U2 return with a 'CARNAVAL DE LUZ' for 'THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH'

The Carnival...

By TIM DAVID HARVEY

You, too, are going to love this. Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr., also known as Irish rockers U2, are back! These beach boys walking along the shore like it was 'Abbey Road', and they were The Beatles, with the tide coming in. All for the artwork that is their brand-new and sweet sixteenth studio album, 'Carnaval de Luz', the Spanish and Portuguese for "Carnival Of Light'. It's their first album in almost a decade, this New Music Friday, following 2017's 'Songs Of Experience'. Although they've given us other songs to experience for many an extended play over the last few. From the politically charged 'Days Of Ash', this Ash Wednesday gone, featuring an 'American Obituary' and 'Song Of The Future', to the 'Easter Lily' that brought it all back in surprise, like the 'Easter Parade' of a 'Resurrection Song'.

Produced by the great Jacknife Lee in Neptune, Chaplin and The Hot Purple Petting Zoo studios, this Island record, sitting on the beach with rave reviews already (Rolling Stone were a half away from giving it five stars), features the stellar singles 'Street Of Dreams', 'Silencio', 'The Greatest Show On Earth' (which is also the name of their forthcoming, farewell tour) and 'Torn' (more on that classic closer later). With 'Carnival Of Light' (previously avant-garde and untitled) Fab Four inspiration for this fantastic one, Bono and the boys promoted this piece by performing at the Tate Modern for BBC Music, as tribute to the great Brian Eno (who of course has worked with everyone from David Bowie to Roxy Music), and all the music they made together. You can see and hear that later this month on BBC Two, BBC Radio 2 and BBC Sounds. Indie record stores also got the album early, for fans and listening sessions, as everything from 'Go', with the brackets of the album-title, to the statement of 'If The World Is At War We Better Not Be', holds our peace.

"Barefoot in a dress that her mother made/Riches to rags in a silent storm/She's the face of God/A lightning rod in female form", Bono sings on the beautiful 'La Reina'. As 'The Mirror Maker (Rosalia)' gets personal and 'Midnight Sunshine' hits the hour and rise as a personal favourite. Stripped-back, bare, but still essential, this feels like the salad days of a band, pushing pensions, but also its own whole entity. There's no 'Superficiality' as the man in the shades sings, "No such thing as gravity/In the air is where we'll be found/No such thing as insanity/Where insanity is all over town/You and me are breaking news/Because the news can't break us/That don't make us superficial/Serious is what that makes us." Leading his band of brothers across the beach and the sands of time that is falling through all our fingers in this dark day and accelerated age. Sporting a top hat and cane, but still looking as fresh and relevant as when he told us that the streets have no name. It's a grand return this Friday, with U2 and Johnny Depp also heading back to cinemas as 'Ebenezer' Scrooge for the latest take on Charles Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol'.

'Glorify' offers more to God and the people with the rally cry yearn of "People cry against the lie/That we're sisters and brothers/We're made for each other, you and I/'Cause we're made from each othеr." Whilst on an album that harks back to their greats, like 'The Joshua Tree' and 'Achtung Baby', U2 show us that they 'Can't Stop Us Now' ("Smell the coffee, taste the rum/And to each other learn to bow/Open your lips, swallow the sun/Throw a revolution now"). Yet before the beautiful bonus of 'Get Back To Now', the curtain 'Torn' may just do the same thing to your heart, until it's in two. We lost the great American singer-songwriter, country star, and Dollywood herself, Dolly Parton back in August and music, quite frankly, will never be the same. It turns out her last recording is with this band for their latest single. A band who has collaborated with everyone from Pavarotti to Kendrick Lamar. And as Dolly sings, "Hands that used to hold you clenched in fists/Words that used to soothe you cut you into bits/Are you your brother's keeper now? Or know what you're fighting for?/Nothing hurts a mother more than a family at war," it's clear to hear, and see, that it's not just the house on this song that's divided. What a way to make a legend. Let her light shine...forever.

