http://www.justbecause.ch/artists.htmlNewest Artists at Just Becausehttp://www.justbecause.ch/artists_703E32363B3738.htmlSamual Galley2012-02-20T11:52:29 Elizabeth Harper, a former drama major from Los Angeles, had been writing delicate, wistful songs of longing and detachment for several years when she met musician [and] psychoanalyst-in-training Mark Richardson in 2009 and asked him to remix one of her tracks. Their creative chemistry was instantaneous – Mark’s production style was cerebral but sensual, relying heavily on vintage synths and drum machines, and influenced by ‘80s bands like Human League and Depeche Mode while still conscious of modern club sounds steeped in hip hop and house. It perfectly complemented the melancholy undertone in Harper’s songs and revealed in them an urge towards ecstatic abandon.   Along with multi-instrumentalist/engineer Scott Rosenthal, the two formed Class Actress and recorded the debut EP Journal of Ardency, which was released to much acclaim by Chris Taylor’s (of Grizzly Bear) Terrible Records in 2010.   In the year since, Class Actress toured the US, Europe and South America, Mark worked towards attaining his PHD, and the band completed a new full-length record, entitled Rapprocher, which is French for “to come close to.”   The record is the soundtrack for a tragic love affair conducted in European discos and New York nightclubs, via smart phone disconnection and jet-lag disorientation, from within the dull opacity of luxurious hotel rooms and anti-anxiety medication. It’s the story of a relationship that's yearning to go another round. Harper's secrets and Richardson's beats liberate the listener and freedom reigns on the dance floor. This is sensual music about tragic romance and the eternal longing for what you can't have. Where Journal was the secret diary, Rapprocher is the love letter.   The pleasure and sorrow of romantic connection are inescapably entwined in Harper's lyrics, while the smooth, cool surfaces of Richardson's production conjure an eternal after-hours nightlife that Harper inhabits fearlessly, displaying a provocative, wounded raw sexuality that some reviewers have compared to early Madonna.   Class Actress is: Guilty Pleasure. NSA dance music. Casual Encounters. Stalker Pop. Depeche Mode meets early Madonna and Five Star as heard on the radio in the leather backseat of a cab.   Class Actress is not: Acting Class.   http://www.justbecause.ch/artists_703E32363B363E.htmlSamual Galley2012-02-16T11:01:24 Great Mountain Fire is an indie rock band from Brussels who from early in 2006 have produced exciting and razor sharp pop songs, attempting the impossible and often achieving it! For five years the band (previously known as Nestor!) grew and gained important live experience at renowned venues and festivals (Dour Festival, Nuits du Botanique, Flèche d'Or, etc) and made a few recordings such as their self-produced E.P. 'This Is A Party Favor'. In October 2009, the band started pre-production recording sessions for their first album. This began a long period of writing and reflection. To mark this change they adopted their current band name: Great Mountain Fire. In June 2010, the newly named band went into the studio to record what would become 'Canopy', Great Mountain Fire's first album. Recorded under the watchful eyes and ears of Jean Waterlot (Ghinzu, Montevideo), the album expresses over its 11 tracks a rich and cultural depth, transporting the listener through the band's own unique and refreshing jungle of sounds. 'Canopy' is a record of intrigue and substance, whose fine concoction of generic beats and pop simplicity will leave the Goth dancing and the sailor crying! 'Canopy' was released on May 23rd 2011, after what Great Mountain Fire started touring Belgium. Gigs, gigs, gigs, people, dust, mud and puddle. During Fall 2011, the band went to Quebec to present this first album to the New World in fancy venues such as Pop Montreal. Year 2011 ends with a swashbuckling sold out concert at Botanique-Orangerie, in cape, under confetti with famous guests such as Alek & Les Japonaises and Dan Lacksman (Telex) for a hot hot version of 'Moskow Diskow'. http://www.justbecause.ch/artists_703E32363B3536.htmlSamual Galley2012-02-13T10:58:37 Luke Rathborne writes songs about life, and life is rarely simple, neat and easy. On his I Can Be One / Dog Years split-EP, to be