Not 24 hours after the premiere of his new single ‘Uptown Funk’ with Bruno Mars, Grammy Award-winning producer Mark Ronson has confirmed that his fourth album ‘Uptown Special’ will be released in Australia at the end of January.
The release will come four and a half years after his previous long player ‘Record Collection’, which dropped in September 2010.
It’s been described by his label Sony as “inventive” and “vibrant”, blending elements of soul, hip hop and R&B. And if the lead single is anything to go by, expect more than a little nod to an ’80s influence or two.
“No matter how my taste in music and DJ-ing veers over the years, I always find myself coming back to that music I would play out in hip-hop clubs in NY in the late 90s/early 2000s,” Mark says of the influences found on the new LP. “Biggie, Chaka Khan, Amerie, Boz Scaggs, Missy, Earth Wind & Fire, N.O.R.E… Those songs would set alight the dance floor. The NY club scene was filled with girls, boys, dancers, drug dealers, rappers, models and skateboarders who came mostly for one reason : to dance. And regardless of genre or era, if the song was good – if it had dope drums, if it had soul to it – they danced. Before smart phones, bottle service and smoking bans, people came to the club, found their spot and stayed all night, absorbed in the music. With ‘Uptown Special’ I set out to capture the feeling I remember from those New York nights.”
With a number of big name collaborators, expect ‘Uptown Special’ to be one of the most anticipated albums of the Australian summer when it drops down under on Friday January 30.
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