Playlist Picks: 'The Greatest Show On Earth', 'If The World Is At War We Better Not Be', 'Torn (Feat. Dolly Parton)'.

Spin This: U2 - 'Days Of Ash (EP)'

It's 'GOOD WEATHER FOR IMMACULATE CONCEPTION' on ALANIS MORISSETTE'S first Christmas album

Morissette Christmas...

By TIM DAVID HARVEY

And isn't it time for a Christmas album. Don't you think? Canadian-American singer/songwriter rock megastar Alanis Morissette already gave us one of the best and biggest selling albums of all time in 1995. 'Jagged Little Pill' moved worldwide units to the tune of 33 million records. Inspiring everything from discussions regarding her greatest hit on 'Lois & Clark'  ('The New Adventures Of Superman') to the name of R&B albums (Jagged Edge's 'Jagged Little Thrill'). The 'Queen of Alt-Rock Angst' has every right to give us an album for the holidays. And her first Christmas album, not to mention her first record since 'The Storm Before The Calm' of 2022, is not for a second ironic. It's warm and inviting as the Grammy winner covers Christmas classics and offers outstanding originals to bring the festive feeling to these troubled times.

Hark the heralded alt-angel sings in the advent of this November. Bringing new life and signature styles to 'O Holy Night', 'Little Drummer Boy' and even the translation of international classic standards like 'Ave Maria'. Morrissette gifts us with 'Good Weather For Immaculate Conception' (amazing title) as the snow falls on her hood and spectacles. Merry loves company, too, and there are plenty of special guests on Alanis' Christmas card list. Julian Coryell's guitar backs the religious question of 'What Child Is This?' And Amythyst Kiah amazes on the originally sang 'Momma Mary'. The Trans Voices bring even more to 'O Tannenbaum', as Christmas across culture and continents is continued to be celebrated, too. All as Joy Oladokun brings their first name to the always beautiful 'Silent Night'. There's even room for podcasters in this building. As fellow Canadian Martin Short wishes us a 'Merry Christmas' also, in a classic collaboration. All as fellow 'Only Murders In The Building' Martin, Steve Martin brings backing banjo, with superstar Brandi Carlile, to a 'Beautiful Star Of Bethlehem'.

Modern Christmas numbers are also dialled up for your Christmas jukebox. Whether it be Alanis giving her heart to Wham's 'Last Christmas', for the late, great George Michael, akin to an Emilia Clarke, Henry Golding and Michelle Yeoh festive rom-com. Or her single cover of John Lennon's 'Happy Xmas (War Is Over)', with her home for the holiday's music video, complete with family, once again offering bed peace to a world at war. If you want it. Yet, "It's coming on Christmas, they're cutting down trees/They're putting up reindeer and singing songs of joy and peace/Oh, I wish I had a river I could skate away on". And when this Demi Moore lookalike covers Joni Mitchell's 'River' with real substance, that's when you realize you've been listening to that very cover for the last hour and nary another decoration has graced the tree you just put up. The high notes of  "I would teach my feet to fly" for your best baby? Now, that's a conception that is immaculate.

Add the 'Christmas On The Dancefloor' cheesy, but classy, feel-good tune and the dedication 'To An Empath At Christmas Time' to the checked twice list. "These holiday melodies/With presents all around/It’s not that I’m ungrateful/It’s just these blue chords in the sound/The depth of your perception/You’ve had it your whole life/This time of year is rugged/With all this pressure to be nice," she sings in solidarity. Adding "You don’t have to perform peace for us/Or belt out old lang syne/You are a miracle who feels deeply and is kind/Your tender perceptivity picks up signals far, wide/I see your wet eyes when you tell us you’re fine/To an empath at Christmas time" under the tree of life. This wonderful ode, and its beautiful music video, in addition to all the classics made an abode, make this the best thing the great Alanis Morissette has done since her surprise performance of 'Ironic' on Netflix's 'Everybody's Live With John Mulaney' in LA. Not to mention the best Christmas album since Norah dreamed of it like the Jolly Jones she is. Good weather indeed.

