Calvin Harris feat. Example - We'll Be Coming Back

Calvin Harris must be rubbing his hands in glee right now. First Rihanna’s We Found Love – then Cheryl’s Call My Name... if things carry on at this rate he’ll be giving Mr Guetta a run for his money in terms of universal chart domination stakes.

But musically speaking, Example collab We’ll Be Coming Back feels a little like the sound of a man who’s already spent his load. Sure, all the trademark rave o’clock synth hooks and pill-popping drum fills are in place, but the song feels lifeless, a dry-run of a track that pales away into nothingness when stood alongside the artistic peaks both artists have previously shown themselves to be capable of.

Call My Name, We Found Love and Ne-Yo-featuring Let’s Go all worked because on top of all the standard dance trappings was an indelible sense of pop melody, the kind of thing to grip the mind not only into the early hours, but right on through to the next night. As both club smashes par-excellence and chart contenders, they were right on the money. We’ll Be Coming Back, why by no means a bad record, just doesn’t operate in the same league – we just hope this doesn’t mark the start of the Calvin formula entering a distinctly watered-down phase.

Released: 30^th July

The Wanted - Chasing The Sun

They've done it again. The Wanted have come up trumps once more, delivering another lad-anthem dance stomper every bit as excellent as Glad You Came - fitting then that new single Chasing The Sun is set to become its follow-up over in the States. We could go into an essay-length discussion of how brilliant it is that the group are doing well in the US, but suffice to say, Chasing The Sun feels like the sound of a band on top of the world - riding high on another classic chanty Wanted riff and a pumping club bassline. There's a sort of smooth, sultry glide to Chasing The Sun that shoots it into new levels of the whole futuro-synth work-out vibe the band really cornered with their second album and frankly we just love the song. It's also, we hear, the song that Example originally wrote for Kylie - and it sounds like it - which makes it all the more amazing. It's essentially, crucially instant in a way The Wanted have always done with such ease, and if we're this excited about it, we're just trying to get our heads around how excited all those American girls must be. Quite a lot, we imagine.

Nina Nesbitt - The Apple Tree

Nina Nesbitt is only seventeen, but going by how insanely talented she clearly is, you wouldn't think it. Delightful new single The Apple Tree - the title track from her forthcoming EP - is the kind of perfectly proportioned pop melody some artists go their whole careers without nailing, yet Nesbitt makes it sound second nature. There's the sense, amidst the breeze and youthful flair of the track, that for Nesbitt, songwriting is akin to breathing - so natural and organic a process she could do it in her sleep.

There's a sort of pretty, whimsical airiness to Nesbitt's music that recalls Ellie Goulding or a younger KT Tunstall. It's classic home-spun singer-songwriter fare, but with a delicate touch of campfire folksiness to it, and must crucially, real pop sensibility at the heart of it. No wonder then that she caught the attention of Example and Ed Sheeran, both of whom she's supported live. The cute DIY feel of The Apple Tree video really fits the track too, and even features a little guest appearance from Ed - he's oviously keen, and so are we!

The Apple Tree is released on the 7th May.

Flux Pavilion feat. Example - Daydreamer

Of all the bass-toting dance acts awash in the charts at the moment, Flux Pavilion win points from the off for the sheer bonkers-ness of their name. It's got that sense of the grandstand ego, prepped and ready to obliterate dancefloors across the nation. In that sense then, Example makes for the perfect fit for new single Daydreamer and its accompanying slipstream of hi-energy laser synths. The track literally ripples like a livewire current of electricity, and while it's far from being Example's greatest moment (it doesn't hold a patch on Stay Awake), he certainly adds a certain bravado-laden swagger to the track. When the beat drops post-middle-eight, Daydreamer ends up sounding like Super Mario on crack, blippiness exploding outwards in an infusion of 8-bit madness. It's not clean, and it's not clever, but Daydreamer's sheer scale can't be faulted.

Daydreamer is released on the 30th April.

