Category Archives: Intro

Introducing… Jodie Marie

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by Aussie, Beats, Intro • Tags: , , , , , , ,

Blues is getting a whole new revival. Jody Marie was born in Windsor, Sydney Australia, and came to the UK at the tender age 16. Upon learning she actually had a voice, she decided to try and write songs…and that she did. Fino has performed for Shayne Ward at the AECC arena in Aberdeen, is is currently studying to get that big shiny degree in Popular Music. How wonderful. Fino has adopted a rather pop influenced style, with very dark and moody undertones. She likes to call it: “A mix between Massive Attack, P!nk, Britney Spears and Nerina Pallot”. Hmm. Quite. But hey, it sounds pretty good anyway. At present, Fino is very broke…so new songs will be on the way as soon as she has busted her butt long enough to rake up some dough.

Introducing… Beth Jeans Houghton

by Beats, Brit Brit Brit, Intro • Tags: , , , , , , ,

Beth Jeans Houghton has a promising sound. It feels like a marriage between folk-country and a little recent Natalie Merchant thrown into it. All quirk aside, she is a singer-songwriter from Newcastle upon Tyne who plays “sweet and gentle folk music.” Beth Jeans Houghton has been described by The Guardian as looking like “Gwen Stefani with a touch of Brody Dalle”, with a sound that “is Vashti Bunyan crossed with Nico and Laura Marling”

In early 2011 Beth Jeans Houghton signed to Mute Records who announced that they will be releasing her debut long player in early 2012. The album was recorded with Ben Hillier whose previous production credits include Blur, Depeche Mode & Elbow.

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Introducing… Jess Mills

by Beats, Brit Brit Brit, Intro • Tags: , , , , , , ,

 We are slowly loving this new artist. We featured her earlier and she grew and grew and grew. Jess Mills has earned her night world stripes, clocking up countless hours in nightclubs and raves around the world ever since she first discovered the delights of smoky, sweaty clubs in the heady garage times of the late ’90s. The North Londoner, who scored a top 40 hit with Breakage on ‘Fighting Fire’, and who has just returned from a stint on tour with Leftfield, was a self-confessed ‘teenage garage head’ criss-crossing London’s nocturnal hotspots with rave spar Niomi McLean-Daley, aka Ms Dynamite.

Mills and Ms Dynamite would go to all the big garage raves, and all the dingy, divey ones, in the days before the latter started the journey that culminated in her 2002 Mercury Music Prize win with ‘A Little Deeper’. Despite the garage foundation, Mills was always in possession of a multi-musical mind: she’d be out till dawn raving to EZ or Karl ‘Tuff Enuff’ Brown, then getting ready for school the next morning with The Smiths or Fleetwood Mac or old Motown songs blaring out of her bedroom stereo.

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Introducing… Delilah

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by Beats, Brit Brit Brit, Intro • Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Delilah can push you back in your seat and demand you attention. A trait rarely found in today’s pop start. Her fusion of soul , pop and a tint of world makes for sturdy melodies as demonstrated on her new track “Love You So.”

She is the industry’s best-kept secret. With no released material – not even a MySpace/Twitter page until now! She presents a new and exciting prospect for her major label. With a catalogue of raw material under her belt – one being the first song she wrote when she was 12, this talented young woman has the industries finest in a stir.

Delilah’s unique look and sound epitomizes the true essence of the multi cultural environment she grew up. She was raised amongst the vibrant sound of London’s live music scene. Her father introduced her to this through his work in promoting British bands and live music, during the 90’s. When he died in 2002, Delilah used her emotional experiences of life and death to start creating her own music.

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Introducing… Second Person

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by Beats, Brit Brit Brit, Intro • Tags: , , , ,

In late 2001, singer Julia Johnson and producer/bassist Mark Maclaine met, and early the following year formed the band Second Person. They spent the next two years writing material and playing gigs with a variety of musicians. Drummer Alvaro Lopez was recruited in mid 2004 and Second Person’s debut album Chromatography was released later that year. It went on to sell out of its initial white-label run in the United Kingdom, USA and Australia. The band went on to record a live DVD at The Bedford in London and score music for a number of British broadcasters, including the BBC and Channel 4, and became one of the main suppliers of music for The Extreme Sports Channel.

In 2005 Second Person were finalists in the Glastonbury Unsigned Competition, coming in the top 24 bands from 1600. They also wrote widely for short films and features, contributing songs and composing original scores, as well as working solidly to refine and develop their sound and material.

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Introducing… Lianne La Havas

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by Beats, Brit Brit Brit, Intro • Tags: , , , , , , ,

 

Watch out for the new beats of 2012. Lianne La Havas is a great new talent that sounds and feels like a merger between Corinne Bailey Rae and Norah Jones without the pretense. Her sound is raw and sombre. She takes bluesy folk into a contemporary dimension, very much in the Ane Brun sense. She is a child of the Instagram generation. The young (only 21) damsel has just signed to major label Warner Music and she will be making waves next year, although she has garnered quite a following on Twitter and Facebook. More to come from this lovely newcomer.