released March 8 via Dilettante Recordings, the singer-songwriter defies today’s cookie cutter flavors, preferring to hold true to his artistic vision – a vision that embraces the zen of Leonard Cohen and the weathered tone of Bob Dylan, basking both in a heady aura of dialed-down pop exuberance. Luke Rathborne shimmers, because his songs emit an incandescent glow as warm and inviting as they are naked and vulnerable. It’s not about finding answers to life’s questions, it’s about shedding light on life’s experiences. Seeing how they make us better for the wear while they ruffle us around the edges. “Hopefully, people will see the difference in the music here,” says the 23 year-old troubadour of his ambitious release. “They are two groups of songs that belong with each other, but not necessarily together. As an artist, you really have to think about the way you’re putting a record together, and it’s got to be done in a way that interests people – if you think, in your gut, that you’re just going to smash songs together and call them a record… that’s just material, that’s not a record.” Rather than muddling his music’s disparate take on the world around him, attempting to intertwine songs written under different circumstances and in different frames of mind, Rathborne decided to offer audiences his ideal window into his headscape – two EPs, each unique in their own right, as one album. Dog Years embraces Rathborne’s more pop aesthetic – not shiny, happy pop, but effervescent, melancholic pop. The title track offers a cynical poke to not letting the ‘dog years’ pass you by, and if you hear a bit of Dylan in the New Yorker’s tone, you aren’t mistaken. He also cites a lot of ‘60s and ‘70s music like the Kinks and the Beatles as impacting those early tracks, written as a teenager in Maine. The material from the second set, I Can Be One, was penned following Rathborne’s move to New York City after high school and completed with members of Antony and the Johnsons contributing to the arrangements. Big Star and Lou Reed’s Berlin enter the realm of influences, and the material takes on a somber, darker hue. “Motor City” elicits a somber sense of pining, while closing track “Solon Town” is an arching epic that bridges Rathbornes rural roots with his transplanted Brooklyn home. Its title track, “I Can Be One,” is one of the tracks that led Devendra Banhart to invite him on tour and exclaim, “I love this young dude,” in a recent Magnet piece. “The second EP is more of a reaction to living in New York, and it’s a lot more personal and minimal,” he says. “It’s like battery acid – people are really freaked and don’t know what to do with it.” But while the tones change, the inspiration is largely the same. “All of the songs – on both EPs – are about being afraid of connecting, because connections open up the possibility of being harmed… It’s interesting that they intersect here, because I’d been playing with the idea of putting them together and seeing how they mix, but this seems a lot more pure – this is my music, this is what I want to say, and this is how I want to say it.” http://www.justbecause.ch/artists_703E32363A3D3E.htmlSamual Galley2012-02-09T09:41:59http://www.justbecause.ch/artists_703E32363A3D36.htmlSamual Galley2012-02-08T16:53:17 Following the release of new single ‘Silicon’ through Distiller Records, Sound of Guns announce their biggest tour to date in support of new album ‘Angels & Enemies’, which drops March 5th. Recorded at the Distillery in Bath, the album was produced by Dave Eringa who has previously worked with The Manic Street Preachers and Ocean Colour Scene. Having already secured a headline slot at HMV’s Next Big Thing in February 2012 and being nominated for the 2011 XFM New Music Award, Sound Of Guns kicked off the new year with support from XFM’s Mary Anne Hobbs, a slot on her evening playlist, Single of the Week on Rich Walters XFM show and BBC Radio 1 support from Zane Lowe and Huw Stephens. Discovered by BBC Introducing, Sound of Guns have developed as a band since releasing their debut album ‘What Came From Fire’, which was one of the ten albums shortlisted for the 2011 XFM's New Music Award. Having now crafted ten new and original tracks for ‘Angels & Enemies’, Sound of Guns have their sights set once again at the top. The journey for Sound of Guns has been far from dull. Since forming, the band have