Frankmusik - The Fear Inside

Frankmusik (real name Vincent Frank) is a producer, songwriter from Thornton Heath, South East London, England. The name "Frank" is derived from the surname of his grandfather, whose name he took in tribute.

His interest in music began with his mum's Depeche Mode and Soft Cell records, but the band who changed his life were ELO. "I first heard them in my mum's car," he says. "The song was Evil Woman and it was the first time I'd heard treated strings. Then I heard Mr Blue Sky and that blew my mind. It was pioneering pop and it had the kind of epic quality I love".

After attending a Sussex boarding school and then drama college, Frank began releasing CDs. His debut EP, Frankisum, was released on Apparent Records, a label he co-founded with David Norland, in the fall of 2007. His music attracted the attention of producer Price, and he was signed to Universal/ Island soon after. Album Complete Me was released on 3 August 2009.

Now it seems Frankmusik is finally getting the gears in motion for the next stage of his career. Album Follow The Leader will be released in spring 2011 and he just unveiled the video for his new single The Fear Inside.



Frankmusic@ Myspace, Twitter, Facebook

Source: Idolator, Answers, Dailymail

Alex Clare - Up All Night

For someone who has roughly 2500 views on his Myspace profile, 25 years old British artist Alex Clare, certainly knows how to pick his friends as he got Diplo & Switch to produce his first single, Up All Night.

Describing Up All Night as completely different from any other track on his forthcoming album, Alex describes his sound as "mostly down-tempo, there are only two or three songs on the album that are up there. Up All Night grabs peoples' ears, it has an unusual sound". The anticipated debut album is a conglomeration of live, synthesised electric elements, a direction which immediately distinguishes and creates an identity for the former bedroom DJ's music.

Up All Night is released on Jan 10th, 2011.



Alex Clare @ Myspace, Facebook

Source: Guardian, UK Mix forums

Polarsets - Morning

Polarsets is British alt-pop trio Rob Howe, Mickey Smith and James Rudd, formed on the North East coast of England in the summer of 2009. Together they craft a sound that they like to refer to as "Ibiza indie", which neatly describes their unorthodox brew of pop that combines glowing synths, vivid melodies and simple guitar lines.

After self-releasing two singles, Polarsets have released a video promo for the track Morning. It features their synths trademark complimented by an ultra simplistic guitar style. The backbone of the track was all recorded live to capture the energy of their acclaimed live shows. The bones of the song were written by Rob in an hour while James and Mike were out getting lunch. As soon as they returned (seafood pizza) everything else was dropped in order to get to work on producing the track as the next single.





Polarsets @ Myspace, Twitter, Facebook, Soundcloud, Youtube

Source: NME, Arjan Writes, AltSounds

Bag Raiders - Way Back Home

Chances are, if you’ve stumbled into a club, wobbled at a party, or looked into the light at a festival in the past two years, you’ve been inadvertently exposed to the Bag Raiders from Sydney duo Chris Stracey and Jack Glass.

Bag Raiders is best known for their single Shooting Stars as well as their various remixes of such bands as Cut Copy, Midnight Juggernauts, Kid Sister and Sneaky Sound System. Their music transcends typical dance and pop boundaries by pumping out some great Nu-Disco/ElectroPop sounds.

The duo released their much anticipated self titled debut EP in October. The EP was well received, with some people comparing their sound to Daft Punk. Single Way Back Home displays their typical `Disco with Pop` sensibilities.



Bag Raiders @ Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, Soundcloud

Source: Wikipedia, Robot Dance Music, Ministry of Sound, Myspace

Little Comets - Isles

Meet Little Comets, Newcastle-upon-Tyne's answer to Mystery Jets and a gang of four - brothers Robbie and Mickey Coles plus friends Matthew Hall and Mark Harle - who enjoy terrorising intellectuals and frightening the public. They play 'kitchen sink indie' music, citing Debussy, Roald Dahl, Ella Fitzgerald and Paul Simon as influences.

Right from their inception in 2008 the band decided straight away that standard gigs on stages weren't for them. "We do a lot of gigs in university lecture halls, bursting in on trams and Metros and different methods of public transport. It all comes from Mickey. It usually takes about two hours for him to persuade us that it's actually a good idea. We're often stood there thinking 'Hang on are we going to get arrested for this?"

The band got a record deal with a major label Columbia but nothing really happened after that, so they parted ways. Now they're signed to a smaller and more nurturing record label and gearing up for a proper reintroduction to the scene.

Debut album In Search of Elusive Little Comets will be released on January 31st, 2011 and single Isles is a good taster of what to expect



Little Comets @ Myspace, Facebook, Twitter

Source: Wikipedia, LastFM, Off the radar music, BBC