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

Fresh from supporting Jessie J, Tinchy Stryder and N-Dubz on tour, hot new urban-pop sensations Encore release their brand new single 'Fun Last Night' on February 26th via Island Records. 'Fun Last Night' is a melodic pop smash, featuring razor sharp rhymes, an electro bassline and smooth vocals, all topped off with an infectious anthemic chorus. Encore are made up of rapper Pierre (23) and vocalists Cairo (22) and Mark (22). Initially three solo artists who were already making waves in their own right on the urban music scene, the boys met at an open mic night in early 2009. Fast forward a few months and a preliminary collaboration session in the studio eventually led to the creation of Encore. Mark is an accomplished singer/ songwriter and has already written with acts such as Tinie Tempah and Chipmunk. Pierre comes from East London and went to school with Dizzee Rascal and Tinchy Stryder. Before he entered the band, Cairo was a name on the acoustic soul live scene a

Here's a quick round up of the new releases for February: The X Factor may be over but Kelly Rowland is back, empowered and more assertive than ever with new single, ‘Lay It On Me’, released on February 6th through Island Records. Gotye – Making Mirrors - Released 13th February 2012 + UK Tour Dates Live Dates and Main Post Fresh from supporting Jessie J, Tinchy Stryder and N-Dubz on tour, hot new urban-pop sensations Encore release their brand new single 'Fun Last Night' on February 26th via Island Records. Encore will release their brand new single 'Fun Last Night' on February 13th via Island Records. Midnight Lion release their new EP, ‘Sleeping In The Woods’, on the 13th February 2012 through Locks & Keys/Island Records. Live Dates and Main Post Ben Howard releases his new single, ‘The Wolves’ on the 27th February 2012 through Island Records. It is taken from Ben’s top 10 debut album, ‘Every Kingdom’. LADYHAWKE release her new single ‘Black, White &

Following the release of their debut single, ‘All Greatness Stands Firm’, last Summer, Glasgow based two-piece Midnight Lion remain an enigmatic entity. Their music is at once full of the melodies and huge choruses found in the studio pop bands of the 80s, yet it maintains an art-house leaning that evokes the dark, subtle moments of artists akin to Talk Talk. It’s a sound that imbues the influence of living and creating music in the forward thinking city they call home. ‘Sleeping In The Woods’ was penned in the East End of Glasgow, in Lewis Gardner’s bedroom. Gardner, as one half of the band, is the man responsible for the band’s production sound, reflecting Glasgow’s progressive musical present as much as it does its past. Stewart Brock, the lyricist and vocalist, resides in the West End and heads over to Lewis’ home to lay down his powerful vocals and bounce ideas off each other within the makeshift studio. Sleeping In The Woods is a dark, brooding and evocative pop tune, and as