Vagabond are confirmed to play Glastonbury this year. The band reveals on their MySpace blog that they are playing the Queens Head tent on Sunday (28th June).
Vagabond's "Don't Wanna Run No More" is the "Song of the day" on Popjustice:
«Half of Vagabond's album isn't really our sort of thing, half of it is really our sort of thing, and half of this album of three halves is this: an instant classic by the name of 'Don't Wanna Run No More'. It may not exactly be the Friday rave anthem you were hoping for but sometimes, readers, the raving must cease.»
Their first single, "Sweat (Until The Morning)", has been remixed by Quiet Village. The single will be released on 8th June. Meanwhile, Vagabond have put up a YouTube contest:
«We'd like you to post your own renditions of Vagabond's Sweat in our new informal YouTube contest. It can be as serious or as funny as you like, and every week we'll be highlighting one of the best across all Vagabond's social networks, as well as favouritising it on the band's YouTube page.»
To enter the competition, add your video response to this playlist.
Check Vagabond's MySpace to see a list of upcoming shows. Here's a couple of recent live reviews:
My Bliss: «bliss saw Vagabond live last week and we were super impressed. Not only are these lads seriously fit (check out front man Alex Vargas - rock'n'roll pin-up material or what?) but they've got a repertoire of polished synth-tinged rock and a stage presence that makes us think they're gonna be BIG! Plus, they're produced by Xenomania (Girls Aloud), what more can we say..»
The Jitty: «By the time they’d played their first song Vagabond had the audience hooked even though the vast majority of the crowd had probably never even heard of them, potentially the hottest up and coming band for 2009. They played the songs with everything they had and they looked like they were enjoying themselves the whole time. Front man Alex Vargas’ strong voice impressed and the bassline from Sam Odiwe shook the floor. With different melodies played over and under each other they had an impressive set. Vagabond went from real headbanging tunes through easy foot tapping songs to slow blues with ease making for an impressive half hour. The finished with their addictive single ‘Sweat (Until The Morning)’ which will be released on 8th June 2009. Their songs had people dancing, foot tapping and clapping without thinking about it – it just seemed like the nautral thing to do. When Vagabond left the stage they got massive cheers from eveyone in the concert hall. One lady said “I don’t like music but I loved that!”. Others were saying how “amazing” they were and how they wanted “to hear more”. It was like they were the band that the audience had come to see. I forgot it was James Morrison who was about to take center stage.»
Watch the first Vagabond tour diary: ("I've Been Wanting You" is playing in the background)
Last week, Mini Viva performed in the Popjustice venue at the Camden Crawl. Click here to see a set of pictures from the night and read some reviews:
«When you hear the team behind nearly all of Girls Aloud's hits are setting up their own record label you've got to be a bit excited. Mini Viva are the first fruits to come from the Xenomania tour of the UK hunting for amazing pop stars and they filled the Cuban Bar on Friday night with a bunch of fans escaping from the skinny jeans of the rest of the festival. Singing that kind of perfect pop you'd expect from the Xenomania team, Frankee and Brit are two tiny girls who are very much in tune with each other. Limited dance routines were perfectly synchronised and you felt like they almost had a connection, knowing exactly what the other was about to do. With plenty of club mixes of limited release 'I Left My Heart In Toyko' already whizzing round the club scene, Mini Viva might be just starting out but have got their act perfectly honed.» Londonist
«The first act I caught on the bill were girl duo Mini Viva. The girls are currently working with Xenomania so look set to release some quality Pop in the near future. Their Crawl showcase seemed to be one of their first gigs, with Britt and Frankee showing off their dance routines to an audience that smiled their way throughout the duo's set. I thought the whole thing was great fun, a tiny bit cheap and cheerful but that may have been the bar setting rather than what was happening onstage. I hope Mini Viva's management dont smooth out their rough edges too much as the girls are highly entertaining as they are.» The Music Fix
On their MySpace, the girls describe it as their "first official step into the music world". They have also written a little bit about themselves:
- Britt Love (pictured right) «I'm really just your average 20 year old girl. I like clothes and music makes me tick. My passion in life is to entertain you! I was born in the States but was brought up in a place called South Shields, Newcastle Upon Tyne, where I lived off the best Sunday dinners!!! lol Fave hobbies - dancing, watching classic movies and listening to Ibiza chill out. Fave colours - red and purple. Fave food - Japanese / sushi, and Mexican (yum). Fave things at the moment - leggings, high tops, chewing gum, Lady Gaga, sunglasses, Daisy (my dog), grapes, tofu, flip camera.»
- Frankee Connolly (pictured left) «I'm Frankee - Francesca Rose Comolly. I'm 19 years old, born 23/10/89. As you can see I'm one half of Mini Viva. I'm from the North West of England.....Manchester, to be precise! My background is white English mixed with Jamaican - thought I would drop that in there as people tend to ask me that a lot, so there you go, you all know now! I love to sing. It's one of my passions in life and I'm very fortunate to be doing it as my career. I'm a family girl--some days I like to just chill out. Like every female, I'm addicted to shopping--I always have been, even when i have no money lol! I was brought up around all sorts of music from soul to reggae, and that what I do still listen to up to today along with R'n'B, pop and lots more! A few things I like to do are... Go on holiday - I love the holiday vibe Spend time with loved ones Hang out with friends Pig out now and again hehe!»