Present Picks: 'To An Empath At Christmas Time', 'River', 'Merry Christmas (Feat. Martin Short)'.

Spin This: Norah Jones - 'I Dream Of Christmas'.

'O MY BELOVED', new KINGS OF LEON album

Beloved One...

By TIM DAVID HARVEY

The 'Sex On Fire' crowd, that left the morning after the 'Only By The Night' monster hit, should have never skipped on the Kings Of Leon like they shouldn't an appointment with their urologist. Can you believe that album, following the big-three and hair beginnings of 'Youth & Young Manhood', 'Aha Shake Heartbreak' and the number one 'Because Of The Times', came almost twenty years ago? Those problems feel old yet? Since then, the Mount Juliet, Tennessee rockers have been crafting subtler, but sublime rock affairs. 'Come Around Sundown', 'Mechanical Bull', 'Walls'. All whilst the Followill brothers (Caleb, Jared, Nathan and Matthew) all became family men. After that, there was a brief break of five years before the post-pandemic 'When You See Yourself'. But it's only been two years since the Kid Harpoon produced 'Can We Please Have Fun', yes.

The music is much more meaningful and beautiful now, for a band that find themselves sound somewhere between the constant playing Black Keys and the 'Perfecth' Queens Of The Stone Age'. Touring the modern Americana, they helped hone, these Kings have also managed to make a new album for their muses, their queens, with the dutiful dedication of 'O My Beloved' on a cloud pastel artwork of beautiful blue beneath the sea, adrift in memory bliss. This tenth, and top album from Leon, on Virgin records and their own LoveTap label, is the perfect record for a nuanced November with the one you hold closest and dearest. Shot to the heart with the singles of the things that matter the most. 'My Whole World' and the family amusement park video of 'KOYSAR'. An acronym urging you to "kick off your shoes and run", as Caleb breaks the fourth wall, waiting in line for a ride with his family.

They've found their sweet spot. Stripped-back and melancholic. It's a self-produced, changing weather that you can see in the visualizer videos. Not to mention the second single, 'Cold Blue Dawn' that partners with The Weather Channel to offer a lyric video utilizing satellite imagery from NASA. A favour returned after TWC used the KOL's classic 'Pyro' track to help map a viral video of weather formations. And after all, in these stormy times, we know love and life forecasts the same. Yet from the harmonious 'Intro' to the 'Get You Down' lucky thirteenth track that puts this all down, the Kings Of still have a hold. Still laying where you're lying. 'The Hand' offering "Talk the talk and make a bet/Make a wish you won't regret/Tells you after we grow old/We'll meet again on streets of gold", like Sting fields. Remember me?

A 'Rose' is also offered before 'Make It Count' strums electric like acoustic. You can really 'Feel The Love', even if it is somewhat lost between lines like, "Condensation on your limbs/I can hear the angels playing violins/Look at this weather, I checked it twice/You swore the storms had all but passed us by." 'Blue Jeans and Diamonds', meanwhile, is an American anthem. Whilst, 'Warm Company' helps while away the Autumn nights with your summer love. But don't fear that winter is coming in this game. This love, music and band of brothers are a 'Forever Endeavor'. "Spray the kids with the hose/Little things light them up/They're lost in the moment", word is bond. Weathered together. It's not a futile fight, for family, or the legacy of these Kings. It's theirs now, once masters and eras are owned, like another megastar of America, no stranger to Tennessee. On 'Pretty Thing' beloved ones are told, "You're such a pretty thing/Out there dancing 'round/Making a mess of me/In your evening gown." O my!

Playlist Picks: 'My Whole World', 'Rose', 'Forever Endeavor'.

Spin This: Kings Of Leon - 'Can We Please Have Fun'

The QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE'S new album is 'PERFECTH'

Perfecth Blue...

