Brooke Fraser - Something In The Water

I am a bit of a fan of Brooke Fraser, no I am more than 'a bit' I really like her, I was introduced to Brooke' music a few months ago by Dan Wooton' column the showbiz columnist for The News Of The World and ever since her third album 'Flags' has been on non-stop repeat. Brooke originates from New Zealand and has reached number one with 'Something In The Water' in her native New Zealand and top 10 in many other countries. She has been to the UK but so far needs to get more recognition.

Brooke is very exciting, her album is full of folky-indie-pop  lovely songs, her voice has twinges of Dido and this song reminds me of our very own Eliza Doolittle' 'Pack Up'. Anyway, I am a massive fan and really hope her sound catches on in the UK. If you like this song, investigate further and you may find others you like, personal highlights from the album 'Flags' are:- 'Betty, Coachella, Flags & Who Are We Fooling?'

My suggestion, is buying the album and having a listen - or check out Brooke' website BrookeFraser

Bat For Lashes - Daniel

Ok, So I know this is old, however, it is AMAZING, it randomly came on during a shuffle fest yesterday and I thought, yea this song is blog worthy! It did not do amazingly in the charts or anything but has a massive underdog feel to it where it should have been.. yet here is another talent wasted on our charts,though second album 'Two Suns' did make top 10! 

Anyhow Bat For Lashes has been ploughing away slowly chipping off hot album after the other and definitely my top song of theirs is Daniel. The song, despite being released in 2009 has become a song on my I-Pod that is consistently brilliant, I never turn it off, never skip, it is basically timeless and if you have never heard it, I suggest you buy it on I-Tunes now, or at last give it a go, people are always too scared to listen to something new, or say 'never heard of em' well, now is a time to listen, people get overshadowed in the music industry because they are not releasing big over produced material. This song is a perfect example of an amazingly brilliant tune that should have been epic.  

Currently it looks like Bat For Lashes is working on a third album, I CANNOT WAIT.

Noah And The Whale - Tonight's The Kind Of Night

Noah And The Whale have been on the up for years now, currently on their third album Last Night On Earth the band release second single Tonight's The Kind Of Night, and this is my kinda music! I found the previous two albums sightly depressing, and although a fan of the 2 previous albums - Peaceful, The World Lays Me Down & First Days Of Spring, I find that it is on Last Night On Earth the band have found a sound to generate new fans. I love the upbeat feel of first track L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N and that they repeat the success of keeping things positive on follow up Tonight's The Kind Of Night.

Having massive support from the Radio stations especially Radio 1 the band look like they will be bigger than ever with this current campaign. Most of - the video's from this album have so far been pretty incredible! Se the video for Tonight's The Kind Of Night below..

The singles and album are out now! I would suggest a purchase as this is an album for a summer's night, which in all fairness we have had a few lately! With a lot of competition out there everyone needs to make sure their favourite bands, artists and performers are not over shadowed by the big mainstream acts, I feel there should be room out there for everyone to get a fair look in.

Clare Maguire - The Shield And The Sword

Having already done 3 blog posts on Clare Maguire, it is safe to say I am obsessed, I listen to her album everyday, I went to see her in Oxford too and she was EPIC, last night I saw her perform The Shield And The Sword on Ruth Jones Easter Treat and she was amazing as ever. The new video sees Clare strutting her stuff in a grand building complete with sexy dancing, a blonde wig, some hot outfits and some pretty special sunglasses, Clare is versatile and can sound good singing anything and looks amazing! She has a huge twitter following and support and I just want everyone to buy the album Light After Dark which is out now, request The Shield And The Sword with any radio station, as I feel she is gaining massive attention now and the more requests to get her on radio the better!

The Shield And The Sword is taken from Clare Maguire' album Light After Dark which is available right now, with the single release being the 9th May 2011. Go buy it people, you will not be disappointed.

Breakage Feat Jess Mills - Fighting Fire

Fighting Fire by Breakage feat Jess Mills has been clogging my I-Pod for a few months now, I basically listen to it over and over again. I love Jess Mills voice on this record and Breakage has already provided a remix of one of my favourite artists of the moment Clare Maguire' 'Aint Nobody', which is pure awesome. I now think it is time to share with people who might not normally hear this type of music, it is the sort of song on first listen you might not like, but give it a chance because the more I listen to it, the more I love it. You may also want to check out Jess Mills website and have a listen to her stuff, she is pretty damn good!

Below is Jess Mills solo single 'Vultures' and the video for 'Fighting Fire' with Breakage. Both are available on I-Tunes now.

Jess Mills - Vultures by Island Records UK

Dev feat The Cataracs - Bass Down Low

Dev is a USA singer songwriter with a lot going for her, the 2010 sample of her single 'Booty Bounce' featured on one of the biggest tracks of the past 12 months, Far East Movement' 'G6', in which Dev sings the chorus on the track. She has since gone on to work extensively with the Cataracs feat on the track with New Boyz - Backseat. Now Dev has her own song out 'Bass Down Low' and, although I am not a massive fan of this type of music normally, I do really like this... really addictive and I wanna hear it constantly.
Although at this time it still has no been released here in the UK and looking through different sites there is no plan to release here yet? However I did see this video on a UK music channel? Confused? YES... well I predict people will catch on to this, the radio and what not and it will go on to become somewhat of a dance floor craze?

I love the lyrics, referring to Black Eyed Peas 'Boom Boom Pow', Some of the lyrics are quite naughty and perhaps would not advise buying this song for your children..

The as yet unreleased album is due in April and called 'The Night The Sun Came Up' I therefore feel it may coincide with her UK release? Hope so..