Vagabond's frontman Alex Vargas recently spoke in an interview about the group's history and ambitions. The band is currently playing a series of gigs as the main support for James Morrison's UK tour: «We want to become one of the best live acts in the business and that is why we have been touring so much.»
Vagabond formed about a year ago, pretty much by accident, as they were all working in Xenomania's studios. «I was busy working, writing material for my producer, when I met Stephen [Carter] and Luke [Fitton], who had come to do some work with my producer», Alex said. «We hit it off very well and decided to form our own band.» They then came across Sam Odiwe and Karl Penney, and the band was complete.
«The most important and key thing for us is that our music is soulful. We are influenced by many genres of music — pop, rock, lounge, funk and blues — as we all come from different parts of the world, but we always come back to soul.»
Alex Vargas also speaks about what sparked his interest in music: «From the age of 12 I knew I wanted to be a professional footballer — a typical boy’s dream — but then got interested in music. I picked up the guitar when I was 15 and began writing songs and knew this was my destiny.»
Click here to watch a video interview with Vagabond.
Vagabond have posted a live video of "I've Been Wanting You", from a "busking session" they did at the Hammersmith underpass after their Apollo show:
Sounds like a hit already! (fingers crossed, etc.)
The debut album from Vagabond, titled You Don't Know the Half Of It!, arrives June 22nd. You can pre-order it on Amazon. Their first single, "Sweat (Until The Morning)", is due June 8th.
Vagabond are in the middle of their tour as main support for James Morrison. If you see them on the James Morrison tour, make sure you pick up one of the snippet CD samplers that are given out at the end of the night as people leave the venue. The 5-track promo sampler includes the following songs:
1. Sweat (Until The Morning) 2. Don't Wanna Run No More 3. I Know A Girl 4. I've Been Wanting You 5. I Said Hello
Mint South has reviewed one of Vagabond's recent shows:
«Second band Vagabond should have been headlining tonight. They really should. Singer Alex Vargos stepped out and immediately stunned the crowd with his spectacular singing voice. Kudos to the rest of the band for turning up to support him, but the music burbled along in the background and was really only there to showcase the vocals. Every note was spot on, every curl and tremble of the voice was well practised and dead correct. Hiding shyly under his mop of hair, concentrated expression and 80s t shirt, Alex really is the ideal front-man; perhaps purchased in flat-pack form from the new IKEA.
The bassline led a merry dance in the background with the odd soulful blast of brass. The band are signed to Geffen (single ‘Sweat (Until The Morning)’ was given an airing tonight) and it’s easy to see why: their radio-friendly sounds combined with the perfect voice, non-offensive sound and easy on the eye appearance would make any record label executive give thanks upon receiving their demo. With such a big sound in such a small room, they would do well at an open-air gig or as a stadium support act – and maybe one day will be headlining there themselves.»
The highly collectable 7'' vinyl of Toddla T's remix of "Sweat (Until The Morning)" is available to buy from these stores:
Toddla T's remix blurs the line between dubstep, dancehall and breaks, and features MCing from Mr. Versatile.
Culturedeluxe has published a review of the "Sweat (Until The Morning)" remixes:
«Multinational group Vagabond (Uruguay-Denmark-London-erm, Huddersfield) look set to score high with new single `Sweat (Until The Morning)` despite the original mix sounding like the Lighthouse Family making a comeback with a depressed Tina Turner on vocals. However, the intelligent sods have managed to rope in three very different productions for a rather nifty remix package and it is to this we turn our attention solely.
The first of three mixes (six if you include the instrumentals) is a pleasant but uninspiring mix of glitch and dancehall from Toddla T with additional toasting from Mr Versatile while Plugs make the best use of the vocals on a sunkist, Balaeric re-imagination.
Best of all is the Filthy Dukes `Vocal` Mix which replaces nearly all of the pedestrian original with pulsing synth screeches, Vince Clarke bleepery and sleek house craftmanship. By far the best way to enjoy Vagabond this Spring.»
Vagabond did an acoustic performance of "Sweat (Until The Morning)" for Balcony TV. Watch it here.
According to Xenomania's official MySpace, Vagabond will be shooting the video for their next single in the next couple of weeks (possibly in the US again).
Mini Viva are confirmed to play live on the Popjustice stage at this year's Camden Crawl, on April 24th. More than 150 artists will perform at the festival at 40 venues around the London borough. This year, the event will take place on Friday 24th and Saturday 25th April.
Ticket holders will be granted unlimited access to all official festival venues featuring more than 150 live artists, daytime activities, arts programme and aftershow parties. Tickets for the Gaymers Camden Crawl 2009, available as either 2-day or single day passes, are on sale now.
Frankee Connolly and Britt Love (aka Mini Viva) began gathering attention last year with the Fred Falke remixes of their single "Left My Heart In Tokyo". Since then, the song has also been remixed by Treasure Fingers and Acid Girls. Xenomania's official MySpace has revealed that the remixes of "Left My Heart In Tokyo" will be available to download from April 6th.
