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

Jackson Tennessee born, London based singer-songwriter Lauren Pritchard, a new artist with a remarkable voice and a rare song-writing talent to match, follows the release of her acclaimed debut “The Jackson Sessions” ep with the release on July 19th of her new Island ep “ Painkillers ” . Written by the 22 year old Pritchard and produced by Eg White, best known for co-writing and producing Adele’s Grammy-winning classic hit “Chasing Pavements” and Duffy’s worldwide smash “Warwick Avenue”, the track features legendary sticksman and Roots founder Questlove on drums. The full track listing is as follows: 1. Painkillers 2. Try A Little Harder 3. Painkillers (Body Language Remix) 4. Painkillers (Flotilla Remix) Since the beginning of the year Lauren has performed live across the UK building an ever growing fanbase. The young American was personally invited by Paul Weller to join him on stage during his recent In Concert Radio 2 session after he had heard her debut ep The Jackson Sessi...

Following the release of her debut EP ‘Because I Do’, Pearl and the Puppets will release the new single ‘Make Me Smile’ on August 16th. Pearl, AKA Katie Sutherland and her band The Puppets, have been receiving a steady stream of attention over the last year after winning the Scottish Sun’s New Band award and a performance on the BBC Hogmanay show on New Year’s Eve. With live shows so far including an appearance at The Great Escape, a headline Scottish tour and UK support tour with Alphabeat. Their debut EP was well received and performances at the likes of Secret Garden Party and T in the Park this summer along with a support slot with Elton John at Watford Football Club. Her second single ‘ Make Me Smile ’ is a feel-good summery pop song that has a breezy melody and catchy chorus that you can’t help but sing along to. A favourite in Pearl’s live set, it is perfect for the summer festivals and is sure to make even the most tired festival goer get up and dance. Three years ago Pea...

Nicki Minaj, the first lady of Young Money/Cash Money Records and one of the hottest artists on the planet right now, has her debut official single “Your Love” released on September 20th. The song, which samples Annie Lennox’s “ No More ‘I Love You’s’ ”, is taken from the 25 year old rap phenomenon’s feverishly anticipated debut album which is scheduled for release on November 22nd. Nicki Minaj’s star has been on the rise since she released her first mixtape, Playtime Is Over , in 2007. The mixtape featured Lil Wayne and the cover showed Nicki posing as a Barbie Doll. A second mixtape “ Sucka Free ” released a year later, increased the heat around Minaj and was followed in 2009 by mixtape number three “ Beam Me Up Scotty ”. Shortly thereafter Nicki, aka Harajuku Barbie, aka Nicki Lewinsky, aka Roman Zolanski, aka Ms Step Your Cookies Up , signed to Lil Wayne’s new label Young Money Entertainment and featured heavily on Young Money’s debut album “We Are Young Money” which spawned the...

“G.R.I.N.D.”, the brand new track that’s been lighting up the blogs, (no 2 on Hype Machine) from Asher Roth, is released on July 26th through SRC/ Island Records. “G.R.I.N.D”, which stands for “Get Ready It’s a New Day”, was produced by a team called 1500 or Nothin, and is taken from Asher’s forthcoming as yet untitled second album which features production from the likes of Pharrell Williams, Swizz Beats, Ryan Leslie and Q-Tip. For further info on Asher’s movements and to see the cool viral video for “Muddy Swim Trunks”, and to download the tasty new mixtape “Seared Fois Gras with Quince and Cranberry”, visit http://asherrothmusic.com/ . Asher Roth’s debut hit single “ I Love College ” and acclaimed album “ Asleep In The Bread Aisle ” announced him as one of the most exciting new artists in hip hop. Heavily tipped at the beginning of 2009, alongside Kid Cudi and B.O.B, as one of the freshest new artists taking hip hop in an exciting new direction, Asher charted with his first single ...

Multi-platinum-selling, Grammy-winning singer-songwriter-actress ERYKAH BADU, one of the best loved, most constantly challenging and uniquely creative artists currently working in popular music, releases her new single ”Turn Me Away (Get Munny)” on August 2nd . The release of the single, taken from her universally acclaimed new album New Amerykah, Part II: Return of the Ankh, comes the week after Badu blesses the Brixton Academy with a sold-out one-off UK date on Saturday July 24. The new album is the Dallas native’s follow-up to her equally critically acclaimed 2008 album, New Amerykah, Part I: 4th World War. In contrast to New Amerykah, Part I: 4th World War, which was digitally produced and political in tone, New Amerykah Part II: Return of the Ankh features lush live instrumentation and taps into Badu’s emotional side by thematically focusing on romance and relationships. “ With Part I, I was standing at an apex, looking at what was going on around me politically, socially, and ec...

Named as one of Rolling Stone’s Best New Bands of 2010,  release their racy bedroom blues single ‘Paris (Ooh La La)’ on August 15th. Doing a much better job of hotting up the summer than the UK’s reliably unreliable weather, this sultry, saucy song is Grace and the gang’s strutting tribute to getting down and dirty. A classic rock shakedown packed with guttural grunts and shrieks, it’s probably best that we hand over to Grace for a more detailed description of the tracks’s subject matter…“ When I wrote ‘Paris’, I was listening to the Kinks non-stop, and I was going for something with a big primal riff, like ‘You Really Got Me’. It was the first time I ever really just said ‘I’m not going to try to tell a story, and I’m not going to try to communicate an emotion. I’m just going to say, basically, ‘I want to have sex right now. ’ Produced by Mark Batson (Dr. Dre, Eminem, Jay-Z), this Vermont five-piece have more than earned their chops at home in the USA, gaining a reputation as one...

Little Fish singer, writer and guitarist Juju says that the band’s recent single ‘Am I Crazy?’ is about “the pain you go through when falling in love” but the title could equally refer to the crazy ride the band have experienced in the last year or so since legendary songwriter/producer Linda Perry heard their demos, flew to the UK to see them play at a pub in Oxford, signed them on the spot and took them out to LA to produce their first album. This has been followed by a hectic touring schedule supporting a who’s who of rock bands including Placebo,Them Crooked Vultures, Hole, Juliette Lewis and, most recently, Blondie. This, plus having three songs on the Rock Band game, a song in the new Hilary Swank movie ‘The Resident’ and a host of great reviews for their live show, as well as Radio 1 play and playlisting on XFM and Kerrang! TV have brought the band to the public’s attention even before the release of this, their first album. The addition of a Hammond player to the Oxford-based...