Introducing… Zowie

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by Beats, Intro, Zealander • Tags: , , , ,

Zowie is here to kick your asses into year 3000! Auckland, New Zealand native Zoe Fleury’s, know known as Zowie, tender years belie a formidable fascination for pop in all its varying forms.

Born into a musical family, she specialized in drums from age eleven, then studying a Diploma in Contemporary Music majoring in Drums in her hometown. Her passion for beats, along with her encyclopedic enthusiasm for all things pop has witnessed Zoe master vocals, guitar and programming along with her drumming skills.

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Introducing… Andrea Simms-Karp

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by Beats, Canuck, Intro • Tags: , , , , , , ,

 

Andrea Simms-Karp is an indie roots powerhouse, drawing on folk, pop and classical vibes to create a sound both fresh and familiar. The Ottawa native grew up taking classical voice lessons, singing in choirs, and getting steeped in folk music. She’s been stunning local audiences with her clear voice and unique musical style in live shows for over a decade.

 

In 2004, the Ottawa Folk Festival recognized her talent by awarding her the Beth Ferguson Award for songwriting. With her debut album Sleeper, however, she garnered national attention.

 

Powering through album charts at campus and community radio stations, Simms-Karp then won the hearts of people across the country with an appearance on Stuart McLean’s Vinyl Café in September 2009.

 

Her upcoming album Hibernation Nation promises to deliver more of what people love. Soaring harmonies, a sweet banjo sound, and finely-tuned storytelling make this an album to anticipate. As the title intimates, it’s an album for people holed up, watching fierce winter weather from inside. It’s an album borne of wind and snow, of a deep appreciation for the stillness that comes with frigid weather.

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Introducing… Lana Del Rey

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by Beats, Intro, Yankee Panky • Tags: , , , , , , ,

Lana Del Rey is the newest kid on the block. Although she looks like a Hollywood starlet, she sings in a sullen, dark voice songs of sorrow. Her tracks “Video Games” and “Blue Jeans” are taking off like no other. It is somewhat surprising as the genre is a bluesy jazz that doesn’t frequent the charts much. Her real name is real name Lizzy Grant – a singer/songwriter from Lake Placid, New York, United States. She released her debut album, Lana Del Rey in 2010 and issued the “Video Games” single in October 2011. She is known for being an internet sensations. Her powerful lyrics, singing ability and aesthetic looks got her places. Let’s hope the album hold a lot more hits, but if not, she could be an actress.

Introducing… Rebecca Ferguson

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by Beats, Intro • Tags: , , , , , , ,

Rebecca Ferguson releases her debut single “Nothing’s Real But Love” on Sony Music on November 27. The song, written by Rebecca and her main writing partner Eg White, is taken from her debut album, which will be released a week later on December 5. The album contains all new material, all co-written by Rebecca. Further information about the album will be released shortly.

 

Rebecca’s incredible voice was a true highlight of The X Factor last year, and immediately set her apart from the other competitors. Garnering massive support from viewers and the media, Rebecca also found out later that many established artists had voted for her, including Paloma Faith and Adele, who said at her recent London show that she had voted for Rebecca a staggering 80 times!

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Introducing… Guðrið Hansdóttir

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by Beats, Icelandia, Intro • Tags: , , , , , , ,

Way out in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, between Iceland and Scotland, is a cluster of 18 small islands called the Faroe Islands. Thats where Gudrid Hansdóttir was born and raised. Her music is a Lilith Fair-worthy blend of chamber pop and perky folk-rock and the past years she´s been performing in Europe and USA.
Gudrid started singing at an early age and shared a high interest in Music. She loved going through her fathers vinyl records and she discovered great artists like Kate Bush, Dolly Parton, Jethro Tull and Jimi Hendrix. Her father was a highly skilled guitar player on the Faroes and on Gudrid´s 14 year old birthday he taught her a couple of guitar chords and she started writing songs of her own.

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Introducing… Selah Sue

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by Beats, Intro • Tags: , , , , , , ,

Two minutes ago we were taken aback by Selah Sue. Her voice, attitude and her demeanor is not that of the average singer. We are very excited about her and are looking forward to listening to more and more. Here’s a synopsis of her story: “Selah Sue was not destined to become an artist. “I grew up in a really little town in Belgium, and none of my family was into music,” reveals the twenty‐one year old, with refreshing sincerity. “As a kid, I wanted to be a ballerina. I danced from the age of six to twelve”. Even without romanticising it, her story is like a fairy tale. It’s the story of a young musician who ignores her fate, and pours her anxieties into her songs and her guitar. “I had all these worries and depressions that I wrote down, it was a way of structuring my thoughts”.

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Introducing… J.Viewz

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by Beats, Intro • Tags: , , , , , , ,

Up until this point, J.Viewz has released new songs, music videos, and remixes piecemeal to fans without actively promoting them to the music press. Yet through word of mouth the songs and videos surrounding rivers and homes. have been listened to and viewed hundreds of thousands of times, with the J.Viewz Youtube channel registering over 700,000 views on its own. A drop in the bucket for Lady Gaga, but a grand accomplishment for a project that has had no outside promotion.

