DVA paints a panoramic widescreen vision on ‘Pretty Ugly’, weaving in elements of Grime, House, Techno, UK Funky and a few shards of R&B. Before you can dwell for too long on any particular detail the wagons have already rolled on. Who cares if there is a promised land at the end of the trail when the journey is this much fun?

Seven totally different singers add technicolour to DVA’s gritty production: Fatima, Zaki Ibrahim, Cornelia, Natalie Maddix, Vikter Duplaix, A.L. and Muhsinah. DVA’s cast of six leading ladies - and Duplaix as the one lone gun slinger - give ‘Pretty Ugly’ plenty of character. From Zaki (the diva) to Fatima (the temptress) to Vikter (the smooth operator) to Cornelia (the maverick) - These are intense performances which go well beyond the usual ‘featured artist’ cameos.

Five instrumentals add more moody atmosphere to the seven vocal tracks. DVA uses a broad range of styles, from the tense Detroit Techno flavoured ‘Polyphonic Dreams’ - Think Carl Craig’s Innerzone Orchestra plays UK Funky - to the haunting funeral march theme on the closing track ‘Where I Belong’.

In a nutshell, DVA delivers a well crafted debut which makes the most of its strong cast of vocalists. Repeated listening will show whether ‘Pretty Ugly’ will age into an accomplished snapshot of its time or whether it can transcend its genre references and become a future classic.

‘Pretty Ugly’ is due out on 9 March 2012 on Kode 9’s Hyperdub label. The launch party for the album is scheduled for 16 March at Fabric in London.

You can listen to Scratcha DVA’s ‘Grimey Breakfast Show’ Mondays to Fridays from 8am to 11am on Rinse FM - Or tune into 106.8 FM if you find yourself in London.

Now pick up this groove and play ‘First Wave’ by Daniel Martin-McCormick, aka Ital. Microscopic melodic and percussive patterns swirl slowly around a stoical bass line. ‘First Wave’ is a 10:23 minutes journey between dreaming and waking with its multiple layers moving at mellow speed.

‘First Wave’ is featured on ‘Hive Mind’, Ital’s debut album on UK indie Planet Mu. ‘Hive Mind’ presents five long, leisurely evolving tracks. ‘Doesn’t Matter (If You Love Him)’ starts off with a disorientingly cut-up, stuttering vocal sample like Laurie Anderson on steroids. ‘Floridian Void’ is the shortest track on the album, under 4 minutes, and creates a ghostly empty space devoid of rhythm before ‘Privacy Settings’ and ‘Israel’ begin a hypnotic slow jam - weighing in at over 10 minutes each. Check out the percussion break on ‘Israel’ between 7:13 and 8:17!

Daniel Martin-McCormick began his musical career as guitarist in the Washington DC hardcore band Black Eyes, which lasted from 2001-2004. Black Eyes were legendary for the wall of sound which emanated from their strictly symmetrical formation: Two drummers, two bass players and a guitarist in the middle.

Black Eyes legacy gives Ital’s music a different twist to many other electronic artists. The massive sound of a live band with two drummers and three amps turned up to full volume is mirrored in the dense soundscapes Ital creates on ‘Hive’. The symmetry of his former band’s interaction between instruments has found its way into how Ital lets different sounds call and answer to each other rather than rattling along in isolation.

‘Hive Mind’ is a refreshing take on discoid electronic music. The album is due out on Planet Mu with the catalogue number ZIQ312 on 13 February 2012. You can pre-listen to ‘Hive Mind’ here.

On a different note, our photo of Ital carries a ‘censored’ banner to draw attention to SOPA Blackout Day (18th Jan 2012) - an initiative that aims to educate about proposed US law changes which will likely bring sweeping censorship to the web and threaten to throw us back into the Dark Ages - Both technologically and philosophically speaking. Act now to preserve freedom of expression on the web.

There are a lot of Americana references in this opening paragraph alone, so you’ll have an idea what Walters and Parrott sound like. If Jonathan Richman and his Modern Lovers plundered the 1950’s canon of pop music to create their brand of naive ‘n’ roll, Loves It are digging deeper, right into a veritable drug store stuffed to the rafters with 1930’s Blues, Appalachian hollers and Dustbowl ballads.

But ‘Yay!’ is more than a musician’s trip down a potholed memory lane. Loves It are a spunky duo of working musicians who each used to play 150-200 gigs a year and bring a high octane attitude to everything they play from punk rock to honky tonk. Once their paths crossed and in between watching episodes of glamour girl Paris Hilton’s awful reality TV show - ‘Loves It’ was Paris and co-star Nicole Ritchie’s catchphrase - the two hatched plans for recording an album together.

