THE JAMES CLEAVER QUINTET

   / Post-Hardcore, UK          (Released in Danish, 2012 March 25th)



... or "Weird-Core" as they call this genre on Facebook ... on MySpace they call themselves an "indie / punk / trash" -Band. The genre is difficult to define, but it's hard, fast and straight forward.

The James Cleaver Quintet is a new band. They have just released their debut album called "That Was Then, This Is Now".

The band is relatively unknown yet and it is pretty hard to find much info about them.

(The video Sink or Swim)

They have last year been involved in a commercial for an energy drink. The video is fantastic, showing the band riding bikes, skateboards etc, while playing a song, as seen below.

The band has already gained attention. Said about The JCQ: "Along with Exit Ten, it seems quite likely that this band has the potential to become future leaders of a generation of British hard rock." (Quote: Ramblings of a rock fan) which is quite cool label to get. And I agree, they may become great.

The band: Jacky Udon - Vocals
Maud E. Licious - Guitar / Vocals / Tenor Sax
J-SPLAFF - Bass
Crabman Scoop - Drums / Cymbals
Dr. Quarkoon Puffoon - Organ / Guitar / Vocals / Samples



Editet: The band changed their name to The JCQ, but is since 2014 no longer active. Totally they released 1 EP and 2 albums. The Facebook and Myspace-sites are dead, and their homepage is removed.



M U S I C Click:

Video Chicken Shit (For the Soul) by The JCQ
http://youtu.be/S0NASwPYwns

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CHARLI XCX: New, fresh and nostalgic

   / Goth-Pop, Dance-Pop, Electro-Pop, UK.          (Released in Danish, 2012 March 8th)

I went surfing on New-York music blogs and found a concert by female London singer: Charli XCX.

She sounds so fresh and different that she must be mentioned here.

The genre is described as Goth-Pop.

Charli XCX's real name is Charlotte Emma Aitchinson and she is just 19 years old. She is inspired by the synth-pop wave of the '80s, eg Talk Talk, Johnny Hates Jazz and The Cure.

(More below the video Nuclear Seasons)

She self-published her song. There is not much more to say about the girl yet, she is pretty undescribed. Learn more via the links at the bottom.

Edited:

Charli XCX has by now released three albums, are doing her own gigs with over 1,000 tickets sold per night and are touring with big names like Coldplay, Ellie Goulding and Kate Perry. Read more about her, see links below these videos, released later than article was first published.

Here a hit called Boom Clap

Below: the video Break The Rules

Finally: Famous (live, London)

M U S I C Click:

The video Superlove
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPWcX-16A9Y

Charli XCX on Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charli_XCX

Charli XCX's website
http://charlixcxmusic.com/

JAMIE WOON - What?

   / Electro-RnB, UK          (posted in Danish, 2011 November 21st)

EDIT: 

Now I've had the album Mirrorwriting for some days and I must say it is incredibly beautiful, near perfection and top class. When I play the album I forget what I was doing just to listen some more. The article below should be more about the album and less about the remix. It is well composed and well produced. Reminds me of Michael Jackson, Justin Timberlake, Calvin Harris and Eric Benét ... just a slightly different genre. Here's a taster of the album: the video Night Air.

Jamie Woon is one of tomorrows musicians. He grew up in the London area with a Malaysian / Chinese father and a Scottish / Irish mother. He's got multiculturalism from the start, and maybe that's why he's such a talent.

He is a singer / songwriter / producer and he also remixes music for other musicians. His own music is a mix of R&B, samples, programming, guitar, etc.

He released his debut album Mirrorwriting in 2011 including a pair of singles so far and he was declared as no. 4 in the vote "The BBC's Sound of 2011".

He has remixed the quiet  (some might say half boring) song "Video Games" by Lana del Rey and got a very interesting result and it was released as an official remix.

EDIT: 

Jamie Woon injured his leg in 2013 and had to cancel several concerts. Since then he has not shown much new. He has sung with and produced for some other artists. Rumors say he is working to publish music again "soon".

M U S I C Click:

Lana del Rey's own version of Video Games: 

http://youtu.be/Yu9V3Phfsf8

Jamie Woons website: 

http://www.jamiewoon.com/

In The Middle, a groovy tune from the album, no video:
http://youtu.be/Q73ZMoqsFks

KATE BUSH - new album out

   / Prog-Rock, UK          (posted in Danish 2011 Nov. 14th)

November 2011 Kate Bush released a new album called 50 Words For Snow - also to be heard on Spotify. It's the 10th album from this mysterious, talented woman in her 33 years long career.

