Last night I went to see a young man who calls himself Tah Mac. This is him in his new video, “Lavish Lifestyle”:

It’s quite a catchy number, is not it? He reminds me a bit of Sisqo, only I believe he may be even shorter.
However, do you get the impression “Lavish Lifestyle” was penned, recorded and filmed before the global economy went and shat itself?

Continue reading »

Posted by Stuart Waterman on Wednesday February 11th, 2009 at 11:30 am

An already excitingly electro-packed 2009 just got another shot of excitingfulness with the news that French weirdo producer Mirwais is to return as part of a duo called Y.A.S.
Mirwais produced Madonna’s “Music” and also released the album Production, from which sprang the classic woozy disco science of “Naive Song” and, well, “Disco Science”.
Now he’s teamed up with a lady named Yasmine Hamdan to create:
THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL ELECTRO PROJECT THAT PLACES ARABIC LANGUAGE AT THE CENTER OF POP CULTURE!
That’s how their MySpace puts it, anyway (their shouty capitals/American spelling).

Continue reading »

Posted by Stuart Waterman on Monday February 9th, 2009 at 12:15 pm

If you think La Roux have been hyped, check out what’s happened to Chester French before even releasing a record.
So, first they graduated from Harvard.
Then they:
- Were the subject of a bidding war between Kanye West and Pharrell Williams’ record labels. Pharrell won.
- Had an unmastered version of their track “She Loves Everybody” featured on an episode of Entourage.
- Supported N.E.R.D on tour.
- Have appeared in publications such as Rolling Stone, Vibe, Details, Interview, GQ, Teen Vogue and Nylon.
- Married a Geldof (well, one of them has. Not him, above. The other one.).

Continue reading »

Posted by Stuart Waterman on Thursday February 5th, 2009 at 12:20 pm

Gary Go, whether you like it or not, is probably going to be this year’s Damien Rice/James Blunt/singer-songwriter of choice for women who “source” rather than “buy” cheese. From farmers’ markets. Accordingly, this is the last piece of coverage he will receive on this website.
This coverage will consist of this sentence which has a little snigger at his name. And also the below sentences, which snigger at his unintentionally amusing MySpace bio (presumably written by Gary).

Continue reading »

Posted by Stuart Waterman on Tuesday February 3rd, 2009 at 10:10 am

Have you seen BBC3’s Being Human yet? It’s rather good. The vampire man trapped in a suburban life in a nice semi in Bristol does this thing when he’s about to gnash someone’s neck. His pupils go all big and black and take up his entire eyeballs. Well creepy it is.
And look, the lady in Filthy Dukes‘ brillo new video does the same! Only, she does it because she is quite literally “so lost inside this rhythm”. Is being lost inside a rhythm a good thing? A bad thing? Filthy Dukes neatly sidestep this issue, preferring to concentrate on knocking out a top-notch ‘peche Mode-y gothclub banger.

Continue reading »

Posted by Stuart Waterman on Monday February 2nd, 2009 at 10:50 am

Jamie George was apparently in a group called 3rd Edge, but I must have been in the queue at the Post Office or something while they were having their two Top 20 hits.
Now Jamie George is aiming for success as a solo artist, which is always a tricky proposition for a member of a boy band, let alone a boy band I’d wager many people haven’t heard of.
HOWEVER, such relative anonymity can also be positive for someone like Jamie. I imagine he has built up quite a good list of “contacts” from his time in the industry, while the likes of me are not going to listen to his new stuff and be like “oh, it’s not as good as song X”, or “hahahahaaaaaaaa what a muppet, he was in that group who did song Y”.

Continue reading »

Posted by Stuart Waterman on Friday January 30th, 2009 at 11:05 am

I mentioned this song last year, after hearing it on Steve Lamacq’s 6Music show. Now Two Door Cinema Club’s smile-inducing “Something Good Can Work” is due to get an official single release (whatever that’s worth these days) through Abeano, an imprint of XL Records. It comes out 2nd March.
BUT none of that really matters, because I have the track right here for you to download, legally and for free.
If you’re having a bad day/week/month, this jangly, chiming little two and a half minutes might just turn your mood around in time for the weekend. And if there is any justice left in this here world, by the end of the year it will be soundtracking every Freshers Week indie disco from now until Armageddon.
Download link after the jump.

Continue reading »

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (../../../../category/up-and-coming-acts/page/version%209%20or%20above.jpg) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Posted by Stuart Waterman on Friday January 30th, 2009 at 9:40 am

I have, despite myself, a bit of a weakness for what I like to call “soundtrack rock”.
I don’t mean tunes that have already been huge and are then pasted onto ER, a la Snow Patrol; rather, shamelessly manipulative, pseudo-emotive tunes by little-known acts which you can imagine backing up a highly ‘motional One Tree Hill break-up or somesuch.
Audrye Sessions, from California, appear to be pretty accomplished at this type of thing. Guitars chime U2-ishly over highly dramatic Muse-esque wails in “Awake”, while “Turn Me Off” is quite the ear-worm, despite your (my) instinct to sneer at the glossy production and unchallenging nature of its very noughties MOR.

Continue reading »

Posted by Stuart Waterman on Friday January 23rd, 2009 at 10:35 am

SoundCity, the toppermost industry schmoozefest in this here land, takes place this May in Liverpool. Earlybird tickets are now available for the criminally reasonable price of £35.
HOWEVS, if you are an unsigned band you might be able to attend for nowt by getting on the bill of the event. And as a wee bonus, you can submit your demo for consideration for free if you do so before 30th January (after that date it will cost £7.50).
Click over for all the info…

Continue reading »

Posted by Stuart Waterman on Tuesday January 20th, 2009 at 2:35 pm

As I’m sure you’ve noticed, 2009 has been claimed by young ladies with synths and laptops and the like. And hurrah for that, frankly, if it gets certain types of band - say, those with the word “Scouting” in their name, to pick a section at random - off our radios. Likewise, plaid-clothed forest-dwelling types with birds in their beards (except Bon Iver; he can stay).
HOWEVER. Let’s not call time on a whole gender, eh? One reason to allow men with stubble and checked shirts to continue to create music might be a band called Delta Spirit (above; click image to enlarge).

Continue reading »

Posted by Stuart Waterman on Thursday January 15th, 2009 at 3:25 pm