gone from having their guitars stolen, studio burnt to the ground to being surrounded by armed police (a misunderstanding after a local at a gig heard the band talking about ‘guns’). More recently they have toured with The View, performed at Radio One’s Big Weekend, Glastonbury, Reading, Leeds and recorded at the legendary BBC Maida Vale studios Sound Of Guns are not afraid to appeal to the masses. With the support of Mary Anne Hobbs, Radio One heavyweights and bands including Everything Everything, Miles Kane, The Courteeners and Delphic, it’s now time for Sound of Guns to take centre stage. http://www.justbecause.ch/artists_703E32363A3A3E.htmlSamual Galley2012-01-26T15:52:38http://www.justbecause.ch/artists_703E32363A383E.htmlSamual Galley2012-01-17T15:30:11 Phenomenal Handclap Band will soon be taking their forward-thinking, genre-spanning dance party on the road with the one and only Bryan Ferry. The group is also preparing the release of the follow-up to their acclaimed, self-titled debut album. PHB's ambitious new work takes their clever fusion of international psych, soul, and cosmic disco a bold step forward. With co-founders Daniel Collas and Sean Marquand at the production helm, Form and Control finds the band once again deftly mixing and matching seemingly disparate musical genres, with a musical palette that now includes prog-pop, new wave and modern leftfield dance. Form and Control will be released in early 2012 on Tummy Touch Records. http://www.justbecause.ch/artists_703E32363A3836.htmlSamual Galley2012-01-11T13:15:20 If only John Hughes was still alive, and making movies about high school misfits falling in love, teenagers dodging adults, endless summers, romantically fraught nights, and outsiders going to the prom with the girl/ boy of their dreams. Actually, it's probably more appropriate that he isn't, because the music that new London duo Summer Camp make, while deeply nostalgic and evocative of that era, is also far too lush, too beautiful and heartbreaking – and too much of its own strange and captivating world – to be pigeonholed so easily. Started almost by accident as a clandestine musical project by Elizabeth Sankey and Jeremy Warmsley (indeed, their first ever track was a haunting, fuzzed out take on The Flamingos' "I Only Have Eyes For You"), Summer Camp now create the kind of utterly mesmeric, sepia-toned dream pop which seems predestined to form the perfect soundtrack to first kisses and adolescent crushes; romance and yearning. The melancholic "Ghost Train", for instance, sounds not unlike girl groups from the 60's wrapped in a warm blanket of lo-fi gauze and dusted lightly with pure pop sugar, while the cinematic "Montgomery Avenue 1984", like a snippet from a classic film, manages to evoke an entire universe of love and longing in its brief running time. This single signals the arrival of a new and most unusual talent in the pop firmament, while also serving as an utterly spellbinding introduction to the slanted and enchanted world of Summer Camp. http://www.justbecause.ch/artists_703E32363A373E.htmlSamual Galley2012-01-11T11:03:58 The band formed in 2008, combining a group of friends who had all played in various bands on the local music scene. The members are connected in different ways; Hazel (vocals, guitar) and Paul Gregory (guitars, electronics) are engaged; the pair used to be in a band with Ol Ketteringham (drums, piano); Sarah Kemp (violin) and Hazel are old schoolmates; while Adam Sykes (vocals, guitar) and Brendan Sykes (bass) are brothers. They’re called Lanterns On The Lake and it’s easy to see how the name and their sound are one and the same. The album was produced by Paul, as he did the band’s first two EPs, The Starlight EP (2009) and Misfortunes & Minor Victories (2010) Budgets being tiny for the EPs, the band borrowed an eight-track recorder and captured every intimate breath and soaring crescendo in their own homes and at an isolated house in Northumberland. Handmade sleeves for both EPs reinforced the self-sufficient approach, as did a series of gigs (“we were reluctant to play normal venues like pubs”) in places such as a boathouse on the Tyne river, and the Tan Hill Inn in North Yorkshire (famously, the highest pub in Britain, an event is now an annual mini-festival). Relishing their independence, the band eschewed a recording studio for the album; “you only get