What do you think?

Birdy - Skinny Love

This song is epic, just the talented Birdy (aka Jasmine Van den Bogaerde) and her piano - and at the grand old age of 14 she is already a regular play on Radio 1, in fact I heard it again today and thought, wow the voice, the piano the sound, incredible and soo talented I felt the instant urge to BLOG. It is out now and so far peaked at number 22 in the UK however I think she has potential to do better with this cover of Bon Ivor's song 'Skinny Love'.

The music video however, has not really appeared on UK music channels, I think as the single gains momentum the channels will twig that this is clearly amazing!

Go buy it on I-Tunes now and have a listen, haunting, Beautiful.

A Clare Maguire Dedication

Since I began my Clare Maguire campaign to help in the promo of her amazing brilliant first 2 songs The Last Dance and Ain't Nobody, Clare has gone on to have a number 7 album with Light After Dark (though it deserves and probably will eventually become number 1) I was also very fortunate enough to see her perform live! Which was an incredible experience.



Further to this, I was asked to contribute to another mega fan's dedication book that he was able to present to Clare in person and she read it and tweeted him, he is also known as the amazing @SparkSparkSpark and you should so follow him on Twitter if you have the same taste in music as me and he is a really great person to follow and one of my fave tweeple.



I have sent my friend in America Clare's debut album and she gave me the following feedback:



"This album is amazing, seriously EPIC, I hope she comes to America so I can see her live, NO I have to see her live, The Last Dance is a truly wonderful song and so many tracks on this record stand out, Bullet, The Sword and The Shield, Surrender and Happiest Pretenders are amongst my favourites, but seriously WOW, thank you so much for introducing me to her"


OXFORD O2 ACADEMY 6TH APRIL 2011

I was lucky to go see Clare live in Oxford, and she was incredible! She performed all my favourites to a quality that not many people can do live, she sounded like her CD which in these days is rare! Plus the Chase and Status song Midnight Caller, a new song and a cover of Trouble In Mind. All of which were incredible. Clare acknowledged her fans by jumping down and going through the crowd, and even when I wailed at her at the end she still came over and thanked me for my comments in the dedication book. If you have not got a copy of Light After Dark, seriously go and buy it, you will not be disappointed. Feel free to check out my other blogs The Last Dance and Ain't Nobody by clicking on the names.

The Future looks bright for Clare, new single The Sword and The Shield is already Radio 2' song of the week and features the A List, I cannot wait for the new video. 

For more information on Clare Maguire visit the website Here

Yasmin - Finish Line

Yasmin is another young UK born singer songwriter and DJ, she is gathering quite a following and I see big things for the Labrinth produced 'Finish Line', a very catchy song that will, I am sure gain massive momentum and be a huge hit. First single 'On My Own' was a top 40 hit for Yasmin and in my opinion deserved top 10 plus the single she featured on with Devlin - 'Runaway' which was also pretty damn brilliant.

The trouble is, there are so many successful UK acts out there at the moment, if she had come about maybe 2 years ago - she would have been huge, but people are just being over shadowed at the moment, but all good things come to those that wait, and I believe good things are coming to Yasmin. She is in the league with Natalia Kills, Clare Maguire and Paloma Faith in that all AMAZING but all just need to be found by those that might not listen to the radio too much, or people forget to mention them at work to their friends, or those that do not have the Internet, spread the love of these artists coz they will be huge and need us. 

Yasmin wrote the chorus on 'Runaway' which is an incredible song, all music that Yasmin has worked on so far can be found below.


Find out more about Yasmin HERE


 Find Yasmin on Twitter under the name @itYasmin

Van Go Lion - Body Moves - Up N Coming

Van Go Lion are pretty cool, I am really getting into a lot of Electronic groups, currently top of the list are Van Go Lion, I have been following them on Twitter a few weeks and find myself randomly going on their website and listening to their tunes, I love Glow, Sugarblush, The Ache & Body Moves of course, any how, they have sent me an exclusive copy of their first single 'Body Moves' which you can purchase on I-Tunes in the USA but not quite here in the UK yet, however I hope one day we will be seeing a lot more of them here?!
I think it is mad just how many really talented groups and people re out there and it is good that now a days they have things like Facebook and Twitter to promote them, and people like me are out there to find them and hopefully help in promoting them around the world.

I think the sound is all there and they just need to get on the promo trail. I love them, friendliest people on Twitter so go follow them too.. TWITTER

GO VAN GO LION GO

Van Go Lion - Body Moves by PopInStereo

Natalia Kills - Wonderland

I don't believe in Fairy tales, But I do believe in Natalia Kills. As you all know I have been banging on about Natalia Kills for near on a year. I first heard Zombie last year and immediately became obsessed, then the release of Mirrors cemented my passion towards the end of last year. NOW comes Wonderland, an amazing incredible masterpiece of music, Natalia is creeping up on us like a stealth assassin and she will take over soon I can feel it. I have had a sneaky listen to the album Th Perfectionist and all I can say is WOW. It is an epic masterpiece, a pop triumph and if it fails to gain the momentum it rightly deserves then I will be massively shocked.


The video for Wonderland is a bit extreme, it shows great imagery and a coolness that no one else is quite touching on at them moment, but be assured, people will start to copy her technique and style soon. It references "Snow White, Alice In Wonderland and Little Red Riding Hood."


I feel really strongly towards this artist, mainly because she is something different in a very samey market. Now more than ever female acts are taking over and it is a struggle to stay ahead of so many greats but Natalia Kills is really spectacular and you need to purchase the album as soon as you can to support this British born megastar in the waiting.