They also fell into the ‘big hole of love’, as Parrott jokingly explains, and it’s the buzz of being a new-ish couple that adds its unmistakable sparkle to ‘Yay!’. In fact, one of the most touching songs on the album, ‘Macomber’, has Parrott reminiscing about all the little things you think or worry about when meeting your lover’s family for the first time. It’s a very intimate song, as Parrott brings us on the journey as she drifts back to a porch in Macomber, West Virginia.

Right at the other end of the spectrum is ‘Dinosaurs’, a raucous, fun-packed rollercoaster ride that includes the immortal couplet ‘I’m going extinct like a dinosaur - If you come knocking there won’t be no-one to answer the door’. Oh yay, ‘going extinct like a dinosaur’ is definitely my catchphrase of the year.

If you think that’s just too plain silly, then brace yourself for the sombre ‘Trouble Lord’, a soulful gospel ballad that’ll make the hairs at the back of your neck stand up. Just goes to show that Loves It got soul.

The album ‘Yay!’ is out now. Get it, play it and put a smile on your face.

Listen here to Loves It singing about ‘Bobby Kennedy’
Download audio file (Loves-It-Bobby-Kennedy.mp3)

Listen to Loves It playing ‘My So Called Life’
Download audio file (Loves-It-My-So-Called-Life.mp3)

“I was raised on 80’s Billboard hits,” says Mikael. “Belinda Carlisle was a childhood favorite, along with Whitney, Mariah, and Madonna. I’m sure that influences my melodies and hooks.” Mikael’s sure done some editing down of these queens of the pompous pop sound with the resulting originals possessing a folky earthyness and a simple, clean edge.

A good pop hook played plain and simple makes songs like ‘3ft From Gold’ and ‘Canada (We’ll Never Know)’ stand out from the regular singer-songwriter crowd. Mikael’s guitar playing may be obviously folk tinged, but she does not take refuge in jangly fillers or cliches. Her new EP ‘Rush’ showcases a confident writer who can combine catchy tunes with engagingly worded lyrics.

A closet songwriter since high school, Mikael only recently hit the stage. She juggled a day job and singing background vocals for Portland, Oregon, folk band The River Empires for two years, touring and recording with the band. Lead singer Jessy Ribordy liked Mikael’s own songs and offered to produce an EP of her material. The ‘Far Field’ EP came out in March 2010 and sold enough to pique Mikael’s curiosity as to whether life as a musician could be a real option.

Her experience touring with the River Empires and promoting ‘Far Field’ encouraged Mikael to quit her office job less than twelve months ago and to go solo. Luckily, her first serious DIY tour as a solo artist prooved successful enough to support her. Booked and promoted strictly the DIY way by Mikael and a friend, the tour grew to 70 gigs over a period of six months. The money from the gigs and CD sales from the stage after the shows prooved sufficient to bankroll the trip and a modest lifestyle. What more do I need, mused Mikael and took the plunge leaving paid employment for good.

Mikael moved from Portland to the muscial melting pot of Nashville in January of this year and is currently working on a full length album. Nothing is certain in music, but Mikael enjoys her newfound freedom too much to worry about her future. “I still have no idea what I’m doing, but it’s been a fun ride.”

Sharaya Mikael’s ‘Rush’ EP is due out on 15 November.

Watch Sharaya Singing ‘Canada (We’ll Never Know)’

Listen here to ‘3ft From Gold’
Download audio file (Sharaya-Mikael-3-Ft-From-Gold-Live.mp3)

Where part one of ‘Bedroom Stories’ used New Wave references from the 70’s and 80’s to create a coolly detached atmosphere, Marie pushes the music further into a polar landscapes of sound ringing with brittle, angular guitar stabs. We are entering a stark, ever so slightly threatening place lit up by fleeting moments of beauty.

If pop culture history is your thing, then ‘Bedroom Stories Pt.2′ continues Marie’s musical journey into the mid-80’s of the icy romantic imagery of bands like The Cocteau Twins and This Mortal Coil. Producers Rob Spectrum and Oisin Lunny, both no strangers to 80’s music, capture the sound spot on.

It’s the most logical step on from the edgy, world weary Marianne Faithful sound Marie captured on part one. Listening to ‘Bedroom Stories’ so far, the music moves neatly on this imaginary timeline from the late 70’s through the mid 80’s to - what next?