Below: a fanmade video for the track called Wild Man, from the new album. It is an intriguing song about the Yeti.

Kate Bush started her carreer by sending demotapes to record companies, with no luck. Accidentally David Gilmour of Pink Floyd heard the tape, helped Kate Bush produce a better demotape and sending it to EMI. They signed her as 16-year-old. But the following years they held back, wanting her to improve her skills, they payed her some money in advance, wanting to hold on to her. Then she started playing in a band and afterwards released her 1st album.

She writes her own music / lyrics and did receive many awards, including several big ones, and did set / break some records on the hitlists.

Below is a fan-made video (she didn't release one by herself) of the 1st track of the album: Snowflake.

50 Words For Snow features 7 tracks that are not unexpectedly quite long ... from 7 to 14 minutes. Her 12-year-old son also appears on the first track, and several other people contributes with vocals on the later tracks.

Kate Bush is a shy person, she did only do (EDIT:) 2 tours... 1979 and 2014. At her last tour cameras were prohibited and the crew were succesful in stopping people filming. There's no live material from that tour on the internet.

M U S I C Click:

Homepage of Kate Bush:

https://www.katebush.com/

THE BUTTON GROUP - new London band

   / Indie-Folk, UK          (posted in Danish 2011 Nov. 12th)

Here is a brand new and interesting band. The band was formed around New Year 2010/2011 - the artists are in their 20s and they have according to their Myspace profile no record deal.

The band has recently opened a channel on Youtube and until now it has been seen by a 30 to 40 pieces in total ... so they are brand new - but really cool.

The Button Group has in less than a year already had several of their songs aired in radio BBC Radio 6.

There is not much info about them online yet ...

M U S I C Click:

Their Youtube profile: 

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheButtonGroupLtd

And their Myspace profile: 

http://www.myspace.com/thebuttongroup

THE HUMAN LEAGUE: "Fascination"

   / Synth-Pop, UK          (posted in Danish 2011 Nov. 3rd)

In March 1983 the English Synth-Pop band The Human League released the single (Keep feeling) Fascination.

It was a song that never appeared on an album - the closest was the really cool EP  Fascination  released in the US.

The single came in 2nd place on the UK Singles Chart, no. 8 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and no. 1 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play. For me, it stands as one of the better - if not the best 80's pop song ...

The red spot in the video is a part of the categorization system, the band used for a while on their discs... red label equals Dance-track, blue label equals Pop-track.

Because this video is from before the spread of computer graphics, they found a house that was to be demolished and painted the whole house, the car and part of the street red!

The track was written by the lead singer Philip Oakey in cooperation with Jo Callis, is heard elsewhere ago: In the PC game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (listen to the radio station wave 103), is on two soundtracks in advertising (i.a. Samsung smartphone) and a cartoon.

M U S I C Click:

Info about the band:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Human_League

I AM KLOOT - time for listening and wondering

   / Indie-Pop, UK          (posted in Danish 2011 Nov. 2nd)

I am Kloot is an exciting band that emerged in 1999 in Manchester. They have a light and calm sound, relaxed rhythm and a blue / thoughtful mood. Think of it as Chill-Out with lyrics, which has a message and should be heard. You get a feeling like you're driving with 130 km/h, down through the fall in a car that doesn't make a sound.

Here's a number from their super cool CD Gods & Monsters ( 2006): Over My Shoulder.

About the name Kloot: In Dutch it's slang for a testicle, but the band's name comes from the film Klute, where a whore assists a detective, in the search for a missing man. 

The video above is taken from their debut album Natural History, a track named Morning Rain.

I Am Kloot consists of: 

- John Bramwell (lead singer, songwriter, guitarist) 

- Peter Jobson (bass, slide guitar, piano, organ, vocals) 

- Andy Hargreaves (drums, percussion, glockenspiel) 

They released 7 albums until now.

M U S I C Click: 

From album Sky at Night (2010): Northern Skies 

http://youtu.be/wlmMumA0CMU

I Am Kloot's website: 

http://www.iamkloot.com/