Focus Music Notes. "Out of the Blues". Popular music through the decades

CocknBullKid, one of the most acclaimed young British artists to emerge in recent years, is releasing her hotly anticipated debut album ‘Adulthood’ on May 23. The album, co-written by Anita alongside a host of talents including the eccentric, electronic piano man Gonzales, who worked on half the record, is a full functioning pop odyssey that looks set to soundtrack the summer of 2011 . In addition to Chilly, there are a couple of songs from Peter, Björn and John’s Peter Morén, as well as a co-write each from Joseph 'Metronomy' Mount and former All Saint, and one of Anita’s hero’s Shaznay Lewis. The album was produced by Liam Howe (Marina and the Diamonds / ex- Sneaker Pimps). Adulthood was recorded in London, Paris and Stockholm and was put together in Howe's Dalston home studio, surrounded by vintage synths, and in the cosy confines of Snap Studios in North London. With this brilliant debut, CocknBullKid has emerged from a creative cocoon with a suite of bright, breezy an

Nicki Minaj, the hottest new artist on the planet follows her wildly acclaimed million selling debut album “ Pink Friday ” with the release of her new Young Money/Cash Money single “ Girls Fall Like Dominoes ”. The single which samples The Big Pink’s cult single “Dominos”, looks set to give the US pop diva her biggest UK hit single. Nicki is currently slaying audiences across the US co-headlining with friend and mentor Lil Wayne on the sold–out “I Am Music II” tour and with 1.5 million albums sold in the US, 8 million likes on Facebook, 3 million followers on Twitter, a gold album in the UK and a profile that is rising by the day, here are some of the things the UK press are saying about this 5’ 2” phenomenon. Buy Download - Single "Girls Fall like Dominoes" Buy CD Pink Friday Bonus Tracks http://www.myspace.com/nickiminaj WHAT THE PAPERS SAY “THE noisiest noise on the block right now. Scrums at the Dorchester, ridiculous wigs inspired by Marge Simpson, watch out Lon

Adam Young has spent the best part of the last six months in peaceful hibernation, busy writing the second Owl City album, ‘All Things Bright And Beautiful’ which will be released on 17th May. The first single ‘Alligator Sky’, which features US rapper Shawn Chrystopher, rockets us back into the cosmic world of Owl City. “’Alligator’ and ‘sky’ are two words that don’t really go together, but conjure up an image, which fits the idea of the song,” Adam says. “It’s about how there are so many weird things coming at you every day. Why not just meet them head on and take charge even though you have no say over what’s going to happen? You and those around you are what matter most.” Owl City’s swift rise from the unknown into chart topping success saw his debut album - the lush, lovingly created ‘Ocean Eyes’, which was released by Island Records in February 2010 - certified gold or platinum in nine countries. The album spawned the quadruple-platinum first single ‘Fireflies’, which was a No. 1

There’s a fair chance you’re already familiar with the sublime voice of North London girl Jess Mills since her vocals graced the recent Radio 1 A listed single ‘Fighting Fire ’ by Breakage. Jess’s relationship with Breakage began on Leftfield’s recent comeback tour, where Jess was providing the vocals for the seminal dance act, and Breakage was the support. Bonding over a shared love of Radiohead, 90s drum’n’bass and Depeche Mode they decided to bunker down in James’ South London studio, the place where he’d recently crafted his now infamous remix of Clare Maguire. There Jess wrote and laid down the vocals for his club smash ‘Fighting Fire’. A track that left confused message board chatter over whether it was dub-step, trance or pop music, but that clearly united people on the dance-floor. Like Geoff Barrow’s first meeting with Beth Gibbons, there was magic in the air… And a pact was made to return the favour by producing some of Jess’ own solo material. The result is Vultures, the fi

