JAMES BLAKE ANNOUNCES NEW ALBUM PLAYING ROBOTS INTO HEAVEN
RELEASES FIRST SINGLE “BIG HAMMER” WITH ACCOMPANYING MUSIC VIDEO
& ANNOUNCES 2023 HEADLINE TOUR
Album Artwork
Credit: Thibaut Grevet
WATCH THE MUSIC VIDEO FOR “BIG HAMMER” HERE
PRE-ORDER PLAYING ROBOTS INTO HEAVEN HERE
28 JUNE 2023 (TORONTO, ON) – Gearing up for another pivotal creative chapter, Mercury Music Prize and GRAMMY® Award-winning UK singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer James Blake has released “Big Hammer”, with accompanying music video directed by Oscar Hudson (Radiohead, Bonobo).
“Big Hammer” is the debut single from James’ forthcoming, sixth studio album Playing Robots Into Heaven which will be released on the September 8th via Republic/Polydor records/Universal Music Canada.
Playing Robots Into Heaven follows the critically acclaimed Friends That Break Your Heart - James’ highest charting album in the UK to date - and will see James return to the electronic roots of his Hessle, Hemlock and R&S records days. It will also nod to his latest creation, the CMYK event series with Ronda INTL which kicked off in LA last March. All the CMYK events over the past year have sold out within minutes and have featured appearances from special guests including, Steve Lacy, Channel Tres and HAii (to name but a few).
To mark the release of Playing Robots Into Heaven, James will be embarking on a headline international tour, with dates in the UK, Europe and North America. Kicking off at the Fabrique in Milan on the September 18th it will see James travel to his home town in London for an Alexandra Palace show on September 28th, before wrapping up in Los Angeles on October 19th. See below for full list of dates.
Fans who pre-order the album from www.jamesblakemusic.com by 6pm on Monday July 3rd will get access to an exclusive ticket pre-sale ahead of general sale on July 7th.
JAMES BLAKE 2023 TOUR DATES
|
DATE |
CITY |
VENUE |
|
18 Sep |
Milan, Italy |
Fabrique |
|
21 Sep |
Brussels, Belgium |
Forest National Club |
|
22 Sep |
Paris, France |
L'Olympia |
|
24 Sep |
Berlin, Germany |
UFO im Velodrom |
|
26 Sep |
Tilburg, Netherlands |
O13 |
|
28 Sep |
London, UK |
Alexandra Palace |
|
3 Oct |
Atlanta, GA , U.S. |
Coca Cola Roxy |
|
5 Oct |
Queens, NY, U.S. |
Knockdown Center |
|
9 Oct |
Boston, MA, U.S |
MGM Music Hall at Fenway |
|
10 Oct |
Montreal, QC, Canada |
L’Olympia |
|
12 Oct |
Toronto, ON, Canada |
Rebel |
|
14 Oct |
Chicago, IL, U.S. |
Aragon Ballroom |
|
16 Oct |
San Francisco, CA, U.S. |
The Masonic Theater |
|
19 Oct |
Los Angeles, CA, U.S. |
Hollywood Forever Cemetery |
CMYK
|
6 July |
London UK |
Here |
ABOUT JAMES BLAKE:
The GRAMMY® Award-winning UK singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer unassumingly operates as the enigmatic engine behind some of the most influential albums of the 21st century.
He produced choice cuts on Frank Ocean’s Blonde, Kendrick Lamar’s DAMN. and Dave’s We’re All Alone In This Together, as well as JAY-Z’s 4:44 and Beyoncé’s Lemonade—to which he also lent his voice in both cases. Feature appearances span “Stop Trying to Be God” with Stevie Wonder and Kid Cudi on Travis Scott’s epic ASTROWORLD and “King’s Dead” with Jay Rock, Kendrick Lamar, and Future from the chart-dominating Black Panther: The Album. The latter not only went triple-platinum, but it also earned Blake his first GRAMMY® Award in the category of “Best Rap Performance.”
Simultaneously, James emerged as pop’s most celebrated outlier with his dynamic solo output. He introduced a singular sound on 2011’s James Blake. Awarding the record a rare 9.0-out-of-10 score, Pitchfork crowned it one of “Top 100 Albums of the Decade So Far (2010-2014).” On its heels, the 2013 Overgrown illustrated his rare magnetic ability to align the likes of Brian Eno and RZA on the same project. It notably received the 2013 Mercury Prize and secured Blake’s “Best New Artist” nomination at the GRAMMY® Awards. After 2016’s The Colour In Anything, he reached new critical and commercial peaks with Assume Form during 2019. It bowed at #21 on the Billboard Top 200, marking his highest entry to date. Beyond clocking 300 million cumulative streams in under a year, it garnered the GRAMMY® nomination for “Best Alternative Album” and graced “Best of 2019” lists for outlets including Time Magazine, Harper’s Bazaar, Stereogum, Consequence of Sound, Billboard, DJ Booth, and Esquire. Since then, Blake has treated fans to Instagram live performances, new music sneak peaks and two critically acclaimed EPs; Before and Covers. The artist entertained fans through COVID-19, while live music was put on hold.
James released his fifth studio album Friends That Break Your Heart in October 2021, debuting at #4 on the UK charts and receiving mass critical acclaim. He has recently collaborated with Metro Boomin for the Spider-Verse soundtrack on tracks "Hummingbird" and "Nonviolent Communication" ft. A$AP Rocky & 21 Savage.
As he prepares for the release of his sixth album, James Blake’s shadow over popular music only continues to grow.
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