Considering that part three of ‘Bedroom Stories’ is mooted to deal with love for the person you turned out to be yourself, I could see a move to the early/mid 90’s sound of Felt. Yet more introspective to the degree of slipping into the obscure but with a firm grip on melody and slinky rhythms. Yep, Creation period Felt driven by exuberant hammond organ or languidly rolling along the ivories of a concert piano sound like a reasonable choice for the third and final part of ‘Bedroom Stories’.

Meanwhile, immerse yourself in ‘Don’t Give Up’, ‘This World’ and ‘Mirrors’ on the second instalment of Marie’s album.

‘Bedroom Stories Part 2′ by Marie Glad is out now and available on the iTunes store .

Watch Marie’s Video For ‘This World’

To get this working, Kuedo - aka Jamie Teasdale of proto-Dubstep duo Vex’d - changed his production methods and went back to basics. ‘Severant’ was recorded deliberately quick and dirty to tap into Jamie’s intuition, his subconsciousness. Kuedo sounds like a 70’s garage band compared to your average contemporary production job. We are right back to Robert Rental and Thomas Leer recording ‘The Bridge’ on a borrowed reel-to-reel recorder in the kitchen.

The notes that aren’t there, the gaps and the glitches - They all contribute to a dreamlike atmosphere that is a common theme among the cream of late 70’s, early 80’s electronic music but hard to replicate today. These songs are proud to sound artifical because they want to break with real world humdrum and explore fantasy.’Severant’ is a decent stab at making such a record today, in 2011.

Fantasy and its love child futurism are the main topics of ‘Severant’. For Kuedo, futurism is not only the technological optimism of Vangelis but also the forward looking destroy-all-bridges fervour of Chicago’s Footworking scene and its radical rhythms. And fantasy comes in many forms, not only the futuristic pipe dream but the ambivalent attitude to reality expressed in the boasts of coke rap MCs.

‘Severant’ is also quite theatrical in a way that continues the tradition of 70’s bands like Tuxedomoon or The Residents, who came from a performance art background. Kuedo paints a palette of moods in his songs as you would score a stage play or a movie. Songs are just fleeting impressions: From the industrial ‘Ant City’ to the darkly romantic ‘Shutter Light Girl’ to the soothing closer ‘Memory Rain’.

Whether you are a fan of 70’s electronica, are feeling nostalgic for 1980’s New Wave or simply want an ambient soundtrack that sounds different to the usual fare, ‘Severant’ deserves your attention.

Kuedo’s debut album ‘Severant’ is due to be released by UK indie Planet Mu on Monday, October 17th. The vinyl format comes with free digital downlode code.

To order or to listen to a preview of ‘Severant’, please click here.

The Kwait brothers like the vibes that come with writing and recording in rural log cabins. The Cabin Dogs formed their style travelling the mountains from Vermont to Tennessee for some ten years before the Kwaits decided to stay closer to home - urban Philadelphia - and build a cabin right in Rich’s backyard.

After a writing trip into the New York woods they settled down home and just jammed. ‘We didn’t feel the pressure to outjam the jam bands or out-indie the indie rock bands,’ quips Rich. ‘Or go into total singer songwriter route. We felt sort of in our own world.’

The result are some ultra relaxed, elastic grooves that sound more like they come from London’s Kingsland Road or a beach jam on Ibiza than downtown Philly. From the chilled sunset/sunrise soundtrack of ‘Dark Moon - Sunrise’, over ‘Lansing Groove’ to the feel-good 70’s pastiche ‘Bloom’- The Cabin Dogs hijack that party train and run it right over you.

Listen To ‘Bloom’ Here!
Download audio file (Cabin-Dogs-Bloom.mp3)

When they take it back a notch or two, you can hear that the Kwait brothers originally earned their dues playing sombre Americana influenced tunes on the festival circuit, featuring at institutions like the Newport Folk Festival, Apple Farm, Full Circle and more. The jangly Bob Dylan cover ‘New Morning’ showcases that folky side of the Cabin Dogs.

Listen Here To The Dylan Cover ‘New Morning’
Download audio file (Cabin-Dogs-New-Morning.mp3)

As a whole, ‘Midnight Trail’ is a highly entertaining musical joyride bouncing between hedonistic party grooves and folky remorse - Like Jeckyll and Hyde fighting over control of the stereo.

Now Watch The Cabin Dogs Perform ‘Twilight’

Gentle restraint sets the tone on her album ‘Still So New’ and only occasionally does Ariel let her voice soar like a pretty but deadly kitty hawk. Listen to the chorus of ‘No Great Pretender’ and tell me the hairs on your neck aren’t standing up.

Watch The Video For ‘No Great Pretender’!

