Hello Labrinth - where are you right now and what are you doing?
I’m in a really nice studio filming! I know this place, actually, as I recorded the strings for my own album in here. There’s a piano in the corner I’ve played a few times - I’ve got great memories of this place.

And now you’ve got the memory of being the first person to try the Spotify app there too…
Ha! Yeah - it’s good to be first. The fact I’m the first one using it feels great - like I’m stood in front of everyone with my finger on my nose going, “Yeahhhhh!”

How is it working for you?
It’s been great. I love it actually. I know that’s what you’ll expect me to say, but it’s true! I really love the app, it’s like the sort of brilliant upgrade that I know I’ve been waiting for. It’s very sleek, a big jump on from the iPhone or iPod version and it’s all so accessible that it feels just like rooting through my own collection at home. All us idiots need things making simple for us, and this does that.

What music have you discovered through Spotify?
Oh man, loads. I found my boy Michael Kiwanuka there. I knew him from before, he used to play on a lot of sessions and my brother has played with him quite a bit, but I didn’t know he had all this other stuff until i saw it on Spotify. Little Dragon are another one, I love their stuff. Recently I’ve been checking Subtrkt too. I’m always looking out for great artists and DJs and I think Spotify is a really healthy way of finding new music.

What’s the most exciting thing that happened to you recently?
Probably just staying at home and watching TV - except I never do just stay at home and watch TV. Definitely the best thing recently was being on tour in Europe with Drake. That was really good and a fantastic introduction to Europe. I’ve just put up a new track called Express Yourself on You Tube that’s something to relax to. The video is going to be amazing too. I filmed it in Paris and it has this dog in it…

What’s next for Labrinth?
There are millions and millions of things next for Labrinth. I make music like cockroaches make babies, so you know there’ll always be loads of new Labrinth music on Spotify!

Easy final question…
Shoot!

What’s the greatest record ever made?
Oh man, what a question. Well, I think it would have to be between Curtis Mayfield and Michael Jackson’s Off The Wall… I’m going to go for Off The Wall because it’s just so brilliantly made. The development of Michael as an artist from his days in the Jackson 5 to becoming a solo star are just mind-bending. Quincy Jones is an extraordinary producer, his orchestral arrangements are phenomenal. Quincy was the one who created the space for Michael to grow in. What an amazing record…

Thank you, Labrinth.
No, thank you.

Joel Alme är äntligen tillbaka med sitt tredje album “A Tender Trap” som hyllats från alla håll och kanter! Nu har DU och en vän chansen att vinna konsertbiljetter och en träff med Joel Alme på hans konsert i Stockholm (Debaser Medis) 25 maj! Som om inte detta vore nog, kommer du även vinna en signerad vinyl av “A Tender Trap”!

Svara på frågan: Vad heter Joel Almes debutskiva? samt skicka en motivering varför just du ska vinna tävlingen till joelalmetavling@gmail.com.

Åldersgräns på tävlingen är 20 år och 18 maj kl. 15.00 måste vi senast ha ditt svar! Vinnaren meddelas via mail.

Lyssna på nya skivan här:

On May 14th Gossip, fronted by Beth Ditto, will release their fifth studio album, ”A Joyful Noise”. But Spotify Premium subscribers get the chance to listen to it before anyone else.

Gossip was founded 1999 in Olympia, Washington by members Beth Ditto, Nathan Howdeshell and Hannah Billie. Gossip had their big breakthrough with the album ”Standing In The Way of Control”. The band’s previous album ”Music For Men”, was a hit as well.

Are you a Premium subscriber? Enjoy!

Our friend @MonaFims has this #MusicMonday’s recommendations.

Monday and time for a new playlist! First band out this week is a Swedish indie pop trio; “Little Majorette” with their song “A Swansea Love Story”. A very catchy song and a very nice female vocal.
We continue with yet another Swedish favorite: Malmoe based “This is Head” with their song “0011″.

Third band out this week is “The Shins” and their song “The Rifle’s Spiral” from their latest album “Port of Morrow” (2012). If you have not already done so, you should take the time and listen trough the rest of the album too. It is as most of the music critics are saying, packed with a lot of great music.

Next one out this week is one of my favorite singer-songwriter of all times: the amazing “Damien Rice” with his song “Dogs”. I’m sure most of you know Damien from before but if you don’t, you will get a very nice introduction by listening trough his album “O” from 2002. A little mellow but such an amazing album!

Last band out in this week’s Music Monday playlist is an indie pop band from Manhattan, New York.
“Cults” with their catchy song “Abducted”.

If you have song suggestion for next week’s playlist feel free to drop them in my Spotify Inbox.

Enjoy!

In all the excitement around our iPad launch, we also had a few interesting feature updates to the iPhone app that we wanted to make sure everyone is aware about.

The changes to this version include:

- New higher res cover art!
- Gapless and Crossfade now available on your phone.
- Bugs relating to losing offline synced tracks are now fixed.