Described by The Guardian as ‘a master of the contemporary blues’, Skip ‘Little Axe’ McDonald comes to the Gallery Sessions at Barnstaple’s Queen’s Theatre on Thursday 12 th May for an exclusive solo performance. Providing guitars, bass, keyboards, and vocals, Little Axe is the return to the blues that Skip grew up with and learned from his father. Born Bernard Alexander in 1949, Dayton, Ohio, Skip McDonald learned to play the blues on his father's guitar from the age of 8, although by the time he was 12 years old he had opted to perform doo-wop. But from picking up a guitar as a child, and returning to his roots with Little Axe, there has been a long twisting road. McDonald, along with bass player Doug Wimbish and drummer Keith LeBlanc formed the house band for the pioneering rap label Sugar Hill, providing the music for some of the most seminal records of the era by  Grandmaster Flash , Afrika Bambaata and others. From there he worked closely with Adrian Sher

If the past couple of years have been rock’n’roll’s radio iceage, right now our toes are teetering on the briof a lush new dawn. The question is; beyond the frenzy of supposed saviour bands whose name-drops have christened the New Year, which of the lauded gangs of axe-wielders are the genuine sculptors of tomorrow? Well, of the few promised Next Big Things, none have earned their hype more than Camden's Tribes. “When you’re a kid you want to be cool, so you make experimental weird music. But for us, I think there just came a point where we couldn’t be bothered messing around anymore," prophesises singer Johnny Lloyd. "I realized that there’s no point being in a band if you’re not gonna be one of those life-changing bands. Not the one’s you stroke your chin too, the one’s you beat your heart plate to.” It's this unabashed manifesto of anthemia that’s taken the rag-tag four-piece from prodigious debutant slots opening for idols The Pixies, to relentless grassroots g

G. Love has announced the details of his new album, Fixin’ To Die, set for release on on Brushfire Records. Recorded at Echo Mountain Studios in Asheville, NC, and produced by The Avett Brothers, this new body of work is arguably G. Love’s most sincere and candid work to date. After a chance meeting in Boston last fall, G. Love and The Avett Brothers forged a friendship and bonded over their love of back road blues. After performing together onstage and discovering their shared musical heritage, G. Love invited Scott and Seth Avett to not only produce his new album, but perform on it as well. The result is Fixin’ To Die, a collection of  G. Love originals, rearranged traditionals, and a classic cover, many simmering for over a decade, all sharing a common goal: to strip away all pretense and capture the original spirit and sound G. Love has cultivated over his entire career but never fully embraced until now. From the ragged jangle of its opener “Milk & Sugar” and floorboard stomp

FROM MARK, TOM AND TRAVIS : It is with heavy hearts that we have to announce our planned 2011 European Summer tour has been rescheduled. When we booked the tour last year, we were confident that we would have the new album out before the Summer. Turns out we were mistaken as the album is taking longer than we thought and won't be out till later this year. We hoped we would have some new songs to play rather than do another 'greatest hits tour' which you all saw last Summer. As much as we know our fans would be cool with that, we feel that we owe you guys something new when you spend your money to come see us. Frankly, it's what needs to continue for us to remain vital. The three of us are working very hard to do what we set out to do when we re-formed...get a new blink-182 album recorded. Apologies to all of our fans who have bought tickets and were looking forward to the Summer shows but we'll be back soon with the rescheduled dates in Summer 2012, have a new al

A talented multi-instrumentalist with a voice reminiscent of Joanna Newsom, Lykke Li and PJ Harvey, Detroit born Alex Winston is causing quite a stir in the pop world. Having recently headlined a NME Awards Show, signed to Island Records, Alex is now making serious waves in America – her video for last single ‘Locomotive’ was the number 1 most played video on Pitchfork TV. Taken from her critically acclaimed mini album (of the same name), new single ‘Sister Wife’ will be released as a digital download on May 16th through Island Records. Written by Alex and produced by New York whizz-kids The Knocks, ‘Sister Wife’ looks back at Winston’s upbringing in Detroit. The soulful chorus, “Hey there sister wife / Get the hell out / It’s my night / You don’t know they way to his heart like I do” is set against a wall of melody and muscular percussion. The defiant ‘Sister Wife’ highlights an impressive skill for crafting the perfect pop song and beckons at a talent we’re only just discovering.

