Shazamers' Blog

The singer-songwriter oeuvre has become one of the most innovative spaces for new music in recent years. Gone are the days of whiny ballads sang from behind the safety of an acoustic guitar. The ballads are still around, but they’re given grittier lyrics and placed over pounding beats and bass, as in the case of British artist Alex Clare and his new single ‘Treading Water’.

Of course, having his debut album produced by Mike Spencer and Major Lazer was always bound to give him more of an edge over other artists in the same genre. Given the popularity of this kind of vocal driven post-dubstep, you’d have thought Alex Clare had been riding high on this wave.

In fact, his debut album entered the UK charts at number 156 and only sold 1,000 copies when it was released last year. He was dropped from his label, put his pop star dreams on hold and carried on his day job, working as an estate agent. When earlier this year, he received a call from Island Records, telling him that Microsoft wanted to use one of his songs in an advert.

If the penny hasn’t dropped yet, then yes, Alex Clare is the voice that sings over that huge drop and its ‘wub wubs’ on the Internet Explorer advert – one of the most tagged tunes of the year. If you’re interested, the song is called ‘Too Close’, produced by Diplo and Switch – it now has its very own video featuring two medieval knights duelling each other in modern urban surroundings. Of course.

Although Alex might not seem like a natural fit for the dance music genre, but he’s always been a party animal. “Oh man, I used to party hard, loved raves and warehouse parties, waking up in strange places and doing the walk of shame home, but I’m a lot more chilled these days,” he says in an interview with The Couch Sessions. “I think “Up All Night” really was written in hindsight, mashing together a load situations I’d been in. Being in New Orleans, it definitely brought out parts of me I’d forgotten about. Every now and then I’ll have a big old blow out, but to be honest, I love just chilling with my friends, going fishing and writing. That’ll do it.”

As for his plans for the future, Alex doesn’t want to pigeonhole himself. “I love making dance music, but to be honest, I make music for music’s sake, there’s no great plan to it,” he says. “I just find an impulse and run with it. Regardless of boundaries or genres, I’m just gonna keep making whatever gives me goose bumps, and hopefully people will keep feeling it.”

Helia Tag Of The Day

Stephen Titmus Shazam New Release Chart UK Fun

Stephen Titmus Shazam New Release Chart USA Taylor Swift

Although it’s been a few years since the excellent ‘Harder Than You Think’ was released by Public Enemy, this massive tune is making a comeback thanks to being featured in a hard hitting trailer for the Paralympics that’s been on heavy rotation on the UK’s Channel Four.

WATCH: Channel Four’s trailer for the Paralympics http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuAPPeRg3Nw&feature=plcp

The director of the trailer – Tom Tagholm – said that he wanted to add some edge, grit and attitude to the trailer, which was one of the biggest projects he worked on last year.

“We narrowed it down to about four or five concepts that we thought could be really strong, but then someone came up with this line – ‘Meet The Superhumans’. We really loved the attitude and the scale and the confidence of it,” he says.

The trailer – which combines live sport, athletes’ training sessions and also some flashback sections to incidents in their past lives – embraces the physical attributes of the athletes and their disabilities. “We wanted to absolutely embrace all of that – their stance, the ways they’ve adapted to their sport, the ways that they use their bodies. It’s very much ‘Here we are!’ y’know? There’s no tiptoeing around anything.”

‘Harder Than You Think’ was the first single to be released from Public Enemy’s 20^th anniversary album How You Sell Soul to a Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul??? that came out in 2007.

The album’s title was a paradox, as main man Chuck D explains: “You don’t sell soul to a soulless people who sold their soul. You have to give it to them. And that’s how it boils down with me. I think the last 15, 20 years the music and the record business experienced a great deal of one-sided individualism and greed. In order to return it to some of its roots, artists and entertainers and songwriters have to reach down into themselves in order to reach down into the souls of folk.”

