James Lavelle: Last News

Morcheeba, UNKLE and DJ Shadow have been announced for the 2025 edition of South Facing Festival.The multi-day event at South London’s Crystal Palace Park has revealed that its line-up for August 14 will also include Jurassic 5’s Chali 2na, Zero 7 and DJ Cheeba. Tickets go on sale at 10am on April 4, and you will be able to get yours here.It follows on from previous announcements that other days of South Facing will be headlined by Mogwai and Lankum on August 7, Big Smoke and Skepta on August 9, Basement Jaxx on August 22 and 23 and Nile Rodgers and Chic on August 24.A post shared by South Facing (@southfacingfestival)Morcheeba, the Kent electronic duo of Skye Edwards and Ross Godfrey, were influential figures in the ‘90s trip-hop and downtempo scene, with albums ‘Big Calm’ and ‘Who Can You Trust?’ defining their blend of atmospheric and electronic flavours.

UNKLE have announced their ‘Rōnin Live’ 2024 UK tour which is set to commence later this autumn.Kicking off at Project House in Leeds on October 15, the outfit are set to showcase “the latest evolution of their artistry, promising fans a truly unique concert experience featuring recent recordings, remixes, and reinterpretations” (via a press release). They will make stops in Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham before wrapping up at Here@Outernet in London on October 21.Tickets are set to go on general sale this Friday (July 12).

Naman Ramachandran “Harley” director Jean-Cosme Delaloye has wrapped production on a documentary celebrating pioneering Detroit techno music producer Carl Craig. “Desire: The Carl Craig Story” is structured as an intimate portrait of Craig and an ode to his beloved Detroit. With Detroit’s decline and recovery as a backdrop, the film follows the career of producer whose genre-defying techno has been performed to jazz enthusiasts at the Montreux Jazz Festival and in the premier classical auditoriums around the world, including Carnegie Hall.

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.