 

J.Viewz sound alternately combines elements of soft breakbeat, hazy nostalgia, glitchy chillout, and strong vocal performances. The album vacillates between the high energy pop of “far too close” to calming expansive dreamscapes like “building a home”, but is pulled together cohesively by Dagan’s deft aesthetic vision.

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Introducing… Neon Hitch

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by Beats, Intro • Tags: , , , , , , ,

Hitch was born in the south England countryside in London. For a time being, she was resentful towards her parents for giving her the birth name, Neon, wanting to change her name to a more conventional name, such as Melanie. Her father was a lighting technician. Her mother bought a caravan to live in when their house burned down. They then began street performing, making and selling jewelry and clothing around Europe.  As a result, she never attended school as they did not stay in one location for prolonged periods of time. By age four, she was traveling and performing with the Archaos circus. She trained as a trapeze artist, fire swinger and stilt walker and had performed all over Europe by the time she was a teen. Her family was featured in a BBC documentary. At age ten, she began writing poetry which led to her writing lyrics. Her boyfriend noticed that she could sing and encouraged her to hone her singing. She left home at sixteen to live in India for a few years before settling in London for her music career.

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Introducing… Washington!

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by Aussie, Beats, Intro • Tags: , , , , ,

 

Translator, stenographer, self-portrait with music and lyrics. At some point in the past perhaps a feeling of tipping over into madness. But what is that anyway? Somewhere she was prepared to go? A consequence? So she takes a mental polaroid of herself to remind her of this time and place. Then she goes one better and embarks on the journey to create a beautiful new work, Insomnia.

 

A piece of heavy and clear vinyl. The act of pulling it from the sleeve, placing it on the turntable, resting the needle and listening with your heart. Washington will take you by the hand and on a striking cinematic voyage of self discovery, rumination, confession, rebirth and renewal. Insomnia.

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Introducing… Fatoumata Diawara

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by Beats, Intro, Mother Afrique • Tags: , , , , , , ,

Fatoumata Diawara (aka Fatou) was born of Malian parents in the Ivory Coast in 1982. As a child she became a member of her father’s dance troupe and was a popular performer of the wildly flailing didadi dance from Wassoulou, her ancestral home in western Mali. She was an energetic and headstrong girl and at the age of twelve her refusal to go to school finally prompted her parents to send her to live and be disciplined by an aunt in Bamako. She was not to see her parents again for over a decade.

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Introducing… Zee Avi

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by Asian Persuasion, Beats, Intro • Tags: , , , , , , ,

For 25-year-old Malaysian singer/songwriter Zee Avi, “Swell Window” is the gorgeous track that started the journey and also the opening track of her second album, Ghostbird. “It’s a song about seizing the moment,” she says, “and for me, a new direction and a new voice came and stayed.”

In the two years since her self-titled debut was joint-released on Jack Johnson’s Brushfire Records and Ian Montone’s Monotone Label, Avi’s very free spirit has wandered from major music festivals (SXSW, Outside Lands, Bonnaroo) to huge tours (Lilith Fair) back to her homeland of Sarawak, Borneo Island, where she recently picked up an International Youth Icon Award. For a little perspective, just four years ago, Avi was a former art student in Kuala Lumpur who posted a song on YouTube to catch up with a friend and was quite surprised to find herself the toast of the Internet when thousands of strangers discovered her effortlessly stunning voice. Literal overnight success can easily poison young minds, but Avi is no ordinary mind — while critics were comparing her chilled-out, jazzy, ukulele-based songs to Billie Holiday and Cat Power she was continuing to make visual art and remaining her buoyant, whimsical self. “I’m 25 going on 12 and a half on a good day,” she laughs, flipping through a notebook filled with colorful drawings and lengthy notes.
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Introducing… Ryan Peel

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by Beats, Intro • Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Memphis native Ryan Peel melds modern pop sensibilities with an old-school soul sound. His original compositions are embedded with vocal stylings worthy of Al Green’s greatest hits, and his drumming skills are evocative of the circa-1960s Stax studio technique made famous by the legendary Al Jackson, Jr.

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Introducing… Emily King

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by Beats, Intro, Yankee Panky • Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Born in New York City in 1985, King grew up in a small apartment on the lower east side. Her parents were a singing duo who performed and traveled regularly, bringing her and her older brother along with them. At age 16, King left school to pursue her music career. She began playing shows in restaurants and venues around New York City including CBGB’S and The Bitter end.

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Introducing… VADOINMESSICO

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by Audio GaGa, Beats, Intro • Tags: , , , , , , ,

Adversity maketh the band. Vadoinmessico have spent a year without money you can fold or a studio to call home. Things were going well at first. The combustible sense of excitement meant that the songs came quickly. It was the sound of a band coming together cohesively for the first time. We were optimistic. Then things fell apart. Half of the debut album was recorded at the original Shunt HQ: then their license was revoked. Instruments were hauled on buses in rush hour and tubes in the dead of night. People argued. People looked for disused and often illegal places to practice. It was noisy. People called the Police.

 

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