to make your debut album once,” says Hazel, “so we wanted it to be personal and honest and special to us, so we recorded everything in our own houses again. Though the loud bits were done in a basement of a shop in Newcastle!” http://www.justbecause.ch/artists_703E32363A3538.htmlSamual Galley2011-12-13T15:26:33 SoKo ist nicht nur eine Singerin aber auch eine Schauspielerin. I Thought I Was An Alien ihr Albumtitel, der beim ersten Lesen vor allem eines klingt: Abenteuerlich. Und ein Titel, der spätestens nach dem ersten Hören absolut Sinn ergibt, auch wenn er rein gar nichts mit inschlägigen Erstmomentsassoziationen wie den Men In Black, H. R. Giger oder Erich von Däniken, zu tun hat. Wirklich nicht. Auch der Künstlername des französischen Enfant extraordinaire hat nicht das Geringste mit irgendwelchen Sonderkommissionen und ähnlichen elitären Einheiten gemein. Das album ist bis zum Rand angefüllt mit Liebe und Leid, eben jenen verdammten, fondamentalen und prägenden Emotionen, die man am besten ganz weit wegsperren sollte. Am besten für immer, in einen hermetisch abgeriegelten Hangar in der Wüste, dort irgendwo nahe Rosswell, wo man in den 40er Jahren auch diesen seltsamen Flugapparat eingelagert hat. Ebenso, wie ihr großes Idol Daniel Johnston , hat auch SoKo die seltene Gabe, ganz offen und frei über diese Dinge zu singen. http://www.justbecause.ch/artists_703E3236393B3A.htmlSamual Galley2011-11-28T17:13:57 Firefox AK - dahinter verbirgt sich keine Webbrowser-Freeware sondern die schwedische Musikerin Andrea Kellermann. Ihre Musik ist eine Mischung aus House, Electro und Pop. 2005 veröffentlichte Firefox AK ihre erste EP „What's that Sound“ seither folgten diverse weitere EPs sowie die zwei Studioalben „If I were a Melody“ (2008) und „Madame Madame“ (2007). Daneben arbeitete sie mit Tiger Lou an deren Singles „The Draft“ und „Winterrose“. Ihr Drittling „Color the Trees“ hört sich an wie eine Reise durch die Landschaft zwischen zwei Grosstädten. „Color the Trees“ ist ein stark elektronisch gefärbtes Album, das gleichermassen melancholisch wie auch tanzbar ist. Sphärische Keys, tribale Beats und der Mut zur Pause sind die prägenden Charakteristiken des Albums. Über allem schwebt die elfengleiche Stimme der Sängerin. Es gelingt ihr das Kunststück, trotz grosser Lust am Experiment nicht den roten Faden zu verlieren und die Songs nicht in Komplexität versinken zu lassen. http://www.justbecause.ch/artists_703E3236393B38.htmlSamual Galley2011-11-28T17:13:18 Using only two voices and two guitars, Alice Costelloe and Kacey Underwood create music that’s unfettered by the constraints of a traditional band. Their sound is gauzy but spartan; his vocal, dusky, hers crystalline, twinned in a spectral haze. From the first song they ever wrote together, the distractedly sweet ‘Homework’, to the celestial drift of ‘Pi’ Big Deal’s music is unflinchingly honest, powerful in its intimacy and quivering with the intensity of a first crush. They come from two different worlds – Costelloe from an artistic London household, while Underwood was born into a strict religious family in the desert between Joshua Tree and the Yucca Valley. When Costelloe was 14 she played guitar in her first band; when Underwood was the same age, he found escape in music. Records were his key to freedom from the rules that surrounded him. He immersed himself in Metallica, Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and Depeche Mode and taught himself to play on a guitar he found under his brother’s bed.  Where so many bands rely on and hide behind onstage strut and pomp, amps-up-to-eleven, swathes of reverb and other expected performance pieces, Big Deal’s live shows are hard hitting in their restraint. Their stripped back, bedroom-composed pop songs and the duo’s clear chemistry are so mesmeric that a hush instantly descends on any audience, with those assembled eager to take in every nuance in their entwined voices, every lilt and lyrical twist. With one acoustic and one electric guitar, their songs carry an instant connection and while their performance is inclusive, it also leaves you with the sense that you’ve been privy to a secret exchange. Big Deal have Lights Out co-produced by Underwood and Dean Reid. The duo recorded 15 tracks in just seven days, and the result is a cohesive, deeply personal and simultaneously universal collection. From the