As a member of acclaimed underground duo, Abstrackt Keal Agram, Lionel Pierres was fundamental in developing a new voice for French music throughout the noughties, blending hip hop and electronica with more esoteric soundtrack sources and found sounds to create a series of three albums that continue to inspire and inform producers and musicians throughout the underground.

When the band ended in 2006, Lionel was already clear on where his music would go next. With Pierre Lucas (formerly of Snookut) having already joined the Abstrackt family in 2003 and Herve Loos waiting in the wings to take up drumming duties, Fortune was already more than an idea in Pierres’ mind.

Having spent the previous years in an instrumental duo the first principle of Fortune was to allow Lionel to return to vocal duties, a position that, pre Abstrackt, had been his first experience of being in a band. English was chosen as the language of Fortune, the formative influences that the trio brought to bear on the project being English and American bands. Lionel’s work with Abstrackt wasn’t completely ignored though, the new band would channel those hip and hop and electronic influences through conventional pop song structures to create a new electronic music that owed as much to Pavement and Grandaddy as it did to the production genius of Pharell Williams. Perhaps it is this melting pot of diverse and distinct influences that delivers the age related reactions to the music that Lionel notes:
‘One day I’ll have a forty year old guy comparing’ Highway’ to New Order or The Human League and the next day a twenty year old guy thinks the same track sounds like Glass Candy or Hot Chip!’

Having established a writing core of the trio, Lionel coming up with the basic songs, Pierre weighing in with the arrangements and Herve coming up with the rhythms, the three became four with the addition of producer Pierrick Devin, of Cassius fame and the man behind the desk for the recent Phoenix album. Switching between home recordings and a fortnight in a country studio some way from Le Mans, the quartet put together debut album, ‘Staring At The Ice Melt’. In their search for the perfect pop song, tracks were rejected and the guiding principle of making music that was ‘simple but not easy’ saw different approaches depending on the track, as Lionel explains, ‘Gimme’ and ‘Highway’ involved a lot of work from Pierrick, discovering sounds and editing the track together whereas other tracks were tracked live to catch the groove and the energy’.

Given such an open approach to recording and a ruthless policy of canning anything that didn’t meet their own high standards it is little surprise that the finished album at times seems like a compendium of some of the finest (and most diverse) moments in pop history. From the lugubrious bass and bleeps of forthcoming single ‘Under The Sun’, all Chic style groove and handclaps to the rock stomp of ‘Bully’, the downbeat synth pulses of ‘Tonight’ to the new wave choppy guitars of ‘Mission’, the album defies easy categorization aside from the simple but effective label of great pop music.

Having launched their new project alongside Hot Chip and VV Brown at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and with a fondness for non conventional gigs, witness a recent show at the world famous Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin for Art Basel, Fortune are that most interesting mix of high art and mainstream pop. Little wonder that Thomas Mars of Pheonix has praised them as his favourite current band, proclaiming -that “Their music is almost like a candy shop, everything is very sweet, the whole thing is very fresh. It’s like a mix between classical music and modern pop music’.
- whilst recent Bond baddie Matthieu Amalric has also nailed his colours to their mast with talk of joint projects in the near future.

Staring At The Ice Melt’ is released by Distiller Records on August 30th, 2010.

Delta Maid is confirmed to support Martha Wainwright in Regents Park Open Air Theatre.
She will perform live on Sunday 29th August 2010 at 19:30
For tickets and more details go to http://openairtheatre.org/pl125.html

MySpace

Straight from the banks of the Mersey delta comes 25 year old blues singer Delta Maid, set to release her debut EP on Shake A Bush Records on July 26th.

The five track release is a moonshine swaddled serving of blues’n’bourbon inspired songwomanship, which owes as much to Nashville and Memphis as it does from Delta’s straight talking hometown of Liverpool.

The title track and ‘Any Way I Want To’ were produced and recorded by Liam Watson at London’s legendary Toerag Studios, an analogue paradise favoured by the White Stripes, the Cribs and the Kills.

‘Broken Branches’’ laid back Louisiana shuffle recalls Bobbie Gentry’s lilting sixties vocals. ‘Any Way I Want To’ boasts a more contemporary, Dixie Chicks style edge, with Delta announcing “I’m gonna sleep with the light on/I’m gonna drink in the afternoon,” in this empowering shot of honky-tonk primed self-affirmation.

The EP includes two cover versions of rare blues tracks; Chicago guitarist J.B Lenoir’s ‘Slow Down’ and Eric Bibb’s ‘Don’t Ever Let Nobody Drag Your Spirit Down’. The latter features a verse from gospel blues singer Reverend Gary Davis’ ‘Gonna Sit Down On The Banks Of The River’, which Delta has seamlessly incorporated into the song’s saloon bar swagger.

The two cover versions – as well as ‘Stop Worryin’ Baby’, on which elements of a young Dolly Parton seep into Delta’s vocal – see the finger-picking Delta backed on guitar by her brother Dominic Foulkes. Both are currently recording Delta’s debut album in Liverpool.

Delicate yet rousing, and confident but restrained, Delta Maid’s debut EP is a future classic swathed in the warmth of the past.