‘Harder Than You Think’ was also featured as the soundtrack to the Eric Koston section in the Fully Flared skate vid: WATCH http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7m5YM3wZ-Q

Helia Shazam In The Vaults Public Enemy

The single is from her second album ‘Fall To Grace’, which reached Number 2 in the UK albums chart back in May, and was pipped to the Number 1 spot by Gary Barlow’s Diamond Jubilee record – by a measly 5000 copies. ‘Just Be’ The heart-felt ballad was co-written by Faith with Greg Wells and Matt Hales, and is currently being seen on British television as the soundtracks to ITV’s New Season Drama trailer.

WATCH: Paloma performing on Jools Holland http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MImzLN8oigc

Born and raised in north London, she was brought up by her mum in Stoke Newington and was a shy child who only discovered her persona on stage in a school play. “I think they were shocked that I had this dinosaur’s roar. I realised that, on-stage, I could be whoever I wanted to be, and I’ve been roaring ever since,” she says.

There’s a considerable amount of knowledge and experience behind the bright hair and outlandish outfits too – Paloma studied at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance in Leeds and has a Masters from Central St Martin’s.

She was inspired to start writing while working as a wedding singer. “I don’t think it was exactly a song that inspired me to start songwriting. I didn’t know I was going to be a professional musician so I just started to sing cover songs. There were a collection of ’50s blues and rock’n'roll songs that I was singing when I was in a covers band for weddings,”she said in an interview with MUZU.

“People used to say to me, ‘You sound great singing them but you should write your own’. So I think at first when I started writing I was inspired by those songs and now it’s organically changing as I go along. But it was that experience of singing covers that really inspired me.”

Paloma’s 2009 debut album Do You Want The Truth Or Something Beautiful? sold half a million copies in the UK, and Fall To Grace, which debuted at Number 2 in the UK is set to do even better. The album is produced by Nelly-Hooper and is overflowing with epic pop tunes which Paloma is taking on tour early next year.

See Paloma on the road in 2013:

Mon January 21st 2013 – Vicar Street, Dublin
Wed January 23rd 2013 – Manchester Apollo, Manchester
Thu January 24th 2013 – Manchester Apollo, Manchester
Fri January 25th 2013 – Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham
Sun January 27th 2013 – O2 Academy Leeds, Leeds
Mon January 28th 2013 – O2 Academy Glasgow, Glasgow
Tue January 29th 2013 – Usher Hall Edinburgh, Edinburgh
Thu January 31st 2013 – O2 Academy Newcastle, Newcastle Upon Tyne
Fri February 1st 2013 – Barbican Theatre York, York
Sat February 2nd 2013 – Wolverhampton Civic Hall, Wolverhampton
Mon February 4th 2013 – Brighton Dome, Brighton
Tue February 5th 2013 – Portsmouth Guildhall, Portsmouth
Thu February 7th 2013 – HMV Hammersmith Apollo, London
Sat February 9th 2013 – Cardiff Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff
Mon February 11th 2013 – O2 Academy Sheffield, Sheffield
Tue February 12th 2013 – De Montfort Hall, Leicester
Wed February 13th 2013 – Opera House at The Winter Gardens, Blackpool
Fri February 15th 2013 – Plymouth Pavilions, Plymouth
Sat February 16th 2013 – Hexagon Theatre, Reading
Sun February 17th 2013 – Cambridge Corn Exchange, Cambridge

Helia New Music Paloma Faith

Steve Aoki is one of those guys that makes you feel like a worthlessly lazy layabout. A list of his activities makes slightly depressing reading for anyone who feels they don’t achieve enough in their life. Label boss, solo artist, collaborator, remixer extraordinaire and head of a fashion line, the strings to Aoki’s bow are as numerous as they are varied. You can’t help but wonder how he manages to fit it all in.

“Being on the road, you just learn how to like deal with little sleep,” he told The Advertizer. “Once you’re in that rhythm you just jump into it, I do like 250 show a year for the last five years…so it’s been pretty hectic, but it doesn’t feel that long. As long as you have a good crew around you, have a good tour crew and I have amazing staff, Dimmak, which are my company back home in LA, so they all help me get through.”

His latest venture sees him teaming up with Angger Dimas, who currently occupies the hotly contested position of Indonesia’s number one DJ. ‘Beat Down’ is a fairly minimal electro stomp liberally sprinkled with shrieking synth hits and topped with Iggy Azalea’s casually combative vocal. Apparently, there’s a party on your face and she’s going to dance on it. It’s credit to all involved that such a situation actually sounds quite pleasant.

