Fever Ray @ Brixton Academy September 2010

Guest blogger: Steven Wilson-BealesKarin Dreijer Andersson is known for being more than just a little odd. Whether it’s attending music awards or popping out to the local corner shop for packet of fags and a pint of milk, she usually … Continue reading →

A sneak peak @ Roc Nation’s Alexis Jordan

Guest Blogger: Tina Hart When you’ve got the backing of one Shawn Carter aka Jay-Z you’ve got to be pretty damn good at what you do, right? Well, little lady Alexis Jordan showcased her skills to a small crowd in … Continue reading →

A sneak peak @ Roc Nation’s Alexis Jordan

Guest Blogger: Tina Hart

When you’ve got the backing of one Shawn Carter aka Jay-Z you’ve got to be pretty damn good at what you do, right? Well, little lady Alexis Jordan showcased her skills to a small crowd in London last night, proving why she’s worthy of her spot as one of few signings to the mogul’s entertainment company, Roc Nation, under its Star Roc division.

This talented 18-year-old has been writing songs and performing songs since she was 11, got to the semi-finals of the first season of America’s Got Talent at only 14, became a YouTube sensation by 16 and subsequently bagged herself the prestigious record deal she has today.

Last night Alexis graced the stage, glittery eyelids, red Beyoncé-ish hair, sexy/cool biker-style outfit and all, accompanied by backing dancers and a live band and broke out her strong singing voice on sassy pop song Good Girl.

Cranking up the attitude with a rock guitar sound was How You Like Me Now followed by the contrasting slower vibe on Say That to which she showed off her stunning vocal repertoire flawlessly.

Wrapping up the mini-gig was Alexis’ forthcoming debut UK release Happiness, an irresistibly catchy dance-pop ditty teamed with some neat dance moves, which after hitting the top of the dance chart in the ‘States, is bound to translate well over here and across Europe. With an obligatory acapella trill ending proceedings it was clear that this gifted Southern Belle has huge global-star potential.

Happiness is out October 17

Meeting Katy Perry

Last Wednesday was quite something. Katy Perry is the subject of this month’s MSN Xclusives, so I was dispatched to Claridges to spend an hour in her company.

Yes, I know, but someone had to do it.

So anyway, La Perry was fashionably late. In fairness, she was only half an hour behind the newly revised schedule. The problem was that this had been emailed to me overnight and I’d not seen it, meaning I was two hours early. Ah well, some people are worth waiting for, even if you’ve not had any lunch. Even if you’re starving and the reason you’re hanging around a hotel lobby is because they’re having lunch.

I found some complimentary biscuits to keep me going so I was on a bit of a sugar rush when she finally arrived and apologised rather charmingly for her ‘tardiness’. Not a word you hear every day. I was also reeling from my discovery that Claridges charge £75 for room service scrambled eggs. How the other half live, eh?

Once Katy had put her radio mic up her dress (causing everyone else in the room to look away out of politeness, only to discover that she could be seen even more clearly in the mirror), she sat down and was charm itself; funny, self-deprecating, and generally the total opposite of a diva.

You can see the results here.

Then I had to run off to interview Robbie Williams. Told you it was quite a day.

The Greatest Show on Earth? Eminem and Jay-Z do Detroit

Guest Blogger: Tina Hart

I did ask if I could go but unfortunately the budget wouldn’t stretch to fly me Stateside for Eminem and Jay-Z’s series of joint live shows this month.

Tonight this holy joining of Hip Hop royalty kicks off the ‘Home and Home tour’ in Eminem’s hometown of Detroit for a couple of nights before moving on Jay-Z’s stomping ground in New York ten days later.

Snooping around online, I’ve found that some clever bods have been hanging around Comerica Park listening to soundcheck, trying to unveil secrets regarding superstar guest appearances and set lists.

