UNKLE: Celebs Rumors

RAVE UKraine.Rave UKraine took place at Liverpool’s Hangar 34 and at Kyiv’s HVLV. Each rave was live-streamed to one another making it possible for attendees in both cities to party alongside each other in a night of unity and solidarity with Ukraine.

UNKLE have shared a new track called ‘The Way Back Home’ – you can listen to it below.The song serves as the first taste of ‘Rōnin II’, the second instalment in a two-part mixtape project, which is due for release on August 31 (pre-order here).“I recorded this over lockdown,” explained UNKLE’s James Lavelle in an official statement.“I always intended the ‘Rōnin’ project to be two different mix tapes; the first being more like a club DJ set and the second as the post-club follow-up. This mix is a nod to the more soulful, laidback headspace of the Mo’ Wax days with a more contemporary electronica influence.”Lavelle joined forces with producer, singer and multi-instrumentalist Miink on ‘Rōnin II’, having worked with him since 2015. They had recorded vocals together on the last two UNKLE albums.This time, however, Lavelle wanted to focus on his production skills, and experimented and re-visited some older tracks with Miink.“Reworking some of the existing music was a way of keeping sane and finding new ways of working during the pandemic when getting into studios physically wasn’t possible,” Lavelle said.“That longing to be out and with people and feel a sense of community made me look in a more club-based direction.

Terry Hall of longstanding ska veterans The Specials has curated a four day music festival, set to begin at the end of next month.Home Sessions will take place across Hall’s native Coventry from July 29 to August 1, and is being produced in partnership with Coventry UK City Of Culture.The music, film and spoken word event will take place across three venues: Coventry Cathedral Ruins, Coventry Cathedral, and HMV Empire CoventryThe Libertines, and an additional Pete Doherty solo set, are among the first wave of performances to be announced, as are Alabama 3, The Lightning Seeds, UNKLE and Roni Size.

UNKLE’s has spoken to NME about the importance of clubbing to post-COVID society, and how it shaped his new all-star mixtape ‘Rōnin I’.‘Rōnin I’ was released yesterday (March 26), featuring COVID-era remixes of recent tracks featuring guest appearances by Michael Kiwanuka, The Big Pink, Miink, Editors‘ Tom Smith, The Duke Spirit‘s Liela Moss, Callum Finn and Dhani Harrison.James Lavelle’s first release since 2019’s ‘The Road: Part II (Lost Highway)’ – itself considered a mixtape of material recorded around 2017’s ‘The Road: Part I’ – the 11-track album includes the two new singles, ‘If We Don’t Make It’ and ‘Do Yourself Some Good’, inspired by Lavelle’s lockdown radio shows revisiting the feel of his iconic 1990s club That’s How It Is.“It