In a way a new James Blake record has a similar effect on the music press as the latest Kanye update. Something new is announced or played and then Google’s algorithms call you up, like a classic movie villain, and issue its ransom demands …’you either post about it now or never see the clicks again’. Which, although frustrating, when you’ve just settled down to watch a movie with a well earned beer and bowl of popcorn, is in fact just the reality of the written press, always has been, first to the scoop gets the girl, so to speak. However the problem comes in when the scoop takes precedence over the content, and instead of writing an impassioned piece on a subject that is truly worth sharing, you find yourself feverishly trying to piece together a few glib sentences on something, that on reflection, probably wasnt worth the effort. Now we’re not professing to be holy than though, and in fact we have been more than guilty in the past of chasing the clicks, in particular a post on a Diplo, Tiesto collaboration comes to mind, that on reflection was not a record we liked or even ever played, but we got to it first and wow the clicks we got were phenomenal. The only problem is that whilst you may get some easy clicks, we dont believe it will endear you in the long-term to your audience or hold any lasting value. Therefore with this in mind we now make every effort to ignore Google’s demands and take a few minutes to listen to the music, regardless of who has written it, and if all goes well arrive at an objective opinion on its merits. So is this James Blake tune any good?
![James Blake - Modern Soul [ New Music ]](https://weareblahblahblah.com/wp-content/uploads/james_blake_modern_soul.jpg)
Well, in short yes. Its haunting its brooding, it has a wonderfully plaintive piano refrain and although we can’t quite pick all his lyrics it definitely has that feel of memories past and perhaps relationships lost. Stunning in our opinion.