Below is a live version of "Left My Heart In Tokyo", edited from a couple of live performances at London's Water Rats venue:
Mini Viva are joined live by Florrie Arnold (drums), Jason Resch (guitar) and Kieran Jones (bass).
Gabriella Cilmi's new single in the UK, "Save The Lies (Good To Me)", gets its official release as a maxi-CD today. Also available to buy are two digital EP bundles, one with remixes and the other with cover versions of Justin Timberlake's "Cry Me A River" and of the old standard "Fly Me To The Moon" (which has been recorded by Frank Sinatra, Connie Francis, Tony Bennett, among others).
The new radio version of "Save The Lies (Good To Me)" includes extra layers of vocals and synths. The song was written by Gabriella Cilmi, Miranda Cooper, Brian Higgins, Tim Powell, Bob Bradley (who was previously responsible for the opening bass riff on Sugababes' "Red Dress") and Saint Etienne's Bob Stanley & Pete Wiggs.
The single has been receiving mixed reviews. While some praise her attitude, enthusiasm and varied sonic styles, others have criticized the song's "cheap faux-feminist ‘empowering’ lyric" and Gabriella's similarities to the singer Anastacia, "notably in her contralto voice and noisy growl":
-- Teletext Planet Sound: «The Aussie sounds lean, mean and keen to show you a good time. Combining Sugababes production values with a tune that echoes Kylie & Robbie's Kids, it's pop with attitude.» 8/10 -- Manchester Evening News: «It's got hit running through it like a stick of rock. Shameless hussy.» 3/5 -- Digital Spy: «She may only be a whippersnapper, but Cilmi is already displaying the chameleon-like quality that every popstar needs.»
These are the formats and track lists of the single:
CD-Single 1. Save The Lies (Good To Me) – radio edit 2. Sweet About Me – Live Version 3. Cry Me A River – Live Version 4. Fly Me To the Moon
Digital downloads - EP1 (buy on iTunes) 1 Save The Lies (Good To Me) - radio edit 2 Save The Lies (Good To Me) - Kinky Roland mix 3 Save The Lies (Good To Me) - Mason vocal mix 4 Save The Lies (Good To Me) - Mason Dub mix 5 Save The Lies (Good To Me) - Out Of Office club mix 6 Save The Lies (Good To Me) - Out Of Office dub mix
Digital downloads - EP2 (buy on iTunes) 1. Save The Lies (Good To Me) – radio edit 2. Sweet About Me – Live Version 3. Cry Me A River – Live Version 4. Fly Me To the Moon
Annie has released a five-track live EP of her performance at the iTunes Festival in London. It is available to download from the UK iTunes store. The EP features five songs from her upcoming album Don't Stop. The tracklist is as follows:
1. Loco 2. Take You Home 3. Songs Remind Me Of You 4. I Know UR Girlfriend Hates Me 5. What Do You Want (The Breakfast Song)
Gabriella Cilmi is on the cover of today's The Independent Magazine. "Sweet About Me", which is still sitting in the UK top 10, is dubbed as "the sound of the summer". Brian Higgins says that she has signed a five-album deal with Island Records and that he expects every one to be a "smash hit".
Higgins is interviewed about meeting Gabriella and the process of transforming her into the artist she is now: "I came to meet her in Australia to see if we could get on creatively. At that stage, she had a very wild, untamed voice, and I loved it. But I wanted to see whether there was some songwriting talent to back it up. Fortunately, there was."
Over three years they would meet four times a year on songwriting and recording sessions in Los Angeles, New York and London. Gabriella's determination at first was to become a rock chic, while Higgins was trying to bring out her pop sensibility.
"Let's face it," he says, "a 14-year-old girl trying to sound like Led Zeppelin is always going to look ridiculous. That said, you should hear her version of 'Whole Lotta Love', which she plays live and which is amazing, but for me Gabby works best as a pop singer, and a very good one at that. Her voice is like nobody else's."
Higgins says that Gabriella is "remarkably self-analytical": "'Sweet About Me' took a long time until it became the hit single it deserves to be, and in that time I just watched her become increasingly self-analytical, determined to raise her game, to become a better live performer, to really dig in and give her very best. I've not seen that in many artists, especially such young ones, but Gabby has a champion mentality. And it's this that is going to turn her into a major star. We've signed her to a five-album deal at Island. I confidently expect every one to be a smash hit."
Annie has been playing a series of secret gigs in London, billed under the name "einnA". She will be performing tonight at the Old Blue Last.
Click here to watch a video from last Wednesday's show with Annie singing "My Love Is Better", one of the Xenomania-produced songs from her upcoming album Don't Stop, to be released in September.
Xenomania is a songwriting and production house based in Kent, England. It was founded by songwriter and producer Brian Higgins.
Since 1996, Xenomania have written, produced and remixed tracks for a string of successful artists including Girls Aloud, Pet Shop Boys, Sugababes, Dannii and Kylie Minogue, Saint Etienne, Cher, Gabriella Cilmi and many others.