[Lyric Video] Oh My! - Bad Date

It's only the first day of 2012, and while everyone else is nursing hangovers, we're busy dancing away to the new one from Oh My! - it's fair to say we can call it our first pop favourite of the New Year!

A lot has been made of the girls' links with Example, and if anything, Bad Date is their most Example-esque track so far. Boasting a pounding dance backing, a big pre-drop whoooosh and the duo's most feisty GirlPower! rap to date, it's a frothy milkshake-spiked-with-vodka assault on the senses and absolute pop gem.

Come the middle-eight, Alex and Jade reel off a few cheeky words of advice to lads everywhere:

'A tip for the boys, when they ask out a girl, know that talking is cheap in a material world.'

It's a confident cocktail that firmly puts the guys on the back foot - in 2011, Example turned dancefloors and student unions across the country into energised masses of moving bodies with the likes of Changed The Way You Kiss Me. 2012, it's the girls' turn, and Oh My! certainly aren't holding back.

Example - Midnight Run

Is there anyone more in tune with banging out brilliant electro-pop hit after hit at the moment than Example?

Midnight Run makes it a hat-trick of great singles from his Playing In The Shadows album, channeling a sweet-spot somewhere between the Mario soundtrack and what Depeche Mode would sound like if they 'went dance' and started rapping.

Sometimes, all you want is just the most deliriously good synth-sounds, pumped intravenously straight into your bloodstream - Midnight run is the sonic equivalent of this.

Midnight Run is released on the 5th December.

Example announces new UK tour dates!

Last month we reviewed Example's awesome new single Stay Awake - it's out at the end of the month and available to pre-order here.

Example has also just announced a 17 date set to sweep across the UK in November and December! Check out all the dates on the flyer above.

Example - Stay Awake

Example can do no wrong at the moment. Every artist (if they're lucky) goes through that phase of their career where they bang out hit after hit, a veritable torrent of amazing tuneage.

New single Stay Awake picks up where the masterful Changed The Way You Kiss Me left off, an assault of domineering dancefloor magic. Example's all-inclusive calls to the 'leaders of the messed up generation' feels buoyed up with the confidence of a man who now has a Number One single under his belt.

Seeing Example play the Capital Summertime Ball at Wembley, he was clearly in his absolute element - 85,000 people arrayed before him, all dancing away.

Indeed, it was quite possible that he received the best reception of anyone that day; whipping the crowd up into a frenzy despite the apocalypticly dismal weather.

Stay Awake is the sound of a man so versed in producing an anthem you feel he could probably just as easily do it with his eyes closed. Melody, lyrics, rhythm - listening to Stay Awake is like seeing a master-technician at work, fine tuning a high-end sport car for the race. And when that machine is unleashed, boy does it fly...

Stay Awake is released on the 29th August.

Example - Changed The Way You Kissed Me

I saw a brilliant interview with Example on T4 over the weekend where he revealed the inspiration for Changed The Way You Kissed Me came ready made as a line from hit teen soap Hollyoaks. Now, if you're searching for a distilled half hour shot of modern pop culture to inject your latest smash hit with, you could do a lot worse than look at Hollyoaks.

Flick it on casually and you're sure to find a fair share of passionate affairs, shady dealings and booze fuelled student parties. All rather exciting, no? Either way, it makes for a powerful start-point to launch your audio assault.

Example's latest single represents then, an even more intense concoction of everything life in the fast lane has to offer. The super strong espresso of clubland culture, if you will. A steamy, piston-like beat and dayglo rave synths pummel you into submission; if you thought Example's standout single Kickstarts packed a punch last year, just wait till you hear Changed The Way You Kissed Me.

Dizzying, hypnotic, Example's macho boasts fuel this track with a real tang of danger and combativeness; 'I've never been afraid of the highest heights... I've never been afraid of the wildest fights'. The song literally throws itself at you, bouncing off the walls like it's just downed a Red Bull four-pack.

