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

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’ will be 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

CocknBullKid is poised and ready to take on 2011 and what better way to kick things off than with the massive single ‘Hold On to Your Misery’?   We all know and cherish Miss Anita Blay – from early one off 7”’s exciting the senses, her potential to grow from coolness of the underground to a true pop sensation has always been huge. Now she’s up there with the new crop of truly exciting and talented British girls and boy, has it been worth the wait. Where 2010 was all about the planning, the writing, the studio, the touring (with Marina & Kele just lately to name but a couple), this year holds big things for CocknBullKid. Following ‘One Eye Closed’ which enjoyed superb radio support at R1, 6 Music, XFM, NME and Q, ‘Hold On To Your Misery’ is an out and out smash of a pop song, whilst retaining that distinctive cool and sassy CocknBullKid sound. It’s what Blay calls 'an anti-anthem'. "It's about stopping putting so much value on being happy. When I'm happy, things

A new PJ Harvey single, The Words That Maketh Murder, will be released digitally by Island Records on 17th January 2011. It will be the first release from Harvey's forthcoming album Let England Shake due out February. Following the digital release on 17th January, The Words That Maketh Murder will be released on 7" vinyl on 7th February 2011 backed with an exclusive track The Guns Called Me Back Again, recorded during the Let England Shake album session. Award-winning war photographer Seamus Murphy has produced a series of short films - containing reportage footage shot around England and performance footage of Harvey - for each song on the album. His film for The Last Living Rose is currently on http://www.pjharvey.net/ Let England Shake, scheduled for release on 14th February, is Harvey's eighth studio album. The record received a 5 star review in the current issue of Q magazine and Mojo writes ‘…of all her many guises – this may be her most powerful… more than ever, P