sound is new, and brave and everything we want out of an R&B/rap group right now. Never heard of these dudes? Well then, it’s high time you met this Minnesota-based gang: Psymun: Psymun’s an incredible producer, surely destined for Jam

In a word: hectic.. As he approaches an Australian return for the upcoming Stereosonic Festivals, Skrillex has dropped an epic - and rather intense - clip for Fuck That from his latest LP, Recess. Reading the YouTube comments is pretty fun too - his fans expecting the usual dubstep sounds but getting an (IMO) absolutely killer piece of bassy house - are really not appreciating this change in direction. I reckon it's fucking sick. But I digress... The clip is directed by Nabil Elderkin - no slouch in the video clip world, having worked with the likes of Kanye West (Mercy), James Blake (Overgrown) and that brilliant video for Alt-J's Hunger Of The Pine. Anyways, strap yourself in for what is essentially a five-minute short film about an encarcerated street fighter who quickly falls back into bad habits: Follow Skrillex: FACEBOOK

Drake's doing four headline shows around Future Music Festival.. Following the announcement he'll be headlining Future Music Festival 2015 comes the not-unexpected news that Canadian hip hop royalty Drake will be playing a few of his own headline shows around the festival, joined by fellow Future act 2 Chainz. Late last week www.draketour.com.au popped up which was a pretty obvious indication of what was to come, and today sees the announcement of four dates over Feb/March next year. Check the dates below and click HERE to sign up for Frontier Touring Presales, running from Thursday 27 November (2pm AEDT) to Friday 28 November (2pm AEDT) before general release 10AM local time Monday 1 December via Ticketek. Wed 25 Feb - Allphones Arena, Sydney (PRE-SALE) Fri 27 Feb - Rod Laver Areana, Melbourne (PRE-SALE) Tue 3 Mar - Perth Arena, Perth (PRE-SALE) Thu 5 Mar - Entertainment Centre, Brisbane (PRE-SALE)

The Aus' dance legends make a short film doco to go with their new compilation.. Global Melbourne dance music ambassadors Cut Copy recently released Cut Copy Presents: Oceans Apart, digitally and on vinyl via the band’s own dance imprint, Cutters Records. The 19-track continuous DJ-mixed provides a snapshot of new and exclusive music from their hometown’s thriving underground dance music scene and club culture. Not ones to rest on their laurels, they've now unleashed the mix CD's accompanying documentary, providing a behind the scenes look at how compilation came to be. The 12-minute film offers a rare, fascinating glimpse into the Melbourne music scene. Following its premiere with The FADER, you can now stream it online, below: "…'Oceans Apart' aims to allow their listeners to hear a side of Australia that is as unexpected and expansive as the landscape itself." – DJ Mag  "It's impeccably mixed metaphysical disco, existential house and healing music [...] moving freely to this advent

Beautiful new music from Glaswegian producer Jon Cooper AKA Turtle.. "A slow burning piece of beauty," is how NME has described Glaswegian producer Turtle's output thus far. And it's hard not to argue. Following from the release of his debut EP Who Knows, which saw comparisons to the likes of Jon Hopkins and Sohn, Lavender (premiered on blahblahblahscience.com) is the first single to be taken from Turtle's upcoming second EP - Colours, due in 2015 via Beatnik Creative. Along with those illustrious names, I'd also thrown in Thinking In Textures-era Chet Faker into the mix, especially Lavender. A restrained piece of electronica, one that instantly puts Turtle on my map for upcoming electronic artists. Follow Turtle: FACEBOOK

New tunes and an Aussie tour for the Aussie house duo.. Sydney duo Kato and Adam Bozzetto AKA Wordlife have a party-packed December coming up to celebrate their new EP Dat Groove, featuring Chicago dance legend DJ Funk, and a remix from another club lord in Sinden. Along with the tour dates you can see after streaming this charging slice of four-four, they're also joining in the fun that is the epic two-day EMC Play showcases (more info HERE). Dat Groove drops via the duo's record label home Motorik November 28. Follow Wordlife: FACEBOOK

We're still mad about Giraffage. He christens his new EP on Australian shores this week..

The Melbourne electronic duo sign with Caroline with a tasty new single.. It's been over a year since we first started listening to/talking about Melbourne electronica duo Alta and their Game Broke Out EP, followed by the incredible video clip/song combo of Wash It Down earlier this year. Now, heading into 2015, the future is looking bright as the duo have announced their signing to the awesome folks over at Caroline, and doing so, dropped a hypnotic new single in Hold Your Fire. It's the first of a few to come moving forward, and has done nothing to quell our excitement for one of our fave Aussie electronic acts - they killed it when they supported Willow Beats at the Northcote Social club a couple of months back. Follow Alta: FACEBOOK

Welcome to your $0 weekend.. Just cause your bank account’s in the negative doesn’t mean your weekend’s gotta be a drag. Here's our guide on how to extract the mostest fun on the leastest money.   Header Image: Lukasz Wierzbowski LET MEI MOVE YOU Hands down the best thing you’ll spend a fiver on all weekend. Yep, it’s not free, but it’s cheap-as, and it’s worth every cent. One of Perth’s most captivating and soulful female singers, Mei Saraswati (whom you might have seen totally destroy the Boiler Room in her other act, Savoir - check out new music from those guys here), has assembled a super group of talented Perth musicians to back her (already brilliant) solo compositions. You’ll also get to check out the loose, spaced-out experi-funk/disco of Cosmo Gets, who have a new live show, replete with trippy visuals and alien vocoders, that absolutely rules. Sat Nov 22, 8pm – 12am, The Bird, 181 William Street, Northbridge. $5. “Dress breezy”. Event HERE. Above: Mei Saraswati (photo by Amb