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

Bob Dylan's first eight groundbreaking albums are exclusively available now.

Jessie Ware's hugely anticipated debut album 'Devotion' yesterday capped a flurry of critical praise with a much coveted nomination for this year’s Mercury Prize. Having previously gone straight into the album chart Top Five, this accolade confirms Jessie as one of the UK's brightest new stars. With album single 'Wildest Moments' going on to the BBC Radio 1 A-list and recently receiving an intimate rendition on BBC One's Breakfast Show, now comes new single 'Night Light'. True to its name, 'Night Light' sees Jessie's powerhouse vocal shining with stirring emotion to a backdrop of swirling guitars, majestic piano flourishes and addictive down-tempo rhythm. Released ---- on PMR Records, ‘Night Light’ is equal parts modern soul and timeless pop that demonstrates yet again that Jessie Ware is in a class entirely of her own. Along with this, Jessie Ware will be embarking on her first UK and Ireland headline tour in November, with dates in L

In June, the London duo of producer George Reid and singer Aluna Francis released their debut EP, 'You Know You Like It' on the experimental Tri Angle Records. The three tracks seamless marriage of UK glitch and bass culture and sample based production with futuristic R&B sheen and British pop sensibilities packed a contagious punch, winning the accolades of everyone from the NME and The Guardian to Pitchfork and Spin, quickly highlighting AlunaGeorge as one of 2012's brightest hopes. Hot off the heels of that resounding opening gambit, AlunaGeorge now announce their new single, ‘Your Drums, Your Love’. Picking up where 'You Know You Like It' left off, ‘Your Drums, Your Love’ continues the duo’s streak of cutting-edge club pop with an enticingly downbeat R&B ballad. Reid’s elusively liquid synths, rumbling low-end bass and hip-gyrating electronic sway provide a glistening backdrop to the sweet allure of Aluna’s voice, soaring with the arching, fragile ref

Keane's new album 'Strangeland' entered the UK charts at Number one to make it their fifth consecutive number one album, equaling Coldplay and Radiohead, and beaten only by The Beatle s. 'Strangeland' has debuted in the top ten in twenty countries around the world. It is their fourth studio album, after 'Hopes & Fears' (2004); 'Under The Iron Sea' (2006); 'Perfect Symmetry' (2008) and the 'Night Train' EP (2010) which also topped the UK Album Chart. The critics hailed ‘Strangeland’ as one of Keane’s classic records and the once-heard, never-forgotten chorus of ‘Disconnected’ puts this classic sound centre stage once more. The Beatles-esque production of the song courtesy of producer Dan Grech (Radiohead, Lana Del Ray, The Vaccines, Howling Bells), colours the heartbreaking lyrics with a deceptively breezy pace, harmonies tugging at the emotional chords as only you could expect from one our biggest bands in the world. Cu

LOWER THAN ATLANTIS have announced that due to manufacturing issues, their major label debut album “Changing Tune” will now be released on 1 October 2012 via Island Records. The first single from the album, “Love Someone Else” is currently available via iTunes and has a radio impact date of 1st October. The album artwork can be seen below. LOWER THAN ATLANTIS will embark upon a headline tour in October and the dates are as follows: Tune into Zane Lowe BBC Radio 1 from 7.00pm Monday 1st October Exeter Phoenix Tuesday 2nd October Southampton Mo’Club Wednesday 3rd October Bristol Trinity Thursday 4th October Nottingham Rescue Rooms Friday 5th October Glasgow Garage Sunday 7th October Manchester Club Academy Monday 8th October Norwich Arts Centre Tuesday 9th October Birmingham Academy 2 Wednesday 10th October Leeds Cockpit Thurs

“ We wanted to do something unashamed,” says Ben Lovett. “We’re confident and happy to be where we are as a band — everything that’s happened with us has exceeded expectations, and it’s all been a surprise, it’s all much bigger than what we were prepared for. So when we came to recording this record we had a choice: to shy away from that, or to realise that people dig what we’re doing, and make something robust, with that energy . ” It was December 2010, and Mumford and Sons had been on the road since the previous summer: a glorious, eventful, yet relentless time. Standing somewhere between exhilarated and exhausted, the plan now was for the band’s four members to spend a few weeks apart, write, recuperate, and then reconvene in Nashville in the New Year, with the intention of trying out material for their second album. The informality of the set-up in Tennessee perhaps helped to dispel any nerves they may have had about following up 2009’s Sigh No More, an album that had gone four t

Mumford & Sons release their new single, ‘I Will Wait’ on the 24th September 2012. It is the first single to be taken from their second album, Babel, released on the same day. The story of Mumford & Sons has been written and mapped out on the road. Since before the release of 2009’s debut album Sigh No More, the band has rarely been off tour, but the recording of Babel brought them off the road and back into the studio. Many of the songs on the new record found their dynamic through years of tested live performance. ‘Whispers In The Dark’, ‘Lover Of The Light’, ‘Below My Feet’, ‘Lovers’ Eyes’ and ‘Hopeless Wanderer’ might be familiar to fans that have seen the band perform live over the past eighteen months across the world. Babel was produced by Marcus Dravs, a man whom the band trusts to replicate and to understand the importance of live energy as much as they do. In a similar fashion to its predecessor, it is a record that marries the upbeat with the intimate, and the unr