By TIM DAVID HARVEY

Perfecth-ion, no lisp, comes in the formidable form of the Queens Of The Stone Age's brand-new album this New Music Friday. 'Perfecth', their nine-track, ninth studio-album, is their first since they were 'In Times New Roman...' in 2023. All for quite the definitive, and deluxe, discography. From their eponymous, 1998 debut, to the 'Songs For The Deaf' that made them rock household names, like 'No One Knows' with the Nirvana of Foo Fighter Dave Grohl on the skins. Not to mention the 'Skin On Skin', 'Medication' of the 'Lullabies To Paralyze' follow-up, or those 'Villains' with super-producer, Mark Ronson.

Inspired, like recent years tracks from Lana Del Rey and Fall Out Boy, by kintsugi, the Japanese art of restoring broken pottery with gold, to honour the cracks. 'Perfecth' shows us exactly that. And that's the reason for the misspelling on the new QOTSA LP. "That title is funny when you’re in a group, but it ain’t so funny when you’re alone," frontman Josh Homme told NME of the concept of an album he produced with bassist Michael Shuman. Following their three-year hiatus, this album follows the three record cycle of their discography, according to Homme, finding his way back home. The rock Matador record, recorded in LA's Sound City, Sweetzerland, Pink Duck, Shangri-La and New Orleans (Maringy), has been in the works for over a decade, and it's a finally honed work of art, all the way down to the blurred image of the artwork, from Homme and company.

Featuring the singles, and incredible videos, for 'Where The Goth Girls At?' and 'Run Away From The Mob' (with Grohl), if this all sounds so eerily familiar, don't worry, you're not being haunted this Halloween eve. Except for the lead single 'Easy Street', and the echoes of 'Insignificant Other', that were heard at the end of the Stone Age last release. The bold, beautiful and brilliant La Blogothèque assisted 'Alive In The Catacombs' (the amazing album, acoustic set and concert film) to the bones of some live, lived in performances from the skull rockers. Nothing from the fabulous French Take Away, not even Bon Iver singing to our 'Heavenly Father', raises the spirits quite like this. Unless you're talking about the spirited service to the great Iggy Pop for the 'Sunday' best album highlight. Better put on a shirt, let alone a good pair of pants.

Holding Homme through his personal struggles, like the cover art, this perfect piece fits it all together in 'Mono' and stereo for these Post Office Box 7095 Hollywood Blvd #835, Hollywood, CA. 90028 lyric post card (highest in quality, lowest in price) video. From the 'It's Only Love' lonely solidarity beginnings, to the penultimate 'Phantom Limb' drug trip. Yet it's 'From The Cliff' that will really have a hold on you. "Sun shines on your lips/My fingers trace your hips/The breeze reminds me of Spain/Again I know all I have to do/Is be in love with you," won't let go...and with good reason. There's a beauty to the brutal look of these raw rockers that is bluesy and signature all at the same time. One embossed in a gold leaf offering that reveals more beneath that cracks of a man and his band that went deep into the tunnels and chambers of the most famous burial site in Paris. Those same cracks, like the late, great Leonard Cohen said are "how the light gets in". You want it darker?

Playlist Picks: 'Where The Goth Girls At?', 'Mono', 'Sunday'.

Spin This: Queens Of The Stone Age - 'Alive In The Catacombs'.

Pharrell Williams is JOHN LEGEND'S 'MUSE'

Legends Of The Fall...