It’s an accomplished tightrope walk between urban cool and the occasional glimpse of honky tonk fire that Ariel performs on her new songs. Raised in Austin, Texas, Ariel has been singing hardcore country since the age of 11. She’s also well steeped in the Blues, having hung out with the late great piano player Pinetop Perkins and the late music mogul Clifford Antone, who is widely credited with discovering Stevie Ray Vaughan back in the day.

Such solid musical education pays off and Ariel now possesses a voice and a writer’s touch that transcends genre boundaries. With THAT voice, Ariel could sing anything. That she chooses to drape her new album in what can be loosely described as contemporary Country is kind of secondary. With it’s timeless songwriting and restrained arrangements ‘Still So New’ has a universally laid back vibe that doesn’t sound out of place if you blast it on your car stereo during an urban ride.

‘Still So New’ is Ariel’s second album, following her debut ‘Exclamation Love’ from 2008. It’s a showcase for a singer and songwriter who has found her voice but has not been pigeonholed yet. From here, Ariel can go anywhere she chooses.

Listen Here To Ariel Abshire - No Great Pretender
Download audio file (Ariel-Abshire-No-Great-Pretender.mp3)

Listen Here To Ariel Abshire - Fourth Of July
Download audio file (Ariel-Abshire-Fourth-of-July.mp3)

Albanian born and raised, Armand Margjeka got his English and his musical education from MTV Europe in the post-communist 90’s. MTV no longer plays much music, but thankfully Armand still does.

Like an average hour of 90’s MTV Europe, Armand’s music swings between the laid back crooning of Lloyd Cole & The Commotions, the eerie murder ballads of Nick Cave and the Country stride of Garth Brooks. Blessed with a smooth voice and an understated guitar picking style, Margjeka does European style Pop and American roots music equally well. After a stint with Alabama alternative country band Buffalo Black he now expands to a full 90’s influences mix on his solo debut ‘Margo Margo’ - Laid back, magnificent widescreen pop with a rootsy Americana feel.

How does a bloke from Albania end up in Birmingham, Alabama? Margjeka studied in the US, stayed on as a ranch hand on Long Island and eventually journeyed south. ‘I helped a friend move to Birmingham and thought I’d stay for a week or two,’ says Armand. ‘But I got a job, fell in love and started writing and recording new music.”

I’ve never been south of New York, but Birmingham apparently has a lively open mic scene which helped Armand hone his talent and keep the flame burning. Bedroom recordings and studio sessions combine easily on ‘Margo Margo’, which has just enough studio polish to give it a glossy pop sound and an aura of lo fi home recording to preserve a lazy down home vibe. It can’t have been easy to pull off such a smooth solo album working out of leftfield, but Margjeka did a sterling job and the whole affair is extremely listenable.

My favourites are the supremely catchy ‘Desire’ and the upbeat ‘What A Feeling’ - Like Lloyd Cole with a fresh injection of naughties Americana. There’s a strong 80’s and 90’s vibe popping up all over ‘Margo Margo’ which helps the album stand out from the Alt Country/Americana bracket.’I love folk and country, but I want to do music without any preconceived parameters,’ explains Margjeka.

Watch Armand Margjeka Play ‘Desire’

Armand Margjeka Music Video from Alan Mykitta on Vimeo.

Now listen to ‘What A Feeling’. If you’re old enough to remember, you might even have a 90’s MTV flashback. ‘Margo Margo’ is due to be released on 9th August.

Armand Margjeka ‘What A Feeling’
Download audio file (Armand-Margjeka-What-Feeling.mp3)

Got live if you want it, to slip in the title of an old Stones live album, and Third Smoke sure work the stage. Their repertoire is very well tailored to the live setting with self-confessed influences including the Dandy Warhols, Kings of Leon and Kasabian. Frontman Hugh Donlon and his pals will have you sing along and wave your arms and cigarette lighters in the air after a couple o’ songs.

Third Smoke have just self-released their debut EP “Tell a Friend”, which features four well worn-in live favourites led by the stompin’ ‘Dog Rough Dancing’. Mind you, ‘Delirious’, ‘Metaphysics’ and ‘Sticks And Stones’ are pretty solid as well. This is frenetic guitar driven stuff with sudden changes that throw you off guard and some clean hooks zooming in out of left field. Whether you come to this EP as a fresh faced indie kid, a seasoned summer festival survivor or a grizzly rock veteran, there’s something here for everybody.

For gigs, touring updates and more, check out Third Smoke’s Facebook page.

Watch Third Smoke On Balcony TV