New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Astralwerks and Blue Note Records/Universal Music, have partnered with Spotify to release Bluewerks: Spotify Singles, the seventh instalment of the iconic labels' collaborative Lo-Fi series where downtempo electronica meets jazz-infused sounds. Bluewerks has amassed more than 25 million streams on Spotify since its launch last year, and this new EP saw four different artists - Arbour, Oatmello, Shrimpnose, and Somni - step into Spotify Studios in Los Angeles to create a brand new original as well as a Lo-Fi cover of songs from the Astralwerks and Blue Note catalogs.
The calming collection is released in connection with Spotify's Mental Health Awareness initiative and the tracks are currently featured on their LoFi Beats playlist. Driving more than five billion streams since the program began in 2017, Spotify Singles was created to give artists an opportunity to record new versions of their own songs, the songs of the artists they love, or an original song. To date, there have been over 600 recordings from more than 300 artists across all genres. The complete list of Spotify Singles can be found here.
Bluewerks: Spotify Singles Tracklisting:
Arbour - it rains all day
Arbour - Starless II (Craig Armstrong cover)
Oatmello - I am Loving
Oatmello - Cantaloupe Island (Herbie Hancock cover)
Shrimpnose - Sightseeing
Shrimpnose - By This River (Brian Eno cover)
Somni - Envy
Somni - Hybrid Moments (Misfits cover)
OATMELLO: "During this month, perhaps we can remember that all of us have struggled with our own personal challenges during our lives and to have compassion and care for those around us who are currently in the process of overcoming. It would be wonderful if we could approach mental health in the same way we do other health related issues and pay the same attention to our inner world as we do to our outer world without judgement. For me writing music is a release and contemplative state that centres me and brings me joy and fulfillment. It's been a wonderful place for me to go whenever I've been caught up in life's troubles and need to let go."
SOMNI: "I think for me, making music can be really therapeutic and cathartic, and when I put my emotions into my music it helps me let go of them a little bit in my mind, it's a release.
Almost like you're dealing with them in some tangible way, putting them out on the table, and as a result you're able to let go of some of that energy that you had inside you. The process can also be super meditative, and some of the only times I've forgotten about my anxieties and the pressures of life are when I'm in that tunnel-vision state. I think a lot of musicians and artists feel the same way about the process, that's why art and creativity in any form is such an important thing."
SHRIMPNOSE: "Creating music has always been the best way for me to convey how I'm feeling. I have a stutter that makes verbal communication difficult, so music has felt like a language in which I'm much more comfortable speaking. I hope that my music can help people communicate and recognize their feelings effectively. There's a certain intangible gap in life that only art can fulfill to help us understand how we're feeling. Helping even one person get more in touch with themselves is an immense privilege that I'm grateful for."
ARBOUR: "Writing music has always been something of a journal for me. I write music to record my thoughts, feelings, and memories. It's how I connect the world inside me to the rest of the world and how I've met friends and that's always been the main reason I continue to make music. 'It rains all day' captures this hopeful melancholy that's pervasive in the songs I make. When I write my goal is to stay out of my own way as much as possible when it comes to expressing myself. I just try to have compassion for whatever comes out when I write. I went into the studio that day without any plans about what I was going to make and this song is what came out."
Established in 1993 in New York City, Astralwerks was the brainchild of Caroline Records staffers who saw an opportunity for a label focused on the nascent electronic and ambient scene. Now based at the historic Capitol Records Tower in Hollywood, Astralwerks has emerged as a modern, artist-first label and the #1 market share leader for dance/electronic music in the U.S. Combining a scalable, independent and global-thinking ethos with the ability to tap into the resources of a major label has enabled Astralwerks to sign such artists as ILLENIUM, Jonas Blue, Alison Wonderland, EDEN, ZHU and Alesso. As a testament to its pioneering approach, Astralwerks has amassed 30 GRAMMY® nominations, taken home six GRAMMY Awards and had historic releases from the likes of The Chemical Brothers, Swedish House Mafia, Halsey, Porter Robinson, Phoenix, Eric Prydz,
Fatboy Slim and many others. The label has also released such massive singles as the 6x Platinum "
Happier" by
Marshmello +
Bastille and FISHER's "Losing It."
Blue Note Records was founded when a German Jewish immigrant named Alfred Lion produced his first recording session on January 6, 1939 in New York City. Blue Note has gone on to represent The Finest In Jazz, tracing the entire history of the music from Early Jazz through Bebop, Hard Bop, Post Bop, Soul Jazz, Avant-Garde, and Fusion, and into Jazz's numerous modern day incarnations. Blue Note's legendary catalog includes the titans of Jazz: Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, Horace Silver, Art Blakey, Jimmy Smith, Donald Byrd, Lee Morgan, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, McCoy Tyner, Ornette Coleman, Charles Lloyd, Dr. Lonnie Smith, and many more. The most respected and longest running Jazz label in the world, Blue Note remains home to some of the most prominent stars and cutting-edge innovators in Jazz today while at the same time broadening its horizons to include quality music in many genres. Under the leadership of current President Don Was, Blue Note has renewed its dedication to Lion's original vision that "any particular style of playing which represents an authentic way of musical feeling is genuine expression."
Astralwerks and Blue Note Records are two of the flagship labels of the Capitol
Music Group and Universal
Music Group.