By TIM DAVID HARVEY 

Legend has it that John Stephens knows all about classic collaborations and concepts. From Oscar wins (with the 'Selma' 'Glory' in Common) to Christmas albums ('A Very Legendary Christmas') as 'tis almost the season again. A sweet sixteen years ago, the man who began his career playing piano on 'The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill's' 'Everything Is Everything', recorded an album with The Roots ('Wake Up!') of Philly. And we all know about his seminal moment, 'Get Lifted', with help from the G.O.O.D. Music of Kanye West. Ms. Hill returning the favour for the 'So High' Cloud 9 remix. Dear John is also amazing when he pushes the envelope alone, like on, "stepping away from the piano", Andre 3000 line albums such as, 'Evolver', 'Love In The Future' and 'Bigger Love'. But like his last name, eponymous, last straight-forward studio-album (but let's not forget 'My Favorite Dream' of 2024's children's album from the 'Jesus Christ Superstar') we know, he, and we, are all just 'Ordinary People' on the piano.

Looking up, in familiar black and white, a black bowtie on white suit, and a similar suited and booted string-section accompanying him on the album artwork, Legend knows which way to go on his new album 'Muse'. One that has nothing to do with the British Radiohead like rockers, who had their own amazing album ('The Wow! Signal') out this summer, but former N.E.R.D. rocker and Neptune, Pharrell Williams, who produces the entirety of this epic with his signature boom-bap bounce. Giving all of himself to the darkness and light of Legend once again. Also, vocally-appearing on the title-track, the Spike Jonze like 'Her', 'Get Back', 'Are You Ok?' (Annie), 'Next Time' and the grave of 'Fireflies'. And if, piece by piece (you have to watch that beautiful biopic on the super-producer, told through LEGOs), you think that all sounds like the early 2000s. From Kelis to Justin Timberlake, this album is complete with a Clipse collaboration ('Bodies On The Floor'). Returning the recently reunited Clipse comeback special, 'Let God Sort 'Em Out' favour.

Gospel, afrobeat, doo-wop, hip-hop, classic soul and so much more are explored through this 'Muse', following the pair's two-decade friendship. 'Muse' explores a man and his own relationship between Paris and high-art, and it even nods to the odyssey of the nine muses of Greek mythology and Stephens own ancestors of soul, as he continues his 'Evolver' era. From the definitive 'Daylight' breaking single, to going 'Under The Bridge' like the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Not to mention, all the inspired interlude introductions that come right before. It really does feel like the early 2000s skits again. Taps bodying one influence before No Malice and Pusha T. Despite the dynamic duo, Stephens still sings, "Oh, I'm only doing me/So, right now, life is Vеgas/And if I'm playing/I'm only doing me," on 'Doin' Me'. A self-empowering anthem for the man who knows how to write even better wedding songs than the great Tank (see, 'Conversations In The Dark' for the ultimate pillow-talk).

Everything is still everything on...well, 'Everything'. "We lost our cars and our keys/With nowhere to go, with no place to be/News cameras everywhere, but nothing left to see/We lost our kings, we lost our queens/They lost their castles, their compounds and empires/And for what's left, the prices are too high/And the politicians are liars/I thought my life was pristine, that's what I understood prior/But not anymore, the mountains are on fire." Socially and politically conscious, like the powerful 'Preach' singer always is, but still about love and how it's Beatle all you need ("Embers in the wind, the smoky views/I'll never sleep where I once slept again/Lost my ceilings, lost my walls/Goddamn, I lost it all, but if I got you/I got everything, yeah, I got everything.") That's why on the 'Sail Off' David Gray 'White Ladder' like sail away, John Legend can say, "I had a premonition we could be forever/If we don't start tonight, then baby, we might never." It's time to let your muse know they are more than your inspiration...but your intention, too.

Playlist Picks: 'Pray For Ya', 'Her (Feat. Pharrell Williams)', 'Bodies On The Floor (Feat. Clipse)'.

Spin This: John Legend - 'Get Lifted'.

'PRESS PLAY' on the new LISA EP

Play For Keeps...

