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

Easy Life have unveiled the video for latest single ‘Nightmares’, which is available now on Island Records. The idiosyncratic Leicester five-piece recently made their TV debut on ‘Later…with Jools Holland’, and continue their sold-out UK tour - featuring an intimate date at London’s Moth Club on November 21st – this week. Directed by Greg Barth (Blink Productions), ’Nightmares’ perfectly captures the confidence, charm and charisma of Easy Life (with the track also receiving a surprise shout-out from Emma Thompson when she was made a Dame this week). Blending hip-hop swing, jazzy horns and the band’s innate ear for pop hooks, ‘Nightmares’ itself originated– says lead-singer, Murray – “with a trumpet sample that we loved from Dionne Warwick’s version of Burt Bacharach’s ‘Loneliness Remembers What Happiness Forgets’. This instantly gave us the feels, and the rest just kind of fell into place.” The result is a positive, uplifting take on a young generation – as the lyrics to ‘Nightm

Metro Boomin has just released a surprise new album NOT ALL HEROES WEAR CAPES LISTEN HERE - https://metroboomin.lnk.to/_NAHWC Tracklisting: 10AM/Save The World (Feat. Gucci Mane) Overdue (Feat. Travis Scott) Don’t Come Out The House (Feat. 21 Savage) Dream Catcher (Feat. Swae Lee & Travis Scott) Space Cadet (Feat. Gunna) 10 Freaky Girls (Feat. 21 Savage) Up To Something (Feat. Young Thug & Travis Scott) Only 1 (Interlude) (Feat. Travis Scott) Lesbian (Feat. Gunna & Young Thug) Borrowed Love (Feat. Swae Lee & WizKid) Only You (Feat. WizKid, Offset & J Balvin) No More (Feat. Travis Scott, Kodak Black & 21 Savage) No Complaints (Feat. Offset & Drake) (Bonus) --------------------

It’s simple. Really. JamesDavis is a band of three musician siblings who have now come together after separately deciding they needed a way to express the songs that were constantly forming in their heads. Comprised of fraternal twin sisters Jess and Rey along with their brother Auston, their music blends stripped-down soul with heartfelt rock,taking influence from music greats such as: Leon Ware, Curtis Mayfield, Tina Turner, Mary J. Blige, Janis Joplin, Bob Dylan, Kings of Leon & Fleetwood Mac. What has essentially been a private project, James Davis has started performing live with a bare setup. Rey plays guitar and sings, Auston is on keyboards, and vocals & the pads, while Jess offers her voice. Until now JamesDavis has been very much under the radar, an anomaly in today’s musical landscape. They’ve held tightly to their songs, because they know they’re valuable. Now they’re ready, for you with their new EP “Lamplighter”. “SPEEDBOAT” SINGLE OUT NOW -: https

‘Sucker Punch’ cements the Norwegian star Sigrid’s rise to pop prominence. The singer, songwriter and arranger today releases the colossal video to the single, working with acclaimed directors AB/CD/CD to create a confident, spontaneous, authentic pop-tastic visual. The 22-year-old progressive talent says: “The video is a bit mad, and that’s the whole point, as there’s a lot going on in the song. It’s filmed in London and the set design was so good, what a team. I hope people have fun watching it; and dance, sing and laugh. If you’re wondering if you can buy the Sigrid Tacos...we should make that happen!” Sigrid was catapulted into the public consciousness last year with the zeitgeist defining Don’t Kill My Vibe; with the certified-Gold Strangers, A-List record ‘High Five’ and critically lauded RAW EP following. The pop prodigy will now play her biggest sold-out headline to date on 12 November, as she takes on O2 Brixton Academy and tours the UK, as well as being chosen to perform at

The Specials, one of the most electrifying, influential and important bands of all time, release “Encore”, their first new music for 37 years via UMC /Island Records on February 1st. 2019 marks the 40th anniversary of the formation of The Specials and the legendary Two-Tone label in Coventry in 1979, and also marks 10 years since the band reformed to play some of the most vital and joyous live shows in recent memory. The 10-song “Encore” was produced by Specials founding members Terry Hall, Lynval Golding and Horace Panter alongside Danish musician/producer Torp Larsen and indeed is the first time Hall, Golding & Panter have recorded new material together since the band’s 1981 No.1 single Ghost Town. The Specials will take to the road in the UK and abroad throughout 2019 in support of the new album. HMV customers can pre-order ‘Encore’ on CD or vinyl before 11.59pm on Monday 29th October 2018 for first access to 2019 UK tour tickets. Fans who have pre-ordered the a

Delivering the brash honesty of rap music, with her unique blend of soul and R&B spirit, Ray BLK weaves between genre boundaries borrowing the elements she requires to reach her goals. “I feel proud when my music connects with people,” says the 23-year-old, real name Rita Ekwere, who was born in Nigeria and raised in Catford, South London. Ray’s first experiences of music came at a very early age, when she recalls dancing to Missy Elliott and Timbaland on MTV Bass at the age of seven “From that age I thought, this is what I want to do,” she recalls. “I remember singing and dancing along to all of it and thinking ‘Oh my god, I'd love to be doing this.’” From the age of ten, Ray was already setting her dream in motion, filling her school notebooks with original song lyrics, prompting teachers to put her on a gifted and talented music programme. Despite her early experiments with music, it wasn’t until her final year of studying English Literature at university that she de

Continuing his global domination, history-making multiplatinum Dallas, TX artist Post Malone touches down in Europe next year for a full-scale headline tour. The superstar will take over arenas throughout Europe as he brings his chart-crushing second full-length beerbongs & bentleys [Republic Records & Island Records] across the pond. Tickets go on sale October 12. Get them here. Post Malone stirs a mix of genres into his own sonic sound that’s both intoxicating and invigorating. His RIAA Platinum certified debut album, Stoney, led the genre-bending Dallas, TX artist to his first Top 10 Billboard 200 and first #1 R&B/Hip-Hop Album while being the “#1 Debut Hip-Hop Artist of 2016”. In 2018, his sophomore album, beerbongs & bentleys, debuted on the Billboard Top 200 at #1 and achieved one the year’s “biggest streaming weeks ever”. Additionally, Post charted nine songs in the Top 20 of the Hot 100, notching “the most songs in the Top 20 of the Hot 10