Black Cherry

Last month I volunteered at Oxjam Festival Chiswick. As my role was venue co-ordinator, I got to meet all the artists who were playing at my venue, which was pretty cool. My favourite band of the whole day had to be Black Cherry. They were probably one of the more famous bands playing, which you could tell just by being in the lead singers presence, but she was very cool and the guitarist was extremely pleasant.

I couldn't find much about them on the internet, but all you really need to know is they are a three piece and are awesome! On iTunes I could only find 4 songs to download, Radio, Control, Cops and Robbers and Insecure. However, if you go on their myspace, you can watch videos for loads of their other songs. Their style of music is electro, with catchy beats, and an incredible voice on the lead singer.  At the end of their set at Oxjam they played their own version of 'Pump Up The Jam', which was amazing.

They have been around for a few years, which upsets me as I think they should definitely deserve to be bigger! One of my largest let downs being a music fan, is when bands don't sound half as good when they play live, this however is not the case with Black Cherry. They definitely had everyone in the crowd moving, and I found it very hard to tear myself away and continue working!
After their set I spoke to their manager, who said unfortunately they didn't have any UK dates arranged at the time, however I'm going to keep my eyes extremely peeled, and so should you!

Barclaycard Mercury Prize 2012

The countdown has finally ended for the Barclaycard Mercury Prize Album of the Year! But who is going to win?? The rumour is that Alt-J's 'An Awesome Wave' is set to win, and don't be surprised if your's truly had started this sed-rumour, as I'm in love with them! Personally I think them or Django Django deserve to win the most, as it's not just a couple of decent tracks on their albums...it's them all.

Still not quite sure why Plan B has been nominated with his album 'Ill Manors', as he's been pretty big for a few years, and is not starring in films all over the place. But hey, the prize is traditionally given to the not-so-popular artists, so hopefully someone smaller will be given this incredible opportunity.

The two female nominees; Jessie Ware and Lianne Le Havas, have pretty amazing singing voices, I can see why their names are up there. I haven't given Ben Howard much of a chance, considering my friend rave son about him, I probably should. The rest of the artists, I'm sorry to say, are a bit 'meh', for example Sam Lee and Richard Hawley. The Maccabees may be good, but they have been around for years, so probably don't deserve this as much as some of the others. Michael Kiwanuka could possibly be the new black Jack Johnson and Roller Trio are a bit too 'lift musicy' if you catch my drift, because of the whole saxophone thing. And last but certainly not least are Field Music with their album 'Plumb', they are just cool, if you haven't given them a listen, then do it now, you have just over an hour before they announce the winner on 4music!