Songs for Japan - Superstars Release Benefit Album On iTunes

As Japan recovers from the devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck on March 11, the world’s top recording artists respond to the tragedy with this benefit album. The 38 tracks include some of their biggest hits, featuring an exclusive remix of Lady GaGa’s “Born This Way,” Katy Perry’s “Thinking of You,” Bruno Mars’ “Talking to the Moon,” Adele’s “Make You Feel My Love," and more. All proceeds go to the Japanese Red Cross.

Alex Clare new single "Too Close" out 18th April

New Island Records signing Alex Clare, whose Diplo & Switch produced debut single  “Up All Night” has generated a genuine buzz across radio, press and the blogosphere, follows up with the April 18th release of his new single “Too Close”. The single, produced once again by Diplo & Switch, is taken from Clare’s forthcoming debut album which will be released in the summer. The 25 year old Golders Green native recently previewed tracks from the album during a couple of incendiary live shows and will be putting in more live shows in the coming months. Clare writes and sings his own songs but is not a singer songwriter, not in the traditional sense anyway. After playing in a succession of London bands and following a brief career as a chef, too many long hours and too many sliced fingers, Alex decided to go it alone and started writing songs and demoing them himself. Things happened very quickly from there. The demos found their way to Island Records and two weeks later a deal was on the table. The opportunity to work with much sought after producers – Diplo and Switch, of Major Lazer fame arose and it seemed such a perfect fit. The three of them headed off to New Orleans, Jamaica and LA, where they recorded the bulk of the album, an album which incorporates soul and jazz, funk and jungle, punk rock and dubstep and looks set to be one of the most exciting releases of 2011. Speaking of the collaboration Clare says “They understand what I want from the arrangements. I love those heavy, sine-wave bass lines and they knew how to push them way beyond even my expectations.” Alex says the duo made him think about his songs in a totally new way, in came polyrhythms and synth sounds that just wouldn't have happened otherwise. “I tend to be a bit more reserved when I write,” he laughs. “They put it all out there – and it works.”

Listen for yourself and see if he’s right. http://www.myspace.com/alexclare - Up All Night - EP - Alex Clare Check out Alex Clare - Too Close Official Video

John Fratelli Live at the Royal Albert Hall and debut solo single "Santo Domingo"

Jon Fratelli will release his first proper solo single ‘Santo Domingo’ on the Island label on April 11th. Taken from his forthcoming new album “Psycho Jukebox”, it is at once strangely familiar, lyrically obtuse and so catchy it’ll make your head swim. It follows the free download of ‘Rhythm Doesn’t Make You A Dancer’ which is available now from http://www.jonfratelli.co.uk/  Jon Fratelli’s debut solo album is called Psycho Jukebox and like any jukebox worth its salt it’s chock full of the kind of solid gold easy action that makes you want to throw the windows wide to annoy the neighbours. Psycho Jukebox is brimful of melody, pop-psychedelia, classic ’60s-tinged pop, and characters whose lives are lived in a twilight world of ambition and failure, triumph and loss. Fans of The Fratellis will not be disappointed! Says Jon: “The chorus of ‘Santo Domingo’ is something I’ve had in my back pocket for a while now. It’s that instant thing – how quickly can you grab someone’s attention?! I’m delighted with how it’s turned out. It’s one of my favourites on the album.” Santo Domingo is the capital of the Dominican Republic. Psycho Jukebox was recorded at The Sound Factory in Los Angeles with producer Tony Hoffer (Beck , Air, Depeche Mode), who first worked with Jon in 2006 on The Fratellis’ debut album, Costello Music, which featured ‘Chelsea Dagger’, ‘Henrietta’ and ‘Flathead’, and established Jon as a writer of crunching, dynamic rock songs, clever lyrics populated with intriguing, Kinks-y – and sometimes kinky – characters, and an uncommonly sharp ear for melody. Jon Fratelli and his band (featuring the one and only Mince Fratelli on drums and acoustic guitar!) have confirmed a ‘Highlands & Islands’ tour and will appear at London’s ‘This Feeling’ club aswell as the ‘Live At Leeds’ festival. The full set of shows is:
24 March London Royal Albert Hall (Special Guest Of Roger Daltrey at TCT show)
25 March London Vibe Bar (‘This Feeling’ Club night)
30 March Glasgow King Tut’s
31 March Edinburgh Bongo Club
2 April Aberdeen Tunnels
3 April Dundee Doghouse
4 April Inverness Ironworks
5 April Stornoway An Lanntair
7 April Orkney Stromness Town Hall
8 April Wick Assembly Rooms
9 April Forres The Loft
30 April Leeds Live At Leeds Festival