nostalgic sweep of ‘Distant Neighborhood’, to the deeply reflective 'Seraphine’, to the raw confessional ‘Talk’. http://www.justbecause.ch/artists_703E3236393B36.htmlSamual Galley2011-11-28T17:10:57 En première partie de Yaël, Naïm, June and Lula, ou encore Zaz. Elisa a 17 ans, elle chante depuis son plus jeune âge, débute le piano à dix ans et fait ses premier pas sur scène à onze ans. A quinze ans, elle intègre un groupe de rock avec lequel elle remporte plusieurs tremplins. Elisa développe désormais un univers musical folk-pop unique, teinté de blues, de soul et de jazz, à la fois élégant et bouleversant qui révèle une voix magnifique pleine d'émotion et de sensibilité. http://www.justbecause.ch/artists_703E3236393A3C.htmlSamual Galley2011-11-28T16:10:59 Depuis que «Les Chansons d’amour», de Christophe Honoré, est devenu le film d’une génération, Alex Beaupain occupe une place à part dans la chanson française. C’est son premier album, «Garçon d’honneur» (2005), qui avait inspiré le scénario du film, et dont les titres se succèdent à l’écran. Leur romantisme à la fois aérien et cru a comblé un manque. La chanson d’amour, genre menacé soit par l’anecdote soit par le sentimentalisme, a retrouvé, avec lui, une intensité, un lyrisme et une vitalité qui semblaient perdus. Aujourd’hui, Alex Beaupain s’émancipe, mais dans la fidélité. D’un côté, il a écrit et composé les chansons des «Bien-aimés» d'Honoré. De l’autre, voici «Pourquoi battait mon coeur», un troisième album qui n’appartient qu’à lui. La chanson qui donne ce titre à l’album résume le mieux l'album. Energique et mélancolique, le titre parle du tourbillon de la vie et de la confusion des sentiments. Elle donne congé aux souvenirs «La mémoire, vois-tu, je n’y tiens plus» mais garde le tempo de l’amour en fuite. C’est une chanson sur les temps qui changent, une chanson de vertige : «Allons regarde toi, ce doit être une erreur, ce n’est sûrement pas ça, pourquoi battait mon coeur.» Pour le reste, l’album dit plutôt son refus poli de la chanson engagée. Refus paradoxal, car le monde et l’époque sont bien là : «Je réponds toi» exprime un dégoût pour les normes et les valeurs dominantes. «Au départ» raconte la trajectoire de la gauche au pouvoir de 1981 à 2002, mais c’est aussi l’histoire d’un amour qui s’use, d’une illusion perdue. «C'est une chanson d'amour de gauche qui dit qu'en amour comme en politique, tout commence par un immense espoir pour finir par une cohabitation». http://www.justbecause.ch/artists_703E323639393E.htmlSamual Galley2011-11-23T18:11:30 When the members of Grouplove met it was like a dream. The setting was a remote artist colony on the exotic, mysterious Greek island of Crete. Drummer/producer Ryan Rabin and his childhood friend and former bandmate, guitarist Andrew Wessen came from California, guitarist Christian Zucconi and keyboarist Hannah Hooper traveled from New York, and bassist Sean Gadd was the lone Brit. Each member went to Greece for their own independent reasons but over time they gravitated towards each other and discovered the sound that unified them: a merging of richly narrated, intricate songs with anthemic classic pop production. It took the band the better part of a year to reunite after they left the island. The colony, which Andrew’s brother founded, allowed the members of Grouplove to step outside their comfort zones. “We spent our days together at a secluded beach far from the tourist traps, passing around the guitar or ukulele and sharing our songs with each other. Never Trust A Happy Song is a brawny, ecstatic album filled with ambitious, varied, expansive, tunes underscored by crisp percussion and killer harmonies. “The variety in the musical taste and writing styles of each member really makes each of our songs unique,” Ryan explains. “The honest, open-minded process we go through in rehearsal and in the studio brings the songs home and gives them the 'Grouplove' sound.” Under the Grouplove banner, “Colours,” became a delicate but powerful slow/fast jam. “Itchin On A Photograph” is a soaring epic propelled by spacey guitar licks and vigorous handclaps. And “Tongue Tied,” is an electronic infused dance anthem that showcases the band’s obsession with careening harmonies. In keeping with the progressive context of their meeting, Hannah, Andrew, and Sean all share vocal duties and take their turn fronting the band - though