By TIM DAVID HARVEY 

Once upon a time in... Thailand. Int. Hotel Room - Night. A young woman, dressed in a way superlative couldn't quite capture, is talking on the phone. Confirming flight details and itineraries, that are busier than those same superlatives, with her assistant. The assistant then reveals, that yes, he is still in town and there's a chance she could still catch him whilst she can. No, not Leo, but more like DiCaprio's 'Once Upon A Time In... Hollywood' director, Quentin Tarantino ('Pulp Fiction', 'Inglorious Basterds', 'Django Unchained'). LISA's, from South Korean pop phenomenon BLACKPINK, directing muse, on the same New Music Friday that John Legend releases an album of the same name inspiration with Pharrell. 

"Tarantino, Tarantino/Got my feet hangin' out the Camino (Oh)/Tarantino, Tarantino (Yeah)/Got my feet hangin' out the Camino", the Thai rapper/singer teases, like she's about to get a call back (she probably will). So much so, you're practically convinced you'll see the 'Reservoir Dogs' director, currently doing his first West End play ('The Popinjay Cavalier') in London with Sacha Baron Cohen, in the mirror at the end of the music video that kills it, like Bill. Lalisa, kicking ass and taking French fries she uses coolly as cigarettes, knowing Q.T. all too well. "Death proof, baby, I do all my own stunts/F you, baby, like a razor on my tongue/Black suit, fast food, takе me out to lunch/At the drive-thru, Thai funk, shakin' out thе trunk." With Uma Thurman "mustard on her sneakers". Yep, the 'Dusk 'Till Dawn' star likes feet. I once asked him, at a 'Death Proof' signing in Liverpool, no less, what Salma Hayek's taste like. And he replied, with a laugh, "pretty good, if you get the chance, I recommend it." 

That's Hollywood! But the 'SaWaDiKa' single before it is even more of an anthem. Seoul music for the K-Pop generation, with its icon spitting, "Hello, สวัสดีค่ะ/Yeah, you know my wrist is cold/Got this timepiece from Geneva/If you know it, then you know/I'm that b#### on your TV/And my Ferrari indigo/La Lalisa, la diva/สวัสดีค่ะ, there she go (Hey)." Backdropped by a bigger budget video and a Thai formal greeting on a new line of clothing more sought-after than the PlayStation controller bearing her autographed image. Ticking to a countdown, in Bangkok, New York City, Los Angeles and cities across China and Mexico City for a run that could even rival the Avengerss 'Doomsday' clock. All for Lisa's extended play, on Lloud and RCA Records, and her first solo releases since the 'Alter Ego' debut of this 'New Woman', 'Born Again', 'Rock Star' almost two years ago.

It's not even been a full calendar since her BLACKPINK outfit came back with their own epic EP, but Lisa makes the 'Deadline' for end of year big releases. All after bandmate and friend Jennie made a summer splash with some seriously stunning singles ('Less Than A Lover', 'Fallen Angel', 'Heaven'). And both Lisa and Jennie, with Jisoo ('Click') and Rosé ('New Trick') to come, our offering hits, and music videos, just as big as their 'Jump' when they said 'Go'! The Blackpink chant going on, all in the same year fellow classic contemporaries BTS made the comeback of the calendar with 'Arirang'. Korean music is still popping, and Lisa is riding it all the way in a 'V12' as she presses play on the car radio with Dem Jointz riding board manning shotgun. "Nothin' but net with the free throws", in the same era these Demon Hunter beaters told us they were "Golden, like Draymond." With a 'Cobra' clutch, sampling Missy Elliott and Timbaland's perfect 'Pass That Dutch', Lisa is ready to 'Cut U Off'. More than fifteen minutes of fame, sweating through the EP highlight and a black dress with hair blowing album art of iconography. Just 'Press Play' already. It's time to say hello.

Playlist Picks: 'Sawadika', 'Tarantino', 'Sweat'.

Spin This: BLACKPINK - 'Deadline (EP)'.

TINIE TEMPAH'S sound is still alive on 'THE NIGHT'S NOT DEAD'

Tempah Is The Night...