Mona today announce details of their debut album, ‘Mona’, which will be released through the band’s own imprint Zion Noiz Recordings/Island Records on CD, Digital Download and limited edition collectors vinyl from May 16th. The band will also play their biggest show so far at the Electric Ballroom a day later. The album, which was originally recorded in the band’s Nashville basement, was mixed by Rich Costey (Muse, Foo Fighters, Glasvegas) and produced by the band. Following a series of sold out shows across the UK, including London’s Garage, the band have confirmed they will be headlining their biggest show to date, playing to over 1200 people at London’s Electric Ballroom on May 17th. Tickets went on sale on Friday 11th February, for an exclusive fan pre sale head over to www.monatheband.com/signup.php . 2011 has started strongly for Mona, winning MTV’s Brand New For 2011, polling over 35% of of 200,000 public votes and beating off competition from Jessie J, The Vaccines and Jamie

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.

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

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

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 travelli

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

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 deman

Having recently been certified as Nashville’s newest and hottest export, Mona return to the UK (for the third time in six months) to perform a series of live shows that coincide with the release of their first single of 2011. ‘Teenager’ was released on February 28th through the band’s own imprint Zion Noiz Recordings/Island Records on digital download and limited edition 7-inch. 'Teenager’ is the soundtrack for a new generation, an angst driven anthem with vintage roots. Passion, obsession, longing and desire are the backdrop to this gigantic juggernaut of a song. “All people have desire and need more than just themselves, you love love but can’t find a love” says frontman Nick Brown on the theme of the song. Mona finished 2010 on a high after appearing on Later...With Jools Holland, being tipped by all key music press including the BBC Sound Poll and being selected for MTV’s Brand New For 2011. This is not to mention ‘Trouble On The Way’ being record of the week on BBC Radio 1. T

Since their debut in 1969 Steeleye Span have become one of the most influential names in British roots music, credited with changing the face of folk music forever, taking it from small clubs into the world of gold discs and international tours. Catch them in Barnstaple as they return to the Queen’s Theatre for what’s set to be another cracking performance on Thursday 17th March. Members have come and gone over the years, with past and present line-ups virtually a who’s who of the British folk scene, but Steeleye has always remained an institution, at the forefront of the genre they helped define. With Maddy Prior - the voice of Steeleye for 34 years - back at the helm, the line-up features band stalwart and fiddler extraordinaire Peter Knight, Rick Kemp on bass, Peter Zorn on guitar and Liam Genockey on the drum stool. Steeleye Span’s 35th anniversary year in 2004 saw the line-up hailed as one of the band’s strongest with two sell out UK tours and a fantastic gig at the London Pallad

Two of the world’s most iconic soul singers are set to share a stage at the Queen’s Theatre, Barnstaple as good friends Gary U.S. Bonds and Ben E. King present The Great American Soulbook on Tuesday 15th March. Along with a stunning 8 piece band made up of the UK’s greatest musicians from the bands of Van Morrison, Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Jeff Beck and Jerry Lee Lewis, this is set to be an amazing night made up of some of the greatest soul songs ever written. The legendary Gary U.S Bonds will host the show, and as well as belting out his own hits such as New Orleans and Quarter To Three, you’ll also hear Gary sing some of the world’s most loved tunes from one of the most loved eras. Gary will then be joined by another Soul legend, Ben E. King for what promises to be one of the most talked about tours to come to the region in years. Ben E. King is one of the defining soul singers of all-time. From his early days as the lead singer of The Drifters, through to his solo work, Ben E.

After a ridiculously successful 2010 which saw Robyn rank high in many end of year poll’s, from Popjustice’s #1 album of the year to Guardian’s #1 single of the year, to winning Radio 1’s Live Lounge of the year - and pretty much everything in between - Robyn is ready to stamp her platform booted mark all over 2011 just as hard. Not only was she recently nominated for a BRIT Award for International Female Solo Artist (alongside Katy Perry, Alicia Keys, Kylie Minogue and Rhianna), and for ‘Best Dance Recording’ in the US Grammy’s, she also won a massive 4 awards at the Swedish Grammy’s, played a sold out 6000 capacity Radio City Music hall in NYC and has announced a 15 date American tour with said fellow BRIT nominee, Miss Perry, starting in June. This follows Robyns return to the UK for her own select shows this March including a sold out gig at London’s Roundhouse - before Europe awaits. Robyn will release ‘Call Your Girlfriend’, taken from her latest Body Talk album on May 16. Remixe