Christian sings lead on most songs – Ryan produces all of their material, and all five bandmembers receive songwriting credit on every tune: Grouplove is a true collaboration. The album’s title initially seems ironic: On the surface the band’s vibe comes off as happy, the songs soar with a kind of shimmering, youthful exuberance. But just beneath that sunny sheen, there is a reservoir of longing and melancholy. The Grouplove signature is blending those two pillars of life: sorrow and joy. Hannah explains, “As individuals we are heavier, darker, but when we are together we bring the love.” http://www.justbecause.ch/artists_703E323639393C.htmlSamual Galley2011-11-23T17:52:03 Conceived at a South London squat party in the summer of 2008 and born from a background of alternative hip-hop, jazz, breakbeat and classical literature; Sound Of Rum released their debut album ‘Balance’ on 25th April 2011. Forged from the combined talents of vocalist Kate Tempest, guitarist Archie Marsh and drummer Ferry Lawrenson; Sound of Rum’s music is as uniquely diverse as it is relevant and entertaining. From their humble beginnings less than 3 years ago, the band’s notoriety has progressed at an exponential rate. Kate Tempest started writing poetry at around the same age as most people start writing their own name. By the time she was 15 she had composed material she felt was worthy of being heard.  Plunging deep into the mainly male orientated world of hip-hop rap battling, Tempest quickly earned a reputation as someone who needed to be listened to.Similarly Archie Marsh and Ferry Lawrenson have both devoted their lives to the mastery of their craft. The combination of these three talented individuals has culminated in a sound that compels audiences to reevaluate their understanding of what good music is. http://www.justbecause.ch/artists_703E3236393836.htmlSamual Galley2011-11-15T12:22:00 Black Up is the new sonic move from Shabazz Palaces. Like rich velvet hijabs or gold threaded abayas. Luxury as understood by the modest. Shabazz Palaces. If Bedouins herded beats instead of goats and settled in Seattle instead of the Atlas Mountains, this would be their album. Forward thinkers but nostalgic for a sparer time when ancient astronomers only recognized five planets. Hip hop. Black light uses electromagnetic radiation to eradicate microorganisms, but shabazz didn’t come to kill a sound, just to shine their own incandescent lamp on this. Hear. Hard and clear. Fifty thousand years in the making. Honorable.—palaceer pink gators. Produced by Knife Knights.plcrs at Gunbeat Serenade Studio in Outplace Palacelands. It was recorded and mixed in Lixx-alog by Blood. http://www.justbecause.ch/artists_703E323639373E.htmlSamual Galley2011-11-15T12:22:00 Vadim moved from St Petersburg to London at the age of 5, but this story begins in 1992 when Vadim bought a sampler and started working on the music that would become Abstract Hallucinating Gases, Headz Ain't Ready Eps (1995) and USSR Repertoire (1996). From these early recordings came a remix LP USSR Reconstruction (1997). In 1999 came the collaboration LP The Isolationist produced by Vadim, and vocalised by Anti-Pop Consortium. Improving with age is not limited to fine wine. The latest installment U Can't Lurn Imaginashun is proof that things seem to just keep sounding better and better. For an artist with such a long recording pedigree it would be easy to sit in cruise control, re-hash earlier ideas, but not for Vadim. The latest offering is more electronic than previous, more defined, refined but yet retaining its soul boom-bap prowess. http://www.justbecause.ch/artists_703E323639363E.htmlSamual Galley2011-11-10T18:18:16 Often described as one of the most talented voices in the country, Jarle Bernhoft has built his career step by step. From small roles as a child on stage in the Norwegian Opera, via success with heavy rock and a record deal in Los Angeles, to his first soul influenced solo album, has his music style taken many bends and detours. Now it starts to materialise like a long, wide road with a distinctive character which is unique in Norwegian music. With Bernhoft’s stage performance described as ‘a giraffe high on PCP’ and having once himself been called ‘the thinking man’s The Hives’, there was certainly never any lack of pace and energy. Span was the hardest working band. Intensive touring