Alicia Keys and Rihanna have been heard in rehearsals, Tony Yayo has been going on about 50 Cent and G Unit being in the venue, and a few hours ago B.o.B revealed he has a 30-minute long opening set at each of the four shows. I was fortunate enough to catch Bobby Ray at a one-off date in London and wow… he is a true talent and a great performer. I can’t wait to see the footage if him and Em do Airplanes part 2, I cannot tell you how much I adore that version of the song.

Aside from the people taking part, there is a load of jointly branded merchandise for the special occasions and the staging is looking pretty neat too.

It’s going to be massive in so many ways as over 80,000 will pack out the stadium tonight, I just wish I was one of them… We need an equivalent gig in the UK but who could team up to such epic proportions? Suggestions on an e-postcard please…

Kano @ Bush Hall – 01/09/2010

Guest Blogger: Tina Hart

East London Grime scene veteran Kano travelled across town to West London’s intimate Bush Hall to showcase his new album Method to the Maadness (that’s not a typo by the way) alongside a few choice favourites from his back catalogue.

We arrived to hear MC Ghetts aka Ghetto warming up the crowd with Sing For Me. After bringing attention to those in the audience not getting involved enough, the crowd went mad for what is a soundtrack to the genre, Grime Daily, prompting aerial gun fingers and brapping all around, creating a buzzing atmosphere for the main man of the night to grace the stage.

Opening with tracks off the new album, 2 Left: Topic of Discussion and Get Wild (which features the Godfather of Grime, Wiley) gave the speakers a battering, as Kano sauntered around the stage kitted out in his Boxfresh garms and delivered that deliberate swagger-laden, steady flow and punchy lyrics that we all know him so well for. 

A signature dubstep sound came through on Chase and Status-produced Spaceship and current single Upside had Michelle Breeze join Kano on stage with her distinctive vocals on the chorus.

Having a chat with his crowd of noticeably dedicated fans (‘Most people in here know Kano from day’) who tirelessly sang back lyrics for most of the night, Kano apologised for taking his time ‘Sorry the new album took so f*ckin long’. I guess good things come to those who wait though, right?!

The place exploded upon the first few notes of P’s and Q’s off Kano’s 2005 record Home Sweet Home and continued to be hyped up, reliving some of his older tracks including Hustler and Typical Me which saw Ghetts return to the stage.

He hung around for his featuring part on Lady Killer, one of two Hot Chip productions on the album and featuring my favourite funny lyric of the night ‘I made her say oh yes like Churchill’. Keeping things up tempo from the new album came courtesy of German producer Boys Noize’s Crazy.

Bringing the pace down for a bit, Michelle Breeze came back on stage for Slaves and K A told us that he’s ‘Stronger than steel they can’t shape or mould me’ on Dark Days.

Ending the night on an energetic note with Shy FX’s nod to old school clubbing, Raver had everyone skanking out with Donae’o bringing his verse to life on stage.

A far cry from 2002’s Boys Love Girls, it is evident that former Nasty crew member Kano has deviated away from his Grime roots on this album, in a good way, mixing up the sound with production lending from multiple genres: Dance – Boys Noize, Urban Pop – Fraser T Smith, Electro – Hot Chip, in addition to Chase and Status, Craigie Dodds and Diplo.

Kano tweeted this morning ‘Bush hall got smashed yesterday’ and I predict that whatever method he has lent to his maadness will mean his album will certainly see him smash the charts this week.

Method to the Maadness is out now

So we dance… in French

Guest Blogger: Tina Hart

Screw language barriers.

My little brother recently returned from getting tomatoes thrown at him at an annual festival in Spain (each to their own) and came back bitten by the bug of Rwandan/Belgian gentleman Stromae’s pan-European anthem Alors On Danse.

Yolanda Be Cool vs D Cup hit the number one spot earlier this Summer with We No Speak Americano (albeit with minimal lyrics), now Alors On Danse is the latest monster foreign language dance hit about to land in the UK after going to number one in 11 countries across the continent.