Example always was a dab hand at knocking out this kind of catchy anthemic dancefloor stormer, but this is next level stuff. His recent collaboration with Wretch 32 highlighted just how powerful an effect an Example-penned melody can have on your sales - Unorthodox saw itself shooting effortlessly into the UK top 5, all the while enjoying mass airplay across the UK.

The highest heights of British pop? Example is right there, and he's there to stay.

Changed The Way You Kissed Me is released on the 5th June with a comprehensive remix package featuring re-works of the track by Kris Menace and Steve Smart/Westfunk.

One from the past... The Stone Roses go dance

I Am The Resurrection. In my mind, this song will always stand as the pinacle of everything the Stone Roses were about. In its full eight minute long version, it represents a towering accomplishment of musicality and skill, blending influences and sounds to create a riotious stormer of a track that still sounds just as fresh and innovative now as it did twenty years ago.

On one hand you have the first part of the song, the part you still hear played now and again on the radio - this in its own right is a cracking bit of Brit-pop. The hooks are all there, added to a stomping beat - the very ultimate in toe-tapping bliss from the heart of Madchester.

And then there is the immense instrumental outro. As the first part ends, slamming into that infectious bassline, you're reminded that the Stone Roses were as much a band for the dancefloor as they were for the sweaty indie venues and crowded fields of stoned revelers. Which draws me on to the 'Extended 16:9 Ratio Club Mix' which originally appeared as the A-side of the single's 12" release.

You need only look at the current midweek Number One - Wretch 32's Unorthodox - to see the Stone Roses' dance heritage in full health, the tune sampling as it does the band's iconic Fools Gold riff. But listening to the 12" extended mix of I Am The Resurrection, the dance vibes are just as strong here too. The beat gets a few tweaks, the bass is brought forward in the mix. Whereas the original was certainly danceable, that side of affairs felt secondary to the big, beating rock heart of the track; the mix places that emphasis firmly back on the other foot. 1992 or 2011, this remains a bloody good track.

Wretch 32 feat. Example - Unorthodox

When devising a future smash hit set to dominate the airwaves, it’s all about the hook.  That key element to every song, that snatch of musical magic that will stick in someone’s head and get them parting with their hard-earned cash to download a piece of that pure delight.  And in terms of brilliant hooks, you don’t get much better than the bassline from The Stone Roses’ 1989 classic Fools Gold.

Enter Wretch 32, AKA Jermaine Scott, the latest hyper-talented youngster to burst onto the UK rap scene.  Taking up that irresistible Stone Roses hook, he’s crafted it onto a classy slice of urban lyricism.  With Example helping out on vocal duties in the chorus, it’s a winning formula that would be just at home blaring out of the car speakers on a sunny day as it would pounding away in a club.  The perfect follow up to previous single Traktor, which shot straight into the UK top ten.

Growing up in Tottenham, Wretch 32 honed his marketing skills early; selling over 15,000 copies of mixtapes.  Clearly he’d make an ideal candidate on The Apprentice.  Wretch 32’s credentials come with some hefty references too; man of the moment Tinie Tempah hails him as ‘one of the best lyricists in the game’.  Strong praise, but with tracks as good as Unorthodox, Wretch 32 is definitely deserving of it.

Wretch 32 - Traktor

Traktor is one of those songs that you just can’t ignore. That rumbling bassline just worms its way into your head, while slamming beats transform this into a ready-made smash for clubs and radio alike. Oh, and there’s a genius reference to The Jeremy Kyle Show thrown into the mix too. Like all the best hip-hop, the cultural references are quick-witted and laced with humour, and Wretch 32 AKA. 25 year old Jeremiah Scott is a dab hand at it. Tinie Tempah clearly agrees too, proclaiming him ‘one of the best lyricists in the game’. Devlin is also a big fan.

Tipped in the BBC Sound of 2011 and with support slots with Professor Green and Example, he’s the next in the line of a strong pedigree of new British rap stars. When the guy’s already sold 15,000 mixtapes in his home-turf of Tottenham, you’ve got to admire his business skills too.

Download Traktor from iTunes here.