Following the release of its third full-length, Ship of Light, Finnish electronic-leaning indie sextet Husky Rescue let go of the stems from its “They Are Coming” single, handing them over to remixers Warrior One , Halogen, Kinema, and, here, Dave Graham.

The producer took the original song’s hushed vocal performance and set it atop a slowly swirling mass of amorphous sonics, lilting string melodies, and almost inaudibly soft, hand-plucked guitar rhythms. It’s a delicately made remix with the majority of Graham’s attentions paid to controlling the subtle rise and fall of every fragile element he saw fit to include.

Download David Graham Remix Here

Xbox Reverb started back in September 2009 with a series of free gigs featuring some of the hottest talent in the UK. The fun continues this summer on the white isle where Xbox will be heading over to the infamous Ibiza Rocks Hotel.

The world’s biggest bands will be rocking the stage every Tuesday from June 8th to September 15th, with team Reverb keeping you up to date on all the latest shenanigans! Check out the Facebook page for more exciting announcements.

The Dulux Let’s Colour Project is a global movement enlisting people around the world to paint the dull out of their communities. The effort will bring people together in neighborhood painting events around the world. The Let’s Colour blog celebrates all things colorful and documents Dulux’s colorful community transformations in countries like Brazil,India, France and the U.K.

www.letscolourproject.com/blog
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lets-Colour-UK/10150101337710093?v=app_95936962634&ref=ts#!/pages/Lets-Colour-UK/10150101337710093?ref=ts

ELECTRONIC-MUSIC PRODUCER J.VIEWZ ANNOUNCES INNOVATIVE PROJECT LAUNCH PLAN

J.Viewz’ “WORK IN PROGRESS” Breaks the Mold of the Music Industry this March 2010

Three different versions of the track will be made available – the Album Version, a Radio Edit, and the completely Naked Version, which is entirely acoustic including only piano and vocals all housed at the “Work In Progress” site. As always with a J.Viewz release, there will be original content for every fan to get involved with the behind-the-scenes progress of the project.





The single will be the first track off his new album/project, WORK IN PROGRESS, which will be released in a ground-breaking fashion suited to fit the ever-changing digital industry landscape. The overall project will display the development and step-by-step process with regards to creating a final musical masterpiece and provide a platform for personal discussion between J.Viewz (the artist) and fans (via subscription they become a Work In Progress, W.I.P., members).

This membership is essentially a free pass to all the downloadable content created in the album-making process, including exclusive edits, remixes, demo versions, remix stems, making-of videos and much more

www.MySpace.com/Jviewz
www..j.viewz.com
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lets-Colour-UK/10150101337710093?v=app_95936962634&ref=ts#!/J.Viewz?ref=ts

John Butler Trio
‘One Way Road’ FREE DOWNLOAD at www.johnbutlertrio.com

SINGLE RELEASED March 22nd 2010
WATCH THE VIDEO HERE

www.johnbutlertrio.com
http://www.facebook.com/pages/OFFICIAL-CHARLIE-WINSTON/105590046255?ref=ts#!/JohnButlerTrio?ref=ts

Culled from the wealth of the Demon Music Group controlled catalogues, the Backbeats repertoire comes from the best collection of independent labels in the world including Hi, Cream, Philadelphia International, Sleeping Bag, Fresh, Streetwise, Idlers, Warlock, Easy Street, Sam, Chi-Sound, Trax, Philly Groove, Jewel, Paula, Ronn, Ace, Tribe, Invictus, Hot Wax, Music Merchant, Amazon and numerous other catalogues which have shaped the history of Black Music and Dance Culture over the years.
The first 10 albums in the Backbeats series have been designed by veteran compiler Ian Dewhirst perhaps best known for the ground-breaking Mastercuts series in the early 90s – a series which redefined the landscape of the compilation market. Backbeats has been designed to offer some of the best music in the world from some of the greatest independent labels over the last 50 years.
Released on Demon Digital Feb 22nd 2010

Join Facebook for a free download from ‘Back To My Place Baby’

http://www.myspace.com/iandewhirst

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Harmless-Records/292417791178?ref=ts

London based 3 piece Citadels are set to release their single The Chemical Song through Pure Groove Records on March 1st.

This release follows their 2009 début single ‘Golden Islands’ through Friends vs Records, an up-beat summer single that was branded as ‘glistening art-pop’ by the Sunday Times, making it their ‘Hottest Download of the Week.’ Artrocker, The Fly and Disorder Magazine where amongst a plethora of further glowing reviews, including the accolade of Pop Justice’s ‘Song of the Day’.

You can catch these starlings live at the following dates supporting Two Door Cinema Club:

6th February- Portsmouth DRIFT IN THE CITY
20th February- London BE @ PROUD GALLERIES
1st March- London PURE GROOVE INSTORE
9th March-Bristol THEKLA
10th March- Leeds COCKPIT
11th March- Sheffield ACADEMY 2
12th March-York FIBBERS
14th March-Glasgow KING TUTS
15th March-Newcastle THE OTHER ROOMS
17th March-Birmingham ACADEMY 2
18th March-London HOXTON BAR & GRILL
19th March- Oxford ACADEMY