Having created a massive online following partly due to his quirky ‘lessons in how to make a hit’, talented fellow Stromae, known to his Mum as Paul, rather humbly wrote and produced the track at home (and directed the video). With a musical background in hip hop and rap, he infuses Alors On Danse with a healthy dose of lyrical substance and wordplay whilst keeping the visual fun through the video. Admittedly, my GCSE in French didn’t stretch to understanding it all upon first listen but the translation is awesome and the beat is scandalously catchy.

The inverted maestro has a global hit on his hands and it will be gracing UK shores, airwaves and earwaves very soon as it’s due for release on September 6.

Scouting For Girls get their Choppers out

Guest blogger: Phill Outhen

The cheery popsters famous for upbeat numbers She’s So Lovely, Heartbeat and Elvis Ain’t Dead prove that not all bands sit on tour buses playing Wii and drinking their body-weight in alcohol by embarking on a 60-mile sponsored bike ride from London to Brighton.

And to add a touch of silliness to an otherwise excellent exercise in humility – the band will be raising money for the Wellchild charity – the trio will be riding Choppers.

The band set off from Wandsworth Park in London at 10am on Saturday 29th August, and expect to arrive at The Grand Hotel, Brighton on Sunday 30th August at approximately 3pm; an intimate gig at Brighton’s Komedia venue will be played later that evening.

http://shop.wellchild.org.uk/sfc/index.php

http://www.scoutingforgirls.com/gb/home/

Loick ‘n’ Lab

Guest Blogger: Tina Hart

So, we’ve been introduced to Tinie Tempah who’s spawned the biggest selling single by a UK artist this year with Pass Out, produced and guest-vocalled by his talented mate Labrinth. Labrinth caught the eye of Simon Cowell and was subsequently signed as a solo artist to his record label Syco which is part of Sony. Super-producer Labrinth worked his magic on Sony label mate Loick Essien’s new single, and here we have a recipe for sure-fire upcoming smash hits graced by more new (to the mainstream at least) UK urban superstars.

Loick Essien

No stranger to the entertainment industry, 19-year-old Loick has been involved in it for years having been a singer/dancer/performer/presenter since he was an even wee-er lad. It’s like he was born ready! Having provided guest vocals for buddies Sway, Bashy and Chipmunk he’s now making his biggest solo break courtesy of the infectious Love Drunk which is destined to infiltrate the mainstream chart, I predict top 10 at the very least. It’s all over the radio, the video’s been out for a week, and it’s finally going to drop on September 12.

An album from Loick is also in the offing and having recorded with some local and international heavyweight producers we can expect a musical masterpiece from Mr Essien later this year.

Labrinth

Gaining a lot of attention from helping Tinie Tempah Pass Out and get Frisky (not in a dodgy way) everyone’s talking about multi-talented Labrinth. He recently worked with Professor Green (who he briefly appeared alongside at V festival last weekend), Ellie Goulding, JLS, Pixie Lott and Gorillaz to name a few and is now bringing his happy hippy debut solo single Let the Sun Shine to the masses a couple of weeks after Loick brings his, on September 26.

Currently swanning around LA filming for his new video, there’s a rumour floating around that when Labrinth returns we might even see him on X Factor thanks to the man he calls Uncle Simon…

Robbie/Gary Shame Video Premiere

Guest Blogger: Tina Hart

‘What a shame we never listened, I told you through the television… I got busy throwing everybody underneath the bus’ are just some of the lyrics from the highly-anticipated duet between former Frenemies, Take Thatters Robbie Williams and Gary Barlow.

Like the guitar-fuelled love/regret song, the video follows this theme with Robbie and Gary sort of falling for each other in a hazy ‘bromance’ as they so elegantly coined it on his website this morning. The brain behind the vid is a gent called Vaughan Arnell who’s responsible for some of Robbie’s most iconic solo video efforts.

It’s a good little pop song with a well-needed dose of tongue-in-cheekness which saves the video, and the song, from being a cringe-y cheese fest . Nice one guys.

This tune introduces us to Robbie’s new greatest hits album before the original Take That five-piece are finally reunited towards the end of 2010, after a decade and a half apart.