JOHN FRATELLI DEBUT SOLO SINGLE: “SANTO DOMINGO” TO BE RELEASED ON APRIL 11th ‘11 - LIVE SHOWS INCLUDING SPECIAL GUEST BILLING AT ROGER DALTREY TEENAGE CANCER TRUST ROYAL ALBERT HALL SHOW, ‘HIGHLANDS & ISLANDS’ TOUR AND ‘LIVE AT LEEDS’
WHAT THE PAPERS SAY
“Hottest Record In The World – the catchiest thing I’ve heard in a long time – it’ll roll around in your brain now until the day you die!” Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe
“…freshly minted tunes like ‘She’s My Shaker’ and (‘Santo Domingo’) have the feel of those classic songs that used to tumble out of the radio on summer Sunday afternoons…” NEWS OF THE WORLD

Jonathan Jeremiah. March 21st release of debut album “A Solitary Man”.

Jonathan Jeremiah, whose timeless songs and soulful voice have marked him out as a songwriter with a rare talent, introduces himself with the release on March 21st of his debut album “A Solitary Man”. Jonathan recently appeared on Later With Jools a full five months ahead of the album release giving a stunning solo acoustic performance of one of the album’s many standouts “How Half-Heartedly We Behave”. Jonathan has just completed a month long residency at the Borderline following his recent special guest appearance with Rumer at her sell-out Bloomsbury Theatre show. The album was produced and engineered by Jonathan in an analogue studio in Dollis Hill and featured collaborators included The Heritage Orchestra, a young group of classical musicians attuned to his working methods, and Jules Buckley who handled all the string arrangements. Featured tracks on the 11 song album include gorgeous string-drenched single “See”, “Happiness” and “A Solitary Man”, two songs written while travelling across America, the latter inspired by a 90 year old Great Aunt he met in California, future single “Lost” and the soulful stomper ”Heart Of Stone”. Jonathan Jeremiah’s music comes from a world far away from the quick fix, pre packaged production line. The North Londoner has spent the best part of a decade defining a sound rooted in a rich legacy of bespoke English folk and confessional soul. With a deep, naturally dramatic voice, stunningly arranged orchestrations, delicate finger picked guitar and songs that make a lasting impression, Jonathan’s sound is the result of a journey that began with guitar lessons age 6. It has taken in family childhood sing-alongs with his 5 siblings during summer holidays to his mother’s native Tipperary, and progressed through the discovery of influences by listening to his father’s extensive vinyl collection. Artists such as Scott Walker, Cat Stevens, Serge Gainsbourg and John Martyn made a formative and lasting impression. The album was self-produced and self-funded, Jonathan worked nights as a security guard at Wembley Arena to finance the record. “It was important to produce the album myself. If I said to a producer I want a 24 piece orchestra with flugelhorn they would say it can be done on a keyboard. People don’t always have the ability to visualise your idea so you have to do it yourself. Jules knew exactly what I was looking for from day one”. Undoubtedly a major factor in the sound is Jonathans rich sonorous vocal. “When I was 14 my voice developed an incredible deep baritone. At the time it wasn’t the greatest thing, everyone wanted to sound like Jeff Buckley. I felt like a man out of place but in time, I embraced the baritone.” The other significant element is his fluent and luminous guitar, inseparable from the voice. Now after all the searching, the night shifts and the learning from past masters, Jonathan has arrived at an album grounded in the deep wellsprings from where he first charted his course. “I felt I had a duty to keep the music as untouched as it was back then and not be tainted with whatever else was out there.” “A Solitary Man” has been a long time in the making but offers proof that sometimes the best things take time. With equal measures of hard headed determination and careful nurturing, Jonathan’s music is ready to be unveiled. The time to take his songs into your heart and soul is here.

