Gearing up for another pivotal creative chapter, GRAMMY® Award-winning 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 September 8th via Republic Records. The full track listing can be found below.
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 once again 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 Rhonda INTL which kicked off in LA last March and will be coming to London on July 6th. 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 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 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.
Tickets will be available starting with an artist presale beginning today, June 28 at 9am PT/12pm ET. Additional presales will run throughout the week ahead of the general on sale beginning on Friday, June 30 at 10am local time.
For more information go to www.jamesblakemusic.com
‘PLAYING ROBOTS INTO HEAVEN’ TRACKLISTING
- Asking To Break
- Loading
- Tell Me
- Fall Back
- He’s Been Wonderful
- Big Hammer
- I Want You To Know
- Night Sky
- Fire The Editor
- If You Can Hear Me
- Playing Robots Into Heaven
JAMES BLAKE 2023 TOUR DATES
| Sep 18
Sep 21 |
Milan, Italy
Brussels, Belgium |
Fabrique
Forest National Club |
| Sep 22 | Paris, France | L’Olympia |
| Sep 24 | Berlin, Germany | UFO im Velodrom |
| Sep 26 | Tilburg, Netherlands | 013 |
| Sep 28 | London, UK | Alexandra Palace |
| Oct 3 | Atlanta, GA | Coca Cola Roxy |
| Oct 5 | Queens, NY | Knockdown Center |
| Oct 9 | Boston, MA | MGM Music Hall at Fenway |
| Oct 10 | Montreal, QC, Canada | L’Olympia |
| Oct 12 | Toronto, ON, Canada | Rebel |
| Oct 14 | Chicago, IL | Aragon Ballroom |
| Oct 16 | San Francisco, CA | The Masonic Theater |
| Oct 19 | Los Angeles, CA | Hollywood Forever Cemetery |
CMYK 2023 TOUR DATES
July 6 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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