By TIM DAVID HARVEY

Disturbing London once again, Tinie Tempah is back! It may have been eleven years since the last album ('Youth') from Plumstead's very own, but don't discount the 'Demonstration' artistry from a man who has so many clothes, he probably still keeps some in his aunt's house. Ever since the 2010 release of his definitive 'Disc-Overy' discography released, to the month, a sweet sixteen years ago, Tempah has set the grimy tempo of UK rap music. Not to mention, other artist's own discographies. Like Labrinth? It was Tinie who helped set that big 'Earthquake' up in here. Stormzy. Little Simz. They all have Patrick Chukwuemeka Okogwu to thank, like Kano, Skpeta and Giggs.

After huge hits, like 'Pass Out', the future of this rapper, singer and television presenter was 'Written In The Stars', so to sing. As British as a cup of tea and biscuits, but as dangerous a talent as some of his contemporaries across the pond, in the New York birthplace of hip-hop, Tinie Tempah put us in the UK on the rap map. 'Not Letting Go', he's already passed the equally legendary Dizzee Rascal for most number one singles by a rapper from the United Kingdom. His middle name, "Chukwuemeka", in lbgo language means "God has done more", and the Lord, and his mysterious ways, really have for the platinum and gold star of Nigerian descent. Ever since using a thesaurus in class to juxtapose his name and ameliorate the aggressive sound of anger in his last. Following the inspiration he found watching the massive music video of So Solid Crew's '21 Seconds' to go. The wordplay has been potent ever since, as we say bonjour and hello to Uncle Fester once again, for someone who says he's getting goose bumps, "like R.L. Stine". Genius credit!

Turning Disturbing London into the UK's Def Jam or Rocafella records, kicking in the door with big smoke. Performing at Glastonbury with uncle Snoop Dogg. Teaming up with the iconic Swedish House Mafia for 'Miami 2 Ibiza'. Brits, MOBO's and a blue belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Tempah could even take on the Bane of Tom Hardy, as it seems the 'Mobland' and 'Peaky Blinders' actor, could him, when it comes the rap game, if you've seen that latest music video with the Wu-Tang Clan. But now, Tinie is taking on the enormous challenge of returning to the game he hasn't played for in over a decade. Will it still be the same? Will he? His before its time sound sounds nostalgic now, but that's just nuanced in a good thing for all those who miss the good old days and the ways it paved. You can hear all that on strong singles like, 'Eat It Up', 'Closer', 'Living Life', 'Energy', 'Heaven Or Hell', 'To The Floor' and 'Rude x Badger x Travy'. X, like this marking the spot on these collaborations with Skepsis, Abi Flynn, Daecolm, Alex Mills, Reggie, and AFROJACK and Tropkillaz on the last cut, respectively.

Collaborations also come thick and fast with a 'Backstage' Elipsa and HolyBrune on the Japanese inspired 'Studio Ghibli'. An animated Tempah also takes hip-hop back to its storytelling roots with the compelling arc of '10 Minutes Later', as inspired as New Jersey's own presenter Joe Budden's own ten-minute track off his eponymous debut that pumped it up. From the dark 'Don't Ask Me About Last Night', to the 'I Lied' lyric video, Tinie is resurrecting the night he once ran with, like Richie. Party, but no bulls### for the rapper who can switch styles like he British GQ pioneers fashion. On 'Start A Fight' the beat punches with more dark, cinematic auras ready for Halloween. 'Cause It Feels So Good' and 'Body 2 Body' keep the sexy style in check. But it's 'Get My Attention' that will really get yours as Tempah raps, "back with a vengance/with sir independent/ask my accountants how we been spending/don't at me come out my mentions/aura winter collections/living like you ain't trying to see your pensions/eight to tens in our sections/no videos, not natural selection (whoo)." Yeah, don't call it a comeback!

Playlist Picks: '10 Minutes Later', 'Living Life (Tinie Tempah x Daecolm)', 'Studio Ghibli (Feat. HolyBrune)'.

Spin This: Tinie Tempah - 'Disc-Overy'.