www.myspace.com/jonathanjeremiah
WHAT THE PAPERS SAY
“rich, elegant, timeless” The Guardian

“a great voice singing great songs” The Sunday Times
“Jeremiah has one of those soulful voices that just oozes raw passion…A rare talent” The Sun
“A captivating presence recalling the grandeur of Scott Walker, this newcomer could make an indelible mark next year” The Mirror

DJ Distance new single ‘Falling’ out Monday 21st March 2011/UKTour Dates

DJ Distance is a South East London-based producer who was instrumental in dubstep’s early development.
Real name Greg Sanders, Distance is credited with introducing the much-imitated heavy riffage of metal to dubstep; at the dawn of the genre.......
UK tour dates:
18th March, Cable, London
26th March, Bournemouth
29th March, Sheffield
15th April, Aberdeen
22nd April, Fabric, London

......... Before picking up Cubase and becoming a producer, he was a fan of heavy and industrial bands like Pantera and Fear Factory. In 2001 he was being drawn to the dark garage sound that was all around him in South London. Tracks by Oris Jay or Wookie on DJ EZ’s Saturday night show on Kiss FM caught his ear. He began to obsessively buy records from Blackmarket and Croydon’s Big Apple Records, on seminal labels like Tempa and Bingo. Attending FWD>> at its inception when the crowd of 15 or 20 consisted almost entirely of producers, Distance soon took to producing himself. He would bring his early tracks to the club and exchange them with the others creating the new sound, like Scuba, Mala, Jay Da Flex, Caspa and Plastician. Distance’s first release was a white label in 2003, then he was the first 12” put out by Hot Flush (Mount Kimbie, Joy Orbison) and went on to release tracks on Pinch’s Tectonic label, and the influential Boka label. Regular bookings at clubs DMZ, FWD>> and Exodus followed. Rinse FM gave him a show (James Blake on his one hour ‘new artists’ section was one discovery). The late great John Peel was one of the first DJs to play Distance’s tracks. Distance was selected by Mary Anne Hobbs to take part in the first seminal ‘Dubstep Warz’ in January 2006 (a show which was credited with breaking dubstep globally). His full length debut (My Demons) came in 2006 on Planet Mu. It won Dubstep Forum’s album of the year. Follow up ‘Repercussions’ in 2008 also came out on Mu. In 2007 he set up his own vinyl label Chestplate (a reference to chest-rattling sub bass). He has collaborated with Skream and Benga separately on anthemic releases. Now in 2011 Distance releases one of his hottest dubs yet in the shape of ‘Falling’. Keeping his heavy-weight subscapes - that sound like the machines from Terminator 2 brawling - he has added a vocal element. The track has received blanket support from the scene’s DJs; Skream, Benga, Hatcha, Cyrus. Hip hop & R&B DJ Swerve on Kiss and MistaJam on 1Xtra have been heating it up further.

Distance ‘Falling’ On Sale Monday 21st March 2011 - Digital Monday 18th April 2011

NORTH DEVON LIVE - Dave Berry, Chris Farlowe, Wayne Fontana, Terry Sylvester, The Mersey Beats at Barnstaple