Huw Thomas New Music

You have to admire Tulisa’s steely determination. Not only has she managed to spend a considerable amount of time in the company of industrial strength irritants Dappy and Simon Cowell with going absolutely postal, she’s also had to deal with fallout of having an ‘intimate’ video being released onto the internet by an über-douche ex-boyfriend. That she’s come through all this smiling is a testament to her resilience, something only reinforced by the relentlessly upbeat ‘Live It Up’.

The track’s sunny vibes might seem a little out of place as our waterlogged summer limps towards a disappointing close, but maybe that’s the point? The nights are drawing in and we’re starting to dig our warmest socks out of storage, so let’s forget it all for a minute and imagine we’re on a beach somewhere, swilling down mojitos in our skimpiest swimwear.

As it goes, it’s pretty effective. Over a dancehall-lite beat, Tulisa makes a convincing case for ignoring all the crappy things in life and just having fun. Preferably with a tasty beverage in hand. As the party kicks into gear, Tyga pops up with a typically hedonistic verse to seal the deal.

But it’s not all sunshine. Tulisa’s forthcoming album promises to deal with full spectrum of emotions, from happy to sad to absolutely furious.

“I’d say there’ll be a song for every scenario you’re going through,” she told The Guardian. “If you feel like saying: ‘F**k the world and everyone else,’ there’ll be a song for you. If you want to say: ‘I’m depressed, I want to crawl into a dark hole and die,’ there’ll be a song for you. If you want to say: ‘I’m madly in love with someone and I’m ready to trust again,’ or ‘F**k my ex-boyfriend, he’s an absolute w****r,’ that’ll be there.”

Huw Thomas New Music Tulisa, Tyga

Stephen Titmus Shazam New Release Chart USA Taylor Swift

Stephen Titmus Shazam New Release Chart UK Ne-Yo

We’re in a particularly fertile period for experimental rock at the moment; with British act Alt-J being one of its brightest stars. ‘Fitzpleasure’ is their latest release, full of weird vocal, strangely choral guitar lines, with a dirgey bassline to get you up and get you moving.

Although their band name is the shape of a triangle, the band aren’t actually obsessed with them or anything, even though in their song ‘Tessellate’ there is a line that goes “Triangles are my favourite shape“, although apparently it’s only in there because it suits the context of the song. So why the triangle? “We only really chose Alt-J because it was a name we could all agree on,” says front man Joe Newman. “We had to change our name because we were originally called FILMS but there is an American band named The Films. We spent a month and half trying to figure out what this new name should be and we were really getting desperate to decide, and we didn’t have to compromise on this one, we all liked it.”

Joe goes on to say that the band doesn’t set out to make ‘experimental’ tracks – just music that people can connect with. ‘We don’t try to go out of the box or be innovative. We just try to play music we like to hear and we’re kind of absentmindedly sounding like no other band at the moment. It’s not something we’re aware of, just something we’re told. We work very hard, and in some cases we spend years on songs trying to get it right – refining it, picking things out and changing things around. I think because we were all friends before we were musicians, we naturally understand one another. We’re on the same wavelength which is why we end up sounding okay.”

There’s also an excellent The Internet (of Odd Future) remix of this track, which you can download here

The band’s debut album came out in May 2012. Titled An Awesome Wave and received an overwhelmingly positive reception from music critics and the press. “We can’t get over it,” says Joe. “It’s been an amazing thing for people to like your album – not only fans, but experts to say really nice things – that’s just another level. We’re amazed but it’s brilliant.”

As for the future? There’s a lot of touring involved, one way or another. “We’re touring and playing festivals. We’re looking forward to just playing a lot. We haven’t played that many festivals. We just want to play in the sun.“

ALT-J ON TOUR: US TOUR DATES

September 12 – New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom
September 14 – Philadelphia, PA – Johnny Brendas
September 15 – Washington, DC – Rock N Roll Hotel
September 17 – Boston, MA – Great Scott
September 18 – Montreal, QC – Petite Campus

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