Good Fortune, Bad Weather by Lettie

Good Fortune, Bad Weather by Lettie is released on Outerworld Records.

“Electro-pop as honey-sweet as you’ll hear” – The Guardian
“Lettie’s songs are a masterclass in avant-pop” – Wears The Trousers

Lettie’s new album, Good Fortune, Bad Weather, is an incredible piece of electro pop music and a masterclass in songwriting that nearly didn’t see the light of day.

Lettie is a “memory collector”, obsessed with collecting pieces of the past in the forms of books, postcards, second hand shop finds and newspaper clippings. This comes from her sense of ‘Saudade’ – a unique Galician-Portuguese word that refers to a deep emotional state of nostalgic longing for an absent something or someone that one loves.

This memory collecting and sense of nostalgia haunts Good Fortune, Bad Weather, which despite its sophisticated and futuristic production, is filled with yearning melodies, lyrics that obsess over the past and classic synth sounds from a bygone era.

This album’s journey began several years ago, with a chance online encounter in 2006 with American producer and composer David Baron. This led to an invitation to record two albums in the US; without any promotion these two self-released records – Age of Solo and Everyman – started to get some serious attention. There were a number of song placements on television in the US and Europe, and Lettie was asked by Dermot O’Leary to do a BBC Radio 2 Maida Vale session for Electric Proms Introducing.

Buzzin Media Free Competition

Buzzin Pop Music have 3 copies of Good Fortune, Bad Weather by Lettie to givwaway in a free to enter competition.

To enter all you need to do is answer the following easy question:

Q: What style of music best describes Lettie’s new album?

a. electronica

b. electro pop

c. synth pop

Submit your entries to comps@buzzinmedia.co.uk with the subject line: ‘lettie comp’ (other subject lines will not be entered) with your full name, address & contact number.

This Buzzin Media Competition ends on 13th August, 2012.

The editor will randomly choose three winners from the correct answers. The editor’s choice is final.

Good Fortune, Bad Weather by Lettie is released on Outerworld Records.

Rupert’s music is a mix of indie, rock and pop and produced by Will Jackson (The Kaiser Chiefs, Embrace, The Cribs and The Music) at the Soundworks Studios in Leeds. Amid the release of his second album Chasing The Night (out May 21st) his motivation for supporting Alzheimer’s Research UK has remained fervent. He explains:

“My grandma was one of the sweetest souls you could ever meet – we were very close. When she was younger, Grandma enjoyed singing and could have gone on to be a professional dancer if circumstances were different. I’ve probably got my love of music and rhythm from her – she always encouraged me. But for the last few years of her life she needed 24-hour care. She didn’t recognise any of us and couldn’t speak – it was heartbreaking. She’d be proud to know this song is a tribute to her and that it will raise money for the new treatments so desperately needed for Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia.

“My single is just the start of my plans to raise money and awareness for Alzheimer’s Research UK. I’m lining- up a series of music events, starting with a concert at the Ilkley Playhouse on 30 June. Writing music and performing live is my passion and having this positive focus makes it so worthwhile. It’s young people like me who’ll reap the benefits of today’s pioneering research. I want to do my bit to help so that other people don’t have to suffer like my wonderful grandma.”

Miranda Mays, Community Fundraising Manager for Alzheimer’s Research UK, said:

“We can’t thank Rupert enough for releasing his single Always to raise money for our vital dementia research. This song is a wonderful tribute to his much loved grandma Eileen. Every £20 raised from downloads of the single will pay for another hour of world-class research, bringing us closer to finding ways to diagnose, prevent, treat and cure Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.

“There are 820,000 people across the UK living with dementia today. Dementia poses one of the greatest threats to public health now and in the future yet funding for research still lags far behind other serious diseases. We rely entirely on our amazing supporters like Rupert to fund our crucial research. Everyone who downloads Always will give hope to the 820,000 people across the UK living with dementia today.”

Rupert Stroud charity single for Alzheimer’s Research UK is now available.  For more information visit rupertstroudforaruk.com & alzheimersresearchuk.org.

The premiere of the official ‘Only The Horses’ video is imminent but to tease fans today Scissor Sisters have uploaded a behind the scenes documentary about the recording process.