Celebrating 26 Solid Years of Success. The Solid Silver 60s Show has become, over the last 26 years, an institution, a household name, a true phenomenon reconfirming that the 60s are as relevant today as they have ever been. North Devon Theatres is therefore delighted to welcome the show back to the Queen’s Theatre on Saturday 12th March. The show brings together the ever-popular Dave Berry, Chris Farlowe, Wayne Fontana, Terry Sylvester and very special guests, The Merseybeats. Throughout its 26 year history The Solid Silver 60s Show has had no less than 23 top ten charting artist and bands on its bills. Legendary talents such as The Searchers, Bobby Vee, Gerry & The Pacemakers, Del Shannon, Billy J Kramer, Chris Montez and The Troggs have clocked up between them 284 weeks (over five years!) in the No.1 position, 977 weeks (equalling over 18 years!) within the Top Five chart position and a staggering 1,375 weeks within the Top Ten. As usual the mammoth tour, to meet popular demand, spans over four months covering 57 dates, with 68 shows. Creator and founder of The Solid Silver 60s Show Derek Nicol of Flying Music, when asked how long he intends to tour this iconic brand, answer’s ‘Who knows....I have often been asked this and I always reply that as long as the audiences keep coming and we can promise a great show, we’ll keep delivering.’ Now in its 26th year with well over a million and a half tickets sold, The Solid Silver 60s Show features the unforgettable talents of Dave Berry, Chris Farlowe, Wayne Fontana, Terry Sylvester (formerly of The Hollies) all backed by Vanity Fare and very special guests The Merseybeats. The artists involved in these shows consistently pull in the crowds, giving testament to the popularity throughout the years and generations for the acts and songs of the 60s. This tour is particularly special as it is the first time Terry Sylvester (formerly of The Hollies) has joined The Solid Silver 60s Show and also the first time he has toured the UK for 30 years! Terry says “The line up looks great and I’m looking forward to seeing some old friends I’ve not seen in a long time. Over the last 17 years I’ve done lots of tours of the USA and Canada with Gerry Marsden & Billy J. Kramer and they’ve told me how much fun everybody has (on a Solid Silver 60s tour). My old pal Dave Dee used to call me sometimes when he was on the tour and say what a great time he was having. I’m looking forward to being on stage because it’s been over 30 years’ since I appeared in the UK. Hopefully I’ll get to meet some of the fans as well.” As usual, expect all your favourite 60s hits including The Crying Game, He Ain’t Heavy He’s My Brother and Out of Time, all performed by original hit-makers. There are two shows on Saturday 12th March, the first at 6pm and the second at 9pm. Tickets are £20.50 / £18.50 for the 6pm show and £22.50/£20.50 for the 9pm show. A 60p Love Arts payment also applies to each seat sold. For further information or to book, call the Box Office on 01271 324242 or visit www.northdevontheatres.org.uk

Encore new single ‘THE ONE’ and UK Tour Dates

‘The One’ is the second single from urban trio Encore, aka singers Mark and Cairo and rapper Pierre. DaVinChe (Tinchy Stryder and Kano) lends his production skills on this dubstep infected track, smoothly ridden by Encore’s narrative songwriting style and slick vocals, taking us through a tale of relationship woes. Encore’s debut album will follow later this year and 2011 has already been a busy year for the boys. The group have been in the studio working with top writers and producers from both sides of the Atlantic including DaVinChe, RedOne’s production team (Lady Gaga), Nate Walka (Jamie Foxx ‘Blame It’). They released their debut single ‘Wind Up’ on Valentine’s Day, and have also shot two new videos. The first video is for the ‘The One’, and the second for their street track ‘Cold/Pretender’. The grind doesn’t stop there though, Encore are confirmed support acts for both Jessie J and N-Dubz’s UK tours throughout April. Get ready to give a standing ovation…

Encore new single ‘THE ONE’Released April 25th 
UK TOUR DATES
JESSIE J SUPPORT
31st March 02 Academy, Glasgow
1st April 02 Academy, Bristol
2nd April 02 Academy, Birmingham
4th April Academy, Manchester
5th April 02 Shepherds Bush Empire, London
7th April Academy, Dublin
9th April Mandela Hall, Belfast
NDUBZ SUPPORT
11th April Ryde Arena Isle of Wight
12th April Winter Gardens Margate
13th April Grimsby Auditorium Grimsby
14th April The Dome Doncaster
16th April Waterfront Hall Auditorium & Studio Belfast
19th April The Royal Centre Nottingham
21st April SECC & Clyde Auditorium (The Armadillo) Glasgow
22nd April Metro Radio Arena Newcastle upon Tyne
23rd April Bournemouth International Centre (BIC) Bournemouth
24th April Plymouth Pavilions Plymouth
26th April Brighton Centre Brighton
28th April Manchester Evening News Arena (MEN Arena) Manchester
29th April LG Arena Birmingham
30th April The 02 Arena London