Sometimes I think I was born in the wrong era, I love the psychedelics, the clothes, the liberation and importantly the music of the 1960's! Probably because I grew up listening to Northern Soul thanks to my parents constantly playing it and telling me their stories from the clubs they went to in Manchester in the 60's and 70's.

Well thankfully in 2008 we have a new artist who reminds me of this awesome era, Duffy, a young Welsh singer-songwriter. She began her career in a local jazz and blues club, after coming second in the Wawffactor, she was introduced to Suede's ex-guitar player Bernard Butler. They wrote songs and together managed to hit on an awesome sound that has been compared to the Great Dusty Springfield. Must be why I love her!

Tour Dates in the UK

January
16 London Pigalle
23 London Pigalle
30 London Pigalle

February
6 London Pigalle
21 Bristol Thekla
22 Manchester Ruby Lounge
23 Glasgow King Tuts
24 Newcastle Cluny
26 Leeds Brudenell Social
28 Cardiff Clwb ifor Bach

March
1 Aberyswyth Arts Centre
5 Wrexham Central Station
7 Nottingham Bodega
9 Oxford Academy
10 Brighton Komedia
11 Birmingham Glee Club

Ok so we haven't heard much about Supergrass since around 2006 and even then, in my opinion, none of their tracks released between 2000 and now came anywhere near their music in the 90's. Like 'Pumping on your Stereo' awesome track, 'Sun Hits the Sky' and 'Late in the Day' both top 20 UK charts hits and the obviously huge earlier smashes 'Alright' and 'Richard III'. Both anthems of their day !!! and reached No. 2 in UK charts.

As a massive Supergrass fan you can understand how excited I was to hear their new offering 'Diamond Hoo Ha Man'! It's got energy and purpose as a rock track, which seems to have been missing in the early 2000's. It feels loads more like the the rock and roll they used to play and I love it. Check out the video its also great. I am stupidly excited about the new album due to be released in March. And even better they have announced live shows for March 2008 in the UK. So jealous if you get to go to any of these...

11 Edinburgh Liquid Rooms

12 Liverpool Carling Academy

13 Cambridge Junction

14 London Roundhouse

Awesome!!

Carl Cox has a superstar quality that is really hard to describe. I have seen him plenty of times and I can, hand on my heart, say, he has NEVER disappointed. Even before he takes over the decks its almost like the crowd can sense that he is in the building and there is a specific Carl Cox buzz. He always arrives to thunderous applause.

For a start Dreamers was packed, well its was going to be the night the international House God, Carl Cox graced Marbella with his presence. Everyone had turned out to see this master take command of the decks. And take command he did! He started off as always grabbing everyone's attention with some serious beats. The dance floor was packed which is how I like it. As is the lay-out in Dreamers the dance floor is straight in front of a slightly raised DJ box. This was perfect as I love to watch Carl Cox at work. He clearly loves it and leads the crowd through his music and the way he is behind the decks.

Once he knows he has the crowd whipped up, he can do what you know he really wants to, and that is move into some harder techno tinged beats. This really got us rocking on the dance floor. His mixing is always outstanding. Even though I have never been a jungle fan I was loving it when he took us down a definitely Jungle path. When Carl Cox is on the decks I'm sure he could take you to any genre and you would still be getting down as if it was your favourite. As I was expecting we were then submerged into the Deep house techno that he loves and makes everyone appreciate. We danced well into the early hours, Awesome.

Carl Cox, has always played a key role in the UK dance scene throughout the many changing trends, dancy disco into rave then later house, quickly into deep house, thankfully avoiding the cheesy trance side of the contemporary house and then like he was going home moved to take his position as King of Techno.

Not to imply that he ends there, he has since dabbled in electronica as have all DJs, taking on the moves of modern music. I am sure that wherever dance music goes, there will always be room for Carl Cox and if it seems there isn't he will make damn sure there is.

The famous Liverpool based club and record label Cream landed in Spain, Almeria, for Creamfields 2007 on the 11^th August. It has been going since 2004 and every year received rave reviews. It was held at Playa de Villaricous by the beach and what an awesome venue! It seemed miles away from anywhere and good job because God-Damn it was loud! It needed to be loud enough for all 40,000 people! It started at 6pm and although it was such a massive festival with huge amounts of people, there was no trouble getting tickets to get in the gate or getting drinks throughout the night or even getting around inside.

The arena was huge with several large stages, a massive tent and a chill out tent - the best thing ever - a tent with huge air con units. They looked a lot like fog in the lights. It was very necessary; reports claimed the temperature reached 45 in the centre of the main stage crowd. The first act we caught, to my total pleasure, was Basement Jaxx on the San Miguel Stage!! They were awesome. There are loads of them, singers and musicians and they alternate each song who’s singing, who’s on stage its great to watch. They played all their hits my total favorite and huge reaction from the crowd Where’s your Head at?

After Basement Jaxx we went over to the Pepsi Open Air Stage to catch John Digweed’s set. Even though the atmosphere was great and everyone was enjoying it, I was bit bummed out by his set so we went off to tour arena, see what was going on. As we went back we found The Prodigy just starting. Smack My Bitch Up, electric, Firestarter, unforgettable, Breathe and Voodoo People awesome live! Great memories, at first I thought everyone around us must have been huge Prodigy fans but then realized that it could well be the power in their live performance because they were so great!