Watch the Scissor Sisters behind-the-scenes video

Olly Murs headlines Kent's Sound Island Music Festival

Olly Murs has announced he is set to headline Kent’s Sound Island Music Festival, Quex Park, Nr. Margate, and confirmed the first of his guests will be chart-topping collaborators, Rizzle Kicks, performing to an expected audience of 10,000 fans on Sunday 29 July

Since becoming runner-up in 2009’s series of The X-Factor, singer-songwriter Olly Murs’ self-titled, double-platinum-selling debut album, reached #2 in the UK Album Chart upon release in November 2010, and secured two Top Five places in the UK Singles Chart, the first of which – Please Don’t Let Me Go – reached the #1 spot, beating Katy Perry’s Teenage Dream.

Olly’s second album, In Case You Didn’t Know, entered the UK Album Chart in the #1 spot in November last year and marked a progression of his distinctive sound towards a modern example of old-school, Classic Soul and rock ‘n’ roll. The album was certified ‘platinum’ in December

The second single from the album, Dance with me Tonight, also released in November, peaked at #1 in the UK Singles Charts and has since become his biggest selling single to date

As well as performing Heart Skips a Beat with Olly, Rizzle Kicks will also perform all their own hits, including their debut single Down with the Trumpets, which marked the beginning of their meteoric rise into the public psyche, spending 13 weeks in the UK Singles Charts, before hitting the #1 spot with Olly Murs on the track Heart Skips a Beat upon release last August.

Their debut album released in November quickly became certified Gold and their third single, Mama Do The Hump (produced by Norman Cook, aka Fat Boy Slim) remains in the UK Singles Chart Top Ten nearly two months after being released

Rizzle Kicks to play Kent's Sound Island Festival

Rizzle Kicks have also remixed tracks for the likes of Jessie J, Ed Sheeran and Foster the People, they’ve supported Professor Green on tour and are due to commence a sell-out tour, cementing their place on the UK music scene

Commenting on the announcement, concert spokesperson Dion Clements said

“We’re absolutely thrilled to bring Olly to audiences in Kent, we know he has a huge fan base here. Being joined by Rizzle Kicks will only make this show even bigger. We love the Sound Island Festival and Quex Park has to be one of our favourite concert venues of all the big summer outdoor events we put on across the UK. We will, of course, officially announce Olly’s additional exciting supporting artistes in due course.”

The concert will take place at Sound Island Festival, Quex Park, Birchington-On-Sea, on Saturday, 28 July.

For more information, or to book tickets for the event, visit www.gigantic.com, or call the 24hr ticketline 0844 888 9991 / 08712 200260.

Tickets can also be booked from www.quexpark.co.uk / 01843-848826 or www.margatewintergardens.co.uk / 01843-292795 and locally by personally visiting the Margate Winter Gardens.

Abba release Deluxe Edition of The Visitors

On 23rd April Universal release a Deluxe Edition of Abba’s eighth and final studio album, The Visitors. As with previous releases in the Deluxe Edition series, this version of Abba’s final album offers a DVD of archive material along with CD bonus tracks – including the demo medley From A Twinkling Star To A Passing Angel, the first previously unreleased Abba recordings since 1994!

The Visitors was originally released in 1981, and features the single hits such as One Of Us, Head Over Heels and When All Is Said And Done, along with Slipping Through My Fingers, a highlight in one of the more poignant moments in the musical Mamma Mia!

Like the previous Deluxe Editions of Abba’s albums, The Visitors will feature several bonus selections along with a DVD of rare and previously unreleased material from the archives.

For Abba fans, the most sensational inclusion in the package will be the previously unreleased track, From A Twinkling Star To A Passing Angel (demos). This is the first time since the Thank You For The Music box set in 1994 that Abba have opened the doors to the tape vaults to release previously unheard music from the group’s heyday.

ABBA – The Visitors (Deluxe Edition) tracklisting:

Disc: 1
1.    The Visitors
2.    Head Over Heels
3.    When All Is Said And Done
4.    Soldiers
5.    I Let The Music Speak
6.    One Of Us
7.    Two For The Price Of One
8.    Slipping Through My Fingers
9.    Like An Angel Passing Through My Room
10.    Should I Laugh Or Cry
11.    I Am The City
12.    You Owe Me One
13.    Cassandra
14.    Under Attack
15.    The Day Before You Came
16.    From A Twinkling Star To A Passing Angel (demos)

Disc: 2 (DVD)
1.    Two For The Price Of One (Dick Cavett Meets ABBA)
2.    Slipping Through My Fingers (Dick Cavett Meets ABBA)
3.    When All Is Said And Done (Original Promo Clip)
4.    ABBA In London, November 1982 (The Late Late Breakfast Show, BBC)
5.    ABBA In Stockholm, November 1982 (Nöjesmaskinen, SVT)
6.    The Visitors TV commercial I (UK)
7.    The Visitors TV commercial II (Australia)
8.    The Singles – The First Ten Years TV commercial I (UK)
9.    The Singles – The First Ten Years TV commercial II (Australia)
10.    International Sleeve Gallery

ABBA release Deluxe Edition of The Visitors is due for release on 23rd April on Universal.