Spotify on your iPhone now looks and performs a whole lot better. Go and upgrade today.

Spotify features many amazing apps, designed by music labels and switched-on brands. Now we’re super happy to introduce you to the first app by a Spotify fan.

Ulysses’ Classical is the brainchild of our good friend, Ulysses. He’s a long-time supporter of Spotify, having started his brilliant Spotify Classical blog back in 2009. Ever since, he’s been on a voyage to unearth the classical treasure in our catalogue.

Now we’ve helped him to turn his blog into a great free app inside Spotify. You’ll find everything for the classical music beginner, as well as posts and playlists for the experts. Bravo, Ulysses!

Check out Ulysses’ Classical

We’re buzzing today because we’ve brought your favourite music service to one of your favourite devices. Say hello to the Spotify iPad app.

Now you can play, discover and share music like never before. Check out our video and some of the great features below.

Simply beautiful. Beautifully simple.

Our iPad app looks great. We’ve included Retina graphics and high-definition album art to make browsing a pleasure. Enjoying all the world’s music instantly on your iPad has never been easier. And with the brand new full-screen view and AirPlay integration, Spotify and your iPad are perfect for each other, both as your pumped-up living room stereo and your lean, green music machine when you’re on the move.

The full set of features includes:

• Retina graphics for iPad - dazzling display, razor sharp images, richer colours
• Even easier to browse and explore Spotify’s entire 18 million* song catalogue
• New ‘Now Playing’ full-screen view with high-definition cover art
• Search for playlists, users and music - all from the same view
• Check out what’s hot and find trending playlists & songs amongst your friends
• Inbox grouped by user for easy searching
• Gapless playback and crossfade
• AirPlay integration

Give it a try for free

Head over to the App Store to get your hands on the new Spotify iPad app. If you’re not a Premium subscriber yet and want to give it a spin, just sign up for our 30-day free trial and try the app today.

We’ve worked long and hard on this app and hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

Labrinth - you may (probably not) know him as Timothy McKenzie - is only just 23, but he’s already written and produced monstrous great hits for Tinie Tempah, Professor Green, Tinchy Stryder, JLS, Pixie Lott and about a hundred others.

Labrinth grew up in a house full of music, a place where soul and gospel artists like Kirk Franklin and Kim Burrell were on heavy rotation. As he reached his teens Lab developed a love for hip-hop, reggae, rock, funk and jungle and there are elements of all these on the North Londoner’s own hits, Let The Sun Shine and Earthquake.

Lab’s debut album, Electronic Earth, appeared in April and went straight in at Number Two in the UK chart. A new video has just appeared online and a European tour has recently wound up. Now he’s back in the studio recording again as well as being the first artist ever to get try out the Spotify iPad app. To say Labrinth is busy is to wildly underestimate just how busy one person can be because, clearly, Labrinth never stops.

See what he thought of the new Spotify iPad app below:

For more information about Labrinth, check his official website.

Our friend @MonaFims has this #MusicMonday’s music recommendations.

We kick off a new week with an American electro-pop act; “Penguin Prison” with their catchy song “The Worse it Gets”. We continue with yet another band from New York City; “The Virgins” with their big hit from 2008: “Rich Girls”.

Next in our playlist we find Norwegian “Harrys Gym” with their dreamy song “The Escape”. If this band is new to you I recommend you check out their debut album from 2008 (”Harrys Gym”). So many great tracks from that album! Start with “Brother”! You should also check out their new single called “Horses” that came out just a few days ago.

“Of Monsters and Men” is a six piece indie folk/pop band from Iceland. You have probably heard their single “Little Talks” on the radio. This week I chose to add their song “Sloom” to our playlist.

The last song in our playlist this week is the Scottish indie rock band “Frightened Rabbit”. I really love their single “Swim Until You Can’t See Land” (2009)

If you have song suggestion for next week’s playlist feel free to drop them in my Spotify Inbox.

Enjoy!

Our friends at @thursplay have compiled this playlist for April.

Time to listen to the mix of the beats played on repeat during April.

A little of everything, starting with the impossible-not-to-move-your-feet “Take me Over” by Cut Copy, which is a song you can find on their latest album “Zonoscope”, released last year. Going a little more back in time, a beautiful song by Local Natives, “Cards & Quarters” that’s worth being remembered…

Enjoy the uptempo female voice by U.K indie pop trio Standard Fare singing “Suitcase”. More female voices? You got them: Class Actress, Little Majorette, Grimes, Ladyhawke back with her brand new single “Sunday Drive”, White Sea and more.

Get a good chill vibe from Tunng with their live version of “Naked in the rain”, The Head and The Herat with “Sounds Like Hallelujah” and “Stealing Tomorrow” by Great Lake Swimmers. Just the right amount of slow motion.

And don’t miss the very indie sounds of Architecture in Helsinki, Team Me, Palpitation and many more: there are 25 tracks hand picked for you to enjoy!

What were your April favorite tracks? Share with us today on #thursplay!