Apachelux are a new duo based in Southend-on-Sea in Essex, UK, and consists of singer Louisa and Jay on guitar, keyboards, bass and drums. It all started at the Village Green Festival in Southend-On-Sea in 2014 when Ross met singer Louisa who was being schmoozed by a friend of Jay’s called Ross. Jays says, “Louisa said she was a singer, to which Ross shouted, ‘Jay, you need a singer don’t you? This girl can sing, you two should talk.’” Jay liked the word lux and attached it to Apache, which he thinks was inspired by seeing the film Empire of the Sun. Apachelux are inspired by great tunes from across the musical spectrum, as Jay says, “from Nirvana to Girls Aloud, Maya Jane Coles to Smashing Pumpkins, The Police to Madonna, Royal Blood to Chemical Brothers. Radio 1 to Classic FM. 1940’s Jazz to Barber Shop.” Their debut single This Time was played on 30 radio stations around the globe and their remixes received widespread support by DJs in clubs and on radio in places from Columbia, New York, Ibiza, Singapore to the Ukraine. Apachelux’s latest single Only When You’re Lonely, mixed and mastered by John Webber at Air Studio, […]
Music Mirror UK reflects on upcoming album Circadia by Thirteen Being
Thirteen Being is a collaborative project set up and run by Vincent Kane aka Vin100 bringing together his friends’ musical skills. Starting out in London 2008 as Being, Vincent brought together friends who were musicians, DJs, producers and nightclub event organisers to craft a style electronica, which flows from dance dream and they call Inner-Space-Age. The name Being was inspired during a long studio session that ended in drawing symmetrical patterns on white label records. This transformed into Thirteen Being to mark the move away from city life to the West Country in 2013, where they are currently based. Vincent grew up surrounded by psychedelic rock during and graduated into enjoying Drum and Bass, Acid-House, Techno and Jungle. In the 1990s as a teenager, Vincent loved DJing and promoting club nights. His Thirteen Being collaborators include soundscape producer Hector Hernandez with stage name Hektagon, instrumental knowledge from David Clark, technological input from Marcus Oaten and Breaks producer, DJ at Fabric, writer and arranger Mark Ford, known as Merka. Doors were opened for Vincent after meeting Ambient House pioneers The Orb in the late 1990s and their Alex Paterson has continued to be inspiration and support. This alliance led to Vincent […]
Music Mirror reflects on preview of Saika’s upcoming single Chemical Ex
Saika is a 24-year-old first generation Haitian-American female singer-songwriter, who conveys the humility of her Haitian roots with the street savvy from her childhood in Brooklyn, New York. Saika now lives in Atlanta, Georgia in the USA. In 2010, Saika says she wanted to learn how to, “express myself after having all these feelings bottled up inside me,” and recorded her first single in a studio, falling in love with the process. Saika went to high school with her keyboard player Jonathan Williams who is also her manager. By watching Beyoncé and Michael Jackson she saw how live instrumentation brought songs to life and played live regularly with Jonathan at venues including Brooklyn College. With siblings called Steven and Alexis, Saika didn’t like her unusual given name until she discovered Saika means a colourful flower. Then, she says, “I just grew into it.” Saika’s latest single Chemical eX was inspired by an embarrassing moment when she saw an ex-boyfriend at a party a year after splitting up, drank too much and vomited on the dance floor. Influenced by Disney, Celine Dion, Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson and she particularly admires Beyoncé. Saika says “I aspire to be an entertainer like […]
Music Mirror UK on Manchester 7-piece band Family Ranks’ upcoming EP release
Family Ranks is a 7-piece soul, hip-hop, electronica and reggae collective creating lush expansive arrangements, deep grooves and euphoric festival anthems. To form Family Ranks in 2014, Manchester’s leading songwriters Ruby-Ann Patterson and James Gill joined session musicians in House of Lords, previously the house band for award winning live event All About Good Music, which showcases the UK’s upcoming urban talent. Through frequent live video releases and stage performances, Family Ranks has become established on the Manchester scene and is attracting the attention of promoters for major live events and venues. The Family Ranks line-up is Ruby-Ann Patterson and James Gill providing vocals with Tom Barber-Redmore on vocals and acoustic guitar, Liam Morson playing keyboard and synth, Jake Stentiford on electric guitar, Ben Whitfield on bass and Laurie Agnew on Drums. On how the band met at All About Good Music events, guitarist Jake Stentiford says: “The aim of the night was to provide a platform for soul, R&B and hip hop artists to perform a selection of their music with a live band. It ran for several years and featured a few artists who have since gone on to big things such as Daley and Shakka. Through this […]