Chase & Status to headline Norfolk Sundown Festival

Following the huge success of last year’s inaugural Norfolk Spectacular music festival, the renamed Sundown Festival has revealed the first round of confirmed artists will include headliners Dizzee Rascal and Chase & Status.

The East of England’s most progressive live-music event of the summer, over Saturday 1 & Sunday 2 September at the Norfolk Showground, is set to be even bigger and, in addition to the main and arena stages, will incorporate a series of ‘after-hours’ warehouse parties… so when the sun goes down, the night heats up.

Opening the Saturday main-stage event will be the likes of Olly Murs, Pixie Lott, Alexandra Stan, Stooshe, and many more yet to be announced, all capped off with a headline performance by the one and only Dizzee Rascal.

Sunday night’s main-stage line-up will include a DJ set by Radio 1’s Zane Lowe and performances by Katy B, Ms Dynamite, Dot Rotten, Sub Focus and many more, with a headline return to the event from Chase & Status.

Best known for his number-one hits Dance wiv Me, Bonkers, Holiday, Dirtee Disco and Shout, Dizzee Rascal shot to fame after the release of his debut solo album, Boy in da Corner which won him the 2003 Mercury Prize.  His follow-up albums have each received critical acclaim and certified gold, the last, Tongue n’ Cheek going Platinum for sales exceeding 300,000 units.

Chase & Status return to the event for the second year, back by unrelenting pressure of demand from last year’s festival-goers having totally rocked the entire showground to its core with tracks such as Let You Go, End Credits, Hypest Hype and Blind Faith.

The new Sundown Festival name has been chosen to reflect the timing of the event as one of the last big open-air summer festivals in the music calendar.

Sundown Festival spokesman, Dion Clements comments:

“The exciting mix of these chart-topping, urban-tipped and dance acts is just the start of what will be a massive line-up of the music world’s hot talents, in an event that is expected to firmly place the Sundown Festival on the annual, live-music event calendar. Together with the new name – truly appropriate for the timing of the festival towards the end of summer – the additional organisers and top line-up, we’re opening up the event to people from right across the UK as well as the fans who supported last year’s event on a massive scale.”

The Sundown Festival will take place at the Norfolk Showground on Saturday 1 & Sunday 2 September.

Alexandra Burke joins JLS for UK Summer Tour Dates

Further to the announcement last month that JLS will perform six massive outdoor concerts in an epic journey across the UK this summer with an all-new show, pop music sensation and fellow X Factor star Alexandra Burke is now set to perform as a special guest at all six of the large-scale events. Taking in Oxford, Carlisle, Ipswich, Brighton, Exeter and Lincoln, the music stars will bring concerts to 120,000 of their biggest fans.

JLS will perform six massive outdoor concerts

The biggest boyband of a generation, fresh off the back of their latest Jukebox album success and their Sport Relief 2012 single Proud, Aston, Marvin, Oritsé and JB have announced that Alexandra Burke will join them on tour, performing a mix of her past and present songs, including the recently released lead single from her forthcoming, still-to-be-named, second studio album and the UK Singles Chart #3 dance collaboration with Erick Morillo.

In 2010, Alexandra Burke was personally chosen by Beyoncé to open each of her shows for the European leg of her I Am… tour and, with three UK Singles Chart #1 songs, including Hallelujah (which made Alexandra Burke the European record holder for single sales over a period of 24 hours, selling 105,000 copies on the first day), Bad Boys – featuring Flo Rida – and Start Without You, and six Top Ten UK singles to her name, The X Factor 2008 winner has established herself as one of the leading female solo artists in the UK, with her debut album Overcome having hit the UK Album Charts #1 spot in 2009 and her first concert tour, the All Night Long Tour in 2011, having sold-out

In addition, Alexandra Burke has appeared on two #1 charity singles; The X Factor finalists’ cover of Mariah Carey’s Hero, for Help for Heroes, and a cover of R.E.M’s Everybody Hurts in aid of the Helping Haiti effort following the 2010 earthquake

