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

Tinashe ' Mayday ' E.P. Released March 1st - Special Guest On The Noisettes UK Tour Having travailed from Zimbabwe to Hackney via a zig-zagging journey of displacement, new star Tinashé releases ' Mayday' - his scintillating, indispensable E.P, March 1st on Mango Records . Tinashé kicked off the New Year with a series of club shows including a ' New To Q Session' , January 29th alongside Marina & The Diamonds . Tinashé was in imperious form throughout and further proof that he is one of the most impressive new live artists out there. Tinashé now plays a series of shows up and down the UK as special guest for The Noisettes . Written and produced by Tinashé, ' Mayday ' signals the first glimpse of his charming, unique sound, with his forthcoming debut album set for an early summer release. Most musicians will tell you that they've struggled for their art, paid their dues. Living in Highfield, a place that gave birth to Robert Mugabe is one thing,...

Tinashe‘Mayday’ E.P. Released on Mango Records March 1st - 12” & Download Having travailed from the townships of Highfield, Zimbabwe to Hackney via a zig-zagging journey of displacement, new star Tinashé releases ‘ Mayday’ – his scintillating, indispensable E.P, March 1st on the re-launched Mango Records .Written and produced by Tinashé, ‘Mayday’ signals the first glimpse of his charming, unique sound, with his forthcoming debut album set for an early summer release. Tinashé has a wonderful gift for filtering his own life experiences into supremely addictive pop. The centrepiece is Tinashe's signature vocal, instantly recognisable and easily sliding from giddy to urgent.This 4-track collection comprises of smart pop songs from a star-in-waiting. From subtle strings and flashes of guitar on ‘ Mayday ’ to the tear-dropping sound of his native instrument, the mbira on ‘ Miss You ’ - all played by Tinashé it’s the work of an artist who's fully formed and not learning the rope...

Shakespears Sister Album: Songs From The Red Room released on Cargo April 12 EP: It's A Trip - March 29 "I just want to make intelligent, exciting pop records and wrestle it back from what it's become, because in the last ten years it's been seen as this inferior thing that is associated with Pop Idol and X Factor. But my heroes were Bowie and Roxy - what are they if they are not pop music? It's a brilliant art form - it's the thing that excites me most in my life." - Siobhan Fahey ' Songs From The Red Room ' is the first Shakespears Sister album for over a decade. Siobhan Fahey returns to a pop landscape that has dramatically changed during her career of more than 20 years, and yet this album represents a female pop icon at the top of her game, as effortlessly innovative and exciting as any of her contemporaries. ' Songs From The Red Room ' features collaborations with Terry Hall ('Was It Worth It?') and Whitey ('Pulsa...

The elite 11 who make up the Young Money/Cash Money/Universal Motown all-star roster are preparing to take over the game with the digital release of their debut album, We Are Young Money , on February 1st. Young Money Entertainment (YME), which was founded in 2005, is the brainchild of Lil Wayne , the Grammy Award-winning, multi-platinum, critically acclaimed President of Cash Money Records. YME is an imprint of Cash Money Records and will be distributed by Universal Motown Records . Lil Wayne and his childhood friend Mack Mai ne, who is both signed to YME as an artist and serves as the President of the company, handpicked the label’s talented roster, which includes hip hop’s newest superstar Drake, Jae Millz, Nicki Minaj, Tyga, Gudda Gudda, Shanell, Lil Chuckee, Lil Twist, and T-Streetz, all of whom form the group Young Money. Young Money’s debut album, We Are Young Money , features many of today’s hottest producers, including Cool & Dre, Tha Bizness (Ne-Yo, Snoop Dogg), KANE (...

Mumford & Sons release their new single, ‘The Cave’ through Gentlemen Of The Road / Island Records on the 1st March 2010 . It is taken from the band’s critically acclaimed Top 10 debut album, ‘Sigh No More’. Mumford & Sons have begun this decade much as they ended the last, with word-of-mouth recommendations and a fearsome live reputation helping them to become one of the most significant (and unexpected) British success stories in recent years. After Sigh No More charted at Number 11 in the UK album chart in October 2009, the album has quietly kept on selling - rising to a new high of Number 7 in January and shifting over 200,000 copies in the process. Meanwhile, the folk-rockers have been taking their euphoric live shows across the globe. A unique tour of India at the close of December included sold-out performances in Pune, New Delhi and Hyderabad . While they were there, the band decamped to a studio in New Delhi to collaborate with a collective of Rajasthani musici...

Lil Wayne , the undisputed hottest rapper in the world, who recently slayed London audiences with three sold out shows at the Hammersmith Apollo , follows his 4 x Grammy winning multi-platinum masterpiece “Tha Carter III” with the release on February 1st of “ Rebirth ”, the most eagerly anticipated hip hop record in years. 2010 is proving a boon for Lil Wayne fans with the release on January 25th of Young Money Entertainment’s first release “ We Are Young Money ”, featuring all the hotly tipped artists on Weezy’s label including Drake and Nicki Minaj. A game-changing artist, Dwanye Michael Carter, Jr., aka Weezy F Baby , is one of the most prolific artists in music. Since establishing himself with the Hot Boys and his early solo albums, he became best known for the astonishing amount of music he released whether it be his acclaimed mixtapes, or special guest features on other artists work. The sheer breath, quality and volume of music featuring the New Orleans born rapper, made it...

“OH AFRICA ” FEAT KERI HILSON Senegalese born Global superstar Akon , has sold over 1.5 million albums and even more singles in the UK alone, and over 8 million albums world wide. It comes as no surprise that Akon was chosen to team up with Pepsi to sing the World Cup inspired song for this summer’s tournament in South Africa . ‘Oh Africa ’ is a fitting ode to the nation hosting the World Cup, and sung patriotically by one of the continent’s most loved figures. Akon is joined by R&B’s woman of the moment, Keri Hilson , who shares vocals alongside him. The Soweto Gospel Choir , the thirty-plus member ensemble who memorably performed at the first of Nelson Mandela’s 46664 concerts in Cape Town in 2003, also team up with Akon on the single. Not forgetting a group of fifteen specially picked young people from across the world, who sing with the choir to form the chorus, representing the unity of the World Cup. The video to accompany the song was directed by Gill Green , who has ...