New Artist Alert: Gemma Mewse

Photo Credit: John Patrick, London

Summer is finally upon us. The top's down on the car, the picnic blanket's out and people are relying on Radio 1 for a soundtrack to their summer. What'll the trend be this year? Do you yearn for the previous mockney-stylings of Kate Nash or Lily Allen? Or how about something similar, fresher, a true London diva? Enter Gemma Mewse, the South-London songstress who's infectious latest song 'Numpty' is currently stuck in my head.

Mewse has spent months "debuting her hard hitting, socially aware pop/rock songs" in and around London and, with her debut album planned for public consumption in the Autumn, is looking to get out on tour further afield. She's also signed up for the 2010 'Camden Crawl' Weekend thanks to her winning best new song at the ETAs. Phew, a busy girl. And definitely one to look out for.

Numpty, available to hear in full on her Myspace page, tells the tale of a cheating partner; "on your bike son, leave now, don't let the door hit you on your way-out", and gives a great flavour of her wicked voice and cheeky lyrics. It's a really funky acoustic-guitar driven track which showcases the versatility of Mewse's voice and I can hear its rousing chorus rising high above the fields of Pilton at the UK's prestiguious Glastonbury Festival (surely) next year.

You can catch Gemma on the road:

2 Jun 2010 - REGAL ROOM @THE DISTILLERS, London
17 Jun 2010 - THE LOUNGE, Bromley
2 Jul 2010 - WOODLANDS, Salisbury
7 Jul 2010 - THE HORN OF PLENTY, St Albans
8 Aug 2010 - SKYLARK SHOWGROUND, HELP FOR HEROES FESTIVAL, Cambridgeshire
10 Aug 2010 - RONNIE SCOTTS CLUB, London

Or visit her on her Myspace to hear the full-EP version of Numpty plus snippets of the other 3 tracks here.

Love's The Only Rule!

This is such a great song. And Tico Torres is the most underestimated drummer in rock, he just holds everything together so perfectly but when he lets go just a little bit it's such a treat! The passion with which he plays is unmatched, he's just a powerhouse! Nothing ever over-fancy, just truly great.

I enjoyed Later... this week; Kate Nash is back to her old boring chord-progressions but I enjoyed Plan B and his nod to Smokey Robinson, and also Band of Horses were pretty groovy. Melody Gardot was great, really dingy smoky stuff Jerry Dammer's Spatial AKA Orchestra were...interesting!

I also checked out Avett Brothers this week, whose likeness to the fantasic Kings of Leon is uncanny; they are from Nashville, are bearded with long hair and are related (although, I believe, don't beat each other up after shows!). But from what I've heard I've really enjoyed, a cross between KOL and Mumford & Sons, so check them out!

Unfortunately all the artists I've been trying to contact to review are all just wrapping up their latest EPs and albums over the next month so I'm probably going to have a bombardment in about a month of loads of reviews for you!

That is all for now, enjoy your week and remember, love is the only rule :)

Lady GaGa

Hmm. Maybe I'm about to put my head on the chopping board, and perhaps I'll lose some readers as a result. Perhaps. But this blog's all about music; new and old, major and unsigned. So, in keeping with that theme, I must divulge a soft spot for Lady GaGa. Let me explain. There's not a lot of music I don't like. Personally, I'm not a fan of the new-age electronic pop courtesy of Florence, La Roux and the likes, but I can appreciate the inspiration from the huge 80s movement and bow to their overtaking of the British charts. Really I'm all about rock, in it's purest and simplest form. Whether it's hair metal or nu-metal, if it's got driving guitars or huge anthemic vocals I'm there. And inbetween, of course there's jazz and folk and blues and... well the list is long.

I've never been a fan, however, of the current music charts; the modern rappers and pop princesses; preened boy/girl band outfits and indeed a lot of the slightly older indie stuff along the lines of The Kooks, Kasabian, Razorlight etc. This is purely my opinion. But mainly, it's the girls. Sure, the videos are fun to watch, but if you're not writing your own music and really putting something into it, then it's not for me, and indeed a lot of 'real players'. I believe that the music industry in general is in a dire position and those of you who read my post on Rage before Christmas will know that only too well. However, in my opinion, Lady GaGa, although on the surface perhaps seemingly not much different (other than to look at of course) is in fact a real pioneer for pop music right now. Ok, the videos are the same as the rest, the albums are over-produced and the singles over-played. However, when stripped down to her roots and singing whilst accompanying herself on piano, I love what she's doing. She writes her own songs (and indeed for Britney and the Pussycat Dolls) but the difference is she can actually sing live, and in fact sounds better when doing so. Her voice is raw and always passionate, her arrangements exciting and never true to the radio-edits and I'm glad she scooped three Brit awards tonight in her respective International categories. Many similar popstars would wither in front of a festival crowd without their safety nets of auto-tunes and backing tracks, but there is something special about Lady GaGa. She can play a lot of instruments and grew up surrounded by music; now evident in the passion her live performances exude. Of course, the quirkiness and fashion sense only add to her mysterious persona, creating for herself an even more original being that can only add to her appeal. She dares to be different and, unlike Lily Allen or Kate Nash who have wowed festival crowds in their own rights, I think last summer she proved to a lot of people that she is in fact more than just another female popstar beside her cousins Rihanna, Beyonce and the rest. Ok, her music isn't as ground-breaking as most of the 'real' bands of past and present, but for her status I think she's due a lot more credit than perhaps her underrated stereotype is deserved.

So there, I said it. Lady GaGa is cool.