Alexandra Burke & JLS Summer UK Tour Dates

AUGUST 2012

Sun 19
OXFORD, South Park

Sat 25
CARLISLE, Bitts Park

Sun 26
IPSWICH, Chantry Park

Mon 27
BRIGHTON & HOVE, PROBIZ County Ground

SEPTEMBER 2012

Sat 1
EXETER, Powderham Castle

Sun 2
LINCOLN, Lincolnshire Showground

The collaboration with Flux Pavillion came about when Sway was introduced to the producer’s music by 1Xtra’s Semtex. Making contact with the producer via Facebook, Sway discovered Flux was a fan and within weeks the pair were working in the studio together.

“The song is about winning, elevation, going from one stage in your life to a better one,” explains Sway. “I wanted to the capture that moment and that feeling we get when we feel like we’ve achieved something that will change your life.”

Sway ended 2011 on a high. His single ‘Still Speedin’ became his biggest hit to date charting in the top 20 in the middle of the Christmas chart battles. It was an incredible achievement for Sway. ‘Still Speedin’ also became Sway’s biggest radio record to date making playlists across the country.

The anthemic nature of the single made it a favourite for soundbeds on TV shows from Soccer AM to the Grand Prix and even BBC One’s light entertainment show, Winter Wipeout.

“It’s taken a while to get this overall acclaim but it just goes to show that persistence is always the way forward,” says Sway.

Sway is currently putting the finishing touches to his album ‘Deliverance.’ It will be released later this year and comes 6 years since his debut, the Mercury Music Prize nominated ‘This Is My Demo.’

To compliment the release of the single Sway will be doing 3 tour dates in London, Glasgow and Manchester in April in conjunction with Live Nation. Tickets are now available.

Sway returns with his new single ‘Level Up’ released on 3 Beat Records.

Now, after the buzz, the breakthrough, with a debut album that delivers on its promises – and much more besides. “It’s all there. It sums up where I’ve got to, but it’s also a new stage on the road.

But there were other stages before this one of triumph. The first was when, like many music-lovers of her generation (she’s 28), Mina Tindle – who was called Pauline at the time – saw the light in Catpower’s songs a dozen years ago. “When I heard her cover of ‘Satisfaction’ by the Stones, I fell in love with her voice. It knocked me over backwards, but I could identify with it. My first song copied Catpower. I discovered that singing wasn’t that hard – and that it was thrilling. But I already had a special relationship with music before that; my grandfather and my mother were both keen singers. I remember spending summers on my own at my grandparents’ in Spain. I sang as I played and my voice kept me company. But it took me a while to start taking it seriously.”

Second stage: A few years after her first song, the Parisian moved to Brooklyn for a work placement for her final year of studies. She lived upstairs from the Zebulon, a bar that put on three gigs a night. “I lived right above the stage and I didn’t get any sleep for eight months.” It was a wake-up call. She confronted her budding songwriting skills with her music’s American roots, met musicians, played her first gigs and formed a Franco-American band, The Limes, via MySpace. “The environment was good and things started to take shape.” Her profession was becoming clear, and when she had to go back to France, Pauline decided to make a go of it.

Third stage: “I wanted to make a record, but it was more about crafting an object than launching a career.” So she took her time. Back in Paris, she teamed up with the gang at Sauvage Records again (they would later release her first 45), had quite a few joint projects and experiences, played a lot of gigs (with Beirut, Lee Ranaldo and Alela Diane among others) and created a stir in the media. Then, again via MySpace, she met one of her musical idols, whose songs she used to sing when she was small: JP Nataf, former lead singer with The Innocents and one of the great craftsmen of French pop. Mina Tindle wrote to tell him she was longing to hear his second album. The ensuing correspondence proved fruitful and their admiration mutual. JP Nataf fell head over heels in love with Mina Tindle’s voice. He brought her in to sing on his own second album and then produced her debut album. This adventure, too, was a long haul. It took over two years to record Taranta (at Garage studios in Paris). “I didn’t have a ready idea of the record; we tried things out together. I learnt a heck of a lot from JP. He gave me confidence – he’s a perfectionist and a dreamer. He wasn’t in a hurry; we could’ve spent five years on this album. When we were mixing the final track, we found ourselves re-recording the drums at midnight. This album is all about my meeting JP.”

