Talay Riley - Make You Mine

We got sent Talay Riley's album sampler yonks ago, and we must confess, we were kinda wondering what had happened to him, because pretty much every track on there was brilliant - the kind of snazzy urban pop that should be right up there at the top of the charts.

Riley's credentials are impressive - he featured on the big Chipmunk hit Look For Me as well as touring with N-Dubz. Sounding like a new, rejuventated Taio Cruz or Tinchy Stryder, his specialty is robotic beats and gloriously dirty synth basslines. Previous singles Humanoid and Sergeant Smash were the epitome of this sound, seeing releases towards the end of 2010/start of 2011.

It is Riley's new single Make You Mine, however, that sees him at his best. More mainstream and clean-sounding, if any track is to see him propelled to the top of the charts, it'll be this one.

A strong, piano-driven track, it presents Riley as a kind of British Drake, which makes him Rather Good indeed. The chorus is a towering, wondrously catchy thing - one of those magical moments that sounds like you've known it all your life.

Make You Mine is released on the 1st August and can be pre-ordered from iTunes here.

Talay Riley Feat. Scorcher - Good As Gold

When a song contains references to both Nando's and Windows Vista in the lyrics, I know I'm going to love it. And that's what you get with Talay Riley's new single Good As Gold. I was completely won over by Talay's sound when I got a sampler of his material last year and let's not forget he's already got a Number One under his belt with Chipmunk's Oopsy Daisy, which he wrote.

Good As Gold represents a far bigger, more radio friendly sound than his earlier material and also takes on a more American influence. The raps remain distinctly British though, with some strong vibes of Tinchy Stryder and Jay Sean's material coming through.

Songs like this were made for the summer, and with this past week being especially glorious, it can't be long till this song is blaring out of car radio's up and down the country.

I urge you to check out some of his aforementioned earlier material too - Make You Mine, Humanoid and Sergeant Smash, as a trio of tracks, are some of the strongest material I've heard from an up and coming artist in a long time.


Good As Gold is released on the 30th May.


Talay Riley - Good As Gold Ft. Scorcher by PurplePR