Even though we did get round everywhere the best times of the night were definitely at the San Miguel Stage. There we caught Front 242 wicked techno, must see live and my favorite part of the night, as it turned out, was last thing from 6am till God knows when - Rex The Dog. Rex The Dog aka JX aka Jake Williams a DJ and remixer, you will have probably heard of tracks like "Son Of A Gun" (1994), "There’s Nothing I Won't Do" (1996) and his most recently "Restless", which reached Uk Singles Top 40 in 2004.

The music he played on this particular night was nothing like those examples of dance chart music. Its hard to describe any DJ set! It was not just electro but electro with body and intensity. More funky than electro which I find too repetitive. The set had breaks that were just incredible to dance and that had everyone grinning grabbing their mates and heading back for the dance floor. It may well have been 6am and 10 hours since it had all started but Rex The Dog had the entire place back on their feet feeling the excitement of the festival and the drive of the music to keep you dancing.

After Rex The Dog we left the festival on a high, it was a great experience and I had a new Dj to add to my collection of favorites. Someone told me I can get a recording of the Rex The Dog Creamfields set, I haven’t found it yet, but if I do, the fist thing I will do is get it on audiotube, so you can all hear my discovery of Summer for yourselves.

An Evening with Lionel Richie.

What a setting ! The Puento Romano Hotel Tuesday 31^st July Marbella Spain. Being a huge Lionel Richie fan I was stupidly excited. I listened to him a lot growing up, my Mum had all the cd's, but I had never seen him live before. My housemate bought the tickets as a surprise I was blown away! The night was perfect, middle of summer so lovely and hot and the atmosphere was buzzing! We decided to make a night of it; getting dressed up and ordering Champagne I can honestly say the night was a magical experience., all together

The tennis court was transformed to seat the audience and I was surprised how many people were there. The lights went down and all eyes shifted to concentrate on the stage, when suddenly, the man himself, could be heard singing the as his opening song “Hello” from the back of the auditorium. The realization that he was in the crowd and totally live singing an age-old anthem was quite a moment. As he was simply strolling through the crowd singing so casually I had to keep reminding myself that he was actually Lionel Richie.

He introduced the show and told us it was his first time in Spain and that he loved it. He was relaxed, very funny and chatted to the audience in between his songs. His ease and showmanship really demonstrated to me his super stardom. As a huge fan I was loving it. He sang all his hits Penny Lover, Easy, Ballerina Girl, Running With The Night, Lady, Stuck On You, Dancing on The Ceiling, Three Times a Lady, Brick House and Endless Love which was awesome he performed the duet with us the audience. His band was as brilliant as you’d expect and Lionel played several piano solos.

The only down side, as would be, with any open aired concert with such awesome music in such a beautiful setting you just didn’t want it to end after 1 half hours he brought the house to their feet with my all time favorite Ritchie number All Night Long! However that was it, no encore!

That could not take anything away from such an unforgettable evening. I knew I would love his music but as a first time fan I was wowed by his manner and the way the whole audience were captivated. I thoroughly definitely recommend anyone going to see him. Everyone knows the songs but there is something must-see about hearing one of your favorite songs sung live by a living legend.  

Music should be about what you enjoy and what makes you feel good. Although it would be a tragedy if you simply stick to what you know. If the only music you listen to is limited to your favourite band you are in some serious need of enlightenment .

With the diverse mix of countless variates: Jazz through to Techno, Alternative to Roots Reggae, music can, and should be about broadening your tastes and exploring new stuff that's beyond the main stream. But how do you know if you like some of these Independent bands if you don't ever get to hear about them or an opportunity to listen to their music. That is where Epitonic comes in-

Epitonic its Awesome! It is the prefect cross genre resource that can help broaden you tastes and appreciations. The beauty of this website is, not only does it offer info on countless new bands, new releases and reviews, more importantly it gives you the opportunity to hear any track you choos. Even better, once you have listened to something you like, you can check out the list of similar bands and start exploring music by bands that you never knew existed.

Many times people have said that Epitonic is single-handedly responsible for radically expanding their music tastes, don't believe me! Just check out the posts on the message board. The web address is www.epitonic.com check it out.

I bet you find something new you like.

Kings of Leon are a 4 piece band from Mt. Juliet in Wilson County, Tennessi. The band is made up of 3 brothers and their lead singer cousin Caleb. The three brothers were in a band that followed and played for their Pastor father, touring the USA. When they first hit the shores of Britain with their début album, Youth and Young Manhood the base player was still only 15yrs old.

A year later they released their 2^nd album, Aha Shake Heartbreak, which was considered better than their brilliant 1st album. Their funk bluesie sound accompanied with Calibs harsh soulful voice, made sure the 3rd release, Because of the Times, achieved the same acclaim as the first two.

An excellent band to catch live, in any size venue, they have a lot to thank the British fans for, the band have been quoted as saying that the 2nd album wouldn't have been made unless it was for them.