She’s responsible for the intimate, heartfelt songs she sings in a magnificent, magnetic voice that is delicate and sensual, profound and restrained at the same time, as if conjuring up memories of summer nights to make it through the winter. “I sing to cure myself of something,” she says discreetly, and the therapy is contagious. He’s responsible for producing a sound like a rising sun, scattering touching arrangements like intersecting rays and a multitude of subtle but sophisticated details.

Together they have made a debut album that sails off towards unknown horizons like a yacht driven by tropical winds on a quest for moments of voluptuous grace. On an album of inner journeys, we meet some of the great dreamers of modern pop music such as Feist, Catpower, Emily Loizeau, Emiliana Torrini, Regina Spektor and Kate Bush.  Mina Tindle isn’t a singer under the influence, more a place of confluence. She sings mainly in English on Taranta, with a little French and even some Spanish. But her album title comes from Italy.

Mina Tindle is due to release her debut album ‘Taranta’ on 28 May 2012 via Believe.

For more information visit www.minatindle.com.

[ad-adsense-entertainment]

Bonnie Raitt releases her 19th album, Slipstream

With the release of her nineteenth album, Slipstream, Bonnie Raitt is starting anew.

The album marks her return to studio recording after seven years; it’s coming out as the launch of her own label, Redwing Records; and it delivers some of the most surprising and rewarding music of her remarkable career, thanks in part to some experimental sessions with celebrated producer Joe Henry.

The years before and after Bonnie Raitt’s last album, 2005’s acclaimed Souls Alike, weren’t an easy time for her, with the passing of parents, her brother, and a best friend. So after following that album with her usual long run of touring—winding up with the “dream come true” of the “BonTaj Roulet” revue with Taj Mahal in 2009 and a triumphant appearance at the all-star Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 25th anniversary concerts the same year— she decided to step back and recharge for a while.

“I took a hiatus from touring and recording to get back in touch with the other part of my life,” she says. “On the road, under stress, it’s hard to stay in balance and move forward.” Excited to have time at home and with her family and friends, she could go to the symphony, check out live jazz and Cuban shows, and so much else. She continued her ongoing political work, helping to organize NukeFree.org in 2007 and supporting her favorite non-profit organizations. “I didn’t have to be the professional version of myself for a long time,” she says. “It wasn’t so much a vacation as a chance to take care of a lot of neglected areas of my life, a lot of processing after all that loss and activity.”

When she started thinking about making music again, Bonnie knew she needed to try something out of the ordinary. “I was really interested in working with different people, and someone I had always been drawn to was Joe Henry,” she says. “I’m a big fan of his writing and albums and love the work he’s done producing Allen Toussaint, Solomon Burke, and others. I thought it would be really intriguing to see what we could come up with. Coincidentally, he had been wanting to call me as well. Our first phone call lasted over two hours.”

They found a brief window when Henry’s usual crew of musicians was available, augmented by a new friend of Bonnie’s, the magnificent guitarist Bill Frisell. “I didn’t have to produce or get the band together, I could just show up and sing,” she says. “I came to Joe’s with, to use a Zen expression, ‘beginner’s mind.’” The experiment yielded eight songs in 48 hours, and Raitt was inspired to get back to work full force. “I loved singing these songs and playing with these guys so much,” she says, “This was just the jumpstart I needed to get me back in the saddle and wanting to work on a new album.”

She plans to release the full results of the Joe Henry sessions down the line, but for now she chose to include four of these tracks on Slipstream —the Henry originals “You Can’t Fail Me Now” (co-written with Loudon Wainwright III) and “God Only Knows,” and two songs from Bob Dylan’s Time Out of Mind album, “Million Miles” and “Standing in the Doorway.”

The album’s title is very significant for Bonnie —Slipstream isn’t just a beautiful sounding word, but an indication of her place in the music community. “I’m in the slipstream of all these styles of music,” she says. “I’m so inspired and so proud to continue these traditions, whether it’s reggae or soul or blues. I’m in the slipstream of those who came before me, and I’m leaving one for those behind me. I’m holding up the traditions of the music that I love.”

Bonnie Raitt Slipstream tracklist:

Used To Rule The World
Right Down The Line
Million Miles
You Can’t Fail Me Now
Down To You
Take My Love With You
Not Cause I Wanted To
Ain’t Gonna Let You Go
Marriage Made In Hollywood
Split Decision
Standing In The Doorway
God Only Knows

Bonnie Raitt releases her 19th album, Slipstream on her own Redwing Records label.