extensively across Europe led them to a deal with Island Records in London, later with the American label Interscope Records. When they released the debut album ‘Mass Distraction’, produced by Gil Norton (Pixies, Foo Fighters, Echo & The Bunnymen) in 2004, the future seemed bright for this four headed rock monster. However, Span played their last concert for a sold out Rockefeller venue in Oslo in October 2005. New challenges were waiting. The album ‘Solidarity Breaks’ is also the result of Bernhoft’s rediscovery of himself as a solo performer. It was recorded in London, produced by Fred Ball (Pleasure, Bertine Zetlitz, Brett Anderson) and has become an organic adventure where Bernhoft admits that being solo has its pros and cons. There are twelve tracks on the album. Most of them are written by Bernhoft and some in collaboration with the producer Fred Ball, one with the renowned artist Ed Harcourt, one with Jimmy Hogarth (Amy Winehouse, Duffy, Beverly Knight) and one with the keyboardist David Wallumrød. The album is mostly recorded by Jarle’s one man band with guest appearances by among others Knut Reiersrud (for the occasion on harmonica), drummer Torstein Lofthus, David Wallumrød, Ed Harcourt, bass player Audun Erlien and backing singer Kwame Ogoo. It is is mixed by Steve Fitzmaurice who has worked with among others U2, Depeche Mode and Kylie Minogue. As the title indicates, this time it’s about solidarity: “With this album I would like to tell many stories, but my main issue is solidarity on both small and larger scales. It’s about everything from solidarity in politics, solidarity with other humans, in society, in relationships - on how difficult it can be to live together both under small and big conditions”, he explains. When it comes to music, the album is a particular mix of some familiar and less explored directions for him: “I have among many things listened to a lot of hip hop, the part of pop music I think develops most today. I gather I’m more open today than before, and my shoulders are more relaxed. Jokingly you can say that the album sounds like my former one taking a couple of fish leaps via early Nik Kershaw and The Roots and has landed in 2020”, he laughs. http://www.justbecause.ch/artists_703E323639353C.htmlSamual Galley2011-10-17T15:42:53 2010 was a benchmark year for the young Miss Nika Roza Danilova. Under the moniker Zola Jesus, Nika released two stunning EP’s stateside via Sacred Bones, Stridulum and Valusia and abroad combined those (mostly) into her debut full length, Stridulum II, for Berlin based Souterrain Transmissions. This year’s first single, “Night” earned the estimable Best New Music seal of approval just before she embarked on several very well attended SXSW appearances. The video for this song quickly elevated her to fashion icon as it appeared in several regions of Vogue and the NME declared her “goth’s new figurehead”. Nika was hand chosen by designer Angelos Frentzos to make her European debut performance in Milan during his fashion week show. Zola Jesus continued to play shows in various incarnations in various parts of the country every weekend from March until August. Then she graduated college. Immediately following, Nika and band embarked on three back-to-back tours of Europe and the US opening for Fever Ray, The xx and Warpaint amongst dozens of headline shows. She played Berlin Fest, Primavera Club, headlined Pitchfork’s Offline Fest and her live performances garnered reviews as stunning as her recorded output. Valusia was released mid-October while on tour, and contained one new song (read: secret weapon) not on Stridulum II-- Chris Coady produced single “Poor Animal”. This undeniable dance-floor masterpiece soared up the radio charts and continues to burn brightly on BBC 1 alongside her simultaneously ranking re-working of previous cut, “Sea Talk”. All three of these singles along with “I Can’t Stand” ranked among the New York Times, Pitchfork and LA Times’ singles of the year. Stridulum II appeared on NME and Uncut’s albums of the year. Having just completed her 1st US headline tour, Nika Danilova is about to embark on US and EU festival circuit, including stops at Pitchfork, Bestival, Electric Picnic, Big Chill and the Hollywood Bowl amongst others. To say her follow-up full length due in early October is merely highly anticipated may be a bit of an understatement.